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DocRob

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  1. DocRob
    Not exactly background music, but raw powered post punk electro clash by the Prodigy. I took out my DVD from this 2011 Concert and was blown away, not only by the music, but by the atmosphere of a long lost time. Sweaty, energy and whatever fueled concerts, which develop their own dynamic. Farewell good times of live music. Cheers Rob
  2. DocRob
    Thanks Peter, I haven't planned a lot of weathering, as the paint scheme cries for a clean plane. I will weather the metal parts around the nozzles and tail a bit though. Cheers Rob
  3. DocRob
    Back to the Phantom after all that surf babbel. I prepared parts for the next sub assemblies, like the inside of the air intakes, the engines with burner cans, the fuselage and tail and the wheel wells. All these parts were airbrushed with the formidable Tamiya LP gloss white, in case of the wheel wells as base color and in case of the later to metallize parts as a primer. I hope, it will proof as a durable base coat, as it's sprayable very thin and high gloss for optimal priming without loosing detail. Cheers Rob
  4. DocRob
    Mostly it is, actually I need sports to counterbalance good food, nice drinks and of course modelling, where I sit hunched over my bench. I guess we all know . Cheers Rob
  5. DocRob
    I like them a lot, man, it's 48 scale and macroed in. They will look perfect and I think a little emphasis on the cheeks is a good thing to do in this scale, because it renders the faces a bit more 3D. Cheers Rob
  6. DocRob
    Yeah, I know, I started surfing, when most guys end their surfing career, but I know lots of older surfers here in Europe, even on my island. I may not be the archetypical surfer dude anymore, but it helps to stay healthy and in good shape. I hate to be a fat sofa fart almost as much as I dislike indoor sports, especially working out in a gym. So for me it's surfing, running, mountain biking and swimming, with the only indoor concession of some Yoga hours indoors, which I can really recommend. Cheers Rob
  7. DocRob
    Don't be Phil, surfing on my island can be less satisfying, than having to build, lets say an Italeri kit . The waves are often a messy affair combined with fierce winds (surfers do hate wind), where I go into the water only for physical exhaustion, knowing there is not much to gain in the way of riding waves Hawaiian style. Often the next wave is nearer to you than you think Phil. I don't know about your area, but Cornwall definitely has better waves than my island. Give it a try in a good surf school, it's fun and there is no better beer in the world as a post surf beer, to erase the salty taste in the mouth. Cheers Rob
  8. DocRob
    Thanks Peter, I'm not that young anymore, being 56 now. Surfing has changed for me surely with age, but you can compensate lesser power and agility with better wave selections, due to experience. Another good thing, being more mature is, I don't have to prove anything. When surfing in Portugal, I met people, who were surfing with 75 years of age. I hope, I can do that as well. Cheers Rob
  9. DocRob
    Pretty curious / suspicious, those guys from surfers paradise . This year was a very bad year surfing wise, I was in the waves maybe 15 times, last year, there were maybe 100 sessions. The good thing on my island is, you have the waves almost for yourself, the bad is, it's because the waves are mediocre at best. We have perfect waves from the north and the west very often, but due to the rocky shape of my island there are no even slightly save spots. Only yesterday, two tourists died on two different places of our north shore, because they were swept from the cliffs by huge waves. I have to go to where it's halfway save and that's the east, where the waves are mostly formed by wind and have bad quality and often more than one direction . Since I normally surf alone I found no actual pics and lots of times, I use the bodyboard, because you can have more fun in lesser quality waves. In the moment it's a bit wild in the north, as mentioned above and too small in the east, but my son is here for a week, who is a surf instructor and we will try to catch some waves with him the next days. All I found is an old pic taken in Portugal some years back, when I was a bad surfer (I started with 42 years) and in mediocre physical shape (Berlin livestyle and work ). Luckily, I'm in better shape now and a better surfer too, at least in the sense of the Gentlemen's Hour written by Don Winslow). Here I picked my Portugal custom made board up in Tenerife five years ago. Board at home, well close to home, as it's home is the sea. Cheers Rob
  10. DocRob
    More like Christmas celebrations, I guess. Actually working on this kit is fun and there is so little time at the moment. I hope in some days, there will be more bench time, but until then, it's Christmas (and post Christmas) time with good eating, some surfing and swimming to counter the nightly drinking . Cheers Rob
  11. DocRob
    The cockpit is looking great, Kai. You will add some pilots, nice. Cheers Rob
  12. DocRob
    Next on my build are the engines, which I will substitute with Reskit burner cans. The kit parts are not bad, but the resin detail is far superior and thinner which represents the real thing better. There was some cast block cutting necessary, which was simple with most of the parts, except with the cage like parts on the lower right side, which proved to present a little challenge. Due to bad packaging, the spider like right PE parts were broken and I won't use them. The Reskit burner cans protrude into the fuselage, so it is necessary to leave the supplied jet engines out and perform some advanced test fitting to see, if everything lines up. The diameter of the Reskit nozzles is maybe a millimeter to large, It's a close fit, but maybe, I have to remove some material. By the way, I checked the wing fuselage alignment and how the air intakes fit. I have to say, I'm amazed about the tight fit, with a submillimeter wiggle room to close small gaps, that's the way, I like it. The front edge of the air intakes is also thin enough for my liking. The Kai Phantom takes shape with the help of some tape. Cheers and a very happy Christmas Rob
  13. DocRob
    Thanks Phil, it's a fun build with good engineering and fit until now. You are right about the manual though, it's a bit overdone for my liking, showing every little detail from tree different angles at least. Color would help with color, if ZM had printed their manual in color, it would have been a breather, so it's a bit confusing. Cheers Rob
  14. DocRob
    Damn Peter, that's bad, but are you sure there is no way to use some blue tack and stick the backside of the fans to a long rod and insert them through the engine openings? The pit looks perfect though. Cheers Rob
  15. DocRob
    How cool, I could do another P-47 in Portuguese markings. Cheers Rob
  16. DocRob
    Finally, I glued the fuselage halves together, after checking the fit of the cockpit. No problems here, the fit is very good. There is a spine insert for the back of the fuselage, which is very clever, as there is no seamline to be dealt with. I added the nosecone and some intakes and fairings, most of them specially designed for the Kai Phantom, therefore to be found on an extra sprue for this edition. ... and some decent shots of the cockpit from a tripod with is a necessity at least in these smaller scales. Cheers Rob
  17. DocRob
    Thanks Gus, I was actually lying, when I answered Martin, that this was my first pit decal job. My Mig-31 turned out ok with the supplied decals, but the Cartograph decals of the ZM Phantom are superior. They are great to work with and are robust enough for the treatment. The only difficulty is placement. You slide the flat decal onto a well protruding surface and then you have to shrink it in place. It's hard to foresee the correct positioning, before shrinking the decal into place with heat and solutions. One or two of mine are slightly off, but it's barely noticeable. Cheers Rob
  18. DocRob
    Thank you Peter, nothing against these iconic two seaters. I'm not much of a jet guy, except some of the very early ones, but a F4 or F14 keep me tempted, along with some grubby Russian heavy metal like the Mig-31 I built some years ago. I don't know, if the ZM kit is holding up to Tamiya's standards, but to me it looks pretty good and well worth to be build. Cheers Rob
  19. DocRob
    Very nice scratch job on that back plate, looks pretty convincing. Cheers Rob
  20. DocRob
    This engine is looking absolutely fantastic, Mark. Cheers Rob
  21. DocRob
    Thanks Martin, it's my first go at decaling cockpits, but given the great quality of the decals, there is no real need for AM here. Cheers Rob
  22. DocRob
    The next step was sealing the decals with a matte coat, adding and painting levers and control sticks, along with some detail painting. I used a sharpened toothpick for the first time for painting of knobs like the red ones on the control sticks and various knobs on a side panel. Sorry for the lousy picture quality. I promise to use a tripod for detail shots more often. I reviewed the pics, when it was too late and the fuselage was closed. Cheers Rob
  23. DocRob
    First, I cleaned all the cockpit parts, which are very well detailed, with lots of raised detail. I glued the tub with the side panels, but left the instrument panels off for easier painting and decaling. Most cockpit parts were sprayed with Tamiya's dark sea gray and then gloss coated for decaling the consoles and IP's with the supplied decals. The decals worked superb with the help of Micro Set and Sol and a hairdryer. They conformed to the raised details and look at least as good, as colores PE. With the added levers and bits, I prefer the representation to flat PE. Here the decals are still unsealed and glossy, after application. Cheers Rob
  24. DocRob
    Sayonara F-4 EJ and welcome Señhores to a new WIP. The Phantom has been there all my life, at least it felt like. When I was a kid, we often spent our holidays in the north of Germany by the sea, where the land is flat and the Phantoms were flying very low, often with supersonic speed. You can imagine, I was deeply impressed. First there was this roaring sound becoming louder and louder, than one or two F-4's passed and than there was the bang, how cool, except for the people living there. I have an Eduard boxing of an F-4 in my stash, with a lot of goodies, but when I saw the ZM Kai Phantom with the farewell livery, I was immediately sold and felt the urge to build promptly. I love the disco glitter blue markings, which are well represented on the huge Cartograph made decal sheet. There is a second sheet with markings, stencils and fabulous Instrument panel decals. Now a few month later, the Kai sneaked onto my bench and I started to build. Browsing through the box is pure joy, everything is well packed and the grey plastic has very sharp details and no flaws of any kind. The manual is a bit over informative in places and shows every detail from various angles, but misses some tiny bits of information, but this is nitpicking. I preferred the color printed manuals of the 32 scale birds of ZM, but like the Phantom's plastic way more than the sometimes soft detailed sprues of my long ago built TA-152. What's really missing are seat belts, which I bought from Kits-World, canopy masks, which were purchased from New Ware and as an add on some Res-kit burner cans. Next up, cockpit and engines. Cheers Rob
  25. DocRob
    Exactly like Peter says, the paintjob looks great and will really shine with decals and weathering. Cheers Rob
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