DocRob

Very nice result Kevin. I like your chipping and the blended matte look. Cheers Rob

Under a microscope, you might find loss of detail with the parts after cleaning them in a magnetic tumbler polisher, but what you gain in better surface appearance is worth the practically non existent loss of detail. You need the correct medium though. I experimented first with a simple tumble polisher, filled with steel balls and there was a great amount of detail missing afterwards and there was a unrefined ring around every protruding detail. With the magnetic polisher shown above, it depends on the stainless steel needle´s diameter. I tested 0,5 mm and 0,3 mm which gave the best results. The parts tumble only slowly through the water filled plastic jar, so the parts don´t tend to scratch each other. The needles move faster and hit the surfaces of the parts permanently. In metallurgy this equals hammering on a very low level, I guess, where the surfaces become more even and harder as well. You can also play with the time settings. I started with all the parts for one hour and then left only the larger parts with bigger surfaces for another half hour in the jar. Smaller parts polish easier and faster than the big ones. It´s my third MFH build and the tumble polisher is one of the most important and time saving tools. Of course, you can clean the parts with other methods, but that is very time consuming and leads to having black hands permanently. Cheers Rob Cheers Rob

Preparation is everything with MFH kits, Mike. I still study the manual and toy with the parts, to see where needs to be drilled with what diameter. The start isa always a bit slow, but then starts the fun. I wouldn´t like to miss the magnetic tumbler polisher, as it prepares the white metal parts very good. Cheers Rob

Hehe, just preordered the next one, the may release of the Aston Martin DB4 GTZ. I love their kits and they build up to a unmatched result, if everything goes well. They are demanding, complex and truly multi media, but also lots of fun to build. The big challenge with the Cobra Coupe was to fit the doors and foremost the bonnet, after all the previous steps, where even the slightest tolerances can add up. I think, there was a design error with the funnels, not fitting under the hood, something that not happened only during my build, but another one. Other than that, I cannot think of many flaws with the kits. The Crocker motorcycle was my first MFH build and it was completely doable, with the chain being the worst part of the build, but apart from that, it was pure joy. What are your observations on your kits, Count? I think older kits made by MFH were less refined, but I have the impression, the quality improved over time. The BT45 is definitely not the first Brabham coming to mind, when you think about the brand. What I like about it are the cool looks, especially in white and what was possible technically and design wise in that golden era of F1. There is a completely new designed car from one year to the next, impossible in todays boring times, where cars look like a piece of soap and F1 cars look like a piece of soap with wings. I thought about starting the Tamiya 1/12 Brabham BT44b, but saw all the parting lines, which needed cleanup and thought no. Cheers Rob

My next project after the sweet Honda RC166 build will be a bit more demanding and time consuming. I picked the red Brabham BT45 "Press Version 1975" out of the stash and started to get a bit familiar with it´s content. Press Version meant, it was the car, how it was presented to the press before the 1975 season started, the car in this configuration actually never raced. The press version has a white paintjob with Martini branding, where the BT45´s used during the 1976 season was painted red and had some alterations, mostly around the nose section. The #7 car was piloted by Carlos Reutemann, the #8 car by Carlos Pace. Bothe Carlos´s didn´t had any success with the car, but I found the design absolutely cool. I the seasons before, Brabham had their very successful BT44 (b) on the track, but decided to switch from the 8 cylinder Cosworth DFV engines to the Alfa Romeo flat 12 cylinder engine for economical reasons. The design from the BT44 to the BT45 changed a lot and the latter was ultra flat with the Alfa engine. Unfortunately the engines were not very reliable. Some pictures to show the car a bit better were borrowed from the net. MFH kits are not easy to build and you need to be organized. Starting a build requires some preparations, the first being cleaning the white metal parts in a magnetic tumbler filled with soapy water and 0,3 mm stainless steel needles. Drying time This is followed by a very eye straining task, checking if every part is there with printouts from the part list and then, all whit metal parts are sorted into boxes, according to the steps in the manual. I generally like MFH kits for design, engineering, lots of labor and love, which went into issuing their kits, but there are some points of critique as well and I think, I will communicate that to MFH, because, these issues are easy to solve. The parts list are only shown on the MFH web page as pictures, you have to print out, in my case in relatively bad quality. These part lists are immensely important throughout the whole build. I would appreciate, MFH including these into the manuals. As we speak about manuals. You get a printed version, but it helps to have a second set for notes. For some of the MFH kits, there are PDF versions available, but not for all. I would like MFH to issue the manuals on their web site, which is not the case. Tamiya always shows the wire or tube length, which needed to be cut in their manuals. MFH only mentions in which step of the manual the other end of the tube / wire leads. This causes endless page turning. Cheers Rob

Base and plane are looking very good and the livery is rarely seen on a Spitfire. Cheers Rob

Even if I repeat myself, FA, your weathering style looks extremely well to my eye. Cheers Rob

The rear is looking very smooth Carl, good job on sculpting and sanding. Cheers Rob

Very nice Kevin, like Martin said, the camo is awesome. First to finish the 410 buddy build or was it just a fire starter. Cheers Rob

Very fine detail, Gus, I can´t wait to see how all the interior parts sum up. Cheers Rob

The 410 is tempting, definitely. I even pulled out my box of Meng´s -A1 version with some Eduard PE and resin spinner and props, but if I join, I do it later. I just started another Model Factory Hiro project, which fits better to the ongoing bad weather stretch with lots of benchtime. In summer, it will be different and I want to be off of a good start with my Brabham. Cheers Rob

The Hornisse is looking fantastic, Kevin, all blends together perfectly. Cheers Rob

I´ve developed something like a slight group build allergy, lately . Besides, I started another project on the weekend. Cheers Rob

Thank you Dennis, must have been a great experience seeing Hailwood in the Isle of Man race. Cheers Rob

Beautiful result, Kevin. The sleek Hornisse looks great with your finishing touches. Cheers Rob

Thank you Kurok, the finish is one of the most delicate tasks to master with car and bike kits. I learned a lot through these builds, but are far from perfect. Cheers Rob

It looks like Richard made a fantastic Job with the kit and you are doing it as well. Cheers Rob

looking good despite the issues, Kevin, finish line ahead. I take notes about the obstacles for when I start mine. Cheers Rob

Looks like we are in the same boat weather wise, Gus. The interior looks fantastic and very detailed. I can´t wait to see some color applied, as the gray plastic looks as unappealing as a German RLM66 cockpit . Cheers Rob

They are only separated by one year and two cylinders. Even the top speed doesn´t differ that much, but what a difference my last two builds have in appearance. Here, I picked my very first motorcycle build out from the shelf and sided it to the tiny Honda Cheers Rob

Muchas gracias amigos, a phase of bad weather helped to finish the Honda quickly. On the islands of eternal spring, spring is the worst of all seasons and seemingly lasts forever . The other determining factor was fun. It was a pure joy to put this perfect engineered kit together. the extra set are the salt in the soup, detailing wise and to add a bit of challenge. @FullArmor, I thought about safety wires, which are everywhere on the Honda, but skipped it, as I wanted a oob build with only the extra detail sets added. You are allowed to call me lazy . Cheers Rob

There are so many differences between the original and the red one in the video, it must be a replica, there are the air ducts on the bonnet, the dashboard, the complete and street ready interior with real side windows instead of plexy plates. The airducts behind the side windows are gone. Added were side mirrors and indicator lights, ... Phil Spector owned one for some time and collected a lot of speeding tickets and his lawyer recommended, to get rid of the car. Spector also claimed, the car got unbearable hot inside while driving around. Doesn´t look like the red one in the video. Cheers Rob

Well it must be a replica, as all six originals were together some years ago, all in their classic livery. Nonetheless, an interesting video, thanks for posting. Cheers Rob

The speedy little Honda was a fast project indeed. It took me only two weeks to accomplish and leaves me with a "is it really done ?" expression. The fairing was the most problematic part of the build. I sprayed it with AK´s Extreme Metal flat aluminum and when I added some mild Tamiya decal fluid, I got a bad paint surface. The fairing needed respraying and then, I glossed over the flat aluminum with Alclad aqua gloss, after my Mr. Color GX100 clear wasn´t working. Not for the first time, it produced a candy cotton effect, equal, which mixing ratio I took. When it works, GX100 is perfect, but often it doesn´t for me and I don´t know why. Then I applied the decals which were generally nice to work with. They contoured well with Tamiya Mark Fit Strong fluid applied on top, using a hairdryer as well. For some reason, the 1 of the #16 deformed a tiny bit with the Mark Fit, but I corrected this with a marker. The numerous tiny metal rivets were applied, using a flat cut toothpick with low tack double sided adhesive tape. Before, the molded rivets were cut away with a sharp blade and after marking the center with a steel needle, I drilled 0,5 mm holes. Cheers Rob

You are right Count, I haven´t sanded the body parts entirely, only where refinement was needed. I have that on my "next time" list. I worked a lot with resin, even building a complete resin aircraft, but never had such a fragile coating. It didn´t help, that in case of the Cobra, test fitting was needed more, than with other kits, due to it´s complicated nature. Epoxy primer is another thing to try out. I will speak with my mechanic / body work repair friend and hear, what he suggests. The Cobra was meant to be a learning project, in a field, I have not very much experiences, like car body finishes. Cheers Rob