DocRob

I thinned that part of the bonnet before, Carl, but seeing, how it still provides tension, I decided, I will go a bit further. Luckily, I stopped at the right time. My first approach of thinning was about keeping the inside of the bonnet perfect, which I skipped now. With a tiny bit of force and two tiny rivets, the bonnet will sit good enough, I hope. Cheers Rob

I dreaded the day, but it has to be done. I speak about final test fitting of the main components, in this case the body to bonnet fit. This is quite delicate, as so many parts and sub assemblies are involved and the process is painful with some loosened parts, etc. and takes hours. First, I screwed the body to the chassis. All doors and internal parts are only fixed preliminary. Then I mounted the bonnet to it´s hinges on the chassis and got that: When I force the bonnet down, it will more or less fit, but without locking it somehow, it will open like shown. I tried to identify the protruding parts and attempted to look, where they interfere, not an easy business, with only two tiny openings to see through on the sides of the bonnet. As I identified the possible culprits, I dabbed some liquid mask onto them and closed the bonnet and bingo got the interfering locations. In an iterative process, I removed the material as much as I dared and now the bonnet is paper thin, where the front funnels sit. It closes a bit better now, but not near as perfect as it should. At some point, I have no more possibilities to enhance the fit, as I also thinned the part in front, where the hinges meet the bonnet, to raise the bonnet a tiny bit. I will make a final try and then, I will add two tiny bolts, which force the bonnet into place and can be removed to open the bonnet. Cheers Rob

Do you glue the controllers to the base unit, Carl? is there an assembly manual? Which scale is it? Cheers Rob

Very nice Mike. I´m a bit jealous at your Strutter tool. I couldn´t lay my hand on one, but helped me with wooden brackets for my vice, which worked well enough with brass tubes and inserted brass rods. Cheers Rob

Somehow the Attacker skipped my attention in real live as well as a model. Thank you Gus, for putting that right with your fantastic representation of this rare bird. I´m eager to see, where your resin infection carries you. I only built one full resin plane, a Caudron racer made by SBS. It was a very pleasant build and I can recommend their kits, but they are only 1/48 and 1/72 and mostly interwar planes and racers. Cheers Rob

That proved to be not too complicated luckily. I even left the rear ends unglued for now, because I have to remove the rear inner trim while painting and need a bit of wiggle room. These kits are designed so well, but sometimes you wonder how delicate parts fell together, but they are no shake and bake. Cheers Rob

Preparations, preparations and no end in sight. I added the rear spoiler, which was not easy and needed a lot of sanding and bending and a bit of filling to sit right. The bonnet got some scoops and hatches and a spoiler, which is bolted on with tiny rivets. These rivets go everywhere in great numbers now, as they hold the clear parts in place and are added around the rear spoiler too. Painting will start with the interior and I added some internal framing and the rear view mirror as further preparation. I also cut my first clear vac part ever, a task that needed to be done more often in the next steps, as I plan to prepare all the panes and windshield before painting. After a lot of searching, I found some thin clear double sided adhesive tape on my island, which I intend to use, to install the clear parts. Cheers Rob

Happy belated birthday Kevin. Always good to have family members, who appreciate the hobby. With my wife, it´s a bit different unfortunately, she accepts me building kits, but dislikes the spendings and only once made a kit as a present for me. In fact, it´s the priciest, I own, the HMS Sphinx from Vanguard models, a wooden frigate kit. Cheers Rob

Nice, Chris, will definitely follow, as I have two of these, along a galore of AM including one Brassin cockpit and engine. My plan is to build them together, one in NMF one camouflaged. The NMF bird in flying mode, the other fully detailed with open hatches on the ground. I am very interested, about what you say about the kits quality and fit. Cheers Rob

Don´t let you put off, Phil. there is a lot of fun in car building and my two examples, the Cobra and the McLaren where not the easiest picks for sure. I´m actually debating with myself, to shove an easy car build in between. The MFH kits are something special, but they need a lot of attention, specially with these huge body parts, which need to fit perfectly and also should stay openable to show the details. Car kits call for a different skill set and I always like to learn new techniques, so it´s a perfect break for me. Cheers Rob

Fantastic Hubert. I love the little flying thingy and the guy in the Hawaiian shirt. Looks somehow like a scene in a drug trafficking movie, I have the soundtrack in my ear. Cheers Rob

Wow, seems it will be the most comprehensive of your great pdf-build logs. I hope you pull through this difficult build. Cheers Rob

It heavily depends on the subject. With my actual Cobra Coupe build, as well as other car builds, I try to paint all body parts and body colored sub assemblies at the same time, to have an exactly fitting color in the end. This includes all the steps from priming to final clear coating. With tanks or weathered planes, I try to paint as much together as possibly, but not as dogmatic as with car builds. You can hide slight discolorations behind weathering or a good cover story (replacement parts, etc.) I generally try to build as far as possible before painting. I would never paint on the sprues, except for tiny details. I never painted separate larger body sections at different time, like you do, but it works for you and your results are great. Cheers Rob

It is nearly this, Chris, except for the scale and no oily fingers . Cheers Rob

It´s indeed an iterative process and I hope the tiny threads for the screws hold up for numerous disassembling sessions. It can be a bit trying at times, specially considering, I wanted to spray on first paints on the body parts long ago, but it´s best to take time and prepare and align everything ahead of painting. Cheers Rob

What I can see looks very promising. There are indeed lots of parts used for the internals, but with the open cockpit and the possibility to leave the hatches open, a lot remains visible. When I remember my build correct, there were no real letdowns. The kit itself is near Tamiya quality and I truly enjoyed building this quirky bird. Here is a link to my build log, if you´d like to take a peep. Cheers Rob

At least, it was not a space consuming hangar queen , but you finished her beautifully. The paintjob looks great and the airfield is a nice addition. Cheers Rob

Maybe, got the ZM one. Cheers Rob

I really like your painting and weathering abilities, FA. I could never paint in sequences, like you do. Your problem solving is also great, like the paste jig for the slatted vents, which actually look so much better. Cheers Rob

I love it Hubert, as an ex engineer, I can only admire your capabilities with metals. Bummer, you need to paint it. Cheers Rob

Close to the finish line, Gus. What a rare beauty, well, beauty in a way , but I like these early jet designs and you seem to tackle her easily. Cheers Rob

I did shy away from these steps for a while Chris, but it has to be done. I hope my later to add 2 mm magnets will keep bonnet, rear hatch and doors in place, when finished. Don´t get me wrong about the quality of the kits, they are extremely well engineered, but so close to the real thing, that even Tamiya´s 1/12 kits seem like cheaters. Cheers Rob

Somehow even these delicate steps are rewarding, Mike. You need a different methodical approach with all the sub assemblies, but I can see the day, when I start to paint. Cheers Rob

I know Hubert, but want to do the preparations as good as possible. No way to tell, how everything will fit onto the chassis in the end. It´s definitely a phase in the build where I don´t want to rush anything. Cheers Rob

Happy New Year to everyone, may it be a good one. In my sparse hours of bench time, I continued with the body preparation of the Cobra Coupe. Dozens of holes got drilled, often not through the body, which is rather difficult. The dreaded hinges for doors and rear hatch were screwed into place. For the doors, I had to refill the holes with CA and re drill for better fit. There are only tiny 1,4 mm screws, holding in the resin body, how long, I don´t know. The doors and hatch need to be removed for painting and further assembly and I hob the threads hold up. There is a lot of sanding involved as well and every adjoined part needs to be checked and prepared. Mynext goal is to partly paint the interior and then add the body parts to the chassis, to finally check the fit. Cheers Rob