HubertB

Good to see your amazing build over here, Peter. Like others, I am in awe of your skills and persistence on this long-haul project. Hubert

Not that many, yes ... Although the stash is predominantly resin stuff (the white cardboard boxes you see) like Fisher, Aerotech, HPH, Lukgraph, Silver Wings, Montex and the like. Besides the Fisher ones, which have become rarer than hen’s teeth because of the Paradise fires, there are even rarer ones, like a Scratchbuilder Staggerwing .... Hubert

Ok, since you asked ... Overall view ... And split views ... It fills a volume of about 1.3 cubic meter (3.6 x 0.6 x 0.6 ), plus a bit of overspill of ship kits above the wine cellar ... The "magic room" is actually also the attic and "machine room" with a bench opposite the shelves holding the various machines like 3D printers and ancillaries, metal lathe, vertical milling machine, CNC mini-milling machine, vac-forming one, etc.... So, the analogy with a ship is not far away : hold + workshop in one place Hubert

I *just* have a few more than you, Phil (and will not dare to show a pic ). I still believe I will build them all, assuming I do not get sidetracked like now, where I am focused on designing and 3D printing the components of a 1/32 (of course) Travel Air Mystery Ship ... Hubert

Outstanding piece of engineering, both the 1:1 subject and much more the 1/25 one ! Hubert

As per your usual standards, impeccably clean build ! Hubert

Good « old-fashioned » scratchbuilding skills at play here, and in what a way ! Hubert

And another smashing result after following your build in an extremely enjoyable thread ! And I cannot repeat enough how amazed I am at your speed in turning out these masterpieces. In short, well done ! Hubert

Lovely ! Well-executed ship models have a unique presence compared to aircrafts, IMHO. And this one is definitely more than « well-executed ». Hubert

Very nice Harley, Steve. And thank you for the compliment on my Nieuport. Hubert

Well, I could say it has to be the next one I will finish . Besides, as I am builder rather than a collector, until very recently I had the habit of throwing away my finished kits afetr a few weeks or months gathering dust on the display shelves: a great way to solve the "where will I put it when finished ?" dilemna . Now I tend to keep my finished builds. Of those up-to-day survivors, the one I would want to show most is my Nieuport Sesquiplane racer. It is in my favourite subjects' league (Golden Age civilians and racers), it is a rare kit, it is also a high quality vacform - and thus a proof that vacform CAN be a great way to have a kit, when the manufacturer wants to put some efforts in selling something more reasonable than a mere blob of vague shapes on a plastic sheet. Here are some beauty shots I did just after finishing it. I hope you like it. Hubert

Fantastic ! Hubert

Fantastic problem-solving, and idea duly bookmarked ! Hubert

Outstanding detail work ! Hubert

Not at all. It would fit easily on the swimming pool ! Anyway, water was more the element of the original than air, wasn’t it ? One could even argue that the Do-X was the forerunner of the Ekranoplan ... Hubert

Very cool subject, just in my league, but I’m only in for 1/32 Hubert the narrow-minded

... Or a piece of kitchen alu foil, glued with MS Metal foil adhesive and varnished, could the trick (varnish to add « depth » to the mirror effect) Hubert

Looks like a nice, well though-out kit. It’s nice to see these works of passion being released. And the price, whilst not cheap, is not out-of-reality either. I really hope they sell enough to keep the passion flame burning ! H7bert

Well, so far, we can say that Carl has the biggest of us all ... Hubert

It’s a long time since the silk in so-called silk-screens has been replaced by nylon or polyester, but the moire problem still shows up, believe me This said, moire effects in silk fabrics were sometimes sought after, and amplified by minute variations of the silk filament diameter. Hubert

And some printed parts; just fresh of the curing station, and not even fully cleaned up of the supports' tabs. The cowling is VERY thin, about 0.7 mm. Some minor issues here and there, but nothing that can't be solved with a file and some putty or Mr Surfacer. Hubert

3D printers all work in the same way: they add layer after layer of the part being printed. When you have straight lines on this part, either vertical or horizontal ones, the risk is great to have visible steps between layers, if the printer is not perfectly laid flat, or if it "wobbles" by the tiniest fraction of a mm on the Z (vertical) axis. Setting the part at an angle is a way to avoid steps and having the layers more visible as the human eye unconsciously sees "lines" along the part's main axes and spot discrepancies along these. We have the same approach when tensioning silk screens: if the weft and wave of the fabric are set at right angles to the screen frame, you end up with a moire effect of the straight lines being printed, sometimes to the point that the fine straight lines look wavy. Hence the fabrics are most of the time set on the screen frames at a 22.5° angle. It is also a way, when you have an overhang of the layer being printed above the one under it, to avoid having to add too many supports for this overhang. The layer is "connected" to the layer underneath by the angle of the part. Finally, for this part, this was also a way to have the part fit within the limited dimensions of my printer. By the way, the parts are designed along "normal" X,Y,Z axes. You set them at an angle on the slicing software that preprocesses the part to be printed into the hundreds of successive layers (in the case of the Mystery Ship fuselage, there are about 2900 layers). This is also when you add the supports. This is an art in itself, even though the software does the support design and placement automatically most of the time. I had the supports wrong on the left fuselage half, and stopped the printing about halfway, with an undeterminate "blob" . A printing for a part this size on my DLP printer takes about 13 hours, for your information. I hope that my explanations are clear. If not, just ask. Hubert

I wish I could post a picture of it, but I just threw the stuff away in disgust after my experience. I have woved since not to touch anything "AK primer" since. But yes, this is the acrylic base IIRC. Hubert

What she says ! Hubert

My attempt at humour obviously misled you: AK black primer + Mr Levelling Thinner = tar-like goo in the airbrush within 5 ‘ . You are then good for a good afternoon cleaning, with all the hard stuff you can find, including acetone Hubert