DocRob

Like Martin said, looking very good, peppered by a unusual look. Cheers Rob

Have you ever had that modelling moment, where you wanted to rewind time for a minute. I had one today. After checking, if all the decals settled perfectly, I cleaned the body with soapy water, to get rid of any residues from the decaling phase. Then, I applied a first coat of Zero Paint clear gloss, with maybe 20% added leveling thinner. The first layer is only misted, to seal the decals in and due to rapid drying time (relatively high air pressure and low thinning ratio) reduce the risk of harming the decals with hot liquids. After about an hour, I applied the second layer of clear, this time more liberal with about a third of leveling thinner and after another hour, I applied the (planned) last layer thinned with ca. 50% of leveling thinner and sprayed on wet. So far so good, until, I took out the airbrush out of it´s holder, to blow the body color dry a bit and didn´t notice that some goo was on the front of the airbrush casing, which squirted onto my just finalized paintjob Now, I´m really frustrated, as everything went well since days of prep work, until the final seconds. I was about to bin the kit instantly, as I absolutely hate these kind of mishaps. I usually prepare my work thoroughly, trying to think ahead of everything, but when something goes seriously wrong, I´m impatient, restless and uncompromising. I´m not sure what to do, leaving it as is or waiting (again) for the clear to dry completely and then carefully try to sand the dots away and re-clear, risking of ruining everything or finally binning the kit. Here are the pics, it looks not too bad, but it is not acceptable. The orange peel look is due to the lighting of some hundred LED´s, the paintjob itself is near perfect and will be perfect after polishing. The dots on the roof´s stripes are the worst, but there are some more. Cheers Rob

Beautiful Phil, but no. I will reveal my plans, when I start the build, whenever that will be. Cheers Rob

The human eye is a fascinating organ, Gus, specially coupled with a working brain and stored experiences. Hard to beat, even by modern cameras, when it comes to certain light conditions, like harsh backlit objects. You can count my relatively smart camera to the fails as well, as it is not capable to render the blue tone of the Cobra´s body correctly, where my eye does a good job . Cheers Rob

Yes, its a beauty Chris. I had to have the kit, when I first saw it. I mean the MFH one, naturally. The Real size kit wouldn´t ever pass the German TÜV or Spanish ITV for technical acceptance. Cheers Rob

Thanks Paul, I understood that, I had looked at some videos from Factory Five during the build. The more "classic" builds look good, but I don´t like the winged monstrosities some made out of it. Nonetheless, the FF Coupe might be the bigger project, but the MFH Cobra isn´t piece of cake either, at least modeling wise . Cheers Rob

It´s unbelievable how precise a trained eye can measure and evaluate, Phil. That is specially true, with a curved object like a car body, where measuring is not so easy. Decaling was more of a challenge than thought here, because MFH forsees, that the decals conform around the edges of the body and wrap around the borders of air intakes and delicate cut off´s on the rear spoiler. It takes time, but looks better than simply put on decals. Cheers Rob

Thank you Paul, sometimes I think the same. It´s a demanding project and not the best entry into the MFH car kit world. The Crocker was much easier to assemble, as there are no huge resin parts to take care of and no bonnets / doors to open. Nevertheless, it´s still a lot of fun and a rewarding project. Nothing against a challenge to keep fresh. Cheers Rob

Nice Phil, I ever liked the Scammell and am eager to see, what you do with it. I have the artillery tractor version from Thunder and special plans, about what to do with it. Cheers Rob

Nice and smooth Chris. Are you planning further weathering on top, maybe a unifying wash or a hint of brown sprayed veeeery lightly overall? Cheers Rob

Thank you Chris, the blue is only what my usually reliable camera is making out of it. I altered every setting, but could not match it to my eyesight. The body color has a slight petrol hue, which looks closer to the original, when I look at photos. Today, I revised the stripes, adding a dot of Micro Sol here and there and looking for mishaps. After clear coating, it will be difficult to repair such mistakes. Cheers Rob

Thank you Carl, I did find some differences with the replica builds though. Some sport really ugly rear spoilers, which - errr - spoil the complete design. The nearer to street versions do look beautiful. There should be a market with only six original ones built. Cheers Rob

Indeed Kevin, it´is 50 mph faster now with the stripes on . Cheers Rob

I hesitated starting with the decaling, because something was nagging me. I didn´t like the oversprayed part of the body, where I dented the paintjob. Tiny marks were still visible and imperfections tend to sum up, specially with high shine car bodies. I wet sanded the area carefully and then resprayed again. And now, I felt, I´m ready for decaling. There is no makers branding on the decal sheet, but the decals were of perfect quality. They are glossy, very opaque, not at all brittle and easy to apply, which made the not so easy task a lot more comfortable. I aligned the stripes more by eyesight, than measuring. The decals are overlapping the borders on the ends and where cutouts are and with perfect placement and some scalpel corner cuts, you wrap the decals around the bonnet and body edges, which of course looks better in the end. Until now, I used only lukewarm water with a drop of detergent for application and the decals behaved perfect, contouring around the edges by themselves after a while of drying. Today, I will evaluate some critical areas and may use some decaling fluids there. And now the Cobra got it´s stripes Cheers Rob

I read, that Lukgraph is planning a 1/48 version, which would meet your idea of the price better, I guess. The wingspan might be easier to handle as well. Cheers Rob

Very nice, specially considering the small scale. Cheers Rob

Thank you Carl, there were two tiny chips near the headlight. I oversprayed these with Cobra Blue, not bothering with clear coat for now, as there are no decals in this area and the whole body will be gloss coated after decaling.

Thank you Paul. I used Zero Paints lacquer clear gloss with about 40% leveling thinner added. Came out pretty decent and should be good enough for decaling. The very high gloss is difficult to capture on the photos. Before, I applied a fourth coat of Cobra Blue overall, to let the tiny blemishes on the bonnet disappear. Unfortunately, during photographing, I tried to hinder my cat, jumping onto the model, it hit a stone and I have another small mark in my paintjob . Cheers Rob

Didn´t happen, luckily . Cheers Rob

Definitely a job for the 0,4 mm needle and nozzle, as there is a lot of body to spray. I feared, the doors or bonnet would look slightly different, not sprayed mounted together. Luckily that seemed unfound, as I can see no differences in color rendition. Cheers Rob

Have fun with the Super Bowl tonight (at least, it´s night, where I live), Chris, I will view as well. I thoroughly clean my airbrush sometimes, specially before spraying car bodies or clear coats. Today, I sprayed a fourth layer of Cobra blue and when I cleaned the airbrush, a glass shaker ball from the Cobra Blue jar was falling out of the airbrush. Don´t know, how it sprayed so well with it . Cheers Rob

Thank you Kevin, Number Five colors dry semi matte and today, I gave the Cobra a fourth coat, to hide the tiny blemishes on the bonnet. I will not polish now before clear coating. Then it´s decals and more clear gloss coating with polishing in the end. Cheers Rob

Following closely, Gus, I have two Eduard Mig 21 in my stash and feel the itch to build one soon. Nice job on the interior psychedelic torquoise. Same reason for limited benchtime today, Phil, but different cause. Today is Supebowl Sunday . Cheers Rob

Very neat. If you ever need some body color for the Cobra Coupe... . Yours is definitely the simpler kit by far . Cheers Rob

Cute Carl, an Egg-Beat . Cheers Rob