DocRob

@ Jeoen and Padubon, thanx Gentleman. Hola Padubon, there is no special technic for painting the dials. I decieded to follow Daniel Zamarbides "FAQ"-Book. After priming and base color I painted the background of the dials in a near black shade. I use thinned acrylics fom Lifecolor (Cockpit black, I never use real black on kits). The scales where painted with a very fine brush and white acrylics and a lot of hit and miss and a strong magnifiying glass. The front blendings of the scales were painted in a light gray tone by brush. Silver seemed to bright and shiny for my liking. Finally some tiny Details where highlighted with a light Grey Crayon. Next a coat of Future Overall and after washes and oil Colors and Pigments for the other parts everything gets varnished in almos matte (Future 80%, Tamiya Flat base 20%) The last step is a dab of Future on the dials to get a glass like shine The Cockpit in the book looks much better than mine, but for me mine is ok enough, but I may not use my very good macro lens for future photos . Cheers Rob

Very nice result on that bluebird. Building a plane with a monochrome scheme requires always a little courage, because of the threat of a boring result. That is obviusly not the case with your beautiful Mossie, congratulations. Cheers Rob

It took me some time to get on the productive side again. Two Projects are stalling at the Moment due to lack of Motivation or shortage of additional goods (not too easy to overcome on a remote Island ). To get in gear again I deceided to pick a Hasegawa Raiden out of the shelf, because I always wanted to do a heavily worn Japanese Fighther straight out of the box. The only Addition are the Maketar-Masks, as I do not trust the decals to much. The Kit is superb, the Level of Detail is pretty good, so it was an easy decision not to dive into the oblivion of Aftermarket-Sets. Test Fitting: Detail and fit are on the money I decieded to go for an old School Approach for the Pilots workplace. Everything got primed, airbrushed with AK-Mitsubishi-interior-green. Details where painted by Hand, sealed with Future and then were following washes and a Little oil-color-Treatment. Some Pigments for the Floor and after a matte varnish, the Dials got a drop of Future for the shine. No belts were included in the kit, so I decieded to use the kit-pilot-figure with scratched straps. Another first for me, Drilling out the Position lights and use transparent Colors for the bulbs. To be continued..... Until now it was a pleasure-project and I hope you enjoyed the beginning Cheers Rob

That is what I meant, your trousers (workbench) caused the initial thought. But I think it is not too easy to realize, specially in the field. Cheers Rob

Looks good so far. As for the 'what if' scheme, I may suggest painting the first Tiger in US-Woodland-camo-pattern . Cheers Rob

Nice execution on the Schlepper parts, Jeroen. You sure now how well spent the money was you put on a good PE-bending-tool . It is almost a shame to cover everything up in paint. Cheers Rob

That is a truly nice looking Spit with a very nice and convincing overall appearance, achieved on a (in my opinion) very medicore kit. Among other things the wheels do not look right and the bombs and racks and intakes and flaps are relatively crude. I understand that it is an comission build straight OOB, but sometimes I think there goes to much effort into building, correcting, painting and weathering into a kit that has so many limitations, but this is just my thinking. Nonetheless, you squeezed the shaky frame and nailed it . Cheers Rob

A King Tiger in the grass, that is fitting . Just a courageus effort or the birthplace of a new discipline in extreme modelling, like Show me the worst place to build a Kit in. Can't wait to see someone Building a 'Mörser Karl' underwater or a 'Spit' under Zero-G-Conditions .

That is a nice Tiffy you build there Dave. I like the camo and the finish. As I have this one in my stash, it would be interesting to hear some details about the Problems you got with the gun bay. I own the Brassin cannons and was thinking about purchasing the Gunbay-PE-Set. It seems to me that you also used the Eduard Interior for the Cockpit (the slight difference in Color, seen with a magnifiying glass ). Do you think it is a good (necessary) Addition. Cheers Rob

Perfect Finish and great choice of Subject. Cheers Rob

Great Tutorial Danny, this will help a lot and the results are really convincing. For me the replication of Wood was always a Little mystery, since my own Tests didn't result in a realistic Wood effect. So knock on Wood mate and you are the "Honour Woody" of the day . Thanks Rob

Thank you Danny. I will Keep your very convincing technique in mind and will do a Little shootout between the oils and the HGW-Decals when I start my build. Cheers Rob

That interior is high up on the "WOW-Meter". Rarely did plastic so much look like Wood. I like the appearance of the different Panels, whichmakes it even more realistic. The Dashboard is a stunner. On my build I will remove the fuel lines and use copper wire as a Substitute ,because I never liked the way brushed copper Color Looks like. Especially brass and copper seem to have larger pigments in the Colors and will not look right to scale. Maybe I will give the True Metal Wax from AK Interactive a try, if I'm to lazy to rebuild the fuel lines. Cheers Rob

Nice woodwork Danny, very convincing. I thought about the HGW-Wood-Decals on mine, but as I see your work, I am not that sure anymore. Cheers Rob

That one I will follow, learned something in the first step, the jig is a great idea. I will Keep that in mind till I start mine. Cheers Rob

Hola crazypoet, to follow your build is slightly different than following some of the other WIP's. Your Project is epic and the way of documentation is as well. So for me it always takes a Little time to read and respond, because I will savour the progress in a time of Focus and not in between other thougts. I love the subject of your Project, because of the scale which allows to Show everything in Detail. In my opinion your Picket Boat is historically and technically of great interest, representing a huge Change in Military development, and deploys the usage of different materials and new ways to work with them. The Picket Boat seems to be a mirror of a fast developping technical Environment under a magnifying glass. Your build reflects all those aspects, because you were attending even the smalest Detail with afterthought and the usage of more or less "original" materials make this build Special for me. So go on with the good stuff and find a way to rivet the sawblade. I guess if there were trade marks on the rivet heads you will find a way to pepresent them . Cheers Rob

By the way, did you see the update for your Baroda on the Wingnut Wings hints and tips page? http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/productdetail?productid=3044&cat=6 On the Archive Photos side, there are some really interesting shots. There is one picture (top row, number seven) of the Baroda cockpit and you can guess, that there are fuel lines. http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/productdetail?productid=3044&cat=1

Hi Danny, maybe there is a mistake. I'm not an expert, so I only try to detect through visual evidence . In the instructions is mentioned that version B,C,D (your Baroda) should get the fuel lines chopped of. When I study the photos of the rebuild Zanzibar No. 1 on page 8 of the instructions you can clearly see the fuel lines on the lower right photo. That is Version C where the fuel lines should have been removed as well. On page 7 there is a photo of the same plane showing the pilot seat with what seems to be the pilot's locker. To me it makes sense that the pilot is able to operate the fuel flow directly in front of him, no matter where the tank is. In the Windsock production "The FE2B Flies Again" there is the same picture as in the instructions (Page 7, first row, middle) and the corresponding text says: "Every item down to the last nut is a true representation of the original". So as a verdict I think at least the Zanzibar No. 1 is fitted with fuel lines, where the manual is saying "scratch that stuff away". I have no information about your Baroda and am happy with my choice of the "C6", because I was wondering about the fuel lines like you as I scanned the manual. Cheers Rob

That's what I call steady fast progress, I whish I could go so fast. Nice Job on the Camo. Cheers Rob

Hi Danny, I got these two fellows from Wings Cockpit Figures. You can't get more drama into a WW1 cockpit. They are sculpted very well without bubbles or other distortions in the resin. Cheers Rob

Hi Danny, great choice. I love that unique plane and bought one for myself and a lot of AM including Figures, Gaspatch MG's, Aviatic Doped Linen Decals for the wings and all the HGW stuff. My version will be the first design, the C6 one. If I had the time I would start right now together with you because it is a kit I really look forward to build, but this will be a big project and beside other builds I will start a Pfalz or Fokker DVII first, because they are much easier to rig. Can't wait to see your FE.2b develop. Cheers Rob

Hi Danny, just saw ,that you got Micro Mask. If you don't know the stuff, try it before applying on the real thing. I used Micro Mask for my Corsair cylinder heads and it was nearly impossible to remove the stuff after painting. I used it because the Humbrol masking stuff is so thick and Micro Mask promised to be easier to apply, because it is more liquid. Cheers Rob

Nice couple of an interesting in between plane (open cockpit, fixed landing gear, single wing). Despite the bare metal finish they look really colorful because of the red parts an black cowls. Cheers Rob

Wow, this build is impressive and a nice job on the conversion. The mottled paintjob is on the money and the "little things" like flame dampers and antennas look perfectly executed. Cheers Rob

Muy bien, and as you said, without a sharkmouth, the bird is much harder to recognize, as it seems to be a signature mark on the P-40's . Have fun with your future projects, it's always good to keep the Mojo flowing after a draught and it seems you had a little Kickstarter gem. Cheers Rob