DocRob

This will be a bright scheme Gus, love it. If the white underlayed yellow is bordering against the other colors, you may can sand this back a little, carefully. This will look stunning in the end. Cheers Rob

Thanks Phil, you should be tempted, it's a pure fun project and I guess, the 1/48 Eduard Hellcat is the best H-cat in any scale. It is an easy build and a great canvas for painting and weathering, with lots of schemes to choose and last but not least, it can be build out of the box, if you get a Profi Pack, with the PE included. Cheers Rob

Great work on the commander, I like the skin- and black tones in their variations. On the tank, I especially like the wheels and rims and the different dust tones enhancing depth of the undercarriage. Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter, the Hellcat was a pure pleasure project, aside from the wet transfers problems, which made it easier to focus on painting and finish. Cheers Rob

Great detail painting with the comannders face. I don't see, why the given position of the commander would not be suitable, only because there are no existing photos. Seeing the guys on the river picture, I can't imagine, sitting upright unsupported in a shaking tank would use up a lot of energy to maintain the body tension. Interesting thought, put in a short phrase, I haven't layed that out to myself that clear. Now, that you set me on the track, I have to admit, being more of an artsy interpreter, or to use other words, mildly freestylin' . On the other hand, I think it's really difficult to judge from historic pics in general. I'm a photographer since 45 years and lots of things changed only in this period. I will figure some of the points, I think have influence. - B&W pics taken with an analog camera are not comparable to digital B&W pics, at least not with basic settings. There is a completely different kind of contrast, with analoge film tending to have dark areas darker. - Photographers often used filters for B&W analoge film, like Peter said, to further enhance contrast, or reduce light exposure, ..., which often leads to changing color saturations and hues. - You often have only hints about the circumstances the picture was taken, concerning light, exposure time, reflection,... - Often, not enough is known, about the pictured materials, like how reflective was a coating to the bare eye. - If you go further back in history, there were even different materials and processes to develop film material, with their individual footstep. - You can not now, if older pictures were post processed, they often are. I just named a few aspects here, which came to mind first, but there is a wide array of possibilities, which have an influence on the image of reality. The basic story is, every picture is a lie, intended or not. Photography seems so objective, but in fact is not, because of technical aspects or artificial aspects. Basically, that is, why I'm freestylin', I form a picture in my head, which is a combination of seen pictures and imagination or to use other words, an educated guess. Cheers Rob

Thank you Kev, seeing the pictures I noticed, that the stencils in the area of the exhaust stain shouldn't be white, as freshly painted on . I will dust them with some pigments. Cheers Rob

Nice detailing Gaz, bummer with the missing binoculars. Cheers Rob

Thank you Martin, exactly my thinking, I like the early three tone schemes better, than the later all over GSB. If I would do another one, it might be British or Australian. Vielen Dank mein Herr , I forgot to mention, that I used the great brass made Master barrels, which were blackened chemically. Cheers Rob

What an elegant plane, and it finally shows under the smooth primer coat. Let the fun begin . Cheers Rob

Hola Señhoras y Señhores, finally the Hellcat is done. It was thought as an in between project, but took longer than expected, what I should have been expecting, knowing me . The kit is very good, but if you would be interested in, there could be a bit more cockpit detail. I was going for painting and finish with this build and left it as it was with the supplied PE detailing. I added the Brassin PW-2800 engine, which is a kit in the kit and an absolute gem. A little surgery was needed, to saw away the engine cowling panels, which are to be substituted with resin ones and a PE-framing. Painting was primarily done with Gunze acrylics and a heavy dose of multiple layering coats of oil colors for different effects. Chipping was done by brush in different colors too. The only real trouble was caused by the HGW wet transfers, I intended to use as a substitute for the supplied decals. They are incredibly fragile, when it comes to removing the carrier film, and I destroyed some of them, specially the eyes and fangs. After some repairs, I switched to the supplied Cartograph decals, which worked fine, phew. So here she is, the Hellcat with the cat mouth of VF-27 Cheers Rob

You can still get some in Germany from Modellbau König, they claim to have more than five. I got mine from them. F-4 Phantom III E / J KAI - Phantom Forever2 (modellbau-koenig.de) Cheers Rob

From far, it seems like Stan Laurel in DAK livery is inspecting the progress, Sons of the Desert . Great progress Gaz, the size comparison is interesting, this Tank is tiny. Cheers Rob

The surgery and extra effort payed well off, the Fokkker is a beauty. Always good to see an oldie turned into a goldie. Cheers Rob

Is that the one which followed you, without you noticing ? I'll be interested to see, what you gonna do with it. At least, it will drain your paint rack, given the size. Cheers Rob

Your surface is so smooth, the real one would have gone 50km/h faster with that type of finish. Cheers Rob

It seems, like you found your 'real' art, keep it coming, we are patient spectators . Cheers Rob

I've seen yours and it raised my interest. I'm aware of the more plain future boxing, but it was the disco glitter livery, which sealed the deal. It seems like you have to adopt to a new role , LSM Head of Advanced Influence or HAI in short, reads nice on a business card. Actually I like being influenced and got my purse drained, at least model wise . The F-4 could easily be my next build, lets see. Cheers Rob

You created a beauty and the setting with the figures fits nicely. Hard to imagine, to assemble that plane in rolling waves onto an U-boat. I would prefer to assemble the resin version, instead of being seasick, while putting the wings into place. Cheers Rob

Thanks for the how-to, the result is great, Takom could have designed that a bit better, though. Two millimeter are a lot. Cheers Rob

Thanks for showing the product. I have lead wire from Plusmodel in different diameters, which is fine too. It's round shaped, but when I needed it rectangular, I flattened it easily using flat pliers or a piece of flat metal. I use that method for producing levers for WNW dashboards, which are flat and angled and for one side flattened cables, works great. Cheers Rob

Today, among some long awaited vinyls, the postwoman brought me that beauty, a Japanese version of the F-4E in it's final livery from the Japanese Airforce in 2020. Why, some of you might ask, will you buy a ZM F-4 with the Tamiya one on the shelves soon. I got three reasons: - First and most important, I couldn't resist the disco inferno paintjob with glitter decals, luckily printed by Cartograph - I wanted a long nose Phantom, because I have a F-4B boxing from Eduard with all AM and who knows, if and when Tamiya decides to produce one. - Lastly, because the kit got a lot of praise, not the least here from Phil here. All that turned out enough to counter the arising stencil drama, where at least, I wouldn't discover if they are wrongly orientated, being Japanese . Cheers Rob

BTW, I had no fogging issues with the water based Mr. Masking fluid (not Neo) on my futurized Hellcat canopy. I just wanted to add the impression, because it was my first use of the stuff and it works safely. Cheers Rob

It's the Lancia Stratos of fighter airplanes, that simple . Cheers Rob

Don't get me wrong, the 100 Euro are for the metal pins alone . Cheers Rob

I can see the finish line now with the Hellcat. I installed the Brassin engine and exhausts, which was a bit fiddly and needed some grinding on the engine mount, not so cool after painting. Finally the H-cat received a coat of matte varnish, after I finished some detail painting and repairs. On the pics, I found some other spots for rework. Cheers Rob