DocRob

Everything you tried was abusive PW, and it worked . Cheers Rob

Thank you Nick, I always dread the final assembly stages of MFH kits. Everything is so fragile and with the paint on, you can ruin a lot. I always try to get ahead mentally and solve the probs before they occur, but I reached this point with all my MFH kits, except for the Crocker motorcycle. With the BT52, there is no body material to grind away, it is preciously thin, where it hits the ignition wiring. You can notice, the BT52 is an older kit from MFH, not as refined as the newer ones and with many white metal parts heavily bent, which was not caused by my cleaning efforts. Even very large parts, like the frames for the coolers are deformed and you need some force to get them right. Cheers Rob

I think the Count is right here, the missile shape of the BT52 was very unique in it´s time or in other words murrayesque. The engine and especially the turbo needed a lot of space and a lot of cooling, that´s why the slim front leads to the wide rear part. While being at it, I tried the body fit a bit further. The (only) good thing, the body seems to close properly, but while trying, I knocked away more parts, some of them hard to reach. I hate these steps during MFH builds, but they are necessary and it is almost bodily pain, to loose all the parts during the process. Cheers Rob

Here I am again at the dreaded point of every MFH build, test fitting for final assembly. You know it before and it is always like that, something isn´t fitting. Trouble is, you can´t do it before, the sub assemblies have to be finished and mounted before a valid test fitting can be done. Unfortunately at this stage everything is full of fragile detail which is prone to knock off, which I did a lot. I added the huge coolers to the side of the engine, the angled one is already fixed, the other only loosely fit. I also added the floor pan and some still unpainted columns to the pan, which determine the height of the body. After a lot of wiggling and experimenting, I got the body on top in the hopeful correct position, which I need to verify with the front body parts. Unfortunately, all spark plugs and wirings were broken loose (among other parts) as they seem to not fit under the body. To my eye, the engine sits absolutely perfect and there is no way to get it lower. I had that same issue with the Cobra Coupe, but there, I could fix it, in parts with thinning the bonnet and adding a millimeter of height to the body, both is not possible with the BT52b. Yup, I´m really frustrated and I may let the kit rest for a while to regain my mojo. BTW: I think MFH got the color for the top of the cooling units wrong, they call for silver, but all photos I checked showed them white, which I used. Cheers Rob

Well for most of us, @HubertB will be put off by the 1/35 scale, but it is not a flying squirrel . Cheers Rob

Just found the ultimate squirrel for us: Squirrel & Pine Nut Set-LIANG Model Cheers Rob

Very nice paintjob and weathering. The cockpit looks fantastic and benefits from the extra detail like the seat belts, etc. Cheers Rob

I don´t know for sure, but maybe your pics are to big. I reduce resolution, when I load up mine. Cheers Rob

I don´t want to tempt you Carl, but there is a clear psycho frame for the Unicorn out there and a dedicated multi colored LED set from Kosmos. Mine is red and I stay wit hit for my first Gundam build. PG Unicorn Clear Psycho Frame | Transparent Replacement Kit 1/60 – Takara Model Studio Cheers Rob

thank you FA, there are two types of foil included in the kit, self adhesive aluminum foil and self adhesive embossed aluminum foil, along a sheet with the paper templates to cut them. The fittings you mention are beautiful, but also cause for some headaches. Many need to be drilled with a 0,8 mm bit, being only of slightly larger diameter than 1 mm. Sometimes, they are not that well cast and it is hard to find the exact middle point for drilling. The other problem is the manual, which often does not show, where the wire or tube leads to and there are lots of connections. Cheers Rob

Nice Carl, mine is still with the customs Carl. Is it the red light set or with RGB color change for a clear psycho frame?. In any case, the name plate says, your unicorn has a thermonuclear power plant, so you never need batteries for your LED´s . Cheers Rob

Phew, the real powerhouse of the BT52b took some effort to get right. I can only estimate, how hot the turbo gets when run to full power with all the heat shielding. I should have aluminum wrapped all hoses and tubes, but installation was difficult enough, so I omitted it. The exhaust manifolds, turbo parts and exhausts were painted with AK Extreme Metal stainless steel and accentuated with black smoke of the same brand and finally touched up with Alclad jet exhaust for a reddish brown shine like on my reference pics. The black cover of the turbo is a clear vac part, which I painted translucent black. On the original it is made from carbon fiber, but I was too lazy to decal it, as it will be hidden very deep into the car. I had difficulties to get good color reads off the pictures from the original engine. The embossed aluminum foil needs to be cut and glued to the PE parts. It needs a bit of fine tuning, but it was not easy to get the foiled parts in place. Specially on the tiny cylindrical pot on top it was tedious, with the microscopic three rivets to be placed there. Cheers Rob

A bad weather spell helps a lot, but I generally like to get into something like a meditative groove when modelling. I don´t build for the display shelf, but for the building experience itself. Prep work with MFH kits is time consuming and the painting stage dictates it´s timing due to curing times, but with the assembly phases, I can determine my building speed myself. I usually work myself through one or more often two pages of the manual as one step. At the beginning of a build, I try to determine, which steps will be the hardest for me to achieve and try to get them out of the way first. With the Brabham, it was the carbon fiber decaling, which proved easier than thought. Cheers Rob

Thank you Gus, Therese is described as the biggest storm and rainfront since 2013. Not the strongest fortunately, but it passes for over a week, but I hope from Monday on, it will be better. There are strong winds and downpours of 100 l in one hour and in between sunny stretches, weird. It´s about time for some calm and sunny weather, as winter was cold, ugly and long this year. I start getting fat, sitting inside building models, when there are no reparations to do outside. No sports, no swimming since over a week . Cheers Rob

I got some more steps completed. I finished the brakes and suspension, added a radiator, the tailwing post and some engine framing, along wiring and tubing. If you ever build this kit, be aware, that the nickel silver wires are pushed deep enough into the holes and don´t end flush, because a peg from part M74 and M75 in a later step will be fitted into the hole. I´ve overseen it and had to do some surgery. Finally the gearbox was glued and screwed to the engine block and now the rear section lacks only the turbo, the exhausts, some electronics and lastly the huge coolers. A spell of really ugly weather with storm and flooding rain acts as a building booster, always hoping, nothing flies away or goes submarine. Some mock up pictures with the monocoque loosely added: Cheers Rob

Your patience paid off, the P-40 looks fantastic. Weathering is spot on and I really like, what you have done with the white surfaces, which can look boring, when non treated. Cheers Rob

No need for depression Pw, you would be amazed what you can do with that kind of kit. It needs some adapting and it is a challenge, but other than many near unbuildable kits, MFH kits are rarely frustrating. They turn out the best in the builder, due to motivation and satisfaction. Cheers Rob

Can´t tell for sure, which type of brake discs were used, the race, I plan to build the BT52b for. They were using carbon disc brakes for testing, maybe for races as well and I was eager to test the carbon paint. Both types of brake discs are included in the kit. Cheers Rob

It is Tamiya LP-5 semi gloss black thinned with about 50% of leveling thinner. Cheers Rob

I guess they will, I´m wondering, why Bandai didn´t include the set with their absolute prime squirrel. It´s not a lot you get for the asked 200 bucks. Five LED´s and a bit of electronic, deeply unsquirreling. Cheers Rob

From what I´ve seen, the Kosmos sets are not only cheaper, they are also better than the Bandai sets. Cheers Rob

A fantastic rendition of that fragile plane. Thanks again Mike for sharing your PDF logs. I will load it down and use it, when I build mine. Cheers Rob

Again it is cash in time, my favorite part of MFH builds, when all the necessary parts for a section are prepared, drilled and painted and ready to assemble. The gearbox received lots of the suspension parts, absolutely trouble free and relatively sturdy and good to handle. The aluminum foil on the suspension arms and axle on one side is provided with the kit as self adhesive foil. Here you can also see, how I work with semi transparent black color over metal or silver priming, to let the parts look more interesting and scale wise more correct than deep black, which to the eye nearly never exists. A mock up shot with the engine: For the first time, I used Zero Paints carbon ceramic grey paint for the brake discs and I really like the effect: Cheers Rob

That´s what I call a MONSTER SQURREL Carl, I just got infested by you and got a perfect grade Unicorn. I haven´t showed it, because I´m still waiting for the Kosmos LED set.

De nada Nick, there are no length measurements given, but a photo of the real car shows where the buckles belong and where the fasteners are. With the MFH method to glue the seat belt parts together with double sided adhesive tape, you can adjust until the last moment. Getting the belts through the top seat belt fasteners (the white metal parts) is a bit tricky, as you have to fiddle them through the holes in the seat first and then through the top fasteners. Good tweezers are helpful here. The four lower belts are glued to the underside of the rubber seat pan, using the supplied double sided adhesive tape. You can estimate the length, when you think about fastening them around a not too heavy driver. Cheers Rob