DocRob

I always hate to see, when bad personal news enter our sweet bubble of modeling madness. I wish you all the best and a speedy recovery Harv. Cheers Rob

I checked the decal sheets and manual and there is no HGW branding whatsoever. The manual looks different from the HGW ones I know, but you can't be sure. Eduard explained a bit more thorough, how to work with the rivet decals in their May 2022 issue of Info Eduard. info-eduard-2022-05en-ma.pdf Cheers Rob

Thank you Phil, I have the Academy kit as well and initially planned a double build with the Tamiya -F/G, but that changed, when Tamiya released the -J, because I like the Lightning better in NMF Cheers Rob

For adding the nose to the fuselage, Tamiya gives you different sets of guns (grey) which have to be glued from the inside and are in the way, while riveting and airbrushing the surface. Therefore, I used Master barrels and the Tamiya parts with cut barrels and pre drilled holes for accepting the brass barrels from the outside. Next was the base layer for the riveting. Eduard suggests using Mr. Surfacer with some gloss medium, but I went with my trusted Tamiya LP1 gloss black, thinned with about two thirds of Mr. leveling thinner. The finish is of a very high shine and should be a perfect base. Some black on black pics . Cheers Rob

I used J's Work masks for my Char 1b and they were good to work with. On a complicated form, you need other masking materials, like fluid masks and tape too and you better leave obstructing parts of the build separate, to add later. I'm not so sure, if I would use them for a tri tone camo. Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter and Martin, after some very time consuming builds, I'm more than astonished, how fast building up the P-38 went. I'm not intending to overtake you Peter and I'm sure, I can't be finished before my holidays, next weekend. Painting, prep-work and riveting will be more time consuming, I guess. Cheers Rob

In a blink, nearly the whole fuselage, wing and tail boom construction was finished. If you ever asked yourself, why Tamiya brought out the extra thin cement, with this kit it shines, with perfect fitting panels and intersecting parts. The construction of the plane is a bit complicated naturally with the double tail boom construction and the numerous air intakes and large wheel bays, but following the instructions, it's an easy build, not the least due ingenious engineering. My goal was to achieve the least spoilt surface, to have a good base for a gloss coat before applying the rivets. The wheel wells were sprayed with AK's Extreme Metal matte aluminum, followed by my own thin mix of black oil color, diluted with matte thinner. Cheers Rob

Hola fellow modelistas, on to a new project. As a short holiday is nearing, I was looking for an in between project and Tamiya's P-38 was on my list since a while. I have both, the -J and the -F version, but I want to use Eduards positive rivets on a high shine aluminum finish, so it could only be the -J. Aftermarket will be limited, I will use Quinta cockpit decals for the first time, Master brass barrels, only because I can glue them in after painting and said Eduard rivets and canopy masks. Because of the high shine aluminum finish, I'm after, I wanted good decals and a simple paintjob, to reduce masking, so no invasion stripes. I decided to use Bombshell Decals for 'Wicked Woman', which is only accentuated in gloss and matte black. The build log will be very brief, as everything fits like a glove and until now, I had no difficulties of any kind. If you are in search for the perfect kit, you possible can't come closer. The engineering is even better than with Tamiya' 1/32 Corsairs, hard to believe. If you are an engineering aficionado, you should build one of the three P-38's. I started with the cockpit, scraped detail away, to accept the Quinta decals and airbrushed the base colors, followed by some brush detail painting and a very light oil pin wash. The Quinta decals, which I used for the first time look mostly very good and were applied using water thinned PVA and CA for very small parts. The seat belts look a bit unreal and HGW's offerings are looking better, but are a pain to assemble in 1/48. The dashboard has a slight rasterized look, but only through the macro lens. In all the Quinta set is a huge time saver and easy to work with. Cheers Rob

We put solar panels onto the roof paired with a heavy dose of accumulators and reduced the cost of electricity by about 80%, to be spent mainly for some bad weather winter days. It would be even less, If there was no base fee from the supplier. Water is also cheap, but we need a lot this summer. Our costs of living are marginal, but we have only one heated living room in winter, others can be heated with electric radiators, but we rarely do, as we have two houses on our ground and our dog hates closed doors. Cheers Rob

Wow, nice rack, Carl. Are you allowed to drive such a wide thing on normal streets, here in Europe that would never be allowed. Driving through my old home town of Berlin with that rack in rush hour would get me some more bikes, than I had before . Cheers Rob

Thank you for the praise Peter, it was a fun build mostly and not too bad, given the kits age. Seeing the pictures, I noticed that I forgot to add a blister to the body, but couldn't find it anymore. I shouldn't have mentioned it, but there are no flawless builds out there, at least not mine . There were some new or relatively new things involved, like de-chroming and chroming, tubing with connectors and different tube materials, high gloss body painting, ... , so I have learnt a lot through the build an feel prepared now for some other car builds. Cheers Rob

A smooth coat of primer is the perfect foundation for further painting. Your base layer looks great Peter, can't wait to see the color on the 'Gabelschwanzteufel'. Just yesterday, I made the first snips on mine, but still have to decide, if it will be my next build. As I'm leaving for some short holidays in two weeks, it might be the perfect in-between build. Cheers Rob

What kind of poll is this, I'm a BIG bag of mixed nuts, as I build also ships, wooden and plastic, cars, motorbikes, armor, sci fi, steam punk, figures, busts, buildings and whatever comes to mind. The reason, I would be bored to death only modeling planes, even more only building jets . Cheers Rob

Indeed Hubert, I feared this step, but it worked out perfectly, lesson learned. The plated parts always look a bit toy like. The final trigger to strip the chrome was the huge round oil reservoir? on top of the engine, The chrome part looked sooooo plastic . Cheers Rob

Thank you Kev, I will definitely build more cars and have some interesting examples in my stash, but I like to change subjects a lot and the next build might be something different. I'm not decided as of yet. I can only encourage you to try stripping chrome parts and repaint them. All my fearful considerations did not materialize, but thorough preparation and application is the key. Cheers Rob

Thank you Carl, why not finishing the McLaren? The tubing Tamiya supplies is really basic and would be ok, if you have the body closed, but with every kit, there is room for improvement. These F1 cars are relatively complex builds, because nearly everything of the real is included, no empty fuselage or hull. The scale is great for extra detailing and adding the tubing was pure fun with the drilled out resin connectors. The chrome stripping was a first for me and it came out good, another lesson learned and ready to recall for the next time. Cheers Rob

That's a well detailed kit, it seems. Looking very good Mike and will be a showstopper with the Walrus onto it. Cheers Rob

Chequered flag, yeah, after a bit more than a month, the Renault RE 20 is crossing the finish line. I added the wheels and still think about adding some chalk markings on the tyres, connected the last hoses and mounted the body onto the chassis. It was a pleasure build, with only a few letdowns, namely the huge amount of clean up and some overcomplicated subassemblies mainly around exhausts and turbo chargers. I will make some final adjustments and then step to the next project, but still have no idea, what it will be. Thanks for your support and help. Cheers Rob

Near the finish line now with the Renault. With the added gearbox, rear wing and loose attached nose, this car becomes longer and longer. I added the decals to the chromed wings and glued them in place. I'm lucky, that I dared to strip and repaint the chrome, as it looks much better. The Cartograph decals again behaved perfectly well, important, because I didn't want to use any solvents other than water on the chrome. The exhaust installation was again a bit adventurous, due to ill fit and in case of the exhausts, only one contact point to glue. I used CA for that job. Many additional pars were added using super glue, because I didn't want to ruin my paintwork. What's left do do, is the installation of some lanes, where I couldn't find the place they end in the manual and of course the rims and wheels. Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter, I added more bits and pieces and painted Alclad chrome paint onto the gloss black based parts. I was fearing this, because chrome finish is so difficult to achieve, but all went well. Alclad is less durable than Extreme Metal, but as there is onl decaling and no further painting and masking involved, I hope, I leave the parts unharmed to the end. Black base, I love the Tamiya LP gloss black with 75% leveling thinner, looks like polished. Alclad chrome, misted in very thin layers with low pressure setting. It looks even better to the natural eye and much better than the plating. Cheers Rob

The Renault is coming together. Yesterday, I married the rear part with suspension and gear case to the engine and added more braided lines to substitute the ugly thick vinyl tubing, Tamiya provided. The chassis is finished, except some details and the exhaust system, I can see the chequered flag . All the parts waiting for chrome paint, were airbrushed high shine glossy black. I thinned down the Tamiya LP color with ca. 75% of leveling thinner and it gave flawless results. I have to remember that mixing ratio for my John Player Special Lotus Type 79. Cheers Rob

Thank you for the review Fran, I already own the book and like it a lot, mainly because I possess all included kits except the SE.5a. Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter, these LP blacks from Tamiya are great, beside the matte, which is not matte enough for my liking and very close to the semi matte. The de-chroming was done without a mask, but outside, wearing goggles and rubber gloves. I used only a small amount of oven cleaner and brushed it on. I hope my chrome will turn out well. Cheers Rob

Good to see you rejuvenated at the bench again. The P-38 looks so good and will restore your mojo soon. That reminds me, I wanted to do one in NMF with Eduard rivets on. Cheers Rob

The jug looks more than ok, Kevin. Haven't seen an overall olive drab one for a long time. Weathering looks spot on. Cheers Rob