Peterpools

Thanks Mike Thought it would be a very different entry and I've always had a huge interest in airliners and a perfect excuse to give it a go. Now that the home renovation is nearly done and I'm in my new cave, just finding where I put everything is a whole new ballgame. Keep 'em comin Peter

ALIVE, WELL AND STILL KICKING A big thanks to John B for letting everyone know why my absence from the form for such an extended period of time and what has been going on. A few years before I was diagnosed with cancer, my wife Diane and I were looking forward to our retirements and planned a major renovation of our home. The best laid plans seem to always have a mind of their own and once I was in remission and well enough to allow contractors in the house (social distancing was a must and one of the ground rules my oncologist insisted on), we proceeded to hire contractors, set a schedule and off we went. We never imagined there would be so much to do, decisions to be made and my physical stamina put limits on all the preparation work we needed to do. As with any renovation we kept adding to the project, still thinking it would take about six weeks to two months; we’re closing in on almost six months and close to being finished. I’ve had very little time for modeling or even hanging out on the forum as my model room and cave was moved from one end of the house to nearly the other end (couldn’t ask for more) and became part of the work to be done. We’re in the home stretch and the vast majority of the projects should be completed and a few more remaining as we’re waiting for some items to be made and delivered. A huge portion of the project we greatly under estimated and never gave much of a thought to was packing and organizing and now unpacking, cleaning, replacing everything that was packed up in the beginning. Glad to say we’re hiring a cleaning company to help us, as it’s tiring to just think about it. We’re off and running and there is no rush to finish, to clean and unpack everything all at once – thank goodness. I’m finally back in my hobby room and sitting at the bench, getting ready to start building again and catching up. Revell 1/144 Embraer ERJ 190 Ukraine International Airlines With the Ukrainian GB well underway and now that I’m finally back at the bench, I knew the GT40 build would have to share both bench space and bench time so my entry would be completed in time. The new studio was close enough to completion so that I could start my original entry; the Roden 1/48 Pilatus PC-6 a few very late nights ago and now I know why Roden has the reputation I’ve heard so many times. I spent hours cleaning up some of the worst injector pin marks and injector pin towers I’ve ever seen and a good deal of flash joined the cleanup work. Interior part fit was OK at best. Then the project killer: two C frets are needed – only one in the kit and another fret where one was needed, there were two. At this point, I had already lost most of the mojo for the kit but missing parts and a short build window sealed the kits fate … binned. I still wanted to build something different and with a growing interest in 1/144 scale airliners, some research, I located a set of decals for Ukraine International Airlines and had to hunt down the Revell kit for the Embraer ERJ 190, which I found on ebay, at a very fair price. Not wasting any time, I went to work on the kit during my newly found late night modeling sessions. The Embraer is typical Revell, the only game in town for the Embraer, should turn out just fine and a nice value for the money. First order of business was to seal up the windows, which was time consuming but will be my SOP for all future airliner builds. I pressed fit standard Milliput through all the window openings from the inside out, cut the Milliput flush with the outer fuselage skin (a big mistake), let dry and then followed up with Tamiya White Putty on the exterior, then a few layers of Mr Surfacer and lastly Squadron Fast Drying Gray Putty. Overkill for sure but the windows were sealed smooth and gone. Next build, after I press fit the Milliput through the windows, I won’t trim or cut them flush with the fuselage which cause some gaps and depressions that added to the filler and sanding. I started the wings and some sanding was needed to clean things up. The underside of the wings are not flat and have what seems to be the correct airfoil contours and calling for some tricky sanding. Next up: finishing the wings, gluing up the fuselage halves and moving forward. Feels so good to be back and hanging out again Keep ‘em comin Peter Milliput applied and dried The fuselage sanded and ready to be assembled

Rob Glad you worked out a method of installing she delivered the Minwax Wipe on Poly just in the nick of time. Never thought Minwax Products would be difficult to find as here in the states they are a staple in every hardware store and of course in the big Home Centers as well. Keep 'em comin Peter

Mike Some mighty nice advice and a workable technique for sure. Keep 'em comin Peter

Rob Following your building techniques and how you have gone about experimenting and testing different techniques is a lesson we should all learn and follow. The second planking is surely testing your resolve but at this point, I have no doubts you will work out the best possible POA and put to be the issue. Keep 'em comin Peter

Harv OH NO, I'm hoping your new medical issues aren't serious and all will be well.🤞 Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Harv Welcome aboard and glad you are along for the journey. Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Rob Nothing like a plan that if need be can be modified to keep the build on course and achieve the results we're after. As construction restraints has allowed, I've made some excellent progress on the exterior shells a,d will be ready for the next update this weekend and then primer - all the gluing and fussing is done and I'm in the finial sanding and polishing stages. Also back to the Ferrari 12 cylinder and making progress with an eye focused on how to paint all the parts as color requires. Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Gaz So different then military modeling, having a blast and it's also much like military modeling as number one priority: the finish . I've been plugging away at the exterior shell and close to another update and priming. The contractors are making excellent progress now and not too many more weeks before they are done and we are back to normal and of course, being able to paint and build with no fears of all the construction dust. Keep 'em comin Peter

Kriss Very nice progress on the paint work - looking mighty good. Keep 'em comin Peter

Mark Great to see you back at the bench and working on your Ferrari 330Pa Two sounds in this world that are music to my ears: the sounds of RR Merlin and the sounds of a Ferrari 12 cylinder on race day. Your 330P engine is looking mighty good and the nose clip finish is top notch. Keep 'em comin Peter

John Right with you but the OOPS are mojo killers in their own right Keep 'em coming Peter

Thanks mark Thoroughly enjoying the Ferrari and being a kit molded in 1976, it's not the Tamiya we know today. I've been spending days working on the outer body panels getting them to fit as they should. Far from a MFH kit but a gem just the same. Looking forward to you resuming your Ferrari build and then maybe the Mclaren. BTW, I'm still waiting for my Jetmads Viggen and on seriously considering selling it or trading it for a 1/12 Tamiya F1 kit. Keep 'em comin Peter

John Why am I nor surprised your Mustang is in high gear - looking might good. Wing roots and seams are also looking good. Keep 'em comin Peter

Bill Fantastic start on a great build - unique doesn't come close. Will be following all the way. Keep 'em comin Peter

Rob Following your progress and enjoying each update for both it's technical excellence and a learning experience as well. Neat, clean, precise and delicate work. Your progress is amazing and I spend a lot of time, just staring at your photographs. Completely agree about wood models have a huge advantage over plastic and resin kits in the solvent, paint, resin and glue departments. I'm very conscious of the harmful orders and fumes from what we use and for nearly now the past three years always wear a respirator and paint in a spray booth. When clean both my air guns and equipment after a painting session, I still my my respirator and work in the spray booth. I'm so very much more careful as how I use glues and hand paint (acrylics now) - just wish I had been doing this for all the years I have been modeling, but who knew. Keep 'em comin Peter

Hi Mark Great to hear you are OK and life is a somewhat overwhelming right now. Hopefully your medical issues will be resolved with no lasting side effects. When you have bench time, that's great but until then, just take care Peter

John Nice to see your P-51D Korean War Mustang is back on the bench and underway. will be following with great interest. I didn't bring a lot of popcorn but I'm sure I have enough, knowing the speed at which you build Keep 'em comin Peter

Hi Carl Completely agree; I've often tossed and turned over how much of the interior detail to show and that includes many 1/32 Tamiya aircraft kits as well. Since I normally build two or three versions of the same aircraft, I have the cowling off and the engine exposed of only one of each type. But in the case of F1 cars, I'm fast leaning towards having all the exterior panels on and the finished model looking as a true scale replica. I'm not big on removing and re-attaching parts as being plastic, it's only a matter of time before they break/snap/crack and that's the end of the ballgame. Once I finish a model and it's in the display case, it's never touched again ... it's for display only. Old kits and rubber tires .. not a good combination.. Every time I consider purchasing another vintage 1/12 scale Tamiya kit, this issue runs through my head and MFH replacement tires, not a chance I would ever buy them for that price. My thought is now to only buy the re-released kits and pay extra as all the parts and components are relatively new. Keep 'em comin Peter

A Change of Heart The Side Panels Building and still doing research to learn as I go, it became quickly apparent that my initial thoughts of displaying the chassis and all the body panels separately, was no longer the way for me to go. Think more and more about the end display, the model wouldn’t look or have the feel of this iconic F1 Championship race car, with all the body panels displayed separately and some need to be on the car so anyone looking at the model would know it is a Ferrari. I now dug into studying a good deal of display model photos and realized there was going to be a numerous fit issues it (yup, I saw the panel fit issues) and decided I needed do some serious testing before moving on and a new display plan as well. I removed all the exterior body panels from their frets, cleaned up the gate nibs and started attaching them to the chassis by the locating pins and nearly fell off my chair at the fit issues. There were gigantic injector pin marks on the back side of panels that would/could be seen and of course, some caused fit issues as well. I decided to remove them all which turned into a mega headache as they were in hard to reach places. The small exhaust radiator body panel has compound curves, some of the deepest and most numerous injector pin marks on a small part I had ever seen. I’m guessing that they were needed as Tamiya couldn’t get them to release from the mold any other way. Of course, there were lots of tricky mold lines to remove and I was lucky that a good number of injection pin marks, I was able to sand out and no filler was needed. Each of the side body panels are comprised of three parts, replicating the actual side panel makeup. There are fit issues, especially the small exhaust radiator panel – it doesn’t fit well at all. At this stage, job number one is to create a single side panel, no gaps and insure it will attach to the side of the chassis with no issues. There were large exterior sink marks that needed some TLC. Back to the display thoughts as it stands now: the chassis sides would have the body shell panels permanently installed, the top portion of the chassis would be displayed in bare aluminum and all the remaining body panels including the large intake assembly that is so distinctive on the 312T. Nothing ever goes according to plan and of course, my brother has been invaluable with his knowledge of race cars and modeling them, as I’ve always been a large scale aircraft modeler, with little automotive modeling to fall back on. Peter This is where I'm heading at the rear side panel shows the body panel fit needs work. Some mighty nice sink marks - filled in with CCA, Mr Surfacer and Tamiya Filler. I highlighted grooved area just seem to be wrong. I didn't see any mention of it in the instructions or a part that should be glued in. Hoping someoen knows if it should be there or not. The record More Injector Pin Marks

Thanks Carl Both the re-issued 934 and 935 are on my shopping list and sometime this year, I hope to build at least one of them. Right now, I'm working on what I can do in-between our contractors and hopefully by the end of April we might be finished ... fingers crossed. Appreciate the info on the Porsche Carrera as it food for thought down the road as well. The Super 7 just doesn't excite me and as back in the day (late 1960's) I owned both a MGB and a A Triumph TR250 (the Triumph was my favorite). Keep 'em comin Peter

Carl Glad to see your son and yourself picked up some nice additions to the stash. Keep 'em comin Peter

Carl Thanks for the photographs - hopefully a sign of returning to normalcy. Some mighty nice work Keep 'em comin Peter

John Gorgeous work. Your latest Mustang Unlimited Racer looks fantastic - paint work and finish are perfect. Keep 'em comin Peter

John Brilliant build - heading over to check out the finished build Keep 'em comin Peter