DocRob

Nice work on the new bench, but can you really sit in front of it, without hitting your knees? Cheers Rob

Thanks Gaz, not sure, what will be seen after closing the fuselage, but maybe I let the cowling off on one side. Cheers Rob

The engine received some love today, with washes first and after drying a mix of engine grime, oil and fuel stains worked in wet in wet to get layer results. The engine mount got the same treatment. I call the engine more or less ready, I decide tomorrow when everything has dried, if I rub on some more pigments. Cheers Rob

Thanks for your kind words Jeff, it's a two seater, be my guest . Cheers Rob

Nice detail work, you could have spared a track though, as a reason of the towing , but now it's to late. Cheers Rob

Thanks Gentlemen, the good thing when you have no experience is, that you are open minded and not preoccupied. I give me a little time to evaluate the new challenges and try to think of solutions. A vague idea forms slowly to a clearer path with the help of you, other sources and last but not least my imagination. I really like that process, in the beginning, I'm itchy, thousands of questions in my head and slowly things fall together and there are only one or two options left and I get calmer and focused. Cheers Rob

Thanks Harv, I'm actually enjoying the detail work. Well thought through in advance, it's easier done than expected. Cheers Rob

Today I finished the wiring for the engine, which was easier than thought with the lead wiring. The wires are so easy to bend, that I could put them in the final position, without them springing back a little, but first I attached the foil wiring housings to the block as flat as possible, to get the pushrods over correctly. Then I bent the wires to the spark plugs, cut them to length and flattened the end with a tweezer and glued them in place. Same was done with the wires to the Magneto Then it was time to set in the push rods and glue the rocker arms in place. Some has to be adjusted a little better, not so easy, because of the thickness of the wiring harness. The other side got wired the same way, but after adding the intake manifold, because pictures (and logic) show, that the wiring is on top of the tubes. Some more parts has to be added after drying and there are some touch ups to make here and there, but then the engine is done. Cheers Rob

Today, I started to address the wiring for the engine. I tried to drill 0,3mm holes in the sides of my 0,5mm styrene strips and failed, because the holes made a tiny blister on each side of the strip. Then I cut a strip of metal foil from a wine bottle and folded it in the middle at 90 degrees. I added all the wires with CA glue and finally bend it flat with some more CA. I used the unloved kit part as a template for the ignition wires. This way, I didn't have to paint the foil, because with some weathering it will look good.

Just found this new bust of the Law Enforcement Steel Murphy. https://www.dersockelshop.de/maim---modern-armies-in-miniaturesmaim10016dead-or-alive,-you-come-with-me-bust--110 Cheers Rob

Very nice, I like the contrast between shining material and dull surfaces, as it makes figures look so much more realistic. I have the German Naval Crew from Copper State Models and will add these to my actual Hansa Brandenburg built. As there are no paint suggestions, I will store your depiction in mind. Cheers Rob

Nice save, do you Future the canopy parts before? I do it almost always and had no probs with fogging, no matter what glue I used. Cheers Rob

Thanks Gaz, as mentioned above, it was the 'I chickened out solution' , but definitely looks more realistic. Cheers Rob

The engraved result, gives a way better look of a spring, but with a real spring you can improve it even more. The diameter of the spring would have to be 1,4 mm then. First I was thinking about producing my own springs from soft, thin wire, but decided against. As you can hopefully see on the pic, these valve cylinders have the attachment nob casted on the underside. If you use a spring, you will need to use an axle for the spring, which is drilled into the cylinder block, which you have to fill in advance. Otherwise the tiny rocker arms, which are exposed to damage after mounting the engine, have no real hold. Too me that seemed too much work, with a too fragile result. Cheers Rob

Today there is only a little update due to heavy swimming and watering the garden in the heat, but to me it's an important one, as I didn't like the WNW solution for the valve springs not at all, and these are on top of the engine in undisturbed eyesight on the finished kit. I took my engraving needle and scratched fine lines into the plastic cylinders and rubbed some steel pigments on and then a black panel liner. To my eye this looks more than a spring, than the WNW attempt and I hope the next ones will be a little finer engraved. Five minutes of work per one valve set, voila. Left WNW kit supplied, right as mentioned above. Cheers Rob

It's about time to start with the engine now. WNW provides a plastic half of the cylinders with the push rods casted in. That part is highly prominent on the engine and utterly gruesome. The good news is, that there is an 'unused' spare part of the same cylinder block half without the rods, so you do not have to do a lot of surgery. The main part of the engine was sprayed with Xtreme Metallics Aluminum, the bank of cylinders is Tamiya's semi gloss black. I drilled 0,5 mm holes into the housing to install the pre cut (13,3mm length) nickel silver tubes, wich will look perfect, with their high sheen finish. I also cut two strips of 0,5 mm styrene for the wiring harness. These are not present in the kit, but are shown in the b&w pics in the manual. Because it will be more difficult to weather the engine, with all details attached, I dusted different types of pigments on, namely track brown, smoke, old aluminum and steel. This will be refined later. I also painted the spark plugs for a little contrast. The springs or more the missing representation of the valve springs, I will try to address in a simplified way. As you can see on the upper left side of the pic, these are only cylinders without any spring detail, again, highly visible. I thought about cutting these away and make my own springs out of wire, but cutting these parts would make them very fragile, so I decided to try to fake paint the springs, either with a very thin marker or a pencil onto the already applied stainless steel paint. Last but not least and to finish the interior, I painted the spare drums for the observers Parabellum MG. After painting and some wash and pigments, I applied a 0,5 mm strip of Kabuki tape, as a canvas strip, holding the rounds. this was then painted and dirtied up. Cheers Rob

The internal rigging was a fiddly affair, but now everything is taut and glued. The steering column is not in it's final position, that will be glued in place with the steering wheel added. That's about what shows of all the interior work after closing the fuselage. Luckily it seems, that everything fits here, the small gap can be closed with only a slight amount of pressure, a crucial step in WNW builds. Next step will be the engine, which will be modified, as the stock one has it's noticeable simplifications. Cheers Rob

Smooth looking paintjob, this beast will look great when finished. Cheers Rob

When I paint metals, I start with a new looking finish of colour or wax on primer and try to achieve the most realistic looking metallic sheen. Then there is weathering and ageing the metal. With copper and brass, everything is about patina, which can be best achieved with blue and green washes and mainly pigments. A good guide for copper ageing is made by the talented builder Fichtenfoo. http://fichtenfoo.net/blog/in-progress-»-fish-sub-»-copper-patina-»/ I hope that helps, as a Renault FT is as close to steam punk as possible . Cheers Rob

Thanks Norman, and welcome to the forum . I'm pleased, that you like the Kamel build, as I enjoy it a lot. Cheers Rob

I don't know what you have in mind, but I had a recent project, which involved a lot of non-FE finishes, that might help. Most of it was sprayed, but I used lots of pigments an pastes and hand painting to get the project done. Cheers Rob

I tried too, but without success. For brush painting I use different products, depending the conditions. True Metal waxes from AK, metallic colours from Scale 75 (acrylics), sometimes dilluted Tamiya metallics, and lots of different Pigments, where the Uschi van der Rosten are the best, but only available for steel, chrome and iron tones. Brushing metallics is not so easy, I found, the finer the grain, the better the results. Even different Tamiya Aluminum tones are very different in the outcome. I try to airbrush metallics as much as possible and here are the AK Extreme Metals my go to, great shine, fine grain and very durable and especially durability wise, they are better than most of the Alclads. Cheers Rob

Thanks Carl, perfect, I will try to get those. Cheers Rob

Today I managed to do some little things, I didn't dare yesterday. After thinking about the attachment of the control wires, I decided to give it another try with drilling the horns. If that wouldn't have worked, I would have sliced the ends of the horns to glue the wire in. I got sthem drilled somehow with my 0,2mm bit and glued the fishing line in with CA and left it to cure. The rudder pedals got tiny holes then and I drilled the return rollers in the frame part as you can see for putting around the rudder wire. Then I dirtied up the white parts of the interior with olive green and light gray oils. Cheers Rob

A beautiful and strange game. When I lived in Berlin, I was playing Baseball in the German League System for 25 years. On one occasion, while having a training camp at the old Olympic fields in Berlin, there was a Cricket club training the place beside us. We decided on a mixed session an it was weird. We hardly could hit the hurled balls of the Cricket players, but the had the same difficulties hitting our pitches with their paddles. We had loads of fun with the guys and lots of beer in the intercultural apres drinking and a bulk of nice memories. Cheers Rob