HubertB

Aaaaaaaarghhhh ! Why the abominatious (cool invention, isn’t it ? ) scale ? I have never seen a helo kit near armor, on forums or at shows ... I am still wondering why some people insist on the commonality factor between helos and armour kits ... Apart from that, an « interesting » aircraft Hubert

Just got the last (missing from the box initially) component of an interesting little kit ... But first, a couple of stories behind this acquisition : as you might know, our administratot here, James H, is also the administrator of another modelling forum dedicated to ship models : Model Ship World, at the following link : https://modelshipworld.com/ This is an outstanding modelling forum, with a huge (34 471 members as of this writing) and active membership. And with a wealth of talent hardly imaginable displayed at almost every thread. If I had to pick one as an example, I'd choose this one, by a Czech lady, Doris, who does a PAPER model of a 74-cannons ship : https://modelshipworld.com/topic/15981-hms-royal-katherine-1664-by-doris-155-card/ But brosing through the build threads there, of both kits and scratchbuilt models is juts as mind numbling ... The site is not all about period ships, whose rigging will make any WnW British subject look like an amusing distraction, and wooden models. Plastic kits are welcome, as are wooden ship kits of all types and eras. The forum merged some time ago with the NRG organisation, NRG standing for Nautical Research Guild, which devotes itself more to the historical part of ships. So there is another prominent administrator there, Chuck Passaro, who, besisdes his NRG responsibilities, is also a talented modeller and kit producer under the Syren brand. If I mention them, it is because Chuck and James have taken a very strong stance against piracy and Intellectual Property theft. In our plastic world where cutting a steel mold entails a significant expense, we seldom realise that a wooden-ship kit is basically a set of flat plywodd sheets, with the parts die- or laser-cut, some wood strips, and drawings and instructions. They are in essence very easy to copy, and a vast number of companies, mostly - but far from exclusively - of Chinese origin have taken on the copying of established manufacturers' kits. Having no research and no development cost, it is easy for them to significantly undercut the original's price, all the more so if they go for cheap, poor quality, materials. Sometimes, they do not even bother to erase the original manufacturer's name on the plans or instructions ! The same issue arises with drawings and books. There are a few publishers of books and drawings relating to some ships' monographs, and their work is often the result of hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of labor. Here again, if an unscrupulous manufacturer uses these drawings without permission of paying a licensing fee, the author is just robbed of his hard work... So MSW have taken the position of a) establishing a list of companies dubbed as pirates for copying others'kits or using stolen IP material, and b) banning these manufacturers' products from being published or shown in build threads on MSW. I have to say this position is not shared by all modelling sites, especially an Europen-run one, whose name shall remain untold, just not to promote them ... In the meantime, Chuck is working actively to reconcile the "pirates" and the legitimate manufacturers, and to convince the pirates to take a different stance, and amend their behaviour by stopping the sale of pirated kits, or concluding licensing agreements. When one of these manufacturers change their attitude and decide in good faith to enter such talks, the ban is lifted on MSW. One such manufacturer is a Chinese company called CAF Models, who is in active discussions with ANCRE, a French publisher of renown monographs, to stop using their drawings without a license agreement. In the meantime, CAF models have suspended the advertising of the contentious models on their website, to show their goodwill. So a few weeks ago, I read on MSW about the lifting of the ban of CAF Models, and went to visit their website, to find a little gem hidden in one page... This is where I want to tell a second story. I am, as some very well know, a fan of exotic and non-camoed subjects. Hence I very often end up with sometimes obscure resin kits. One subject in particular is very interesting to me, in that it is a model of a glider, which is also the aircraft on which probably most of the Luftwaffe aces learned their trade : the SG-38 glider. HPH have a resin model of the SG-38, and, of course I bought one. It is a very nice kit in appearance, with one drawback however: the wing is solid resin, when the 1:1 glider was a delicate assembly of wooden frames and translucent linen wings. I have been wondering fo ages how I could reproduce the diaphane look of the SG-38 wing by painting, and did not feel very confident in my ability to reproduce this unique look by paint alone. Enters CAF Model website. And I found there a 1/32 kit of the SG-38, in wood and brass ! The whole structure is reproduced in thin plywood. In fact, there is no covering of the wing at all, but then this is easily solved with silk paper, which will have the translucent appearance of unpainted doped linen, just as I wanted ! So this is just what I got : two small carboard boxes, containing a 1/32 wooden kit of the SG-38. One contains the key components, whilst the second contains a base and pedestal, and a resin "pilot". The content is made up of some thin plywood plates, with the various parts laser-cut, plus some additional wood dowels and brass rods, and a small PE fret. And this is finally completed by a set of printed step-by-step instructions and a large A3 sheet plan of the SG-38. So I am a very happy camper now ! And, btw, my original box was missing the "C" plywodd plate with wing ribs. I got in touch with Tom, CAF Models' owner, and he sent me the missing part in no time. So not only an original subject, but a great service from CAF Models as well ! Hubert

I’d take a 1/32 Pe-2 in a New York minute, as they say. But it is far from a forgotten Russian aircraft ... Hubert

Why, if it is forgotten ? Hubert

Amazing, and spectacular, even with (or maybe because of) its small size. Hubert

What a stunning build and result for this diminutive kit ! Enjoyed following this one very much. Hubert

Yes, of course. I did not mention it, but there is no way you could expect to find 25- meters long planks, especially in the Scotland of the 20s. The ship hulls used spliced planks. Only these were fastened to frames which were a lot denser than a kit’s far-apart (scale-wise) bulkheads. So, splicing « planks » on a kit hull is in fact more prototypical Hubert

Hello Dan, First, welcome to the forum. I confess it’s been sometime since I tackled a PoB (planks-on-bulkheads) wooden ship kit, but I am not that surprised that you have to splice the planks. It is quite common in my - admittedly limited - experience. For a ship of this shape, the suggestion anyway is probably to fill the voids between the bulkheads with soft wood (like balsa) blocks, properly sanded to conform to the bulkheads’ shape, and thus ensure you have a smooth flowing curve to support the hull planking strips. These blocks are not supplied in the kit either, but it is a common practice in kit-building, as generally the bulkheads are too far apart to ensure these smooth curves. If you do so, the splicing of the hull planks will be easier : I would still recommend that you have the splice joints on the bulkheads, and alternate the splices so they are not all aligned on the same bulkhead. This kit supplies a set of walnut strips for a second layer of planking, and James’ review mentions they are very homogeneous in colour, so the splices should not be very visible, all the more so as the wooden (as opposed to painted) part of the hull displays 4 rubbing strakes, which will further contribute to visually « blending » the splices... What I am leading to is that the splicing of the strips should not be a big deal, at least visually, and not unexpected on a kit. The woods in Amati kits are generally high quality, the design of the kit by Chris Watton is a guarantee of a well-researched kit, and of a great finished result. I believe you have done an excellent purchase with this one, even though I recognise this is not helping as a comment, if you expected continuous strips for the hull planking. The alternative is to buy longer wood strips. But this is not only expensive, adding to the cost of the kit, and you will loose some wood, as the strips you may find will generally be 1 meter long. And finally, James’ review, whilst not explicitly mentioning the « splicing issue », clearly states the kit is 700 mm long by 470 mm wide, and the strips 600 mm long. So the splicing is inferred, if not explicited. I, for one, will look forward to follow your build log of Fifie here. Hubert

Funny, I was wondering the same yesterday. Last time I read, ETA was March ............... 2018 ! It is still announced as « future » release on their site. So hopefully, soon . In the meantime, I should focus on freeing some space in the stash Hubert

Vey good news indeed ! Let’s just hope it will not only be some camoed-with-swastikas schemes inside ... Hubert

If you used plastic cement, the joint will weaken after a stay in the freezer. Be careful, all the joints will weaken Hubert

Got some decals from Draw Decals. If you have not guessed I am not in camoed aircrafts by now ... I am missing some Dago Red decals. Greg forgot to include them in the first package, and they are on their way. So now I have a choice of a mildly modified P-51 D with Voodoo, or a more modified one with Dago Red (unless I do both, of course ). I also received an interesting package from China, but one "sprue" (technically not a "sprue", in fact) was missing. So you'll have to wait until I get the missing component to see it Hubert PS :and of course, I blame Tony for the Draw Decals' "investment"

I have to say there was something uniquely sleek in the design of the Victor Mk 1 and Vulcan Mk 1. It got worse with the Mk 2 versions of both. Hubert

Totally agree Ernie (but for the « I consider myself a halfway decent resin kit builder » : too strong for me, and too weak for you) Hubert

Will do ... soon , but probably not before next year Hunert

Well, the preserved Ki-84 certainly has horizontal tailplanes, like in the pics here ... https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Nakajima_Ki-84 Hubert

That stabiliser angle looks really weird ... You're sure about it ? Keep up the tempo, mate ! Hubert

Conituning to play with diminutive pieces of resin, and brass ... Hubert

This was discussed here two weeks ago Hubert

You guys put me to shame : some started, or resumed, but none finished ... I got my golfing back in line though, although far from a decent handicap, after a 25 years’ hiatus Hubert

Just plain incredible workmanship ! Extremely well done ! Hubert

Cool ! The Akatombo is a nice little kit ! Thank you all, and especially to Ernie for organising, and Joy’s « magic hand » Hubert

Phew ! At least, the poor overexploited animals (the deers) seem to have escaped and be free ! Animal Rights Activist Hubert () ( deer steak, rare ? .... yummie ! )

What I have read so far : it’s good for a « C » version although it has some parts for other variants like the « -5 ». But the IP is there only for the C, i.e. with part glass, part analogic instruments. The « glass » IP of the « -5 » is simply not there, and should be either scratchbuilt or wait for an AM cockpit. Biggest disappointment seems to be the lack of intake trunks, as on the previous F-5E kit. But overall it looks like a nice kit. And the chances you will get a 2000 from another manufacturer seem a lot smaller than WnW doing a French fighter, if you see what I mean Hubert

Well, guys, if you insist, let me show you what beautiful means ...