Peterpools

Jeroen WOW, what an IP - looks fantastic. Almost looks as if the chassis of an automoble Keep 'em comin Peter

Oliver Perfect - would be a shame to close up all the brilliant details Keep 'em comin Peter

BACK AND UNDERWAY AGAIN The GT40 was unpacked, back on the bench and the first order of business, if memory serves me correctly (good luck in this department) as to where I left off - somewhere in the neighborhood of finishing priming the body. A good cleaning of the body shell and prepping for priming was the order of the day. My primer of choice for all lacquer paints is MRP Light Gray Primer, straight from the bottle, no issues at all as the primer went down smoothly with no wet sanding being needed. Next up was the Gravity Gulf Blue, straight from the bottle, as with the primer, no issue at all – super smooth and ready for decaling. I decided to try and use the Meng decals at first and there were issues galore, starting with the teardrops over the headlights and front fenders. Micro Set and Sol were completely ineffective, not a chance of softening the decals and conforming to the compound curves - a solid no go. And of course, my Mr Setter and Mr Sol had not yet arrived. I ordered a set of decals for the Meng kit from Michael at Indycals which the following issues and were pointed out on Indycal’s website regarding the Meng decals: “… inaccurate stripes to roundels that are too small …” After carefully cutting each teardrop out (Indycal Decals are silk screened and the carrier film is one solid piece), I went to work on applying the left teardrop which still required a good deal of Mr Setter and Mr Softer to conform to the multiple compound curves of the front clip. Yes, there were still a few small edge wrinkles I couldn’t remove and I had to slice them so very carefully with a #11 blade. My first time using Indycals decals and my first race car, I’m happy to have gotten to this point. Those tiny wrinkles did seem to bother me a bit more each day. The only other issue I did have is the actual color of the teardrop. Meng’s decals are red, the Indycal website shows the model photo with a red teardrop as well and the four-view rendering shows it as orange. The actual color of the Indycal decals were a brownish color, something was amiss, I did a lot of research, discussed this with my brother who knows his stuff and Michael at Indycals; the teardrops should be red. With my original decal purchase from Indycal, I also purchased the tire decals and a mask set for the teadrop – which I should have used in the first place. For me the easiest approach to the problem and removing the two teardrop decals, the Gunz decal solutions seemed to literally glue them to the paint, was to strip the front clip back to bare plastic, re-prime and paint again. Done! A few days later, I used the mask set and painted the teardrops with Gravity Ferrari Red (how ironic) and all is fine. One very important point I learned from Michael is, if a mask set is offered with a decal set, it’s Michael way of saying the best method of applying those markings and the correct color is to paint it on using the mask set. The teardrops look great and the color is correct. Thanks for checking in Peter

Major Assemblies Come Together Yup, 1/144 scale is small but when most of the aircraft are so large, it’s an excellent tradeoff. Fuselage – The instructions called for 20 grams of nose weight, I went with 25 grams to be on the safe side, as there is no way to actually cram all that weight in the nose area, forward of the cockpit. The fuselage was glued together with Revell Contacted Professional Glue, allowing time to align both halves, cutting off the alignment pins, as they actually threw the two halves out of sync. The lower fuselage center section for the main gear was glued into place, fit wasn’t bad but some filler and sanding was needed. The wings were cleaned up, assembled and carefully glue into place, checking to make sure I had the dihedral as equal to each other as I am capable of. The front glass is in, seems and gaps need some attention. I’m ready to start filling, sanding and blending in the wing fillets for a neat and clean fit and when done, will be in striking distance of priming. A few issues needed to be dealt with. The wings had a slight warp which I fix as best as possible Neither winglets were not the same shape, requiring some gentle sanding to get them close. I’m still waiting for my Ukraine International Airlines decals to arrive, so I can find a match for the, dive into painting and then decal work. Next up: Engine pylons and tailplanes all of which will be added after painting. Thanks for checking in Keep ‘em comin Peter

Ernie Looking great and just gotta love it Keep 'em comin Peter

Ernie Brilliant paint work - the masking and cammo work looks fantastic. Keep 'em comin Peter

Bill Nothing like filling and sanding to occupy your bench time. Yup. see what you mean about the slot - surely is aggravating. Keep 'em comin Peter

Rob Amazed at the rigging for the rudder and the details that need to be completed; looks so good to my eyes. Completely agree that posting images as macros help us see the details but were looking at them so unrealistically as compared to if we were actually viewing the model in person. I do take a lot more macro/close up images of my builds but rarely use them just for this reason. It's nice to see the details but they also over emphasize the imperfections that could never be seen plus some dust that was not seen prior to the shoot. My personal choice to be close for impact and let the work speak for itself but to back off on macro work if possible. Keep 'em comin Peter

George I've accidentally discovered this myself and was saved by the bell! Keep 'em comin Peter

Oliver Brilliant detail work and sure wish there were a few access/maintenance panels that could be left open to help display all the details that are on the inside. Keep 'em comin Peter

Alberto Nice choice on the Scooter being your current project after the Mirage and nothing line investing in a healthy amount of AM to bring the model to life to . Keep 'em comin Peter

Phil I'm front and center and ready for the ride: Keep 'em comin Peter

John The yellow looks spot on . Years ago the best "Yellow" and dead accurate was by Pactra and unfortunately; long gone. Keep ' em comin Peter

Thanks Mike for the heads up. Keep 'em comin Peter

Craig Absolutely agree with Martin and Wolf's conversation: a museum being on display in a museum for all to enjoy the fruits of your skilled work. Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Kai Much appreciated and now happily splitting my time between busy the last part of our renovation: the clean up and time in my hobby room at the bench. Keep 'em comin Peter

John Orange yellow paint looking good and "chuggin along" doesn't come close to your high gear speed. Keep 'em comin Peter

Mark Fantastic progress and has to be record for the amount of rolls of masking tape the camo is consuming. Just take your time and when the juices flow,it's time for some bench time. Keep 'em comin Peter

John Unbelievable progress ... Keep 'em comin Peter

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Netting looks so very good. Keep 'em comin Peter

Phil Glad you're looking at the few steps back as an opportunity to improve a few details that will go a long way into adding extra realism. Carefully looking at the boots, now being slightly embedded in the clay/soil, it adds an extra touch of realism. Keep 'em comin Peter

Phil Looking forward to enjoying the journey but even if a third is redundant, it's still a lot of parts. If it was me, I know I would be confident is loosing a good percentage as I always lose or misplace some parts and size doesn't seem to matter these days. Keep 'em comin Peter

Rob Delicate and intricate are two words that surely describe this delicate procedure. No doubt you will pull it off beautifully. Keep 'em comin Peter

John Completely agree as it's one thing to offer a detail AM part but quite another to offer a part that has both the detail and some resemblance of fitting. Awesome progress and she does look good in her white primer. Looking forward to seeing the color coats on. Keep 'em comin Peter