DocRob

Nice choice Mike, I will order the Scout soon and look forward to the build. I will have a blueprint then, with your great logs. I may do a twin build, as I have this huge fellow in my stash. Cheers Rob

Very nice, I guess the paddles on the Kettenkrad's tracks are not helpful during the assembly. The Henschel looks great and as a compensation for the tedious track work, you have a twin engine design, which avoids Zoukei Mouras back breaker, the engine to fuselage to wing mount on the single engined ones. Cheers Rob

What's a bit of primer drama, compared to the good news Peter. I'm very glad to hear about the outcome of your biopsy. Like others here, I had these goo moments, followed by an hour of cleaning the airbrush and swearing like a mad bull. Since the last time, I took advantage of eating a lot of Greece yogurt with plastic lids. Every unknown mix of paints and thinners, I try first on these. Sure, wouldn't have helped in your case, but helped to keep my blood pressure down at times. Like you, I use mostly light gray primer, but my trusty combination is Mr. Surfacer and leveling thinner. Cheers Rob

Nice Kevin, the first twin engine Canary bird, I ever saw. I really like unusual paint schemes and your Tigercat is a looker. Cheers Rob

That one was worth the save John, the paintjob comes out particularly nice and super smooth. The Fine Mold belts look the part, seems like I have to give them a try, less tedious than HGW ones. Cheers Rob

I have the same Proxxon tool, but don't use it too often. For me even the lowest speed setting is too fast, mostly. I used it for the portholes of the USS Arizona, where it was perfect, given the thick plastic and used the mini circular saw blade for superstructure surgery. Most times though, I prefer to work hand tools, as they are more controllable. Recently, I ordered the tiny DSPIA USB drill 7 sander, but it hasn't arrived yet. I have high hopes for a bit more versatility. ES-P Portable Electric Sharpening Pen_DSPIAE Cheers Rob

A short story about modeling fate, when the group build started, I wanted to build the Fore Model S-38 Schnellboot early as my contribution. Some weeks before, we had a heavy rain and the box, stowed on the ground got soaked to pulp. When I discoverd it, I took out the manual, decals and PE and later recovered the sprues from the sodden box. Now with the USS Arizona, my substitute participant 98% finished, I cleared the bench, put some spares in other boxes, which I slid out of my bench under construction and whop, the PE and the metal barrels hit the floor. I must have parked them onto that box initially and then forgot about and stapled another box onto it. I searched the PE set for hours and hours and was sure not to have thrown it away accidentally. Now only the decals are missing, no big deal and I'm happy and may start th boat soon. Cheers Rob

Normally, I'm more a do or die type of guy, I may take a shortcut here . Cheers Rob

I hear the same voices since a long time, but never knew it was Martin's . Nice haul Carl, I have still to punch the 'Buy-button' on these. Cheers Rob

Thank you Gary, the railing job was a lot easier than expected, luckily. I will finish some touchups and then decide about the rigging. I somehow have the strong feeling, I will destroy the ship due to clumsiness, while doing so . And this is what me actually scares : Cheers Rob

Thank you Dennis and Peter, it needed the start of the GB and the loss of my initial chosen kit's PE to get started with the USS Arizona. After some hours of building time, I asked myself, 'what have I thrown me into'. Endless PE sessions, uncountable subassemblies and complete inexperience with ship build in this scale were towering, but interestingly I got not completely demotivated. I had a picture of the finished model in my mind and that helped to lay the path for the building sequence and what was needed to rebuild this picture. When I first saw the ION Figures, it was clear to me, I had to give them a try and they were great to work with, but naturally very tiny and tedious to paint and place. This will not be my last venture into ship modeling, but for some time it will not be that small scale, maybe I find my Schneelboots PE and I have a Flower Class Corvett kit in 1/144 scale in stash, where I wait for a huge Pontos set to materialize. Cheers Rob

Oh, this one is tempting, I considered the Eduard 1/48 version as my next build with wood decaled fuselage, swirl camo and some resin updates. Such an interesting airframe. Cheers Rob

Phew, almost there. Some touchups are still to do and there are still some parts missing, like the anchors, which I forgot. I added all the railings, which proved easier than thought. I bent them to shape before carefully set them on a wooden board with double sided adhesive tape and then primed and sprayed the railings. Before installing the outer railings, I glued on the masts, cranes and superstructure, not to interfere with later. Lots of figures were added and I hope, they tell little stories with their poses, interaction and placement. Lastly, there is the question, if I rig the Arizona. I'm not so sure, if rigging would be visible in this scale, but this decision will be made later. It seems like I can think about new projects. There were times, where I couldn't think of getting to this stage, during the build and this feels good and satisfactory. Cheers Rob

One set was for highlighting Martin . Earnestly, that's weird. Cheers Rob

Muchas gracias amigos, It's actually fun to place the figures poco a poco and think of small stories, they tell. These ION figures are ahead of the game, so many different poses and the detail is very good for the scale. I will slow down a bit the next days, there is a good swell forecast and I will surf until I'm numb and I cannot lift my arms anymore . Cheers Rob

I was exaggerating a bit, they are only 10 times smaller than your actual 1/35 figure. I wasn't speaking volume, Hubert, re-smartassing off . Cheers Rob

Wow, stunning Kevin. a very dynamic display of your B-25. Cheers Rob

Very nice build and paintjob, your build looks magnificent. Cheers Rob

I have this kit and it's absolutely great. Mine is the early version of the S-38 and includes a lot of PE, metal barrels and wire for the railings. It would have been my entry to the GB, but I lost the PE and metal parts after some water damage due to a rainstorm, which deformed the carton and I took out manual, PE and decals to be never seen again. Cheers Rob

I added more and more sub assemblies to the mix. After a bit of detail painting with a brush, the numerous boats were glued to the decks, later followed by the gangways. More figures were CA-ed to their stations. The superstructure and the mast section are not glued in place yet, as I will add some railings first. Not shown on the pictures are the anchor chains, which I blackened in burnishing fluid. Cheers Rob

Thank you Gentlemen, these steps of assembly are quite rewarding as many parts klick together which were very tedious to assemble. There are still lots of things to do until I can tell the Arizona finished, but it feels good to reach this point. The weathering looks a bit over pronounced on the pictures. I can't explain why, but especially the hull looks less weathered to the eye than on my pics. Cheers Rob

It seems, you hurdled all the obstacles Peter. The bird is looking 109 now and this is what counts. With your skillful painting it will be a beauty. Cheers Rob

Fantastic rendition of a very unusual designed airframe, Sasha. The well modulated black is especially eye catching. Cheers Rob

Great looking early Stug. The weathered grey is running the show for me. Cheers Rob

What a fantastic result with the big Cat, there are so many areas attracting the eye, it's a pure pleasure to look at. The figures tell a story and that's always a good thing. Personally, I would have liked the Cat a bit more weathered though. Cheers Rob