DocRob

Nice work, some modern jets are really intriguing. After I built my Mig-31, I was thinking of building a -D Super Tomcat from AMK. The kits are so great, that building them is a breeze. In some areas, I found the engineering was even better than with the Tamiyas . But then there is always decaling and stenciling on these modern thingies and finishing one eats as much time as other more demanding builds. Anyway, I'm eager to see, how yours turn out. The pit looks great and when I understand you correct, it will be a flying display. Cheers Rob

Great stuff, I'm buckled in and will learn a lot from you. Seeing all these metal parts, I have to bow to your braveness. Cheers Rob

Thanks Bill, these drills look good, they are so short, they won't bend a lot. I use a 0,2mm drill in a pin vise. The drill bends a lot and it's difficult to start drilling, even pinning the hole with a needle before. If you set the drill deep enough into the vise, there is no bending anymore, but you can't see where you drill. I will look, if I can find your kind of drill somewhere. Cheers Rob

If your camera has spot metering and an AE lock, you can experiment with metering the correct light balance of the parts of the picture, which should be pronounced. If that fails, you have to do something about the lightning, because mostly, the difference between light and dark parts of the setting is too harsh then. If all this doesn't work out, you may be able to make a good pic of the foreground, a good pic of the background and melt them in a photo software. Cheers Rob

Thanks Gaz, they should know where to go . That was done spontaneus, because I cracked the table. I looked at my bench in a slight horror, to see the rest of the silver PE- sheet lying there. The first good thing I had out of my HGW stuff with this build . Cheers Rob

Thanks Bill, it's so easy to break these frames and on the W.12 there is a strut protruding from the frame to support the upper wing, guess what happened... . About the wiring, I thought the same way until I saw, how tiny the horns on the steering column are. I seem not to be able to drill a 0,2 mm hole into it for fixing the fishing line. How did you solve that problem? Thanks Carl, in the moment the leather padding is only painted to have it done for the inside. I think for the outside, I will use liquid mask and if there are irritations after peeling the mask, I will redo it, easy with oils. Cheers Rob

I start the preparations to finish the interior. There's a lot of detail work involved, most of it will be for the 'I know it's there' thing . I dry fitted a lot with the frames and engine mount, to guarantee, that the fuselage will close properly, a critical point of a WNW build and this is no exception. I pre-fiddled in the steering cables, using fishing line, which has a natural stiffness, but have no idea, if I will be able to connect them with the steering column, when the framing is closed. The backside of the IP was finished and glued to the hairspray chipped engine mount. I may chip a little bit more, but will definitely add oil stains, some pigments and some salt residues, when the engine is finished to get a matching look. You have too be very concerned of the process of the build and not forget a certain step at a certain time. A last minute thought was, that I have to paint the leather cushion better before closing the fuselage, so I did with oils. When everything is dried, I will age the white inside areas and give the leather a dark wash. The fuel pump was added, along with a copper wire fuel line. I managed to break that fragile frame some days ago and repaired it today Cheers Rob

Gracias Señhores, the pencils were made of 0,2 mm nickel silver rod, which I cut too short for the folding mechanism of the table, so I decided to make something good out of it. Cheers Rob

Does your compressor has an air tank, mine (25 years old) with a tank, runs the pump only once in a while while spraying. My compressor has an water trap, were there are a few drops in after a day spraying. As I said, we have often 80-90% humidity, but the temperatures are not very high. All these experiences lead me to think, that maybe some of the bad spray days, I have encountered once in a while, are connected to humidity at least in parts. I will try to look a little closer, if there is a relation. In my Berlin days, where the air was much drier, specially in wintertime, I had a completely different set of problems, mostly connected to dust and static.. Now my biggest problem is clogging with acrylic paints. Xtreme Metal colours though, don't have that prob.

Heavy Metal Carl, I hope you WIP it. Cheers Rob

All the best Harv, we'll wait for you finishing the Würger with new sharpness . Cheers Rob

Thanks Carl, I was tempted to put an ashtray in and a glass of brandy , but instead went with my ruler and triangle made of spare PE, mainly because I managed to break the folding table, and the triangle covers the crack. I added some pigments to the wood, to add depth in the corners and some tear in the areas, where the usage wood show and went strictly matte with the varnish this time. I'll have the cigar and the old brandy after dinner on the terrace and contemplate how I will tackle the already started engine. Cheers Rob

The interior is almost complete now except for wiring, steering column and some touch ups. I added some details to the foldable table, like a ruler and pencils. Again I was not very impressed with a HGW product, the seatbelts look not to good, and didn't take a wash, to pop the detail like other of the same company did. It was a set for a W.29, guess I couldn't get one by the time. Tomorrow I will decide, if I use the WNW ones or leave it at that.. Cheers Rob

I was really astonished by that, we often have up to 90% humidity and no problems while spraying. The good thing with humidity is, there is less dust in the air. Cheers Rob

Booooooring, no virgins involved, but I have to admit, these pencils are great, never used the colours though. Cheers Rob

I wouldn't comment or dig deeper, as I lived very close to Poland for the most part of my live . Cheers Rob

Not to point the finger at someone, I bought that, because one of our fellow members whose name starts with Ha and ends with rv (no names ) , got me hooked onto these 1/16 things. As I own a FT-17 in 1/35 along a lot of goodies, I stumbled over this one. It's based on the Takom kit, with the Spanish field modification, adding a 20mm Breda cannon. Four of those were build. As much as I love the strange looking subject, I debated a lot with me, as I'm not too keen on the Spanish Nationalists. This will probably result in an abandoned or knocked out tank, do I hear the word hypocritical? . Just today, I saw on one of my online hobby stores the gadget with the worst money per equivalent rate in modelling . You can buy the track link pins (really, only the pins), made from metal (the kit ones are plastic) for more than 100€, I think, they were made by polish virgins on a wet grass field while there was a solstice. A Chinese Tankette in 1/16 from Takom will follow soon. Cheers Rob

This might be the last one, I would go for, if one shows up somewhere. Nice find Bill. Cheers Rob

I like your Dora with her elegant lines. It's like something graceful slipped in a mottled camo dress. There are not many builds of D's without a colourful but distracting waistband. Could have lived with another pic from a little more up, showing the wings camo with the fuselage mottling, because it seems to contrast nicely. Cheers Rob

Congrats Gaz, you nailed the M-47, a rarely seen model in early Bundeswehr livery with figures. Speaking of them, I think they look great and add a nice contrast to the tank. The richness of the colours in your natural light pics is great, with that deep and rich olive green. Were the copperish parts on the tracks to add even more contrast, or is that depicting the real thing? I know, how good it feels to throw away the box of a finished kit, That and adding the spare parts to the big spares box seals it to me and then there is always the cleaning of the bench for the next kit. Cheers Rob

Thanks Carl, together with that flexible glass holder, all makes sense. Seems to be the way to go and not having any more glass shards in the nozzle of my AB Some chemical warfare against these dammed lids . But why not, sounds perfectly logical. Thanks for the tip, Bill. Now I got three ideas and feel a little like an idiot with my shattered glass, but that's the way, we got out of the swamps, learning from each other. Thanks guys. Cheers Rob

Time for some rants now, but first, I have started giving the interior a used, worn look, but there is more to follow. With the storage bag, I tried to replicate rubberized canvas, like the old Klepper coats of the Marine. Now to the rants, the clear parts by WNW are among the worst, I have seen in a while and it's just straight panes. They do llook wobbly and a coat of Pledge, didn't help HGW provided not enough etch frames nor are there enough masks provided, normally, I like the products of HGW, but this set is a total waste. You have exactly three of the C2 window panes and at least one of it needs a frame and mask on both sides. This combined with the unusable paper wood insert for the fuselage and the hyper fragile wood decals, let me wonder what these guys are smoking . Cheers Rob

Thanks Jeff, I will consider buying one of these, I have only a large one for diameters up to two meters. Thanks Carl, I know these tools, but do not have one, because, when the jar is so hard to open, the problem is not to get hold of the lid, it's the glass part, which is difficult to hold. Therefore I go with Jeffs option and use my pliers, like I did before, but with that band tool around the glass. Cheers Rob

I like the ideas and designs too, but have some neighbours here, who built tiny wooden houses for themselves. I always imagine how live in these is when we have 37 degrees and a sandstorm like last weak in these not too well isolated houses. Our so called Bruma (a dense heavy fog) we have very often mainly in spring with the humidity up to 90% dosen't sound like fun in these houses as well. On the other hand they are better off, than lots of other people on the islands with tiny flats, surrounded by lots of noise, with having a patch of earth around their houses. Cheer Rob

It was an old glass jar of Tamiya acrylic and not to open without the help of devices. In this hard case, I used a vice and juuuust a little bit too much force. I've done it before and the vice has aluminum tin for protection. The worst beside the spilled colour and glas shards was, that I had no comparable colour at hand. So I tried to use the rest of what was in the jar... Cheers Rob