Landlubber Mike

Fantastic subject Rob, nice! I picked up the older JPS kit a while back. The seller had included a lot of the same AM you have, with the exception of EJan parts for the DFV distributor, etc. instead of the MFH kit. They look pretty similar. In researching the kit, I heard people had some problems with the nose which doesn't seem to ever fit correctly. Maybe they fixed it on your version. Do you know what you are going to use for the black paint? I saw that Zero does a Lotus Black, but saw that Plasmo on Youtube just used Mr Color GX2. Looking forward to your work on it!

Wow what a great diorama! You do such amazing work, a big inspiration!

Great start! Sometimes I feel like the reward for the time spent on detailing a cockpit that will never be seen is minimal at best.

Great subject Chris! Another big one for the shelf!

Amazing job my friend! I’m sure very satisfying with the extra work you had to put into it. Congrats on a great model!

I have this kit with full boat AM in the stash with the various Pontos, Veteran, deck and other upgrade sets. If anyone might be interested, send me a PM. With the upgrades, it's a really stellar kit. I just don't know where I would put it. Looking forward to your build Kevin!

I have to try Tamiya's LP line. I got their gloss black for undercoating metallics. Seems easier to find than the Mr. Color Ueno Black that I've used. I feel like the longer in the hobby you are, the more you realize there is to learn. Thanks for sharing!

Welcome back Chris! That model must be massive! Cool that you are building it for a friend.

Would you take the same approach for paints and clears other than from Zero paints - i.e., like colors and clears from Tamiya and Mr. Color? Those definitely don't run as hot, but I do like the idea of the multiple coats that help level things out. I've been working on trying to build a "flower power" VW Samba Bus T1 for one of my daughters, and had a bit of a time trying to paint a decanted Tamiya blue color for the body. A big part of it was that the plastic parts didn't have a clean edge to be able to mask properly, so there was a lot of touch ups required. Other problem was it seemed I would get a different shade of blue between sessions, but after multiple thinner coats, the panels seem to all have hit the proper shade. I finally got it straightened out, but I might try the multiple layered coats in the future. It's nice with planes and other subjects where you can hide paint defects with weathering, etc. Much harder with cars where you generally want a pristine finish!

Just catching up with your log Rob. Nice job! Coming along quickly and excellently per your usual! Thank you for sharing your painting process. Just to confirm, you do the multiple coats with added thinner percentages for both colors and clear coats? I haven't quite figured that out yet, but seems like a good approach versus trying to get the color down in one coat. This is probably especially helpful with colors like reds, yellows and blues that may not reach the full color on a single coat.

Looks like something out of Mad Max. Really cool subject Rob, nice work!

The Roma is a really interesting ship color wise. In case you haven't seen it, Plasmo did one in 1/700 that is spectacular as per his usual:

Cool little project. Ugly looking thing, but in an interesting way with some cool details. Nice job!

Looks like a fun build. I saw someone else refer to these kinds of builds after a long build as a "palette cleanser" - maybe that will get your mojo back up and running.

Very cool - i have a few of the Royal Class boxings, was close to pulling the trigger on this one. Looks really good and with good options on decals.

Thanks for posting these pictures. Great models for sure! The best of ship class is amazing - that wire tower structure in the middle really is incredible and sets it off from other models.

Wow, nice haul for sure! Was that the one in VA Beach? Is it there every year? Once my kids are out of the house, I'm going to try to make it to a show. By then, hopefully the stash will be a little smaller so I won't feel as bad adding to it.

Martin, this is modeling at its finest. Really great job man, impressive!

The sloppy hand job in part four?

I have the hot wire table. Really great for cutting foam boards, etc. for dioramas. I used to have a DB250 small wooden lathe for my wooden ship models. Really helped making masts and spars. I ended up selling it when I upgraded to a Sherline lathe that can do both wood and metal turning. Sometimes I kick myself as the DB250 was so easy to set up that I probably should have kept it just for that. All this to say, I've found the Proxxon tools to be good quality - at least the two I've owned.

What do you think of it? I've been considering this one or the Dspiae one.

Wow, this is insanely good!! Well done! Nice to see these kits being built, rather than just hoarded like gold.

Nice vehicle Ralph - next upgrade I see in your future is Robert DeNiro's custom-designed climate controlled motor coach from Meet the Fockers...

Just catching up with your log now. Looks like a great kit, and I remember Rob's great build. I'm always a big fan of spending 3x the amount of the kit on AM, so I'm in on this one Awesome to know about the customer service! I tend to buy most of my kits second hand, but even when buying first hand, I tend to check all my kits and AM packages to make sure everything is complete and not broken, etc. I've had more than a few instances where I've been short changed in one way or another, but thankfully, the manufacturers have always come through. Great start!

Me too! Really amazing paint work, wow!