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So I finally repainted it completely and went with the proven route of Gunze H73 & H75 Once camouflage was replaced, the roundels could finally be painted. To do that I will use Custom masks from DN models. The roundels of SL721 are not standard as the top wings roundels are larger than usual and the Bottom wing roundels have the yellow border which normally occurs only on dark surfaces. So decals couldn't be used anyway. Painting roundels are time consuming and whichever method you use you will always need to remove and replace masks. The trick is to stay centred at all costs. For the colour of the roudels I used: white, marking yellow (MRP) red is a mix of XF7 and XF68 (3/4 + 1/4) and the blue is H322 (blue angel blue) + a drop of black All colours where checked against the tamiya decals and saved for later use. First step is to backpaint a white layer. This is mostly necessary for the yellow outline As you can see, masks have been marked with diagonals to ease up the aligning process later on. The internal masks have been replaced all together on the white, then the yellow outline and red centre masks have been removed and painted respectfully in their colour The next step was a bit tedious as the mask for the yellow was a real pain to replace correctly. Once satisfied, I removed the large centre mask and painted the blue The AU J code masks where then placed. As with the roundels, I feel it's safer to stick all the masks together using strips of tape and then only remove the letter with a new sharp X-acto blade. That will ensure that the inner mask for the A will remain perfectly centred. Of course, there's no way to do that with the J in this case. Some more tape for overspray protection and the codes where painted in MRP sky. Next up are the SL721 and OO-XVI registration. That's probably the smallest masks I ever painted. These letters are very tiny but in the end came out great Spraying black I also painted the walkway lines on top of the wings It took me the full week and week end to get to this point, but the end is near for this "quick" build I'm glad for the help of DN models and the custom work they are able to do, it saved me a lot of time and trouble.

hi folks Thanks Mark - yes, the panels are trimmed to about a couple of mm from the overlap so it's quite easy to get rid of what is needed, in fact the only problem sometimes is that the panel seam practically disappears.. though that can also work in your favour... Thanks Kag - another book - hmm, that depends on whether Kev is willing to put himself through it all again - in the case of the Spitfire book, that meant filtering all 10,000 images I had (original high res ones) to find the ones I used in my posts - that, and then all the editing and additional stuff the genius that is our Kev adds.. I suspect it's a 'you only want to do that once' experience having finished the upper cowl panels, it was time to move below, the first one to set down was marked out with 3mm tamiya tape to allow another masking tape template to be made of just the straight rear edge... ..once that was done the panel was burnished down to the front defining edge and cut out - her it is once it has been fixed down and some of the fasteners added.. ..then the remaining fasteners & rivets and a hatch was added.. ..I was going to do the panel forward of this one which has the distinctive small air intake panels with lots of holes, but found the PE ones I had made are not scaled correctly as they are too big so PPD are running me up another set - as such I did the panel behind it instead and will complete it when the PE arrives.. ..while waiting for the PE I decided to prepare & paint the wings so I can work on all the wing fillet panels - these had already been etch primed months ago so were cleaned up and sprayed with alclad white aluminium... I was a bit worried about the fragility of the alclad paint, but after a gentle wire wolling to get rid of the dusty finish, it seems to be ok with some tape tests I have done - I have had it in the past where tape just pulls up or damages the finish.. ..with that done, the rearmost fillet was planned - it looks like this and is not only a signature shape, but full of compound curves... thankfully it's in two parts - upper & lower and the seam can be seen - it's actually a weld, but I haven't figured out how to represent it.. ..using drawings I made the upper shape and worked this into shape across the fillet to get the three dimensional shape.. ..and eventually both upper & lower were added to the model... ...the fillet right at the front on the leading edge looks really difficult so back when I have worked that out TTFN Peter

Fiddily bits..... Panel wash. Flaps Gear doors Not too much left. Dan

Thanks all! Thanks for the comments, encouragement and ideas too. I know I've been slacking here as of late, but work has been killer, and with all the question marks surrounding how to proceed with the most difficult part of the build (how to best light up the IPs and cockpit with as little room as I have) its been dragging the significant MoJo I had for this build down....................BUT that mojo is back! I finally conceded that I would have to make a few small sacrifices in the overall look of the IPs lit up to make everything work. Heres what I ended up doing: - Used 3 individual MLEDs for each cockpit; one that controls the lower part of the IP and lights up the radar scope and the 5 or 6 small instruments on the right side of the lower part, one that lights up all 15 or so of the upper instruments, and the 3rd MLED is used for lighting up the two side consoles. - I built a tiny light box for the upper IP with the 15 instruments or so in it - The lower part of each IP I used some fiber optic cable into some brass tubing, sealed with UV gel glue, then covered in MS black primer - The side console spot lights are smaller fiber optic runs powered by a single MLED glued outside of the cockpit. My first initial runs were a success, although I didnt have an clear instrument sheets in this test yet, and with it being dark, the glare took some sharpness away from the photo, but a success none the less! My fear was that if I used any of the MLEDs directly, the light would be way WAY too bright for cockpit lights, so my hope was that by using some fiber runs, I could tone the overall brightness down, and I think it worked. I started off by doing the observers pit first, since it had the most room constraints. I had to move the observers lower IP back a bit to make room for the eventual camera, but I think it will still look ok. You can see the fiber optic cables running to the lower part covered in MS black primer to cut out any light bleed: And powered up with the fiber optics.......................just as Id hoped, the fiber toned down the brightness to a much more realistic level for a military aircraft cockpit: Not perfect by any means, but still good, and will look good once all the junk goes in the pit, it may even be hard to see it all. I then built up the observers upper IP light box, putting a bit of clear fiber optics behind each instrument, and polishing the ends facing the MLED on the inside of the box. The box was then lined with polished foil to reflect the light back into the fiber tubes, and sealed up with UV gel glue and painted with MS black primer to again seal any light bleeding. Once again, far far from perfect, but I think it still looks pretty cool (even better in person than in pics IMHO): Next, It was onto the side console flexible spot lights. I made these from some fiber optic cable with a tiny piece of aluminum tubing on the end, and painted again with MS black primer: I used some brass tubing and glued it on the bottom of the pit, to light both side consoles: Temporarily installed in the rear pit with our observer/camera man to see how things looked......just as Id hoped, the brightness was indeed toned down also to a much more realistic look. I think this will also show up well once all the junk is together in the pit too................might be easier to see the lights in those conditions. Either way, it was what I was going for in a more subtle subdued light for the consoles: I also got a good start on doing the front cockpit setup too. A start on what the lower IP looks like before covering in black primer. The UV activated gel worked a real treat, and held everything together just as I wanted and filled gaps nicely without distorting the light coming into the instruments. Although with the front, I found it was better to coat the fiber optic cable with a chrome paint first, then black primer to seal the light in: This is pretty much what the IPs look like before the addition of the AirScale Mylar clear instrument sheet, and the Eduard PE: So my experimentation has finally paid off, and while not perfect by any means, its about what I was hoping for, as sometimes concessions have to be made to make things work in the ultimately tight quarters presented in the F-104Ds crapped cockpits. Im on a roll here with the pit, and I usually like to keep the roll going when Im on one, so Im hoping tonight I can finish up the lower and upper parts of the pilots IP, then I can "see the light at the end of the tunnel" so-to-speak on finishing up the pit. Once I finish that I can move onto getting the rest of the airframe lit up, which I dont believe will be nearly as hard as trying to figure out the IPs in the cockpits. Cheers!

The days I strived for perfection and accuracy have long gone. These days I'm just happy to finish something. This is my 5th model this year. Paints are Gunze, decals are from HAD - a bit brittle, otherwise excellent - conform to panel lines beautifully. seatbelts are from Radu (superb!). Hope you like. I've also finished a Revell P-51D which I will take pictures of later today. Lothar

If that was my model I would kiss it good night every day. It’s that good. Cheers, Chuck

September 20/19 As the weather starts to turn a bit colder, I start to get back to modeling and this project. I just finished the decals, which fought me every step of the way. First the problems I had sourcing decals in the first place: 1. Nobody makes decals for VFC-13 Saints F-5’s entirely in red, which are on all of their gloss black Aggressors. The only red decals I could find are for VFC-111 Sundowners, and not all of them are red. 2. The VFC-111 Sundowner decals that available are from the kit or the OOP Two Bobs 32-040 decals. Thanks again to “Dragon” (Mike) who sent me some of the Two Bobs decals he wasn’t using. However, the Two Bobs decals are a dull red and not bright red as they should be, especially on black. The kit decals, on the other hand, are very thick and hard to apply. Many of them are out of register, so you can see a thin strip of white behind red, so they were rarely used. 3. Nobody makes the big red and yellow nose number “13”, other than ProfiModeler and they only make a “01” (or “10” if you turn it upside down. 4. Nobody makes decals of the US Insignia emblem in red- or at least as far as I can tell, so I used Maketar masks for them and painted them. 5. Some placards are simply not available, like the “AF” on the tail. Oh well. Now the problems, which are mostly user error. 1) The ProfiModeler nose number was applied, but it looked funny. Sure enough, there was only a yellow outline on the outside of the numbering and not inside the “0”. In the decal package are the corrected ones on a separate sheet, so I had to tear them off, repaint, then do it all over again. Of course I screwed one up, so I had to tear it off as well and wait 3 weeks for replacements in the mail! 2) The kit decals look good on the decal sheet, but when applied to a jet black background, many out of register imperfections show up, so they had to be replaced as well. 3) The Two Bobs decals applied easily as always, but against the black background, they are not as bright red as they are on the decal sheet. Too bad, but there’s nothing I could do with them to make them better. 4) I used Maketar paint masks (USAF Stars and Bars, Vol II, 32-066) for the red insignias, using Kabuki tape versions as I did for my recent Spitfire build and Model Master Chrysler Engine Red Enamel, which was bang on the kit decals. The insignias on this jet are very small, so I used the smallest ones which are 14” equivalent, which is very close to the ones required. Unfortunately, the very small and sharp detail of the stars and bars does not lend itself to this kind of tape, so the edges of the tape were a bit ragged, as were the insignias. I had to remove them and re-paint- and also order new insignias made from vinyl instead. I had to wait for 3 ½ additional weeks for them to arrive (6 ½ weeks with the ProfiModeler decals)! The vinyl worked much better, BUT, they left some of the adhesive behind when pulled off. Normally you could easily remove this adhesive with a bit of solvent, but with fresh enamel paint next to it, I had to wait for the enamel to dry rock hard before attempting to remove. With care and microbrushes I managed to do it fairly well, as you can see in the pics below. Moral of the sad story: Don’t make a gloss black F-5E until somebody makes proper decals for it! First a minor update and another reminder that the kit instructions have many of the clear lenses mislabeled. First, the wingtip navigation lights should be GP-7, top and bottom and not GP-1. The square red lights on the vertical stab are GP-5 and not GP-7 The tiny hydraulic fluid window on the sides should be GP-9, which is not labeled at all. You can find many builds of this kit with nothing at all in these holes for this reason. And last, the two lights on the bottom of the front fuselage should be GP-1 and not GP-9, which don’t fit at all anyway. Now another small discovery. There are two holes on the bottom of the front fuselage, forward of the guns. These holes are vents which are almost always closed, so I filled them accordingly, retaining some of the oval feature of them. There is only one “decal” of note on the bottom, which is on the starboard wing, which was painted with a Maketar mask. Note that all flaps and rudder have not been installed yet for ease of painting and handling. Now a bit of a walkaround. The ProfiModeler red star is awesome for color and ease of installation, with no decal film. The kit “NAVY’ decal was OK, but a bit thick. Excuse the dust. This glossy bird is has lots of static and is IMPOSSIBLE to keep completely clean! Painting was very, very difficult, due to crap being attracted to every coat. BTW, all decals were then sealed with Tamiya X-22 to blend into the paint. This busy area has a bit of everything, with the walkway masks hand made. Yes, they should be that wide…. Thanks to the Two Bobs decals, I could install all the placards, even if they are a bit dull. The other side. Now I bet a few of you are thinking that this jet is way too clean and way too shiny. I don’t think so Tim! The end of this build is obviously near, so I have already ordered my next model subject and some aftermarket parts, which I will disclose later. Next up should be cockpit and landing gear details, the center line tank and missiles. With the engine nozzles and pitot tube installed, this sucker is LONG, so I have no idea how I will photograph it until it is completely finished. Cheers, Chuck

So...what to do with all those 1/32 Ju 88 noses left over after building a few Aimes conversions.... Hmmm, well, this is what I came up with A museum vignette. I had a bit of fun making this.

Thanks Jan, yes the Aeromarine is very cool. But I think you may be underestimating how little is used from the original Felixstowe kit. Almost all the parts for the Felixstowe are still present on their sprues in the box ;-) 90% of all parts have either been scratched, converted or altered in some way. Up until now the only thing I haven't 'touched' yet, is the trolley... The Curtiss F-5-L has different dimensions altogether from the F.2a, not to mention the Aeromarine conversion on top of that... Just a little look back to were it all started... The extra three feet which was needed for the extended hull of the F-5-L, it was a horrendous piece of work... Sorry but I'm not sure if I would do that again. Cheers: Kent

It's time to resurrect this thread from the dead! Between work and my recon Spitifre there wasn't much time lately for this Messerschmitt. But I was able to get some extra bench time during the last weekend and here's the progress: The canopy was painted RLM02 on the inside and recieved a black base on the outside. Afterwards all the fixed parts were gleud in place and the rest is held in place by Tamiya tape. Afterwards I turned my attention to the droptanks which aren't included in Dragon's nightfighter release. I used two Hasgawa droptanks - one generously donated by @Lud13 - and the other one from my Bf109F-4 kit. Luckily the braces are included in my kit, so there's no need for scratch building those. The tanks recieved the Dragon mounting strap (heavily thinned down) and fuel lines from 0.5mm copper wire. The foremost panel line was puttied since it's not present on the original. There are some small parts missing in the wheel wells but apart from that ithe Messerschmitt is ready for a primer coat!

Hi Chuck please check this:

The all white should be quite an interesting challenge that i might take up, regardless of fatty’s actions in ww2. Its the techniques to be used in painting and weathering a monotone finish, let alone white, that would be the centerpiece for me . Besides, another d.vii F in the stash wouldn’t hurt since they’re going for the price of kidneys on ebay K

The answer is yes, I have given up posting on ARC. I tried to post my latest updates there a few times recently and for some reason it blocked me from doing so, which I suspect might be due to their limit of 10 pics per post? Who knows, but it wasn't worth fighting it and if people want to see the rest of this thread, they can view it here. I will try to let them know now and thanks for reminding me. Cheers, Chuck

Next up is to demilitarize the aft cockpit. Once I verify the fit, I'll go back and add Archer rivets.

Figured I should at least post some progress, rather than box photos and questions...... There, I've started!

A little update on the Aeromarine build... Oil tanks and plumbing of the Liberty engines are done, started working on the propellers. Test fitting the parts.. Beginning to look like an Aeromarine. The passenger figures have been altered and cleaned up a bit, to fit the cabin. Thanks for looking: Kent

Hello gentlemans, I´m back with last part for Italeri F-35A. Anybody interested with this product? I have to know, If I have to cast some more exhaust. I´m very busy now, but if you are really interested, please send me PM. I can cast some parts in few weeks and send them. Price can be 25 US Dollars for one set of exhaust. Postage 7 Dollars. Thank you. Jan

Hey all. First work in progress on this site and first 1/32 aircraft. I've been wanting to build a Corsair for a long while, but 1/48 (my usual for aircraft) just wasn't big enough for the detail I'd like to add, and hopefully not screw up. I've been reading all the builds and RFI's on here that I can find and there are is some beautiful work here to compete against (). Hopefully I won't come off as a complete newb, but this will be my first WW2 aircraft, so hopefully you'll work with me. This won't be quick, since I have a day job ha! Link to some of my work for those of you that might not venture to non aircraft stuff..... So, Tamiya's kit to start, beautiful as usual from them. Vector Resin's intake flaps and engine upgrade parts. Barracuda cockpit stencils (I need better eyes for these!). Dana Bell's Birdcage Corsair book (and I've noticed Dana posts here, that's got to be helpful!. I'm hunting for HGW seatbelt's but so far, no luck on the suppliers I usually turn to. If anyone has a lead on where I can pick those up, I'd appreciate it. I'm also leaning towards using MRP paints for the first time, but I'm not really positive which colors I'll need. I'm going to plan on a two color bird, blue grey upper and light grey lower. Might go with Montex masks, or possible the HGW wet transfers...decisions to be made. Here are my selections for the main colors that I'll need to order. Please let me know if I'm totally wrong! Interior MRP 131 US Interior Green MRP 229 Dark Dull Green For the rest of the interior, I'll be using my existing supplies. Exterior MRP 130 Salmon Pink Primer for the cowling (sorta interior?) MRP 133 Blue Grey MRP 134 Light Grey And of course, mandatory pictures so I'm not boring everyone! The supplies, for now The work shop (everything else in cabinets) The overview And the other kits my wife said I should have built before buying the Corsair last week Hopefully I'll actually get some bench time tomorrow. Today has been "drill a 4 inch hole in your houses foundation day." Super not exciting. Thanks for looking, chime in and tell me where I'm off, nuts, or should go back to scifi lol Brett

All- Here she is, in all her splendor! I may still fiddle with the weathering a little, but I sure am pleased. I wasn't able to get her into work today for good photos, so I snapped a few outside in the overcast with an actual camera, rather than a cell phone. I started this kit over 4 years ago, and its kind of sentimental to get this one done. She depicts my Grandfather's aircraft, 44-6888, of the 96th BG/337th BS. Her crew unofficially named her "Ragged But Right". The war ended before nose art could be applied. My Grandfather, Joseph Denver, was a bombardier and completed 13 missions at the end of WWII. He first mission was in February of 1945, and he remained in Europe until 1946 as part of the occupation forces. He flew most of his missions in this plane,and that is why I chose to depict her. This is the HK 1/32 B-17G, their initial release, with all of the bells and whistles from Eduard, Profimodeller, and some scratch building. She's airbrushed with AK Extreme Metals and Model Master enamels, and sports a combination of kit decals, Kits World, and custom J Bot Decals for the markings. Here's some photos: DSC_3323 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr DSC_3324 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr DSC_3325 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr DSC_3326 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr DSC_3327 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr DSC_3328 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr DSC_3329 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr DSC_3336 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr DSC_3338 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr I wanted to close this post with the Eight Air Force's letter to St. Peter, which is quite sobering: Let them in, Peter, they are so tired; Give them the couches where the angels sleep. Let them wake whole again to find new dawn fired with sun, not war. And may their peace be deep. Remember where the broken bodies lie... And give them things they like. Let them make noise. God knows how young they were to have to die! Give swing bands, not gold harps, to these our boys. Let them love, Peter - they have had no time - Girls sweet as meadow wing, with flowering hair. They should have trees and bird song, hills to climb - Tell them how they are missed. Say not to fear; It's going to be alright with us down here. All always folks, comments and critiques are welcome. Thanks for tuning in. - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

Well folks, I'm sticking a fork in her! Head on over to Ready For Inspection (RFI) for the full post! DSC_3332 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

It's kind of a relief to learn from this story that there were also some "other" Germans in this conflict. There has been a farmer (RIP) in a nearby village from where I live who hid a shot down British pilot just weeks before wars end in his farm. They became friends as well. Lothar

It's weird that the Tamiya call-out for "interior green" on their zero kits is so far off either of the 2 interior choices. This is a Japanese company making a Japanese icon. You would think they would have access to the right resources or information to get the color more or less exactly right. I know they have many different gray colors for their 1/700 and 1/350 IJN ship models...representing the differing grays used at the different ship building arsenals in Japan. Maybe those are off too!

Amazing work, Brian. It's like juggling spinning plates on sticks, riding a unicycle on ice and chewing tinfoil all at the same time...and doing it well! Can't wait to see it completed. Cheers, D.B.

exceptional build Kent! you should sell conversion sets for this, it"s such a cool looking plane jan

With the assembly and detailing of the cockpit complete I moved on to painting. The cockpit was initially airbrushed with MRP colours (cockpit grey overall and black for the instrument panels and sides). All the switches were brush painted with white acrylic while some were highlighted with yellow and red. I followed the same procedure for the seats by airbrushing the structure with grey then the cushions with olive drab and red. Detail painting was again done with a paint brush. The instrument panels were painted with NATO black and each instrument dial was individually painted with dark sea grey. I plan to use Airscale's instrument dial decals and Anyz Models' labels and stencils to further dress up the cockpit. And this is how the cockpit looks assembled at this point.

Here is my finished Me-262, made with the Trumpeter kit. I added the CMK wheel wells and cockpit, a load of Eduard PE and their wheels, HGW belts, and a few other bits and pieces. Fictional scheme again, not perfectly happy with how the build came out, but it looks like an Me-262 at least! This was my first build with MRP paints and now I’ve got the hang of them I can say I love them! I now have a growing collection of colours! I have started on Fly’s Ar 234, which I hope to get done soon. I hope you like my second build

Hi all, It's done, so I thought you might like to see my 16th 1:32 scale build - The Sopwith F1 ‘Camel’. This model represents the Sopwith F1 ‘Camel’, Serial No.B6313 (later modified version), as flown by Major William George ‘Billy’ Barker, CO of No.139 Squadron, RAF, based at Villaverla, Italy during August 1918. This model depicts the later version of B6313, when field modifications were carried out to introduce four cooling slots in the engine cowl, linen covering removed from the centre section of the upper wing and cockpit decking sides reduced or removed. Modified or corrected: Cockpit: ‘Barracuda Studios’ Wicker Seat and cushion (BR32332). ‘HGW Models’ Sopwith Camel seat belts (132590). Copper micro-tubes for fuel supply to engine, main and auxiliary fuel tanks, fuel contents indicator and fuel tank pressurization. Brass micro-tubes for a pipe 4-way union, pipe connectors and fuel filter. Lead wire for gun trigger cables and engine ‘blip’ switch. Rigging wires with turnbuckles for cockpit side frame, under shield and floor bracing. Flight control cables with turnbuckles for ailerons, rudder, elevator and tail skid. Micro-tube for throttle control linkage. External after market and additions: ‘Blackdog Models’ RFC Fighter Pilot 14-18 No.2 (F32014) ‘Copper State Models’ RFC Mechanic (F32-0026). ‘Proper Plane’ wood propeller - Lang type (WP004). ‘Copper State Model’ Tools and Cans set (AE32-005). ‘Aviattic’ linen effect decal - Clear Doped Linen (ATT32094). ‘Aviattic’ linen effect decal - PC12 ‘Light’ RFC/RAF (ATT32092). ‘Xtradecal’ Parallel Stripes (White - XPS2 and Black - XPS1). Various ‘Albion Alloy’ Micro-tube (Brass or Nickel Silver). ‘Steelon’ Mono-Filament 0.12mm diameter. ‘Stroft GTM’ Silicon-PTFE tempered monofil (Blue/Grey 0.08mm diameter). ‘RB Motion’ 0.51mm Aluminium hexagonal nuts (1279-A). ‘EZ Line’ white (heavy). ‘Polak’ grass mat (Wild Meadow (4706). ‘Inperspextive’ made acrylic display case. Brushed silver, black printed - information plaques. As usual I've created a downloadable build log in Adobe PDF format, for those who might want to refer to it for reference or build details. It contains full step by step descriptions of the model build, its modifications/changes and is also supported with illustrations and reference photographs and information. If viewed in Adobe Reader, each build log has book marked chapters/headings for easier navigation through the log. My model website has the gallery page, so to view any model, go to the gallery and select it. If it has a PDF build log, it will be available to download using the 'PDF' icon on that models photo's page. The gallery will scroll through the various photographs for any particular model selected for viewing. http://igavh2.xara.hosting Mike

Wheel well canvas sidewall sealed in with a coat of Mr Surfacer, pretty happy with the results so far. Also added some rivet detail to the rest of the wheel bay parts. Time to get these parts painted som the wing halves can be glued together. Regards. Andy

Been a while since I posted (or even finished) a LSP build. This Ki 43 was supposed to be a quick weekend project, but it ended up taking me a couple of weeks, as I ran into some trouble. This particular boxing was one of the limited edition versions that came with a replacement resin cowl. The new cowl, while not exactly "correct", was still an improvement over the original kit part. However, that was not to be, as I found out that the resin part had either shrunk significantly, or was never quite large enough to begin with (kind of leaning toward the latter). So, I used the original plastic cowl, instead, but did a few modifications in an attempt to improve it's looks. Not sure if I accomplished that, but it made me feel better, anyway. I sanded about a millimeter off the front face of the cowl to shorten if a touch and then recontoured/opened up the opening, itself, to round it back off again. The next step was to improve the looks of the intake by building it up with Milliput and sanding it smooth. Hardly noticeable unless you're looking for it. But, again, it made me feel better. I also decided to add a pilot, but didn't want to use the "Gingerbread man" type that was originally issued with the kit (which I believe may be older than I am). I used the pilot from Hasegawa's more recent Ki 61 kit. Beyond that, I made a new pitot tube from Brass/hypodermic tubing, as well as adding brake lines made from wire. The cowl flaps are PE parts that I had left over from my last Ki-43 build, several years ago. I used mostly Model Master enamels for the main finish and took a swing at the hairspray technique to achieve the chipping I was after. I made a big painting blunder on the fuselage sides, so I ended up going over those areas again. I like the way it looked before I messed it up, even better, but it is what it is. The final step was to do some oil filters/wash. The photos don't do it justice and I found it extremely difficult to get good, representative photos of the model. It's no contest winner, but I can honestly say that it looks much better in person than in the photos (especially the depth of the finish). Oh, I also forgot to mention that all the markings were masked and painted, using the kit decals as a stencil to cut masks for the tail number. The only decals used were on the trim tab and flap warnings, which are almost invisible, anyway. A fun build, but also reinforcing my opinion that we need an updated kit of this iconic aircraft. Hope that comes soon! Thanks for looking! John

Well done Dennis. The Eight AF letter to St Peter is also a touching end to a great build. Thanks for sharing your build with us. Fantastic results. Troy

Stories like these do tend to restore what little faith I have in humanity.

Wow, looks grand Dan! Very cool and certainly a unique 32nd subject!

Vibrant. Sincerely, Mark

Can only echo what everyone else has said, and really hope your daughter can make a full recovery! Best wishes, Jeff.

Very very sorry to hear about this. Something similar happened to me last year with my brother, so I have some empathy for your situation. As a father I just don't want to think of something similar happening to my daughter. Kids are very resilient however and tend to deal with these things better than adults. So my thoughts are with you and I really hope she makes a full recovery. Very best wishes, Michael

Yes, best wishes for a full recovery.

I just love the ambition written large all over this thread... brilliant & inspirational stuff Craig Peter

I can’t wait to see the passengers painted up.

A few photos of the He-162 after the Flory Wash. Untitled by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr Untitled by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr Untitled by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr Regards, Bruce Crosby

If you want really shiny, without any texture showing, yer gonna have to sand it with micromesh and/or polish it with a plastic polish. Just depends on the look you're going for.

I’m interested in a set too, if they come on market. I hadn’t heard that Fencer (Alex) was doing one. If he does do one, I’ll get that one too. Bill M.

Hey guys, So here's the resin version of the same .stl file done in the photon..... it just fits!!! BTW it took 13 hours to print this!!!!!!! There's some slight dimensional creepage/warpage going on with it, but the overall finish blitzes the FDM version, although it's still very useable.... And side by side.... And lastly....... For those who think 3D printing is easy and hassle free...... Human and machine error is always a possibility and the process is definitely NOT straightforward. For every successful print you see, there are likely to be an equal or greater number of failures. This one was on me; I didn't tighten the build plate securing screw properly as I was in a hurry to get the left side on to print. 13 hours mostly down the drain, although there's some salvage potential here. Nothing for it except to try again!!! It's actually a credit to the Photon that despite my best efforts to sabotage myself, it still managed to give me a mostly workable print! p.s. the stuff at the back is the supports. This has come straight out of the printer so I haven't cut anything off yet...... Cheers, Craig

Managed a lille more work on the wing section the last couple of days and have both upper wing sections converted to allow for the longer wing slats. Also both wheel wells completed with the canvas cover treatment, looking foward in the morning to see how this has worked out. Also managed to deal with any gaps etc on the lower wing radiator blanks as well. Needs a coat of primer to check all is ok but getting there Some work will be needed to get the panel detail back. Very happy with progress and time to reach for some paint before fixing the wheel well sides in place. Regards. Andy

pure class , hero's all

X-22 is indeed a fantastic clear coat and the above mentioned mix ratios and pressure settings work perfect for me as well. I gave Mr. Color 46 gloss and Mr. Color GX100 Gloss a try recently, mixed it with 50/50 with Levelling Thinner and it gave me a very satisfying results as well. Dried rock hard within minutes and I'd rate it at least on par with Tamiya X-22. Lothar

This topic was done very nicely at the June Model Contest at Nanton, Alberta. I'm not sure who the modeler is, but he should be commended. Both pics below are courtesy of Vaughn MacPhail, who posted them on the Rocky Mountain Model Club Facebook page. Cheers, Chuck

Tim, no matter what direction we waffle back and forth on this, it’s your model, finish it the way you want to.

Cockpit about done... The lower middle wings in place with the brass reinforcements... Cheers: Kent

I have been asked a few times lately how I take pics of my models, so I’d like to share some of my techniques here. I am not really a big photographer myself and my camera knowledge is limited, but over time, my pics have improved along with my modeling skills as I learn new tricks through trial and error. To me, taking good pics of our models is mandatory if you are going to display them here, because if I see a model build with crappy pics taken from a phone, I just move on, because you can’t tell if the modeling is good or not. Below is a cut/paste of a tutorial I did 6 years ago, updated with my current views, with asterisks on what I think are the most important items. Taking Good Pics of Your Models Camera The first thing you need is a decent camera, but owning a fancy DSLR with all the bells and whistles isn’t necessary, but it sure helps. Besides having a good lens and decent resolution of at least 8 MP, the camera needs to have an aperture priority setting, so that you can fix the aperture to a high number, giving a small aperture. The camera also needs to be able to focus on objects from a minimum of 2 feet or less. Zoom lenses help if you need to be further away, but maximum aperture settings often deteriorate as you zoom in. Most point and shoot cameras have a macro setting which is often displayed as a flower for close-ups, but just make sure you can adjust the aperture at the same time if you leave it on this setting. For the record, I use a full frame Nikon D610 (24 mp) with a 60mm Micro lens for 90% of my shots and occasionally my Nikon D810 (36 mp) for completed model shots. *Lens and Focus If you can afford it, buy a dedicated “Macro/ Micro” lens and always focus by hand. Some of the shorter fixed lenses of 50 mm or less work well too, but most zoom lenses don’t have f-stops high enough at the focal lengths you want and sometimes they have distortion. That’s why they still sell fixed focal length lenses, often at much higher prices that zoom lenses: They quite simply take better and sharper pictures. Auto-focus should be avoided, because the camera usually locks onto something you don’t want in focus, rather than the area you do. *Aperture Priority A maximum aperture of “f-22” or higher is recommended for most model photography. With high aperture settings, you can achieve good depth of field, which is critical for close-up or “macro/micro” photography. If you are taking a close-up of your model from, say, 1 foot away at f-3.5, the object you focused on will be in focus, but the parts of the model just in front or behind the focus point will be blurry. With a higher aperture number of f-22 or higher, almost everything a few inches in front and a few inches behind the subject will also be in focus. My macro lens on my camera has a very high maximum aperture of f-36, so almost everything is in focus without any fuss. *Tripod and Self-timer The next thing your camera needs is a self timer and the ability to fix it to a tripod. With high aperture settings, the shutter speeds will decrease dramatically, so you can’t hand-hold the camera without getting some blurring from shake. Anything longer than about 1/100 of a second will likely have some blur, but you can sometimes hand hold 1/60 of a second if you’re very steady. For maximum apertures of f-22 or more and the lighting I routinely use, my shutter speeds are often one second or more, so a tripod is a must along with a self timer, so that you are not touching the camera when the shutter is released. Lighting Generally speaking, you can’t have enough light when taking pics, so try to have 2-3 light sources coming from various angles to fill in shadows. Having one light source stronger than the other is OK, which creates a natural looking shadow, but if the light is too strong from one direction, it will overpower what the camera measures for light. If you can find them, there are some excellent coiled gas bulbs available that give off strong natural and balanced light of 3200 to 5000K, which is a “color temperature” close to natural light. They are not expensive- about $8 each- and I use at least 2 of them in goose-neck lamps over my model and sometimes one held in my hand, so that I can direct the light at shadows that I want to tone down as the self timer on my camera takes the pic. Check out “Alzo Digital” here for lamps: Alzo Digital Lamps There are now a lot of LED light sources that do the same thing and although they are more expensive, the prices are starting to come down to the affordable level. White Balance Colors will shift according to your light source. Fluorescent lighting is greenish in color, incandescent lighting is reddish and natural sunlight is neutral, which is why many modelers take their pics outdoors. You can hand hold many outdoor pics due to the strong light and resultant fast shutter speeds, even at high apertures, but strong sunlight can also produce too harsh shadows, so a cloudy day is often better than a sunny day to take pics. If you’re taking pics under artificial light, you need to compensate for the color shift of your light source and many cameras have a white balance compensation setting, other than “auto”. More sophisticated cameras allow you take a measurement of the colors your light source is sending to your model, by taking a picture of a white card (sometimes grey) as a base line for what is supposed to be pure white, which is saved as a setting in the camera. The pics you take are then color shifted accordingly to provide a neutral look, rather than one that is red looking because you used an incandescent light bulb, etc. ISO This is the sensitivity of your digital light sensor, with low numbers of 100 to 400 being the most commonly used. ISO settings in this range will give your pics the most resolution, but sometimes you need a higher ISO setting to get the pics you want under poor light. High ISO settings, however, tend to be grainy, with the higher the number the grainier the pic. My camera goes to a smoking high setting of 12,000 (and higher), but the pics will look fairly pixilated. If you have good light and a tripod, you don’t need to worry about using a high ISO setting, so you should leave it as low as possible. Flash If you own flash umbrellas and light tents, you know a heck of a lot more about photography than I ever will, but for most people who use the built-in flash on their camera, my advice is to leave the flash down and never use it. Flashes tend to totally overpower the front light of the photograph, making them look artificial and washed out. With adjustable external flashes you can bounce the light off the ceiling, etc. to create a more natural look, which might work great for some. I like to use my own external lighting so that I can see what the pic should look like before I take it, rather than what it might look like with a flash. Light metering Many cameras give you options for how the light is measured on your light sensor, from tiny “spot metering” to versions that measure a wider spectrum in your viewfinder. I generally use the spot metering option, because I can control where the lighting is measured. This isn’t all that important due to “bracketing”, which I also use. Bracketing Most of the time your pics will be properly exposed automatically, but sometimes you might want a little bit darker or lighter pic as a comparison to choose from. I used to also shoot 1 “stop” under and 1 stop over what the camera measures as correct, so that I had 3 pics for every shot, then chose the best one and deleted the other two. My camera does this automatically if I set it this way, but you can always do it manually if your camera doesn't have this capability. I sometimes find that the slightly overexposed pic is the best and sometimes it’s the under exposed one, so it's good to have choices. *HDR (High Dynamic Range) Most DSLR’s have some auto compensation for HDR, to smooth out the dark areas and very light areas of a photograph, but a true HDR photograph on my Nikon camera takes 3 different pics then stitches them together into one, automatically. This is the single biggest discovery I have made recently, that has improved my photography of models the most. To do this properly the camera should be on a tripod to eliminate camera shake, which it already is for the reasons above. The camera takes a properly exposed pic of the very bright areas, then one of the average areas, then a third of the dark areas, then combines them into just one photograph. Under strong light, close-up photography often has very light and very dark areas in the same pic, so the average of both is measured and taken, which can sometimes still look wrong. *Background Ideally, you don’t want to see anything in the background, because it can distract from the model. Having all sorts of modeling crap in the background for an in-progress shot can add some nice realism to your photography, but for a finished model, I want to see nothing but the model and maybe the diorama the model is placed on. To accomplish this on a finished model, I use a very easy and cheap background, which is a large roll of white poster paper that is placed on the flat surface like a desk or table and draped up and taped to the wall behind, so that you can’t see any folds. Since your photograph is focused on the model, the background will be slightly out of focus, achieving a nice “nothingness” to the background or as the pros call it, “Bokeh”. For in-progress shots, I usually use a blue background, which creates a strong contrast with the grey plastic parts, making them “jump out” in the pic. File Format I have some photography geek friends who tell me to always shoot my pics in “RAW” format, so that you can play with all the information the camera has recorded on a computer without the compression (and loss of data) by converting the pic to “jpg”. I don’t do that, because my pics are already huge at over 7,000 pixels across and when I shrink them down to 1,024- 1,200 pixels across to fit these forum pages, shooting in RAW is overkill. That’s just my opinion, but it is also shared by some pro photographers like this guy: RAW vs. jpeg *Computer Editing All pics can be improved and enhanced with photo editing software. Contrast, brightness, shadow compensation, histogram manipulation, color shifting, cropping and sharpening are some of the more common things tweaked after you take the pic. This step is VERY important, because every single pic I take is improved significantly by doing so. This all takes some practice to get it right and there are many software packages out there, but I quite like the standard, free and easy to use “Windows Live Photo Gallery” that comes with Windows 7 and you can also download for free for Windows 10. I’m sure there are free Apple versions that are equal, or you can step up and buy the Adobe Photoshop software if you want to get really serious, although I never have found the need so far. Now a couple of examples to show depth of field (and show off my models) : In this pic of my recent Spitfire, I am using a fairly middle of the road aperture of f-14 that is focused on the engine only. It is clear and the foreground wing is not, which brings your eye to just the engine. Here I’ve done the opposite, with a focus on the wing and fuselage only, also at f-14 For this deep shot, I’m using my maximum aperture of f-36, which keeps the front of the prop all the way back to the front of the cockpit in focus. Normally, the engine would be in focus and nothing else. Same for my Eagle. Just about everything is in focus, even though there is lots of depth and potential focus points. FYI, Here is my modeling work area and a computer screen with details of the starboard side of an F-5E, which is quite wrong on the KH kit, that I am currently changing. On the other side of the screen is my small photo-booth, where I take all of my in-progress shots. For 1/48 scale or small 1/32 models like my Spitfire, it’s all I need, including the shots of the finished model. For my huge 24” F-15C Eagle, sub-assemblies are OK, but the final shots of the model must be taken elsewhere where I can stretch out a larger background. This little booth has a small light on either side that usually provides enough lighting for my pics, especially with the HDR settings I use. For some applications where I need more light, I turn on the goose-necked lamp above as well. All lighting is diffused through the white screens and all lamps are 4-5,000K gas filled lamps as described above. Note the lint roller to the left. That blue background always has crap on it! And just for laughs, here’s a print of one of my favorite aircraft over my work area, which provided inspiration for my Spitfire build. My father had this over his own desk 40 years ago and it never gets old. Hope that helps! Chuck