JeroenPeters

Good to see all the responses! We all get distracted by the un-important thing from time to time (like work, family and friends ). It's time to quit our belly aching and hit our work benches! Cheers!

Cool book! Got the kit in the stash, so I'm sure I'll get me a copy at one point in time.

Nice!! First one I've seen build...

What a beast! Love the primer turret...

Yes! Good to see you building again!

....wow.... such a big kit deserves such detail. Good to see it in-flight too..

Yes! Finally! What a fantastic lookin kit. And superb review

Keep at it!!

Loving this!

Linking this a lot. Restrained weathering and cool scheme.... Thnx for sharing!

Seriously nice! Love the grille and figure especially...

Trainspotting Trainwrecks, Locomotives & Wagons AK696 Publisher: AK Interactive Available from AK Interactive for € 42,- Whilst this is not a book on large scale models, armour or even planes, I will show you that this title can be very helpful in enhancing your paint and weathering skills. If you however are in the hobby for model trains, this will prove to be a must have for adding realism to your tracks. I have to be honest. When this book landed on my doorstep for review I put it aside, thinking the subject ‘trains’ was of no interest to me, LSM, thus you. But after fumbling through it’s pages I noticed the weathering techniques are quite alike the techniques we use on our Large Scale armour and planes. Maybe more armour than planes actually. Chipping, streaking, washes, etc… And with the ever growing offer of large scale (1:35) train subjects by brands like Trumpeter and Dragon, this seemed like a good title to review for you – the Large Scale Modeller So what do we get? A sturdy A4, glue bounded book. 208 quality colour printed pages, filled with tips, techniques and reference material. The book has both the novice modeller and experienced modeller in mind. The first probably being the railroad modeller that wants to start experimenting with weathering techniques, and the latter looking to up his weathering game. The build up of the book in this sense is logical: • Introduction to materials • Model examples with step by step instructions • Scenes, featuring railroad tracks, buildings and other hardware • Reference material of the real deal Another note to add is that the lay-out and art direction of these AK titles are getting better every title. Being one myself (art director that is) I can really appreciate the attention to detail in this area. I won’t elaborate on every single subject or model (that would be a bit too much), but I will address the highlights as I walk you through the pages. • Introduction As said before, this book is for both novice as experience modeller. Therefor this book starts with discussing all the available jars of goodness we as a modeller can choose from: primers, varnishes, acrylics, lacquers, enamels, oils, etc... This is followed by a chapter on techniques, where the basics of modelling are set apart. Filters, washes, oils… All basic stuff for most of us, but judging by the amount of questions I get through the forum and Facebook, there are still a lot of modellers out there that are new to the hobby, are just stuck in their ways, and will definitely benefit from these ‘seemingly’ basic pointers. • Model examples The first model that gets ’the treatment’ only gets a slight make over. Some washes, a light filter of dust and some subtle streaking, but just enough to bring it to life. This is immediately followed by an Atlas 8-40BW (a what??) that gets weathered to match a real life photograph. Rust, graffiti, streaking, the works. Pretty impressive stuff: The scale of most of these trains is HO, or rather 1:87. Looking at the photo’s of these models, it’s hard to believe these trains are smaller than 1:72. Since this book carries the official approval of the Märklin brand, I looked up some of the prices of your normal locomotive. These easily run for 150 euros a piece. And you thought your hobby was pricey! Now that I got the taste for looking up the prices of some of these trains and wagons, I noticed a locomotive on page 122 (a Renfe-Mikado Steam Locomotive in HO scale) that runs for 425 euro’s online This 425 euro locomotive is basically…. Black. All black, right from the box. Seeing it come to life over the following pages with the help of pigments, pencil and streaking agents is doing justice to this expensive gem. Seeing it run the tracks in all it’s life-likeness should be a treat for the railroad enthusiast... Here you go: • Scenes One thing that makes all those euro’s and hard work a waste, is seeing a huge set-up with stations, villages, roads, mountains and trees, but somehow it all still feels like toys. That’s where the next chapter comes into it’s right. Scenes (or rather ‘scenery elements’). On the following pages we learn how to convincingly paint those plastic looking HO houses, amazing accessories (like a horse drawn cart and water pump), railroad tracks and other structures. If you look at all the aspects in this book, it becomes clear the skills of a hardened diorama and armour builder are useful assets in this hobby. Some cool reference photo's on the scenery details: • Reference Photography About 25 pages finish up the book and show us a good selection of the real stuff. Heavily rusted and weathered, to give you a good impression on where to sprinkle your magic pigments and place your pin washes. Ofcourse, if you are an avid railroad fan, you own and make your own photographs, BUT probably not all over the world, as these photographs were made. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Zambia…. You know… the places where these trains take the biggest beating. Verdict If you look at this book as a book that is intended for the railroad hobbyist pur sang, you’re doing it short. If you love trains, weathering, armour, diorama’s and more… this title might surprise you. I hope my review will let you take a look inside, where you otherwise might not have done so. Bare in mind that it is 208 pages thick and covers at least 18 trains and wagons through their weathering stages, about 8 scenery elements through their building and painting stages and is topped off by a pretty big reference photography section. I'm sure that if you manage to learn something from this book and apply some of the techniques to your railroad or even large scale models, it will stop the onlooker in their.... tracks A special thanks to Maciej from AK Interactive for the review sample. Available here. Jeroen Peters

Dang! Need to go there again soon..

Member request sent! Cheers!

Sweet! A difficult scheme to pull off. Nicely done..

Lovely!!

Hi Frank, we all get distracted and the build section is littered with unfinished builds. The lovely part is that when you share your build, and people hand you information, you might just keep the juices flowing enough to see a build through! Cool Napier! Cees knows a thing or two on those Thnx for your reply. Stay tuned: the forum will soon undergo a massive transformation!

What you could do is this: Make a mould from the old one. Fill the inside with clay or something else. Cast a mould. Let the mould harden and heat form a clear sheet over it. That means heating up the clear sheet and pulling it hard over the mould. It might work. Actually that's how scratch builders work.

1:32 Ju-88 Spy Profimodeller Catalogue # 32217 Available from Profimodeller for € 73,50 Introduction I can hear you think: ‘A Spy plane??’. Well ofcourse we mean the recon variant of the Ju-88. The Ju-88 was the logical choice in search for a successor of the Do-17 reconnaissance variant. It was fast, could fly at high altitudes and was able to carry quite some load. A versatile, stable platform. A series of trials were performed with the A-variant (A-1’s and A-5’s), which came into service in 1940, just in time to be pushed into service for the Battle of Britain. These early A-trials carried three camera’s in the rear bomb bay. The dive brakes and WTC bomb racks were removed (not needed for recon missions!) and an extra hand operated camera was installed in the nose, in the former bombardier’s position. This all lead up to a standardized set-up of three camera’s, positioned behind the rear bomb-bay (so that bomb carrying capability was not compromised) and neither were the fuselage fuel tanks (so not to compromise range). This was the D-variant. From this D-variant a whole range of dedicated recon versions were born (D-0 to D-5). The real deal, with the external fuel tanks loaded and camera ports visible: Make sure you pick your scheme and corresponding D-variant (or A) wisely and check where your camera’s are properly positioned, what engines you need (Jumo or BMW), etc, etc… This set offers an impressive range of schemes to choose from, but more on that later. The set Profimodeller packs their kits and sets in sturdy tight fitting boxes. Upon lifting the box top a neat array of golden smaller boxes, decals, photo etch and booklets greet you. The golden boxes are also a common with Profimodeller and ensure the resin inside doesn’t shift around the box during transport. The two long range external tanks are solid resin and are the only resin parts not packed inside the two golden boxes, due to their sheer size. So let’s look at these giant chunks of resin first. They are actually the same as set: P32215. So if you only need the external fuel tanks for the Ju-88, you might want to grab this set. The fuel tanks themselves feature a small step in the resin due to shifting of the mould. You will need some filler and sanding paper to get the front of the tanks smooth. No biggie. Another tip: these tanks are heavy! So you might want to drill some holes in them and add some metal rod to reinforce the attachment to the plane. When we open the golden boxes, an overwhelming amount of yellow and black resin comes out. The black resin is typical for Profimodeller, and to this day I’m not exactly sure what it is. It feels like plastic, but it cuts and sands like resin. I’m also not sure why certain parts are casted in it and others in standard yellow resin. It may have to do with the strength, but looking at some of the smaller parts in black, that doesn’t make sense. One bag carries the ETC racks. Four of them in total. Why four?? Because it takes two of these racks to carry one giant external fuel tank. That’s why! If you look at the construction sequence of the tanks, you see a lot of Photo etch clads the exterior, along with a extra carrying band that wraps it to the two ETC racks. STILL I urge you to drill a whole through the resin part that contains the fuel line and enters the wing, and stuff a metal rod right through it, into the tank. Just for extra measure. This part got harmed in transit. Easy fix though: The second bag contains the bulkhead, side walls of the camera compartment and outside of the hull with the three camera ports. The detail on the sidewalls is delicate and something you want to show off! The same goes for the rivets and other detail on the bulkhead. Superior stuff. One small piece of electronics in this bag however lost a small bit during transport. I found this inside the bag and is an easy fix. It shows that even these separate golden boxes, can’t protect the delicate resin from my parcel delivery man ‘Mohammed’… The camera mounting frame: The third bag gives us the black resin I was talking about. Just look at this second bulkhead. Great stuff… Also in this bag we find the camera housings, electronics and camera’s. All perfectly casted, without any flaws. The black strips with lightening holes are the top fuselage frames that will be visible from the bottom, IF you leave the camera doors open and place the model on a mirror. A wise way of displaying all this added detail! Another stunning spectacle are the sheets of photo etch. Daunting? Yes! But patience and persistence will guide you through. Two large sheets and one small. The small sheet holds parts for the external fuel tanks. The two large sheets contain the parts for detailing of the camera, insides of the camera-bay doors, reinforcement plates, hinges, etc… The instruction booklet is actually quite clear and compact, which could create the illusion that building this set is a breeze. I however would not recommend it to the novice modeler. Close up: Close up: The small sheet for the external fuel tanks: The Instructions: The schemes (12 in total!!): A• Junkers Ju-88D-5, 1.(F)/120, Norway, 1943 B• Junkers Ju-88D-1, 3.(F)/Aufkl.22, Dno, USSR, 1943 C• Junkers Ju-88D-1, T5+DL, 3.(F)/ObdL., Gosstkino, USSR, 1942 D• Junkers Ju-88D-2, 4T+GH, Westa 51, Nantes, France, 1944 E• Junkers Ju-88D-1, T5+GL, 3.(F)/AufkL. Gr. ObdL., Luga, USSR, 1942 F• Junkers Ju-88D-2, 7A+NH, 1.(F)/121, Sicily, Italy, 1942 G• Junkers Ju-88D-5, GM+CA, Luftbildstaffel 1, Derna, Lybia, 1942 H• Junkers Ju-88D-1, 7A+MH, 1.(F)/121, Fuka, Egypt, 1942 I• Junkers Ju-88D-1, 7A+GH, 1.(F)/121, Fuka, Egypt, 1942 J• Junkers Ju-88D-2, 4U+GK, 2.(F)/123, Siciliy, Italy, 1942 K• Junkers Ju-88D-2, 4U+EK, 2.(F)/123, Crete - Italy, 1942-43 L• Junkers Ju-88D-1, D7+LH, Westa 1./ObdL., Bad Zwischenahn, Germany, 1942 M• Junkers Ju-88A-1(F), 4U+DH, 1. Staffel, 1. Gruppe, Aufkl. Gr. 123, France (BoB) The decal sheets: Verdict When we look at the quality of the product, I would rate this set an 8. No air bubbles are found, only a few small steps in the surface, that can be fixed. The photo-etch is of the highest qualities around and the decals register and are well printed with no grain showing up in the colours. The amount of schemes to choose from, the top, bottom and side views of the schemes, clear instructions, make this set worth the money. The Ju-88 kit itself isn’t expensive at all, so you have no excuse to spend a little extra in order to create a bit more exotic version. ​As I've said before: these sets are no breeze. You need some serious skills to do the set right. But I know that with the proper amount of research, patience and persistence, you will have a unique stunner on your hands, that will attract all the camera's at the show (apart from the three that are in it's belly My sincere thanks to Profimodeller for providing the review sample. To buy this set directly, click here. Kind regards, Jeroen Peters

I see now what you are doing to the canopy frame! Did you cut out all the glass and replace it?

Is that intended for a motorbike build? Sweet jesus....

Hi Free! I would say my calling-out the Lurkers has been a succes! What a great start of that Corsair engine... You must have inherited some of your grandfather's skills... Also glad to see another Belgian builders up here. The dutch were almost beginning to take up the majority and that's never a good thing Good to have you here! Cheers, Jeroen

Ditto!

Definitely liking your wheels more! Way more elegant... Nice..

Speeding along!