Tnarg

Hi,
 
some progress on my Hansa. It shows that I am on vacation at the moment.
 
Overall view:

 
Aviattic´s great fabric decals in use. :-)

 
The floats were weathered in a basin with dirty salt water. Just like the real thing! :-)

A few more.

Another one. Hope you like it so far.
 
Regards,
 
Troy

Different angle. Hope you like it.
 
Troy

Some painting going on here. A couple hours of free time to dive into some airbrushing.
 
I applied A creamy color of RLM 76 (sometimes referred to as RLM 84). I also rushed to apply and Some RLM 82 and 83 in all the excitement. Maybe too soon. I'll need to do some major clean up. Hmmmm.
 
I need to clean up a lot of mottling, so don't look too closely! The JG-26 bands will need a light sanding.
On the topic of wings. I plan to apply some RLM 77 (primer) and keep the flight controls a solid color and hope to do a solid RLM 75 leading edge and some minimal camoflage with the primer exposed. The wings aren't attached yet. I have two pins going through the fuselage into the wings.
 
It been a lot of fun so far. The missles have a lot of color variation and I'm just starting on them now. Some great references on line. I hope to add a few more picture to my tread tonight before heading off to work tomorrow.
 
Cheers.
 
Troy

Some update, and I confess I did not think it would take that long.
 
Life has been a bit hectic lately, with 2 (out of 8) of my employees on sick-leave for some serious health problems. One of them is the sales secretary, and the replacement matrix of the company has planned that, when she is out, her replacement is the boss, i.e. me ! Now, managing the sales administration side of my business for a few days is OK, but when it lasts for weeks, I am starting to be slightly overstretched. I have hired a temp to replace her while she undergoes treatments, but she needed some time to get up-to-speed, and then it was me who had to enter the hospital for a (scheduled) minor surgery (the same day as our secretary's more serious operation btw)
 
Anyway, I was back at home this friday, and could make some progress on the Sesquiplane, working on the cockpit details. Remember this is mostly conjectural, based on interpretations of the NiD-29 manual, some blurry pics, and the interprettation of wrecks of NiD-29s. And then a lot won't be visible, but I still wanted to try my best, first for the fun of it, and second to try to improve a few techniques, like soldering and turning small metal parts on my lathe. In short, I have tried to see how much I could be "Airscalised" .
 
So here is what I have done over the last weeks , first with a general overview, then some details :
 

 
- two rudder bars. On the NiD-29 they were tubes sliding differentially, with simple cross-members for foot-rests. I did these by soldering some 0,8 mm dia brass tubes and rods They are linked by a cable, so I had to add this one, with the pulleys for the angle returns. The rudder bars are held horizontal by sliding in rails that are fixed to the inside of the fuselage shells. These are simple pieces of copper sheet, cut and bent into shape with the "etch-folder" from Mission Models. When possible these brass parts were blackened by immersing them in Uschi's "blackening solution". It is not as effective on solder, though, and definitely won't act where there is a film of CA glue on the part.
 
- A "leather" seat-cushion, made with epoxy paste bought in a DiY store,
 
- The joystick, with the elevators and ailerons controls. Here again, mostly soldered brass tubes and rods. The grip is a piece of toothpick turned on the mini-drill and drilled to slide over the brass tube of the joystick
 

 
- The throttle quadrant, cut and filed in 0,4 mm thick brass sheet, with the throttle lever and richness levers added, made out of brass cut and filed into shape. The whole throttlel was assembled using Scale Hardware micro bolts and nuts  (yeah I know what you think  when you read "nuts" )
 

 
- For a good measure, I also did a priming pump : a piece of brass rod soldered in a T-shape, and sild into a bigger diameter brass tube. Not sure it existed on this aircraft, but prototypical of the era.
 
- Finally, I did the instrument panel made of a central panel and two angled panels. The instruments were turned on a lathe, with the face slightly recessed from the outer rim. I then added Airscale WWI dials. A first attempt to glass these over with "Soliq" (a UV-curing glue, like "Bondic in other countries) was not very succesful. It never fully cured, and started to dissoble the decals fo the instruments faces. These were removed and replaced, and the "glazing done with Tamiya X-22 clear vanish. When looking at the angled panels, it seemed to me that having the instrument faces parallel to the panels would have induced unbearable parallax issues for the pilot, so I glued most fo them in place facing the line of flight, by drilling angled recesses for them in the panels. I also added two control knobs truned in brass rod, with small dia levers. one is supposed to represent the magneto button, the other one the lever that controlled the Lamblin radiators by-pass.
 

 

 
Finally the lap-belts were done using some lead foil from a Champagne bottle, doing the buckles by shaping and soldering some micro-brass rob.
 
Il also painted the inside of the fuselage to try to represent some wood, as well as the seat, using acrylics, Windsor & Newton oils and Posca paint pens. I am not really satisfied by my work, but the it may be passable when viewed through the small cockpit opening.
 

 

 
One issue I have just discovered though (why did I not think to do this check earlier   ?) . The NiD-29 was made of tulip wood. This has a very yellowish and light color, not at all the reddish hue my "wood" has. I am pondering whether I should strip the paint and redo it, or leave it as is . Most likely, I will keep it "as is", to move on.
 
I have also done the blanking panels supoosed to represent the engine cylinders blocks through the exhaust oepenings on the sides.
 
Finally, although the white-metal prop is a very good representation of the original prop, I have decided to replace it with a genuine wooden prop. At least I will not have to try to represent wood by semi-successful painting attempts. The original propo was made of laminations of wood. So will be my scale one. I have sanded to the proper thickness 3 strips of walnut (an heritage of ship-modelling days), and pressed-glued them together with an offset angle, as per the original practice. The props will be carved and shaped from this blank. More on that later :
 

 
That's all for now folks. Keep-on modelling
 
Hubert

Maru, here ya go, hope this isnt too off topic....but im thinking its about as off topic as one could get....lol, but ya asked.
 
Here is how the car looks now, I hope to have it registered and driving late this summer. The car is a tribute to my wifes uncle, as he built a car in the 50s that looked exactly like this, and won the "Americas Most Beautiful Roadster" award in 1955. We started with nothing but a rusted shell of a body, and I have done all the work myself with some help from my family. Hope to have it completely done within 2 years (paint, chrome, upholstery, ect) Thanks for asking about our car.
 

 
Photo of the car we are duplicating in 1957 with both of my wifes uncles, from a feature article in Hot Rod Magazine June 1957.
 

Hope you like ..  good fun.
 
 

If they do the "Bloody Paralyzer", might we also see a Sikorsky le Grand? For us wild and crazy guys...
 
Tnarg

Well, it's been quite a while since I posted anything, but maybe this will explain why. Over the last 9 years Alan Bussie (Old Model Kits) and I have been researching, designing, developing, and building this model of the Normandie Ocean Liner as it was originally constructed. I am not a ship builder, and will probably never do another one. But, this was extremely educational and fun? to design and create a model where none existed before.
 
There are some great one-off models of this ship in various scales, but most reflect the ship as it appeared after the 1937 upgrading. This model represents the ship as it was configured for its first transatlantic crossing. The research itself was exhausting and created many "Engineering Change Notices" during the design process. The 3D model was designed in TurboCad software, converted to stereo lithography (STL) files, then sent to various 3D printing services. The 3D printed models were then used to make molds for pouring resin. Insight made beautiful photo-etched frets for the PE parts. Scale Decks made the wood decking. I took one set of kit parts and built this model to make sure my instructions were correct, and that all the parts fit the way they should. Construction took about 6 months.
 
Now, back to some LSP's.......
 

 

 

 

 

 

If I had to chose decals for a Tunnan, this would be the United Nations scheme. I don't think I am remembering another fighter painted with large UN letters!

That seems rather BOLD of you to suggest, but I will apparently need to save my cash for the forthcoming resin Tunnan.
 
Tnarg
 
Or was that Czech instead of cash? Good stuff either way...

Any Saab in 1/32 is a great thing, even rumors of a Saab.
 
He want his Viggens and Drakens.
 
Tnarg

I'd like to take a shot at this GB. I had great hopes with a project for the "What if" GB, but shortly after starting that model things went off the rails and that one has been shelved. The little resin Pitts continues to slowly march towards completion, but at this point I need something relatively simple to keep things fun.
 
I have had this kit in the stash for a long time - it is the 1987 boxing - and I have always wanted to model one of the planes stationed in Hawaii. Some time ago I managed to find the Super Scale decal set that includes the appropriate markings, so at this point I just need to get on with it.
 
The Plane (Photo is in the Public Domain). Based on my references the two fuselage bands and the cowling are gold; the fuselage and landing gear are blue; the wings, vertical and horizontal stabilizer are yellow. The rudder is dark blue with red and white stripes.
 

 
The Box:
 

 

 
Unstarted kit - trees still in original plastic bag:
 

 
Super Scale Decal sheet:
 

 
Yep - this is the entire kit. Two trees. No resin. No etch. Straight out of the box on this one. Ok, there's going to be some rigging, but hey, it shouldn't be all that hard, right...?   
 

 
 
Thanks for watching.
 
Cheers!
 
John.

Lukasz has just sent me some images of the schemes that will be included in this kit:
 

 

 

 
Kev

Any news on this one?

Big Boss Man at Reno. That's the one for me.
 
Maybe Draw Decal will print those? (too much white detail in the decals for a home printer to attempt).
 
Tnarg

The designers of the F4B-4 and the other Hasegawa planes of the 30's actually had their eyes open. They made a copy of what they saw in miniature. They didn't do so well inside the plane, where you aren't usually looking, but the exterior looks very fine.
 
Why is it that everything is "perfect" and smooth, when the metal prototype sometimes has subtle wrinkles and dimples, long before stress cracks could cause fatigue and damage. Why can the molds be cut with a tool to leave completely vertical standing posts in the metal to create all those giant holes representing rivets but they can't cut a round hole in the metal to represent a domed rivet actually looking like the real thing? It would seem easier to program the machine with a simple model of the shape and go in after to add rows of rivets, still removing metal from the mold and adding to the plastic like the old days. That would seem to be the "lazy" way out. Or maybe we are just too lazy to use Archer rivets to fix those details.
 
I think that it takes time and real effort to do it right, and "close enough" is good enough for many managers. The designer and artist may be driven from an internal desire for perfection, making a good of first intent, one that you would pay to have the privilege of creating. The manager and bean counter (accountant, lawyer, etc.) is more motivated to create a good of second intent, or one that someone will pay you to create. That drives the desire to make it only as good as you can get away with, while separating the customer from their cold hard cash.
 
On occasion we see that the drive for goods of first intent comes from the top, such as Wingnut Wings. For example, G Factor gear versus their competitor seems to be a perfect illustration of the contrast. G Factor gear have the strength and detail required for a metal gear with no worries about shape or security. The competing product may be strong enough for a 1/72 kit, but the weight of a 1/32 kit could just bend the gear over. One bend to straighten that alternative gear sometimes breaks the gear in two. And don't expect any detail even compared to the original plastic. It boggles the mind why anyone would buy a second example, but they seem to sell quite a few.
 
That same "sell quite a few" keeps less than "perfect" companies in production. Some of our number like to make their own perfection, starting with crude beginnings (like vac form kits) and others are very happy with something close enough to the correct shape and details, because their creativity finds expression in the colors or history and not in the subtle detail. I still find myself wanting better surface details, but understand that others might prefer another choice.
 
Tnarg

Was just over looking at the comments re the new Tempest....talk was about the divots...when there were some raised rivets on the real deal..Ok.
           Here is the Hasegawa F4B-4  from back in the day....great detail...for an aircraft that had raised rivets..you know my opinion,believe we should have better surface detail representing flush rivets as well as fasteners and access panels.....bla bla bla..
 
BLACK...Overlapping panels
GREEN....Recessed panel lines
RED.......Raised access hatches
BLUE....Screw head fasteners.
And of course nicely scaled rivets.
A total of five different surface details..today we normally get two,recessed panel lines and a bucket of holes.
 



 
This is very possible today...How many have a kit in their stash that has overlapping panels,recessed panel lines,nice fasteners and hatches as well as scaled rivets??....I looked in mine and couldn't find one.
So my point..and many will disagree...why are we still so happy with holes all over our scale aircraft when the technology is here to better represent what was...inistead of, "They look ok if you fill them with a wash."
Break out the torches and pitchforks.
 
PS...Just ordered the Fly Hurricane,check it out.

...so I've been gone awhile and decided to come back.
For those who don't remember me I thot I'd need to
prove that I do actually build (tho incredibly slowly)
This is my last LSP, Trumpeters F8F-2 as the first
winner of the Reno Nationals Unlimited Division in 1964,
known as Smirnoff 80. I made the decals myself.
 

 

 
As always, feel free to comment in any way.
Mike

Some additional photos of the 'Old Ironsides III' project...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ground crew cannibalized and converted from multiple sets...
 

 

 
'Scratched' M5 Bomb trailer & 100lb Practice bombs...
 

 

 

 
Some 50. cal ammo boxes and armorer...
 

 

 

 

 

Thank you Guy's, I'm overwhelmed by the response...
 
So I've tried doing some photoshop 'magic' on one of the photos, to get it to look like Corsica, rather than my garden...
 

 
Tell me what you think?

I'd like the Sea Harrier from that southern conflict and GR-3's from Belize, too. They would pull me away from the pre-1940's interests that pretty much dominate everything I go after.
 
Tnarg

Have you got a copy of "The Speed Seekers"? I can check my copy once I get home this evening to see what detail it has. This is the most likely book I can think of to have some detail on this plane. I do recall a section covering the several examples of the Nieuport racers, and it looks like one is featured on the cover in Amazon's listing (USA listing). The book mostly covers just before the 30's, so it misses some of the colorful ones from that decade, but the early racers have some good detail.
 
I checked on Amazon (USA) and saw a few copies for under $7, which would be a great deal. Not sure what postage would cost you though...    https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0385060505/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
 
Tnarg