DocRob

Today I achieved some very important and daunting steps, but firs things first. I finished the front section with all the parts added for the axle, brakes, steering and suspension. Some were a bit fiddly, but in all, the fit was great with that delicate section. It´s also quite robust. The axle screws are loose by design and therefore hanging on the pic. Next was the daunting part, the closing of the main body. There are so many intersecting parts, that even test fitting is a time and nerve consuming affair. Finally I got it done and everything fitted with a tiny bit of tweaking here and there. The floor pan and body are hold together with eight screws. Finally, I test fitted the engine section to the body and luckily everything fit as well. Cheers Rob

Wow, fantastic looking camo, congratulation Cheers Rob

Thank you, it is my first wooden ship and went rather quickly and fine, but I stalled with rigging until now. I will definitely finish the Duchess of Kingston soon. Cheers Rob

After all the body work, now it´s all about subassemblies and not to damage the polished body with scratches or CA fingerprints. The polished tub went finally onto the floor pan and got screwed there permanently. I further added some details like the pedals. The rear of the tub received the gas tank with all the needed attachments. Then I finished the front suspension sans the steering. Most delicate were some turned pins and the intersecting tubes, which hold the nose in place later. There was a need for absolute precision, to prevent gaps from the monocoque to the nose part. Cheers Rob

Thank you Carl, a wash with warm water with some drops of detergent in it helps a lot. Usually static is not so much a problem where I live, due to high humidity levels in the air, but the MFH resin reacts strongly. Cheers Rob

H. Spoke about CA gluing PE parts, that was what I was referring to. I double planked a complete wooden sailing boat, using CA. I know, wooden ship modelers often dislike CA and you have to be really careful using it, to not stain the visible side, but it works good and superfast. This is the hull, I made, there are no stains, even after finishing the wood with varnish. The golden ornate PE is also glued on with CA. Cheers Rob

Beautiful looking decks, H. I wonder about the CA though. For the decks white glue might be a god option, but for small PE parts? I think the white glue can´t take any strains. I use Colle 21 CA by the gallon for my metal MFH kits and used it with ships PE as well with no complaints. Cheers Rob

Thank you Paul, it took some elbow grease to get there. The downside with car finishes is, there are always some bad spots, at least with mine. I have one piece of dust on one of the side intakes and on the other, there lifted the decal during sanding with the clear coat on. I can only guess, there was something under the decal not adhering well, but it was invisible before sanding, no bubble no nothing. It´s not bad enough to redo everything and try to get a new decal sheet, but it seems to happen always. Cheers Rob

Another friend of heavy metal, welcome to LSM. Good to see you building the big Leo as the first one here. Cheers Rob

We need the "wow" smiley, like they have over on MSW. Fantastic detail work. Cheers Rob

Indeed Kevin, lots of great detail to watch. Ships are not easy to capture on pics entirely thanks to their geometry. Cheers Rob

Fantastic result with your E100, which is accordingly to your avatar. Paintjob and weathering are super bueno. Cheers Rob

There are few steps more rewarding in modeling than to finish a car body to a high shine surface. All the work going into took a while, but I love doing the polishing as a last step. I used Tamiya´s polishing compounds starting with coarse, then fine, followed by finish. I didn´t apply wax now, because there are still many parts to add to the body, so this will be kept to the finish. The coarse polishing is by far the most important and also time consuming one to my eye, as you remove all the tiny imperfections, check against the light and continue until all looks good, always taking care not to polish through the clear coat. I couldn´t resist a little workbench mock up. Cheers Rob

A beautiful Albatros you built here, especially in that tiny scale. Congratulations on the result and having the balls to rig in 1/72. Cheers Rob

Are we witness of a continuation of the Scharnhorst build, Kevin? Would be great, you are by far a better model builder than cameraman . Cheers Rob