DocRob

Never played lotto my whole life, Phil, but I´m tempted now . Maybe these AIMS roundels are a way for your Camel of the SOD. I´d like to see it in full bloom. Cheers Rob

Today feels like Christmas in May. I was lucky enough to score one of the only 200 Model Factory Hiro 1/12 kits of The Williams FW16 Special edition. Sale started at 07:00 pm JST on May 07 and a quarter of an hour later, there was a massage, all were sold. What a relieve, to receive an email some hours later, that my request was successful. MFH released that kit some years ago, but revised a lot of parts for this edition. Decals are Cartograph printed now and include the bubu sponsor decals hidden in a separate envelope. Now there are three sheets of carbon decals (formerly one) and some of the resin parts were revised, where the carbon structure was casted on. Also with this release, the complete engine is made from white metal parts, no resin parts, like in the former release. MFH added masking templates and a 1/12 resin figure of a standing Ayrton Senna and beautifully etched nameplate. Not as spectacular, but nonetheless very welcome were a lot of decal sets for different WWI projects. For my soon to start in between build of the Meng 1/24 Fokker DR.I I added Aviattics Joseph Jacobs livery. Sidenote, not all DR.I were red . But my WNW Le Rhone Camel will be red with this set of Aviattic decals I also added etched bracing wire for testing with the Camel and fitting resin bracing clamps from AIMS and British Roundels for different WNW kits, because I often read, the kit supplied decals for the roundels are prone to tear. Some HGW plywood for my Albatros D.VII. This is a new edition and I hope they work well. I have not the best experiences with HGW decals to say the least. If they fail, it´s oil colors. Lastly some lozenge for my 1/72 Eduard Fokkers, also a nice in between build and Aviattics interpretation of lozenge schemes looks so much superior to the Eduard kit decals. Not shown, two sheets of Aviattic French linen decal for my Copper State Caudron G.III. Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter, with every step, the engine will be more and more difficult to handle. I guess only the distributor itself consists of more than a dozen parts. I managed to break off larger parts during handling, while correcting the carburetor tube. I guess, I not helped myself to easiest of MFH kits, due to the super detailed and part heavy heart piece engine. Cheers Rob

The Viggen looks fantastic with the decals on. Lately I had some decal madness, first with the carbon decals on my McLaren and later with the Wingnut AEG´s night lozenge. Like with yours, some of the decals didn´t settle perfectly with Micro Sol and I was forced to use something stronger. In his build book about the AEG, Karim Bibi mentioned to dilute the strong Mr. Mark Softener with some drops of water. I tried and it worked with my lozenge decals, also printed by Cartograph. I hope you had time to spend in beautiful Edinburgh, a place, I want to re visit sooner or later on a future Scotland trip. Cheers Rob

Neat and clean, Peter, she looks like a nice Mustang right now. Good you figured the canopy types. I have only the Zoukei Moura Mustang, where the three different canopies are described in the manual. You may want to look for. The manual is available on Scalemates. 272083-44-instructions.pdf (scalemates.com) Cheers Rob

Good to hear no one get hurt around and your home and goods were spared. What a destruction in such short time, Cheers Rob

I added more details to the engine and also prepared the distributor. Drilling the tiny oil tube connectors proved tricky. They need to be drilled to accept the oil tubing made from solder wire. Most of the screws shown on the casings are separate parts and also need to be pre drilled and then inserted. The manual suggests to add the oil tubes next, but I will do it later, because handling the still not finished engine would be a nightmare with the soft wiring on. Luckily the places for the tubing should be reachable later. I also added some dots of black panel wash here and there to enhance contrasts. Cheers Rob

Thank you Carl, luckily there are no working pistons and other in that engine, it would make the construction even more complicated. Cheers Rob

You can´t have enough of these buggers for a MFH build. I drilled dozens of tiny holes, the most complicating are the tube connectors, ultra small and need a centered 0,8 mm hole drilled out. I broke one or two bits per year with my usual modeling, but the Crocker made me brake three already. Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter, I simply hate touch up work. I always try to do everything right the first time, but of course sometimes fail, like here. The engine with all the added aggregates is quite complex, dozens of tiny holes need to be drilled and it´s easy to forget or misalign something when not fully concentrated. The toll of broken drill bits raises as well and soon I have to restock these. Cheers Rob

Glad you are not doing 1/700 scale, Kevin, I would need a larger screen to watch . Cheers Rob

Just twenty seconds of googling, try Scalemates, as I´m to lazy to post the link. Cheers Rob

The engine is on it´s way and it is a bit fiddly, but due to great engineering and tight tolerances manageable. Adding all the V-shaped cylinder parts proved tricky, when the rocker came into play and the connecting tube (carburetor) needed to be added at the same time. Unfortunately, I mis-orientated this part and had to pry it loose later, which was no fun at all and caused some spots for later touch ups. Cheers Rob

Lets hope so Phil, building metal kits is a whole new experience. Thank you for the info about soldering, I will test it if necessary, when time comes. Cheers Rob

I guess, that´s the reason why, Carl. If I remember it right, Tamiya made the same with their 1/6 Fat Boy Harley. You have to raise your hat to MFH´s precision with the casted parts. Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter, working with white metal is quite different than working with plastic. The engine casing looks fantastic as it is, with no need for Alclad´s. The holes in the white metal parts are pre cast very precisely, luckily. You have only to drill them out with the appropriate drill bit. There are lot of parts being attached to the engine housing, and all these need to be joined with tiny rivets, bolts or screws and all these holes need to be drilled out. I´m sure, I will miss some, but hope they are in places, where I can reach them later. Cheers Rob

Until now, I haven´t used any. I will mainly use my trusty Colle 21 CA and hope to not need epoxy, as I have none. I will test soldering with some cast residues, but have no experience soldering white metal, let´s see.... Cheers Rob

Thank you Paul, it was a true pleasure project and easier then thought in the end. Thank you Mike, I always try to force myself to include figures to a build, but sometimes chicken out. I´m not comfortable with it and it feels, there is no real development over my feeble tries, but I like the way, figures tell a story, like in a snapshot. Cheers Rob

Well, first building steps are prepared. Note to myself, test fit often and understand the manual, specially where parts need to be drilled. I don´t know about the MFH car kits, but with the Crocker engine parts there are dozens of holes to be drilled and some are hard to reach in later stages. The foot pedal and drill stand for my Proxxon mini drill help a lot to make the job faster. The good thing with drilling white metal, there is nearly no burr to be removed. The engine block, with one cylinder mostly mounted, showing the parts of the other: Mock assembly for test fitting of one cylinder. The ribs and heads are actually removed and primed and will be sprayed semi matte black later. Cheers Rob

Bummer Mike, I´m not on FB and do not intend to. Ebay, I looked a bit, but found nothing of interest so far. Many MFH builders recommended the trays in their build logs and I do understand why, It makes life so much easier with these kits, it´s like the equivalent of the plastic sprue. Cheers Rob

Never followed a Gundam build. But your detailed kit seems to be a very interesting building experience, Carl. I like your weathering approach, as many non weathered robot kits look a bit boring. Cheers Rob

The base looks super cool, Kevin. It adds a nice contrast to the deck tan and grey with it´s red finish. Cheers Rob

Indeed Paul, in many ways and it will definitely be a challenge. Cheers Rob

The smaller parts like nuts, screws and bolts are the most complicated here, Peter. They are grouped on cast sprues and several are needed for different building steps. Cutting them off the casting makes them really hard to identify, so I will keep these separate and numbered. Proper organizing is the key here, there are no sprue numbers to help the builder. Cheers Rob

Tranquilo Kevin, don´t do the @HubertB gig on me, or I ask you, if the time is ready to put the champagne into the fridge for the launching of the Scharnhorst . What I make out of these parts is still in the off, but I hope for the best. Cheers Rob