DocRob

The tiny engine looks good, FA, albeit, I never paint parts on a sprue, but that´s just how different tastes are. Cheers Rob

Their main business are cars and bikes with only a bit of ships and armor. New releases are sold very fast often and then gone forever or until a re-release, so it´s better to be fast if you like a subject. I guess, the type of kits and the prices call for relatively small production batches. Not all the kits are full detailed, some are called proportional kits are a bit simpler made for a faster build. I have four more MFH kits in my stash, beside the Crocker and they all look gorgeous. The Crocker is my first venture in this direction, but I found the build so far relatively straight forward, with no real problem areas, besides the fragile chain. The quality of the parts and engineering are in a league of their own. Cheers Rob

Muchas gracias, after the chain obstacle, I start to get in overdrive again with the Crocker. I finished the plumbing for the engine with all the metal tubes connected and I´m lucky that I did it now, rather than earlier in the build, like the manual suggested. I also polished various parts, like the headlamp, steering bar and started to build up the steering head and front suspension. @Bomber_County : I don´t think so, what´s needed is proper planning of all the steps and very good parts preparation. The chain was a beast to tackle, but most of the rest went together beautifully. It´s my first MFH kit and I would have thought it to be more difficult. In fact, it´s more fun than building plastic models, somehow. Cheers Rob

I added more of the crockeristics, beginning with the stands. There is one for the rear end and a side stand, which are both movable. I will see, If the side stand will hold the bike, when ready, as it feels pretty heavy now. It is also becoming difficult to handle, with all those parts added. For the stands, 1,4 diameter mm screws were used. I drilled 1,2 mm holes into the white metal and used a 1,5 mm drill bit to drill a cone into the opening. With a good fitting screw driver, it´s now possible to screw direct into the relatively soft metal. The tank, with it´s various fittings was added. The fuel tank caps were made from chrome plated white metal, which didn´t look too good, having marks in the surface, so I polished them. The shifting lever got it´s counterpart below the tank connected with a shifting rod. The mid section with the instruments is only added loosely as a guide for now. Next is some plumbing, connecting all the fuel lines and other wiring, before I will turn to the front fork. Cheers Rob

My experiences with 3D-printed parts are limited, but I never had breakages, even with the tiniest details, like the 1/350 gun carriages of the AA guns of USS Arizona, which included printed railings. I have some printed chain sets for my 1/12 motorcycle kits and they seem sturdy enough. I will tell, after I tried them . Cheers Rob

All the troubles were about the chain, Peter, the manual is very good with only some tiny mistakes, most of them obvious. Having that behind me now, I´m coming into a flow again, like with most parts of the build. A drive chain in this scale is fragile no matterer what and I have no idea, how to produce a better one in metal. I would wish for a 3d-printed option though. Cheers Rob

The chain haunted me again, when I fitted the polished sprocket housing. This part connects three principal areas of the bike and only the slightest bending or misalignment leads to not fitting exactly, where it belongs. To correct this, I pried the chain loose from the sprocket and cut away some more links to enhance the wiggle room for the cover and glued it in place finally, hiding the missing chain links. Next were the exhausts parts, which were also polished before. For this, I used the green side of a sponge first, followed by very fine steel wool and finally a cotton rotating tool on my Proxxon with Autosol polishing paste. The fitting was very good and a relief after the chain. Finally, I added some more wires leading from the chain guard to the fuel tank, the braking wire with it´s delicate to install return spring and last, the starter with it´s real rubber pads. Here is another shot, with the fuel tank loosely added: Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter, I actually had some more issues with the chain, as it protrudes a bit to far around the sprocket. I had to pry it loose again and cut off some links for the housing to be placed correctly. Cheers Rob

I will follow you and your girlfriends build closely, an interesting project, which would never work with my wife. She dislikes modeling, but I guess, she would be good at it as an engineer with good hands and ideas. Luckily my wife accepts, that modeling to me is an important hobby, but that´s about it. I will start the hillclimber Fiat 500 later, I don´t even possess the conversion kit as of now, only the base kit and my soon to build schedule is already completely booked out . Cheers Rob

How to loose friends . If you haven´t anyone anymore, you can post your troubles in the Car thread and we will help debating . The ejection seats are looking good, Carl. Cheers Rob

I would be in, as I have the same kit, but seemingly different plans with it. Mine will be a hillclimber with this KMP conversion. Cheers Rob

I finished the chain, which almost finished me beforehand . It was a challenge and test of patience and I would wish a resin chain for future bike kits. Building the four strings of chain into the jig proved to be not a big problem, but connecting these strings proved very difficult. In the process of trying, I broke the chain on another place, true nightmare, because it was already flat bolted by that time. After a lot of trying and careful sanding, I glued the link together with CA. After I somehow assembled the full length of the chain miraculously, I didn´t had it in me to join the chain without a jig and glued it to the sprocket, as it´s not supposed to turn in any case. The good news, the chain link count in the manual is exactly correct, a thing rarely seen with tank tracks in kits. The side of the fenders looks terribly on the pics, but that must be the lighting. Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter, Tamiya´s bikes are very good kits and finely detailed, specially the elater ones, like the Ducati, I built some years ago. The MFH bikes are way ahead of that, not only detail wise, but the weight of the metal makes it feel more real. Cheers Rob

Thank you Carl, I never made the ping test with the spokes, but for a kit, the wheels are pretty sturdy. I never spoked more than single ones into my bicycles wheels and centered everything again. The Crocker bein my first full spoking job, I can´t tell about the layout other than claiming, I followed the manual step by step. Cheers Rob

Thank you Hubert, I will continue tomorrow, as I have a terrible hey fewer today and a sneeze at the wrong moment... . The chain is only missing the seals and some grease . Cheers Rob

Today, I assembled more than half of the chain. Again the design by MFH helps a lot, but the work is eye straining and tedious. The last links felt more difficult, a clear sign of fatigue. Thirty chain white metal chain axles, connected by a cast sprue will be set into a pre drilled jig. Then you add the intersecting PE links, which are luckily only adhesive fixed to the foil and dosen´t need to be cut from the PE fret. When one side is finished, the heads of the bolts are pressed flat with a pair of pliers. One side done: The chain will be flipped over in the jig and the second side gets mounted like the first. Here are both sides done. Then you cut the white metal sprue away with a sharp nipper and you have 30links made. The last pic shows two sets of 30 joined together in the jig. Cheers Rob

Thank you Mike, the only downside with the wheels was, I couldn´t polish them, which was my initial plan. It was just too difficult to do so with all the little bumps, where the spokes holes are. Cheers Rob

Not close to the real thing at all Peter, the tyres are massive rubber and the inflating valves have no function . Other than that, detail of the kit is outstanding. The assemblage of the wheels was documented well in the manual, luckily. Now on to the next obstacle, I´m not looking too much optimistic onto, the chain, which consists of myriads of PE parts, and white metal cast axles, which need to be flattened individually . I hope the good kit design will prevail through this chapter. Cheers Rob

Congratulations to a very nice build of a very strange vehicle. There is lots of details to pleas the eye and the added cargo makes a nice contrast. Cheers Rob

Wow, delicate PE work, tedious, but will add a lot of realism to the kit. Cheers Rob

One of the ugliest planes ever to my eye, Peter, but when I saw the kit, I was interested, as I have a soft spot for weird designs. There is no form follows function with this one, it´s pure function. I hope the kit is as good as it looks promising on the sprues. Have fun with it. Cheers Rob

Great work Chris and I hear you about stenciling, have been there too and that caused a jet hiatus with me. The added Reskit racks and missiles look fantastic, way better than their plastic counterparts. Good to hear, that Top Notch masks are good to work with, but bummer with the sizing. I have some sets as well and will check them closely, when I start these builds. Cheers Rob

Looking good, Carl and quite profitable to have a look into the toolbox once in a while . Is the paintjob borrowed from the anime? I would have thought something more flashy would suit the futuristic design better. Anyhow, the Plus-Eagle came out splendid and it´s good to have a good story about no stenciling. Cheers Rob

On to the wheels, which proved easier to build than thought, luckily. It took two days to assemble them, but the second went together much faster, which keeps me hopeful for the five wire wheels of my recently purchased Ferrari kit. Some words of advice, if you plan to build a MHF motorcycle: - Check the rims and the building jig for perfect flatness. In my case, all were warped a bit, due to sanding and polishing the wheels. - Drill the holes for the spokes angled, as shown in the manual and indicated through the cast or you will have difficulties to thread in the spoke nipples. - Don´t use your best nippers for the spokes. The material is VERY hard and left dents even in my hardened tools. First spokes, aligned to the vent hole, one from under and one from above. All spokes need to be bent further and cut short on the bent side. First quarter of spokes is mounted per manual, then the spoke nipples were added from the outside and secured with CA One side finished, I then cut the protruding spoke ends, flipped the part in the jig and on with the second half. MFH chose to print their manual slightly larger than the real thing, unfortunately. One wheel ready, except for shortening the protruding ends. You can see, how the nipples fit into the rim´s holes. The front wheel is done: And the rear wheel followed "short" after , really not too hard to do, but you should work with concentration to prevent from mistakes: Cheers Rob

Thank you Martin, it´s definitely a new building experience, but a very exciting one. Motivation is the grease to successful modeling and this is very much the case here. Cheers Rob