biggtim

I already told my wife to plan on me heading for Vegas next August, so Smitty, Harv, Clunk, and y'all better look out!!

It sure looks like it! I have the Heller TE-20 kit half built, and I keep eyeing other machinery kits, but I just can't allow myself to spread out too much. I can't afford to expand the hobby!! I particularly love the rusty Cat photo above (note the brand new seat!). I love rusty farm equipment. I actually used to refurbish equipment as a job years ago, so I stripped and painted many a tractor and Caterpillar. I also spent a lot of hours driving tractors and lift trucks at various jobs before I joined the desk bound world. Old machines like that will always have a special place for me.

I love stuff like this!!

Totally agree, and nice models you've shown, too!

Some of the mods might, but the rest of us don't!

If I read the subtlety of a few posts wrong, then my bad. But I'm pretty sure it was right on.

Those lapses in judgement aside (and you're dead right - I've definitely seen what you mean), I'm only saying that being happy at the other forum being down because of a grudge is lame, and kinda childish. Outages hurt the members more than the mods, and I don't see why anyone here would be happy about that. I have not seen any such posts like that from the members there directed over here, but I may have missed them. With a few exceptions, you guys are a great bunch of people, and I think we should be above that shit. Thanks for hearing me out. Tim

Does anyone have copies of the A.L. Bentley drawings for the Me-262 A series and the Mk214 50mm cannon in the US that they would sell me? I have looked into ordering them direct, but the shipping costs from the UK make them quite expensive, so I'd like to find them stateside if possible. Thanks, Tim

I'm a member of both forums, and it's worth noting that while I see quite a lot of subtle animosity here for the other forum, I see none coming the other direction when I'm over there. Just something to think about. Tim

I love Johnny Cash.....

I know I'm the minority, but this thing does not appeal to me at all. Am I missing something?

Ditto on the last 3 posts. Working from home full time, plus the part time firefighter gig on the weekends. Not too bad, though sometimes a month off with pay sounds attractive. But then again, it always does!!

This was my first time using them, too, and loved them! Here was my procedure, based on the instructions: 1. Cut out the transfer with about 1/16-1/8 inch of space around it (so you have something to grab later with the tweezers when removing the carrier film). As with decals, a glossy surface is best, but I found that these things would lay down well even on a pretty matte surface using this method. 2. Dip the transfer in WARM water for about 10 seconds, enough to soak the backing paper, and remove. Lay it on a surface that won't soak away the water and let it sit for maybe 20 seconds in it's puddle, but don't give it too much time to cool off - just enough time for it to get loose on the paper. (Water that feels almost hot to the touch worked best, maybe 120 F. Not painful, maybe like the water most people would shower in) *Note: the instructions recommend setting solution from Mr. Hobby, I think, but I didn't have any of that, so I used the old Microscale products, shown in the picture. I even labeled them 1 and 2, so I would not forget what order to use them in. 3. Apply some Micro SET (NOT Micro SOL) to the surface where the transfer is going. This was new for me, since I use only Micro SOL for decals. But for these things, BOTH products seemed to be needed. Micro SET is the one with the blue writing on it, and it softens the material and improves adhesion, but it's a weaker solution than the Micro Sol, and is less likely to mess up the carrier film or the transfer. Do NOT use Micro SOL (red label) until AFTER you remove the carrier film later. 4. Dab some water off the transfer, then slide it off the backing paper onto the surface with the Micro Set on it. Position it and press the liquid out from under the film with a decal squeegee, paper towel, cotton bud (Q-tip), or such. I'd leave a little so you can do any final positioning before pushing it all out. For bigger transfers, I slopped on a second coat of Micro Set under the edges of the film and pressed it out again. The film is very thin and clear, but strong, so it's easy to position, but it can curl back on itself just like a decal, so take care. **Here's an important note: If you realize that you buggered the position after you press out the liquid, get some water worked under the film with a paint brush ASAP to dilute the Micro Set and break it free before it adheres, which it does damn quick! Then reposition it, work some new solution under it and repeat the process. 5. The instructions say to wait 3-4 hours for it to dry before removing the carrier film, but I found that many of the transfers, especially the smaller ones, were dry enough to peel the film in 30 minutes, and even the bigger ones only took an hour or two. If you think it's ready, carefully get a grip on the corner of the glossy film with some tweezers and peel it back slowly. Obviously, if the transfer starts to come up, STOP, work a dab of Micro Set under it again, re-squeegee, and wait longer. I found that slowly peeling the film back parallel to the surface, rather than pulling straight out and away, reduced the chances of lifting the transfer. 6. After the film is removed, you can apply Micro SOL (red label) to the transfer, just like you would to a decal, dab off the excess, and let it dry. I found that these transfers even laid into panel lines and details without poking or cutting usually, but once in a while it still helped to poke a hole and let some Micro Sol get in there to help it out. The Micro Sol has the added benefit of breaking down all the leftover adhesive, so I gave each one a final wipe with some on a Q-tip after they were good and dry. It's important to get that adhesive off, because it will cause weathering chalks and washes to behave oddly in that spot. The instructions say to use water to do this, but I found it really didn't get it all off as well. Once these transfers are good and dry, I found they are tough as hell, way tougher than any decal. In a couple test cases, I even tried lightly sanding on them with fine grit paper to see if they would peel off, and they wouldn't without some good pressure. I wouldn't suggest taking that too far, though. They are almost like painted on markings. I chipped them just like paint, and they held up great. All in all, I found them a fantastic product, and will use them again. Hope that helps!! Tim

As promised, here are the details: Details: Hasegawa ST19 kit Eagle Editions "Yellow 10" decals for specific markings and swastikas HGW wet transfers for national insignia and most stencils HGW seatbelts HGW wood decals for flaps Aires wheel bays and cockpit Airscale instruments and placards (thanks, Peter!) Grey Matter Figures (Rutman) D-13 conversion set S.O.W. main landing gear legs (thanks Damian!!) Eduard exterior PE bits and canopy masks Barracuda wheels Moskit exhausts (thanks WilliamJ!) Wire antennae, brake lines, brass tube gun barrels Homebrew washes and chalk weathering Thanks for looking! Tim

Wrapped this one up this evening - my second for the year!! That's some kind of record for me, and it's only May. The world must truly have gone crazy! A couple quick teaser shots with my phone for now. I will take some more in the daylight tomorrow with the DSLR and post them with details in the next few days. Thanks!

I'm with Martin. Having just finished a single one of these, I could never do this many of them!!

Ya, that is a big hunk of shwing!

x2. Did you just finish building that bench, or what? It looks like it's never been used.

If you shop around, you can pick up a Tamiya Zero for around 65-75 USD shipped on ebay. I found mine on ebay for 65 recently. Considering that the new Hase kit goes for 50-60 shipped, it was an easy choice for me to get the Tamiya.

Looking good, Harv! And it looks like fun, too. Makes we want to build one!

Indeed it has. I was watching a few of them, and they went up enough that I just deleted them from my list. I'll wait it out. It's not like I need any more damn kits anyway until I knock out a few more completions.

Have you checked the hardware and farm supply stores? I found a bunch of 99% at the local TrueValue in the cleaning section for my 3D printer, and they had plenty of 70% at the Tractor Supply. It's definitely gone in all the supermarkets, but the out of way places seem to have it regularly here.

Thanks for the kind comments, all!

I have similar problem, XL gloves for me. I make a full size 1911 look like a compact. Case in point:

I've had similar happen to me on some planes and ships years ago, and I found after a while it was because I was getting my rigging too tight, whatever the material. The trick is to get it just tight enough that it stays straight, but isn't actually taut enough to play a tune. Now, I've never built one of those giant WWI bombers, and maybe those actually require the rigging to help support those long wings. But in fighters, the wing, glue joint, and strut should be doing most of the work, the rigging just helps out a little. I think with the newer products, which are slightly stretchy, it should be possible to make them look taut without exerting real pressure on the joints. Just my experience, anyway. One interesting note - the old K5Y Willow biplane kit actually came with STIFF steel wires for rigging, and I mean stiff as hell. Their idea was that all you had to do was glue them in place, and they held themselves straight with no tension at all. It actually wasn't a bad idea, and worked pretty well. Until you bent one!