All Activity

How’s she doing Peter?

Busy with the HGW harnesses. This usually takes me three evenings. Almost done. Just need to drape and glue the straps into position. And then seal it all in with matt varnish, followed by a wash. The drawing shows an early Sutton harness and how it was attached. No Whirlwind but probably quite similar.

Interesting views, I have only ever done one jet so still a virgin……the jury still out, the F18 comes with Canadian markings………the F4J was a ZM so doing a Kinetic is I think be a learning curve…..

You’re making great progress there, Peter ! It’s going to be gorgeous when finished ! Hubert

Damn you Rob ! Now I’m gonna have a nightmare, trapped between metal tubes all around me ! And that’s before the rigging ! 🥴 Hubert

Today, I managed a very dreaded step in the build, finishing the mid section of the upper wing. Before, I added rigging wires from the nacelles through the cabane struts and later to be fixed under the upper wing, therefore they are not taught. WNW tells you to install the cabane struts first, reaching diagonally from the fuselage, which makes perfect sense, but then let you put the inner struts from the top of the fuselage to the gas tank in the middle of the upper wing to be glued into it´s wing fitting and then last into the fuselage. I didn´t like that second part like shown here in the manual and preferred to have all strut gluing to make on the upper wing, which worked good. Alignment was not easy, but now all looks more or less straight. Cheers Rob

Most of the panels were stainless or titanium if I recall. So they should be a bit darker. Then add the soot from the J-79s and they got darker still. You could do the raised straps a different shade and that will add some variety and interest back there.

Masterpiece!

I like that one Ralph came out Nice!

Rob Always been one of the hardest and least 'fun' part of any build. I'm using more and more CA glue these days for filler and when dry, never shrinks back.

You pulled off a superior build my friend. And you should post the Peterbilt 378 your working on to. Ron G

Hmmh, not so much of a (relatively) modern jet guy, but clearly F-16. I never liked the F-18 shape wise. Cheers Rob

Phil My vote would be for the F-16. I'm planning on converting a Tamiya 1/48 F-16C to an IAF Barak this summer as I finally have all the AM. After that, will be an IAF F-16I Sufa. Either kit you decide on building, I'll be following all the way.

Thanks, Robs so very much appreciated. After all these years, I have developed my own style for the finish of most of my models and just enjoy looking at them in my display case as it is my miniature museum. I actually did enjoy adding all the stencils once I was on a roll, as the super smooth finish and first-class quality of the decals made the application easy and enjoyable. I've never used the HGW transfers but maybe someday. I'm just a decal guy and it's part of my normal workflow. Agreed about the PLW's, as ones that don't require solvents to final cleanup always have worked the best for me.

Jeff, absolutely stunning, your weathering is perfect. Congratulations on stunning build………

Thanks Rob, I do like ZM’s approach and the tooling and engineering is very good. I thought you might want to see the figures, remember they are my first attempt………pics to come…..

Rob Bravo for becoming pro-active to the aging process and doing all you can to stay healthy and in shape. All the activity and physical exercise is the best medicine possible, as getting older and not being healthy is as we use to say: a bummer. The best way to use your time and at the end of the day, an hour so if time permits, modeling. What a great choice and decision. 🏆

Peter, I’ll try……😬

Jeff, you are to kind but much appreciated……

LOL! Wife wanted to skip the servicing and trade it in on a new Pilot. Now she’s really pissed I didn’t go along with her scheme. She actually has them giving us a trade in value quote with all the work done. I don’t know, we still might be driving a new Pilot by the end of the day. UPDATE: Cars done. No extra charge on the bolt removal and she brought home the same car. No new Pilot for now. Mustang goes in the shop Tuesday morning for AC repairs.

Yikes! When it rains, it pours. You made me double check if our Honda Element has a chain or belt as we're at 233,000 kms. It's a chain so a bit less worrying. Here's hoping the truck starts okay.

Thank you amigos, the painting and weathering of the engines was pure fun, the installation of the nacelles, struts and rigging around the engines is not so much. There is just no wiggle room and sometimes two different struts share the same hole, with added eyelets around for rigging and a steering shaft . The struts are relatively robust, except for the very fragile area directly behind the connector tabs. I broke some of them and I hope, in the end the mid section will be robust enough. Progress is slow at the moment, and it has to do with some of you. I read the actual threads about ageing, falling and hurting themselves and remember older ones as well. With my 60 years, I seem to be a youngster here, but of course, I feel the burden of age as well, but decided, to tackle the subject with more expanded physical activity. So it´s two kilometers of ocean swimming in the morning, followed by some yoga. Tomorrow I will run through the wood with de dog and then it´s mountainbiking and hoping for some surfable waves soon. Your threads made me thinking and were a bit of a wake up call out of my usual early spring lethargy. Thank you for that, guys. Cheers Rob

Same with me, I like the Flory clay washes or self mixed washes from oil colors, where the depth is very controllable and they are also risk free to remove. My bought PLW are drying out since some time. Cheers Rob

She looks peteresque, in other words fantastic, with your typical clean and contrast rich signature finish. Good that you added most of the stencils, which make the build even better. Somehow this is addictive, isn´t it? I sometimes wondered over decals for the same plane, lately Eduards Cartograph decals for a 1/48 Phantom compared to HGW´s wet transfers. Cheers Rob

Wow Kevin, great progress with all these nasty details, the Scharnhorst is coming together nicely. I had to smile a bit nostalgically, when I read your baseball stories, having played for 25 years in German leagues. Cheers Rob