Kaireckstadt

This is something I didn‘t expect! This looks awesome! Why not post it in the finished category?

Great progress on a more than challenging subject! I‘m gluing parts together and you create them! Awesome work Cees!

Simply wow !

Wow, an invisible engine... (joke). Please post pictures of your beauty!

If you place it in an outdoor environment and take a photo from below nobody could tell it from the real motorcycle! Awesome work on all the models you present here! All stunning builds! Where do you store all these giant scale models?

Thanks a lot Harv! I‘ll do my very best..

Thanks for your reply Frank! It seems that I got a part from Isracast that shrunk a little. Your fit of the aft fuselage looks like mine. So it is likely that I didn’t make a mistake. And the fit of your cone is much more better than mine. I won’t give up. Since the part is attached to the tail now it’s only a lot of rework necessary. But nothing which cannot be solved. I’ve never thrown a model into the bin due to assembly issues. Do not plan to fo it with this one. Thanks for your motivation! The intakes now fit well and need some touch-ups but nothing really challenging. I‘ve already painted them in places which cannot be reached with the airbrush when glued together. Paints are from a set from AK Real Color. Now I can go on with fitting of the intakes and the fuselage rework. Once again thanks for your feedback Cheers Kai

Great and awesome progress on the DB 605 Frank! The propeller is beautiful especially the cap with the spiral on it. I personally would paint the propeller blades Black-Green RLM70. This is how I painted mine on my 32nd Scale 109s. Test-Fitting and thinking 2 steps ahead ? Is HPH a sister company of Italeri? Curious how this will go on! Kai

Thank you Rob! That’s the load you have to carry when building an Italeri kit. It’s time consuming but on the other hand also challenging. Interesting tipp with the MiG 31. I will take a look at it. Was the same with the Tamiya F4U1-A Corsair. Beautiful engineering and no putty! Have another one in my stash when I need a relaxed build! We should send your advice each of us to Italeri. This would really help! You also mentioned what is one of the most important things for me to be part of this community: To share experiences with each other, to learn new techniques and to give feedback and tipps regarding actual builds. Cheers Kai

Thanks Gaz! I think that it will cost nearly all the surface-details. But I‘m used to rescribing on an Italeri kit... One friend of mine said to me that after an Italeri kit you have to build a Tamiya one to relax...

+3

Further progress on the build. Glued the fuselage-halfs together step-by-step starting with the cockpit-section to achieve a good fit mainly of the intake parts of the lower half to the upper half. Next step was glueing of the wing-section and finally the tail. The only gap to fill was under the left wing: The intake construction is really a mess with so many corners and edges to align. I shortened the intake ramp for easier assembly and made a test-fit with the outer-parts. The only thing to correct is that the pins have to be enlarged to fill the gap between them and the fuselage respectively them and the brass-parts which have to be added. Otherwise the fit is really good. Next thing was to add nose weight (lead-foil stripes which are flexible)and glue the nose to the fuselage: The best fit of the nose can be achieved when you grind away all alignment stuff and glue it butt to the fuselage. There are still some fit-issues which can be solved with sanding and rescribing: Final step was to add the tail cone out of the Isracast-Set for the Atar 9C engine. Unfortunately the diameter of the part is too small and a lot of work will be required to correct this. I made no mistake with the alignment of the rear fuselage. I didn’t expect that and I‘m really disappointed of the Isracast quality: With pressure and superglue the result looks like this: The nozzle itself fits good and has crisp details but also will be refined. So this is how the bird looks like in the moment: Next step will be the painting of the intake inner and outer parts which cannot be airbrushed when assembled and their assembly and the rework of the nose, tail and wing underside.

Please don‘t do it. A fork will not make it looking more awesome! Great build! I love it!

Awesome progress Gaz. Looks absolutely stunning after the last 2 steps you did! Which oils for you use for the hands and faces (supplier and colors)? I want to give it a try! Thanks in advance!

Wow, nice start with your strut-strengthening! Will sit back and enjoy your posts. BTW: Beautiful looking Albatros D.III !

Amazing build so far and lots of work! I don’t know if I had the patience for such a kitbashing. Will turn into a beautiful Model in the end and with a not very often seen French livery! What kind of putty do you use? Looks like epoxy putty? Would be interesting to know because you can cover big areas with it.

Thank you Peter, This build really is a challenge and even more challenging than the 104 I‘ve build. I hope that all the work will pay off in the end but still a long way to go...

Looking really nice! I have a question: Is there a reason why at least on the second mechanic no eyes, eyebrows and lips are painted? Or is it due to the angle of the foto that I don’t see them?

Interesting subject Frank! I haven’t even heard of a DB 605 engine in that scale. Since I‘m a fan of the 109 I will follow your build with great interest. You made a good start on the subject! Curious how it will go on!

Thank you, Trigger It‘s really a mess and I have often asked myself if the engineers who designed that kit ever build it or even are modellers at all. When I had stuck to the assembly instructions I would have run into real trouble. Fortunately I have some modeling friends who gave me some tipps how to avoid some of the biggest problems. Another friend of mine who built it according to the instructions had so big problems with the fit of the intakes that he at least threw it into the bin. This is why I want to share all my experiences here with you and get tipps how to make the assembly easier. Your pictures show that you have solved these problems very good but only with a big amount of extra work. Yours will also end as a great looking Mirage I‘m sure. Regarding the intakes I will shorten them drastically and I will not include the tunnel to the engine intake. The intakes are so small that nothing of it can be seen in the end. This will reduce the assembly to 2 parts which can be assembled after the marriage of the upper and lower fuselage halfs. Hope that the alignment will be much more easier and better then. This will be the topic of one of my next posts. Cheers Kai

Without the background I would say this is a real Boat. Fantastic!

Awesome....!!! Kai I have a question: will it be a museum piece-cutaway or is there any other reason why you don’t weather any of the parts?

X3...Kai

Thanks for all the information, Gaz! I will have a look at the videos from Nightshift on YouTube, thanks for the tipp. Did you already adapt the figure? Fits very well! Starting crank really is a useful tool...

Thanks Gaz! I‘m using absolutely the same method. But for the rescribing I use another selfmade tool. It‘s a needle put into a handle. For the deeper ones I use a tool from Trumpeter and for guiding of the tools I use Dymo-Tape.