Pascal

Bought this lovely kit : The wings are meant to be "butt glued" to the fuselage. Ik glued a small block on the inside of the fuselage and drilled small holes to attach needles for extra strength : This little shelf sits behind the rear seat. I filed the top to let it fit over the blocks : The inside of the fuselage got some medium grey color : Made the seatbelts from tape and copperwire : The pedals were made from 0,1mm copperwire (they look huge in this photo) : Sincerely Pascal

Been quite a while, but here's a summary of the work that I've the last months. Minichamps made this model as a kind of "generic" version of 956 Rothmans Porsches from 1982 till 1986. It's even stamped on the underside of the floorboard. So a lot of modification need te be done to make this a 1982 version. The engine and gearbox will get quite a few mod's, this photo shows the starter motor in the middle, this will be replace by a scratchbuild one : The rond part - with the flat bottom - will be removed and replaced : First test of fitting an alu ring to the front of the engine, the final version will be a lot wider : The supports for the rear suspension are massive and don't have the right shape. Before : After : I started by modifying the top part of the rear frame : But it still didn't look right and was'nt strong enough. So I started making a new one. A first version : The plastic tubes were replaced by brass tubes : The plastic tubes on this part were removed : And replace by 5 alu rods : Not quite the same as on the real car, but the tubes will be hardly visible and they have to fit inside the body : Minichamps didn't add the turbo's on their 956 models, here the start of the homemade turbo's : A lot of hours later : The turbo's will require some extra work and they will get some small details, but I'm quite happy with this first version. I could have bought aftermarket turbo's, but they also require some mod's and I find them to expensive. That's it for now. I made a ton of other small parts, these I will show in future updates. Sincerely Pascal

I have a Revell P-51B topic in the Works in Progress section (P-51C NX1202, Paul Mantz 1947). Got as far as correcting the gearbay, upper cowl and spinner. Can't give you the link now, because I don't know how to do that with my phone. Still waiting for Drawdecal to release the Paul Mantz decals that they got from Pegasus.

Last week our American CO moved to another base. For his farewell ceremony, I was asked to build an aircraft that was stationed at our base in WW2. I chose to build the aircraft of Lt Col John C Meyer, SN 44-15041 Petie 3rd. The kit is from Tamiya, first step was to spray the non standard black stripes : For the silver I used a € 2 spraycan : After the removal of the tape : The seatbelts were made from copper wire and tape : These photos show the variety in silver color, I used Rub n Buff gilding wax, silver plate and pewter : Finished model, after an oil wash, decals are from Kagero : The Trumpeter display case has an ugly black baseplate with sinkmarks, so I chose to put a US flag under a piece of clear styrene to cover most of the base plate. Without the clear cover : With the cover : Luckily our CO was very happy with his gift. Sincerely Pascal

It would be very sad to see you leave this awesome forum which many of us call home. It would be even sadder if you would leave because of a dispute with a moderator over some setting. Being a moderator is a hard job. Given the size of this forum and the amount of members and posts, I can only imagine how much works goes into moderating, updating, and save guarding this forum. Please cut Kevin some slack, you might have caught him at a wrong time. Those 92k views clearly tell that a lot of people really like what you are showing here. Please don't let them down because of an argument. Continue posting your stunning work and let us enjoy your wonderful builds. My 2 cents Sincerely Pascal

I sanded the rims to remove the chrome and used metal powder from Uschi van der Rosten to give them a metal look : The tires were sanded to remove the seam and shine : The interior received the homemade gear lever and rectangular plates with rivets. The seat belts are from Uli Nowak : On the right side of the pedals I installed a homemade footrest, the interior received some strips with rivets, made from the metal cap from a wine bottle : These photos show the white Joest sun shade, it's way to big and that is sadly the case with all Solido 956 Porsches : Comparison with the decal made by Tim (thanks again my friend, you are a lifesaver) : The new sun shade, wheel covers, headlights and antenna : I'm very happy with the way the new wheel covers look on the model, big improvement : Still some minor things left to do and then this model will be finished. Sincerely Pascal

I would also like to have his email address please.

Because I have the Minichamps 956 on my workbench, I thaught it was a good idea to add this one because a lot of parts are the same. I wanted to buy the Minichamps version of this car, but they are way too expensive. Got this one from CK-modelcars for around € 40, pictures from their website : First thing I'm gonna do is change the covers for the front wheels. Solido did a poor job with these : The real ones look like this : The spokes need to be a lot thinner and the hole in the middle needs a smaller diameter. Started by making 2 circles with the lathe : To fix the plasticard in the lathe chuck, I drilled a hole and used one of these to fix the plasticard in the lathe chuck : Used a pipe cutter and a punch & die set to make the alu tube and plastic cover : Removed the Solido cover from the wheel : And drilled out the wheel nut : The new cover fits nicely : What's on the to-do-list for this project ? : Remove the oversized windshield decal and replace it. Use 3D printed vanes for the wheel covers. Add new wheel nuts. Replace (if I can find a good replacement part) the windshield wiper. Add details to the interior, because the doors are functional on this model. Modify the headlights, Solido always forgets the clear round lenses. Drill out the exhaust tubes. Various modifications that will (hopefully) improve the look of the model. The spokes of the pink "stars" were to wide, Dominiek made new ones with 0,3 mm spokes. They are very fragile, out of 20 made just 3 survived transport. Luckily they're strong when they are glued to the discs, each spoke was given a tiny drop of CA to fix it firmly to the discs : After painting the assembled cover white and attaching the decals made by Tim (Thanks again Tim, excellent job !) it was given a HG non gloss clear coat : Looks so much better then the Solido version : The hole in the middle will receive a disc (not yet painted white in the photo). I've drilled 6 tiny holes in the disc and glued pieces of stretched sprue to simulate the nuts : Solido has made the rod running from the gear lever to the back of the cockpit in 1 solid piece. I removed the rod, but this also removed the rivets : Made a new strip from the metal from a wine bottle and made the rivets with an riveter : The gear lever and rod will be replaced with a scratchbuid parts : Used alu tape for the interior, on the left and right side I removed some plastic to fit the modified radiators : The radiators are ugly, I removed them on the one on the right : Use alu tape to box in one of the holes : PE radiator mesh was cut to size and glued to the back. I also made an extension behind the hole on the top right, because Solido had made this without the tunnel : The inside of the radiator assembly received a piece of plasticard (will be painted black) to box in the sides : Sincerely Pascal

Cool project ! Engine and transmission look very nice. I'm not into muscle cars, but I'm following this with interest. Might get tempted to get a 1/18 US muscle car and build a replica of one of the superb Kindig-It builds. Sincerely Pascal

Thank you ! Update : I've started making the pieces for the fuel pump construction. Reference photo : Made 4 cylinders with the lathe and added a hex nut : They will be polished and the shine toned down later : Dryfit with the tubes that are attached to the bottom of the cylinders : Added some details and weathered the interior. The light on my workbench make it look way more shinier then it is in daytime : I used PE buckles from Uli Nowak, first time for me, but I'll use them again in the future because they look very good : Used the lathe to make 2 fire extinguishers : The left side will be sanded to a more rounded shape : Sincerely Pascal

I bought this model some 15 years ago. It was damaged, some decals had yellowed and the Rothmans decals were missing. As usual, I forgot to take photos of my model before I started the disassembly, but this is how it looks when new : Photo from Carmodel.com, for reference purpose only The interior : Photo from Carmodel.com, for reference purpose only As with most 956 scale models, this one has a seat for the passenger : I started by enlarging the space for the driver's legs : And cut the passenger seat from the frame : I'm covering the interior with aluminium tape. But the result is to shiny. I used Commandant 4 polishing compound to make it more dull. This compound is used to polish, but if you use it with a cottonbud, you can make the alu tape less shiny : The beam in the middle of the floor was enlarged and covered with the alu tape : I still have to add 2 triangles to the beam, you can see the right one in this photo : This photo shows the new panel I made, the hole will receive the scratchbuild fuelpumps : The panel has not been treated with Commandant 4 and shows how shiny the alu tape is before treatment : Will be quite a job to make the fuelpumps, 1/1 scale reference photo : I did a lot of sanding to the bottom plate, removed some plastic and added some strips : Sincerely Pascal

Thanks guys ! After a long and hard fight (started this project february 6th 2021) with Moby, this model is finally finished. As usual, I added a ton of details, most of which aren't visible with the body on the chassis. Ah well, there will always be the photo's of the interior. Three photo's of the interior and then onto the finished model. I used lead foil from a wine bottle to make the tray that held the radio. Didn't install the radio because I don't like it : The last of the seatbelts was glued to the seat : The finished model, I made a "photo booth" with some wood and cardboard : Sincerely Pascal

Moby keeps fighting me ... Added the scratchbuild items to the interior. (Found out that these will require another modification to the dashboard, oh well...) : Glued the seat in place, wasn't easy because I had to install the rollcage first : Seatbelts attache to the rollcage like in the real car : The wheels received the parts that I made / modified (wheelnut, alu tube, air valve and round alu plate) : Sincerely Pascal

Brake fluid Dot 4. I've used it on brandnew diecast and resin models. Works great if you have no idea what type of paint was used. The parts need to soak for a few days, but it safely removes multiple layers of paint in 1 go.

Well, it's a BIG kit. Fit and details aren't great. Nice base for super detailling. IMHO, the 1/12 Tamiya Porsches are better and a LOT cheaper. Sincerely Pascal

Finally the work on the interior is coming to an end. The fire extinguishers are scratch build and have 16 parts, they look real nice with the decals designed and printed by Tim : I added some more details and wires : Dryfit with the dashboard : This is how the interior looked before the work began : I still need to find a way to glue the dashboard firmly in place. Then it will be a delicate job to put the seat in after the rollcage is fitted. Not enough space to do it the other way round. Finally the radio, some tiny home-made parts, and the seatbelts need to be installed. After that, the interior is done. Hope to reach the finish line in 3 - 4 weeks. Sincerely Pascal

Gorgeous ! Beautiful kit that has become rare. Really hope that Revell produces this one again. Curious what you're gonna do with this kit. Sincerely Pascal

Update : I finally managed to glue (using CA and J&B weld) the gear lever and it's housing to the tubes in the cockpit. The macro photos shows the dust that is left after sanding the J&B weld : This photo shows the medium grey J&B weld that I put between the tube and the housing to get a strong bond : This is the tube that connects the gear lever to the gearbox, 8 parts in total. The right part is the only part that came with the Solido model, the rest was scratched. The little tube on the left that sits over the larger tube is a modified part from a lighter : Dryfit. The bottom part of the gear lever will be glued inside the little vertical tube that I put on the large tube : Not to much to show, but it's a BIG step forward. Sincerely Pascal

Some very nice footage :

It's been quite a struggle to find a way to fix all the scratchbuild parts together. These are the parts that will be fitted to the lever (brake balance lever ?) that's just to the left behind the gear lever. The tubes are made from injection needles : Dryfit in the cockpit : With the tubes, not connected to the eyebolts because - at this stage - they aren't long enough : They're not parallel, this will be fixed later : Made another piece of tubing to get the correct length : Now the tubes are long enough, so they fit over the eyebolts. Macro photo shows there's some cleaning to do : New dryfit : One hurdle completed, on to the next one.

3 hour documentary :

I think that the prices for 1/32 airplane kits are relatively cheap compared to the bigger scale car models. 1/18 has very few car kits, but the amount of ready-made car models is enormous. Cheap ones start around € 45, but they take me almost a year to modify them into a decent finished model. High end 1/18 ready-made car models go for € 250 to € 800. But my line off thinking is off, because those models aren't supposed to be disassembled and altered, they are made for collector's who put them in display cases. Still, a 1/12 scale car kit (like MFH) will cost between € 500 and € 800. Pocher 1/8 scale car kits are between € 800 and € 1000. Then again, I see people that build more then 10 high-end 1/32 airplane kits every year. With the prices of recent years, that's very expensive. Have yet to see a modeller that builds more the a couple MFH or Pocher kits in 1 year. I'm not saying that building large scale planes IS cheap. But it can be, compared to large scale cars. I guess it all comes down to how much you want to spend and how many kits or projects you want to build...

Update : Using copper wire I made the V-shaped bracket that's welded to the diagonal tube. Painted and glued in place (the white stuff is flour + CA) : But I didn't look good and didn't look like the real car. It was then that I realized that I made a big mistake. The tube diagonal tubes that run through the top of the firewall sit to low : The big black bump on the firewall needs to be some 5-6 mm higher : To modify the bump, I have to take the entire construction of the interior apart. I highly doubt that the parts will survive that kind of treatment. So, I decided to leave the bump and make a new tube. The old one and the V-shaped bracket were removed. Very gently because that part of the construction is fragile : Installed a new tube and a new V-shaped bracket : Much better : The V-shaped bracket will hold this lever. It's made up of 7 parts, the tubes on the left side will be the same length when everything is installed : The eyebolt were carefully filed to a much smaller size : Tiny piece, the square is 10 x 10 mm : I'm glad that I found a solution to the problem, even though it's not perfect, it will hardly be noticable when all the parts are installed. But it will be quite a challenge to assemble all the parts in that limited space. We'll see... Pascal MNTADO (*) (*) Motivation Never Takes A Day Off

Sort of like Eduard does with it's Profipack and Weekend Edition kits.

So, THE modeller wants cheaper kits, without all the fancy stuff that's in kits that the technician wants. The modeller doesn't care about accuracy, details, options, etc. The technician wants over engineered, esoteric, unattractive and unaffordable kits. Conclusion : manufacturers mostly make kits for technicians, rarely they make kits for modellers. A modellers kit : you have to work at it and love it. A technicians kit : You don't have to work at it and you don't love it . Sound a bit like the "builders" vs the "assemblers" theory. And I don't agree with that line of thought either. Personally : every person that spends his or her time in making a scale miniature is a modeller. Whether it's a budget kit, a kit with a ton of aftermarket, or a complete scratchbuild project. Of course you are entitled to have your own opinion, but for me there's no comparision between a 1978 1/32 Hasegawa Storch and a 2009 1/32 Tamiya Spitfire. The Tamiya kit costs 3 times as much as the Hasegawa kit, but it's also 3 times better. My today's car costs 3 times as much as the car I drove in the '70's. I'm very glad that car manufacturers decided to go in the direction of safer, better, more comfortable and more luxurious cars (at a higher cost), then continue making 1970's era cars witout ABS, air bags, sat-nav, airco, cruise control, etc. Just my 2 cents (*) (*) If those 2 cents become 6 cents because the manufacturer decides so, I'll still be happy. Sincerely Pascal