CANicoll

Craig, you continue to impress!  I fear I keep typing the same words every time I look at this thread.

Small update. Still chipping away slowly at the bomb bay mechanism. It's been a real challenge to make this work, and I've still got a long way to go to dress everything back up to the way it was, but at least it's functioning now!
 
First up was to find somewhere to put the magnets which hold the doors shut. They still need to be hidden with some kind of creative looking bracket, but you can see them in the middle of the centre bomb racks.... You don't realise how how you take using tweezers for granted until you use magnets and realise they stick to them a lot more than where you want them to go! For such a simple task, this took a lot of effort to fix them in place!
 
 
I then rebuilt the door rib detail with a steel strip along the inboard face to give the magnets something to cling to, other than my tweezers....... 
 
 
Man there is some horrible ejector pin marks to try and eliminate..... still working on those!
 
And success!!!! Both doors remain closed, but are easy enough to pop open again. Not sure how much heavier they'll get once they're skinned and painted, so I may need another set of magnets, but for now they work
 
 
 
It's hard to describe the amount of effort it took to make the above photo possible!
 
The actuators have been soaking in the burnishing solution. While burnishing the brass solved one problem with not having to paint them, it presented another with the shaft surface becoming quite rough, making the movement though the actuators not as smooth as I would have liked, but it can be done with care. I'll still call that a win for its complexity!
 
 
 
I'll still have to do some painting of them, but it least the fluid covered most of the parts. As you can see then doors and hinge areas still need a lot of work to make them presentable, but the fact that the bomb doors can now be positioned either open or closed as required is a huge step forward! Hopefully I'll have these all sorted soon and I can get onto running some more details in the bay, such as the hydraulic system and some electrical "shields." 
 
That's all for now team, but rest assured there's always something happening!
 
Craig
 
 

Wow, very cool!  Well done

My biggest issue is going to be the front controls since they are twice as small as what I have completed so far, If I have issues with this I may have to scale this up about 50%.
I learned a lot with this when it comes to printing with this project, Have a feeling this going to be a lesson in skills more then a completed project.

After a long hiatus I'm back at the bench, I found this work at "The Art Station" and wanted to try to 3D print it, the following is where i am at so far. I have about half designed and printed so far.
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

I love this technique!  Well done and I'll be delighted to copy it.  Looks GREAT.  Chris

I tried to create multiple shades of BMF Aluminum using several Alclad shades of lacquer on my CF-104 build almost 2 years ago.  Rather than re-describe everything here, the link to the painting portion starts about here:
 
Alclad BMF Painting sequence
 
While not perfect, you can certainly get a very interesting contrast of Polished Aluminum, Dull Aluminum, Titanium- and many other shades in between.
 

 
 
 
HTH
 
Cheers,
Chuck

I received two sets of Trumpeter legs from Ali this morning. These sets are just SUPERB!
 
I genuinely believe he's outdone himself on this occasion. The brass legs are smooth, strong and great-looking. The 3-D printed parts are tiny and beautifully-done, too.  They are a very big upgrade from Trumpy's kit-supplied legs and well-worth the money, IMHO.  
 
Cheers. 
 
Chris. 

Yup.

Pretty fed up with grown men histrionics frankly. Does the membership no favours when the only minuscule expectation is simply to be civil with each other.

SMH

Matty

Looks very good to me. Thanks for the photos.

Guys,
additionnal information from Jean-Claude Mermet ("Jicehem") following his complete review of the box contain: (always under his own control and permission)
 
"It is, undeniably, a very nice kit of very high quality (in appearance, because I will not test the assembly tomorrow; I have too many other models to finish...). The advices given throughout the manual, let you know that this is a "serious" kit that requires a lot of attention and a lot of thought (I advise those who don't master the English language, to have the explanations translated...)
Everything, or almost everything, is provided to build any version from the G-6 to the G-14: the two fin and rudder assemblies are proposed, the "original" and the "enlarged". ZM advises only to assemble the "original", to correspond to the aircraft of Hartmann or Anton Kellmayer.
By conviction, reinforced by the documents in my possession, I would advise to whoever wants to assemble a true G-14 and not a G-6MW50, to use the enlarged fin-rudder assembly (G-14/U4 or not) with the base of the rudder rounded or pointed and obligatorily, the canopy known as "Erla". It should be noted that Hartmann also flew a G-6 retrofitted with the "Erla" canopy with the antenna mast onto the fuselage. It is possible to make a simple G-6, as the MG 151/20 axial is present among the parts, as well as the original canopy.
Miscellaneous comments:
-- The 56-page manual, 49 of which concern the assembly itself, is very "telling".
-- Two sprues (E and F) are apparently planned in two copies, but I do not see what the use would be...
-- The engine ( sprue E) is a fairly complete model by itself. It lacks the flexible piping and the engine control devices... Thanks to drawer molds, the ends of the exhaust pipes are hollow.
-- For a real G-14, even if the legend says that the FuG 16 ZY was removed on many G-14s (that's not knowing its exact function!), I advise to add the Morane antenna under the left wing, ignoring the 3-4. G advice in order to be able to place the N-29 part there.
-- An error: the wing dihedral is 5,5° in relation to the wing plane and not to the undersurfaces. These last ones reach almost 8° of dihedral! I do not think that this was reflected on the model; it would be catastrophic for the final rendering of the Bf 109...
-- The angles given in Fig. 3-4 are superfluous for the main gear legs; knowing the track in mm, at the point of contact of the wheels, the leg angle will naturally be at the right value. The same applies to the forward angle of the gear.
-- For a WNF aircraft (G-x/U4), you should not forget to remove the extra hatch on the right side of the fuselage (It is indicated on p. 24 above)."
 
and as in his text the dihedral angle has been pointed, I must let you know what Radu (Brinzan ) replied about that:
"Thank you Jean-Claude for the review. There is indeed an issue with the dihedral as illustrated in the manual, which, as you pointed out, is described as "5 degrees". The correct dihedral that should be written there is actually 7.21 degrees (6.32 degrees along the centre of the spar). That was my mistake, I did the proofreading of the manual and I should have spotted it. The kit parts have the correct dihedral and they are based on factory drawings, so the "issue" is only with the text.
Radu"
 

IIRC Vincent and Radu go way back to MDC; maybe sequentially.  Each produced various product that were accurate and fun to build with. I own many of them including the full kits. Vincent was my Bf-109 go to guy when the Hasegawa kit was released years ago. I still have his notes about a number of necessary modifications related to each variant.  The K was the
most eye opening. Both are very talented men. 

Hi All
here in France, we also are very interested with this outstanding kit and we can discuss with Jean-Claude Mermet.
I got the authorization from his side to let you know his first impress and first conclusion after he received the kit.
(694) 1/32 infos sur futur 109 G-14/U4 Zoukei Mura - Page 6 (forumactif.com)
 
"Conclusion:
As the cowlings 030, 040 and 050 (according to my nomenclature) are present among the parts, it is possible to assemble the following models, mentioning only the exterior look (For the interior, it's a different matter!) :
-- G-6 standard (Original canopy and 030 engine cowlings) without the "Compressed Air" hatch in section 5 of the fuselage on the right.
-- G-6/U4 (original canopy and 030 engine cowlings) without the "Erla" hatch of the G-6/U2 on the right.
-- G-6/U2 (original canopy and 040 engine cowlings) with additional "Erla" hatch on the right.
-- G-6MW50 (040 engine cowlings) without the "Compressed Air" hatch of MK 108.
-- G-6MW50/U4 (040 engine cowlings) with the "Compressed Air" hatch of the MK 108.
-- G-14 (040 engine cowlings) with "Erla" canopy and tall fin and rudder assembly.
-- G-14/U4 (040 engine cowlings) with "Erla" canopy and tall fin and rudder assembly.
-- G-6MW50 from Erla ( 050 engine cowlings) and large tailplane but without the MK 108's "Compressed Air" hatch..."
as you can see very promising,
 
Hope this helps

Nick, some people can't just take a break, they must make a statement. Too bad really, but this is a first look at a new kit, so we'll get more in the next little while.
I'm in for this kit, and want an F as well.

It was late, I was knackered, I blame the French.

Since the other topic on this kit got closed, I thought I'd start a new one, and I hope this time the discussion is not as contentious please.
 
Good news.  I got mine today .
 

 
Packed outside the box were these two extras, a pin on badge for the Skyraider, and the resin figure to represent Erich Hartman.
 

 
As usual, I unpacked it and checked the parts sprues catalogued on the last page and this is where I ran into an uh-ho moment.  The instruction set says the box contains two of sprues (or runners) E and F.  I've only got one of each
 

 
But the good news is that this is a mis-print and not an error in packing the box.  I can't quite see why I might need duplicates of runners E and F considering this model has but one engine and tail.  I've been through all five of the Old Man Blogs showing the build of this kit and these only show one of each of these runners needed.  Then I got onto the Z-M website and see that they've published a correction to the instruction set, so panic over.
 
On a happier note, I've had a look at all the parts and a first pass through the instruction sheet.  I've seen the pictures of the kit on the Old Man Blogs, but that doesn't compare to getting the kit in my own hands.    It really is that good and I have to take my hat off to Radub and all the team at Zoukei Mura for their work on this model.  To say outstanding seems inadequate and I believe this is far and away the best 109 ever done in this scale, perhaps any scale.  Really great work,   I think we don't need to worry any more about Tamiya not producing any more of their top notch kits, because Zoukei Mura have filled that spot, and then some.
 
I didn't order any of the extras at this moment, as the etch interior is not yet available.  When it is, I'll be adding the etch cockpit set and turned gun and pitot sets, as these will improve my build of this kit.  My skills are not up to the sort of standard that I can do as well as these additional parts using the kit parts.
 
As per Vincents review of the kit, it also looks possible to build other variants, so I will be purchasing more of these.  Thankfully there's lots of suitable decals on the market to cater for this.  If more variants are released, then the permutations of the different Gustav builds will be as complex as the real thing, especially with the left over parts in this kit.  I'm also looking forward to see what others do with this kit, so let the WIP topics begin!!
 
 
Cheers,
Michael

I've had (or do have) a couple of their kits, but haven't built any yet. Now I'm hankering for a Su-17/22.

Congrats!  At least you didn't get the P-39 which was the worst-fitting and engineered kit I have ever built.  Seems like several people I know who built the kit all had different problems putting it together.  But that was one of their earlier kits.  The newer kits are seeing much better reviews.  Good luck!

Chris

I love this technique!  Well done and I'll be delighted to copy it.  Looks GREAT.  Chris

How many vehicles had you collected behind you in the hour it must have taken you to do that two miles?

Beautiful job, William!  your build is terrific (love your added details) but putting into a simple scene really adds a lot - great job!
 
Chris

It’s got some markings on it, and I used a highly thinned & lightened coat of each base colour to ‘bleach’ the decals a little.
Photo’s of similar examples have shown them to be bleached almost white, and with practically no markings on them apart from national insignia, and a few warnings around the nose. I didn’t want to go that far with the weathering of it. 

I to love the paint job! Looks worn and faded already. Nic blends between colors. Has a soft look to it, no sharp edges anywhere.

Viper 6.
Not one of my better construction efforts, but I’m loving the paint job. I can get a move on with decals now they’ve turned up. 
 
6 painted, 3 to go. And I absolutely won’t build another 1/32 F-16 again……..honest!

Temporary stands made and jets posed dynamically.