DocRob

Good news it seems keep a good eye at Diana and care for her, Peter. Cheers Rob

Thank you Jeff, a mostly enjoyable build for me too, but the areas in need for touch up add, as well as parts getting knocked off during mounting and rigging. It wasn´t supposed to be the easiest of builds, but still enjoyable. Somehow these WNW builds are always demanding and a pleasure to build at the same time. Cheers Rob

There are huge tabs, connecting the inner to the outer wings, like you can see on this pic, where they are masked, Carl. This will secure a good fit and hopefully no sag. Cheers Rob

Patience Hubert, it´s not finished yet Cheers Rob

The big bat is haunting you in your dreams, Hubert? Don´t fear, as I feel the major part of rigging is done now. The rest is straightforward wing rigging, but I have to cut some brass tube, as I ran out of the aluminum ones . One night, it will come for you though, with rattling engines, grim jaws and showing all areas which I need to touch up . Cheers Rob

And the SM Cheers Rob

Today, I managed a very dreaded step in the build, finishing the mid section of the upper wing. Before, I added rigging wires from the nacelles through the cabane struts and later to be fixed under the upper wing, therefore they are not taught. WNW tells you to install the cabane struts first, reaching diagonally from the fuselage, which makes perfect sense, but then let you put the inner struts from the top of the fuselage to the gas tank in the middle of the upper wing to be glued into it´s wing fitting and then last into the fuselage. I didn´t like that second part like shown here in the manual and preferred to have all strut gluing to make on the upper wing, which worked good. Alignment was not easy, but now all looks more or less straight. Cheers Rob

Hmmh, not so much of a (relatively) modern jet guy, but clearly F-16. I never liked the F-18 shape wise. Cheers Rob

Thank you amigos, the painting and weathering of the engines was pure fun, the installation of the nacelles, struts and rigging around the engines is not so much. There is just no wiggle room and sometimes two different struts share the same hole, with added eyelets around for rigging and a steering shaft . The struts are relatively robust, except for the very fragile area directly behind the connector tabs. I broke some of them and I hope, in the end the mid section will be robust enough. Progress is slow at the moment, and it has to do with some of you. I read the actual threads about ageing, falling and hurting themselves and remember older ones as well. With my 60 years, I seem to be a youngster here, but of course, I feel the burden of age as well, but decided, to tackle the subject with more expanded physical activity. So it´s two kilometers of ocean swimming in the morning, followed by some yoga. Tomorrow I will run through the wood with de dog and then it´s mountainbiking and hoping for some surfable waves soon. Your threads made me thinking and were a bit of a wake up call out of my usual early spring lethargy. Thank you for that, guys. Cheers Rob

Same with me, I like the Flory clay washes or self mixed washes from oil colors, where the depth is very controllable and they are also risk free to remove. My bought PLW are drying out since some time. Cheers Rob

She looks peteresque, in other words fantastic, with your typical clean and contrast rich signature finish. Good that you added most of the stencils, which make the build even better. Somehow this is addictive, isn´t it? I sometimes wondered over decals for the same plane, lately Eduards Cartograph decals for a 1/48 Phantom compared to HGW´s wet transfers. Cheers Rob

Wow Kevin, great progress with all these nasty details, the Scharnhorst is coming together nicely. I had to smile a bit nostalgically, when I read your baseball stories, having played for 25 years in German leagues. Cheers Rob

Cute indeed Jeff , but not only you, the truck as well. I love the detailing and the right amount of patina. Your WIP is great, because of the background information. I´m not into trucks, so it´s interesting to hear a bit about these work horses from a former user. Cheers Rob

Looking good Chris, I like the heat protection and the seats. Like you, I have always trouble with filling seams. I have no idea, how some of you do that to perfection. Cheers Rob

Madness takes over , have fun Gus. Cheers Rob

Looking really good Phil. Like Peter mentioned, these ZM kits have their annoyances. I found some on their TA-152, but somehow got her finished. Yor P-51 is a beauty and I will reference to your build, when I dig out my RAF/late boxing. AAAAAAAnd, bring on the figures . Cheers Rob

I also recommend Tesa professional tape, which is a tiny bit less flexible and a tad stronger adhesive than Tamiya Kabuli, but works perfectly. Cheers Rob

Splendid weathering, Jeff. The dust and accumulated dried mud look terrific and somehow enhance the sight onto the many extra details you added. Cheers Rob

Today, I reached one important milestone with the huge bat. After painting the internal MG, I installed it into the fuselage, because this area will be harder to reach, when the wings are on. Then, I installed the nacelle struts, which received eyelets before for the nacelles rigging. Before adding the engine nacelles itself, I finished the rigging between the fuselage and the struts, a hard to reach area, after the engines are in place. I used Infini elastic rigging thread and tiny aluminum tubes for the rigging and tried successfully not to break the struts while rigging. Lastly, I added the engine nacelles itself and the radiator and engine steering axles. It was a nerve wrecking task and not all went completely satisfactory. The starbord engine isn´t perfectly upright, but there was no way to correct it without a lot of fuss. Cheers Rob

These are horrible news, Peter. Luckily nothing worse happened. You have to take care for both of you now. Good to hear, Diana is in competent hands for the treatment. Best wishes, Rob

A true beauty, Carl. The mottling came out great and the markings blend in beautifully. The long barrels and the lack of two tone camo on the wing make her look positively different. Makes me want to start mine, but this is for later. Cheers Rob

She is a beauty ,Peter. I love your chosen paint scheme, which adds dynamic and contrast to the elegant airframe. Still a long way to go, but you´ll master it for sure. Cheers Rob

Thank you Jeff, oils are just the best to replicate leather, it looks real almost instantly. Cheers Rob

Thank you Mike, the build is not that difficult, in general pretty forward, due to great fit and engineering. Decaling took a lot of time and rigging of the nacelles will become a bit nasty. Rigging the wings will be not so hard, I hope, there is relatively large space between the wings and like many German birds, rigging is not over complicated. Cheers Rob

Wow, the 109 looks great, everything blends in perfectly, congratulations. Cheers Rob