Empire

Looks awesome

Thank you for your kind words. Thats right, Jake received some of my SH images for the book. Jake was also part of my team on my CVN-74 embark. It was a lot of fun to be on the trip with Jake and jakes books are by far one of the best reference books for all the scale model builders. Too bad I was so damn busy that I couldn’t fwd any Prowler images for Jakes new Prowler book. When I build my VF-31 Tomcat, I was checking the internet for reference images of the flight deck equipment. And I saw that there was nearly nothing on the net. That was the reason I did tons of images of the Flight deck stuff on my following Cruise and put it on my website for all the scale model builders. Why I stopped updating my website? Thats a loooong story. A lot of things happened after my last Cruise onboard the Enterprise. Several family members died...my Dad had trouble after my Mom died and did suicide. One of my best friends got murdered by team mates. He was an MC2 I met the first time onboard the USS Stennis. Later on he was transferred close to my home here Germany and was working for AFN in Ramstein. He was killed on Dec. 14th 2013. All this things happened within 7 months. It was more than hard to handle all that ****... All this things forced me to spent more time with my wife and my daughter. Going back to the basics and keep the focus on the important parts of life. Before Dmitry was killed, we was working together on my book project about all the Nimitz-Class Carriers in Operation. So every moment I went back to my images and try to work again on the project is damn hard for me. It brings so much moments back and I am still fighting to handle all that ****... At the moment...I am not ready for that. But I hope I could handle it in the future and update my website and finish the book project in order to dedicate that book to Dmitry... I am still in the early stages of my Foxtrott...so not much to see at the moment. But I will post some images here on LSP. Cheers and keep up your great work, Kai

Your Echo looks awesome!! I am glad You chose VFA-31 and a few of my images are useful for your project. If you need anything else, please let me know. Right now I am fighting with the 32 scale Super Hornet too...but the Trumpeter F. I spent hours and hours of thinking about a way to combine the Trumpeter with parts of the Academy Charly and the Revell Echo... Nooooot easy... Anyway...your infos are very helpful in order to see all the errors and trouble with the Revell SH. Thank you for that!! I am still in love with the Tomcatters. I was lucky enough to be on Cruise with the last Tomcats of VF-31 (onboard CVN-71) and two times with the Echos of VFA-31 (onboard CVN-71 & CVN-77). So again...if need anything, please let me know! Cheers Kai Wolter www.CombatEdgeProductions.com

not yet...sorry. Maybe in the future. Cheers Kai

Hi Mark, thanks. I am glad you like it. The wheels are made the same way as the parts for the Nozzle. With a huge cnc maschine. First we made a fullscale scan from the real 1:1 scale wheel and designed a 1:32 scale version. The details are amazing. Even the small parts like the bolts and the air filling connector is made seperate. It isn`t shown in that picture but you will see it when i continue with the gear. Cheers Kai

I was involved in that deck too...it is awesome. The problem is, Pitzmodels isn`t operational right now. So you can`t contact him or find the Website. But he will be back! But...it could need a little time. Right now, he is working on it. I will let you know as soon as he is back in business. Cheers Kai

Talking about this "little" guy? Don`t worry...we are working on that! 1:32 vs 1:18 Both are prototypes and not yet available...but let`s see what the future will have for us Cheers Kai

Thank you guys. I am glad you like it. The Engine is pure fun to build. Cheers Kai

It isn`t easy to take pictures of it...because the parts are soooo small. But from that angle, you will see that these parts are not ordinary photo etched parts. They have the correct deepness and thickness like the real parts and this isn`t possible with photo etched parts. This image shows the same parts you was talking about. These parts are the hinges on the inner side of the Feathers. The second image shows one of the parts for the Turbine section from another angle. Cheers Kai

Oh...these parts are no photoetched parts! The only photoechted parts are the Feathers itself. Everything else is made out of aluminium plates to get the correct deepness of the parts. Look closer to the first images. You will se that all the parts (incloding the bolts, Turbine and Hinges are made of real aluminium. The marks around that parts are created by the milling cutter. Cheers Kai

Some parts (like the Feathers) are treated with a hot flame from a gas burner. This will create an amazing look and so you can create the same silver, gold shine like the real Engine Feathers. When you treat the parts with the flame, the parts will become very dark. This is the color that will remain on the side for the Feathers (The area that move into each other when the Nozzle closes). The main surface on the Feathers will be sanded with very, very fine sandpaper. This will bring back the main color of the Feathers. But due to the heat you used before, it has an amazing and authentic color. Depending on the light (like the real one) it looks more silver or golden. Cheers Kai

After a quick wash with oil and grime I attached the Feathers. Beside some washes, I have not used any paint on that!! And you don`t need any paint on that outer parts! The inner section will be painted later on... Then I started the Turbine section. I painted that part with acrylics and used again various washes. The completed Turbine section. Don`t take a closer look ate the Exhaust duct. It isn`t done so far and I attached it just for the image. Later today I will continue with the Exhaust duct weathering...stay tuned. I hope you like it so far.... Cheers Kai

Here comes another update... I couldn`t continue with the Landing Gear because I had to start working on the F110 Engine. I didn`t used the kit engine or the Aires set...I received something much better... Ladies & Gentlemen...this is the Pitzmodels prototyp for the Tamiya F-16 kit. The aft Turbine section and the Exhaust duct is made of resin. All the other parts are metal. The details are amazing and it went together more than smooth. Ok, enough words...here are some images of the parts. I hope you like it. Cheers Kai

Looks awesome!! Cheers Kai