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HubertB

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Posts posted by HubertB

  1. 9 hours ago, DocRob said:

    ...
    I think about the bottles, but when you find some on a shore, which lasted in the water or on land for a long time, they look almost unharmed. These PET bottles are nearly indestructible and that´s one twist of the story, they last longer than a high tech equipped pilot in his battle suit.

    Cheers Rob

    Dang, you're right about PET bottles ! I looked at the shape and color of the bottels and thought "PVC" (which would become hazy from the sand blast.

    Hubert

    • Like 1
  2. 2 hours ago, ScottsGT said:

    Lawyer up!!!!

    Best friend is a WC attorney and the wife was doing life care plans for him years ago.  WC insurance has their bottom line at heart, not your health.  They will delay and deny care as much as they can get away with.  

    Isn't it what ALL insurance companies do ?

    "Give me an example of the use of the word "insurance" ...

    - Once you have subscribed the contract and paid it, you have the insurance of being screwed in every possible way !

    Yes, A++ for your understanding of vocabulary"

    :(

    HUbert

    • Haha 2
  3. Hi. Sorry I cannot really help you on the Hataka lacquers, but I’d try in a separate container before filling the airbrush cup.

    What I can tell you is that I I used some Hataka acrylics to airbrush the highlights of my Potez 25 - in the case I goofed the paint job, I could wipe it off on the MRP / Tamiya X-22 lacquer base - and thinned them with Tamiya X20 acrylic thinner. I could finish the paint job, but I found it left a gooey mess in my airbrush, which it almost clogged completely and which I spent an hour cleaning this morning. But then acrylics can react funnily with chemicals when water works just fine …
     

    I’d also try Tamiya Lacquer Thinner in case Mr Levelling Thinner dose not work.

    Hubert

  4. 18 minutes ago, KevinM said:

    First of congratulations upon retirement Hubert!Second the effect of weathering and attention to details is paying off Sir looks really Nice!The dio should really cool.:unworthy:

    Thank you Kevin. I retired on July 1st 2022, but still owned the company, although I nominated my right-hand as General Manager since October 22. 
    He is now a full owner, and me a full retiree.

    As for the Potez, I am now on the home stretch. I should start the rigging on Tuesday, and hopefully finish it by next week-end.

    Hubert

    • Like 2
  5. 2 hours ago, denders said:

    Chris, thanks, the color is Tamiya lacquer Mica Red. 
    Fullarmor, I got those blocks from MicroMark, years ago. The piece they’re sitting on is magnetic sheet on a piece of plywood. I used a white pen to make the grid. All from about ~30+ years ago. I saw the idea in a magazine. 

    MicroMark still sell these "engineering blocks" ...

    Hubert

    • Like 3
    • Thanks 1
  6. A small hop for modelling, but a big leap for Potez ... she's grown wings

     

    Limited progress this week. I had to have a quick trip to France, which put modelling on the back burner. But I am now officially retired, including as a company owner :) . I signed the sale of the company, and to boot, I sold it to the man who seconded me throughout all the years, which makes me even happier to see the sale come to fruition, because he truly deserved it.

    Ok, back to the Potez. I did do the small touchups of the right fishhook / anchor on the top wing after the near disaster of laying the decal, then sealed all the decals with a coat of Tamiya X-22. When this was done, I proceeded to do some more highlighting / weathering / sand-dusting of the Potez, before sealing the whole again, this time under a coat of MRP semi-matte. I'm not 100 % sure about this one, as I feel the effects I had built up seemed to have vanished a bit under the last coat of varnish.

    To do the weathering / highlighting, I sprayed a slightly lighter shade of grey - that makes only 3, or 4 if you count the wheels, in total, not 50 ;) - on the ribs of the top surfaces, as on the top fuselage.

    I then used blue-grey and light brown pastel chalks to further enhance the highlighting, rubbing the grey chalk on the upper surfaces (the ribs and the top fuselage), and the sand chalk on the lower surfaces, and then blending it in the surface with a stiff flat brush. I also added some sand chalk on the lower part of the rudder, who most likely was receiving the dust generated by the landings and take-offs on the sand "runways".

    Anyway, on to the pics :

    The fuselage, with the rudder and elevators :

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    You may note the lower part of the "BZ65" number is slightly yellowed by the desert sand as well ...

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    ... as is the belly and underside, where the effect is heavier, logically :

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    The lower sesquiplane wing and undersurfaces of the elevators, before the application of the semi-mette varnish :

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    The upper wing with the highlighted ribs :

    KODAK Digital Still Camera KODAK Digital Still Camera

    This one below is slightly out of focus nearer to the camera, but it also shows the starkness of the roundels and fishhooks has been toned down and blended into the general dusting effect (ditto for the lower wings, btw)

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    And then came the time to glue the lower sesquiplane. The tube spars I had added worked as planned :piliot:

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    And I knew there was a reason I kept these Humbrol tins for 35 years 🤣

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    The top wing is just posed on the upper cabane struts jig :

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    ... But it proves the landing gear is strong enough to withstand the weight of the Potez kit. The loaded weight of the Potez 25 TOE was about 2 500 Kg, which should result in a 1/32 scale weight of about 76 grams ... The kit is about 4.5 times heavier than that ...

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    ... and the one above shows the modulation and highlighting I did much better.

    I have also worked on the windmilling generators. Lukgraph proposes some "propeller blades" on the PE sheet for those, but I am struggling to understand the fitting of these asymetric shapes, one blade being "fat" when the other is definitely "slim". So I put to a better use the PE "turnbuckles" supplied by Lukgraph converting them to emulate the windmilling wings. A bit of filing and twisting, et voilà !

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

     

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    I will now let the 5-minute epoxy of the lower sequiplane cure overnight before moving on to the upper wing. But before that, before the upper wing makes handling the Potez a perilous exercise, I will have to find the way of affixing the spare wheel on the left side of the aircraft ...

    TTFN

    Hubert

    • Like 4
    • Thanks 1
  7. Another one to follow … :popcorn:

    FYI, « Le Train » is the title of a French film telling the story of the mass arrest of Jews in the « Rafle du Vel D’Hiv » in France in 1942, and their subsequent deportation to Auschwitz / Birkenau … Your thread title just jumped at me for that reason …

    Hubert

     

    • Like 2
  8. John, glad my hunch provided a new input to the project. I have to say your assembly looks a lot more like the reference pic you submitted in your first post 👍 !

    (Hey, Kevin, I keep trying hard to shake those few neurons I have left - without overheating them 🙄 )

    Some more work to get there, but you can pull it off, John :popcorn:

    Hubert

    • Like 4
  9. I would not have thought about using this tool that brings me back close to 60 years…

    But I have preciously kept the Rotrings of my teenage years. If they have not any joint that may have dried (it’s a long time since I have opened one), I could put them to some use by using paint rather than ink, like for the trim lines on certain kits 🤔

    Hubert

    • Like 5
  10. Sorry to read this, John. Looking at the pics, but they give very little clue honestly, I’d venture the issue, and therefore the fix, is the wrong incidence of the wing. Not that it makes the fix any more workable, unfortunately.

    Hubert

    • Like 1
  11. 49 minutes ago, BlrwestSiR said:

    Some really exceptional work there Hubert. 

    I don't know any of you thread those turnbuckles. Just the thought of it makes my eyes hurt. 

    I guess we'll have to add zoologist to your many titles. 

    Carl 

    You just need a good Optivisor, Carl, the one where you can change the lenses. As I have had a bad eye for the last 25 years, following a failed laser operation, I have lost some stereoscopic vision since then, which does not really help to judge the depth when presenting the monofilament to the tube opening.

    But, with the maximum magnification lens, and a steady hand - I don’t drink coffee, btw - anybody can do it. Of course, monofilament has the benefit of some rigidity. I just would not try with EZ-line.

    Hubert

    • Like 4
  12. Fly Navy ...you'll get free fishhooks !

     

    Some small progress today. I sprayed Tamiya X22 where the decals are needed, then proceeded to lay the decals.

    Lukgraph's supplied decals are nice and thin, but need to be detoured as the decal sheet is a single piece of printing. They also have a tendenccy to curl and fold onto themselves, unfortunately.

    The lower wings "fishhooks" are the decals supplied by Lukgraph, and went on smoothly.

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    Not so lucky with the upper wing. The right one went on without too much cussing, but the left one fought me for 45 minutes. As laid it's not ideal, but I will touch up the missing and untidy areas. I could have tried tu cut some masks, but the decal solution seemed a good, lazy, one at the time ...

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

     

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    I also laid the homemade decals, like the admiral's pennant on the fin. The rudder decal was also laid, but it’s still wrinkled from the liberal amount of Micro Sol I applied. So, some pics later.

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

     

    The wheels got some weathering to reflect the desert use. I used some Tamiya brown and grey line accent, and some blue-grey and light brown chalks. The spare wheel is cleaner, of course.

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    And "Cesar" received his fuel drums load ...

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

     

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

     

    Now, please, use parental caution for the next picture, which is a special "gender reveal" for Martin :rofl:. Although in the shadow, some visual evidence shows that "Cleopatra" is definitely "Cesar" ...:sofa:

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

     

    TTFN

    Hubert

    • Like 1
    • Haha 4
  13. You know you can make a female vac-form mould, where the plastic sheet is sucked IN the mold, rather than a male mould, where the plastic sheet is sucked over the master, to wrap it ? I prefer this option - and it was the one used by the best vac-form players, making building a vac-form kit bo more difficult than an injection-molded one - as :

    - it allows to shape the master to the precise contour you want, without having to worry about the thickness of the plastic sheet,

    - you can surface details that will be sharply reproduced on the vac-formed sheet, as the details are on the « right » side of the sheet - as opposed to vague blobs in relief when using the male method,

    - the angle between the compound shape of the part and the flat sheet IS the cutting mark, and it is well defined on top, as the sharp radius is at the break between the part and the flat surround,

    - you can use an existing part as a master to produce the mould, but still keep it intact, and use a more resistant material for the vac-forming process.

    You can make the mould in plaster of Paris, or resin. The only trick is to have suction hole drilled in the mould, so that the air of the cavity is sucked by the vacuum pump and pulls the heated sheet with it. To have this hole, I use a 0.3 mm nylon monofilament, lightly tacked to the master and ideally covered with a release agent like vaseline (the master as well, btw), that will protrude from the mould once poured. When the mould is set, just pull the filament, and you have the right suction hole, And yes, 0.3 mm dia is enough for the purpose. Just make sure there is no other way for the air to be sucked by the vacuum pump.

    The process will result in a small blip where the suction hole is. On a transparent part, make sure this falls on a frame.

    HTH

    Hubert

    • Like 6
  14. Masking, spraying, unmasking, and threading monofilament ...

    The Sunday evening update.

     

    OK, time for the Sunday evening update. I am happy to report some visual progress on the 0Potez. In fact, the bulk of the painting is now done. Some more touch-ups needed, but the essential is behind me now :piliot: ! (I will still have at the end to fade and blend everything )

    So, some pic sto show where I am at tonight :

    The fuselage has been painted in Dark Blue Grey, with the nose and cowling panels in aluminium color. I have tried to introduce some modulation, which is perceptible to the naked eye, but unfortunately a bit "washed out" in the pics with a flash.

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    You can also see I have removed the masks to reveal the "BZ65" code and the base for the fin pennant, as well as for the transparencies.

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    Following my initial blunder with the roundels, they have been repainted, as the wing top in Dark Blue Grey, and unmasked. Here again, I have introduced some modulation to break the monotony of the dark top color, but the pic is struggling to replicate what the eye sees :

     

     

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    The underside of the main wing has been painted Light Blue Grey :

     

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    You can also see it has been pre-rigged before gluing it on top of the cabane struts. The "turnbuckles" are 0.7 mm dia brass tubes, and the 0.2 monofilament is threaded through the tube, into the eyelets, then back into the tube.... Standard rigging technique, but the exercise has elicited in me some renewed respect for people like Mike ( @sandbagger )who do this for each and every of their kits :unworthy:

    The underwing of the lower sesquiplane has also been painted Light Blue Grey, the roudels correctly painted ;) and then unmasked.

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    And the top of the lower sesquiplane has also been painted Dark Blue Grey

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    And the 70-liters fuel drums have been painted, weathered and aged. Talking of French expletives, you should have heard the ones I proferred yesterday when I inadvertently spilled the (BIG) bottle of Vallejo "Light Rust" on the bench :wtf: :poo: :2guns: :rtfm: . Well,better that you didn't, in fact :)

     

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

    And here is the family shot with this week's work (including the tricolor rudder). The top wing is just posed on the cabane struts jig for the pic.

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

     

    KODAK Digital Still Camera

     

    Next steps tomorrow is to spray some gloss varnish on everything (to prepare for the few decals I have to lay), then matte varnish, and then it will be time to mate the wings and the fuselage :construction:

    Hubert

    • Like 6
    • Thanks 1
  15. 8 hours ago, Martinnfb said:

    That standing camel looks so insanely realistic that I am going to give her a name. Cleopatra  

    You may wonder: , "How does he know it's a girl?"

    Trust me, I know.... ( creepy Jack Nicolson voice )

    Anyway, amazing work as always Hubert. Clean and effective solutions all the way. Figures looks natural with lively impressions. 

    Cheers

    Martin

    Well, Martin, sorry to disappoint you, but Cleopatra should be called Cesar, definitely 🤣.

    Spoiler

    And you don’t even have the excuse of saying the evidence was hidden by some garments, like the last time in this « special » bar you went to for a drink 🙄 .

    Anyway, what happens in Calgary stays in Calgary …🤣 

     

    Thank you for the kind comments, guys. As I wear an high-magnification Optivisor, I see small imperfections everywhere …but, oh well, this maybe my first completed GB entry in 15 years :piliot:

    Hubert

    • Like 2
    • Haha 2
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