Out2gtcha

Most excellent! The paint looks terrific

Unfortunately, it appears Model Monkey will no longer be shipping to the UK:
 
"We regret to announce that we will no longer be accepting orders from UK customers due to new unsupportable Brexit-related VAT and other Brexit-related administrative requirements.
 
As a U.S. online retailer, we have just been informed of several new Brexit-related financial and administrative burdens.  Under the new rules, first, we are now required to register for a VAT number and create an online account from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in order to deliver e-commerce orders into the UK.  After receiving a VAT number, we will be required to collect all VAT fees from our UK buyers at time of product purchase (presently 20%), then forward those fees to the appropriate UK agency every 3 months.  This VAT fee was previously being completed when a parcel entered the UK, typically with the buyer having to pay VAT to release the package from Customs.  The new WTO rules pushes that VAT tax collection burden to the online retailer in the U.S. who is exporting the product to the UK.  We would also be required to pay any transaction fees associated with the electronic transfer of collected VAT to the UK government.
 
Additionally, the new rules require us to make our company's financial records available to UK government inspection upon demand.
 
Unfortunately, as a small vendor, we are not staffed or resourced to comply with these new administrative requirements and financial burdens and have therefore decided, with deep regret, to stop selling to UK customers.
 
Hopefully, UK Brexit-related requirements will be eased in the near future and we can resume selling to our valued UK friends "across the pond".
 
I am very sorry for the disappointment.
 
Sincerely,
Steve Larsen
Owner, Model Monkey LLC"
 
Not really grand news, but hopefully things will ease or change all together with the VAT. 
 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand were done!!
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
I'll take some proper RFI pics this weekend.
 
I can HIGHLY recommend this Meng kit. I took it way, WAY slower than I should have, but after about 20 min of overall correction work for the warpped wings, it was a joy of a kit.
 
Cheers and thanks to those who dropped in on me! 

Thanks Matt, and yes, just looking to finish this one up with dignity at this point. The trip we are taking in about a week and a half has me pressing to fix mechanical issues with our tow vehicle, on top of seasonal prep work to get our trailer ready for the off-road season ahead. 
 
All of this has kept me busy on all of my days off, but I did manage to sneak at least a few nights work in on the little tripe. Nearly the entire thing is completed save adding the lower aileron braces, landing gear rigging, prop and aileron control lines as well as final assembly. I figure about 1 more good nights session and it should be finished.
 
I was trying to get the little tripe finished up while enjoying some British telly with the wife but my 19 lber and my 26lber decided to pull a Ying & Yang right where I was trying to build on the coffee table, so had to pack up and head back to the main bench (nothing but terrestrial radio down there atm)
 

 
 
 
 
After heading back to the bench, I got the rudder added as well as the OOB machine guns that I had built previously. After annealing, and painting, these really didnt turn out too bad.
The lower wing spare and lower panel were attached and all the weathering that Im going to do to the model is now done. I would have to have supposed that Voss's machine lived a fairly short life and wouldnt have had anything too severe, so I didnt want to go overboard. Besides, heavy weathering or damage didnt match any photos I have of Voss's kite.
Anywho on with the pics:
 
Engine complete and ready to be attached to that tiny fuselage:
 

 
 
(crappily aligned pic sorry bout that)
 

 
 
 
 
Engine is setting in place atm:
 

 
 
 
 
Painting, let alone weathering prior to assembly is super foreign to me, and WWI stuff is always an exercise to some degree, out of my comfort zone.
 

 

 

 
 

 

 
 
 
 
I really do like the look of the shiny oil and leak weathering over the flat fabric. The contrast always to me gives more realism
 

 
 
 
 
My cell camera is old now, and starting to do funny things. I guess the angels approve of the fit of the top wing as much as I do.....just looks like some odd "heavenly"
type light treatment.
 

 
 
 
 
That could also be used to describe the actual fit of the entire kit honestly. People are going to have to give me some definitive proof that this isn't WnW engineering with fit like this.
All 3 wings fit basically perfectly in place, and perfectly in relation to each other. The top wing is just set on yet still fits and aligns perfectly with the fuselage and the other two wings:
 

 

 
 
 
 
Even with all the silvering (which is much less evident with the whole model together, as it really takes attention to the overall look) I must admit that it still turned out to be a very attractive, if all be it not super well done model.
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
This is the last installment prior to finishing this little guy up. It was fun! Id HIGHLY recommend this kit to anyone who wants a tripe, and is willing to put in about 20 min worth of hot water correcting. 
 
Thanks lads, and will hopefully have this one finished off long before we leave on our trip on the 29th of this month. 
 
Cheers! 

Well here we are gents. This is about as good as its going to get. The effect seems lessened in pics, but as a builder, even when I dont plan on entering contests with a model, I still build them to be contest ready.....................
This one just didnt turn out that way, and thats Ok. My late father was a believer in "cant win em all" and this was a MoJo builder to start, so I might as well just finish it and get the build done as well as I can.
 
Here we are. All the massive silvering all over the model, along with the flat clear on the fabric areas makes the effect slightly less noticable:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
The fuselage and especially cowl turned out better than I had hoped, and the paint match seemed good. I left the semi-gloss sheen of the MRP olive green paint on the metal areas, as I love the contrast of the semi-shiny metal areas VS the flat wood and fabric areas:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
Its on to forging ahead with the ammo chutes, guns and and the various supports and few bits of rigging.
 
Cheers! 
 
 

I broke out the landing gear wing that houses the axle and got that glued up. The fit here too was MOST excellent, but of course having giant hams for fists doesnt help.
Snapped off the port axle with ease:
 

 
 
 
 
So far, one of the very few weak spots in the kit Ive found other than the already known wing warp and broken cockpit piece. Fortunately, the axle issue was easily solved by cutting off the other axle, then flush cutting and sanding of both sides, then used a center punch to center up a hole on each side and drill it out with an appropriately sized drill bit.
 
Also of note, this is the wider landing gear wing. There is a narrower one including with the kit that is meant for Richthofen's kite only.  Next I inserted a section of solid brass rod:
 

 

 
 
 
 
After measuring cutting and sanding flush the rod to the correct length, I used a fine sanding stick to round off the outer edges, then glued the rod in with some thin CA
 

 

 
 
 
 
The end result is not too bad with things just dry fit:
 

 

 
 
 
 
Then it was time for a fairly major step (or as major as a step can be for an itty bitty thing like the DR.1). After a lot of dry fitting, the middle wing was glued into position permanently. 
The fit was once again exceptional in most all aspects, even fitting the broken starboard side cockpit part back on.
Just a bit of finish sanding will bring things all together before painting, which in this case will eventually be MRP bleached linen:
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
I then cut all 4 inter-wing struts off the spues and cleaned them all up. They fit into each wing in a specific keyed manor, so there is no getting them in the wrong place either. 
I dry fit them on, along with the top wing to see how things would look with the corrected warp taken out of things. The little guy looks pretty good!
 
Things came a LOOOOOOONG way in under 30 years:
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
All for now lads, Im hoping to finish up the ancillary parts to getting the main airframe ready for paint. In typical WWI fashion, one usually has to paint and/or decal these things in separate sub-assemblies. 
Normally I do NOT like to work like that, but with WWI aircraft being biplanes that usually need a LOT of rigging (DR.1/F.1 being an exception) or in this case, having a LOT of major decals to apply, painting the model while generally disassembled is really the only way to do it. 
 
Cheers! 
 
 
 
 
 

Nice, I've always wanted to build a Has N model. Looking forward to more progress.

Yep, I've got the new Mengnut F.1/DR.1 on the bench atm, and have just finished shooting a coat of MRP bleached linen.
I pretty much had the entire thing assembled including all three wings using nothing but the snap fit of the 4 outer braces and the two inner fuselage to upper wing braces.
 
I might pick up a Meng 24th kit, but I'll definitely be buying and building another 3nd kit. Hopefully this one is a scale up of the 3nd one, as that one fits amazingly well. 

You matter!
 
Until you multiply yourself times the speed of light, then you energy.     

Thanks gents!
 
Indeed, we are in fact our own worst critics, but the silvering is not as noticeable now with the completed model. I think the interesting sheens and colors help draw your eye away from it.
 
More real RFI pics to come!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand were done!!
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
I'll take some proper RFI pics this weekend.
 
I can HIGHLY recommend this Meng kit. I took it way, WAY slower than I should have, but after about 20 min of overall correction work for the warpped wings, it was a joy of a kit.
 
Cheers and thanks to those who dropped in on me! 

Smashing build! The open panel areas are real attention getters
 

My Mirage N set arrived, and I must say, they look wonderful in person. For me, there is no way, like NO WAY I could do anything better, even on my best day. There is to me still an element to adding these correctly, and then doing the rest of the pit justice, so for me, this is the only way to go I can. 

Wouldn't THAT be a once in a lifetime trip

W O W!!!
 
 
I JUST saw her!!!!!!  I had no idea what she was...............only that it was the "worst paint Id ever seen" on a flying C-47.   Her paint was thrashed, but she was parked front and center at OshKosh this past week for AirVenture 2015.   I have some pics somewhere..............

Yep, Carl is right, most of the sweetheart bays I've seen have been aluminum. I went w/bare aluminum on mine as well some gizmology:
 

 
 

Looks great!   But yes, IIRC I think Richard is correct in the landing gear fairing was plywood and made in an upper and lower half sections

Hogan's Heroes?

200% brother.....
On both accounts.   

200% brother.....
On both accounts.   

200% brother.....
On both accounts.   

Any watch enthusiasts here? 
 
In this photo, he is presumably wearing his Omega Speedmaster on his right wrist (he was a lefty?)
 
Note the bracelet: does not look correct for the watch at that time!  
 
Maybe he put his own bracelet on his Speedy.  I found this interesting.
 

 

The only human being, dead or alive, not contained within the frame of this photograph was Michael Collins. Truly an exceptional life.

Sad. I'll always remember him as the loneliest man in space, at least during the Apollo mission.

"Master of the Air" is an AppleTV production? Why the F**** is that? The other two were HBO. Now I'll have to subscribe to another #$&*^%$@#! streaming service to watch it. This is getting worse than cable TV was. I'm about to drop them all and just quit watching TV altogether.
 
Oh, and Apple can go to hades anyway.