JeroenPeters

Welcome!

Wow! What a way to make an entrance! Welcome!!

Started work on the jig. The only thing I didn't feel like scratching are the little swing wheels under it. So I whipped them up in 3D and have them printed in 3D.

Thnx for Sharing!

I love it! Very nice detailing. Welcome to LSM!!

That gunbay looks the part!

Loving those wooden stressed planks!

Started thinning the rudder in order to recreate the damage in the linen that can be seen on the surviving example.

Liking the pose! Very nonchalant...

Thnx guys, I cut out the locks / latches from the rear cowling cover. Inserted the 6 lock housings which will later receive the 6 latches.

http://www.spitfireinmyworkshop.net/mustang-gallery.php

Keeping things moving:

Some work on the cowling panels. Replacing the latches with PE latches from the spares box. Adding riveting as per Kagero 32nd scale drawings and separating the upper and lower parts of the panels. Also added some metal mesh for in air scoop.

That is ONE sweet engine! Very convincing...

Hi Gus, both the printing proces and the costs of the wooden bases make it unviable...

Sweeeet!!! A great finish on a great kit!!!

1:35 US Army Tractor Case VAI Thunder Model Available from LZ Models for € 22,50 Introduction Thunder Model is a ‘new’ brand on the market from China that to this day have released a Berge Hetzer and this little tractor, which is available as a US Army loader with a scoop and this little workhorse. There isn’t a lot of information I could scourge on this new company. We have a suspicion Mirror Models is behind this new brand, but this cannot be confirmed. The fact that, like Mirror Models, Thunder Model works with AMMO Mig Jimenez and the fact that the box art seems to be done by the same artist, strengthens my suspicion. Let’s not further dwell on it… The Case VAI tractor we are looking at here is the late war model that was built from 1942 until 1955. A number of 150.000 were built by the J.I. Case company, that actually still manufactures tractors and other agricultural vehicles. The Case VA model followed its predecessor: the Case V, which was build from 1940 until 1942. If you are planning on doing a diorama, you might want to check whether it depicts a scene after 1942. The older Case V Tractor: A number of variants on the VA series were available. The VA was the standard-tread model. The VAC was a tricycle model; the VAI was the industrial model (also used by the military); the VAO was the orchard model; the VAIW was the warehouse model; the VAH was the high-clearance row-crop model, and the VAS was the offset high-clearance row-crop model. Electric start was optional. During the early years, the engine was made by Continental. The Case VAIW Warehouse model (also saw military service): This tractor subjects are cool in many ways, since they work well displayed in combination with an early jet, late war bomber or fighter, and post war civilian diorama, since many of these vehicles flooded the market after the war. Yes, it is a 35th scale kit, whereas all plane subjects are in 32nd scale, but if this doesn’t bother you… 3D renderings of the Thunder Model Case VAI tractor: The model Completely designed in 3D we get a state of the art, nice fitting model with crisp moulding, divided over 2 sprues, vinyl tyres, a small fret of photo etch and a small decal sheet. Vinyl tyres you say? If desired / needed these can be swapped for 10 dollar resin tyres from LZ Models. LZ Models? The company that sells Mirror Models and Thunder Model and does resin casting for both brands? I think by now we dare to establish that Thunder Model is a sister brand to Mirror Models… As said the injection moulding is crisp and of high quality. Just look at the open louvres on the grille, no flash to be found, no nasty ejector pin marks and no flaws whatsoever. Sprue A: Close ups: Sprue B: Close ups: The vinyl tyres: The photo etch fret contains anti slip pattern foot rests, brackets, the fan and instrument panel. The intruments themselves can be found on the decal sheet. Detail is fine and as good as can be expected from a kit of this nature. The kit comes with two schemes to choose from: • The US Army tractor, which is sprayed in Olive Drab and carries the USAAF (not army ) designation. • The civilian option. The most common colour for these tractors was red, but I’ve found photo’s of Red and Yellow colour combo’s as well. Decal sheet: Civilian option: Army option: Simple but effective and clear instruction manual: Verdict Thunder Model came out of nowhere and already treated us to one cool Berge Hetzer and two sweet little tractors that will serve their purpose in many diorama settings. We will overlook the fact that this USAAF subject is in 35th scale, and we would have preferred it to be in 32nd. The flip-top box packaging of this kit, full colour scheme charts, Photo Etch, quality and subject itself makes this a little gem that beckons to be build. The prize of € 22,50 is reasonable. Not too cheap, but no reason to steer clear from it either. We hope to see more exotic subjects from this brand, because it’s definitely a relief to have an injection moulded offering of an exotic subject that normally would only be available in resin for a high prize and suited for the experienced and gifted modeller… We hope LZ Models (or Thunder Model) will also take a look at the seated figure to go with this kit. That’s actually the only thing lacking at the moment. Our sincere thanks to Thunder Models for this review. To purchase directly, click THIS link. Jeroen Peters

Hi Gals and Girls, This is the artwork I will have printed on the wooden base for this project: The result should look something like this:

Very cool and thanks for the construction tips! Love the masking you have done here.

I was there ofcourse, checked the ZM stall and saw zip, nothing on the 190... only the 3d printed roughs of the hs129 and ki45.

Hi DrDave! Good to finally meet you!

Impressive stuff!!

High Guys! The LSM team just returned from a very successful show in Telford this year. As you may know we (Ben Summerfield, Cees Broere, Francisco Guedess and myself manned the Hong Kong Models stand this year in the absence of James Hatch and Neil Yann (Hong Kong Models). A lot of interest was shown in the progress of the Lancaster. What we told people? The new aim: March 2017! The stand, albeit small and not suited to build the models as planned, looked the part. Our goal for next years is to come back bigger and even better. Here's a pic of Francisco and Cees at work: Until next year!!

Supercool! And what a great display case...

1:32 Tempest Mk.V Special Hobby Catalogue # 100-32049 Available from Special Hobby for € 52,10 Finally it’s here. The kit Special Hobby has had us waiting for! To be more specific: Special Hobby shared their first rough impression and intention in May 2013. I myself have been eye-balling the first sprues at several hobby shows over the last few years at the Special Hobby stall and could tell this was going to be good. It is true that Pacific Coast Models (PCM) was first on the scene with a limited run kit. Come to think of it Cees Broere and myself also reviewed this kit back in august 2013! It featured resin and photo etch parts, but lacked detail in places (like the gear doors) and was inaccurate in other places (like the wheels). Since the PCM kit includes a lot of resin and PE I thought it would be cool to compare the two. Special Hobby kits are often mistaken for limited run kits, but I have a feeling that with this new standard that image will quickly be shaken off. One small detail: the PCM kit is getting harder and harder to find these days, so on that account alone, you might want to grab yourself a Special Hobby one. I won’t bore you with the usual background on the Tempest, since I reckon that if you’ve made it so far reading this, your interest in the Tempest is probably up to par. Here's a look at some of the teaser shots we had to do with over the past few years Special Hobby offers a pretty wide range of the more exotic subjects in 32nd scale. Yes, other scales too, but this is Large Scale Modeller J. Right of the bat I can tell you that with this kit Special Hobby has entered a whole new league. Where older kits, like the Brewster Buffalo, required persistence and a big jar of elbow grease, this kit offers decent fit, locator pins and 3d engineering. The kit This kit comes in two versions. The basic one (this one, for € 52,10) and the High Tech version (the other one, for € 79,90). Where the basic kit offers injection moulded plastic and decals, the High Tech kit is a very complete package with the additional resin for the cockpit, wheels and wheel wells, HGW harnesses and photo-etch. If you do want some extra detail in places, you can also opt for separate CMK upgrades, like: resin tailwheel assembly, seat (with or without seatbelts), exhaust set, gunsight, early type wheels, late type wheels, early or late guns, control stick, etc… But take my word for it: getting allthese sets separately will cost you more money than simply getting the High Tech kit that also offers these resin parts. Is the standard version on it’s own enough to make a stunning model? Read on… Overall impression The first thing that strikes is the large amount of parts and surface detail that you just wouldn’t expect on a Special Hobby kit. Rivets, fasteners and retained panel lines. All down to the detail you see on the inside fuselage halves that form the cockpit sidewalls (way more detailed than the PCM kit for instance) and the inside of the tail wheel well. Another thing you’ll notice is the leading edges at the base of the main wings are separately. This promises other versions of this kit in the near future. In many ways this kit is superior to the PCM kit. I mean: just look at the shell ejection ports of the wing. No need to cut those out anymore! The rivet detail on the canopy railing is present (not so on the PCM kit) and I can go on an on. There’s locator pins in places (not common most of their kits) and the fuselage halves dry fitted together on the main wing assembly leaves almost no seams. Always a relieve. Fuselage halves. Note the seperate nose, which can fit a Mk.II nose in a different kit version. Look at that surface detail: And here: Versus the detail on the PCM kit: There are quite a number of parts on the sprues that you won’t need for this version (like the rotary engine front, several spade control stick choices, gun barrels and prop blades. A look at sprue D: containing gear doors and rudder: The rudders looks spot on, not suffering from the 'starved cow syndrome': Sprue E: containing the nose: A close up: One more: Located on Sprue H (which you'll see when you scroll down to the wheel well section) is the radiator mesh. Who need PE? Sprue J: containing the exhaust stacks, bulkhead and parts of the wheel wells: With delicate hollow exhausts like these, who needs resin? (Well, I might...) Sprue B: The main wings: Lovely rivet detail here too: The flaps are moulded as one part with the main wings. So if you want to drop these, you'll need to operate! But then again: the Tempest usually had them raised when parked: Sprue C, containing the tail planes, bombs and drop tanks: Close up: The Cockpit Don’t expect anything basic from the basic offering of Special Hobby’s Tempest. The plastic parts that build up the cockpit are over 60! The only thing that I would recommend adding are wiring and HGW seatbelts (which are included in the High Tech kit by the way). First shots of an assembled cockpit from the Special Hobby site: When I compare this cockpit with the PCM offering, I see a much larger part count and detail in the Special Hobby cockpit, even though PCM includes a PE instrument panel, coloured PE seatbelts and levers and some resin parts for the rudder pedals and gunsight mounting. Looking at the crispness of all these plastic parts, I know what a bit of experienced detail painting and weathering can do in this area. I’m seriously impressed with the vast amount of parts and attention to detail. Have a look at the instructions for this part: Sprue I, with most of the cockpit parts: Close up: Special Hobby cockpit sidewalls: Versus the PCM cockpit sidewalls: Wheel bay and gear Again we are overwhelmed by a large part count. 26 parts for the main wheel well alone, followed by another 24 for the main gear itself. The option of 2 different wheel sizes for different schemes are included and I especially like the flattened tyres. Really loving the coloured instruction booklet: A shot of the built up gear from the Special Hobby website: The size of the tyres and the wheelhubs appear accurate to my eye. An area where the PCM kit lacked and Barracuda resin tyres had to be bought to remedie. The geardoors are little gems with accurate detail on the insides. Again: an improvement over the PCM doors, which were basic in detail and not too accurate. The PCM kit did offer a large resin tub with crisp detail, but to be honest, I think the SH plastic wheelbay is easier to work with and about as detailed. The upper portion of the wheel wells is moulded to the underside of the upper wing: Sprue H: containing some of the wheel well parts: ​ Close up: Look at that gear leg: Versus, sorry, the PCM one: Check out the inside of the Special Hobby gear door: Versus the PCM gear door and the real thing. Note the simplified detail and inaccuracy: And here's a look at the PCM resin wheel well. One of the sweetest parts of the PCM kit: This is sweet too, the detail of the Special Hobby inside tail wheel well: Clear parts As provided in the PCM kit the external drop tank attachment points are clear and inside riveted strips come in the form of decals. As said before the canopy is just lovely. The canopy framing features delicate rivets and even some small panels at the rear, whereas the PCM canopy does not. The clarity is super, but I’ll dip them in some Gauzy agent from AK nontheless. Also included on this fret are the small navigation lights sandwiched between the elevators and tail. A detail also included in the PCM kit. Sprue K: The Special Hobby Clear parts: Nice clarity and rivet detail: And again, here's a shot of the PCM clear parts: Schemes The nicely done instructions give us no less than 4 schemes to choose from. Al presented in a 4 way view with Alclad II and Gunze paint numbers. The decals are very nicely printed by Eduard. Great colour and registering of the printing: I especially love the dark blue. Too often this is printed with too much cyan and magenta... Look at those instrument faces. Zoukei Mura can learn a thing or two here... Scheme A: Hawker Tempest Mk.V NV969/SA-A No. 486 (NZ), Sqn. RAF, Fassberg Germany, April 1945 Scheme B: Hawker Tempest Mk.V JN682/JF-Z No. 3, Sqn. RAF Newchurch, Kent, England, August 1944 Scheme C: Hawker Tempest Mk.V EJ705/W2-X No. 80 Sqn. RAF, B80 Volkel, The Netherlands, January 1945 Scheme D: Hawker Tempest Mk.V SN165/ZD-V No. 222, Sqn. RAF, B91 Kluis, Malden, The Netherlands, April 1945 Verdict Wow. Yes, Special Hobby took their time and maybe was a bit quick with announcing this kit (but there are more brands guilty of this), but it sure proves to be worth the wait. After the Yak3 that made Special Hobby raise their own bar, this kit promises great things for their future releases. The execution takes away the immediate ‘need’ for a brand like Tamiya to step in. Four schemes to choose from, full stenciling decals, bombs, drop tanks, flattened tyres, excellent detail, … A solid 9 out of 10. Considering this is still a limited run kit and the basic offering, that doesn’t feel basic in any way! Don't get me wrong: I'm not trying to knock the PCM kit with this review, just showing you how Special Hobby is stepping up to the game. Kind regards, Jeroen Peters A Special thank you to Special Hobby for the review sample.