DocRob

This beauty arrived at my doorstep today, a little bit early for my 60th birthday due to the super fast shipping from Japan. Fun fact, the kit included a pin, claiming that MFH is exactly half as old as me, My self present is an Aston Martin DB4 GTZ in 1/12 scale, where Z stands for Zagato, who did the bodywork on this beauty. I borrowed a picture of the finished kit from the MFH homepage, because the box doesn´t show the DB4 GTZ Cheers Rob

I finished the gearbox assembly step and started with the braking tubes. The fittings were badly casted by MFH, so I substituted them with resin ones. I stopped with the tubing and wiring for now, as I think, it´s easier to do it later, where it becomes more clear, which hose leads where. If there is anybody out there building the same "Press Version" of the BT45 be aware, there is a mistake in the manual, which can only be discovered, when analyzing later steps. Part 248 (9) doesn´t go into the shown hole, but in the one to the left. It took me a while to figure out, how the supports for the coolers (248 (9)) will properly sit. The shown hole accepts the rear wing support later. Cheers Rob

Great job fitting the wings, Gus. It would have been a shame to sand away the lovely surface details. Cheers Rob

Circle masks are indeed very important, I have a Maketar set since years and I use them regularly for different tasks. For larger diameters a circle cutter is ok, but for the smaller ones, I prefer ready cut masks. Cheers Rob

Came out fantastic, Scott, I love the paintjob and subtle weathering, where everything blends perfectly. Cheers Rob

Thank you Gus, a while ago, I ordered some chrome markers and used them on different builds. I forgot, that they were of different brands and used them for headlights and oleos mostly. I always tried them out on a piece of scrap plastic and only one delivered. Then I realized, I had two brands and the Ak was looking like chrome, where the other two from Molotow looked grainy gray and were a complete fail. I made a quick pic on an unprimed piece, both markers shaken and pumped freshly, night and day. Cheers Rob

Next was the suspension, which is directly attached to the engine. The damper rods were painted with AK´s chrome marker and look really chromish, not like the to my experience really bad Molotow marker. This was followed by prep work and drilling for the gearbox section, where a lot of bolts and screws are to be added. For painting the gearbox, I used Zero Paints Hewland Gearbox Texture paint for the first time, because it is a Hewland gearbox and have to say, I like the result, at least for a 1/12 kit. I followed the recommendation of using a larger nozzle on my airbrush (0,4 mm) and raised the air pressure to almost 3 bar or 40 psi, to prevent clogging. The brake disks were sprayed with Extreme Color stainless steel, therefore the slight bluish tint and the calipers were sprayed with duralumin. Cheers Rob

Your Pfalz looks fantastic, Mike, especially the for a late war German plane extensive rigging. The small base and figure tell a story, like a snapshot. I would purchase an Aviattic Pfalz, if there were single ones still on offer. Cheers Rob

Thank you Kevin and Paul, nothing in car modeling can beat these kits and the engines are something special. As an ex part time photographer, there should be some decent shots, but even with all my experience, I struggle at perfect modeling photography. It´s not easy to master, at least for me, but I try to improve. Cheers Rob

Better building it, than sitting in it. Came out nice, Martin. Cheers Rob

Oh now I get it, Carl, That´s why my bench is bending under the weight . Cheers Rob

That´s some nice surgery, Carl, the holes camo out clean and round. For those cases, I have a Tamiya conical round file, which helped me a lot over the last years. Buy Conical File 1,5-8mm / Cone Length 55mm online | Tamiya Cheers Rob

Today, I finished the engine so far. There will be some more wires and tubes added later, but this will happen after installing the gearbox and body. In comparison with the transparent fuel lines, the addition of the wiring was relatively simple. Electronics and some other parts got added on top of the engine. For the first time, I used markers for detail painting, like screwheads and bolts, in this case a silver Playmarker from AK, which covered well, even over black paint. I may add cable binders to the fuel lines and ignition wiring, but the ones, I tried failed miserably. They were 3D printed flexible decals from MFH and I managed to break four and got one installed and then gave up, so definitely no recommendation here. I think, I will use etched ones. Another thing, I don´t like about the MFH manual is that there are no wiring length given and far worse, some wires or tubes lead to nowhere in the picture of the manual, which leaves you browsing through the pages and looking for the right connection, which probably isn´t there and the wire ends hidden somewhere in the body. A bit more clearness would be appreciated. Cheers Rob

A very nice looking truck, FA. Like always, the wear and weathering is absolutely convincing. Cheers Rob

Wow, your Cutlass is a real beauty. I like the unusual looks of the original and your build shows them to perfection. Cheers Rob

Somehow the camouflage on the box picture worked, I´m astonished how big this truck is. Great progress with that clunky machine FA. Cheers Rob

Thank you Carl and Mike. It is relatively easy to shine with these MFH engines, as they usually build up well. Studying the manual and thinking ahead helps a lot. The engines are a kit in a kit, no wonder MFH sells some separately. Tamiya uses the completely cast belt and wheels for their 1/12 F1 kits and they are a letdown. I wish, they would provide the pulleys separately and use adhesive tape, like here. Cheers Rob

Building these engines is indeed a lot of fun. They are a challenge to build at times, but it is a very rewarding task as well. The sheer weight of the engine feels good, it equals an 1/32 plane easily. I have a metal engineering background and like to work with metals, so it´s a good fit for me. Cheers Rob

I´m not an expert Mark, but remembered this video, which shows white as the interior color. Cheers Rob

After checking all my MFH 1/12 kits about completeness, which is an exhausting task, I managed to continue with the Brabham. The clear yellow air funnels got installed, along with the clear fuel lines and accessories. This was a fiddly task, because it was difficult to determine the correct length of the fuel tubing. I also installed the belts on the frontend, which were replicated by black self adhesive tape. The white painted bracket parts on top of the funnels have angular PE parts glued on, to accept the fairings later. It was definitely a mistake to install them now, as figured in the manual, as I managed to break some. Cheers Rob

Nice work on the Spitfire, Carl. She will be a beauty in white and blue. Thanks about mentioning how the AK markers work. I have some on the way right now, including GB interior green for my Kotare Spitfire. Cheers Rob

I absolutely don´t like the cast Tamiya belts, they look clunky and wrong. I wish, they would supply the wheels at least, that you can add the tape yourself. Cutting the plastic belts away destroys too much of the wheels. Cheers Rob

Cylinder bank number two is ready, again lots of riveting, always hoping that no rivets ping out of the tweezers. The rubber spark plug connectors got glued in and were drilled to accept the wiring. This time, I used Tamiya metal primer for the first time, brushed onto the parts and it seems, that the metallic paint adheres well on the white metal. BTW: Tamiya should use the MFH method for replicating belts. There are single cast belt wheels, the belt itself is made from self adhesive black tape. One thing, I learned with MFH kits is the addition of springs. It´s always better to add the spring to the unmounted parts and glue these into place then. I will bore you with more pictures, showing my progress with the engine, but you know, it´s easy to scroll . Cheers Rob

One bank of cylinders is prepared, still six to go on the other side. You have to love to apply tiny white metal rivets with this kit, as there are hundreds. The engine was sprayed with AK Extreme Metals dark aluminum, the covers, front and rear, were a bit more complicated. The manual calls for a mix of copper and gold and my first try was with AK´s jet exhaust, which felt to dark and to bronze, followed by pale jet exhaust, which lacked the slightly reddish tone. Finally, I choose Ak´s pale brass, which looks good to my, compared with photos. Afterwards, I painted all the casted nuts and boltheads silver and applied all the necessary rivets with fine tweezers into their pre drilled holes, always expecting the "ping" sound of a flying rivet. Finally, I accentuated white metal with black panel liner and brass colored parts with brown panel liner. Cheers Rob

When you start to venture into MFH kits, you will find, that building the engines is one of the most relaxing and rewarding parts of the experience, visible or not, it´s just fun to build them up. Cheer Rob