DocRob

Very nice plastic surgery with the slats. The result rectifies the effort, they look way better now. Cheers Rob

Muchas gracias Kai, interestingly the chrome is brighter on the side, were I painted with the Molotow pen. The glass side looks for not explainable reason more coarse, but only a little On position lights, I used that technique too, sometimes. A lot of airplanes have clear covers over colored bulbs. If that's the case, I drill the clear part from the inside, where the bulb should be with a micro drill and fill the drilled hole with clear red, green or blue. The refraction in the clear plastic looks very realistic and if you paint the inner sides of the clear plastic silver, it is even brighter. Thanks Carl, sometimes good old silver is the better way to back the clears, especially with car classics. silver let the clear colors shine more even, where chrome is brighter. Cheers Rob

The Ford GT got gloss coated today, after I had the feeling, the rather thick decal stripes will not settle any better, even if I dunk the body into a decal softener bath. I think the thickness is necessary for opaqueness, but if I had known that before, I would have cut them in places where gaps are. The Tamiya Clear LP9 seemed to lay down great, but I inspect that closely later, after drying. I first sprayed a very thin coat of the heavy thinned clear for achieving a fast drying time on the decals, because I wanted to reduce the reaction time between aggressive chemicals and decals. Then I sprayed two heavier coats after waiting for 15 minutes each time. Tamiya chose a clever way, to not supply PE-parts for the meshes. Instead, the used clear parts for six different openings in the body, which receive a net-decal each. The transparent lights got colored with Tamiya clear orange and clear red. The clear orange got backed with Molotows chrome pen from the backside for better brightness. Cheers Rob

Is the Eduard one really so bad. I started the kit some years ago and now it's a sleeper. As I bought some figures for it lately, there is some urge to continue the 109E soon. What I have seen from the kit so far is looking 109ish to me, but I'm far from being an expert. Favorite plane, that's a good one, made me thinking. I don't think I have ONE favorite plane and the usual suspects, I see are there for different reasons. Some planes I like, because of their technical advancement, some for esthetics and some for whatever reason, I can't put a finger on. That absolutely means not, that I'm after building only favorites as models. Some planes, I build, because I want to achieve a certain goal, like a special scheme or to learn new techniques. The actual Ford GT is one of those, not attracting me as a real thing, but a perfect canvas for trying new stuff. It's a project I really like, despite that, but if I fail, it's easier to bin it. Ok, Butter bei die Fische, which means in northern German slang, Butter to the Fishes and translates to 'To put something substancial into it' WWI: Fokker DR. VIII and Maybe DR.VII WWII: Arado 234, P-38 Lightning, P-47D Thunderbolt, PBY Catalina Cold War: F4-Phantom, EE Lightning, Lockheed SR-71, Boeing 707 Modern: MIG-31, all the planes I fly in, because I hope they are proper designed and safe. Cheers Rob

I wish you a fast recovery from the flu Gaz, but it seems not to slow you down seriously. Good to see, that the pit is fitting well, but bummer with these weird looking control surfaces. I have some metal cast Brassin struts for my FW-190 and my Mig-21 and they are rigid and very detailed, but these from Ordnance work look the part too and you have the olio finished the right way. I have only an Eduard 109E in 1/32 with lots of Brassin extras and a Royal box of the 1/48 109G, which is sufficient for me, as I 'm not an overly great fan of the plane. Sometimes though, I cast my eyes on the HGW boxing of the Dragon -E. It's a tempting package. Cheers Rob

I hope for the best, hairless underarms will be one result for sure, given the size of the boat. Cheers Rob

Thanks Gaz, but some baking powder on the dash, resembling some lines of coke are far more possible with the likely suspects, who own such a car . I have two flaws built in, like always, connected to decals my worst enemies . Cheers Rob

Absolutely top notch, the figure shows how tiny this plane is. It has an interesting design with the spinner and Aluminum cowling, which is a nice focal point. Cheers Rob

Great progress with the detailing. Like Kai said, the gunsight looks especially good. Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter, let's hope the best for the gloss coat, a step, I have some fear about. Cheers Rob

Hi Peter, thanks for your thoughts about photographing. I started the hobby seriously with a Minolta X-700, bought from my first earned money in '81. Along the Canon AE1-Programm it was the first camera to incorporate a program automatic and therefore electronics. By the time everybody predicted less durability due to the electronics. Forty years later, I have to laugh about that, the X-700 is still working and never failed me. Later I changed to the Contax G-system with all available prime lenses minus the 16mm. For me as a travelling photographer, the perfect system, compact, durable and the wide angle lenses are on par with the Leica M prime lenses of equal focal length. Going digital, I chose micro four third, because of the size and weight of the prime lenses. I nearly never use zooms. Being a good traveling camera the GH3 has it's shortcomings, when there is need for fast autofocus or macro photography under artificial light. Another system immanent drawback is the reduced depth of field, caused by the small sensor, you have only half the DOF compared to a full format sensor. Guess, why the 85mm f1,4 is my most loved lens for the Panasonic . I know, that I can alter color settings in the camera among many other things. The problem is, there is no general correction possible, as the needed corrective is depending on the color of the subject and I don't want to correct for every new subject I picture. In normal light, there is only a slight prob with some greens, but under artificial light, there are varying effects. Logic would call for shooting RAW and post process, but I am too lazy to do that, I may have to grow into it poco a poco . Cheers Rob

The interior is done so far, with the added engine. Sneak peek Cheers Rob

Nice progress on the Yak's obstacles Kevin. I built one many moons ago in 48 scale and always got distracted by the plain, but correct way, the non-paneled wings look. Cheers Rob

That's a very interesting way of layering up the colors. The pics show the progressing steps very well. Lifting colors over HS is always possible, with the reduced adherence, there is wanted and unwanted chipping. Cheers Rob

Very interesting Peter. I have to admit, I was to lazy to test image stacking for a better depth of field and use mostly my phone for pics, but using an app for better manual control of the parameters. The other issue, why I use the phone more than my Panasonic Lumix GH3 with good prime lenses is, the color rendition. It is nearly impossible to get the processor of the camera to reproduce correct colors under artificial light conditions, without heavy tweaking. I know, I could post process, but I learned to take pictures analogue on 35mm material and to me the moment of pressing the shutter is the moment of truth. I don't like the idea of post procession and do it only for artificial reasons. Anyway, I'm always interested in new approaches to get better pictures, as I find photographing models seems to be extra challenging. Cheers Rob

Thanks for offering your help Kai. It sometimes is very complicated and time consuming to get goods here to my island in general, but all these toxic brews, needed for modelling, seem to be harder to get, every time I try. Cheers Rob

Muchas Gracias Wolf, I managed to break one stripe, while dabbing it on. I tried my best, to hide the breaking line and I'm not about to tell, where the fault is . Cheers Rob

Thanks Gaz, I used the polishing compounds for the first time on paint, but it works great and the three different grainings are noticeable while working. There is no real car parts store here, but a friend has a car workshop and repaints cars and I will ask him, if there is a possibility to get the needed stuff through him. Cheers Rob

Thank you Gentlemen, I always liked the White Stripes - err - bad pun, the band I mean . Cheers Rob

I live on El Hierro and all parcel private or from shops will be revised at the customs in Tenerife or Gran Canaria, because we have different taxes here from the Spanish mainland. That means, if they identify goods there, they will not be send here, because all the parcel is transported by plane to El Hierro. There is a ferry too, but you can't choose this as a shipping option. For the future with more and more strict regulations, I see the only possibility to get these goods transported to Tenerife by ship with a transport company and pick it up from them and deliver it by ferry/car to my island. We are speaking of one or two month delivery time here, not to mention time and cost. To travel to the transport company, I have to stay overnight in Tenerife, as there are not many ferries. There are no LHS's on Tenerife, I know of, to shorten the process. In the moment, I have Spanish companies as a supplier of thinner and lacquer paints, but as I said, this is limited to 30ml jars max and it always cost extra at the customs. I have to admit, I'm a bit worried by the situation and I'm used to having trouble to get goods transported to El Hierro. Will I leave my island because of that, NOOOOOO, NEVER . Cheers Rob

Don't mix 'em up, the kits I mean . Cheers Rob

Today, I polished the mica blue body with the three differently coarse Tamiya polishing compounds, and really like the result, which looks better and shinier in reality than on the pics. The color is hard to capture on photos, the first pic was taken in the light tent, the second outside in light sunshine and the third with decals applied on the bench (hey it's a WIP at least ). The third is closest to what my eyeball captures. Cheers Rob

As said in the building thread, great and skillful build. Painting and weathering are spot on and well thought through and the cobblestones turned out great, I have to save your tutorial somewhere. Cheers Rob

You absolutely can be proud of your Lotus, it's a stunner and looks totally perfect. You achieved a great job on this classic, thanks for sharing in general and for keeping us in the loop about building and the painting process. Cheers Rob

My only Kitty Hawk kit is the T-6 with a heap of AM and I planned to build it soon into a Portuguese version and give it to a friend as a present. Now, that I read your comments, I'm a little worried, I was not expecting a perfect kit, but no complete desaster either. Is it really so bad? Cheers Rob