DocRob

I generally don´t want to be too organized Peter, it´s more like a brain training to me, to keep everything in virtual order. Don´t get me wrong, I don´t like totally messed benches, but prefer training my memory, instead of labeling a lot. Well, the system has some loose ends, sometimes... . Cheers Rob

Indeed Gus, this was record breaking, usually it takes 10 days to two weeks, even from the Spanish mainland. The shipping cost were on the upper edge of reasonable, but compared to the prices, European shops call for, It was a very good deal. Me too Carl, but it will take a while until I start. First, I have to learn a bit about polishing whit metal parts and finish them perfectly. Cheers Rob

I normally prepare parts in sections and put them in an organizer tray, but do not label them. With these struts, I do, because I want to be sure, everything is in the right place and they are very similar to each other. I hear you about the Tamiya gloss coats and will use them more on future builds. GX-100 is a strange breed, especially with these fogging issues. Cheers Rob

I´m absolutely stoked today. On Saturday, I ordered my first Model Factory Hiro kit, exactly on the first day of it´s availability direct from the Japanese homepage. I saw some preview pictures of the big tank Crocker and was immediately in love. Like a Harley, were somebody said, make it nice (I know this will make me enemies, but especially the middle section of Harley´s over the decades looked plump to me). After only five days, the Crocker made it to my island for a great price and without the Spanish charging customs for whatever reason. Could be an entry to the twins GB, but no, I will take my time with that beauty. Cheers Rob

Progress is a bit slow at the moment, but I managed to prepare the wings for decaling and painted struts and other wing connected parts. It´s a Wingnut kit and I spoke about tolerances before and that´s why used liquid mask and numbered tape strips for identification of the struts, to seal the connection points and wooden or plastic rods for the strut´s holes in the wing, glued in with heavily water thinned white glue. I then applied some white pastel onto the seams of the wings, with a flat piece. This was the fastest and easiest way to pre shade the spars. I didn´t want to put much effort into this step, because I guess, it may remained unseen with the opacity of the lozenge decals on top. Then the wings were coated with Mr Color GX-100 gloss varnish. I always have mixed results with that stuff. If everything works fine, it produces an absolutely fantastic gloss layer mixed with leveling thinner, but when not.... I learned the hard way, not to pre mix GX-100 in a plastic jar, as it produces very ugly ´frosted´ spray, maybe because color and/or thinner reacts with the plastic jar. In this case, I mixed everything in a glass jar, but still, I had the frosting effect three times while spraying. After cleaning the airbrush, I used the same mix without issues, very strange. Cheers Rob

Fantastic interior work, scratching details like the seats and a very convincing paint job. Cheers Rob

Wow, your 1/32 toolbox looks better then my 1/1 box. You are really in a league of your own, fantastic scratch build abilities, building and painting as well. I like how your paintjobs look super realistic, but somehow have a trademark look of yours. Cheers Rob

Very nice Mossie John, I especially like the perfectly blended and matted camo, with the decals fitting in like sprayed on. Cheers Rob

Wow Peter, if there is no book around, you can have a nice read on your missiles. Sometimes, I wonder about the service crews training, if they need these heap of stencils. The painful task was worth it, the missiles look fantastic. My last stenciling exodus was the ZM 1/48 Kai Phantom, which had about a telephone book of information spread around, my not so great urge to build modern jets, vanished a bit by then. Cheers Rob

Nice, to see your P-51 nearing the finish line, Phil. After all the issues she looks very nice. I´d never thought, I would like such a relatively dull aluminum color on a P-51, but somehow it fits with the camo. The fit of panels and cowlings would be an interesting question. I had tons of problems with my ZM TA-152 some years ago with these and even mor with the engine bearers. Blue or green, she looks fantastic, good to have her saved. Cheers Rob

Well, it doesn´t look too bad with the CA on, Paul. You might spray some primer on top, to see, how it looks afterwards. There are myriads of possibilities to hide the section later with a tarpaulin, figures, equipment, snow, camo netting, ... Cheers Rob

Nice Carl, I like Sci Fi subjects with lighting. Like Peter said, the Cylon Batwing is indeed bigger than thought. Cheers Rob

Maybe it´s a shale , I´m overly happy, that I didn´t ruin the AEG. Cheers Rob

This may not mean a lot to most of you, but I got the decaled fuselage sealed in. I feared bad reactions with `hot´ varnishes, but because of my planned weathering schedule, I wanted a durable sealing coat, a contradiction. First, I wiped down the whole airframe with a cotton towel and purified water, to get rid of decal solution residues. I took out god old Tamiya X-22 clear and mixed it with Tamiya acrylic thinner and sprayed it on some test parts, so far so good. When I sprayed on my decaled test elevator, the finish looked like marbled and scratched, bummer. With shaking hands, I mixed the ´hot´ Tamiya lacquer LP-32 flat clear with equally ´hot´ levelling thinner at a ratio of about 55% thinner, less than normal and cautiously sprayed the tail underside and immediately blew the varnish dry with the airbrush, to minimize reaction time. Hooray, it worked, no smelt decals and a nice and even near flat coat. Even the resprayed elevator was rescued, with over spraying and looks good now. Cheers Rob

What´s holding you then, Jeff , this is the perfect gateway drug, but don´t blame me, when you are hooked on the stuff. Depending on the type of D.VII, there are so many colorful schemes to choose. If you like, there are top notch decal sets around, taylormade by Aviattic in the UK. The lozenge decals look way better, than the WNW ones and they are great to work with. The best, they have a woven linen structure, which looks so realistic. Cheers Rob

Muchas gracias amigos, working on the nacelles and engine was pur fun, even with their fragile multi part character. I´m always afraid, when I start a WNW build, but settle in with the interior and engines, as there is so much to show and the precision of the kit helps, getting everything together. I have to confess, i had to consult the manual several times for getting everything in it´s correct place following a logical sequence. Good to know, that Tamiya now produces acrylic flat and semi gloss, but I had some issues with good old X-clear, which I will describe in the next picture post. Cheers Rob

You should give a WNW kit a try, best for starters are German single engine fighters, like the Fokker D.VII or Junkers D.1 with nearly no rigging. Generally, German rigging is simpler, because of the normal wire used, instead of flat wire with the British planes. A Copper State Nieuport could also be considered or the MengNut Fokker DR.I. Cheers Rob

Thanks Carl, I got another question considering the gun barrels, I never saw them protruding on a 262 like with yours, secret weapon? sniper version? Cheers Rob

Not anymore on my to buy list, but ordered Saturday. When I saw the announcement of the MFH Crocker with the big tank, I was immediately in love. I never liked Harley´s that much, mainly because I hate the middle section with the battery / airbox?, which ruins the entire design for me. The Crocker shows, it can be made different, what a beauty. Cheers Rob

Woah, this is getting epic, Kevin. I feel your pain about adding all these details, but once you started.... I feel set back to the times, where I build the USS Arizona and I guess, there are not so many small scale ship builds following. Cheers Rob

Your 262 looks fantastic Carl. Bummer with the decals, were these the original Revell ones. I wonder, because I thought they were of relatively good quality. 1ManArmy masks on German planes are a lot of work, because of the many used colors and walkways, which I experienced with my Arado 234. When I build my 262, I will give the HGW wet transfers a (last?) shot. Cheers Rob

Phew, I got some work done over the last days. The engine nacelles were not the easiest part of the build. Many fragile parts were to paint weather and mount, and I´m really lucky, it is a WNW kit with great engineering and fit. Look alone for the filigrane tubing around the exposed engine, unbelievable. I applied Tamiya XF-17 onto the outside of the cowlings and struts onto the hairspray. When dried, I dampened the parts, activating the hairspray and abused the surfaces with toothpicks, fiber pencil and other scratching tools with an emphasize on the sheet borders and fasteners. Again, all the painted parts were glued together using CA, which I prefer to runny plastic cement with near ready parts. Unfortunately, I broke an engine strut, where it connects to the lug, which will be inserted into the wing later, damn, a very important connection. Out with the 0,5 mm drill bit, drilled both ends and inserted a brass rod along CA Left nacelle Right nacelle Later, I will apply some brown Flory clay wash, but this has to wait, until I have the fuselage weathered, to achieve a similar finish. I mocked some picture, carefully mounting the nacelles to the beast. Cheers Rob

Thank you Jeff, I´m blushing. The bad thing about the macro pics on a computer, they reveal a few spots, I need to address later, so to me writing a log is very helpful too, besides, I sometimes forget a color used at the beginning and that´s why I mostly describe, which I used. I like to challenge myself with most of my bits, learning new techniques and document them in the thread as a lesson learned and reflection. If this helps others too, I´m very grateful, as this is the idea of a forum to me. Seeing your builds, I have to say, there is nothing to hide, they are absolute beautiful. Considering the quality of the base kits it´s easy to spot your talent. What I want to say with this is, you should try a WNW kit ones. The quality of the kits makes it easy to shine. You don´t have to fuss about the plastic a lot and concentrate on painting and weathering. Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter, the next step will be to decide over the clear coat. I want it slightly matted as a base for my weathering. The H&S thingies are called sketching caps, when I recall it right. With a quick view, I haven´t found them for sale, but there are 3D print files for similar ones out there. Cheers Rob

Great progress Peter. Like Chris said, thanks for showing the colors used. Will come in handy, when I build my -D. Cheers Rob