DocRob

Thank you Peter and indeed, the final assembly steps were a bit higher on the cuss scale. Next will be the wiring, which won´t be easy too, but the detail MFH supplies is well worth a bit of suffering. Cheers Rob

The engine got near finished, lacking the ignition wiring and the belts in front. To mount all the carburetor parts into the tub was extremely difficult, done by the manual, it would have been impossible. I spare you the details, but you should put in the four carburetor blocks at the same time, only connected with a fragile steering rod and then add the coil spring mechanism with no wiggle room. It took some thinking and manipulating of parts to get it right. The carburetor housings were beforehand accentuated with black panel liner. I also added some decals onto engine parts. Cheers Rob

Great display case, congratulations Kevin. Cheers Rob

Ready to go, Peter. All the prep work looks great and will ensure a nice and easy paintjob. Cowlings look good to me, it´s bent sheet metal with a bit of structural parts on the real thing and will never sit perfectly. Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter, I don´t know what happened with the holes in the PE. Maybe MFH chose to change the bolts, but forgot about the PE. Generally spoken, the Crocker kit had been a bit more refined, but maybe it´s easier to work metal only. Luckily it´s no major issues until now. The stainless steel PE makes sense with the kit, as it is visible and doesn´t need to be painted. Brass would have been more work in the end. Cheers Rob

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Hubert and Carl. I finally got the tubes cut and precisely to length, luckily. I thought about using the cutting disc on my Proxxon, but it would have been much more difficult to hold the tube in place and cut it exactly to measure. I would have put it on a brass rod for support, but luckily I got it finished in my mitre, without flying tube parts. I have lots of Albion tubes, but most are brass tubes and I want to keep the tube material visually as thin as possible, which means without painting. Aluminum tubes, I have only for WW! turnbuckle diameters, but I guess the thickness of the material would have been also too much for me in aluminum. Brass and aluminum tubes cut easily rolling under a sharp blade, but the stainless steel tube from MFH was a bit of a beast. Cheers Rob

Today, I prepared all the carburetor parts and finished assembling the first pair, which consists of almost thirty parts. The inox pipe in the middle of the funnel was pretty rigid. It had to be cut from a tube and the manual suggests rolling it under a sharp blade. I tried, but no success. I took out my mini mitre and razor saw and managed to cut eight parts, while loosing all the teeth on the blade. Again the holes on the PE parts were to small, to accept the bolts and needed to be re drilled. Pretty annoying, given it´s not brass, but very rigid stainless steel. I also added the distributor, where tiny rods of steel rod are glued into each connector for accepting the tiny rubber isolators. These needed to be drilled wit a 0,3 mm bit to later (hopefully) accept the ignition wiring. Cheers Rob

Thank you Scott, yup, this engine looks very similar to mine. I found pictures of exactly my car with slightly matte covers and black engine block. Cheers Rob

sorry for the multiple post, my system wasn´t responding and showed the post as not saved. Cheers Rob

Sorry to be the fire starter, Hubert . The 917 is indeed a true icon and somehow a statement of a past era. Personally, I prefer the short tail versions, but that´s only shape wise, without any historical or sentimental reason. @BlrwestSiR Carl mentioned yesterday in my Cobra Coupe build log a company producing 3D-printed car kits in large scale. They also have a 917 in 1/12 scale available. Maybe it´s an option for you as well. Modelparts for Sale! - mezzo-mix-models-modeling (jimdo.com) Cheers Rob

Thank you Carl, exactly those gaskets (ah, that´s the correct terminology ) gave me a bit of struggle. The holes for the bolts were to small and had to redrill them. Aligning the PE to the holes in the block and inserting the bolts, without causing a CA mess was not so easy and the too small holes were very un-MFH. Thank you for showing the Mezzo-Mix site. The Escort would be my choice as well, but I have one from Belkits in 1/24. The kits look absolutely fantastic and if they build up well, they would be a good representation of the originals. 1/8 Porsches, geez. Like you said, the pricing seems very reasonable for what is on offer. Cheers Rob

Thank you Chris and yup, each bolt. With MFH kits your drill bits are your best friends. I use three different pin vises, only, because I don´t want to change the bits every minute. Cheers Rob

Wohowww, now it starts, what I feared since the beginning of this build, Scott. Friends of American low tech heavy metal, dwelling deep in nostalgia . I´ve seen a Cobra Coupe build, where the engine block was painted blue, but pics of my ride along the manual suggest black. The covers seem not to be polished, but that´s what I call artificial liberties. Cheers Rob

It´s more a question of preference, Chris. I like the panel lines as they are now, but scale wise it might be a bit too much. I always believed that effects like this can´t be exactly rendered down to scale, because of many factors like lighting, condition of the aircraft and others. So it´s up to you to decide, but I would leave it as is. The benefit of using oils for PLW´s is, I have many different shades to choose from. In case of your Phantom, I would have chosen a brownish tone, which has enough contrast for the panel lines and on the other hand unifies the camo colors. I once used a very light grey panel liner on a German TA-152, because I wanted to simulate panel lines in harsh winter conditions, the only, the plane flew in. I found it fitting. Cheers Rob

Thank you Phil and Peter, the weight is indeed something, which separates the MFH kits from others. Quality wise, I felt, the casting of the Crocker bike was a bit better, but nothing what can´t be solved arose until now. What you get for free with MHH kits is bleeding fingers , as you have to hold small parts during drilling, sanding and polishing. Cheers Rob

Looking bueno Chris with the teeth applied. I´m sorry to read about your ongoing difficulties with the decals. I never tried or even own Sovaset. My strongest solution being Tamiya´s Mark Fit Strong. I use to try some heat of a hairdryer over the softened decal, which usually works. I haven´t tried AK´s panel liner, but use Tamiya´s products on regular base, but not anymore as my to go panel wash, because removing residues can be a bit difficult and the needed chemicals a bit too aggressive. I often use oil colors mixed with matte thinner, easier to clean and runs down the details very good too. Cheers Rob

Absolutely Peter, fast and reliable, albeit not cheap, but that´s mostly due to shipping costs. Cheers Rob

Got a new car kit, which I couldn´t let pass and a lot of tools from Plaza Japan for great prizes. The legendary Porsche 917 in it´s finest livery to my taste, has a sheet of PE included, luckily, so there is no need for a lot of AM. Having killed one of my Tamiya cutters, I ordered a substitute. This is my favorite all purpose cutter. I have the sharper ones as well, but like them only for special occasions. The larger cutter is labeled for plastic and soft metal, lets see, how it works with MFH´s whit metal. You can´t have enough types of tweezers, so I added some shapes missing. Not shown are a heap of drill bits with atypical diameters, which are needed for the MFH kits. Cheers Rob

The last days, there was not a lot of bench time to have with my dog being seriously ill and an actual heat wave, but I managed to work a bit on the engine. What you see on the picture consists of about 70 parts. All screws and rivets need to be drilled and glued in. I gave the rocker covers another work intensive go and grinded and sanded, until I was halfway satisfied and then polished the parts with Autosol metal polish. Somehow, my camera struggles to capture high shine finishes, but the rocker covers look ok now. The PE exhaust seals were a bit of a pain, because the holes needed to be drilled out for the fitting `screws´ which are in fact bolts. I would have preferred to have the whole engine in metal. The resin parts needed a lot of work to make them fit. Cheers Rob

Thank you Carl, he hasn´t eaten for two weeks, without an obvious reason. He is very weak now, but this morning, he ate a tiny bit, so there is hope. I´m more than a bit curious about your plan B, but it seems you are not willing to share it. In August MFH releases a Ferrari 250P and 275P kit. Beauties both of them, but I have my Ferrari 250 TRI already, which I prefer, design wise and with it´s beautiful engine. Cheers Rob

Thank you Chris that is very great offer, but similar stuff seems to be available here, but I went the hard way, sanding, grinding and polishing and now it looks good enough. Cheers Rob

Thanks Peter, fun fact, I found the part which flew away during polishing, now after having received the spares from MFH. It flew half a mile and was found only by accident . Cheers Rob

You are absolutely right about the casting quality relating to the possible painting quality, Hubert. Simply sculpted figures are terrible to paint and with the better ones, hmmh, it´s up to your skills. Mine are not very developed and as much as I like to do better figure jobs, as much I dread the task. I didn´t even know, that Preiser did 1/32 figures, but with the plane and the base, it looks fitting and good. There is a semi civilian in the Aviattic.co.uk shop: ATTL 02 Anthony Fokker and there is also a fitting camera available: ATTRES030 WW1 1/32 Tripod movie camera. Cheers Rob

Merlin or not, she will be a beauty, Peter. I like the shape of the Spitfire as well unobstructed. I have two Eduard 1/48 MK XVI in stash and one will be build closed and gear up, the other with the full Brassin galore, engine, cockpit, ... . The Kotare Spit will naturally be closed up and maybe hit the bench soon. Cheers Rob

Nice haul, Paul, I also eyed the Swordfish from Plaza Japan, but have so many plane kits in stash, but maybe one day... . I like the rustical Swordfish and would build her heavily weathered with pilots in. Have you bought the additional Tamiya PE set with the flat bracing wires included. I would do so for mine. Cheers Rob