DocRob

Hi Peter, I hope everything is well with your feet. The Corsair build was my first earnest plane project, returning to modelling after maybe 25 years of absence from the hobby. I went all out on the AM, willing to learn a lot about resin and PE. It was also the first plane, I used an airbrush to paint. I used the Brassin cockpit, engine and wheels, some extra PE and sprayed all markings except the stencils. I tried to make the cowlings removable but failed after lots of extra effort, I put into. I liked the result by the time and it ignited my hunger for more models. The pics are very bad, as I photographed analog mainly by this time and only took some snaps digitally. Cheers Rob

I had not much time over the last days, but I think, I'm closing in on the painting stage. The cockpit with all the framing and attachments is done. Fit of the plastic and PE was good, but location points are often very tiny and the whole construction is a bit fragile, at least, while putting it together. Painting will not be too easy, as I like to paint subassemblies, where I can reach all hidden corners, but this was not possible with the PZL. On the other hand, the detailing is extremely good, resembling the structure of the real plane without noticeable simplification (ZM do you hear me ). I was eager to reach the painting stage fast with this build, but now, seeing all the detail, I will take my time and enjoy building and painting. Cheers Rob

Thank you Señhores, I somehow start to like interwar designs, there is elegance and clumsiness combined in one airframe, which tells a story about what was possible engineering wise and where old school approaches still had to be made. Cheers Rob

Bring on the engine Peter and build and paint it up in the same great way, like your cockpit. It really is a joy to follow your gorgeous work and photography, even on an often seen (and self built) kit. Cheers Rob

Very nice build and paintjob and thanks for being the final push, making me buy a Do-17, which I intended to do since a long time. Cheers Rob

Muchas gracias Señhores, and apologies for not answering earlier to the older comments. Lots of stuff is happening in the moment. I can recommend the kit to everyone, looking for an easy and satisfying build. There is always the possibility of doing a pure NMF version of the KI-61. When I'm grown up, I will try this type of camo with the airbrush, there is a Vietnamese Mig-21 in my stash,... Cheers Rob

There is an article about the Border Model Lancaster in the Modelling News. Not my cup of tea, too big, but intriguing with all the detail. I would bite, if they would offer a separate nose section. The Modelling News: Preview: Border Model bombshell, the Lancaster B.MK.I/III in 32nd scale Cheers Rob

It's my first kit from IBG, but generally I heard good things about their kits. The plastic is very soft, but good to work with and until now I had no fit issues, flash or bad ejector pins are not present with the PZL. The detail of the plastic is great, fine riveting, the corrugated surfaces of the wings look just phenomenal. The kit is complete and doesn't necessarily need AM. There are even PE seat belts included. Little downsides until now were very small connector tabs to glue together the cockpit framing and therefore a bit fiddly to assemble, but nothing really bad. The manual is not very good, especially when it comes to painting of the engine or cockpit area. Cheers Rob

Very nice Gaz, but why is there so much grime coming from the wheel sections of the wheel wells? Cheers Rob

Thank you Kai and Gaz, there will be first paint soon, but only the engine and cockpit. For these I will use an airbrush, brush painting the delicate cockpit framing could lead to knocking parts off. Cheers Rob

Thank you gentlemen, painting will be an experiment with unsure outcome, but I used oil colors on different occasions for wood painting weathering and figure painting and liked the way to work with them a lot, lets see... Cheers Rob

That chair looks comfy, great work Gaz, if somebody reduces my size by the factor of 32, I will order one for myself . Cheers Rob

Hola friends of distinguished modelling, I started a new build recently, as I somehow like aircrafts, which were constructed in the pre war era, an era representing important changes in plane design. There is the transition to the single wing, full metal construction or the retractable undercarriage, to name only a few. I chose the fine IBG kit along some AM, like a Yahu dashboard, brass barrels and Venturi horn, resin wheels and some pre colored PE seatbelts. I will not bore you with an in depth building report, because there are some and I think, it's a fine kit from what I saw until now, with just some difficulties, I will point out. Another reason, why I choose the PZL is, I want to experiment with the paintjob. The idea is to brush paint the whole plane with oil colors, which I hope will give the snort brown / light blue grey scheme a little live with accentuation. The plane is ideal for such a task, as it's a monoplane, where all the surfaces seem to be in reach with a brush and there is no complicated camo, as the fuselage is completely covered in this ugly brown color. The cooling ring in front of the cowling will be no exception, as I plan to use metal waxes to depict the weathered copper. So far for the plans . I started the construction with the engine and cockpit parts which are added with a relatively high amount of supplied PE, which you have to use, because there is no plastic substitute included. Attachment points are sometimes very small and together with the mediocre manual, the placement and alignment of the parts is not that easy. The painting instructions also leave a lot to be desired, as they show for example with only one color printed picture, how the complete cockpit is colored, not very clear. I was expecting a somewhat faster build, but you have to go step by step here. I like to paint small sub assemblies or single parts for detailing prior to assemble the whole thing. This will not work in case of the fragile cockpit framing and I have to paint larger sub assemblies, than I feel comfortable with. This is where I am in the moment. All PE is kit supplied, the only extra work I did was to drill the front center frame with a 0,5 mm bit for more realism. Cheers Rob

It's ICM plastic for a Z-1,-2, -3, -5 along with color PE, masks, resin wheels and floating devices and decals for eight markings. I ordered one yesterday together with the Brassin gun set. Cheers Rob

Your Yak looks great and no traces to be seen on the pics of the obstacles you had to solve. Some years ago, I built a 48 scale Yak-3 from Eduard and never liked the result, it looked boring, partly because of the camo scheme, I thought by the time. Now, seeing yours with the fine weathering on, I realize, that I just failed with mine . Cheers Rob

Very nice, I have a soft spot for sailing vessels, specially smaller ships in larger scale. The wooden deck takes her to another level and the extra rigging looks very realistic. Cheers Rob

All the best Harv, we are waiting for you returning to the bench. Cheers Rob

I somehow like the shape of the Do-17 as a crossover from pre war design, to the rushed more modern types. Yours is looking great with the camo and overall appearance. Like Gazza, I think 1/48 is a great scale for these twin birds, Ah, you put the last piece of 'want' into me, I will buy an Eduard 'Kampfstift' Do-17 soon, as I nearly did umpteen times. Cheers Rob

Thanks Peter, but it will not be my next build. I started an ICM PZL 11 in 1/32 and have a have build Arado 234 waiting for me to continue and there is a 'what if' project in my head and the Kai Phantom is looming on the shelf and maybe another bike, ... So many choices. Maybe the Monkey is a nice in between buil, when I get frustrated with one of the others, it looks like a fast and simple voyage. Cheers Rob

After my recent fun generating Ducati big bike build, I decided on something considerable smaller of Japanese origin this time. I was not sure if I want to build the Honda Monkey 50 in 1/6 or this modern 125 version in 1/12, but decided for the latter, because it will be pimped a little. Cheers Rob

Indeed a nice start on the Viggen. I hope you will do her in splinter camo. Always liked it more on a Viggen than NMF. The Draken though, I prefer in NMF, cant't tell why. Cheers Rob

I'm sad to hear, that you are not continuing after so much precious work done, Peter. On the other hand, it's a hobby and it should be fun and not a permanent struggle. It feels great to beat a subpar kit into a nice result, but I can understand, that it takes resources and power off you, you sometimes don't want to spend for whatever reason. Maybe there is a better timeframe to continue with the Tempest. Don't feel too bad about it, browse your stash for a satisfactory build and have FUN. Cheers Rob

As we learned lately there are some riveters around here and now a wingnutter . Your PE work looks great Gaz, I love the clasps and other tiny details. I hope you don't knock them off while masking and painting. Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter and Steve, yesterday we had our first tiny encounter with the volcano as the wind turned southbound we got the ugly breath of the eruption, causing an acid taste in the mouth and some headaches. Nothing serious compared to the tragedy unfolding. Volcano scientists claim that the eruption will last between 24 and 84 days, but they were wrong with the predicted time of the eruption too, so I take it's just an educated guess. Cheers Rob

Today I received another Martini branded car, which I purchased some weeks ago for a very decent price. It's the good old Tamiya kit, which still looks sharp on the sprues, added with some PE, seat belts and turned aluminum air funnels aaannnddd Cartograph decals, which worked perfectly on my last Ducati build. The surprisingly small box, compared to the Porsche 935 is well stacked and a fun to browse. Cheers Rob