Fil d'information

Kerry COX
Will there be an air started Mack truck of the 'Western Transport Co' ? Circa 66 ?

westerntransportmuse..llery.php?gallery=1#
westerntransportmuse..llery.php?gallery=1#

Martin Oostrom
I'm afraid not Kerry. This will be one of the more modern (boring?) trucks. I'm planning on doing a special livery, so keep tuned in spring!
I might try and find an old Mack tomorrow at SMC....

Kerry COX
Good to know mate. 👍
I have had a look around for the older version I was referring to and they only come in diecast. 🙁

Spanjaard
what about those extremely long trucks?

Martin Oostrom
Thanx Kerry. Saves me the trouble of scouring all the older stuff at SMC for it. I will be scouring al the older stuff, one might never know what he finds 😄
No Spanjaard! This truck is long enough by itself to claim a significant portion of my display cabinet when finished.

Spanjaard
Pity that I will not be able to help you in your quest tomorrow.... I should have not joined two trainings ....

Kerry COX
"Road Trains" those extremely long trucks are called.
A sure death sentence if you try to overtake them in a car.
In the link above, there is an image (13) of one truck carrying bails of wool from the shearing sheds out on the "Darling Downs" west of Toowoomba.
At that stage, the biggest loads of produce ever hauled by truck, and mostly, on unsealed roads. !

Spanjaard
Road trains indeed

Peter Hardy
So Kez, are you going to have a crack at an ancient Aussie lorry?

Kerry COX
NO , NIX, nada. 😉

Peter Hardy
So, you're thinking about it then?

Kerry COX
NO , NIX, nada.

Bob Hall
[img1]

[img1]

Can I build this one ? LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peter Hardy
You can build it Bob. Whether we let you enter it in the group build is another matter. Make a beautiful model if you could find one.

Danny Meer
Following

Peter Hardy
Making a start tomorrow morning! Chassis and engine first!

Bozzer
Good man! Have fun Peter.

Martin Oostrom
I did multiple attempts of removing the chrome on these parts.
Step 1: Bleach bath - No dice
Step 2: Regular oven cleaner spray - Meh
Step 3: Regular oven cleaner liquid bath in a jar - More meh
Step 4: Regular oven cleaner spray in a sealed bag - Total meh
Step 5: Mr Muscle oven cleaner spray in a sealed bag, 4.5 hours - Not happy
Step 6: Mr Muscle oven cleaner spray in a sealed bag, 12 hours - crying
Step 7: Bozzer's way: Bathing in Dot 4 brake fluid, rinse, bath in bleach, rinse, bath in brake fluid, rinse - THERE IS STILL RESIDUE
Next step: Blame Peter, just because he's Australian 😄

Peter Hardy
I'm only staying quiet on this because I haven't tried to de-chrome yet!

Kerry COX
Peter, Mr Muscle oven cleaner is the best for de chroming, (caustic) use out doors. 😉
They found my phone. !!!

Peter Hardy
Yay!

Tom ...
Following

Tom ...
Thankfully my dechroming was not *as* bad as yours. Welcome to the build....

Donald Dickson II
Super Clean or Simple Green both do a good job of removing chrome.

Martin Oostrom
I'm guessing the chrome got tired of all the chemical attacks and stubbornly decided to sabotage my build. Looking at all those pristine sprues of me mateys makes sad 😉

Bozzer
Sorry to hear you're having a bad time Martin. I have yet to order my Alclad chrome. I also need to post update pics.

Martin Oostrom
I spent over 3 hours trying to get one of the smaller tanks chrome residue free. Sanding, more sanding, polishing. More sanding, polishing. More sanding.

I just gave up and ordered a new kit. This one will become…. something, someday

Nathan Dempsey
That's a bummer Martin! I hope you will be able to salvage it at some point.

Bozzer
Martin, use the kit as a rat rod? If it helps, we, your friends, have enough parts in our spares box, to build several! I have boxes of crap, that I may never even use? Did you guys see my post on my build thread, about the cab? I need to get pictures posted!

Tom ...
Martin, I have two words: Mad Max! No sanding required!

Peter Hardy
Think of it as practice Marty!

Martin Oostrom
I have no clue what a rat rod could be? And I think my English vocabulary is pretty decent 😮

These chrome parts look perfect for a neglected version, so it might come out like that one day.

Practice it is Peter!

Peter Hardy
And while you're waiting you can get busy building a replacement steering box.

Martin Oostrom
Not while in a vacation cottage. All I can do is snip, sand, glue and polish.
Replacement was ordered yesterday, could be home sooner than I am 😄 Either Friday or Saturday, we'll be home Friday evening.

Spanjaard
you will came up with something, no doubt

Martin Oostrom
Kit arrived this morning. Three guesses how I spent my afternoon!

Tom ...
So jealous. The dechroming came out beautifully! Hats off to Bozzer!

Peter Hardy
I cannot bring myself to try! You blokes have me spooked more than Deontay Wilder when Tyson walks into the bar! I got some pics to load tonight.

Peter Hardy
Well Marty, you can front up to the new job tomorrow glowing with confidence after the success!

Bozzer
The wizardry is amazing! I love watching the chrome vanish in front of my eyes.

Spanjaard
great ! 🙂

Spanjaard
so what is the final recipe ? and why it did not work before?

Bozzer
Spanjaard, I can only assume that with the original parts, there was some kind of a chemical reaction. Some manufacturers use a clear coat on the chrome. The brake fluid removes the clear, the bleach vaporises the chrome, then the return to brake fluid removes the primary coat of clear. Something, somewhere, reacted with the process. After my two current builds, I'm going to invest some time into looking at what happened here. I'm also going to experiment with other products. I'll post my findings on a new thread, once I have got something to work with. I hope this helps buddy?

Peter Hardy
Bozz, can you do it quickly please? I haven't de-chromed yet! 😉

Bozzer
Lol Peter! The speed up process involves removal of the clear coat. Obviously, it has to be done without harming the plastic in any way. If this was a Revell or AMT kit, then normally, you'd just use the bleach. Them guys don't use a clear coat and the operation literally takes seconds. I'll see if I can do some tests over the weekend.

Spanjaard
thanks Bozzer!

Martin Oostrom
Before Bozzer's trick, I had attacked the parts with bleach, oven cleaner, more oven cleaner, more bleach. It must have done something and prevented Bozzer's method to work properly.
The way to go:
- Brake fluid
- Rinse
- Bleach
- Rinse
- Brake Fluid
- Rinse

If necessary, repeat the bleach-rinse-brake fluid cycle again.

Peter Hardy
I don't have any brake fluid. You only need brakes for corners and bends and all Australian roads are straight.

Bozzer
Lol Peter, that's what I always believed, until I came across a junction in palmwoods, Queensland. I've never seen so many road markings for a junction, in my life! The asphalt was almost white! And i thought our American cousins had problems with roundabouts? Luckily, being a true Brit, i mastered the junction and continued the journey safely. I was surprised however, to learn some of your rules regarding vehicle safety tests! We here, have to complete one, by law, every year. A fail means your car is off the road, until repairs are carried out and another test is completed successfully. Check out UK MOT Test.

Bozzer
Pictures uploaded

wilky
Bozzer, that's the beauty of states.
Depends which state you're in as to what level of safety you have on the roads.
I'm in Victoria which requires a roadworthy only on change of owner or if you let your rego run out past three months.
I lived in South Australia and there's no roadworthy required but the Police harass provisional licence holders and often defect their vehicles for the most minor of problems .
Often a defected vehicle in South Australia never goes back on the road unless you've spent a lot of money modifying it.
I believe that New South Wales has yearly roadworthy requirements.
No idea about the other states.
Due to South Australia not having roadworthy requirements a lot of trucking companies register their trailers there and this has caused preventable deaths due to cost cutting by not carrying out necessary maintenance
Years ago you'd see roadside safety testing of vehicles with trucks being the main focus but I haven't seen one in a long time.
Now it's the Police you see testing for drugs rather than the relevant roads authority except you do see log book inspections especially in my little town because our main street is really wide thus the flow of traffic isn't impeded

wilky
I spent years driving trucks but had to give it up because I had great difficulty finding a boss that I could happily work for.
I don't like being forced to compromise safety for time constraints and driving dangerous vehicles due to a lack of maintenance.
It might be because before I even had my heavy vehicle licence I was a Tram driver in Adelaide.
We could refuse to drive a vehicle if it had issues and just get a replacement, something that can't be done in any of the trucking companies I worked for.
I'd even had a boss once recommend drug taking which was the complete opposite of working in public transport

Olivier
I read you have roads in Australia. That comes as a complete surprise to me. I thought roads only ever existed in Europe. I mean Western continental Europe of course. The rest of the world had tracks didn't it ? 😉

Peter Hardy
Fair point Oliver! Never found a road from Australia to Western Europe so I haven't been there.
Wilky, Company I work for you'd be disciplined, maybe even terminated for taking an unroadworthy truck out of the depot! Mind you, we don't have deadlines or ETAs either. One call to the boss and you are early!

wilky
Peter, that's how it should be.
I don't drive trucks any more I surrendered my licence after my heart problems.
I could have kept it with paperwork from specialists but if something happened while I was driving I couldn't live with myself

Peter Hardy
Martin, you are long overdue for some pics please!

Martin Oostrom
I can post new pics of the same situation. #NoProgress

Nathan Dempsey
I was about to post pictures of my hands sitting idle.

Bozzer
Keep up with the good work buddy. Lol, I'm trying to mask up my stripes. Think I'll leave it for today, them shots I was drinking last night, are still in effect!

Danny Meer
Lol Nathan 😄 ATM Netherlands close to lockdown from now...al non essential shops closed, Coffeeshops need to close aswell so now they all stand in line to get weed for atleast 3 weeks lol...

All those effected stay strong and good luck, every1 else keep on building😉

Martin Oostrom
I caved under Peter's challenge 😉
Did some cutting, glueing and sanding today. Just a few parts, not too many.
As I'm aiming for a high gloss show truck finish, I need to sand, polish and polish and polish every part super smooth. I might have bit of more than I can chew (as usual)

Martin Oostrom
Being one of the stragglers in this group build, I decided to get some stuff done. Not much, but at least my truck will be different from the others.
It's a shame really, Peter setting the bar so high

Bozzer
Martin, don't worry about it mate. I've not had chance to do much. The recent heatwave here, has had me busy in the garden and doing other jobs around the house. I'm also now, waiting for some white paint, that I thought I had, to arrive. I'm glad you cut your roof spoiler off. I was thinking about that too, and it now bugs the hell outta me! You have done the right thing. I think due to the many problems that we have all faced, the build is gonna over run the deadline. I don't mind. Exceptional circumstances, deserve consideration. We're still all in this together 👍

Martin Oostrom
Next time I'll use old fashioned Revell Plasta for filler. This gap was too big for sprue glue.
The end of the build was already extended till the end of July. Should be enough for most of us?

Peter Hardy
Very creative Marty! I look forward to you widening the cab next! Why do you have bubbles it the sprue glue?

Martin Oostrom
Must have been radiation from the capricon star system, or extraterrestial flux generated by my wife's vegetarian yoghurt

Bozzer
I'll drink to that! And I hope your wife gets her old self back, in the very near future 😉

wilky
I use baking soda or plastic dust and super glue.
Doesn't shrink and dries quickly

Lode Schildermans
Nevertheless, Martin, the outcome is nice, IMO. I'm looking forward to see more

Martin Oostrom
So am I Lode, so am I.

Tim Heimer
Marty I'm proud of you! Nice maneuver!

Bozzer
Updated my album

Peter Hardy
Change your cover pic Marty. Getting bored with this one!

Martin Oostrom
Yes Pete, off course Peter, at once Peter. Satisfied Peter?
I spent a couple of hours polishing a bunch of cut and sanded parts. Now they're nice an shiny!
I'm hoping to cut and glue most pieces, as Alclad smells like **** and I don't want to expose my self-quarantined family to the fumes too much/long.

Martin Oostrom
Colour test

Bozzer
Ooooh the exciting part! Now you have my full attention!

Martin Oostrom
Not there yet Bozzer. I had a chat with Peter. Just like the rest of us, blue was my first choice. After Peters succes, I need something else, as his will be incomparable.
So it will be Ruby Red with Gold, or Silver and Blue.
Also have been drawing up some designs on a piece of paper. Peter keeps complaining my designs are 'American'.

Kerry COX
Candy Green with a deep silver base. ? Mmmmmmmmmm😉 👍

Bozzer
Lol, all my ideas are American, and I'm born and bred Brit! I'm sure you know what you're doing, so I have faith. I did loads of research into my colours, just because I didn't want to do green, like I thought that everyone else was doing? We're all gonna get there in the end though. Keep your chin up, buddy, and keep safe.

Martin Oostrom
As Lode will confirm time and time again, I have no clue! I know what I like, but that is a bit hard to do. We'll see where my dumb luck will take me 😉

Martin Oostrom
Added some (bad) drawings I made. Just some ideas. I need a blue patch on the back of the sleeper for a special secret something….which kinda rules out the Ruby and Gold options.

Peter Hardy
How come I get dragged into this?

Tim Heimer
My vote is pic#38

Spanjaard
it will looks awesome for sure.

Lode Schildermans
Martin, I confirm, knowing you a bit, you haven't got the faintest idea which color. And than, suddenly, we see it appear on scalemates

Bozzer
#37 & #38 get my vote

Martin Oostrom
So true Lode. My mind has been skipping between red/blue/green/orange/yellow/black in different combinations. Right now I'm back to my two-tone idea, with the colours reversed. But that could change any minute 😄

Peter Hardy
Progress? Nearly fell off my chair!

Lode Schildermans
I am curious of the definite choice, my Dutch friend

Martin Oostrom
Hold on tight Peter! The Kingsday day off gave me some time to do some actual painting. Hope you like it.
Still in doubt Lode. Bought some time by painting other stuff.

Lode Schildermans
Why doubting Martin? It's not the color that makes the build, but what the builder makes from it. Don't think you can do it, know you can do it

Peter Hardy
Kings day? I thought you had a Queen?

Kerry COX
OR. !!! LGBTQ. ? :-/

Tim Heimer
You're getting there!

Martin Oostrom
Our Queen abdicated some five years ago. Now we have a King and a mrs King: google.nl/url?sa=i&a..ust=1588149406726898

Peter Hardy
Takes a long time for news to get here.

Martin Oostrom
They visited Australia in '16......

Tim Heimer
LOL!

Wim van der Luijt
LOL indeed....I'm going to steal the idea for the clips

Peter Hardy
They should nearly be home again then!

Greg Baker
King and Mrs. King.... hahaha

Peter Hardy
Great. You need a King for four acres of tulip field and a cheese fridge!

Wim van der Luijt
Get back in your cage Mr Hardy! 😄

Martin Oostrom
Peter is jealous. We've got a good lookin Argentinian Queen while he's stuck with LoLiL

Peter Hardy
Sorry Gents and Martin, It's the isolation y'see, makes a man all silly!

Bozzer
Lol, Mrs King! We have a Queen and a Prince! To make things worse, there's German in the blood! Now that's gotta prove how screwed up we are? Nice progress on the truck buddy. I've been contemplating a few amendments. I'm not sure I like what I see now, so I am gonna do some research and see what happens. I'm just getting fussy in my old age.

Peter Hardy
Now I am burning with curiosity Bozz!

Martin Oostrom
Right Bozz. Our Kings granddaddy is German. His daddy is German as well. So I guess he's 3/4 German. To spice it up he married the daughter of a secretary of agriculture from the Argentinian Junta.
Never a dull moment with our royals!

Bozzer
Lol, no wonder our countries are in a mess! And to think of all the debates and arguments about immigration?

Danny Meer
Damn!!! that interiour is awesome, love the patterns in the bed sheets 👍

Martin Oostrom
Update. I wanted to do a red and mostly blue Alclad candy finish. Peter did such a nice job with his blue colour, as did Bozzer, that I needed another colour. While pondering my options, I decided I wanted an Alclad Golden Yellow engine. Cue Chris with his golden rod. So now I have a blue engine and something that resembles burnt pancakes for an interior. I have picked my exterior colour(s) and hope for a better result there....

Chris Greathouse
Yay for golden rods 😛

Bozzer
Lol, Golden Rods! Martin, it's hard for you, because you feel like you're living in our shadows. Don't worry buddy, just do your thing. It's not about who is the best, the fact is, we're all losers. The beauty of this is simple.... We all learned from eachother! Dude, this is an epic group build. When mine is finished, no matter what she looks like, she's getting top place! Every single one of us, has gone through crappy moments. We've lived through crappy times. But the best part is, we all came through it together! No matter what we produce, we did an awesome thing.😉

Kerry COX
Competition is great. 👍
But even more fun when competing with yourself. 🙂 🙂 🙂

Martin Oostrom
Don't get me wrong Bozzer, I know I'm a better builder than some on this site, and I know there are better builders than me. I'm living a happy life in the middle of the pack 👍
It's just that being behind pace wise has (dis)advantages. The pitfalls are stepped in by others. But the colour scheme I had in mind became a no go as I don't want the same colours as you guys. We're not building tanks this time!

Sir Cox, taking part in a real competition isn't my cup of tea. Would only add pressure to my hobby and I have enough of that in my work and sometimes in my other private life. I do like tom improve with each build and that goal is being met!

Thank you for your encouragement, we all will finish this truck and they'll be beautiful 👍

Peter Hardy
Very nice job on the engine belts! I couldn't get mine to sit straight!

Lode Schildermans
Martin, my dear friend, this build is coming nicely together (from my point of view) It's getting better and better

Bozzer
We shall go on to the end. We shall fight on the finish, and on the satins and clear parts. We shall fight with growing confidence, and growing strength in the airbrush. We shall defend our builds, whatever the cost maybe. We will fight them on the benches, we shall fight with the laquers, and the chromes, and the steels. We shall fight all the clears. We will never surrender!

Peter Hardy
Flippin' Pommies!

Wim van der Luijt
LOL....that's an epic speech!

Chris Greathouse
Bozz you remind me of the Braveheart speech 😛 (translate to modeling) Youtube Video

Chris Greathouse
Bozzer, I think that makes you William Wallace riding against plastic that's warped, pieces that break, paints that don't play nice, instructions that are F'd...

And the crowd bellowing and cheering behind you would be SCALEMATES. 😄

Bob Hall
I think he's related to Winston Churchill ! LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Martin Oostrom
Finally some more work done.

Chaz Gordon
Mr Hardy, you realise you are insulting your own Head of State!

Peter Hardy
No problem with that. National pastime.

Martin Oostrom
I'm getting a bit emotional. I sprayed some colour on the tanks... finally!

Lode Schildermans
Finally, and now we want to see more, my Dutch friend

Greg Baker
Yes, we do!

Peter Hardy
Must be a Dutchman. It's going to be orange!

Chris Greathouse
You're moving along mate!!! Now I need to get my ass in gear and pickup on my truck 😄

Martin Oostrom
More colour, by request 😉

Lode Schildermans
And we request even more colour, my mate. Nice to see you progressing on this build

Martin Oostrom
Why build 2 models at the same time, when you can do three? After my moderate succes with Tamiya primer on the Porsche, I had an urge to see some colour. And there was this truck calling me softly...
So I got the primer out of the airbrush and put some yellow in it.

Nathan Dempsey
Now that's a nice color 🙂

Spanjaard
that yellow looks beautiful

Tim Heimer
Follow the yellow brick road! Or in this case the yellow truck load!

Martin Oostrom
Small steps are still steps

Kerry COX
The red Australian mud splatter is looking good. Make sure that some one has written with their finger through that splatter, "Clean me !" for it to look genuine. hahahahahahahahaha 🙂 👍
Looking the ducks nuts Martin. 😉 👍

Tim Heimer
Step by step, mm by mm he will get there! Go Martin go!

Martin Oostrom
As this build has been in the way on my bench for way too long, I decided to expand it a bit 😄
In true form, the trailer needs a bunch of putty as well

Martin Oostrom
After about 5 hours of cleaning, sanding and glueing, progress is slow but still progress

Lode Schildermans
And the work is paying off, my Dutch friend

Spanjaard
Lode could not be more right 🙂

Martin Oostrom
It's all about the memories. I built this trailer about 30 years ago. Back then Revell had car kits with prepainted metal bodies, and the trailer was sturdy enough to handle a couple of them on the top level.

Peter Hardy
You could make a new part out of all the mess!

Spanjaard
as long as no old parts are lost in the mess 😉

Martin Oostrom
It took me a while to find some energy and sand all the putty back. Then I got infected with Peter's Detail Fingers. So I made some air tanks. Added some brake lines, and some more. Still a long way from done...

Lode Schildermans
Martin, it looks a promising build. Nice to see the scratch build addons. They surely give added value to your build

Brandon H
Lookin good Martin!

Peter Hardy
Going good brother Martin! I will be interested in the til lights you go with.

Martin Oostrom
Well, some progress was made in the last weeks. I finished all the prepwork and started with the primer. I used white on the topside of the parts and grey on the underside. Not because I planned to do preshading and stuff, just because I didn't have enough white primer 😄

Martin Oostrom
Time for some colour! After two hours of airbrushing I stopped, OR I ran out of yellow 😉

Spanjaard
looking good Martin.

Kerry COX
Yellow. That got me thinking, and here is what I found. 😉 [img1]?fj=1

Martin Oostrom
Close Kerry. The truck trailer combo will be from a small independent operator. Just wait for the final reveal…

Bozzer
Hat's off to you, Martin 👍

Spanjaard
Oostrom Trucking Services Australia?

Kerry COX
Martin. Soon I hope. 😉

Peter Hardy
Mobile car park!

Martin Oostrom
All parts that need to be yellow, are. Only about 2ml of paint left, so I cut it close!

Peter Hardy
Looking on the money Martin!

Martin Oostrom
Got a lot done over the weekend. Inching closer to the end.

Tom ...
Wow that thing is huge! Major progress. Looks really good!

Spanjaard
Looking really good Martin!

Peter Hardy
Very good Martin, but can you reverse it when assembled?

Brandon H
A productive weekend indeed! Nice progress!

Greg Baker
I'm loving this!

David Taylor
Not a truck guy normally but defo in.

Bozzer
Blimey Martin, that's impressive! I don't think that trailer will struggle passing any inspection! But now you got me thinking, what are you going to load it with? I have a few ideas for mine, which will become apparent, but have you thought about your load?

Martin Oostrom
Thank you all for the supportive comments. I need to find some time for the finishing touches!
Bozzer, she will be loaded on the lower deck with some lesser builds, like the Mitsubishi GTO and on top will be the Miura, the Mustang and the Chevy Pickup

Kerry COX
The "MO Freight Co". ! 😉

Martin Oostrom
Close but no shave Kerry!
The owner won't be MO, or some other average Joe! 😄 Although he could do a bit more maintenance
Won't be much longer now…

Tom ...
Martin, that has come out really nicely. Looks so good!!

Bill Newcomer
I remember when you guys started the group, build. I want to join in because I have the Revell KW but I was not anywhere near high enough in the queue. Also I want to get my painting skillset to be improved enough before tackling it. It has been entertaining reading the thread.

Lode Schildermans
Martin, this is really an impressive build. I'm following with great interest. Keep on the good pace

Martin Oostrom
Well thank you gentlemen. The trailer did what it was supposed to do: kickstart my mojo. I don't want to kill it right away by opening the truck's box right away, so there is something else coming. In the meantime: Car Transporter | Album by Mahoo76 (1:24)

Spanjaard
great job Martin

Peter Hardy
Martin, I have no words!

Martin Oostrom
That's a first! 😄

Peter Hardy
😂

Greg Baker
Don't worry I'm sure Peter will find some. He has an endless supply. 😉

But he's not the only one to be left speechless by this project. 🙂

Lode Schildermans
I fully agree with Greg

Martin Oostrom
Now I'm lost for words 😄

Peter Hardy
Now that IS a first!

Bozzer
I dragged mine off the shelf, the other day. I might try to separate the cab and dip it in brake fluid? I'll decide after I've finished my other builds. Still love that trailer though bro! Definitely a head turner!

Nathan Dempsey
That's funny Bozzer because I pulled my box out and looked at my kit too just last week. I got the mojo going on a few aircraft build though so I'm sticking with that for now.

Peter Hardy
You blokes are so slow! Mine is under 20mm of dust now!

Bozzer
Nathan, I envy you for still having the eyes and steadiness for those tiny aircraft parts. I think my last 1/72 was a Lancaster Bomber? I just can't physically do them anymore. I loved my 1/35 German armour too, but again, my body let me down.
Peter, I have done several since, but that kit did things to me, that nearly kicked me off the horse. However, it's Italeri, so it's strong, so I have faith that I can bring it back to life 😉

Nathan Dempsey
Peter: 🤣 Too right my friend!

Bozzer: I can't do any sort of building unless I wear my Optivisor. I'm too stubborn to go get actual glasses.

Martin Oostrom
I definitely want to finish this one. So here we go.

Ard S.
I have had the trailer when I was young. I thought I have bought it with a truck as well. But I has broken while I had placed it with 4 VW Golf on it on a shelve. Sadly the music box was there too and when I put my radio too loud the whole set drive from the shelve to the ground... All 6 models could go into the garbage. Since that time I glue at least one wheel..

Peter Hardy
Bozzer, I have not done a truck since and I didn't want to do it in the first place. That Martin Oostrom thought it would be a good idea to torment me in my retirement and it worked. Bikes, old classic cars and sci fi are my go! (I did actually enjoy the 'Star but don't tell Marty that)! Watching the Freightliner being built has stirred me, just a little.

Martin Oostrom
Ard, you didn't 😱

Peter, o Peter. Now I have ideas swirling in my head 😈

Ard S.
Martin, never talk about it anymore. It still hurts. But I guess that at my age now (it was 30 years ago) the models would be broken anyway. 😢

Bozzer
Peter, I've been into bikes from being a kid, but choppers, not road racers. However, I can't get into them in plastic? I love the smell of oil and petrol, the taste of the exhaust fumes, in the back of your throat, and the heat from the blue chrome exhaust. It's a lifestyle, not a daily commute? However, my cars are mainly nostalgia or something similar? Now my trucks, they're my mini me! I'd love to drive every single one, but there's more chance of finding a unicorn turd? It doesn't phase me though, and one day, I'll have a Mack on my drive. And I'll guarantee that I'll sit there, and start the bugger up, every Sunday morning, just to p**s off the neighbours 😉

Peter Hardy
Bozzer, I always thought if I won Lotto I would buy a brand new T950 Kenworth "Heritage" and park it in my backyard so I could throw stones at it! After 5.5 million kilometres in trucks I have seen enough.

Martin, I can hear your rusty old brain from here. Give it a rest will ya?

Greg Baker
Glad to see this one back in action!

bughunter
Nice to see another build from your bench! I was going through all the pics at one - I really like the trailer 👍

Martin Oostrom
Thanks Bughunter, once again I'll try and finish this thing.

Lode Schildermans
Looking forward to see the final result, Martin

Peter Hardy
Geeze Marty, my Aussie 'Star has worn out 10 sets of tyres waiting for you to build this!

Martin Oostrom
The operator who ordered my truck can't make up his mind about which configuration he wants. A true pain in the ass

Martin Oostrom
And we have primer and paint on the chassis and several bits!

Bozzer
Mine is now a dress makers dummy, for resin cabs. The paint on the cab and sleeper, was never right. One day, I'll have a play with it and see if I can resurrect it?

Nathan Dempsey
Don't worry Martin, your kit will need 10 sets of tires by the time mine is done. Peter's will be at 20!

Bill Newcomer
Nice to read up on y'all's procrastination. I now have a second KW T-900 thanks to Jarrett. Once I get back to building, I may join this little party.

Martin Oostrom
We're up to speed now. Sprayed primer, black and yellow today.
Bill, the Groupbuild was supposed to end in the summer of 2020. But you're free to join in anyway.

Goldman
Big Bang Theory? Great choice!

Martin Oostrom
Thanks Goldman.
A lot was done this weekend. Current state: Almost all parts painted. Decals are on. I'm in love with the new Revell chrome. I decanted it and thinned with slt, 50-50.
It sprays beautifully and it covers like a charm.

Bozzer
Looking good mate. You've really cracked on, this weekend!

Mr D
Can't get anymore Australian than that..🤣
Nice 👍

Snake Plissken
Wow, chrome plated!

Ben M
Taking it on vacation with me to get it started.

Nathan Dempsey
Bearcats unite! Following 👀

Guy Rump
Following. 👍

Snake Plissken
Is it similar to a commemorative edition or just meant to replicate natural metal finish?

Ben M
It's aluminum plated to represent the actual nmf finish. I built a t-33 where I had some issues that I hope to improve upon.

Ben M
Did a lot of sanding areas that will be glued, masking, fitting parts to each other, and basic assembly while I'm on vacation. I got new decals from Siam decals as the originals are from 1968 and not in good shape. I'm not sure how old the Siam decals are but they are newer than '68. One thing that is apparent is the stripey tail decal doesn't fit at all. This is going to be a good challenge to resolve.

Robert Podkoński
Taking a seat here.

Ben M
Decided to try to apply the 1960s decal for the cockpit, as I don't have an alternative. Had to soak it for about a minute in hot water to get it to release. As is typical for hawk kits the decal isn't the right size but you go to war with the decals you have. I got it to apply without shattering. Unsure if it will stick, very old decals like this often have to be glued in place.

Neil
Interesting 🤔 following also, looking good 👍

Ben M
I think the Siam Scale decals I'm using instead of the originals are about 20 years old but they're going on ok. A little thick, so not settling down into panel lines but I'll try some decal fluid once they set in place, hopefully they will on the aluminum surface! The roundels are two part so I will have to do a second layer…

Mr D
Smart little model.... unusual in the factory chrome 👍👍
Nice classic kit.
Bit of heat of hairdryer works with thick decals.... nice n steady.
Like it 😁👍

Ben M
That's a good idea, I may give it a try. First I'm going to upgrade from micro sol to mark fit.

Mr D
I use Mark fit ....but recently found the Vallejo one works amazing... Just used it on my in progress IAR-80.
Definitely my go to now.
The moon ships is great 👍👍

Nathan Dempsey
Wow Ben this one is turning into a colorful bird.

Ben M
An interesting detail I note while decaling. The panel lines on the fuselage are engraved. The panel lines on the wings are raised. Wtf.

Desert Marlin
I've been using Mr. Mark Softener and Mr. Mark Setter. They worked well on some Kitty Hawk decals which are pretty stubborn...

gorby
Nice work so far.

Ben M
The tamiya mark fit and some work with a needle solved the problems! Thanks for all the great ideas everyone. Onwards!

Ben M
Did a bunch of cut the decals into pieces to fit a different model than they were made for. Came out fairly well. Subassemblies are getting larger as the project comes together.

Dave
Looks great. Nice work

Desert Marlin
You seem to have forced the decals to cooperate!

Robert Podkoński
Great job, Ben!

Mr D
It's looking really good 👍
It's great that the kits can still be built after all these years.
The people in the factory's would have never believed the model they are packing wouldn't be built until 2024 🤔🤣.
Nice build to follow 😃

Skyhiker
My next big project is turning this FROG into a Prince. Wish me luck I'm going to need it.

Moreno Baruffini
Good luck! 👍

Robert Podkoński
Ambitious! Keep my fingers crossed!

Nicolas
I'm following. In my opinion the Ta-152H is the most beautiful plane of WW II. I got the kit from Kora in my stash and hope to start the build in spring this year. Good luck and, above all, have fun building it.

Skyhiker
Nicolas, I agree. It's a long, lean, fighting machine as they say. Definitely one of the more elegant designs to come out of the war.

DerMattes
Taking a seat 🙂

Skyhiker
I had to widen the fuselage today, in order to make space, before I scratch build the cockpit.

Jennifer Franklin
Following 👀

Skyhiker
Bit more done today.

Lukas Muller
good job 🙂 Following

Łukasz Gliński
Respect for your patience 👍

Martin Nevo
this is going to be awsome.
I am picking kits that are near perfect so I have fun.
but there are also people who pick not-so-perfect-kits like this Ta152 and they still have loads of fun!
GL 🙂

Skyhiker
Well mostly I pick not-so-perfect-kits because I'm a cheap skate. I'd rather pay 6 euros than 40 for a kit. I do have some moderately priced kits and they are a lot faster and fun to make, but often I just have the need to challenge myself and see where my skill level is at.

Rui
This looks like a real challenge; I'm watching 🙂

Moreno Baruffini
@Skyhiker: I totally like your approach and I think you did a great start!

Martin Nevo
same here @Skyhiker, I really like the 6eur price point. so affordable. probably thats why I started to look into the 1/144 scale 🙂

Skyhiker
A bit more progress on the scratch built cockpit today.

Jennifer Franklin
Excellent work on the exhausts, and the cockpit is coming along nicely.

Skyhiker
I did a bit more today but I can't seem to get any images to upload. Anyone else having these problems?

Treehugger
Looking at photo #17 I want to give a tip:
I would be a little careful keeping the roll of masking tape on the table. I like keeping them in a holder, or placed in a bag, to avoid the side of the roll picking up all kind of dirt.

Skyhiker
Yes, I keep my tapes in a bag but it doesn't seem to help as well as it should. I think I need a better bag. When I photograph things at this scale there is more dust than I realize.

Jennifer Franklin
I can finally upload my images again now, I was having problems too.

Skyhiker
Thanks Jennifer

Skyhiker
Treehugger I cleaned my tape and got a new bag. Thanks for pointing that out. No need for fuzzy tape.

Skyhiker
Cowling remade with a lot of sanding, cutting new flaps and a PE grill.

Moreno Baruffini
Really a great progress!

Skyhiker
Thanks Moreno, I am having fun with this one.

Skyhiker
I have to take a break and will be back in a week. I must say I am in love with this plane. It's really a beautiful design with those long wings. I can't wait to get back to it.

Lukas Muller
I'm agree with you, one of the most beautiful plane for me 👍

Dave Flitton
I like it so far!

Guy Rump
I'm going to build this one from my stash this year, definitely following! 👍

Skyhiker
The canopy was totally uneven and so I decided to do the risky thing and file it from the inside. Hopefully I didn't just ruin it.

Vincent
This is already an impressive build. Good luck!!!

Skyhiker
Worked a bit on the cockpit today.

Oliver
Follow. Want to See the result

Skyhiker
This kit has its flaws but nothing that can't be corrected with a little bit of skill. Are there more accurate kits out there that are easier to build - yes. But the modern trend of wanting perfect kits seems counter to the art of modeling. If you have ever built a model from a block of wood you wouldn't call this kit useless. Challenging or time consuming I can agree with but it is not crap.

Skyhiker
I haven't given up yet. Sometimes life forces me to take breaks but I hope to get back into this one soon. I have to put a lot of tiny details in the cockpit next and I need the right head space for that. Kits like these take time and often I will start easier kits mid process to keep things flowing. I absolutely agree that reboxing old kits without a mold date is deceptive. Thankfully with this site we can look up the history and sometimes see the sprues before buying anything. I've only had one kit that I couldn't do anything with. I bought it for 20 bucks opened up and threw it directly in the trash. That was a Top Gun F/A-18 Hornet snap kit, which really was a piece of shit.

Remco van Haren
Following. Really looking forward to the end result.
Especially since I built this kit myself last year. Although I didn't put so much effort and detail into it as you are doing.

Johne 69
So gar so good 👍

Skyhiker
I added a bit of detail to the scratch built cockpit today.

Skyhiker
Worked on the canopy and tried to figure out how the scratch built cockpit will fit into the body.

Skyhiker
I corrected the seat position today.

Skyhiker
Added some space for the wheels

Skyhiker
Trez your message is pretty cryptic. Are you talking about panel lines or internal wing structures? The last photo is just a dry fit. I haven't started with dealing with any panel lines yet. I've been working on the inside of the wing walls to make something that gives an impression of space for the wheels.

Skyhiker
Trez, thanks for your ideas. I'm using a lot of photos and the instructions from a 1:32 model to help figure out what is going on. This little model is a challenge to correct but I'm having fun pushing my skills and learning as I go.

Moreno Baruffini
I'm really enjoying this build! 👍👍👍

Skyhiker
I worked out most of the cockpit issues today. It's not perfect but I got it in there.

Skyhiker
Moreno, I'm glad you're liking it. This is kinda pushing my skills a bit. We'll see what happens in the end together.

Skyhiker
Getting this kit to accept a cockpit was like pounding a square peg through a round hole. I had to reshape the whole damn fuselage.

Patrick Hagelstein
Whoah!!! Amazing what you did to that old tooling! Very cool to watch! 👍🏼

Skyhiker
Thank you Patrick. I'm trying. We will see if it works.

Bruce Huxtable
Really liking what you're doing, Skyhiker, and learning lots too. Impressed with your skills 🙂

Łukasz Gliński
What is that superglue thingy?

Skyhiker
Łukasz the shape of the hood is really off in the kit. The superglue is just material for me to try and sculpt into a better hood.

Łukasz Gliński
I was just wondering if you have mixed it with something

Skyhiker
No, It's just cheap super glue from a discount store that I poured right from the tube and hardened with accelerator.

Skyhiker
Started reshaping the fuselage today.

Skyhiker
Hood work today.

Nicolas
That looks very messy. But as long as it works, and it looks promising.

Skyhiker
Yes, very messy but it works. Old school style.

Patrick Hagelstein
The effort put into this is just amazing! 👌🏼

Skyhiker
More work on the exhausts today.

Moreno Baruffini
The true essence of modelling!

Skyhiker
I began rescribing the panel lines today. This will take a bit of time.

Tony Cooke
Dedication!!

Skyhiker
Bruce, thanks for your encouragement. It definitely helps.

Dave Flitton
That's a lot of work!

Skyhiker
Well the fine engraving blade I just bought broke within a day of use. Very frustrating.

Skyhiker
Luckily I bought a .02 mm blade in addition to the .01 mm that broke. It will have to do even though I would prefer the lines to be a little bit thinner.

Skyhiker
I finished the panel lines on the underside of the wings today.

Vincent
Impressive work!! Keep it up!

Patrick Hagelstein
Amazing progress! Once you go the route of updating such an old kit, there's no way back, is there?

Skyhiker
Thanks Patrick, your right there is always more to discover and do. I'm having fun with it. Of course I have no idea what it will look like in the end. I'm spending far too many hours allowing myself to be lost in process. But if that's what it takes, why not?

Skyhiker
It's amazing how every kit I look at of a FW Ta 152 H is different. All the photos of the original aircraft are so blurry that details are impossible to pick out, so I'm left with looking at kits and guessing which ones are correct.

Skyhiker
Anyone out there with a book on the TA 152? I'm trying to figure out if the top of the flaps have a vertical line down the center of them or not. From underneath there is a line there but I am getting conflicting images of the top surface. Can anyone post a decent image?

DerMattes
I looked through some of my books and picture collection. But to find even a picture of the Ta152 is rare. 🙁

Skyhiker
Thanks Mattes. There are a few decent books out there but they go for 80 Euros and I can't afford that. I doubt the library would have anything worth while. Maybe the model shop will let me look through one of their books but usually they are sealed in foil. Hopefully someone here has something. Getting panel lines correct is not so easy. Even worse are the rivets.

Skyhiker
I found this image which clearly shows the flaps divide in two sections. Interestingly the sections are not even like the underside.
[img1]

DerMattes
Maybe this would be helpful? flugzeugclassic.de/f..hlands-bester-jaeger
I do not have the magazine, but kind of stumbled over the link 😉

Skyhiker
That's cool Mattes. Thanks for the tip.

Ben M
I admire you trying to make something of this kit.

Skyhiker
Thanks Ben, this kit gets a bad rap. It's not as bad as people make it out to be. Of course I am putting a lot of work into it to make it better. But if its done straight out of the box it's not that bad. The backwards propeller is a stupid engineering mistake but that's an easy fix.

AndreasK
Nice project, Skyhiker. And really stunning what you achieved so far. 👍🏻

Sy Bar
Can't wait to see fruits of your hard work 🍿

Skyhiker
I'm worked on the top side of the wings today.

Skyhiker
Panel lines... panel lines and more panel lines...

Matthew A
Owch

Skyhiker
Yeah, I was a little heavy handed, but it's not a problem. I just glued it back together. I prefer trenching and filling over trying to get the lines the exact depth overall and then accidentally sanding away lines. The only problem with using this method is the deep panel lines can make the model unstable in places if you are not careful. But in the end it should all work out.

Skyhiker
I am slowly moving forward on the panel lines behind the scenes. This is the part I have to force my way through because I don't really enjoy it. But it is coming along and I could have some photos soon.

Patrick Hagelstein
Looking forward to that! 😊

J35J
Good progress, great craftmanship!👍🏻

Skyhiker
Got most of the panel lines down. I still have to do the bottom.

Moreno Baruffini
I personally ate re-scribing, so my admiration for you is huge!

Skyhiker
Thank you Moreno, re-scribing is definitely the part that's the least fun for me too. Some days I have to force myself just to do one line. If you do that once a day eventually it gets done. But yeah, re-scribing sucks.

Skyhiker
Big step made with attaching the wings. It makes me feel like I am moving forward after all.

Patrick Hagelstein
There ya go! 😄

Skyhiker
Wing plates are made.

Pietro De Angelis
An impressive amount of work, your patience and skills are incredible, congrats!

Skyhiker
Thank you Pietro.

Thomas Kolb
Wow, what an insane amount of work you put into this project! I am humbled by your perseverance and attention to detail!

Skyhiker
Thanks Thomas, I enjoy the process of trying to figure out how to do stuff. The model is just an added bonus in the end.

Skyhiker
Today I continued with the landing gear. A few pictures added.

Moreno Baruffini
As I wrote above, it's the true essence of modelling!

Skyhiker
Thanks Moreno. I'm having fun with it, mostly. The panel lines were a drag but I got through that part. Hopefully after the primer I won't have to any major touch ups. But we will see. One step at a time...

Skyhiker
Primer started!

Johne 69
Nice Details 👍

Skyhiker
Yesterday and today I filled the panel lines to the appropriate depth.

Patrick Hagelstein
This keeps on being cool to watch! 👍🏼

Vincent
Watching you making process is indeed great to watch. The plane is starting to look great!

Moreno Baruffini
Wow! How do you filled the lines? How was you able to calculate the exact quantity?

Skyhiker
Moreno, I used an engraving tool to cut deep lines and then I rubbed white putty into them. By rubbing the excess off it automatically brings the lines to just below the surface of the model. As the lines dry they also shrink a bit. So, it was not too hard to do. The trick is to use enough water and a brush to apply the putty and to use enough water on a paper towel or cotton bud to remove the excess. Hard to get to areas need to be cleaned up with a wooden tooth pick.

Robert Podkoński
I never would believe that the base kit is a Revell's offering.... Awesome job!

Moreno Baruffini
@Skyhiker: Super! Many thanks for the explanation!

Alec K
Great project and some serious dedication to a challenging tooling 👍

Skyhiker
I worked on some details today. Tomorrow I will give it another coat of primer and hopefully start the riveting.

S M
Wow this is borderline masochistic👍

Skyhiker
I am debating with myself when the best time to do riveting is. If you do it before priming you run the risk of filling the holes. If you do it after priming it makes it harder to correct mistakes. If you do it after the final paint job you run the risk of fucking everything up. Anyone have any experience with riveting?

Matthew A
I think you typed f when you should have typed m

Skyhiker
I stand corrected. Thanks.

Alec K
Regarding riveting: I have done it before priming but I don't see why you could not do it after. You'l have to sand after as the riveter leaves 'rings' around each divot (as it pushes the plastic out). In my experience, a thin coat of primer has negligible impact on the rivet holes (if it had, this would be a problem with any factory-riveted kit).

Skyhiker
Alec, I tend to agree with you. My thoughts on doing the riveting after the primer was that the rivets may remain a bit better defined. But I am not convinced. I think I will have to do some tests for the future. By riveting before and after the primer on some styrene, then spraying a color coat over both should give me a better idea of which I prefer. Right now I feel like I prefer not doing it at all, because riveting is a pain. But that's just me feeling sorry for myself for wanting to do a half way decent job on this kit. I do wish I could find some reliable riveting guides for this plane. It seems like everyone is just guessing at it.

Skyhiker
I got some riveting done today.

Patrick Hagelstein
That riveting looks very impressive! 👌🏼

Skyhiker
Thanks Patrick, I haven't mastered riveting or panel lines yet but I'm learning. I am pretty limited in my tools and the scale is not the easiest. But with practice and study I hope to improve.

Skyhiker
I've realized that one of the benefits of doing the riveting after the primer is that you can make sure that most of the sanding is completed. However inevitably there are areas that get messed up and sanding is required after all. I just haven't found the perfect solution.

Sy Bar
Enjoying your progress a lot, the transformat is amazing.
I must say your plans are so clear and great reference where do you get your plans like these from, I search the tinternet but never find any as useful as your plans, any extra guidance would be appreciated

Skyhiker
I drew my plans on the computer by looking at various images on the internet. Unfortunately I haven't found any place to download great paneling or riveting guides. There is a Russian website that has blueprints that I sometimes use but I'm not sure if it is still available. I didn't use it for this project.

Skyhiker
Sy Bar, which plane will you be doing next? I can look around for blueprints and see if I can find anything useful.

Sy Bar
Cheers Skyhiker v kind offer and thanks for the info. Not sure what will be next and if plans will be required but I'll keep you in mind should the need arise.
Keep up the work I'm loving watching the progress 👍

Skyhiker
Widened the wing roots and I am continuing with the riveting today. Also I did a lot of research on the proper colors to use, which was not as easy as one would think. They certainly are not what the instructions say.

Moreno Baruffini
Great work as usual! I'm curious about the colours: aren't they the late RLMs?

Skyhiker
The colors are late RLM colors but not exactly as the instructions say. To start with they call for the hood to be RLM83 which of course is wrong, since in actuality that was a marine color and blue. Many paint manufacturers have some type of green with that number but it was based on a typing mistake in the original RLM records. I believe the hood should be RLM73 as in the original photos it is a bit darker than 81. The fuselage is RLM81 and RLM82, but there were three variants of 81, two that were brownish and one more green. The green is the correct one for this plane. The under carriage is RLM76, but once again we have three variants to choose from; one that is greyer, one bluer and one more tan colored. The greyer one is correct. There is confusion about whether the nose is red or black. I still have to do more research on this. I believe the propeller blade was RLM70

Moreno Baruffini
Many thanks! Super explanation! 😀

Skyhiker
I hope to be finished with the riveting today. Most of my time was spent trying to figure out which of the conflicting diagrams was closest to the original. I don't know if I got it right since there are no surviving planes left.

Oleksii
Great Work on this old Revell Kit and there is still one surviving aircraft.In National Air and Space museum.
airandspace.si.edu/c..11/nasm_A19600317000

Skyhiker
National Air and Space museum has a different version of this plane. It is very similar but there are a lot of differences.

Oleksii
Ouh okay, thank you

Skyhiker
Worked on a bunch of details today.

Skyhiker
I redid the engine today and laid down a second layer of primer. The rivet lines came out well. There are just a few small touch ups on the engine cover and wing tips to do before I start on the wings.

DerMattes
Fantastic work, looks like a different kit!

Skyhiker
Thanks DerMattes. It's more a scratch build than a kit at this point. It's starting to come together. I still have a while to go though. How is a scratch build defined at the official contests?

Hans-Jürgen Haag
From an old crow to an up to date beauty! Owsom project!👍👍👍

J35J
It's like you are building a vac kit with the amount of work and attention to details you are putting into this build. Impressive and inspiring!👍🏻

Skyhiker
I made a gunsight out of 7 scratch built parts that is only one millimeter in size.

Nicolas
The gunsight looks fantastic.

Alec K
Indeed, looks awesome 👍

Skyhiker
Next I have to try and repair or replace the front windshield. Somehow it cracked when I was sanding it down. Is it me or do the clear parts on Revell kits always have problems?

Skyhiker
Well I painted the propeller today but afterwards I had to clean my Iwata airbrush and change the needle. Unfortunately the needle noozle broke off in my airbrush and there is no way to fix it! Now I have to rely on a cheap Chinese knock off to finish painting until I can save an extra 150 bucks to buy a new airbrush.

Nicolas
That sucks. I'd love to lend you my second airbrush, but unfortunately that's also just an old Chinese product at the moment. Probably wouldn't help much.

Nicolas
What now? Aftermarket or scratchbuild canopy?

Skyhiker
I will try scratch building the canopy if that doesn't work I will have to get a vacuform machine.

Duster_d
I wish I could add another like for your vacuum machine! Man, you're really cool!

Ben M
Never give up.

Skyhiker
And the results are in.

Ben M
Did you follow a tutorial? Very interested in how you did this

Skyhiker
No, I just needed to make a canopy so I first tried replacing the front windshield with a clear plastic piece from a CD cover and glueing the original side windows to it but when I finished it was too thick. So then I made the front windshield out of thin plastic sheet from some packaging I had laying around. That worked but the bubble canopy was now too thick. So I tried making a bubble canopy by heating up some of the plastic sheet over a candle and pressing it down over the original with my fingers but that didn't really work. I only got one that looked right but I burnt it so I realized I needed to use a vacuum and change my heat source. My hair dryer runs so hot it overheats and turns off, so I tried that with the vacuum and it worked. You just need to tape the plastic on a piece of cardboard with a hole cut into it and practice. You can make the vacuum screen out of anything. I just used an old sanding disc that I punched holes into and taped down on my sweeper.

Ben M
I'm not sure I can visualize that yet but I'll see if there's something on YouTube. I have a truck I need to make a windshield for.

Mr D
🤣🤣 love the vacform 😁, l split the canopy on my little mig-23 project, to heavy with the Quetip/ ear cleaner!!
I used toaster n paintbrush end 🤣, it worked...but was just a little 1/144 mig-23, it's my wall.
The homebrew job was clearer than the original 🙄,
Would love a little vacform.
Love the scale detail you go to.
👍👍👍

Skyhiker
Ben here is an example I found on YouTube of vacuforming. youtube.com/shorts/GFSJxs51uoY?feature=shared

Ben M
Thank you!

Jennifer Franklin
I will have to bookmark that reference, love it Skyhiker!

Skyhiker
Just make sure that the plastic you are heating up is polystyrene and not PVC. You don't want to poison yourself with heavy chemicals. Polystyrene is bad enough. And don't use your oven or anything that will be in contact with food.

Skyhiker
I made another canopy. This time as one piece. After painting I will try to separate it.

Mr D
That canopy has come out nice n clear.👌
I think it would be nice model with closed canopy also.
I like closed as keeps the dust out n preservation on cockpit.... Little time capsule too.
Doing a good job, persistence is a good trait in this hobby 🙄😆.
I've spent more time making a missing gun turret.! Than on the rest of the build !!

Skyhiker
Working on the landing gear today.

DerMattes
You mean you build an entirely new landing gear, right? At least this is how it looks 😉 Impressive work and dedication!

George D Munro
Cannot wait to see more. Amazed at the effort expended to correct, such an old kit. Reminds me of a favorite saying of a long lost friend. "that wouldn't stop a good modeler". A good modeler you are. I thought Inwas pretty good, but am in awe of your talent and dedication. Am following

Mr D
An amazing amount of improvement and scratch work to improve the model.
Very impressive..👍👍

Skyhiker
Thanks guys. I'm trying. Learning a lot on this model. It certainly is a challenge, but I'm having fun.

Skyhiker
So, the legs are on now.

Mr D
Can l ask what the 🕯️ candle wax was for?? I was guessing 🤔 maybe to build up higher for super glue. ? I like watching builds as you can learn new skills.
Also if you don't mind, how did you thin down the retract arms ...looked machine down.
Enjoyed watching so far being fascinating,
I built the Revell FW-190 this year ...that wasn't to bad.... Few of the engine fan blades hadn't been moulded in !! So l built them back with super glue gell, back wheel was fragile n came off. But rest ok .
Thanks 👍👍

Skyhiker
Mr D. The candle is used as a receptacle for the super glue. It helps to keep the super glue from setting. By putting it on wax and covering it with foil it will remain in a liquid form for a whole day. The retractable arms were made from styrene rod and stretched sprue. The thick end is the rod. The thin end is sprue and the raised area is very thin sprue wrapped around it.

Mr D
Thanks for the info 👍👍.
Have you tried super glue gel?? It's slow to dry but builds up more.well.

Skyhiker
No, I haven't had a need for that. I just use cheap super glue. 5 tubes for a Euro.

Skyhiker
I gave the wings a boost.

Robert Podkoński
WOW. I admire your perseverance!

Mauricio
Impressive work, I am currently working on a similar kit, I didn't know whether to repanel, but I don't think I have reached that level that you achieve... excellent, I will follow your work closely!!!

Skyhiker
Welcome Mauricio

Skyhiker
Starting to paint a bit now.

Greg Baker
I've got one of these in the stash and every time I look at it I go "nahhh..." and grab something else to work on. This project has given me hope that something good can be done with that kit. Nice work!

Skyhiker
Thanks Greg. With enough attention it can be pretty decent. I guess it just depends on how much time you want to invest. Certainly there are better and easier kits on the market. But I enjoy reworking old kits every once in a while to push my skills. Just painting perfectly molded kits somehow doesn't seem like modeling to me.

Kesa Tiho
Very nice finish so far, following with interest

Skyhiker
Well I broke both retractable arms from the landing gear today. Tomorrow I will have to come up with a better solution. Luckily I just got a shipment of brass tubing that just might work.

Mr D
@Skyhiker
It can be one step forward n two back sometimes!!
I've had few instances this week...paint to re-do and now bit of glue gone on my tire!
Good luck with brass tube🤞.
Can't be as bad as a snapped canopy 🙄....keep going 🤣

Skyhiker
I think this back and forth that I experience with every model is just the plight of being an intermediate model maker. I hope to one day have enough experience that things go easy but maybe that's just wishful thinking.

Mr D
That brass tube is better job around 👌. nice n strong.
Wouldn't mind some myself?? 🤣
Every day's a school day..🤣 always learning hopefully, you must be doing something right as you have alot of interest in the project.. Enjoying the process is most important part.

Skyhiker
So, today when I woke up I realized that there was a problem with the horizontal stabilizers. So I had to take them off and rebuild them. If course that lead me to seeing more areas that needed sanding. In the process of sanding I knocked off the wing tips and canopy. Glued them back on. Polished things up and tomorrow I will give it another spray of polished aluminum.

Mr D
Hi Skyhiker 😃👍
Chin up...and move on, .... These are the times when we say "l just want to get this built now" 🤣
I nearly messed up my current IAR-80 build from the first step's .... assembled the cockpit floor upside down!! Assuming and not double visual checking! Could have screamed 😲. Anyway....l cut X3 levers n rudder pedals off n glued on right side ... Just about recovered it.
I didn't think the VS's looked to far off ?? The 190 had bit of dihedral... But not the 152.
Do you use PVA on canopy ??
Good luck on next steps..... Getting near finish line now😁👍👍

Skyhiker
I am using Glue n Glaze (a type of PVA) on the canopy because I will need to remove it later and cut it apart to have an open canopy.

Skyhiker
I laid some color down today.

Mr D
The intake looks really good now 👌

Skyhiker
Thanks Mr D. I added a bit of dry brushing and will start with the main color tomorrow.

Skyhiker
It not easy being green.

Mr D
🤣
Doing ok👍 nice when a bit of colour starts going on.
I'm at painting stage on my project.
Does this one have any mottling? Like on the 190 ??

Skyhiker
I got the camo laid down.

Mr D
That answer my question? 🤣
That's come out good, nice balance 👍👍 it's easy to over do it .
Looking good 👌

Dave Flitton
Them paint is looking very nice!

Skyhiker
Thanks Dave, it took me a while because my airbrush was giving me trouble and the paint is finicky. Unfortunately I broke my good airbrush last month. But with enough persistent I think I made something presentable.

Skyhiker
It's getting so close to being a model I can't wait. 🙂

Skyhiker
The painted on the markings today.

Ben M
Outline on the 9 looks good!

Mr D
Hi Skyhiker 👋
Nice.... looking good, the striping set's it off nice and number's ....not easy to cut out numbers.... takes time., Works paying off..👍👍👍

S M
Clever way to make number 9 mask!

Skyhiker
I considered printing my own decals but the white decal paper I have is way too thick. So, I tried a bunch of ways to make the number on a piece of paper but the thin black line was always giving me trouble until I tried painting the green by hand. That worked.

Mauricio
Excellent progress!!! I have mine paralyzed (of course I don't reach the scratch level that you implemented) and I just need to start the painting job.
Seeing your work helps motivate; I hope to do something these days.

Mr D
It's been great the way you have documented the build, l think us modders.... like to see the nuts n bolts of things.
It's encouraged me to scratch up all the missing details to my current Be-6 build.
👍👍👍⚡

Greg Baker
So great! It might not work for this build, but in the past, I've used homemade decals on white backing and laid them down on the undercoat. Then I seal them with a coat of Future (but any clear coat would probably do) and then CAREFULLY mask them and paint over them. If you use small enough bits of tape, it usually come off without tearing the decal and the blending is MUCH less noticeable than applying it on top of the paint. Something to try for next time maybe.

Skyhiker
Greg, the decal sheet I have is too thick for 1:72 scale. I've used it in the past and while I did get it to work the quality wasn't good enough for me to do it again unless there is no other way. I need to find a thinner sheet or a local printer that can make decals.

Jennifer Franklin
It is looking great. I hope you manage to figure out the decal problem.

Skyhiker
I got the decals done today. After sealing again I will try to open the cockpit and install the head plate.

Mr D
Look great buddy👌👍
The extra work in the wheel bays looks good....cross sets it off nice 👍

Skyhiker
I just realized I forgot to put the decals on the tail. Will do that in the morning.

Skyhiker
I got the canopy off today and cut it in two. I'm doing a lot of clean up to get the cockpit ready.

Rui S
Looking great 👍

Moreno Baruffini
Really looking great 👍🏻

Mr D
They look 😃👍 brilliant
The super glue molding techniques....worked out great .
I've been using it on my little ZiL truck side project.
I need to source a sticker for my fw tail l think.
Good luck with canopy 🤞👍👍👍

Skyhiker
I finished this Odyssey today! Pictures will follow soon.

Moreno Baruffini
And finally you obtained a Prince!!!

Mr D
Brilliant...look forward to photos... been great to follow 😃👍

Skyhiker
Well I finally have this epic journey finished. I gave this Frog kit a long hard kiss. You'll have to tell me if it turned into a Prince or not. I certanly I learned a few things in the process. Thanks to everyone for your support and commitments.

Skyhiker
Thanks for the encouragement Alec K, AndreasK, Ben M, Bruce Huxtable, Dave Flitton, DerMattes, Duster_d, Greg Baker, Guy Rump, Hans-Jürgen Haag, Jennifer Franklin, J35J, Johne 69, Kesa Tiho, Lukas Muller, Łukasz Gliński, Martin Nevo, Matthew A, Mauricio, Moreno Baruffini, Mr D, Nicolas, Oleksii, Oliver, Patrick Hagelstein, Pietro De Angelis, Remco van Haren, Robert Podkoński, Rui, Rui S, S M, Sy Bar, Thomas Kolb, Tony Cooke, Treehugger, and Vincent.

Skyhiker
Gee, I just realized I only took a little over 10 months to finish a 2 day build. A new record for me. Lol

Mr D
🤣.
It's takes as long as it takes..... Weekend addition 🤣 l can't finish a little 1:44 in a weekend .
Congratulations... well done... looking good, you put a lot of time n personal touches into build.
👌😁👍

Guy Rump
Well done, looks great! 👍

Skyhiker
What do you guys think, Prince or still a Frog?

Robert Podkoński
Great job, Skyhiker! It'e a prince, no doubt. And I really wish I had so much perseverance...

Duster_d
An excellent completion of a great work! 👍

Vincent
Amazing journey! Great result in the end. This was fun to follow!

Nicolas
The modell looks absolutly phantastic. 👍

Pietro De Angelis
👏👏👏👍

Moreno Baruffini
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👏🏻

S M
Congrats for compliting this kit! The model looks much better than OOB model. Embodiment of perseverance!

Skyhiker
Thank guys

Ben M
It was enjoyable to watch something nice made from such a poor kit.