HubertB

If there was ever an iconic car for me, this is the one. Beaten only by the mighty 917. Hubert

I can only share my experience: - having a tidy bench helps modelling and avoiding the dreaded modelling doldrums, but it is not a failsafe method - having a cluttered bench is now a definitive modelling put off for me - Hobbyzone, or the likes, whilst not especially cheap when you start adding the modules, is the best tidying solution I could find. Hubert

Hey Martin, I take a few lessons from your posts: 1) you can improve your tidying skills. As Ikea ads say, it helps, sometimes ... 2) dogfood, per gram, is still cheaper than kits 3) you can still do taxidermy whilst the putty hardens 4) I would never have thought that Trumpeter could release inaccurate kits. Now that’s a tough lesson 5) you can still feed unused parts, like the propeller, or the spinner, or (insert the list of inaccurate parts here) to your starving buddy 6) you definitely have not lost your modelling skills 7) I love the scheme you have chosen All in all, I will conclude with a single word : Hubert

Hi Marcin, Thank you for your new information. It’s no problem at all that you were misled for a moment. As the saying goes, « only those who do nothing never make mistakes » . And it’s good as well that the documents I had read were not wrong in the end. The books I had read, from Polish authors, were affirmative about the 1934 bird in Paris being equipped with a Mercury, but your photograph convinced me that it could be a G&R Mistral 9. So we were brothers in error : we both mistook twin exhaust pipes for rocker covers. There are some positives about your intervention however, from my point of view : 1) Your pic has confirmed that the wheel spats had fairings to the gear legs. I had assumed they had, based on the contemporary P-24 pictures, but it was still some conjecture rather than a certainty. 2) I have learned some useful additional information like the lack of radio equipment and dedicated panel in the rear fuselage. 3) I have had to tackle again the design of a radial engine, and have in the process improved my skills with Solidworks, and used some new functions I had not yet used. It was not shake-and-bake, but it took me only a few working days to do so. 4) I will nevertheless finish designing the G&R Mistral 9 ( I am in the final stages of designing / fine tuning the « K » cylinder). This will open up some new possibilities, including scratchbuilding some ignored subjects. I always loved the look of the Morane Saulnier 225, for instance, and IIRC, it was equipped with the G&R Mistral 9 5) This was an opportunity to confirm my move into a new realm of modelling. Now, I know I can design and print some parts fairly easily, and this is a great alternative to gluing bits and pieces for creating some scratchbuilt parts. Keep the information flowing. Hubert

Thank you Marcin. I have made progress on my own design of the G&R Mistral 9. I should have finished designing the cylinder in the coming week. Then it’s another few days for a good print I need to check your spats’ drawing against my interpretation. The problem is that I now have glued the legs to them. And of course, I need to design and print a new long fairing for the new engine, and most likely a new cowling Hubert.

This is why vac-forms get such a poor reputation. There are two ways to produce a vac-form: pulling the sheet on a male plug, or drawing it into a female plug. The female mold method produces sharply-defined, with good surface detail, shapes, and the separation line from the backing sheet is clearly defined as well. My Nieuport Sesquiplan was produced this way, as were the Welsh Models 1/144 liners. But of course, this requires a lot more work for the producer than the male plug method: making a master, then producing molds for the female vacforming process, with suitably placed micro-holes for the suction to work. Which is why, most of the time, vacs are made with the male master plug method. Easy-peezy, lazy way. Add to that the approximate shapes that ID Models were used to (in my own experience, I had to throw away the Saab J-29 kit, and the HP Hampden is not much better, with too shallow fuselage, very wrong engine cowlings - lacking a good 4+ mm in diameter - and inaccurate transparencies), and you end up with blobs of plastic with a huge potential only for the bravest - or foolest - modellers like our friend Wingco ... Hubert

And another radial engine design on the virtual bench ! Since Marcin Matejko, our VERY talented Polish member and modeller, who has produced a number of outstanding scratchbuilt kits of different PZLs, has intervened in my build thread for the IBG P11c to show me that in the conversion I was attempting to reproduce (the 1934 Paris Air Show bird), I had to take into account that the engine in Paris was a Gnome & Rhone Mistral 9 Kdrs, not the Mercury one, I have been on the lookout for reference data and drawings, whilst trying to avoid paying € 350 for the technical manual (you can find it at this starting price on eBay and Abebooks). I found enough to be able to start a design and extrapolate the dimensions I could not read on some drawings I found. I now "just" have to design the K cylinder. Drawing on my experience with the R-985 design, I tried to do as much in one design as I could. What you are seeing here is already a 1 Gb .stl file. The cylinders will have to be separate in the 3D printing process. And with the outline of the cylinders ... Now onto designing the cylinder. With the reference I have, it should not take 5 1/2 years like with the R-985 Hubert

I agree with Rob. At the other, invisible, end of this chain is an anchor weighing a few tons. That’s enough to tension any chain. As for ship modelling, I believe that once you are used to 1/32 in aircrafts, 1/350 in ship modelling is just too small. For me the « proper » scale for large ships is 1/200, and between 1/48 and 1/100 for period sailing ships. As for 1/700 ships Hubert

I can already give you the answer to that, Gaz, and it’s a flat « no », unfortunately. A metal lathe requires a vey rigid chassis, torque more than speed, a strong attachment point for the cutting tool, i.e. a travelling chariot rather than a tool support like Rob’s new baby, micrometer advancement settings for the tool, a strong chuck, etc. The only way to machine metal on a wood lathe is to have a very soft metal like aluminium (and then not all aluminiums alloys) and use a file. You cannot do much this way. You can find some new, small dimensions, metal lathes - made in China - in a price range between 500 and 1000 USD. For the price, they can be surprisingly precise ( the key criterion being concentricity tolerance). And then you can also look for second-hand ones. The small Unimat 1 could do some small-diameter metal work, provided you changed the motor, and added stiffener plates everywhere, or changed the plastic chariots to metal ones. Not really cheaper than a dedicated small metal lathe as described above, in the end. And it still lacked the bulk and weight of the small metal lathes you can find on the market. On a machine that exerts cutting and tearing forces on metal, mass, that increases inertia, dampens vibrations, and is also a signal of the size of the chassis, and therefore of its rigidity, is actually a helping factor. The Chinese-made small dedicated metal lathes weigh around 50 kg and up. And, btw, conversely, do not expect to turn wood on a metal lathe. Plastic, yes, perspex yes, soft metals or steel yes, on these cheap-end metal lathes, but not wood... Ask me how I know So that means two lathes if you want to turn wood and machine metal (the semantic difference is actually meaningful) Hubert PS: nice little machines, Rob. These Proxxon machines are actually fairly good, robust and precise for modelling.

These look really good, even better, IMHO, than my current go-to reference, aka Yahu panels. Unfortunately, my « exotic » modelling choices mean I am unlikely to get any of these sets, buy maybe for a Spiffire IX or Mustang set, for which I have civilian or racer schemes targeted. In the meantime, Airscale decals will come to my rescue Hubert

Very nicely done, John, to your usual high standards. Hubert

The O-stralian Mirages were based on the E, btw. Hubert

In essence, LSM is for Large Scale Models (of aircrafts and armour, implicitly). But there is an area for Non-LSM WiP threads, where you can even post a 1/72 aircraft build (aaaaargh ! ) ! And this is a pretty oecumenical site. I have yet to see anyone protesting about a non-LSM build. At worst, you would get get your build thread transferred to another area of the site. So, finally, welcome to LSM. I love the rusting of the Porsche. Hubert

Certainly no criticism from me. I actually enjoy getting this kind of information. As far as I am concerned, you carry on with all the web training you want : I’ll be a studious pupil. Hubert

Whilst we are at the web-training phase, what is the direction of the fluid flow ? Blue to yellow, or yellow to blue ? Hubert

I also learned something. Had never seen it, nor read about it. And your job is outstanding ! Hubert

Very nice work Rob ! These erasers are actually fiberglass, and a legacy of the times when people were drawing on calcs (a few of us still remember those times ). Much more precise and efficient than traditional rubbers on calc paper. And yes, the fiberglass strands can break, and have a nasty tendency to insert themselves in bare skin ... ouch ! Hubert

And based on what expertise do you guys dare to criticise people who have a real knowledge in a field where you are obviously just amateurs (especially red) ? Let me start by telling you how wrong you are ... ... and then ... Hubert the omniscient know-it-all (and more)

Thank you for the nice review, James. ICM are really becoming a force to reckon in 1/32 scale. Hubert

I have read not so much for snakes and spiders, who find refuge in the houses. Knowing how nasty the Australian fauna can be, I’d be extra cautious going back home after the flood Hubert

Reminds me furiously of other behaviours in a certain pandemic ... « what I believe and have to do is so much more important than your life ... and f#!@k your feelings » Hubert

Hi guys, I hope that you and your houses have been spared by the floods in Eastern Australia. Hang tight if its near you. Hubert

The collector rings of the Bristol engines were made of steel (not stainless, as far as I know), the only metal that could withstand the high temperatures of the exhaust gases. Their color is actually a mix of the colors you find on steel submitted to high temperatures and almost submitted to a tempering process: from the blue so much loved by the high-range watchmakers like Breguet (steel blued at an alcohol flame) to the reds and oranges of steel going through various high temperature gradients, to some rust. « Brass » is just a shortcut simplification of these complex hues ... Hubert

Amazing work as usual. It looks like these Russian trucks had the same type of ergonomics as a British WWII fighter Hubert

You’re on another winner, and what a start ! Hubert