DocRob

Was it a long strike or is that the normal haul ? Cheers Rob

Oh dear, sorry to hear that. The quick build starts to slow a little caused by feline desasters. We own only a small dog and it's way easier to keep things out of his reach. One of my other hobbies is my huge collection of vinyls and three turntables, so definitly a no cat house. Cheers Rob

These two wheeled MINIatures can be challenging in times, but hey you're a master modeller, so I'm quite confident you will master that . Cheers Rob P.S. I know the feeling

Thanks Peter, and you are absolutely right, the Jug looks powerful, even brutish, without loosing the last bit of elegance. Cheers Rob

Hi John, found this by accident, hope it might help. Decals: I found two photographs of 887 Squadron Seafire IIIs, which showed that the airplanes used oversized large BPF insignia; this was likely done to insure that their erstwhile USN allies recognized the unfamiliar shape of the Seafire as “friendly.” I was able to source the BPF decals from the Dutch Decals sheet “Dutchies in de FAA”, which were originally meant for the 1/32 Hellcat. The “Royal Navy” and the serial NN212 came from leftover decals for the Fisher Sea Fury, while “S/112" was sourced out of other Fleet Air Arm decal sheets. Source is: https://modelingmadness.com/review/allies/cleaver/gb/tmcsf3.htm Cheers Rob

Nice Jeroen, great start for a review with the original photos to compare. For me the Lanc has too much wingspan, it wouldn't fit in my sparay booth or photobox, so I'm out on this one, but will follow your review out of sheer interest. Cheers Rob

Thanks Mike, a good kit with some good AM added makes live easy . Cheers Rob

Me like , nice work with the cockpit, it looks very lifelike. When heavy resin parts are involved, I tend to add more stability to the structure by using brass rods. with the help of the rods, alignment and sanding is a lot easier too. Cheers Rob

Great Zim Gaz, looks like on these photos above. Cheers Rob

Hehe , can't let go of the Corsairs…. God for me though, I got some new pictures of a similar Engine like mine in the Jug, what will be the next step. One of these days you should try the Brassin R2800. The Tamiya one is perfectly good, but the Brassin is in another league. The only difficulty is to fit it under the cowlings, even when you try the thinner resin or PE ones. Some of my grey hairs appeared when I tried to fit the Brassin engine into the Corsair and let the cowlings removable some years ago. But this gem cries for leaving everything open. Cheers Rob

Thanks Danny, I hope so the NMF is frighten me a little, but if I master it half as good as yours I'm satisfied. The other bad thing, I have no display case , I'm building for the pure fun of the building process, afterwards I mostly use interest in the kit, except it's a real gem. Cheers Rob

Great looking bunch, can't wait to see the 'enlighted' X-Wing. Cheers Rob

When I left Germany some years ago for my tiny island in the Atlantic Ocean I had similar feelings. I was not concerned at all, maybe because we had just one container , but maybe and there might be more truth in it, because it was the right decision and it was made. Whish you luck with the customs (PITA-potential) and that you keep your coolness through the whole process. Cheers Rob

Muchas gracias Senhores, to get a thumbs up from you is really encouraging. Cheers Rob

Done lots of the little things lately, like sanding, priming and preparing for construction and finally closed the fuselage. Fit was not perfect but acceptable. The wings are prepared with readily painted and weathered wheel wells. It looks like putty can be left in the shelf for joining the wings (on the picture they are only joined loosely). For the landing and the formation lights I used Uschis chrome pigments as a background which are really shiny rubbed onto a primed surface. The radiators and wheel struts where rubbed with Uschis steel pigments and I think they look the thing, heavy metal. I have to admit, that I absolutely love these Pigments from Uschi van der Rosten. They are finer than every other pigments I know and give a perfect finish when polished out. It's a pity that there are none for Aluminium and other non FE-metals. I started to airbrush some parts like the inner side of the cowlings and the cylinders with AK's dark Aluminium and it sprays very fine and has a nice sheen, maybe a tad to bright for my liking, but that might be gone with a wash and some pigments. I will try different Aluminium shades of the AK-Extreme Metal range for the NMF, always a little daunting, because there are so many risky bits involved, like how does the color take a wash, is masking possible, how well do the decals adhere. So far everything looks promising, but lets wait and see…. Cheers Rob

Out of my ability / comfort zone, but I like watching real artists at work and pick up some ideas here and there. Nice review, thanks. Cheers Rob

Nice idea and subject, Jeroen. Some years ago I built a MiniArt bicycle for my wife, because she owned one of those classics. It was not an easy built, with a lot of tiny PE-parts, like chain, pedals and wheels, but she liked it a lot. I'm sure your father in law will like your effort too. Cheers Rob

Your way of presenting a kit in it's own special setting makes it stand out. Cheers Rob

Once I was travelling with a rented Jeep with Texas license plates from New Orleans to North Carolina and while entering a State Park in Kitty Hawk was asked by the ranger, "Hell, you got Texas plates but y' have teeth in your mouth and y' know your English, y' ain't no Texans" Cheers Rob

Hi Gus, great start to your WIP. I always liked the A7, another iconic design and It's great seeing you tackle it. As a teaser and heavy weathering guide I have some photos of a not too well maintained example in Chino California. Cheers Rob

Great looking Tiffy Tom, and you are right, avoid decals wherever you can, they just don't blend in. Cheers Rob

That's what a heavy dose of Martins build has done to me too. I immediately got me a SBD-3 and some extras and the fingers are itching…. Cheers Rob

Hi Gaz, nice deep dive into nostalgia. I like the idea of 1to1scale to finish the 109 the way you should have done by the time to close that chapter. But hey, it's your history and there is a lot of AM around. Man, an engine out of two parts, if only Zoukei Moura knew . Cheers Rob

Thanx Gentlemen, to achieve this was made easy by the great kit and fitting PE. @Martin, the little I missed out has to be assumed the 'scale effect' . Cheers Rob

That is sweet, Jeroen, another epic build with a perfectly blended look. Are some of the cockpit panes still masked or is that supposed like it is and why? Cheers Rob