tomv1987

Nice work on that cockpit. I would like to hear more about your technique as well. Regards, Tom

Coming along nicely, Rick. Those seatbelts are a huge improvement over the kit ones. Tom

Looking good, Rick. Can't wait to see more!

That's a nice scheme there--excellent work!

Looking good! Nice paintwork.

Beautiful build Doug! Tom

Very nice work Arno! Great dio... Like you say, all those tools add to the realism!

Beautiful work! Can't wait to see more! Tom

Beautiful build Wouter! Stunning work so far. May I ask how you glued those parts to the clear pieces without any fogging taking place? Thanks Tom

Beautiful work on your Dora! Thanks for posting. Regards Tom

Rick- Thanks for (re)posting this. This is a fine example of a thorough build log. Your skills at cutting, filing, filling and pinning were quite refined, even at this early stage. Your work here will make it easier for me to attempt any modifications in my future builds. You turned out a nice Rufe here. Regards, Tom

Coming along nicely Dennis! Nice looking cockpit! Tom

Well I'm finished with graduate school, so I finally have a chance to get back to my Zeke. First things first, clean and organize my desk space...now it looks like this: Time to build! I managed to get the wings on, although the port side fit better than the starboard. I had to use a lot of finger pressure to keep it down, although it is still a little high. I may have to sand it down a bit. But first I want to fix the gaps at the nose: Still some sanding to do after a shot of primer: But it's getting better. I decided to turn my attention to the wingtip lights and get them on and painted. I masked them with some Grumbacher liquid latex (due to the curves) and masked off the rest. I sprayed Testors Acryl Clear Red and Clear Green to finish them off, but I thought the green was not blue enough: Once they dried, I decided to blue them up. I decided to mix a few drops of blue food coloring with some Future: Much bluer now--it looks better to me: During this process, I broke off the fine interior wing structure on the folded wing-tip when I stuck it into that blu-tak. Great! Something else to fix: I managed to wiggle the rest of the plastic piece off of the PE hinges--that made it easier to drill. I used a piece of paperclip as a pin, but it was too big, so I filed it down into a smaller squarish shape to fit it in: I want the pin to be the part that fits into that PE, and bridge the gap in the plastic for a stronger bond. CA glue into one part first, then file down and test fit. You can barely see the pin in this pic: Glued and dried, it fits right into the wing as it should. And all is right again with my build: Anyway, hope to post more soon! Thanks for looking in! Tom

Beautiful work! Can't wait for more! Tom

Very nice work. Tom

Very nice! Love tat paint job!

Masterful work Laurent! Thanks for sharing! Tom

Beautiful paint work Jeroen!

This is gonna be nice! Tom

Thanks Marcel!

Well, time to get back to work. First off, I had to buy a new shop light. Daytime modeling was fine, but the nights were pretty dark on my bench. Hung it up in about 45 minutes. BIG DIFFERENCE. Let there be light! So I started in again. Got all the small bits coated in Finish, then did oil washes, which were thinned with lighter fluid. It really makes the details pop! Wingtips: Prop, with and without spinner. Alcad polished aluminum blades (front only, reverse side is flat black) and spinner; stripes are painted: I started the landing gear with the original rubber tires; but all they did was gather dust, so I ordered some resin replacements, I believe from Czech Master. That meant I had to cut the rims out of those rubber tires (of course I already glued them in). Since the resin tires are flattened, I had to finagle (it's a word!) the old rims onto the painted, finished tires. I used some plastic strip to fill in between the rims on each side of the tire. The hub also had to fit through both rims evenly, so it was touch and go whether I could pull it off. It's a work in progress; I will have pics of the finished wheels next time. Here are the painted tires, with a little Tamiya powder on the rolling surfaces (Luci is looking on in the background): Now the cowling; used some white oil paint, mixed with yellow ochre to make some of the rivets pop. I think I will go back and airbrush some Mr. Color Rubber Black and Cowling color very lightly, just to make it look more natural. Also added landing lights into the wing tips. I was always bad at math, so I only made two, but I need four... anyway, so, the other two I made shorter, and while gluing/adjusting, I pushed them in too far... So tomorrow, I will make two new ones. I used round plastic rod, and sanded down the end into a conical shape, painted them silver, and glued them in. I found that while attaching the clear covers, the rod barely fit in the narrow space between the clear part, so I had to shove the "bulbs" in further. I used Micro Krystal Klear to glue on the clear parts. Anyway, I can't wait to see how they turn out once painted red and green. Anyway, that's all for now, and thanks for looking! Tom

Thanks, Jonathan. I'm in the middle of writing a paper for my summer class, but I should have some more posts up over the weekend. Tom

Back to work! Here's a look at the exhaust stacks. I dimple brush painted them with Mr. Surfacer, then airbrushed them with browns and blacks. I've been thinking that I may revise them with more white-ish tints, since this aircraft was practically brand new when it flew it's first mission. I also ran into a problem with the landing gear (one of them). It seems that Tamiya have these itsy, bitsy, teeny, tiny pins to assemble them with... so, naturally, I lost one. I made another with a tiny nail--no harm done, just some extra bench time. I’m not sure what I did when assembling this kit, but I was having major fit issues between the wings and the fuselage. I mean, the top of the wings would not fully fit flush with the fuselage like so… This is with 0% pressure... When I push down on it, it almost lines up correctly. Left wing fits better than right. So... Fit is much better now (I will post some new pics soon), but during all this mayhem, I noticed that there are two areas of the fuselage that fill in gaps in the wheel wells. The wing fit issue occurred BEFORE I added this wheel well detail. Here it is in place... And adding new ribs... Thanks for looking! Tom

Yes Rick, you have it down! That's how real modelers clamp plastic!

Beautiful work Jeroen! Great research pics you are using too--can't wait for paint! That scheme is going to look cool. It is nice to see a large sale Dutch aircraft finally represented--even if it is in resin. I wish someone would produce a Fokker G.I in 1/32! I particularly like early WWII aircraft, and I am glad some manufacturers are getting around to producing these. Tom