Novità

Łukasz Gliński
Following, of course

Zbynek Honzik
Welcome, Łukasz!

Robert Podkoński
Me 2!

Zbynek Honzik
Welcome, Robert!

Zbynek Honzik
After a long time I got into modelling and so managed to move a number of things forward. Now I have to let the putty cure properly on the transition between the pylon and the engine. And then the careful sanding and cleaning and final painting of the pylon and engine will begin.

Łukasz Gliński
Great to see you back on this one, the livery looks v.cool indeed.
And don't even think that Zvezda nacelles are much better 🙂

Spanjaard
wow it it is looking really good. I really like the windows, and the shades you added

Zbynek Honzik
Łukasz, I've got 373-800/700 waiting for me from Zvezda. And I'm looking forward to it. However, given my snail's pace, I don't know when their turn will come... 🐌🫣

Zbynek Honzik
Thank you, Spanjaard.

Łukasz Gliński
My both 800s are waiting as well 😄 Revell & Zvezda
Btw. How did you do such a nice pair of landing lights? I'm looking for ideas as decals are not available for all liners in 144th.

Michael Kohl
I am impressed by how clean and evenly you cut out the windows. Which material did you use to cover the windows before pouring the resin. I use regular Cello tape but the resin dissolves the glue and this sticks to the windows.

Zbynek Honzik
@Łukasz - I use either "little lenses" that I bought years ago at www.morellingtool.co.uk or nail glitter that I bought at a bead store.
I seal the headlight area first, then spray paint it matt black and glue the lights (glitter) in the appropriate places.
Then I sealed everything with transparent resin. After the resin hardened, I sanded everything to the shape of the leading edge of the wing and then polished.

Zbynek Honzik
@ Michael - I use an electrical tape that I bought on e-bay. I got a reference for it on YouTube here: Youtube Video
It's High Temperature Resistant Kapton Tape. The packaging says it is "Advanced Polymer Tape" and is characterized as "Clean Removal". And the adhesive doesn't really stick to the resin.

Łukasz Gliński
Velke diky Zbynku - I might use it on my next airliners 👍

Michael Kohl
Thanks Zbynek. I will try this. The Cello tape glue can be quite easily removed with IPA, but lazy as I am, I like the idea to omit that step.

Zbynek Honzik
You're welcome, mates!

Zbynek Honzik
So I moved forward a bit again and sanded and cleaned up the transition between the pylon and the engine.

Zbynek Honzik
In between letting the putty cure in the transition between the pylon and the engine, I started speculating how to improve the cockpit window frame.
In the end, Authentic Airliner Decals were used. I really like the way the authentic metallic finish looks on the decal, plus they depict the rivets and the thin black line showing the insulation between the glass and the frame. I had to cut the decal because the dimensions are a little different on the model, but I really like it. So I ordered another set. The windshield is wider, so one set was not enough for me.
On the photo you can see where the original frame is sprayed with Alclad and where the decal is.

Robert Podkoński
These window frames look perfect indeed.

Zbynek Honzik
Thanks, Robert!

Zbynek Honzik
So I found some time for modelling - Pylon/engine transition painted, wash oil paint on top of wings done, airline name decal placed on fuselage.

Mr D
See you like your Airlines 👍.
I may do a Soviet era TU in future.
You done some nice projects 😀👍👍

Zbynek Honzik
Thank you for your kind comment Mr D.
I am also going to do a Tupolev, specially TU-134 Malév. That was the first airliner I flew in from Budapest to Prague.

Zbynek Honzik
A small step forward has been made. The window frames on the starboard side have been installed. Emergency exit also. The cleanliness of the window glazing, unfortunately, did not turn out the way I wanted due to my mistake. I have to learn to live with that. Hopefully it will be better on the port side of the fuselage...

Mr D
It's all a learning curve, as in all art forms ......it's the persute of perfection very rarely we achieve it.
Looks great to me and I'm sure others think the same.
Your Tu-134 sound like great idea.
😁👍

Zbynek Honzik
"It's all a learning curve, as in all art forms ......it's the pursuite of perfection very rarely we achieve it." - Exactly! Thank you for the precise wording, Mr D!!!
That's also my curse...

bughunter
Today I came across this: what a wonderful work 👍
Such glossy finishes (on cars or airliners) are not easy because it brings all little mishaps to the surface. But I like your careful work, and it is great that you go a step back and fix things even it is more work.

Zbynek Honzik
Thank you very much for your encouraging comment, bughunter!
Thanks to my almost obsessive nature, everything takes a very long time though.
Your fast forward while maintaining exceptional quality and cleanness is one of the things I highly admire. Your masterpieces are a great inspiration to me.

Guy Rump
Looking great, following. 👍

Spanjaard
it looks really good, what is the issue about the windows? they look great in the pictures

Thomas Wirsching
finished painting the AT gun crew today

Thomas Wirsching
Project finished😊👍

Kate Ward
Nice! What did you use for the grass?

Mathias Decommere
That grass is very convincing!

Thomas Wirsching
Thank you Kate and Mathias. That gras diorama piece was from dennisminiaturesdesign.de/shop/diorama/ a german producer of 3d printed figures and some other stuff. I´ve bought it from Modellbau König in Germany. I am not sure if they still carry it. I was not overly impressed as I had to cut quite substantial parts of the corners because the grass was applied irregularly there and looked ugly. I got a discount for that by the dealer and kept it for a while didn´t knew what to do with it until I decided for this diorama.. For this small scenario it did fit perfectly 😊

Guy Rump
Great dio, figures are excellent! 👍

Doubtingmango
The grass certainly looks great after you finished with it, and those figures are stunning!

Doubtingmango
So I just finished this little Italian job. The decals came out with a lot of the edges showing, which then got a lot worse when I added some washes. I used Microset on the decals, and then sealed them with Tamiya semi-gloss before the washes, but it actually looks like the washes got under the decals. Any thoughts?

Bogicevic Vladimir
It looks like you haven't spray gloss coat before you applied decals. Or decals didn't set well. There are two solutions. One is lacquer thinner. Put the thinner with fine brush in dots over the place where you have silvering. Thinner should destroy the film. If it raises paint under, just leave it, it will settle back. Important thing here is that, once you applied thinner, you shouldn't touch decal for something like 20 minutes, at least. Second way is mix of sugar and water, half - half. You make a hole with a needle on the decal, than you put mix on the top. It should enter in the space between decal and paint and, when drayed, make a gloss film in between them which will act as a gloss under the decal. Wipe excess mix with wet cloath and you are done.

Mr James
How annoying. I've never heard of the sugar water trick from Bogicevic. I'll be interested if this works. If the thinner, sugar trick fails, what else can you do but use a scalpel to cut around them, since you've sealed it,

Mr James
Oh, nice paintjob by the way

Doubtingmango
Thanks mates! I believe Bogicevic is right. I think I did fail to gloss coat before the decals. I think I'll try the sugar water first

Bogicevic Vladimir
Ok. There are few small tings I should add then. Heat the water first, when hot it will disolve sugar beter and apply it while it's still warm, it will have more viscosity. Make small hole or slice with modeling knife, put few drops of mix on the top and let it dry. You will see emidiatly if it's penatrating. When dry, wipe carefully excess mix with moist cloth. Repeat where neaded. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it worked for me many times.

Doubtingmango
Thanks Bogicevic! I'll give it a shot. If it doesn't work I'll try the lacquer thinner technique. I love this site!

Mark Sherwood
Where the *uck's this been hiding. Very nice build Mr Mango and I hope the decal solution from Bogicevic work's out🤞

Doubtingmango
Thanks Mark! So I punched some holes in the decals and applied the warm sugar water, but unfortunately it did not seem to make a noticeable difference. I decided my best shot was to just grab the scalpel and remove the decals, which was very easy. Bogicevic said the solution would get under the decals! I have successfully applied new decals, and my little Italian job is now base-worthy. New pics to come.

Bogicevic Vladimir
Well, you find a solution, which is the most important thing. I can not know why something that worked for me many times does not work for you in this case. Maybe that what I think is silvering is residual glue from decal paper. Who knows... Anyway, good luck with your project.

Doubtingmango
Thanks Bogicevic! You were definitely part of the solution

John
All's well that ends well. 👍 Mango, your builds have me hankering to do some armor but I still have commitments to do a couple more a/c. When I do get a chance, part of me wants to start small with a Pz IV, but another part says go for broke and do a Maus!

gorby
Very nice work!

Neuling
Good result anyway!

Doubtingmango
Thanks guys!

Doubtingmango
As promised, new pics of the new decals have been added, along with pics of the work I have started on the base. Once again, thank you for the help Bogicevic!

John
Really cool base! 👍

Guy Rump
Great result on the tank, the base looks good too. 👍

Doubtingmango
Thanks John and Guy!

Doubtingmango
More work on the base. Just need to paint up the base and add foliage

Doubtingmango
And it's finished

Rui S
Great work allround 👍 Beautiful vignette

Doubtingmango
Thanks Rui! Always appreciate the feedback

Tcamp
Awesome work

Pietro De Angelis
Beautiful work, congrats!

M0rce
That's pretty cool 😎

Bobby Thumbs
hey man that palm tree is badass excellent work

Doubtingmango
Thank you all! The palm tree is badass, but I can only take credit for the placement. I got it off an Ebay seller from Thailand, Thannan Diorama Exporters. Not cheap, but I had to get one to see if they were as good as they look. They are! Also need to give a shout out to Value Gear for much of the stowage.

Landlubber Mike
Wow, this is fantastic!! The model and the base looks amazing, but that palm tree really pulls it all together in an extra special way. Well done!

Doubtingmango
Thanks Mike!

Spanjaard
great you resolved the decals issue, fantastic dio

Doubtingmango
Pretty spit!!

Guy Rump
Very nice clean build. 👍

Doubtingmango
Well done!