DocRob

I use the Pledge straight from the bottle, no need to thin the stuff, Chris. You can add Tamiya Flat Base, to the degree you want to have the flat look, but never more than 30%. With more, you will have a candy cotton effect. Cheers Rob

What a cool 1/1 LARGE scale project Ernie. Keep us unknowns in the loop, please, as this is really fascinating. It´s quite a different task to thoroughly restore that airframe. Its your life depending on the work you do. Cheers Rob

I have another one, a Richard Petty 1972 Dodge Charger. Browsing through the sprues shows a promising quality and there are some encouraging build logs out there. I guess, the greatest difficulty will be the body painting, which in both cases is two color, bordered by pinstripe decals, which need to be used as templates for masking. If I understood right, all the Salvino´s kits are limited to 500 items each, but of course, there are a couple of variants for the same chassis, from different years and with different sponsor decals. Some of their kits are based on older kits, but the ones I own are new tool by Salvino´s Cheers Rob

I hope so, Carl Cheers Rob

Well señhores, while some of you are already finished with your builds, I´m still contemplating about what to contribute. I browsed through my stash, before my Berlin trip and found only a few tempting subjects. Needless to say, I was not very thrilled about the sandbox thing, firstly. Then I had an idea, pulling the 1/20 Wave kit of a Ma.K Panzer Kampf Anzug Friedrich out of the shelf. This will be a little dio with the Friedrich´s operator literally having bitten the dust or sand to be more specific. In Berlin, I bought some tiny but welcomed additions for the small scenery, including some squeezed water bottles and 3D printed skulls, which will add to the morbid scenery. Cheers Rob

Back from my Berlin trip and my first visit to LHS there, I brought back a large array of AM for different kits and stuff for some projects, I have in mind. These are for a long planned under water dio, including a resin steam punk submarine a jetty and lots of fishes and sea live along some figures in 1/35. I first slept in the rancid Circus Circus Hotel in las Vegas and as "good" memories never vanish, I chose the Salvino´s Monte Carlo as a reminder. I somehow like the old Nascar´s and the Salvino´s kit seem to be of decent quality with outstanding decals. Fun fact, the chrome plated parts are real meatal plated, heavy and magnetic. Cheers Rob

Catching up with your log after my vacancies, Peter. The interior looks brilliant and having the fuselage closed, you achieved a milestone. The kit seems to be a good one, capturing the busy look of the heli. Makes me want to start my Cobra kit (The helicopter, not the car ), but this has to wait. Cheers Rob

Your patience pays off, the engine looks great and the axle is a feast for the eye. Cheers Rob

You did a remarkable job with that psycho-camoed 109, Chris. I really like the "different" appearance you achieved. The washes tied everything together to my eye. I tend to use self mixed oil color washes these days and sometimes Flory washes for effect. I like the Tamiya PLW as well, but they can be hard to remove on fragile paint surfaces. I still use Pledge for clear coating with good results, except once, where Micro Sol or Set left a foggy residue, which luckily vanished with another clear coat. X-22 is very good too and for shiny car bodies, I use Mr. Hobby GX-100, which has a perfect gloss, but is not so easy to work with. Cheers Rob

Great work on the F-4. I built the Kai version some years ago and was absolutely overwhelmed by the quality of the kit. I would build more ZM F-4´s, if there weren´t the zillions of stencils. The AK Real Colors I used, sprayed generally very well, with a even and fine finish. I had no issues mixing them in a jar with Mr. Leveling Thinner at about the same ratio you mentioned. Cheers Rob

I own the Prym thread as well and will try it, when I build my first British biplane, as it has a flat profile. EZ-line never worked for me, just too wobbly to pass through loops and tubes several times, but bought some Infini 0,135 mm flexible thread lately, which is far better to use with my rigging method. BTW, I use a sharp blade to roll the Albion aluminum or brass tubes for cutting them. Way better than using a razor saw, which causes a lot of burr. Cheers Rob

Nice progress, Carl, like these late Sheridans, with all the added bits and pieces to make them still usable. I wanted to buy the kit some time ago, but forgot about, until I saw your log. I used wax pencils as well in the past, but never liked them too much. I still prefer tweezers for handling PE, but rarely the very sharp pointed ones. Cheers Rob

This develops nicely, PW. I like your rigging efforts, which are similar to my method, but I use pre fab eyelets from Bob´s Buckles. When these are gone, I will fabricate my own as well. I prefer Chameleon fishing line for rigging, as it adds some sturdyness to the wings, whenever possible. For 1/32, I use aluminum tube with an inner diameter of 0,3 mm and outer of 0,5 mm. The fishing line got fiddled through once, then through the eyelet and a second pass through the tube, tautened and secured with a tiny drop of CA. When you choose the right diameter of fishing line, the rigging is almost self securing. Elastic thread, I use only for areas, which are hard to reach on both sides, like between the fuselage and the nacelles of my AEG G.IV build lately. Cheers Rob

Looking very good, Kevin, I like the detailed front office. I have the same kit in my stash and it itched me sometimes to start it, because I love the NMF Tempest a lot. I forgot to consider the kit for the Sandbox GB though, but will follow your progress closely. Cheers Rob

You put yourself under some pressure with such an ambitious project, Hubert. I really like the results of your printing efforts, albeit the described methods and software usage are just plain Chinese to me. Bummer with the landing gear struts. Finding long drill bits with the needed diameters will be difficult, but maybe you could push a heated steel rod through, especially when there are at least some remains of the projected channels left. As a better guide, you could drill as deep as possible with the bits available. You could also slice the struts and epoxy some rods in. Cheers Rob

Well, that´s good news, like Carl, I will be in the buyers lane. Cheers Rob

Yes, I meant drilling and inserting brass rod not tubes. i use mainly 0,5 mm brass rod for the task and glue these into the drilled holes with CA glue. If more strength is required, I use the method, I described in my Fokker D.VIII build log, using flattened brass tube with brass rod inserted. The brass rod protrudes at the ends and can be glued into the wings holes. Cheers Rob

Sorry to hear about your health conditions Peter. I hope you respond well to your medication and don´t need to be hospitalized. All the best my friend. Cheers Rob

Thank you Phil, no plans to purchase kits though, but some AM for my sandbox project and others. Let´s see how long these intentions last, when I enter the LHS . Cheers Rob

@FullArmor, @Bomber_County, @HubertB, @CANicoll, @BlrwestSiR, @belugawhaleman, @Landlubber Mike, @Martinnfb, @Peterpools and @KevinM Muchas gracias x10 hombres . There will be no more updates for some weeks, as I will be traveling a bit and when I´m back, I have to start playing in the sandbox with you guys. Cheers Rob

Pure Mad Max kick ass style and on the other hand looking so outdated and improvised. Great choice of quirky subject Martin, Chassis and wheels are looking good. Cheers Rob

Somehow, I managed to get rid of this post in its original place. Luckily, I could copy it from MSW, so it´s only slightly out of order. I worked on the interior of the Cobra Coupe, lately, installing and decaling the switchboard first, then matte clear sprayed over the decals. Last were the switches, which are glued from the backside. Next was the shifting lever, which was not easy to install cleanly, with the tiny rivets to add. Last for these steps was the fire extinguisher, which is fantastically detailed. The chrome band is made from chrome adhesive tape, instead of the kit´s springy PE part. Then the tub was installed onto the chassis, followed by the seats and seatbelts. I love MFH seatbelts, as they provide double sided adhesive tape for mounting and installing them. No risk of CA blotches, smart. Cheers Rob

Thank you Seiran, it´s my second MFH build in after my recently Crocker motorcycle build and these kits are somehow addictive. If you are willing to build high detail car or bike kits oob, this is the way to go. They definitely need another approach, as there is a lot of white metal and resin and other materials involved, but to me there is more fun into building these, as there is in most plastic kits. Cheers Rob

@ScottsGT Cool techniques Rob! When I built my 1/72 Space Shuttle I used cloth medical tape cut into squares and applied to the exterior to simulate the thermal blankets the exterior was covered with. I had to use very thick enamel paint forced into the weave to fill them up. Thank you Scott and Chris, there are indeed a lot of techniques, to come closer to realistic results in builds. Some of them I learned of here or in other places, others, I developed myself, like the cigarette paper technique. Only recently, a fellow modeler over on MSW showed a technique for replicating 1/12 carbon fiber, using tulle fabric over a metallic grey base and then spraying black over it. After removing the tulle fabric and sealing everything it looked very good. I stored the idea for later use. Cheers Rob

Interesting, what was in the box, Martin. Always good to replace as many parts on a Italeri kit . The meshes came out great way better then the plastic blobs. Will stay in your sandbox and watch you progress. Cheers Rob