DocRob

Good to have some great saxophone player on vinyl. You should try Archie Shepp's 'Trouble in Mind' a good interpretation, with perfect sound. I heard it first during a private presentation of stereo equipment in a Berlin hifi shop. They had some speakers from Acapella Audio Arts connected, which featured an ion tweeter. I never before had the sensation of living inside a saxophone . Nonetheless, the vinyl sounds great on my set too. The Transrotor Fat Bob is only one of my three turntables and it does it's duty since fifteen years, without trouble. The only thing, it frequently needs is a polish of the aluminum, given the humidity here. That is always like a workout in a gym, with it's hefty weight. My second player is a self restore Dual from the early eighties. It was once the best deck Dual had in their lineup, but has it's troubles, with the speed control being electronical. Mine has actually a blown chip and I try to get a new one. My third deck is a simple project deck, which is connected to a Marshall Woburn for having vinyl music on the terrace. It's astoundingly well sounding, maybe because of the formidable Goldring MM cartridge, but has slight humming with the internal RIAA amplifier. For some harsh sounding recordings, this set often sounds better than the more excact Transrotor set up. Cheers Rob

There is not a lot which makes me envy, but being able to browse a well stocked LHS is on my top-three-envy -list . Do you get the new Kai boxing from ZM or another of the parrot ones? Cheers Rob

You are a weak man Peter, but I guess most of us are. It seems to be a great kit and sometimes, the unmatched Tamiya engineering is an art in itself. Guess how I know, with the Ford GT in the making . More than once, I had the jaw dropping sensation of being fascinated by the way, Tamiya finds solutions. It's good to see, that the passion is back with you, there is nothing better, than building kits with a smile on the face. I mostly enjoy building and the challenges it takes, but would not hesitate to bin a kit, if it is only nerve tangling. That nearly never happens, luckily, because I choose my projects in a way, that I'm positively tempted by a build for different reasons. I think you got it exactly right, it's a hobby, it's meant to be fun, so get started with the first and very appreciated build of the Phantom here. Cheers Rob

Now there is some color in the game. As the others have mentioned, great job, layering the yellow on slightly transparent, but nonetheless bright. Interesting way of masking, I would have use a double layer of paper towels on the more distanced to masked parts, bordered by Kabuki, but maybe that's just me, with my difficulties to get supplies fast and reliable to my house. Cheers Rob

Nice progress Carl, the paintjob looks awesome. You need a special wide angle lens to take pictures of that beast. Cheers Rob

Impressive detail work, with the added instruments. As others mentioned, I like the approach of using decals for fine details, like in this case the canvas ammo belt. Never thought about that. Cheers Rob

Gracias amigos, I'm really impressed by the Tamiya lacquer paints in general and even more with the blue metallic for the body, Many metallic paints are to grainy to look real, when sprayed, but the grain of Mica Blue is exceptional fine, which made this paintjob possible. @Karl, I'm sure you can do it, i take, you build a lot more cars than me or is it only RC with transparent lexan bodies, painted from the inside? I may found my magic potion for car painting fast, with the help of you all and with the Tamiya lacquers and polishing compounds. Your input helped a lot to not leaving the right pass for the paintjob, less error more output . Cheers Rob

Cool, I love Stereo equipment, specially when turntables come into play. Nothing beats a rotating vinyl blowing your head away with a potent amp and great speakers. Exactly this moment, I put my only Record Store Day vinyl of this year, which arrived today, on my Transrotor and fired up the amp. Crooked Machine from Roisin Murphy, a remix LP with ultra low bass line. Tomorrow, there will be a report of an earthquake . Groovin' greetings Rob

I started to assemble all the tiny bits and pieces to the body and there are quite a lot. You have to be very careful, to not spill glue to unwanted places, as there are lots of clear parts and of course the painted body. The front and rear section got finished today. I really like the multi part LED projectors which painted, decaled and assembled under their clear covers, really look great. Cheers Rob

Such a cool looking beast, please continue. Cheers Rob

Thank you Mark, I don't have the Tamiya wax, but will try to buy some. Even when the actual polished surface seems to be very durable, I use gloves to handle it. Cheers Rob

Some motivational pics, I took in Chino California some years ago. It's a restored Yak-3U. Cheers Rob

Very nice and comprehensive step by step with your MIG. I like the chosen scheme and how you painted and weathered it. I have two Eduard Mig-21 waiting for me to build them and it's not the first time, I feel the urge to start. Cheers Rob

Some years ago, I took some pictures of a 109 in Chino California. It is a E-1 which was later converted to E-7 and crash landed on a frozen lake, where it sank later and was salvaged in 2003. I'd say, there is a very slight curved back and also a very slight bulge sideways. Cheers Rob

Thank you Gentlemen, The Tamiya LP-9 Lacquer clear is great. I thinned it with almost 2/3 of thinner. It dries shiny and sprays very controllable, from protective misting with a slight grain first and then semi wet, which is enough for a gloss surface, without the risk of running noses. Cheers Rob

Gracias Hombres, after taking my sunglasses off, I hope, will not spoil everything with spilled glue, when assembling the car . Cheers Rob

That reminds me, that I have a paper model of the Graf Zeppelin in 1/200 scale somewhere, where I already cut most of the parts. Cheers Rob

Amigos, I'm absolutely thrilled today, after 24h of drying time for the gloss coat, I couldn't wait any longer and polished the body with the three different coarsed Tamiya polishing compounds and bang, that's how it looked afterwards. I can tell you, that it's hard to capture it on pictures and it looks showroom mirroring to my real eye . No more words, I'm flashed . Cheers Rob

I wouldn't mind some raunchy ads for cheap lacquer paints, that would fire me up more than Viagra . Cheers Rob

Thanks Kevin, The Gulf Porsche 917 is always a treat and yes the real Ford GT is far more iconic than it's new derivate, but it's a sufficient test dummy for different techniques and looks great in the display cabinet among some armor . Thanks Gaz, I've used the chrome pens only a few times and I like them, when it comes to painting separated parts. For details on a body, there is always the risk of bleeding and therefore, I wouldn't use them for that. Cheers Rob

That's indeed a lot of masking. First, I was asking myself, why you glued the weapon pylons in place, but then I realized, that they get painted in the tringle colors too on the pic of the real thing. Cheers Rob

Well, I wasn't so far with my build, to put the fuselage halves together and have a precise look for the dimensions. To my excuse, I have to say, that I took the general shape for granted, with several E-types still existing. How could they get it so wrong? You're absolutely right, the marked area looks like a camelback. I've to check later and then decide, what to do with it. I've all the AM galore, so binning is not the first option. Cheers Rob

I like them both, nice work, I never built any ships except for a wooden one, but I like to see, if my eyesight is sufficient for PE-orgies in 1/350 scale, that's why I have a destroyer kit and the Queen Elisabeth in stash and if that fails, I can always switch to the 1/35 Italeri Vosper . Keep the ships coming, I 'd like to see more ship-WIP's here, to learn, how it's done. Cheers Rob

Wow, with that camo you couldn't disguise the plane in the midst of Studio 54 in the mid 70's, it would have stood out. Great job with this bright bird Gus, love it. Cheers Rob

More Russian scrap metal, presented the most entertaining way, spiced with great scratch building, what can go wrong? Cheers Rob