DocRob

After some frustrations connected to - guess what - decals, I made some progress. The decals where stiff as a board and tend to break easy. It took several coats of different solutions to get them onto slightly curved objects. I skipped the plan to add stencils, even these for the fog dispensers and considered illegible handlettering, instead, but nixed that too. After I took out a new kit from the stash, I finally found some motivation, to work on the Ammoknight again. The hands were treated with steel pigments and oil fluid, the tank was painted and received steel and rust pigment dotted on. I added some exhaust stains, a few oil drops here and there and some dots of rust. I added the loosened fog pots to the cables and detail painted the cables here. As a last step, I put some iron pigments on my finger and rubbed it cautiously over the power suit, emphasizing some metal surfacing through abrasion. The suit should be more or less ready now. Cheers Rob

Hello Mihailo and welcome to this friendly and competent corner of the web. You started a very interesting project with the W.4, and I will follow your build closely, because I have a soft spot for seaplanes and flying boats, even better, if they are made of wood, metal and cloth. The top of your floats, looks like mine with the circular openings, which need handles and the metal enforcements. I have rapidly looked at only two pics of a W.4 from Wikipedia and on both, the tail end of the floats is lowering, where yours have an even deck, but it's only a first impression. I'm absolutely not an expert on WWI seaplanes, but have given my second WNW build, the Hansa Brandenburg W.12 some thoughts. I modified the floats, by adding dents into the sides, because pictures show, (E.G. WNW documentation) that they were dented, like the outer layer of tin has formed some dents, by the influence of the elements or other physical events. I also used a multi layer painting technique, because in my case, the floats were covered with a black tar like paint and I wanted to have them appear worn and exposed to salt and algae residues. This is the build log, if you are interested. Das Kamel - Hansa Brandenburg W.12 - LSM Work In Progress - Large Scale Modeller The finished W.12 Hansa Brandenburg W.12 Das Kamel, Sylt 1918 RFI - LSM Aircraft Finished Work - Large Scale Modeller Cheers Rob

Interesting approach to reinforce the struts, Gaz. The 0,5 mm brass rod should enhance the stability a lot. To carve the plastic struts must have been a little unnerving, without breaking these fragile parts. I also like the general approach, as to work on the areas of most concern first. To me this is the dealbreaker, if I find solutions for the main issues, I can go on. Cheers Rob

Wow, that's quite a bit of (unnecessary and only lacking design infused) extra work, but as far as you done it, it will be masterclass in the end. I'm not much into jets, but some, I like E.G. the F-104, Phantom, Mig-21, Lightning and the Mirage. I doubt, that I will build many of them and have only a 1/48 Eduard Phantom and a Mig-21 in my stash. If you need a cool jet, which is a pure pleasure build, try the AMK Mig-31. It's so well designed, especially around the often problematic intakes. All mayor seams are hidden through design magic The kit needs no filler and nearly no glue and you could put it together within a timeframe you need to overwork the intakes of the Mirage. I wish, the Italeri engineers would inspect the MIG closely and try to learn something. The benefit for us though, we can learn a lot from your build and which techniques you use, to ship around the obstacles. I'm sure, you will have pulled an eye catching soon. Cheers Rob

The AK Extreme cleaner is my new go to solution for getting rid of any residues in the airbrush, at least, all the stuff I use. Smells like hell, but I use far less, than with other cleaners. Only some drops with the nozzle closed with the gloved hand to loosen any residues. blow out in a paper towel and in the end of the day, a thorough cleaning with the disassembled airbrush receiving some drops of the AK stuff. I always use a mask and have proper ventilation, but to me the small amount of needed cleaner is a clear benefit. Cheers Rob

If you built the Komet closed, do test fit a lot. Mine ended on the SOD, because I ran out of patience. Cheers Rob

The bluish oils add a great touch and make your winter camo even better than before. It's always interesting to see, how a filter or a wash, even in relatively bright color, can make the difference. For blackening, which I often do with PE, brass barrels (can't beat that) and white metal tracks. The key is cleaning the parts entirely with alcohol, before putting them in the chemicals and move the bath, to hinder bubbles settling in corners. Residues of CA will also be visible on the tracks. To stop the process with the desired effect, I put the parts onto a paper towel and rinse them with water rapidly. I use ready mixed black patina for brass and copper, which can be bought by the half liter on big A for Tiffany lamps. It's cheap, lasts for years and can be diluted with water, to have a better control over the effect. Cheers Rob

Thanks Peter, in a way it's a tutorial for myself, from the first picture in my head to the step by step planned realization of the paintjob. Cheers Rob

Thank you Kai and Harv, more decaling would have been interesting to look on more closely, when finished, but this build is about general appearance. The colour, with it's layering gives the model so much depth and this won about the close range eye catching stenciling. I will cautiously add some grime and maybe some dots of metal shining through, but I don't want to loose the main focus on the surface of the suit zooming in to the heart shaped patch. Cheers Rob

I'm a bloody German as well and my English has more holes than the Mirage has shape issues Kai. I love your translation of SOD, sounds like a good title for a very bad movie, which can be a lot of fun. In your test fit the Mirage shows her real beauty and pays back for some of the burdens, if you don't look to close,... Lots of work ahead, but also a picture of how she will look in the end. Cheers Rob

I admire your willingness and bravery to master this kit. Seeing the surfaces would scare me to the core, without an idea to get them look interesting and right in the end. Cheer Rob

I will build mine closed up, if ZM let me. I like the shape of the Uhu and won't have that disturbed by opened hatches. The canopy may be opened, and maybe... Cheers Rob

Decisions, decisions, Phil. Anyway, it's not a bad thing to build a P-38 for starters, it's a beautiful plane, with lots of schemes to chose. I'm in a similar situation minus the Monogram kit. I have an Academy one with all the galore and the Tamiya with some add ons like metal barrels, superchargers, masks and wheels. First I thought about cross building too, but skipped the thought. I will build the Tamiya first. Most of the parts are very good out of the box and do not need a replacement urgently. I decided, the Tamiya build should be a fun build, in between some more demanding builds. The Academy with all the resin and it's not perfect fit, will need a lot more attention and if you think about cross building, I would check if the main resin components fit the Tamiya without causing too much trouble. I doubt this will be the case. I love the Brassin cockpit, so it could maybe lead to a parallel build. My Academy is a later model and would receive a NMF for change. Interesting to see, that your stash numbers increase by the day. There is a sleeper stash in your garage. In German we say 'Du hast Leichen im Keller' like you have body's in the basement . Cheers Rob

Not much done today with the Ammoknight, than turning it around and try to decide about decals and stencils. The conclusion, there will only be a few and near to no stencils. I love the different matte shining of rust and green and don't want to destroy the look, by using varnish. The decals will almost exclusively applied to the orange parts, which received a coat of Pledge, brushed on. This is my test armor plate with the scratched decal. Not the final result, but not too bad, but the chipped colour / rust effect gets a little affected by the varnish, like I feared. That's ok for these orange parts, but I would have bitten my a***, losing the fine finish on the hole suit. Additional, I painted some details like the gas bottles. They were sprayed in blue and yellow and then were dabbed with brushes, using slight tonal variations of the base colour. It's not so good t see on the pic, but it resembles a rough casted texture nicely and after some scratches and detail painting, they will look good Cheers Rob

Nice work on the wheel wells Kai. I hope the struggles with the kit do not lead to a SOD-ness for the Mirage. You should sentence the Italeri people to building one each, poor sods . Cheers Rob

Muchas Gracias Señhores, until now, everything worked to plan, but now; I'm a bit in the open. I want to add some decals, unit signs and stencils, but I'm not sure, how to integrate them into the worn look. I even thought about hand painting the emblems. I will try a decal onto some Pledge brushed on a minor part and then will soft it with a decal solvent and then it's toothpicks and tweezers. Let's see how this blends. @Gaz: I don't see to many opportunities for this technique on our normal subjects in our preferred scales, but there are some, like derelict objects or some crudely cast tanks. I will try, how this will adopt to figure painting in larger scales and on other projects, I have planned. With the Ammoknight, I had a picture in my head of the finished power suit, for which I tried to create the appropriate workflow. Cheers Rob

And the pictures tell a great story Gaz, I really like your wintery outfit for the Stug. Cheers Rob

I feel your pain with ultra fine repetitive works, like these chains. Without better knowing, I doubt, that an anchor chain would lay loosely on a deck like the back one. Imagine a ship rolling in heavy sea and a loose chain is snaking on the deck looking for prey foot. Cheers Rob

For RLM 66 every airbrush is sufficient . Cheers Rob

Hi Mike, absolutely no need for apologies, I just wanted to explain my background. Even if I used to work a lot with machines for metal, it was a long time ago and I'm a bit rusty, to stay in the terminology . Thoughts and warnings are highly welcomed and it always enrichens me to get your opinions. About the lathe you are right. Both machines do plug directly into the socket, without a transformer. I didn't know of the existence of an extension for the lathe. For my planned projects, the given length should be sufficient and I think, sometimes it's better to turn the piece 180 degrees and work on the other side, like you suggested, because the risk of failure with thin diameters raises with length. Cheers Rob

The madness continues with primarily dotting on Scale 75's Slimer Green onto the rust. I never stroke with the brush, just dotted with the color thinned with water from a wet palette, to have a slight translucency. I dotted with different brushes all not the newest in two to three layers, to build up the colour. Psychological the hardest part, is to stay away from the left out rust chips from the first layer with the following layers. I'm so used, to fill in, that I had really to concentrate not to . The same tape of application was used for Tiamat Orange. In all, I'm pleased, how this worked out and when everything dried properly, I will think about the next steps. Cheers Rob

Thanks for your view on the Lathe subject, Mike. I know the limitations of the Proxxon about not being able to work on metal or bigger wooden parts, but for my cases it's optimal, small, easy to handle, near silent and relatively cheap. I would trot another path, if, like you have planned, I would put my interest into scratching and constructing my own ship models. I can't see, that I will have lots of use for metal machining with my builds, given that e.g. most of the tiny brass barrels of aircraft guns have hard to reproduce punctured air jackets,.... In my late teens and early twens, before studying engineering, I worked in the workshop of a research institute for years with all the machinery, be it lathes or milling machines. We even built our own small sized CNC milling machine ourselves, with a PC as commanding unit, mind, that were the early eighties, where most of the professional CNC machines still used punched paper type, to get the code. By this times, I learned about the risks of working with metal machines too, as I nearly lost my finger in a M16 brass thread in a milling machine. I was able to pull the finger out in the instant of the second it was caught, causing the loss of only the cap of the finger and the nail of course and a decent amount of blood. The Sherline machinerey seems to be fit for the job, but for me at the moment they are oversize, but I will keep them in mind, as I have some future plans, to design Lamps from copper and other metals accompanied by wood and maybe paper. This will of course need a complete overhaul of my workshop Cheers Rob

I have different types of metal pigments, but the best, because they are the finest and so far polishable are these from Uschi van der Rosten, but there are only three types, steel iron and chrome. For your case, i would use steel or maybe iron. The Scale75 metal colours are relatively new, but I used them for detail painting on several builds since then, lately on the innards of the Ammoknight and on the Fokker D.VIII, but only by brush. Cheers Rob

There is another brand out there, which covers another important aspect in metal tracks to me, time and effort saving. I have some sets from Easy Metal Tracks for my Panzer IV derivates and they assemble easy, without glue, just bending some tiny latches on the inside of each track link. They are in the price range of Friul and others and are maybe hard to source. For me there is no real substitute for metal tracks, as they sag perfect, and I like to blacken them chemically, to get a perfect base layer. The cement free assembly helps, because there are no CA residues to hinder the blackening. Easy Metal Links (DE) (scalemates.com) Cheers Rob

Nice and subtle job on painting and decaling, which lead to a very nice model. Your A-20 looks great, John. Cheers Rob