DocRob

The pics are sharp as is the 109, Gaz. She's coming together nicely. The surfaces look great and now the fun begins. Cheers Rob

Ah, the Africa Twin a good bike for sure, but a bit boring too. The kit is impressive though. The NR was a bit over engineered, when I remember right. Oval pistons, what's the idea behind that? When it comes to Honda and modelling it's maybe the RC166 with the metal wheel set or a Monkey. Cheers Rob

Amazing work, like always, but never fails to impress me. Cheers Rob

Thank you Carl, it helps a lot to have owned a relatively modern bike and know the shine of all the used materials. It's my first attempt on bikes, besides a started Honda NR, more than 25 years ago. The Bimota is a strange looking beast, with interesting technical developments and would look great in the display shelf. You may should give it a try, along the bond Lotus.... Cheers Rob

Thank you Harv. Yes the chain, there are different types out there AM wise. I saw one with the hole links as one etched loop with pins in between and one very great looking single link track. This is my first bike build and I want to concentrate on the materials and finish, so I stay with the kit part. I toyed a bit with it, sprayed the whole thing in a light gun metal shade, then masked the chain and used flat aluminum for the pinions, followed by panel liner, which looks a bit oily due to it being slightly shiny and then rubbed on some chrome pigments. I'd say, it's usable. Cheers Rob

Thanks Peter, it's a single seater, there is only the front row . I had nearly all my metallic colors pulled out of the shelf, shaking them up, peeking at the bottom side of the jars for the right shade or base for mixtures. I haven't mixed Xtreme metals and Tamiya LP's though . Cheers Rob

I have the Tamiya Desmo kit, to be used with the Studio 27 transkit to backdate for the 2003 version. The only difficult choice... Whether to drill all the holes in these gorgeous resin parts for the Catalunya GP Capirossi first win bike? Thank you Steve, your Desmo project sounds interesting with the conversion included. Drilling out these holes would be to much for me without a template. Only one misaligned hole and the look is gone. Aren't there any decals out. What about the thickness of the resin body parts. If it's to thick, where the holes have to be drilled, it wouldn't look right either. Cheers Rob

Muchas gracias Kai, I really like to have a broad view concerning my modelling projects, I get bored easily. I'm not sure about the braking disks, I painted them with a steel color and they look better than on the pic, but maybe I will purchase PE brake disks. You made me curious, which bike do you have in your stash? Cheers Rob

Thanks Dennis, yes, these Ducati's are a piece of art, indeed. They are also able to give you goose bumps. I once attended a Superbike race on the Lausitzring, a bad circuit for motorcycle races, but after the first round maybe fifteen Ducati's with top speed where charging down the long straight, It was an unbelieveable sound, which I will never forget. I loved my KTM and the Triumph Speed Triple before, but never owned a Ducati until now in 1/12 scale Cheers Rob

Thank you Phil, it is indeed genre busting, as there is no correct way to display the finished Ducati here, but what the heck, when ready, I will put it into the finished aircraft section as it is fast and light . it's my first bike build, but I love to try new things and I'm sure you could do as well. I've tried the AK metal waxes and I do like them, when used to their purpose. Lately, I used them to repair the NMF on my KI-61, where I had a tacky spot, rubbed away with alcohol and removed some sprayed paint, which I remade with a mix of the waxes, much easier than to respray. They do look very metal like and are easy to apply. I've used the metal waxes on different occasions, but when masking, decaling or varnishing comes into into play, I do not trust them. Extreme Metals and Tamiya LP paints are perfect for the job accompanied with Uschi pigments, which are the best in business. Cheers Rob

On to the engine, a masterpiece of engineering, light, compact and high powered, which means complex, the way it's constructed. It really pays to study the manual and work methodical. Normally I prepare most components of a kit for one or two long painting sessions, but not with the Ducati. There are so many different colors involved, that I prepared only the engine with exhausts and some parts of the frame / air duct. To get the multiple metals right, there was a lot of complicated masking involved I used Tamiya lacquer colors and AK Extreme Metal colors for all the different metal shades. The engine was painted with dark aluminum and was then treated with some steel pigments for emphasis. The Cylinder heads and clutch were painted in a mix from titanium gold, a bit of bronze and some metallic gray. The exhaust ends received a coat of dur aluminum and a mix of titanium silver and gun metal. The same mix in a slightly lighter shade was used for the exhaust tubing, which then was added with translucent yellow, red and blue on the heat stressed parts. The black frame was painted with the formidable Tamiya LP semi gloss black, which has exactly the right shine. The engine: Some of the subassemblies are screwed together. The air duct and frame parts were added this way. They received decals for the serial number and some tubing for the cooling fluids. The tubes were sprayed matte black and the masked for painting the steel colored fixing fittings. Which now starts to look very busy: That's where I am with the build and I have to say, I absolutely love the kit. It's a canvas to test material replicating skills and that was, what I was hoping for. Cheers Rob

My first contact with the kit was, like with most of my kits, to search for the hard edges of the built. I immediately found the braking discs a place, where some extra effort would be well spent and drilled out what felt like a thousand holes. The type of plastic Tamiya uses here, the silver grey type, is prone to form burrs, which hare very hard to clean off. This is the unpainted result: Cheers Rob

Buon Giorno Amici, I have a Tamiya run lately for no special reason and this time I go LS. The Tamiya kit rpresents the Ducati 1199 Panigale and will be finished in the Tricolore design. You have to love European motorcycles for being only half the weight of the average American bike with at least double the acceleration and real handling. I know a bit provocative, but there are other reasons to love them. As they are high tech products, you will have to replicate dozens of different metal correctly, which attracted this project to me. When I lived in Berlin I had a KTM 950 SM, which drove like a sharp blade through the heavy traffic in Berlin. I loved this bike, but left it in Berlin and promise my wife not to buy one for my tiny island. This is the kit: I opted for the metal fork set. The plastic looks very nicely casted with the exception of the clear canopy dome, which is quite distorted. As it's very prominent, I will buy a vac-formed substitute. One other irritating thing is the color call outs in the manual. For the engine you need to paint single parts in different, mostly metal colors. I haven't counted, but already used more than ten different metal colors and some of them has to be mixed, which makes it quite confusing to follow the steps, without forgetting to paint some detail this way or another. Cheers Rob

Gaz, I have to admit, that I cant wait to see your lounge chair build up. It will be tricky for sure, given the size, but I love your attention to detail. Cheers Rob

Wow Kai, she's a beauty. What a relief it must be to have such a great result on display in the end. I love these 'pure' jets of her era, only wings, an engine and not much more. The paintjob looks great and vibrant an eye catcher for sure, congratulations. Ah, have I mentioned the display, simple and effective and supplements the pure beauty of the beast. Cheers Rob

The intakes are always a focal point of a jet, the great work you did will pay off in the end Carl. Cheers Rob

I had to google the Muskoka chairs, but they are more or less the same like the Adirondaks. These were the ones I built two years ago, definitely more work than the Kentucky Stick chairs. Cheers Rob

I've heard good things about the Lady Nelson. You should give it a try Phil. Those Kutters, like my Le Renard and the Lady Nelson are great first builds. Relatively large scale, due to small original ships, only one mast, which reduces rigging and hopefully in the case of the Lady Nelson double planking, which I find important. It's much easier to achieve a good looking hull with thinner decorative planking on top oh the more sturdy ones. Cheers Rob

Not that much to show Peter. The Le Renard is an slowly ongoing project, where the next step is the second planking. My next winter project could be the Duchess of Kingston. I bought the kit some month ago. It will be a tempting project with lots to learn, but Vanguard kits are a bit like Tamiya in wood. They make it easy for the builder and that is well appreciated for me being a novice wood ship builder. I plan to do a WIP about my Duchess of Kingston adventures. Royal Yacht, Duchess of Kingston – 1778 – VANGUARD MODELS The cutter made a good job, cutting the planks. There are two different types supplied with the Duchess of Kingston, the lighter is cut perfect, the darker has a very slight squeeze. One second on the grinding machine will make it perfect. Cheers Rob

Thanks Peter, these chairs are comfortable and easy to build compared to the Adirondack chairs, I built two years ago. Cheers Rob

Thanks Peter, I hope I'm able to cut wooden planks for my sailing boat project with the cutter, without squeezing the wood. The wood is not thick, but it needs precision cuts. Cheers Rob

Thanks Gus, in the moment we have a great summer, but we have harsh conditions here too, lots of humidity, wind, fog and then everything changes to dry heat, not perfect for softwood as well. I built some Adirondack chairs two years ago from a very durable wood, but I have to rework them this year. The new chairs are foldable and will be stored inside, when the weather turns bad. The new built sea view terrace is more a summer terrace, because there are cruel winds blowing in winter time and we will use the place for a winter barbecue only on days with no more than a breeze with a Kamado barbecue, which distributes a lot of heat. Tha Canary Islands are called the islands of eternal spring only for the tourists, it can be pretty rough here, specially northern bound and up in the mountains. I do feel cold more often here, than I felt in Berlin, where the houses are better insulated and better heated. Cheers Rob

Thanks Carl, I used the following plans, but they are in German. If you have questions about the plans you can PM me. I followed the basic measurements in the description, except, I used threaded rod of 6 mm (M6) stainless steel and drilled the holes in the wood with 8 mm diameter. In all the construction took three days, it's a relatively easy build. Tipps & Tricks: Kentucky Stick Chair (senotto.de) You can buy this kind of foldable chair as well, for example in the Netherlands. Fieldchair | Weltevree - order now, free shipping within EU From this company I bought the sheepskin with a leather loop, to attach the skin to the chair. Cheers Rob

Actually it's off the bench right now, because it's ready. Two 1/1 models of Kentucky Stick Chairs, which I built over the last week. Another summer project, which will be a present for my wife's birthday, to use on our new sea view terrace. For colder days, you can put some sheepskins on. Cheers Rob

After a long journey, the Mitre cutter appeared at my door today. The first package from AK was lost somewhere, but they immediately sent me a new packet. Very good service, I have to say. The cutter should be the same as the DSPIAE one but branded by AK. Cheers Rob