DocRob

Thanks Peter, yesterday I primed These components and next will be painting and PE-ing , of the Cockpit. Cheers Rob

You are right Martin, I put it a little simple about the NKFD, I didn't want to go to deep into history with that little post, but I like the appearance of the F8 in NKFD outfit. I think I will add more history while I build the FW-190. Cheers Rob

Yes Grunhertz, it is so far, instructions are ok, but not pefect, but that seems typical for MENG kits. You often have to build a section and don't get Information about where to mount all the tiny bits with some other subassemblies. Not hard to deal with, but a little annoying, because I noticed it on other more complex MENG kits too. The colour callouts are only Vallejo codes in black and White, so pageflipping is necessary. Historical inaccuracies are also included like the mentioning of the rocket engine and 30mm cannons for the captured British Version. The quality of the plastic parts is really good and detail is very sharp. The fit is above average til now. Decals are from Cartograph and also look very good. A first Verdict would be great plastic and soso manual. Cheers Rob

Many thanks for the detail photo, Kent, the cockpit is looking great. I wouldn`t have the courage to scratch almost everything during a build, so mine will be a plain nightfighter. I didn't like the look of the decals provided by FLY, but printing them myself is out of question for me, but maybe tin foil with some added bolt detail might be a solution. The clear parts look a little, like there are some distortions, did you polish them or did you use Future to make them appear better? The kit parts don't look bad, but far from perfect for such a glasshouse. I can only raise my hat to your skills, thanks for sharing Cheers Rob

After some "Outings" lately concerning building other scales than 1/32 or 1/35 I took all my pride aside and confess, I do 1/48 Jets sometimes , I even built a tiny 1/72 Mig-17 and had fun . To me the most hindering reason Building 1/48 Jets is not the scale or the lack of interesting subjects, it's about STENCILING. Some years ago I built a F-15 and lots of time were put into stenceling and the follow-up problems, like silvering, not setting perfectly, you name it. I have one of the Eduard 1/48 "Good Morning Da Nang" F-4 Phantoms in my stash, which is in fact an Academy kit and some resin- and pe-am-stuff. Decals are designed by Furball and are printed by Cartograph and looking great, BUT the sheer number of stencils made me shiver, there are hundereds of them. Two weeks ago I noticed that the Chech Company HGW not only provided Phantom stencils (No. 248020), but that theese are GROUPED wet transfers. That reduces the amount of transfers enormously. How they fit and if they are good to work with has to be tested. What I did notice is that there are lots of differences between the Cartograph stencils and the HGW ones, sizewise and in clarity and Colour. Even the words (yeah you can read them) are different sometimes. I didn't go deeper into research yet about who is right and who is wrong, but I was at least surprised by the fact. Compared on the contact paper the Cartograph stencils look clearly sharper. If I recommend the HGW Stencils remains open till further research is done. If they are not too wrong I will use them, if only to reduce the stress factor of stenceling. Cheers Rob Sheet No. 1 Sheet No. 2 In the Manual you can see the groups of stencils (blue areas) Number 619 (Cartograph) should be the same like Number 29 (HGW) Again the same stencil, left is HGW and Right is Cartograph

Back to building, after loading up my brain with so much kindly provided Information. As it is a modern well designed kit I will document the building process loosely and concentrate on painting and weathering. The substructures are ready for priming or for a trip in the spare box (rocket engine and cannons, which where installed before I read otherwise) The Barracuda wheels need only seconds to clean up and fit perfect on the axle. Cheers Rob

Wow Kent, you built a beauty here. Looks like a lot of scratchbuilding to convert the FLY base-kit. The figures look nice and give a scale for the dimensions, as the Arado always seems to be bigger than she is, at least to me. I have the nightfighter version in my shelf and therefore like to know, if you used the provided decals for the canopy struts? A close-up of the cockpit detail would be welcome, if that's not too much to ask. Cheers Rob

The combination of building/painting- and photographic skills leeds to a great results. Love the slightly sepia toned bw-shots. I have two of the Revell made F8's in my stash, one will be heavily pimped with Brassin engine, guns and pit in a paintjob of the "Nationalkommitee Freies Deutschland", German POW in Russia, who decieded to fly against the Germans. Cheers Rob

Great setting for the Old Crow, love the metal finish. Nice shots, bring 'em on Peter. Cheers Rob

Great D, well built and painted. The air intake for the turbocharger would look perfect on the hood of an old Trans-Am . Cheers Rob

Nice and grubby, love that not so common scheme. Cheers Rob

Thanx MARU, I may add some more shots, as you pulled the thread from the digital abyss. Cheers Rob

Hi Maru, buy you a Brassin one and you have one for your shelf. It dosen't get any better than that, at least in 1/32 . I've built it and loved the detail https://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/4920-another-corsair-daphne-c-no-7-flown-by-james-cupp/?tab=comments#comment-63083 Cheers Rob

If you do a well used one, you should think about going the extra mile and add the Tetra Works rubber skirts. The SKP lenses are really nice too. Extra tracks are not really needed, as the provided ones are well detailed, robust and are sagging bueno and all your reference pics show them without the rubber pads, which makes life a little easier. Cheers Rob

Thanks Gentlemen, it was not only fun to build the TA, but in the end I'm more or less satified and made my peace with the frozen bird. Cheers Rob

Looks like a two seater sofa to me, Pretty comfy though, could need some pillows . Cheers Rob

I'm not that deep into rivet counting, so I never matched blueprints. The Meng one definitely has the looks of a T-90 and mine will be covered with mud, snow and ice to hide potential kit rrrors . If you want to build a Syrian one you have to dig deep into the references, because there is only dust to disguise. Cheers Rob

Hi Martin, I almost finished my MENG T-90 and liked it a lot. I made a building thread right here in LSM T-90 build that might give you some insight about my thoughts with that kit. I cannot provide a comparison with the competitors but read an article comparing the Trumpeter and the Meng Kit buildwise In Abrams Squad No. 3. They liked the MENG one a little bit more. https://www.plaeditions.com/287-thickbox_default/abrams-squad-03-castellano.jpg Cheers Rob

Wow, that's what I call a big bird. Lots of rigging and decaling involved, it seems. The Felixstowe is one of these models, which makes you wanting it. Only the enormous wingspan kept me from hitting the buy-button. Yours is looking greatly, even if my favourite would have been the black and white razzle-dazzle sheme, supplied with the early type.

Perfect Jeroen and I like your passionate approach to history you show with that project. Can't say that I'm waiting for the Wellington to be finished, because that will hinder the view from savor the inner section of the fuselage . Cheers Rob

Nice built Jeroen, even if it's historically questionable . What I love about LSM is that I'm able to learn through others, even through their mistakes . Your Komet is looking great, with all theese treacherous opened Panels. Mine will be closed up for showing the unique shape of the bird and sans rocket-engine. Thanks for the pics Cheers Rob

Thanks for enlighten me Wumm and Martin, you are just awesome. I built the rocket engine for nothing , but what the heck, I can use that perfecly for a future steam punk project. Cheers Rob

A beauty in every aspect, lets remind she's more than 100 years old and build for a task, an engineering masterpiece to my eye only little more than a decade after the Wright brothers first motorized flight. And none the less beautifully built and painted. Cheers Rob

Way to do it, that is the right spirit . Cheers Rob

Wow Martin, thanks a ton, that's a lot of well appreciated input for my Little project. Great photo material to get the Komet detailed. Are you sure, that Brown was only "sailing" the Me-163, being pulled by a Spit? The Interviews with Eric Brown are not conclusive, but sound like he piloted the Komet rocket driven.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PN9AP710e0 Cheers Rob