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Guy Rump
Another Japanese WW2 aircraft for my stable. 🙂

Nicolas
Following

Guy Rump
Made a start on the Ki-46. The interior main colour is Ammo-Mig Interior Mitsubishi. 🙂

Welcome Nicolas, pull up a stool. 🙂 👍

Many thanks mate for your interest and like Sukhoi 242. 👍

Jan Voorbij
Nice!

Guy Rump
Today I put the wings together and sprayed the parts which will be the undercarriage with Ammo Mig Mitsubishi interior green.

Thanks Jan! 👍

Many thanks mate for your interest and like Patryk S. 👍

Guy Rump
Fuselage together and undercarriage area added to wings. 🙂

Many thanks mates for your interest and likes Pietro DA, Villiers DV & 1 other mate. 👍

Guy Rump
Fuselage joined to wings and tail plane added. 🙂

Many thanks mates for your interest and likes Matti T, Vincent, scaleffect & 1 other mate. 👍

Guy Rump
Engines now on. Engine covers and masking of canopy next. 🙂

Many thanks mates for your interest and likes J35J, Mojo DV & Franck D. 👍

Guy Rump
Cockpit masked and attached. Primer and pre-shading added. 🙂

Guy Rump
Vallejo IJA Grey Green added to the underside. 🙂

Guy Rump
Vallejo IJA Dark Green added to the top side of the fuselage and wings. 🙂

Many thanks mate for your interest and like Franck G. 👍

Guy Rump
Gloss varnish applied and Decals added. Wash applied to panels to weather the aircraft. 🙂

Lost_Erik
Right on! 👍

Guy Rump
And finally complete! Thanks mates for your comments & likes. 👍

Many thanks Lost_Erik for your kind comment, I appreciate it greatlt. 👍

Many thanks mates for your interest and likes William J, Lost Erik, Dave F & NordMito. 👍

Nicolas
Good looking result guy.

Jan Voorbij
Very well done! Congratulations with this result.

Guy Rump
Many thanks Nicolas & Jan for your kind comments, I really appreciate them. 👍

Many thanks mates for your interest and likes Jocaj, SM, Sasa, Cuajete, Nicolas, Tony T & 1 other mate. 👍

Guy Rump
Many thanks mates for your interest and likes Robert P, komoras, Andrew O, Bernd G & Harald B. 👍

Rui S
Welcome to scalemates🙂

Rui S
Welcome to scalemates🙂

Rui S
Welcome to scalemates🙂

Rui S
Welcome to scalemates🙂

Christoph Schnarr
The fourth and last Focke-Wulf in my series is a Fw 190 A-7, also by eduard and again oob build.

Skyhiker
Following

Doubtingmango
Watching this one too!

Rui S
Welcome to scalemates🙂

Rui S
Welcome to scalemates🙂

Guy Rump
An old Frog kit under the banner of Eastern Express. A fair amount of flash to get off but nothing major. 🙂

Gordon Sørensen
Following! I have the NOVO boxing, planning on doing it as a French machine!

Guy Rump
Welcome Gordon 🙂

Guy Rump
As usual you're very welcome Roland 🙂

Daniel Klink
Following this one 👍 "Good" old Frog days..

Guy Rump
You're very welcome Daniel 🙂

Gary Kitchen
Following. Looking forward to this one and yours when it comes Gordon.

Guy Rump
Welcome Gary, pull up a seat. 🙂

Gary Kitchen
Thanks Guy. Hope you don't mind but I've just loaded up a few photos of my effort last summer. Not in your class obvs but reminded me I hadn't done so yet. 🙂 👍

Guy Rump
I've just had a look and commented Gary. I hope mine turns out as good as yours. The Special Hobby version is in a different class to the old Frog one. 🙂

Guy Rump
Interior of aircraft Val lejo RAF interior green. Pilot, gunner and cockpit inserted into the fuselage.

Fuselage together and wings attached. Apart from some filling on the wing attachments to fuselage, not a bad fit. 🙂

Gary Kitchen
Looking good so far. 👍. Apparently it was a bit of lumbering beast. But I have to say... those shaped wings... gotta love 'em.

Gordon Sørensen
Great detail (what little there is in this kit) painting. What colour did you use? I am thinking of using Model Master Green Zinc Chromate, then a Dark Gray Wash, and a maybe some Prismacolour Silver pencil to simulator wear...

Łukasz Gliński
Dat guns 😄 they look so starwarish/startrekkish 😄

Guy Rump
@Gary, thanks for your kind comments and yes, the wings are so very different to anything I've built before 🙂
@ Gordon thanks for your kind comments. I used Vallejo Model Air interior green (specific to RAF) I do like your ideas for your version. 🙂
@Lukasz thanks for looking! The machine guns are hugely out of scale. 🙂

Guy Rump
Tail plane now on and Vallejo primer applied on the aircraft. 🙂

Guy Rump
Top of aircraft Vallejo Model Air BS Green and BS Dark Earth applied. Bottom of aircraft, Vallejo Model Air Sky. 🙂

Guy Rump
Canopy masked and painted, gloss varnish and OOB decals put on. (The decals supplied were awful).

Olivier
This white background is making the plane too dark. Pity if you ask me. There is a lot of nice details to see.

Guy Rump
Thanks for the tip Olivier, next one I'll not use the white. 🙂

Guy Rump
A few more photos, now ready for the matt varnish and final weathering. 🙂

Olivier
Much better this way. Waiting for the last lap then.

Guy Rump
Thanks Olivier 🙂

Guy Rump
Finally regarded as complete. Not a great model in terms of fit and decals, but an unusual aircraft.

This model depicts an 84 Sqn RAF Vengeance that operated out of India over Burma during 1943. 🙂

Olivier
It reminds me of the Frog version I did back in the 70's. The end result of yours is much more attractive though.

David Januska
Nice result👍.

Guy Rump
Many thanks mates for your very kind comments 🙂
@ Olivier: you are indeed correct, although this was released by Eastern Express, it is indeed the Frog tooling.

Neil Patrick
Very nice Guy. Ugly aircraft. Beautiful model. 🙂

Patryk S.
Very nice model! Brings back memories as I did assemble it from the zts boxing when I was a kid. Thanks for sharing!

Guy Rump
@ Neil and @ Patryk many thanks for your kind comments 🙂

Łukasz Gliński
It brings memories back indeed 👍 And reminds it was not an easy one 😄 Nice result mate

Guy Rump
Many thanks Lukasz 🙂

Gary Kitchen
Great finish Guy. 👍

Guy Rump
Thanks Gary and many thanks for your earlier input 🙂

Daniel Klink
It is really very difficult to produce something presentable out of some of those older Frog kits.
The Vengeance is one of those, and you made a terrific job here Guy...👍
Despite of the sinkholes at the upper front Fuselage but anyway i like the result a lot mate 👍

Guy Rump
Many thanks Daniel, I appreciate your comments greatly 🙂

Gordon Sørensen
Very nice finish, Guy! I hope mine turns out half as good as yours!

Guy Rump
Many thanks Gordon 🙂

Cuajete
Nice job. Congrats!

Guy Rump
Thanks Cuajete 🙂

Guy Rump
Many thanks mate for your interest and like Ventas. 👍

Guy Rump
Many thanks mate for your interest and like Andre S. 👍

Sergio Ordonez
Superb job over a very humble kit, mate: this finish is awesome!

Guy Rump
Many thanks for your very kind comment Sergio, I really appreciate it. 👍

Many thanks mates for your interest and likes John H, Andrew B, Mirko R, Neil P, Sergio O, Rui & 1 other mate. 👍

Duster_d
Wow! It looks just great! I have the same kit in the stash. Maybe I'll get to him someday 🙂

Guy Rump
Thanks for the kind comment Duster_d. 👍 The only thing I can recommend is to get some after market decals as the ones provided are quite naff. 👍

Many thanks mates for your interest and likes Duster_d, Rui R & Matti T. 👍

Duster_d
Guy Rump, yes, the decal in my "Vengeance" from ARK is simple, the same variants as in the original 1974 FROG decal. But there are two copies from different manufacturers in the box, ARK has an eternal mess with decals 🙂

Guy Rump
Many thanks mate for your interest and like Neil. 👍

Guy Rump
Many thanks mates for your interest and likes John E & RolfRolf. 👍

Guy Rump
Many thanks mate for your interest and like J35J. 👍

Guy Rump
Many thanks for your interest and like J35J. 👍

Guy Rump
Many thanks mates for your interest and likes Andrew O & scaleffect. 👍

Christoph Schnarr
I spontaneously started building the new Morane 406 kit from Dora Wings. It was built oob. I only replaced the dashboard with coloured etched parts from AZ Model. The main reason for this was that the instrument layout for an MS.406 was far more correctly reproduced in the etched parts. In addition, the missing rows of rivets were added to the wings and fuselage.

Doubtingmango
Watching

Rui S
Welcome to scalemates🙂

Rui S
Welcome to scalemates🙂

Guy Rump
Another to add to my RAF post war collection. 🙂

Nicolas
Watching

Guy Rump
Made a start on this kit with the cockpit which is quite basic to say the least, part of the reason I put the pilot and navigator in. 🙂

Welcome Nicolas, pull up a seat. 👍

Many thanks mates for your interest and likes Freak, Andrew B, Istvan S, Villiers DV, J35J, Andre K, Juskifo, Tommy A, NordMito & 1 other mate. 👍

Guy Rump
Added cockpit to the upper fuselage. Lower parts of the tail added to the lower fuselage. Wings and folding mechanism added to lower fuselage. Weight added to the lower part of the nose. I wasn't certain how much to add as there is no indication in the instructions. 🙂

Guy Rump
Fuselage now together and bits of filler here and there. 🙂

Many thanks mate for your interest and like Matti T. 👍

Rui S
Welcome to scalemates🙂

Sebastian Meyner
Stunning work Niels 👍

Guy Rump
Great job! 👍

gorby
Excellent painting!

Doubtingmango
Beautiful work!

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

Trez Mackenzie
I have built 70s Tamiya kit - but that was a least workable. The base was there even though many errors. This 'kit' just seems like a waste of time. Like trying to make a dog poop look edible by putting a cherry on top.
If I saw this kit I would stamp it into the ground. Useless

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.

Trez Mackenzie
I agree with your modern trend thesis - especially if you add in the AM factor. But I think there is a line to be crossed between the kit manufacturers chucking out a quick buck kit with no effort in a fancy box (my pet peeve - rebox) etc, and thereby throwing the burden on the modeller and on the other side 'great expectations' along with spewing out bundles of dollars on AM on an already close to perfect kit.

I suppose if you are saying the kit can be built into an accurate replica then the modifications and work are justified.

I do admit that scratch building is the purest form of scale modelling so it depends on one's 'Weltanschaaung' and philosophy.

Anyway it looks like you gave up on it which influenced my previous comment - in other words all that effort bore no fruit

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.

Trez Mackenzie
lol - hopefully I wont end up with one of those 'open kit open bin' models. I would reconsider throwing in loads of detail in that cockpit because none will be seen - it may be one of those more of a burden - but it is your show.

As I'm just getting into it again I bought several boxes of the 1/72 AZ joy packs - about 20 bucks - 3 kits in a box - although the Gustav set has no stencils the Emil set does but no decals - much easier to deal with. I am using them to practice some skills. (Will post on here soon)

Just to add they are about to bring out AZ Mustang Joy pack - I'm only into German aircraft and armour but it might be for you. I suspect they may bring out another later mustang set

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

Trez Mackenzie
It's coming along!
From about halfway back on the underside there should be no join line - but forward of halfway you are good which makes things a little easier.

Just an idea but you can download the ZM instructions to get an idea?

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.

Trez Mackenzie
Apologies - I meant the external join lines. I can see what you done - it looks good. I thought the ZM instructions would help as a guide

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.

Trez Mackenzie
Don't worry too much about updates - things like that can cause one to rush. We ain't going away so take your time! 🫡👍

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.

Doubtingmango
Takom 1/35 hetzer early production, with Stalingrad hetzer crew, and Custom Dioramics base

Johne 69
Well done Mate 👍
What can you say about the Takom Kit ?

Doubtingmango
Johne,
It was an easy kit to build, and I thought it was a nice balance between a simpler Tamiya kit and a much more highly detailed Dragon kit. The kit shares some sprues with their full interior kit, so there are lots of unused, but useful pieces included. It's made from a softer plastic than I typically work with, but I got used to it pretty quickly. Overall, it was fun to build while still providing an impressive amount of detail, and the pricing is fantastic. I'm very tempted to try my first full interior kit using one of the Takom late production hetzers.

Cheers!

Johne 69
Thank you for the answer 👍 and that's nice to hear because I have some Kits from Takom in my Stash.

Neuling
Good looking Hetzer 👍

Doubtingmango
Thanks Neuling!

gorby
Very nice work!

Doubtingmango
Thanks gorby!