Newsfeed

Nathan Dempsey
That's a beautiful build! Excellent idea to create sagging on the kit supplied tires.

Pascal Van Acker
thx Nathan

Mid Franconian
I need to watch this!

Cuajete
Me 2!

J35J
I'm in!

Łukasz Gliński
Me 4, might be my reference in the future 👍

Robert Podkoński
High five!

Nicolas
Joining.

Marius
And I thought starting my third such kit from KP/RV Aircraft is self torture. The truth is, once you had finished one of them in the past, the frustration decreases with each new one.

Any idea how you will treat the taxiing lights?

Thomas Kolb
Marius, I honestly don't think this kit is so terrible. There are some fit issues for sure, but I have built much worse kits. I constantly keep reminding myself that I only do this for relaxation and fun, and not for a competition or as a profession.

Are you referring to the swiveling landing lights underneath the intakes?

Marius
Thomas, I share your opinion about the kit and hobby too actually. The kit is dreadful in a few areas, but overall more than decent. I finished two of these already and I must say, they really stand out my collection, despite the kit's reputation.

Yes, I was refering to those lights. If I remember it correctly, there are some transparent parts included in the kit, but the intakes are completely flat, where the lights should go. I made the mistake to install those lights in the closed position, instead of the more interesting setup, when they are deployed downwards. In any case, it's just a heads up, in case you might want to add some extra detailing.

Thomas Kolb
Yes, I see your point regarding those lights, but I will probably just stick to my usual middle road - easy to accomplish and still produces a cool result. 🙂

Martin von Schreckenstein
haha, love the topic and kit selection. you are definitely more meticulous than I was 🙂

Thomas Kolb
Martin, I saw your MiG-23 project - it is way more ambitious than mine! I am not so meticulous, just very, very slow, only having an hour or two to spend here and there.

Thomas Kolb
A bit of a setback here. I just realized that I had foolishly been following the assembly drawings and thus ended up with the wings upside down. Bottom side up and vice versa. It may not be something that is easily noticeable, but knowing myself, I would never be able to unsee it now. So I am backtracking my steps and need to change the way the wings are facing without ruining the fuselage. Mamma mia, what a noob mistake-a to make-a.

Łukasz Gliński
Great you found it out before it was too late. I see we used to watch the same TV series 😄
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Dave Flitton
Watching!

Thomas Kolb
Łukasz, yes, haha, you found the hint.

Finn
I'm in

Jiri Vybihal
good luck 😄

Guy Rump
I'm in too. 👍

Cuajete
Good job with the air intakes 👍

S M
I'm in! I'm also working on KP's MiG-23 and had the same issues with fitting and wings. Damn I didn't notice that the wings are upside down...

Cristian A
I'm taking a sit as well 🙂

Thomas Kolb
Thank you gentlemen for your encouraging words! 🙂 The twin seater assembly is done, and now I need to finish the single seater. I am now thinking about which individual aircraft to represent and which camo to use.

aetios
This is looking great. watching with interest!

Cuajete
I agree with @aetios 👍

Cristian A
Hi Thomas, nice progress. I think the Tamiya paints are my favourite so far. They apply well and they don't smell so strongly.

Thomas Kolb
Cristian, yes, they are mine too. They also react superbly well to the Mr Color Leveling thinner and level out to perfection. Too bad that the color range is a bit narrow, you need to mix almost everything.

Cristian A
Thanks for the tip Thomas, I recently discovered Tamiya paints. The hobby shop seller recommended "Aqueous Hobby Color Thinner" and using that works well also.

Mirko Römer
Respect! 🙂

Michael Kohl
Following

Thomas Kolb
Damit, ran out of white paint.... I decided to also order the Mr Paint Hungarian set to see if they are any good.

Łukasz Gliński
Mr Paint is grand, but more stinky than Tamiyas

Mr D
If l cut an item of the spru and it has a possibility of mix up, l up a little bit of making tape with part number on it to label it up, l do this as made this mistake before with wheel bay doors !! " Wanded when so much sanding needed!" 😆.
Every build has it's niggle...once it's been on shelf a month...soon forget, good work

Thomas Kolb
Mr D, yes, it's a good tip. But it doesn't help when the assembly drawing is wrong! The best is to constantly keep referring to real photos - sometimes even apex companies, such as Tamiya, Special Hobby or Eduard make silly mistakes.

Mr D
I know, I'm doing a Tamiya and they missed of colour required for 3 different parts!

Thomas Kolb
The masking of the standard single seater is a pretty relaxing task, but Iván The Terrible (no 20), with its blotchy, multi-color camo is proving a real challenge. I am trying to add the colors in the order as they were applied on the real aircraft to make the pattern realistic, but man, it is tricky!

Ekki
Following.

aetios
Hey Thomas I wonder how you got the camo masking so clean, mind sharing some insights?

Mr D
Looking good, are you doing them to match box art ? the one camo looks tricky.
👍

Thomas Kolb
Time is currently absolutely non-existent for modeling, but soon …

Aeitos, I am using Tamiya masking tape, cut to shape with a brand new blade. The original had have slightly soft lines, but I am totally unable to fix that to scale.

Mr D, no, for the single seater, it will be the standard Hungarian three color camo, but Ivan (the two-seater), will have that weird Soviet five-tone camo pattern.

Mr D
Thanks Thomas 👍
Office/ Blue tack masking gives a softener edge to camo edges... I think because of it sits higher the paint doesn't blow in the edge to hard.

Thomas Kolb
Mr D, thank you, yes I know, I have tried the masking putty method dozens of times but always ended up with an uneven pattern or too wide overspray for 1:72. I guess I am too fist-handed… 🙄

Dash Rendar
Beautiful Starbug build! Well done.

Dave Burgess
I was SURE I'd posted this YEARS ago (back in 2017 when I completed it), but I couldn't find it ANYWHERE, so here it is (again). I did manage to post it into the Plastic Model Builders Facebook page.