DocRob

Hey Jeroen, why caring about the opinion of others, when you feel different about it? Maybe the Lady from the Lake has some suggestions about aged canopies. Cheers Rob

A very special bird you built there and a great result you achieved. As a friend of strange "what if's" or to name it in a more recent term "alternate facts", i have to applaude. Nice touch with the white wall tyres. I missed that plane in Chino, they must have hidden the Heinkel by the time I was there, what a pity. Cheers Rob

Hi Bevan, it indeed caught my eye, mission accomplished Cheers Rob

Great result and a marvelous paint job. Everything looks just right. Is the position of the tail wheel on purpose (maybe a dio)? Cheers Rob

There is really no need to spoil your 190D-9 with a cheap- (Jeep-) Shot . Beautiful result. Sometimes it feels just great to build one straight forward more or less out of the box. Nice Job with the masking and the not too red underside. The Jeep is of course a completely different story. Cheers Rob

Very nice result on the G6, heavily mottled and aged but not overdone. Not too many scratches, the ones which are there are in the right places. Congratulations to that worn fighter. Cheers Rob

Wonderful pictures poet, just great shots, nice lighting and perfect "closeness" to the subject. I had sworn to myself to life out of my well filled stash for some years, but you are planting doubts in me about purchasing a 1/32 B17. I will give that some thoughts, in fact a lot of. cheers Rob

Very nice result on a very beautiful plane. I specially like the at least for me unusal RAAF paintjob. The worn walkways look great and the "used" finish screams: salt, water and drops from seagulls .

What an experience, sadly not many of us will ever make. Thank you for sharing that inspirational moment. Cheers Rob

Can't see enough corsairs here and you did a great job on yours. what I specially like about your build is that you will open the hoods and do the interior jobs. You nailed the wiring on the engine in a way i get a little jealous while seeing . In another thread I posted some pictures of a stripped Corsair in restauration. It might help for the detailing inside. Cheers Rob

Thanx coolbox, when you build such an almost perfect kit like the Tamiya Corsair that leaves a lot of headroom for painting and weathering. The Brassin engine was a story of love and hate. It is not easy to build, lots of resin and PE parts and in the end it didn't fit under openable cowls, but lessons learned. I will be more decisive now, if to open the easy way is not an option it s open or closed . Anyway I'm looking forward to build more Brassin engines for my BF-109E and my FW-190 A8 but next time no PE-piping and wiring, it's just not the right deal. Cheers Rob

Very nice pictures crazypoet, it gets more and more difficult to get decent pictures of iconic planes mostly due to the surroundings. Bad indoor light, crammed museums, sometimes to many people, too many (often understandable) restrictions to access. But there are these rare chances, where everything is right, composition, lighting and then it is a pleasure to hit the trigger of the camera. You had all that combined with the eye for the right angle and moment combined in your pictures and created something of beauty about that beautiful B-17. That is the spirit that topic is all about. Cheers Rob

I think I'm not the only AFV-builder who does not like Rubber-, DS-, Magic- or segmented tracks. Gentleman, there is a solution to our needs, somebody heard our cries. AK-Interactive has a range of different tracks in their Web Shop They carry tracks for Tiger I, Panther late, Panzer II, T-34, T-54, T55, T-62, Sherman, Panzer III early, KV 1, KV 85, SU 152, and BMP3 and the good thing you can get a limited amount of sets already assembled for a fortune (ca. 10 €). These sets are cast from white metal and look very similar to the Friul ones. The only difference I found was that there is steel instead of brass wire used for the connection. the whole length of the track is assembled, but the rods are not glued in. I didn't count the connected links but the length looked suitable. There are five spare track links per side. I love that offer and could hug the person who connected all the links and got bored instead of me Cheers Rob My set of Panther late tracks That's what is in the box. The tracks are separately packed with a short piece of wire and the spare links. Left - Magic tracks (not to bad but do not clip securely) Middle - Friul ATL-28 Right - AK Spare tracks Magic Track Friul AK And that is how it fits around the idler wheel of a Dragon Jagdpanther G2 without cleaning, I'm satisfied. One complete track. Its up to you to count the track links

Fantastic work Jeroen, very convincing. The Art of deconstruction. @levier: Close but no cookies, Ausgezeichnet would have been right

There is always something to improve, but what you show here is a very fine result. Nice paneling and the steel surface in front of the nozzles looks particulary great. On the Fotos I hardly see any stencils and while I think they are there this is good news. On my 1/48 IAF Eagle I had tons of problems with silvering stencils, while the insignia and colored markings went on perfect. Stenciling modern jets is always boring and painful. The builders should manifest the handling in a manual . Cheers Rob

Some more pictures. Feel welcome to add some more not only documentary pictures of the stuff we modelers dream of. Cheers Rob

Thanx Jeroen, sometimes I thought it would have been better to start with the single seater , but then what the heck with a little help of colored Photoetch everything gets a little easier with the cockpit. But building this little plane was in some ways a reminiscence of my days as a kid with an Airfix Phantom in 1/72 and no PE, no resin, no airbrush and no weathering at all. Modelling has changed a lot and lost some of it's innocence, but so have I. Anyway, I like to have all that stuff around nowadays and to challenge myself in building different kind of kits and learn new techniques. Cheers Rob

Actually they have two different versions of the Do 335 in their portfolio, a B-2 and a A-0/A-1. And it looks like there is more to come, like a two-seater version.

Normally that is not my comfort zone either. It was the first 1/72 build since I was a kid. The eyes don't get better with the age .

Hi David, The wheels are made by Eduard (Brassin). They are painted with Tyre Black (UA 733) from the outstanding Shades of Black-Set made by Lifecolor. In my opinion nearly nothing looks really black in scale modelling and that is where this set comes in handy. These Lifecolor Acrylics spray very well, much better than ModelAir in my opinion. The mud is just a little earth pigment and some matte varnish to fix it. Cheers Rob

Thanx Danny, and yeah this is a nice kit. Everything fits well and the detail, especially in the cockpit area is very good given the scale. The decals are of great quality and depict not only the usual suspects. There are also interesting Algerian and Indonesian schemes on the sheet. I have the "normal" Eduard Mig-15 in my stash (The Bunny Racer edition), which is complemented with a lot of resin and PE. One day after optical surgery or the purchase of a microscope I will continue my 1/72 adventures . Cheers Rob

We can't have enough of these Corsairs. It is just a beautiful plane and you did a great job to achieve the look of that special VF (N)-101-Corsair. I wouldn't call that paintjob dull, in fact i think it is vivid in a way. You don't always need to have colorful markings to make a kit look interesting. The story behind that plane and your connection to the former pilot make this project very special. It would be great if you let us know about how that story is continuing. Cheers Rob

Wow, what an inspiring build and paintjob. It must be a lot of fun to think about the different layers of worn paint and stressed metal. I start to think about to change my started BF-109 E into something similar. I took some Photos of a BF-109 E7 which landed on a frozen lake after a fight with a Hurricane. The landing was perfect but the ice didn't hold and the Messerschmitt was taken out of the lake in 2003 and is now part of the Chino Planes of Fame Museum. So Maybe, maybe, maybeeeee, ...

Thanks for the warning about the clear plastic, Tom. I will store that on my Brain-HDD for the time I start to build the Zoukei Horten.

I just found the time to go through all four pages of your WIP and I have to admit, I'm stunned. Your attention to detail and the use of different kinds of material really impress me. The effort you took to replikate the engine is just great. The whole boat is looking really convincing and "just right" and that is the hardest thing to achieve in modelling. The subject you chose is right in my comfort line, because the scale allows a lot of detail work. I started a wooden one-mast sailing boat some years ago ( Le Renard, the ship of St. Malo Freelancer Robert Surcouf). From now on I will follow your progress and can't wait to see your little gem finished. Cheers Rob