steinerman

Nice going Squizzy!! What you've done looks super! These big battle wagons are a lot of work, but the fact that you can add so much detail really makes them special! Only problem is even with ships this size, a lot of the PE parts are still minuscule in size. Takes a good magnifying glass and lots of wine to build one of these baby's!

Very nice!! I'm impressed! This is a hard paint job to pull off, yet you did an excellent job!

Howdy! Before I go to bed I thought I'd post a few more pictures of my USS Missouri (The Mighty MO, or, as I call it, my "Monster Mo") Like I said, I started out doing the guns first, and then progressed to the larger of the sub-assemblies. Each one is kinda like a little model in itself and I figured that if I screwed up something on one of these it wouldn't be as bad as messing up the hull itself. Here are the MK37 gun directors. There are 4 of them on this ship and each one consists of 41 tiny brass parts and 10 plastic/resin parts. It took me several days each to build and paint these and yes, the little port covers do open and close! The next thing I tackled are the two airplane catapults. The (4) Iowa class batttleships carried spotter float planes on the stern during the war and they were launched from the stern of the main deck on (2) catapults that were fired by dummy 5" rifle charges. These ships also had a crane at the stern that was used in retrieving the float planes as they returned to the ship. I also took a picture of the catapults before I painted them so you could see the amount of brass detail that went into these sub-assemblies. Each catapult has 6 plastic parts and 47 individual brass parts, and each one is only 4-1/4" long (108mm). The two carriages off to the right are the cradles that the float planes are launched from. Once the catapults were built, painted, and safely stored away, I turned to the crane. Again, this had to be built up from individual tiny framing pieces (44 brass; 3 plastic). For a ship that is four and a half feet long, there sure is a helluva lot of tiny parts that go into it. Tweezers, a good magnifying glass and a class of wine nearby are a must, believe me!! Plus, Pontos instructions aren't the most easiest things in the world to understand. For example, here are their instructions for assembling the rotating drive mechanism for the catapults. Clear as mud, huh? OK, the next thing I did was to build the 36" searchlights and the cable reels. The searchlights were fairly straightforward except that the insides were painted silver and a drop of white glue was added to simulate the bulb. Also, the Eduard PE set had 8 grab-irons for each of the 4 lights (4 in front and 4 in back). The cable reels however needed some sprucing up. For the (4) large reels I wrapped very thin copper wire that I tore out of an old TV set years ago around the empty reel and then glued it in place and painted it flat black. For the 8 smaller ones, I took a round toothpick and wound a single layer around the length, then glued it, painted it, and cut it into 8 lengths that would fit in the brass cradle. Looks a lot better than just an empty cradle, don't you think? OK, the last thing I want to show you tonight are the MK51 Gun directors. Each of the 40mm Quad Bofors gun platforms had a MK51 gun director associated with it. These were not very complex, but they were so damn tiny the parts kept snapping off my tweezers. Here is one of them before painting with a dime alongside for reference. I know you're going to think I'm anal, but the two handles of these buggers are painted brown! OK, as Bugs Bunny used to say; "That's All Folks!" (For tonight, anyway!) Thanks for looking. Lar

Evenin' gents. I didn't get much of a chance to do anything on my model today. My wife wanted the lower bedroom painted and I've been working on that. And tomorrow I have to seal the exposed aggregate sidewalk around the side of the garage, so that's going to seriously cut into my play time as well. Ask me about the joys of owning a house - and having a wife with an endless Honey-Do list!!! Anyway, I did manage to get a half hour or so on this kit. As you can see, I didn't get very far, but I an starting to sand and fill the seams. Now it's sand, fill, examine, repeat. Not gonna be a lot of fun for a while, but hey, the results will be worth it, I hope! Later, guys. Thanks for looking. Lar

Hi Guys, It's me again. I must be crazy as a loon for starting two build logs at the same time, but I figured that hey, since I'm building both models at the same time, why not? Besides, I've been working on my USS Missouri since the fall of 2015 and I have a lot of catching up to do here. Luckily, I've been posting tons of pictures of my progress on my model warship forum so I'm able to pick out some of the more interesting ones to post here. After I sold my Scarab, I was itching to build another big boat. What I really wanted to do was to build a 1/4 scale model of a Chris-Craft barrel back and power it with a weed-eater gas engine. I still may do that someday - if I live long enough, but now I'd power it with an electric motor. They've come a long way in the past few years. But then I happened to run across Trumpeter's big model of this battleship, and when I started investigating and found that there was oodles of detail add-on's I was hooked. No, I didn't get enough for my Scarab to offset the cost of all this, but hey, as I told my wife, it keeps me out of the bars, right? So, after I ordered the ship itself, the Pontos Detail-Up set, the Pontos Advanced Detail set, the Eduard Big Ed set, and a set of 1:96 plans from the Floating Drydock, I had very close to a thousand bucks tied up in this model. And that doesn't include all the random miscellaneous stuff like paint at $4.75 for 1/2 oz, glue, tape, and so on. Damn well better take my time and do it right, huh? The box this monster came in is huge! 46 inches long and weighs about 15 pounds. And once you open it up it's overwhelming; 4 boxes marked A-D plus the hull and the larger superstructure pieces. The box says there are 1573 pieces, which I have no reason to doubt, plus 13 frets of photo-etch and a 44 page assembly manual. This is definitely NOT some kid's plastic toy boat! As you can see from the picture below, the front 8" of the hull are separate pieces that are glued on. I'm told that this is because of some limitation of the box length and it would have cost lots more to make it longer. The overall length of the ship is 53", or 1347mm for those of you who are smarter that us idiots here in the US! Why we still use a measuring system based on the length of some king's shoulder to the tip of his middle finger is beyond me! Now, if that isn't daunting enough, I opened the Pontos Detail-Up set for this ship and was blown away again. 18 frets of PE; 297 turned brass parts; adhesive backed actual wood decking for all deck surfaces, and 12 11x17" pages of instructions. Now, those of you who haven't had the pleasure of trying to figure out Pontos' instructions, let me tell you - they leave a LOT to be desired! Boy, this is like Christmas time, right? Next we have the Pontos Advanced Add-On set with even more goodies. The main reason I bought this additional kit was for the brass screws and also for the Veterans Models 40mm Quad Bofors gun platforms. They are so much more detailed that the ones that came with the ship that there simply is no comparison. Also, since I planned on making this ship as detailed as possible, the fire suppression valves also a nice addition. And, in addition to all this was 11 more sheets of PE from Eduard. A lot of this was duplicates, but the Eduard set did have quite a few pieces of PE that were not in the Pontos set, nor the PE with the ship itself. Once had all the goodies and had established a decent work space with a new light, a new Opto-visor (more$$$) and a new set of tweezers, I started to work. From the other modelers on the model warship site, I knew that the most boring and tedious job was making the 50 20mm Oerlikon AA guns, the 20 40mm Quad Bofors, and the 10 5" gun turrets. After these, the rest was fun - so they said! So, I started out making the 20mm Oerlikon AA guns, and they were right - it was boring. Each one of the 50 little bastards contained 11 brass parts and they all had to be assembled and painted individually. The picture below shows 25 of them and for comparison, I've placed a dime next to them. (A dime is about 18mm.) Let me tell ya, by the time I finished these little buggers, I was beginning to wonder whether I was cut out for this after all! But, after a break of a few days, I refilled my wine glass and set out to tackle the 20 40mm Quad Bofors platforms. These were even more intricate than the Oerlikons, with 7 resin pieces and 28 brass pieces in each one. With a lot of help from each other on the model warship forum, we finally finished them and after they were all completed, we sat back and said "Damn, those look nice!" And they do! Especially since they are located in such prominent places on the ship, their detail really sets the ship off. You can't see it from these pictures, but on top of each of the 4 cannons there is a magazine of 5 brass shells which have their tips painted red with 1 green (a tracer). OK, I think this is enough for now. The nest post will continue with more of the major sub-assemblies. Each one is like a little kit in itself. Take care, Gents, and thanks for looking! And Happy Father's Day to all you hard working Dads out there! Lar

Yes, it did, and I still have it. It's actually a 4 page booklet. If you like, I could scan it for you - or mail the original to you as I have no use for it.

OK, let's try this one more time: Hey, it works!! Thanks Ron & Kevin!! Oh, and FYI Kev, I use Firefox on Windows 10. I will probably switch from Flickr to ImageShack in the near future, as it is a lot cheaper. However, the yearly fee for ImageSjack is no longer $20 as your post states. It's now $37.99 for a yearly subscription. OK, back on track. Here's a couple more pics of my bomber: Like I said, the interior leaves a bit to be desired but, unfortunately, it is what it is. I wasn't nearly as careful modeler back then as I am now. So let's concentrate on the exterior, OK? The next decision I need to make involves panel lines. Yeah, there's a gazillion of them, and as you can see, they are raised,which was probably the norm back in the 80's. My question is, do I leave them as is, raised, or do I file and sand them off and score new ones so they are recessed? It would be a rather lengthy job, but it could be done. I'm just not sure it would be worth the effort. Comments, anyone? Since this is a new thread and I'm just starting, that's all I have for now. Thanks for looking! Larry

I said I was going to start this, so here is the first post. Before I start, however, I need to know something. What is the max size photos that are allowed here? I typically downsize my photos to 1024 pixels for the largest dimension, but I thought I read somewhere here that you were supposed to keep it under 800 pixels. Can I use 1024 or should I keep them under 800. Can someone please advise? OK, let's get started. As I stated in my introductory post in the General Comments section, I was cleaning out some stuff in my attic and ran across some old models I'd started and never finished. Among the lot were three Monogram models of WWII bombers; a 1:48 scale B-17G, a 1:48 B-29, and a 1:72 B-36 Peacemaker. Both the B-29 and the B-36 indicates on the box that it is "The largest plastic model ever produced", so I'm assuming the B-36 was produced after the B-29, as it has a larger wingspan. I decided to take a break from my 1:200 Trumpeter USS Missouri and work on one of these airplanes for a while. Actually, I'll probably alternate - working on one for a while and then switching to the other. That way I can hopefully avoid burnout. The bomber I chose to finish was the B-17G. As near as I an remember it was the first one I bought, probably back in the mid 80's I'd guess. The box is pretty much beat to crap but after I dusted it off and opened it, the contents were in surprisingly good shape. Everything was there and except for two of the nose machine gun barrels nothing appeared to be broken. But, since the kit is probably a good 30+ years old, I figured that the decals were not in the best of shape and probably it would be wise if I bought new ones. So, off to Sprue Brothers for a couple new decal sets. Taking stock of my accomplishments years ago, I decided that while the interior of the bomber wasn't the best, it wasn't all that bad, either - what you could see, that is, and besides, there wasn't a lot I could do about it anyway. seeing as how the fuselage was glued together. So, I decided to leave the inside alone and concentrate on the exterior. Once I decided this, I ordered the Eduard Exterior photo-etch set for this kit as well. I will be buying the Eduard Engine PE set shortly, but not right now. It's a matter of $$$$$ if you catch my drift. I've been spending so much on my battleship that I don't want my better half to start complaining. Besides, I just bought a new airbrush and I've got to cool it a bit for a while. Anyway, with my goodies in hand, I can start: https://www.flickr.com/photos/181886101@N05/48069187947/in/album-72157709099177686/ OK, I'm officially stumped! How do I insert more then one picture into a post? I've tried every which way and all I can do is to insert the link as shown above. "Inserting the image from URL" does nothing - it just turns pink and sits there. Can someone help me out here? I'll post more once I get this figured out. Larry

Wow! Thanks for the warm welcome gents! I just wanted to let you know that I'm starting a couple build logs. Since I'm working on two models concurrently (alternately?) I'll try to keep both updated and current. Both will be in the "Non-LSP" forum because neither are 1:32 aircraft or larger. The first thread will be about the Monogram 1:48 B-17G that I dug out of my attic. It's partially done in that the interior is finished and the two halves of the fuselage are glued together. That's where the log will start. I have ordered new decals for this bomber as well as the Eduard external detail set. The second log will record the progress of my 1:200 Trumpeter USS Missouri battleship with the Pontos Detail set and also the Pontos Advanced Detail set. I took a lot of pictures of my progress so far so I will post a few of these as well as where I am now. This is a long term effort due to the amount of detail I'm adding to this ship. I hope my efforts meet your expectations.

First, a bit of introduction as to who I am. My name is Larry Steiner and I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I'm a retired electrical/controls/computer engineer who gave up my 60 hour a week job 10 years ago. I'm 76 years old, married to the same woman for 52 years, no children but we have 2 small Cairn terrors (Oops, I mean terriers), both of whom are rescue dogs. My hobbies are photography (I have a Canon DSLR and am a member of the Grand Rapids Camera Club), computers (building & repairing), gardening, and remodeling our home (My wife has the mother of all "Honey-Do" lists!) And also, since I'm a foamer, I also run Microsoft Train Simulator on my computer. What, you mean to tell me you don't know what a foamer is? It's a person who foams at the mouth at the sight of a train! OK, I'm sure you are wondering what the @^%$*& is this greenhorn model builder doing joining a forum of large scale aircraft? Well, I built tons of kits as a kid and over succeeding years I’ve built several large kits of all kinds; aircraft, trucks, cars, and ships. However, I would not call myself a true “Modeler” as they were mostly OOB and, to be honest, quite poorly done. Then, about 15 years ago, I bought the Scarab 38KV kit from Dumas boats. For those of you who don't know, this is a radio controlled model of a 38 ft Wellcraft Scarab racing boat. Those of you who remember 'Miami Vice" - well, this was Don Johnson's boat. It took me several years and a couple thousand dollars, but I did turn this into the Miami Vice boat. It was 60 inches in length, powered by a 15 CC gas/nitro racing engine, and topped out at about 35 MPH (actual). Since this is a large scale “anything goes” forum, I'd like to take a minute and show you a few pics of this Scarab I built. Since this my first post and I haven't figured out how to post multiple pictures yet, here is a link to my Flickr album that contains the photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/181886101@N05/albums/72157708992504978 A couple pictures show the Scarab with the cockpit off. A couple things of note: I found this guy out east who made me an electric on-board starter for the engine. It connected to the output shaft of the engine by means of a belt-driven one-way clutch gear and was powered by 24 “C” size rechargeable Ni-Cads. You can see the cases for these batteries on either side of the inside of the hull. Not only did they power the starter, they also added just enough weight so that the stern sat down in the water at just the right depth. The second thing to note is that I had the engine exhaust routed through a scale model muffler and then to a manifold made from copper water pipe that exited through the 4 exhaust pipes at the stern. Plus, I also soldered nipples onto this manifold and ran the engine cooling water out these same 4 exhaust pipes, just like the real boat. Not to brag, but the effect was awesome! The paint job took forever. The hull has 4 coats of Sherwin Williams Emron automotive lacquer, hand rubbed between coats. On top of this is 3 coats of S-W automotive clear-coat lacquer, hand rubbed and polished to a mirror shine. Now, why did I join the LSP site? Especially when my first decent, presentable model is of a boat? Truthfully, I like to build large models, whether they be airplanes, ships, or what-not. If I could get my wife to let me, I’d love to get the Tamaya “King Hauler” 1:14 scale truck and a trailer with all the bells and whistles. But alas, my wife says I have too much tied up in models as it is. Right now I’m involved in Trumpeter’s 1:200 USS Missouri with both Pontos detail kits as well as several Eduard PE Sets. If there is any interest here, I’ll start a build log of where I am and continue from there. Now, as to aircraft, I was digging around in the attic and came across (3) old Monogram WWII bomber kits; a 1:48 B-17G, a 1:48 B-29, and a 1:72 B-36 Peacemaker. I’d guess these are of the 1980’s era. The B-36 has never been started, but the other two are partially done. Since I’m starting to get a wee bit bored with my Missouri build, I’m getting a bug to work on one of the big bombers, probably the B-17G, since it’s the smallest of the three. Would there be any interest of another build log on this model? I see there are several in the archives but unfortunately the photos are no longer available. OK, I’ve jabbered long enough. Looking forward to chatting with you all. Larry