DocRob

Today, I joined the engine with the monocoque. Test fitting was done before, but a last aggregate with three tubes attached needed to be fittet in between. That proved very difficult, but after some attempts, I got it done. If you ever build the kit, don´t glue the metal end plates (M142, M143) to the monocoque, like shown in step 13. Luckily I didn´t, because other ways I would have had to remove them to fit the engine in step 17. And finally, I tried the fit of the center body parts. Cheers Rob

Thanks FA and Carl, the radiators are indeed protruding far out, but they are relatively robust. The process of getting the complete front section glued to the monocoque needed some hefty handling and they hold up. Cheers Rob

The front section was really difficult to build together due to many intersecting parts. Finally, I got the coolers glued to the framework and let dry for a while. The next difficulty was to add the front section to the monocoque. You had to plan ahead and follow the instructions to the number, to get it done. Finally, I got the four connection points glued in, while fiddling all the other ducts, hoses and wires. I´m lucky that this part of the build is behind me now and I can look forward to marry the monocoque to the engine section soon. Cheers Rob

Great result, FA. Detailing, painting and weathering are spot on. Most modern tanks have little interest to me, but yours looks fantastic. Cheers Rob

Nice work overall, and also well photographed. I like your cockpit with all the details. PE flaps can be fiddly at times, but they improve the look a lot. Cheers Rob

Here the belts are 4 mm wide with applications being 3 mm wide. I have some 1/20 sets as well and they are less wide, but I didn´t measure them. Cheers Rob

Today, I finished the front office. Before installation, I glued all the tubing and wiring to the backside with CA and let dry. Then I fiddled the steering column with the instrument panel in place and laid the wires in their correct places, a delicate affair. After adding the x-bar to the instrument panel, I made the final installments to the front side, namely the fire extinguisher pull ring and the steering wheel. Cheers Rob

Nice job on the rigging Mike. I thought about a simplified method of rigging, when I start mine, but I don´t know, if it will satisfy me. If not, I have a tutorial now . Cheers Rob

Today I finished the steering wheel, which was first airbrushed gloss black for decaling, then received the rivets, followed by a coat of semi matte clear. After drying, I masked the inner part and applied a coat of Tamiya LP flat black and dabbed in some black StreetBlister textile flocks for texture with a brush. I was not satisfied with the matte look and added a coat of Tamiya LP flat clear, again not flat enough. Finally, I used good old Tamiya XF-1 flat black. The fibers were finger dabbed into the fresh point and there are still some of them waiting for a shave. It looks a bit coarse in the pic, but this is heavy macroed. The instrument front panel, made from PE was also sprayed gloss black, followed by decaling the switches and dials, followed by a semi matte clear coat as a finish. I then added some brackets to the instruments, before gluing and riveting everything to the front roll bar, which was polished beforehand. The bezels are supplied as clear acetate circles, which I glued using Future. Last were the white metal switches, with only the fire extinguisher pull ring missing, because it´s to fragile Cheers Rob

Who´s normal here, we nuts try to reproduce the reality in scale and I often wonder why . Cheers Rob

Thanks Carl, I first used the MFH seat belts with my Tamiya 1/12 Renault Turbo build and liked them better than the ones Tamiya supplied and bought them for all my F1 1/12 kits and even some 1/20 kits. Cheers Rob

Sorry, no hit, I checked my pix from a P47-D from Chino, but non showed it clearly. Problem is, the wheel well cover sits so tight around the axle and brake line, that it is barely visible at all. You should check, if it would be visible with your kit LG. Have you checked technical drawings? Cheers Rob

Looking very good. I don´t know, if you are aware of ION Models 1/200 figures and deck furniture sets. IONION MODEL Titanic furniture set 1/200 ION20th CENT. CIVIL SHIP PASSENGERS & CREW 1/350 Cheers Rob

The copper of the braking lines was supplied with the kit and actually is a tube with a very tiny bore. The copper from the exhaust coil springs was wire from the leftover box. Cheers Rob

One subject out of an earlier phase of the build was still aggravating me, the coil springs, which hold the exhausts in place. There are eight and I couldn´t add a single one, despite trying really hard. Then I had an idea. What if I insert a copper wire into the coil spring, to bend it easily into the needed curve. I tried and it worked. Half an hour later, this issue was fixed and I have an open issue less on my schedule. Cheers Rob

Beautiful plane and a great kit, denders. I built it some years ago and absolutely loved the experience. I can´t remember any real issues with the kit, in fact engineering and fit were near perfect. I wanted to try something new with the build and brush painted it with oil colors, which worked better than thought. If you are interested, here is a link to my build, where we had some interesting discussions about the original and especially about the paint scheme Cheers Rob

The cockpit tub starts to become busy. I added the seat belts to the seat and then this was glued into the tub. I really like MFH seat belts, as they look good and are relatively easy to assemble. There are white metal buckles and PE parts and two widths of blue ribbon. All got assembled using double sided tape, which has a strong bond and is supplied with the kit. I bought seat belt sets for other kits too, like for my 1/12 Tamiya kits. The manual placed the headrest/rollbar before the seat, but I chose to do it after, because it was easier to fiddle in the seat belts behind the seat. Cheers Rob

Thank you Mike, test fitting, preparing and understanding how everything goes together is essential for MFH builds. You have to think and browse ahead often. Subassemblies like the engine are easier this way, but when everything has to fit into a body and being closed, it´s always a bit more complicated. The sequence in the manual is not always the best, but that might be personal biased, it´s not really wrong. Cheers Rob

This pic is the best, I could find, it´s directly from the German Bundeswehr. If you click at the rear sprocket you get a close up. Ausrüstung und Technik: Der Kampfpanzer Leopard 2 Cheers Rob

Thanks a lot. I got mine through AliExpress, because it was really hard to find a vendor shipping it to my island (a problem which I have very often), so Phnom Penh shouldn´t be too much of a problem. Don´t forget to get the needles with it. The magnetic tumbler polishing is often only the first step. Many parts like the cockpit tub or roll bar, etc. are polished by hand. I tried different methods and wire brushes, manually or in a Dremel are too coarse mostly. I prefer hand polishing with very fine steel wool or coarse sponge pads first and then followed by Autosol polishing paste applied with a cotton rag. I´d love to see your Chevy build, there are not a lot of car builds here on LSM. The good thing with MFH kits, there is no need for AM. The only after marked item, I used on my Cobra Coupe was some square millimeters of wine cap foil ,if I remember right. The most difficult part of car building is to achieve a perfect body finish and to keep it through the later phases of the build . I learned a lot through some car builds recently, but it´s still daunting, because you have to do so much prep work beforehand. Cheers Rob

Very nice looking huge Leo, but wouldn´t it have been a bit easier to paint the tracks and rubber pads before assembling them? Cheers Rob

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