DocRob

Hi Gus, indeed, after all the troubles we got a little closer, the 152 and me. In the end she will look totally different than planned, but she will look ok at leas, and a lot of lessons learned with that kit too, the most important of all, you have to finish no matter how . Subtle differences in the shade of washes are easily explainable with the potential bigger amount of shadow on the lower sides. Sometimes we modellers are a little bit crazy, one of these days there will be light guided paneling or something like that. I have some imaginations about a bleached, sun beaten and dusty A-7 in my mind, please bring it on. Cheers Rob

Hola Senhores, I found some time to do a little detail work. I added the delicate upper PE-flaps into their wing sector. They add a lot of detail compared with the kit parts. If you go through the trouble building this ZM TA-152 you should be fit enough to do the extra bending and glueing. It's not an easy task, but (nearly) nothing is easy with this kit. Keep in mind that installing the flaps is best done late in the build, but be sure to have them test fitted a lot, because there is a lot of inner wing material to be removed for a good fit, not a good idea to do this after painting. It's best done while you fit the different wing parts. I have done it after assemblying the wings and there were a lot of different tools needed and a lot of force involved (and some swearing) to do it properly. I also added the wheelbay covers and brake lines (yes they are included in the kit and nicely detailed) to the metal wheelstruts. This subassembly is one of the gems of that kit, well detailed, well engineered, well fitting and sturdy, so don't plan to build yours in flying mode, you will miss that . The extra brass barrels are not painted, they are blackened in some toxic fluid, specially for that purpose. I use that for blackening Friul's and other brass stuff and it works great. You can get that blueish liquid cheap in stores for Tiffany lamps by the litre and the results looks so metal, because it is. If you soak the metal parts in the poison it's importand to shake a little, because airbubbles are your enemy here. The oleos where sprayed in Alclad chrome and where looking the thing, but got a little dull while masked. Maybe I will polish them a little with some Uschi chrome pigments Cheers Rob

Yeah, I'm stunned to. Great review of a historical not so important plane, which on the other hand technically and engineering wise was some years ahead of the pack and some years were a lot in these times. A masterpiece in reality and it seems like the kit will do it justice. I will definetely get me one, or maybe two and leave the wings off in one build. Cheers Rob

Somebody is on fire here, that is an awful lot of stunning work, chapeau. Your "how to" for the antennas is great and even includes some magic, like drilling a 1.2mm hole in a 1.2mm tube, i like that. And what it shows is the will to do things right, even if there are many difficulties to solve. Your cockpit is marvellous and well researched like the hot seat mechanism. You put a lot of effort into this one and you took the same route to document that and this is a treasure for us, because your build shows a lot of answers to the often asked questions arise Thanks for that Cheers Rob

Thanx guys, the pale wash, actually it was made for representing salt stains on ships, was the most interesting one I tried on the TA. The darker ones were barely noticable on the upper camo. After applying I made up the story with the freezing conditions the bird was used in. Story follows used effect, so to speak , but in the end I convinced myself of that and at least this was symptomatic of that build of many changes and altered decisions. I'm not so convinced in using different tones of washes, even after doing so. You always have the problem of "bordering" and washes tend to flow very easily. On the sides of the fuselage, where the dark dots are, it's easy to understand the problem and why should in reality a gap between panels look different on the upper side, than on the lower side, it's a mixture of shadow and external influences (dirt, corrosion, paint abraision)? You see, thinking one way and doing the opposite became my second nature during that build Cheers Rob

Hi Folks, I found some benchtime to start the weathering. i did some experiments with different washes for the upper side and decided to use a very light grey tone. On the pictures it looks harsher than it looks in real light. The near white tone resulted also because the real TA's would have been in action in harsh winter conditions in the beginning of 1945 near Berlin, so a little icey appearance should fit. For the lower side i used a grey-blue wash and a black one for some subassemblies like the wheelstruts. Chipping is next and will be sparse, because there was not much time to chip for these birds, but some dust, splashes and spills will be added. Cheers Rob

Hi Gus, that's what I call progressing. The paintjob looks great and I really like the result of using masks for the insignia. Cheers Rob

That's some serious brass bending,hopefully you don't decide to close the bomb bay doors Cheers Rob

I figured out who is manufacturing your mechanic. It's an interesting company from France which is specialiced in 3D-printing. They carry a lot of useful figures in different scales. Quite pricy, but I will check them out, specially because the carry 1/24 figures. The name of the company is reedoak.com. Cheers Rob

Go Rich go, can't wait to see that beast finished. Good that you solved your supply problems. I could tell you stories about getting supplies on my little island which would give you bad dreams . Cheers Rob

What a nice build and an interesting story to back that up. Great weathering, that bird looks realy used as it should. Who manufactures the guy in front, inspecting the coolers? Cheers Rob

Looking great Steve. You did a great job on subtely blending in the weathering to the monochrome paintjob to make it look right and interesting. Nice work on the ball and chain skirt, was that a lot of trouble to build? I have the same one in my stash and have to buid it one of these days. Cheers Rob

I'm a weak man, I have to admit it. I made a deal with myself, not getteng me a "Dottie Mae" from Eduard, because I already have a 1/48 Jug Limited Edition with some add ons like barrels, a resin engine and HGW stencils, but then there was the Jug for less than 60€, and I was not enough a man to resist. So here she is , the result of that weak moment and will be build with the only addition of some Master Barrels. I'm feeling bad about feeling good Cheers Rob

Sweet Jeroen, nice brasswork and convincing chipping too. Cheers Rob

Hehe, no problem here, I like to be sidetracked. Thanks for the build link and the Link for the Vintage Model Company. You took the base model to another step, very beautiful and hopefully not to heavy and well balanced. The Svenson 'Scout' is really big, actually to big to fly rubber driven and if I build it, it will be decorational only, because I will not borther with combustion engine and RC stuff. Something smaller like yours or like the Guillow stuff should be more appropirate. Cheers Rob

Hi Spliff, you got me with this one, is it a kit or do you build the bird scratch after a scale plan? I did some quick research and found an american producer called Guillow's. They have, among others, some WW1 planes in their portfolio, but they are between 1/12 and 1/16 in scale and are prepared for rubber driven flight. A year ago I found a wooden plane kit of a Bristol Scout in the only hobbyshop (don't think to much of it, they carry five plastic model kits, three from Airfix with included colours and two from Trumpy, actually it's a toy shop) on my island and nearly bought it. The producing swedish company (Svenson) is long defunct, but I'm not sure, because it was big and seemed not very detailed, but hey, it would be my only possibility to buy local . Thanks again for planting a brainbug, but this it what it's all about, in the end they are flying like they are supposed to do, thats quite a different approach to plastik modelling, which sometmes is a show of vanity (me included, no offence meant) and not function anymore. Cheers Rob

Hi Spliff, that is so cool. I had a rubber driven Cessna when I was a kid. I really loved that one and it was the only possibility to let something fly in West Berlin except kites, because of the special status of the city. No way for radio controlled flying outside a club. Thank you for reminding me of this times and I wish you lots of luck and good trimming with that beautiful Se5a. Must be a special moment to prepare for the maiden flight. Cheers Rob

Welcome to that place of large scale addicts, and you seem to fit in perfectly, as you have chosen one of the biggest kits available. I didn't have the courage for a B-17, I can't handle the size and decided that a B-25 and a Mossie are the max for me. I wish you tons of fun with the 'Belle' and hope you are sharing the build with us. Nice start with the figures. By accident, yesterday on TV there was a documentation about Pin-Up's in the european channel Arte and they showed footage of crew members of 'Memphis Belle' patting the 'Belle' on the B-17 after flight. Maybe a good idea for a dio. Cheers Rob

Seemingly smallish update today, but it took some effort and was done for a second time, which made it none less annoying. While painting the engine, the exhausts were already painted, but due to being a really overengineered kit, there was no way for me to leave the engine cowlings openable. In the end I closed up everything and decided to give the exhausts another pass after painting the fuselage. That needed a whole lot of masking to prevent from overspray. I used the trusted Alclad Exhaust Manifold (great stuff) and after that some Uschi Steel Pigments (great too). When applying the exhaust fumes, I will decide, if I tint them some more blueish-black, but that depends on the state of weathering. Cheers Rob

Hola Senhores, after decaling the long winged TA-152 got another sealing layer of gloss Future and is now ready for weathering. I added the prop wich was sprayed black green over aluminum and left of the front tips of the blades to show some wear. The white spiral is a kit decal and went on well. I added the tail wheel strut and finally glued the metal struts for the main wheels in place, adding the hydraulic cylinders and some details. The metallic surfaces are done in Alclad gloss aluminum with rubbed in Uschi chrome pigments. The resin wheels are a multicolour affair, but it is hard to see on the photos. They were painted near black, got some black green added near the rim and a grey tone on the tread, which was rubbed of slightly while still wet with paper tissue. I nearly forgot that I have to paint the exhausts. That will be done next while masking off with tape and after that i will apply the washes, a blueish grey one for the upper colors and a dark grey one for the light blue. And that's the look of the complete bird right now. Looks a bit skinny without the wheel weel covers, but these will be added after weathering together with the flaps. Cheers Rob

Thanx Jeroen, after building, painting and decaling the TA-152 so far, I can truely admit what you achieved with your "Wingless Wonder". I wouldn't have had the courage to start it your way, after I have seen the substance of that overengineered kit. Nonetheless between the pain there was fun too and now seeing the light on the end of the tunnel, I can say I learned a lot . Cheers Rob

Decalling was next, a step I was not looking forward to, because my various experiences with decals where mixed in the best case and suboptimal in the worst. This time was one of the better experiences, because the decals performed well and are opaque enough and settle good with the help of Micro Set and Sol. The decals are complete and include all the neccesary stencils. One thing I noticed while applying, was a misspelling of "Nicht verstellen" to "Nichit Verstellen" for the trim flap stencils. I left it the wrong way, not wanting to go AM for that and either not wanting to cut out the obelete "i". You have to be fast with applying the ZM-decals, because they need only seconds to soak. In the end the result is ok, but I have traces of the solvents on the Future coat. I hope another sealing coat will let that disappear. I was prepared to paint all the insignia, numbers and fuselage rings, but the very bad adherance of the Vallejo primer, was convincing me to take no risks with extra masking. Next time it will be my trusted Tamiya rattle can primer again and masks for everything, that is more complicated, but I prefer it that way, because it's much more controllable and blends into the paintjob much better. Cheers Rob

Beautiful pics, must have been a great experience to fly with that Moth. Cheers Rob

Wow, to much information for me, I have pictures in my head , and no, I will not ask. Cheers Rob

Great work on the internals Jeroen, you make it look like 1/32, only your finger gives a clue about the scale. Cheers Rob