Newsfeed-

Bruce Huxtable
Welcome, Villiers. I'll finish the motorcycle then stat the figures. I also have the Gama Goat driver to work on....

Greg Baker
Now this one, I'm quite proud of. It's one of the most iconic scenes from one of the most popular Tintin albums, Tintin in Tibet. As Tintin struggles to hold on to the rope above, Captain Haddock dangle precariously off a large cliff. This one actually started as a special request from one of the Tintin Facebook pages. I had originally thought about doing my take on the cover, with the footprints in the snow, but was easily convinced this would be better. Strangely enough, I'm actually most proud of the rock face. It wasn't easy to get a jumble of rocks in the right place so that Tintin would both have a boulder to push against, and also allow for the "rope" to dangle down in the right place.

The rope has a little bit of CA glue to help keep it stiff and straight, but it still dangles freely. In the end, it turned out better than I thought it would.

Cuajete
Very nice scene. Good job anytime, Greg.
Congrats!

Recently saw Tintin figures on Aliexpress. I guess they are not 1/72 scale:
es.aliexpress.com/w/..productlist.search.0

Greg Baker
Thanks Cuajete! Yeah, those figures are definitely not 1/72 scale. In fact, the Tintin collectors Facebook page was just warning people about being taken in by "fakes from China" during their hunt for Tintin-related treasures. I think for most people, it probably doesn't matter a lot, but there is actually quite a well-established collectors market for "official" Tintin items. I use quotes on the word official, because I'm not quite sure how legit some of them are, but there's a few very well known collections make by more traditional craftsmen techniques that command quite a price. I'm personally not a huge fan of a lot of them because, in my opinion, the quality leaves something to be desired. However, like a lot of things... beautiful nostalgia glasses can cover over a lot of mistakes. 😉

Robert Podkoński
Cool!

Spanjaard
really cool idea and execution, one to certainly be proud, no doubt 🙂

Greg Baker
After a quick study of Uwe's album… here we go!

Robert Podkoński
Taking a seat!

Alex K
So do I!

Uwe Kaeding
Go for it Greg - not much room for wiring though! I also thought you'd go for one of the AVI/LF styrene kits.

Greg Baker
If I hadn't got excited and spent $35 on this kit 5 years ago after seeing your build, I probably would've gone with the styrene - they do look really good. Oh, well, we work with what we've got...

Of course... that's only until I figure out that the correct version of the Puss Moth is the Mk. V and not the Mk. XIV and then I can't unsee the problems... 🙂

Greg Baker
As for the wiring, I've drilled out the engine cowling to create enough room to slot in the DC motor. It's VERY tight and I was very careful not to breach the surface. I haven't tested it yet, but I think I was able to get close enough. The small DC motors always have such a small shaft, which can be helpful but sometimes creates a challenge. I'll run two thin wires out and then hide them behind a small, scratchbuilt control panel. Then under the styrene floor and down through a hole in the underside of the fuselage. I'll have to put a resistor on it in the base, otherwise the motor will likely spin this little plan apart. 🙂

Живко Джаков
This is interesting! I'm following. I have a question. How do you connect the motor to the propeller?

Greg Baker
Because I can't quite get the DC motor out of the engine cowling due to the size, I'll have to add a styrene rod to the propellor and then have it go into the cowling. To attach it to the motor itself, I'll likely drill a small hole (about the same diameter as the DC motor shaft) into the short styrene rod and then fit it to the motor shaft with a tiny bit of CA glue (making sure not to get the glue INTO the motor itself). Then I'll glue to styrene rod to the propellor. It'll be tricky to keep everything centred, otherwise the spin will be off. I'll take lots of pictures to show the process... if it works. 😉

Живко Джаков
I am asking about the centering. I have some experience with DC motors. I have several similar ones collected from children's toys, but I dare not try.

Finn
Joining

Greg Baker
Centering... well now... usually what I do is drill a hole as close to the centre as I can manage it... then I drill a little bit this way... then a little bit that way... then I slice the rod until I get a bit that is arguably in the centre...

Then I ignore the wobble. 🙂

Thomas Espe
👀

Greg Baker
Alright. Some progress. I have out some of the cockpit to make room for the extra windows. I was as eloquent as Uwe, so I covered my mistakes up with some thin sheet polystyrene. Put in some wires to reinforce the wings, and got the propeller spinning. So far so good, I think.

Matthew A
Cor

Cuajete
I can't miss this!

Greg Baker
Wings attached and engine mounted.

Casey Beckett
OOH. An Omega kit - I have one of their BN Islanders - Watching this one.

Greg Baker
Got the fuselage more or less put together and painted the interior. Next up will be fitting in the windows… if I'm not back in a day or two, notify the authorities. 😉

Живко Джаков
If I have to report you missing to North Shore Rescue it will be easy.

Cuajete
The frame of those windows seems very fragile being resin. You have great skill, Greg!

Greg Baker
Thanks Cuajete - the resin is quite tricky to work with and I had to add in some extra windows, so it was a bit touch and go. I did copy Uwe's idea to use some wire supports to both hold the wings on and provide some structural stability. The only problem is that I put one of them in the wrong spot and had to cut it out to remove and replace it.

Skyhiker
I made it just in time.

Greg Baker
After an enormous amount of fiddling, I finally got the windows in place and Tintin, Snowy, and the medical kit seated. Now I can start to close it up. Thanks god.

Erik De Smet
Nice project again. A resin kit is always tricky and the tiny parts fragile, especially the u\c. Luckily this one will be flying. btw , Greg, do you mind making the propeller spinning in the opposite direction, so that it pushes itself in place ? I did it on some of my models, it is hardly visible . The main advantage is that you don't need to glue the propeller to the motor axle with ca, just a little bit of tacky paste inside the propeller tube will be enough.

bughunter
Greg is building an Omega resin bird 👍 I have some in my stash - in 1:48 as usual - but have not started one until now.

Greg Baker
You're right, Erik. I replaced almost the entire upper canopy framing with polystyrene and wire. I had to add some windows to this kit and wanted some consistency in the thickness of the frame. It was tricky to get everything glued in place, but I got it done more or less to my satisfaction. I'm hesitant to add the u/c elements because they seem rather fragile, but you're also right that it being in-flight will help a lot.

Greg Baker
I'm intrigued by the opposite spinning propellor idea. I can see where that might make things easier. Hmmmm...

Lode Schildermans
I'm in

Nicolas
Missed this one. Joining the fun.

Greg Baker
You haven't missed much... I had to redo much of the canopy... updated photos coming soon~

Lode Schildermans
I'll take a seat as well 🙂

Greg Baker
And... we're back. As I mentioned, the canopy basically fell apart while trying to install the windows, but it seems to be stable now. I also added a small tail wheel (as in the reference image) that I scavenged from the spares box. Next up, paint it pink and fix any issues that reveals. 🙂

Spanjaard
I will seat next to Lode 🙂

Cuajete
Great, Greg! 👍

gorby
Nice work on what looks like a challenging kit.

Moreno Baruffini
Wow, very nice work 👍🏻

Greg Baker
The first of my "back to school" photo album updates. This was a really challenging kit to build. I'm not sure how Uwe did such a great job on his version... The canopy/wing spar almost defeated me. The clear parts are a lot less clear than I would've liked, but at least you can tell who's flying the plane, right?

Cuajete
Great job for this hard kit, Greg. Good paint finish. Definitely much better with the wire crossbars and can see perfectly who is inside 👍
Congrats!

bughunter
You finished this kit to a nice looking miniature diorama 👍
The Omega resin kits seems to be not that easy. I have some in my stash - one day in future I will try one.

Greg Baker
Thanks guys! I can honestly say, the Omega resin kit left a lot to be desired. It might have gone together more easily if I hadn't carved out a larger cockpit area and added the cross bars. That really set me back a lot. Also, the surface in many areas (especially the wings) was not particularly clean. Defects in the mould made for odd blobs and scratches that needed to be sanded or filled to the best of my abilities.

Greg Baker
Just to show the propellor in action:

Youtube Video

Cuajete
Great, Greg! 👍

Robert Podkoński
Great job indeed, Greg!