DocRob

Hola Señhoras y Señhores, finally the Hellcat is done. It was thought as an in between project, but took longer than expected, what I should have been expecting, knowing me . The kit is very good, but if you would be interested in, there could be a bit more cockpit detail. I was going for painting and finish with this build and left it as it was with the supplied PE detailing. I added the Brassin PW-2800 engine, which is a kit in the kit and an absolute gem. A little surgery was needed, to saw away the engine cowling panels, which are to be substituted with resin ones and a PE-framing. Painting was primarily done with Gunze acrylics and a heavy dose of multiple layering coats of oil colors for different effects. Chipping was done by brush in different colors too. The only real trouble was caused by the HGW wet transfers, I intended to use as a substitute for the supplied decals. They are incredibly fragile, when it comes to removing the carrier film, and I destroyed some of them, specially the eyes and fangs. After some repairs, I switched to the supplied Cartograph decals, which worked fine, phew. So here she is, the Hellcat with the cat mouth of VF-27 Cheers Rob

You can still get some in Germany from Modellbau König, they claim to have more than five. I got mine from them. F-4 Phantom III E / J KAI - Phantom Forever2 (modellbau-koenig.de) Cheers Rob

From far, it seems like Stan Laurel in DAK livery is inspecting the progress, Sons of the Desert . Great progress Gaz, the size comparison is interesting, this Tank is tiny. Cheers Rob

The surgery and extra effort payed well off, the Fokkker is a beauty. Always good to see an oldie turned into a goldie. Cheers Rob

Is that the one which followed you, without you noticing ? I'll be interested to see, what you gonna do with it. At least, it will drain your paint rack, given the size. Cheers Rob

Your surface is so smooth, the real one would have gone 50km/h faster with that type of finish. Cheers Rob

It seems, like you found your 'real' art, keep it coming, we are patient spectators . Cheers Rob

I've seen yours and it raised my interest. I'm aware of the more plain future boxing, but it was the disco glitter livery, which sealed the deal. It seems like you have to adopt to a new role , LSM Head of Advanced Influence or HAI in short, reads nice on a business card. Actually I like being influenced and got my purse drained, at least model wise . The F-4 could easily be my next build, lets see. Cheers Rob

You created a beauty and the setting with the figures fits nicely. Hard to imagine, to assemble that plane in rolling waves onto an U-boat. I would prefer to assemble the resin version, instead of being seasick, while putting the wings into place. Cheers Rob

Thanks for the how-to, the result is great, Takom could have designed that a bit better, though. Two millimeter are a lot. Cheers Rob

Thanks for showing the product. I have lead wire from Plusmodel in different diameters, which is fine too. It's round shaped, but when I needed it rectangular, I flattened it easily using flat pliers or a piece of flat metal. I use that method for producing levers for WNW dashboards, which are flat and angled and for one side flattened cables, works great. Cheers Rob

Today, among some long awaited vinyls, the postwoman brought me that beauty, a Japanese version of the F-4E in it's final livery from the Japanese Airforce in 2020. Why, some of you might ask, will you buy a ZM F-4 with the Tamiya one on the shelves soon. I got three reasons: - First and most important, I couldn't resist the disco inferno paintjob with glitter decals, luckily printed by Cartograph - I wanted a long nose Phantom, because I have a F-4B boxing from Eduard with all AM and who knows, if and when Tamiya decides to produce one. - Lastly, because the kit got a lot of praise, not the least here from Phil here. All that turned out enough to counter the arising stencil drama, where at least, I wouldn't discover if they are wrongly orientated, being Japanese . Cheers Rob

BTW, I had no fogging issues with the water based Mr. Masking fluid (not Neo) on my futurized Hellcat canopy. I just wanted to add the impression, because it was my first use of the stuff and it works safely. Cheers Rob

It's the Lancia Stratos of fighter airplanes, that simple . Cheers Rob

Don't get me wrong, the 100 Euro are for the metal pins alone . Cheers Rob

I can see the finish line now with the Hellcat. I installed the Brassin engine and exhausts, which was a bit fiddly and needed some grinding on the engine mount, not so cool after painting. Finally the H-cat received a coat of matte varnish, after I finished some detail painting and repairs. On the pics, I found some other spots for rework. Cheers Rob

Breathtaking details, your wood and leatherwork is exceptional. Cheers Rob

I will keep your warning about being cautious with the pins in mind, for when I start my Spanish Breda incarnation. I definitely will not spend more than 100 Euros for metal replacements from Aber. Cheers Rob

The painting and weathering is mostly finished and will be sealed with a matte coat after adding the engine. After gloss coating the decals, I brush chipped with different grey/blue tones and some more with interior green as primer color. Then it was time for oil colors heavy diluted with thinner, first in blue and then in a color similar to interior green, which were spreaded and partly removed with a saw brush and some thinner. For effect, I used different brushes with the oil thinner mix and dabbed carefully to break the uniform appearance of the panels. Cheers Rob

Showtime, the start of the painting stage. All these tedious preparations are done now and you have the canvas ready. Bring it on Kai . Cheers Rob

Wow, like the real thing, what more can be said. Cheers Rob

Nice to see, how you adopt to the obstacles, taking one step after the other Peter. Way to go without a heart attack or heavy cursing at last. Poco a poco your laid back approach is leading to a very fine result, muy bueno. Cheers Rob

Tub and wheels look really convincing, I like it to have a monochrome paintjob made to look interesting. That's exactly how yours turned out. Cheers Rob

All are nice Kevin, the Hurricanes and the woodwork. Cheers Rob

Very nice, the pit looks awesome Peter. It's good to see some 72 scale planes here. I have only a handful in my stash, but will build them along the others. The only thing, which never seem to work for me, is the fast in between build. There is no scale / time factor in my projects . Cheers Rob