DocRob

These engine look super cool Peter. All the detail made to pop due to your painting style. Can´t wait to digest your weathering efforts. Cheers Rob

Fantastic result as always Mike, Finish and figure are spot on. My only micro critic is about the flare pistol. I guess, nobody would have left it there barely balanced. Cheers Rob

If it´s Tamiya, why shouldn´t you, Paul . Cheers Rob

You seem to be a bit on a roll with tank suspensions lately, Carl. Looking good and seems to be a nicely detailed kit. Cheers Rob

I was not satisfied with my other sand related objects. A Do-17 in desret outfit, yawn, LRDG Jeep, a little better, but still yawn and then I found the MaschinenKrieger. There will be a lot of weathering involved and maybe some new techniques as well. Firs, I have to build a huge 1/12 garage for the Daytona Cobra, which will be paused during the MaK build. I may be able to build two kits at the same time, but not a demanding one like the Cobra which occupies my whole bench with tons of parts and tools. Well, the AM producers are not what they were before. I could find the squeezed bottles only in 1/16 or 1/24 not in my projects 1/20scale . Earnestly, like you, I was astonished that something like this even existed. The bottles are produced by MAIM, which I believe is a subsidiary of the German online vendor Sockelshop.de. Cheers Rob

I like the matte version better, Chris. Matte finish seems to be a problem with some products. Careful stirring and shaking is always necessary, as the matting ingredients tend to pile up at the bottom of the jar. I never got more matte than semi matte with Tamiya LP clears. Pledge with 25% of Tamiya flat base added will do the job. On the heavily macroed canopy pic, there are some tiny color residues visible. Most times it´s very easy to clean these with a wooden tooth pick. Cheers Rob

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