DocRob

A Wildcat should give a little wild fight, shouldn't it? You've done great with the assembly Phil, and I can't wait to see some colors on the cat. Cheers Rob

I second Hubert, what a beautiful result after all the struggles, Peter. I never would have thought, that decals for windows would look the part, but with this scale, they seem to be the better choice, even allowing fine framing. If you later decide to gloss coat the Embrarer, you should mist on a very light coat first and let it dry thoroughly, before really glossing her. This way, the often aggressive component of the gloss, have less time to interact with the decals.

Muchas gracias, amigos, I had a great day yesterday, exploring the deserted parts of our island with the open topped Jeep, having a picnic in the wilderness and a great dinner in the night. I will make a WIP about Sphinx, but first I have to finish the Duchess of Kingston and then some other kits. Maybe next winter will be a good time to start. With such a project, it's good to have some coherent time, at least until in the groove with the build. Cheers Rob A landmark of my island, visited yesterday ...and a happy dog with us.

Today is a perfect day, not only because I have birthday, but my much loved wife made me a very special present, The HMS Sphinx kit from Vanguard models. Why is that so extremely special, besides from the fantastic kit? My wife approves my modelling hobby, but she doesn't support it in any way. It's an absolute first, that I received a model related present from her. What's to say, I'm a happy man and after finishing the Duchess of Kingston as a modelling midshipman, this will be my 'post' ship build with ranks. Cheers Rob

I built up the the Duchess of Kingston, hull and decks complete with all the decorations during a three month period and needed almost two weeks for planking the cutter. I have to admit, the little bugger took a bit of wind out of my sail, but I'm stubborn enough to want the boat having finished somehow. I'm really happy, that I wouldn't have to use the cutter in real live, as it's planking job is far away from being watertight and even if it was, it wouldn't row straigth at all. My second planking job was somewhat harder than with DoK. That's it in full ugliness, before sanding After a bit of sanding it looked a bit smoother. I wouldn't go to far with sanding, as the planks thickness is only 0,5 mm. I will use some filler next, liberally applied which will not disturb, because I plan to paint the outside of the hull. Cheers Rob

Peter, if the yellow strip is the main problem, you may should 're'-spray it on. While masking with Kabuki,, you can put some paper under one side of the tape, to hinder it sticking to the blue decal area. My very wise wife always says: 'leave it, love it or change it' . I had some builds lately with positive experiences while decaling. Aviattic decals worked great on my Fokker and SSW's, Zoukei's Cartograph decals were also formidable on my Kai Phantom and Tamiya's Ducati decals were good to work with, but other than that, it's mostly a painful act, to get the decals right. I often use masks to get around decaling and tried different products, like HGW's wet transfers, with very mixed results. Not to mention all the risks involved with preparation, sealing and weathering. As you can see, I fear the decaling stage as an error prone possibly project ending phase of a build. Cheers Rob

That looks amazing Sasha, the added detail brings the plane to live. Cheers Rob

Nice work on the Halbkette Phil. Lots of detail and I'm peeking at your staged painting approach. Dragon instructions, well, they are a test sometimes. i hate these blue gray painting instructions, that's so 80's. The prices for Dragon kits are raising more than with other companies. I haven't bought Dragon for a while, but have many in stash. I think not one of them was a full price purchase, albeit new. Dragon kits often are available for a reduced price. Cheers Rob

Looking very good Gary. Using Extra Thin for PE sounds interesting, I will definitely try this out. Cheers Rob

That looks gorgeous Carl, I love these North Atlantic schemes. Good that the wings are removable, other ways freehanding the camo could be inflicted by hitting a shelf with a wingtip. Cheers Rob

Thanks Carl, I know about all these, but I feel myself not ready for a MFH kit and if I am, i guess it will be an vintage Alfa with spokes. I hope for a Tamiya reissue of the MP4/6, because I'm not willing to pay the crazy prizes for the kit. Top Studio sets are indeed super detailed, so maybe some of them will be considered, but not all, having a price tag of 400 Euro for the all inclusive set. Cheers Rob

For the nightmare you described Peter, it doesn't look too bad on the pics. It will be hard to mix the color right I guess. In all it's a very attractive livery and a pain too hear about your issues. Scalemates claims that they are new, ageing can be ruled out, it seems. Other than you, I hate decaling, as so much can go wrong so late in the build, I think I would have binned the kit. I hope you follow up with your bravery and finish this beautiful plane, no matter what. Cheers Rob

Awesome progress on the Comet, Gus, I really like the bits and pieces on the back of the tank. Nice job on painting these. Cheers Rob

It will hopefully turn out carvel planked, at least that's the idea. The hull will be sanded smooth and painted from the outside. Cheers Rob

Nice and smooth Carl, can't wait for the camo. Cheers Rob

Beautiful little plane you made there. You're absolutely right, not a lot of bench space needed for these. Cheers Rob

Today, I continued with the 18ft cutter, which is indeed very tiny. I beveled the spars with a sanding stick and applied the first planks. The manual recommends wood glue for the task, I think because the MDF spars will be torn out later. I decided to use CA on the bow and the last two pearwood spars and wood glue for the rest. The planks were first glued into the slot with CA-glue. I used my plank bending pliers cautiously for a little pre bending and twisted the plank between my fingers, which seems to soften them a bit. After the CA on the bow cured, I glued the plank onto the rest of the spars. The next planks will be tapered and beveled, but I wanted one full plank first. Meanwhile, I used the curing times to test, if the appropriate yarns fit through the deadeyes, which they luckily did after a little cleanup with a 0,5 mm drill bit and applying some wood glue on to the end of the yarn. Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter, even the steadies sealegs get shaky sometimes, but all seems manageable. The planks are made of 0,6 mm pearwood, laser cut and maybe 3 mm wide. Cheers Rob

Today, this beauty arrived. It's a reedition of the Tamiya Renault RE20, which originally appeared 1981 on the market. My edition has Cartograph decals and luckily there is no tobacco ad missing, cause there were none. No decals for the tire markings are included, but they are engraved on the rubber tires, same as with the Brabham kit. Plastic looks fine in the box. I'm not the biggest fan of these turbo charged monsters, but these LS Tamiya kits are too good to let them pass. They will release two more Tyrells soon, one is the six wheeler. I'm eagerly waiting for a re edition of a McLaren MP4, 5 or 6 in 1/12. The second hand prices for these are crazy. Cheers Rob

I've heard, the Tyrell six wheeler is about to be re released soon in 1/12. Sorry Peter for the OT. We should start something own for the Tamiya 1/12 kits. Tamiya: Model car kit 1/12 scale - Tyrrell Ford P34 Tyrrell Racing Team sponsored by ELF #3, 4 - Jody Scheckter (ZA), Patrick Depailler (FR) - FIA Formula 1 World Championship 1976 (ref. TAM12036) | SpotModel as well as the Tyrell Ford 003 Tamiya: Model car kit 1/12 scale - Tyrrell Ford 003 Tyrrell Racing Team sponsored by ELF #11 - Sir John Young 'Jackie' Stewart (GB) - Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix 1971 (ref. TAM12054) | SpotModel Cheers Rob

Oh, there is the 1/6 version from Dragon. M4A3 (105) Howitzer Tank, Dragon 75046 (2013) (scalemates.com) Cheers Rob

Lately we've seen more and more 16 scale kits being build here. A lot of them are produced by Takom, whose Chinese (Japanese) Tankette I built lately. It was an enjoyable experience and I just found on Scalemates, that two more 16 scale kits are supposed to surface this year. The Jeep is made by Takom and the video shows it with engine and figure, nice touch. The other kit is from Andy's Hobby Headquarters and it's still in pre production status. It's a M4A3E8 Sherman in 1/16. Cheers Rob

Than you Peter, I really feel relieved, that I made it to this point of the build, without running into serious trouble. The rigging frightens me a bit, but having mastered the build until here, gives me some well needed confidence. Yesterday I cut the spars from their panels and added the keel of the cutter. The small jig is part of the kit and should help to plank the boat with tiny planks. Let's see, how this will work out. Cheers Rob

Totally OT, other than sporting some yellow, but I know you will like it Peter. The Tamiya 1/12 Renault RE20 became available. Mine is already ordered and somewhere in the mail. Cheers Rob

When the manual shows some totals from different angles and claims 'your ship now should look like this', you know you've achieved something. I have to admit, I'm a bit proud of what I built over the last three month. The kit design and good materials help a lot to lead a relative beginner through the build, as does the fantastic manual and the detailed plans. I added the railings for the aft deck, the ladders between the decks and bulwark pollards. With the exception of the ladders, all were airbrushed matte black before assembly. The side railings were difficult to slot in, as the contour of the railing is curved and the material of the pillars is very thin and brittle. I broke two or three while cleaning up the sandwiched railing parts. Somehow I got them slotted and glued with CA, three pillars at a time and broke only one. After dabbing the sweat from my eyebrows, I made more or less the same pics like in the manual. Now it's time for rigging and giving the masts and yards the correct contours, but maybe I'm distracting myself from this and build a small boat to mount on the main deck. This is not part of the kit, but Chris from Vanguard sells these boats which are build planks on spar-frames, as separate kits. I chose the 18ft cutter for DoK. Cheers Rob