DocRob

Interesting clinic for the use of oils Nick, thanks for that. I use oils more and more, be it for figure painting or weathering effects. I even plan to paint a plane exclusively with oils as an experiment. Your dabbing techniques are the way to go, mostly. When it comes to panel accentuation (like your spent charges panels), I use a slightly different approach. I dab on the darker oils only to the borders of the to pronounce panel and draw the oils inwards with a synthetic flat or saw brush until I get the desired effect. The benefit is, a clear visual separation of the panels. Cheers Rob

Wolf beat me to it. These German engineers had their ways to get the planes turn tighter . If there is no way to remove the cowlings, without colateral damage, I would drill a hole from the underside, where the engine mount should be, big enough, to insert a glue brush. Filling the hole is the easier part then. Cheers Rob

The result is well worth the temporary twitch of an eye Wolf. Bummer with the rigging nightmare, but luckily there isn't a lot of it on the DR.1. Your Fokker looks so good, that I'm tempted to pull my Roden one out of the shelf, congratulations. Cheers Rob

Excellent progress Phil, the interior should not be closed, as it looks absolutely real. You should consider at least a n engine maintenance dio, hint.... Cheers Rob

Great work Mark. I sometimes spend a lot of time on some never seen again inner details, with the argument, at least to have some pics afterwards. Honestly, I have never viewed the pictures except, when questions arose here on LSM. It just feels good to do things right. Cheers Rob

I like the look of the figure, no strange hue on the pics to be seen, at least to my eye. Colors tend to change a lot under different lighting conditions and even more when photographed. There is no digital true or false to it, it's always an interpretation. Cheers Rob

Wow, the Mirage is looking great Kai. Are you planning a panel wash? I could imagine, a heavy black wash could give a bit too much contrast. Cheers Rob

Sweet, Happy birthday Carl. Cheers Rob

I had this this in my shopping basket many times, but than I saw Sharks build here. It still attracts me, but... Cheers Rob

You are too diverted for serious modelling, Bill . Honestly, for me it's the same in the moment. Short vacations, visiting friends and construction working around the house, I have to rethink priorities . Cheers Rob

I'm completely pfizered since more than a month and a half and a bit astonished, that they vaccinate so slow in Oz. On my islands, they start to jab kits above twelve now, with 70% of the inhabitants having at least their first shot. But that's maybe, because it's summer and the government has a vital interest in having secure tourism with Delta spreading. Cheers Rob

I think the Werfers look great as they are and like Kai, I think a five point glue join should be sufficient. When unsure, you can tab carefully with a cotton swab onto the finalized Werfer-Rohre, with something spongy beneath, in case of. I bet, they wont separate. In general, I appreciate the sense of security. I like my builds robust, and hate, when after closing the canopy some tiny part inside the fuselage come loose and rattle inside. It's a habit, maybe from my engineering background. Fragile is not good enough . Cheers Rob

Beautiful result, adding contrast with the nose cone painting and decaling. I always wonder, why, and not only in this case, air forces of all times bother with camouflage, only to top it with vivid colored markings. Cheers Rob

A very nice plane with a beautiful and striking paintjob, like taken out of a Buck Danny comic book. Great work John. Cheers Rob

Very nice Mark. Are these instruments decals? I have a colored PE-set for mine, but got a bit bored by PE jammed cockpits, lately. Cheers Rob

I could have taken them for real, except for the wheels being to clean and the angle of the lens in some pics. I echo Martins Bravo, great work. Cheers Rob

A jig is a big word for drilling four tiny holes in a piece of wood , but with a jig, you could also provide a stop for the barrel, to get both assemblies congruent. Cheers Rob

Do you have any hot light bulbs left, that's so 19xx . Belts and pit are looking great John. Cheers Rob

Gaz, I'm sure you have seen this: The Modelling News: Gustav’s Bazookas: Eduard Model Accessories WGr.21 rockets for the Bf 109G in Review Cheers Rob

You could also use copper tube, which is available here in Europe with a diameter of 8mm. You can solder brass and copper, but Aluminum is a different breed. Cheers Rob

Nice work on the masking Kai. I use a good mask too, when spraying and try to have a constant airstream in the room when doing so. After spraying lacquers, I leave the workshop for some minutes, when possible. I have a spray booth, but it proved to be to small for 1/32 planes, so I improved it, by adding a transparent plastic container, which is Duct-taped to the suction module. The transparent container was cut to fit and allows to worm some LED strips around for better lighting. It's not the best unit, money can buy, but it works for me. You see the problem Planning phase with the same kit. Done (Not the TA-152 ) Lastly, I moved the LED strips to the outside. Cleaning the box is much easier this way. Cheers Rob

Nice work on the rocket tubes, Gaz. I tried to look for correct placement angles on the pics, Eduard's manual and have to say, it's really hard to interpret it correctly. In the Eduard manual, it seems like the front rods are angled forwards, where the back rods are more or less 90 degrees angled. On their CAD pictures all struts seem aligned at 90 degrees. The photos don't make it easier, so in the end, I think you got it right and the most important aspect, the upward angle of the tube looks convincing. I love metal works in modelling, I just can not hide my metal engineer background . Cheers Rob

Hi John, I used HGW wet transfers on different builds and have very mixed feelings about them. Preparation is the key to success here and a shovel of luck too, I guess. The process of applying wet transfers is different from usual decals. You cut out the transfer, let it soak like a decal, place it on the model and after some hours of drying, there is the delicate part of removing the transparent carrier film, which adheres on top of the transfer. The transfers are very fragile and have to be handled absolutely carefully. You have to cut out every single transfer, as the carrier film, which later will be removed covers the whole sheet. That maybe is not a prob with a Corsair, but with millions of tiny stencils on a Jet, it is. A perfectly glossy and polished surface seems to better the adhesion. The benefit of the wet transfers is, they don't silver at all and there is no trace of carrier film to be seen, they are like tattooed on. I used them on my MIG-31 for one million of stencils and most of the transfers were intact after removing the carrier film. some were partly destroyed, but it didn't matter that much, because the MIG was relatively worn. With my recent 1/48 Hellcat build, I had not much luck with the HGW's. The national insignia went on beautifully, the cat mouth and eyes were partly damaged after removing the carrier film. I had a very hard time to remove the rest of the fangs and eyes and used the Cartograph kit decals instead. I have no idea what happened, the model was gloss coated, but not polished. The fangs and eyes were placed on slightly curved cowling surfaces and were cut to fit the openable cowlings. The application process was exactly done to the manual. What I found really strange, was the difference in adhesion only millimeters distanced, one part got lifted and another part had to be sanded away. We had discussions about wet transfers from HGW in various threads, and to me the verdict seems to be, it's not a reliable product. If they work, they are great, if not, be prepared for some extra work. I have some sets and will give them another try, in a way, against better knowledge . Last week, I saw a new product, which can be helpful, if you are considering spraying the markings with let's say Maketar masks. 1Man Army has released stencil kabuki masks, which may even be reusable for the addicted Corsair builder . F4U 1A/C/D CORSAIR | AK Interactive | The weathering #Brand (ak-interactive.com) Cheers Rob

Thank you for the comparison Peter. Quite a difference in approach and detail with these two. I'm eager to start my build and ordered a set of MK.1 exhaust nozzles for my Kai Phantom, as the kit supplied look a bit toyish to me. With a good paint job and some scribing, they might be usable, but the inner detail from the Tamiya's is on another level. Cheers Rob

Absolutely stunning as ever. The Mosca is a very strange and interesting little plane and you brought her to life with marvelous painting, decaling and weathering. I know of another Russian pilot figure made by Copper State. The pose is a bit boring for my taste. CSM : Russian WWI Pilot (copperstatemodels.com) Cheers Rob