DocRob

Definitely not a Ferrari guy, but this engine is a beauty as well as the car itself. Cheers Rob

Make my day, it's always good to see you fellows suffer as well with your projects . Bummer that the pre cut masks didn't work. Cheers Rob

Muchas gracias Amigos, the placards are from the kit and from Airscale. When I remember it right, it's the first time, I used some in a German plane, because normally not a lot is visible under the canopy, here, it's quite different. The kit supplied decal sheet is very extensive and of good quality, hopefully for the large markings too. Cheers Rob

After all that grinding, cutting and sanding, it was about time for some finer works. I continued with the cockpit, where I added the Yahu dials and bezels to the side consoles. The instruments were then treated with Revell contacta clear, not only for clarity, which was given on the Yahu instruments, but to secure the bezels as well, which tended to pretend, they are food for the carpet monster sometimes. The instruments got a 0,3 mm lead wire glued in on the backside, which then were painted with a drop of titanium gold for the connector and yellow for the cable itself. Cheers Rob On the pic the consoles are only dryfitted. They need some cleanup and some more detail painting as well, but it's good enough for a first impression.

That was exactly my thought, when I compared the Naxos to the boring star shaped radar. Cheers Rob

It never ends with buying new stuff , but the sanding stone is at least to me a multi purpose item, for sharpening knives, tools and now, scalpel blades. One of the 190's will be made as a plane from the Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland, an organization formed by the Soviets with German POW's who were willing to fight against the Nazis, the other will be crashed and showing a lot of details like engine other innards. That's the plan at least. Cheers Rob

For my stupidity, I instantly tried to sharpen an old Tamiya blade and it works a miracle, it's super sharp again . I have the HE-219, the Mustang and the Horten from ZM and built only the TA-152 until now. I only would add to these, if I have a very pleasant build with one of the others. When I remember right, they announced an Arado 234 as well, but for a second build, I might would buy another Fly kit again. The resin and PE is just too tempting. I hope the best for my two future Revell FW-190 builds, where I have a lot of goodies and plans for the finish. The only other LS Revell, I own is the early Arado seaplane with mono float, which doesn't look too bad in the box. Cheers Rob

Oh my, what have I done. Last week arrived my Honda RC166 kit from Europe and today, I received all the metal goodies from Japan. Looking at the single link chain and single spokes for the wheels makes me shiver for fear and anticipation . Cheers Rob

I would not buy a sharpening stone for the scribing tools, but already have one to keep the good kitchen knives and other tools sharp. By the way, I could resharp my scalpel blades with it, never thought about it before, stupid me . The only Mustang kit I have is the ZM P-51. In the box it looks pretty good, but after my very mixed feelings, while building their TA-152, I tend to have the same opinion as you about all the inner clutter, which mostly isn't even correct. Only a build can show, how well the kit is designed, though. Cheers Rob

Thanks Kai, lets hope for the best with the Arado, there are still some areas of concern, like the multi part cockpit glazing and some others. I've never seen the resin kit of the 234, it must be a quite heavy thing. Cheers Rob

Hi Peter, that's a maybe for now, lets see... . Cheers Rob

Absolutely fantastic build Carl, thanks for the pics. I love the cockpit and the camo painting. It seems like you haven't used the riveted decals for the cockpit framing. I'm not sure about that and will ponder it a bit. Cheers Rob

Tail section looks great with the PE grills, Harv. Sometimes it's a shame, that you have to paint the nice brass shine of the PE. Cheers Rob

I made one attempt on a burnt out tank and it was a lot of fun. You can play with corrosion, smoke and heat faded colors. With good imagination about what heat does to the used materials, it's not that hard to achieve great results. Your prepared T-34 looks like a great canvas to apply some damage. That's what I've done to my T-55 Enigma some years ago. Cheers Rob

Some good thinking on hollowing the sleeves and slight color variations on multi person displays, I like your approach, Gaz. I will follow your face painting clinic with interest, as I suck in this area, which often keeps me from finishing planned dios with figures. Cheers Rob

Somehow I knew, the wings would be a task in itself to get the build ongoing. You seemed to have managed the obstacles nicely, Peter, as the wings absolutely look the part. I'm a bit like Gaz, I would question myself at least more than once to buy another Revell kit. Building itself is not my favorite part of the hobby and often bores me. Spending extra time with that phase, needs a satisfactory explanation for myself, like in the case of the Arado 234, that there are no other players and I want to build one. It's good to hear, that scribing went well and I will benefit from your experiences with the Tamiya engraving tool, thanks for that. Sharpen the UMM scriber shouldn't be to hard, if necessary. I imagine a Japanese grinding stone with one coarse side and the other to hone the material would do the job, with careful strokes in the correct angle. Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter, I'm not very eager about cutting clear parts, but somehow managed to not break the part, thankfully. This kit is really a mixed bag, with so so plastic and absolutely marvelous resin parts, but hey, I really love the 234 and thought about buying another one to build a single seater with winter camo, which would ease the build by far. Cheers Rob

You make me curious Carl, as you seemed to have built a Fly Arado, but no pics. Thank you for the generous offering concerning the clear part. For now, I think, I will make a clear hatch from some other material, as I think this would be a removable hatch without hinges, that wouldn't be too challenging. The FLy part has the misaligned engravings, which had to be removed and polished out. I let you know for sure though, when ran out of options with that part. Cheers Rob

I have some PE templates too, which are thinner than my steel ruler and will be fit for the job. Circles are another breed, I think, you cant use the Tamiya engraving tool for that. I think this is only possible with a pointed tool like a needle. Cheers Rob

Decision time, I prepared the star shaped antenna, where I had to sand the clear lens conical to fit the base, but then opted for the tear shaped clear canopy with the Naxos radar under it. I tried to collect more information, about how the Nachtigall's where equipped, but tend to say, as they were experimental, they were different antennas used, maybe for evaluating. Same goes for the bomb sight, which some seemed to have had and others not. So it will be the FuG 350 with Naxos antenna , but in the position of the star shaped radar. Next was the operators cabin, which I wanted to show open. In another forum was a build thread, which mentioned, that the engraved opening in the clear part is not orientated in the middle and inspecting mine it isn't by far So I decided to make my own opening and as the shape and size of the original are not very clear either, I masked a rounded rectangle on the clear part, mainly because I felt that the engraved opening wood have been very narrow anyway. I added Dymo tape as a cutting guide. Then I drilled first 1mm holes near the edges, which then were widened with a 4mm drill bit and then cut along the straight lines with a Dremel and different PE saws, razor saws and scalpel blades. That was done very carefully, with only light pressure, as the remaining plastic is very narrow.. ... and finally, that's how the opening looks. The part will be painted in RLM 66 on the inside and then glued in place. Along the way, I glued the nacelles to the wings and filled the gaps with black CA and Perfect Putty, and sanded everything to shape. Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter for commenting so promptly on the Tamiya engraving blade. Guiding the blade can be a bit difficult as you say with Dymo tape. and sometimes a metal ruler doesn't bend enough. There is no perfect tool out there . Cheers Rob

I am a surfer, but would never put that thing under my boards . Cheers Rob

Good to know Carl, but I was expecting that, being made from hardened steel. What I like about the design is that it's small, to get into places, that are not accessible with other tools and that it is cutting dragged, so it's easier to get straight cuts. Speaking of cuts, using my needle for scribing, which sometimes is necessary, leads to a half risen and half cut panel line, I do not like as much. You can sand down the rissen part or level it with some Tamiya Extra Thin, but it's not actually cutting the material, which I expect the Tamiya engraver to do. I haven't used the UMM scribers and think they will be difficult to purchase for me, but they follow the same operational path, as I can see it, but I don't feel they are comfortable to handle with a blade for a grip. The razor saw, I like very much, as it is easy to keep a straight line with it and it obviously cuts, which is a good thing, but they are only usable on convex surfaces. Cheers Rob

Your little Marder looks really busy with the figures, which suits it very well. I always found it very difficult to put a figure into a crammed space in a believable pose. Your crew is looking convincingly good though. Cheers Rob

Very good, now you reach the areas that will be visible in your build. Can't wait to see you doing your magic on these. Cheers Rob