DocRob

The camo is made with a set of HGW wet transfers, dedicated for the KI-61. Applying was not without difficulties, but spraying would have been also PITA Cheers Rob

With all the huge boxes above, I have only a small one to show. After I built my first full resin kit, the French Caudron C.561 racer recently, today I received among other stuff this tiny race horse in 1/72 scale also from SBS. It depicts the last version of the Gee Bee racers in goblin green . I added flat PE rigging wires, also from SBS, which are not included into the kit. Only yesterday, I've seen the perfect complementary for a little scene in green and red. I will have to buy that one too. It's made by Brengun. Cheers Rob

I went through your town on the way from New Orleans to Pensacola some years ago. Nice place. Almost forgot, Mississippi has a coastline to the sea. Cheers Rob

I had the same issues with the blade falling out, despite having the magnet. I was a bit unnerved and didn't use the cutter for a while. Some weeks ago, I gave it another try and it worked very good, somehow. I adjusted the preload for cutting 0,5 mm styrene and later again adjusted for Kabuki, I cut the masks for the Arado's wheels without the blade falling out. I can't describe what has changed, maybe the adjustment spring is a bit pre-twisted now and held the blade in place without hindering the rotation. Cheers Rob

Very nice result. I like the non blue, non yellow wing scheme a lot. I wish, I could lay my hands one one of these kits. Cheers Rob

Like the others said, great paintjob and weathering. Welcome to the forum by the way. Cheers Rob

Nice progress Bill, the cockpit looks great and busy. Firing the 'Schräge Musik' must be deafening. Cheers Rob

Nice Phil, sand blasted to the right amount I'd say. The running gear looks great and I like the non painted areas around the insignia. Cheers Rob

Nice loot Carl, you know, that there is a set of vinyl adhesive masks out there for the disc pattern, maybe a bit handier to work with. Extra dots for DPC-35 an DPC-48. Please select scale in checkbox - Uschi van der Rosten Carpet Decals (uschivdr.com) (just scroll down a bit) Cheers Rob

You put yourself in a situation, denders, but I will follow your interesting project. Having just finished my first 1/350 ship with loads of PE, I know for sure I will never attempt something in 1/700 other then the Death Star. Cheers Rob

Interesting method Mike, I hope the contrast will not be to stark. Cheers Rob

Thank you amigos, I like the effect of multi-black-colored wheels a lot. I rarely use pure black for planes and armor, but varying shades look more real to my eye. I will show more of the rocket packs soon. They are painted in matte aluminum and wait for the stenciling to be finished, when the masks arrive. I will replicate the trigger line for the parachute as well, after adding it. Cheers Rob

I had to look up Norfolk Island, phew, this is pretty isolated and small. Only about ten percent of the area of my tiny island, though more inhabitants per square mile, if there is a full one . Now at almost sixty, I enjoy life here and I wouldn't leave my island, even if I had to give up modeling. Luckily that's not the case, kits and AM takes some time to get here, but chemicals are the problem. Living isolated changes the approach, spending way more time to find ways, to get things transported to your place, but I mostly found possibilities. To me it's not only about modeling, my other hobbies are demanding too. Vinyls, hifi, rare cocktail ingredients, sports equipment like surf boards or mountainbikes can be tricky, but like I said, there are ways, sometimes unfortunately not very comfortable or pricey. In younger years, I enjoyed the urban live of Berlin with all it's virtues and vices and wouldn't have thought about living on an isolated island. Now it's different, I enjoy living near the ocean, having multiple possibilities for outdoor sports and activities, nearly no crime here, friendly people around, quietness where I live, we own a dog now, a no no for me in Berlin and it's only a very cheap flight of about half an hour to Tenerife, where you get a lot of goods and medical care, but no modelling stuff. In a way, you have to be carved for this type of living, there were people arriving here to stay forever, leaving after two weeks, no joking. It's a question of personality. My wife absolutely enjoys living here and wouldn't like to go back to Berlin or anywhere else, but she has to visit there way more often than me. Cheers Rob

Nice start, seemed to be a decent kit, although some extra work will be needed, I guess. Cheers Rob

Still no masks at hand, spring can be awful here. It's the worst weather of the year, normally and every second day is a holiday, so no working customs, no working mail. Meanwhile, I painted the wheels with my usual workflow, spraying the hubs first, in this case semi matte black, then mask the hubs and spray the tires. Here I used Nato Black as a base and then sprayed the flanks with some drops of Field Blue in the Nato black. Last step are pigments in a concrete tone rubbed in for enhancing contrasts and simulating abrasion and dirt. Some details were picked out by brush on the hubs. The kit wheels look especially good, it's strange, how different the quality of the plastic parts are in this kit. Next were the parachute packs for the Ratos jets. I sprayed everything in RLM 22, masked the belts off and used Buff for the remainder. The ropes were painted by brush and then I rubbed in some concrete pigments. Cheers Rob

Beautifully done, or almost done, Peter. The markings blend in perfectly with the paintjob, which in itself looks great. The best thing you can achieve with a kit to my eye is, when everything looks right, which is definitely the case with your 109. Cheers Rob

Thank you Mike for going through that long lasting thread. It's not the easiest kit to build, especially as a night fighter, therefore the long breaks. On the other hand, I was never completely frustrated and never thought about SOD-ing the Arado. I hope I can pull through now. The primer showed some areas which needed to be addressed and then it's decision time about the color scheme to chose. Cheers Rob

Very nice, I like the chosen scheme a lot. It's such a beautiful airframe and you nailed it. The kit itself is a gem, I built one a while ago and absolutely enjoyed it. Cheers Rob

Wow Kevin, great build and paintjob. There's lots of detail to spot. One question though, is that yellow color correct for the dinghies, it's a nice touch though? Cheers Rob

I will take a look, Carl. I modified mine too, added brass rods for stability, but have to make a reality check again. Cheers Rob

Thanks Peter, I don't like the AK chrome tape too much and expected more out of it. It's a bit rigid, not easy to cut with a blade on the template and could adhere better. I prefer Bare Metal Foil or Uschi van der Rosten's chrome pigment, which are nearly equally good, when rubbed onto a well prepared surface (best is a very fine primer). Cheers Rob

Sorry to hear about your broken LG, Carl. I hope mine will hold up. I gave it some thinking in advance, using two wires per side to key the gear struts, which fit into brass tubes on the wheel well side. All is glued in with half a ton of 2K epoxy. On the picture, the struts are only half way pushed in. Cheers Rob

While I'm still waiting for the 1ManArmy masks to arrive, I decided to do a little detail work and gave some love to the wheel struts. The oleos where covered with AK's chrome adhesive tape, but as this is a bit stiff, Bare Metal foil would have been the better choice. My Arado Monographs show the braking lines partly yellow and black, so I used my braded 0,5 mm Anyz line for the purpose along with Anyz resin connectors. The yellow line was soaked in Pledge, because otherwise it would have been to bright and have spots, where the CA stuck. The clamping strips were made from pre cut Bare Metal foil of 0,5 mm width, secured with some drops of Pledge. After drying, I will rub in some steel pigments and add some shadows and highlighting. Cheers Rob

It's hard to tell from the picture, but it seems to me the Eduard attachment points and AIMS wires are not a perfect match. If you have the attachment points already glued, you could use flat elastic rigging material, like Prym produces. I think EZ-Line is also available flat shaped. Cheers Rob

Fantastic progress Peter, painting and decaling / masking looks perfect. I used some masks on planes over the years and normally, I was pretty satisfied. Last time with my Corsair build, I had some difficulties to align the 1ManArmy masks for the stars and bars correct on the rounded fuselage. It was not the fault of the masks, quite the opposite, as 1ManArmy recommends to use transparent transfer film onto the mask, which helps placing and aligning different elements of a stencil or insignia. By the time, I had no frisk film, but used clear adhesive tape after my first fail, which worked as well. Cheers Rob