Nyhetsflöde

Ben M
Brilliant!

Mr James
Wow wow wow. What a superb display of weathering and painting. A stunning build

gorby
I agree. Top quality build!

David Taylor
Brill.

Rui S
Great work 👍 Deserves a base 🤔

Bruce Huxtable
Superb!

Villiers de Vos
Fantastic work and beautiful weathering. I agree with Rui, the model deserves a base.

mrva mrak
thnx guys.. base for him will be soon..

Neuling
Looking forward!

Łukasz Gliński
Following. At least one Slovak 9.12 wore digital camo, but the Kopro decals might be hard to get nowadays (I just sold mine earlier this year).
MiG-29AS Fulcrum (Kopro 94160, 1:72)

Spanjaard
You can call it a whatif and use whatever decal you want 😉
Question, Ukraine did not ever had 9.12 Mig-29? The reason I am asking is that I wanted to do my 9.12 in Ukrainian colors.... (maybe I need to godot whatis myself....)

Łukasz Gliński
Now it has for sure, at least ex-Polish ones

Spanjaard
Good to know! Thanks Łukasz!

Hang Li
Thanks, Łukasz for sharing the information and Spanjaard for the idea!

I did a little research and found out Slovak started applying digital camo for fulcrum day back in 2006. Unfortunately, I could find any decal for Slovakia Migs in local market, not even the Airforce symbols and numbers. There are many Russian/North Korea decal on the market here however.....

From the news I read lately, Slovakia and Polish Fulcrums has been transferred (at least a small number, although there are modifications made and different with the kit version), So it is possible to have Ukraine colored 912 (maybe not all planes are disassembled for spare parts). I think I will do a bit more research to see if there is more news about it. Cheers!

一生还一夜
Details of the cockpit are subtle! Following.

Nicolas
Joining.

Marius
Well done so far!

Łukasz Gliński
Just found a decal set that covers the 9-12s in Ukraine Air Force, before the Polish&Slovak ones were delivered:
Ukrainian Fulcrums: MiG-29 (.. 9-51) (Foxbot 72-061, 1:72)

Spanjaard
thanks!

Hang Li
thanks

Alec K
Very nice progress 👍

Tibor Szilvai
Expert! 👍

DerMattes
Nice MiG-29! How did you make the airfield?

Hang Li
Thanks all. The airfield diorama base is made with ABS plastic sheet. The first step is cutting all the tile lines. Then I painted it with wood putty mixed with grey paint for all the tiles. I generally brushed each tile in different directions to create slightly different patterns. Remember to polish the surface to make it flat after the putty dried. I airbrushed most of the tiles next with different grays to create some variations and the last step is some weathering works with oil paints and pastel paints.

Łukasz Gliński
Brilliant finish 👍

Hang Li
Thank you Lukasz for the continuous support;)

Mirko Römer
I can only second Lukasz' comment!

Finn
Well done indeed!

Michael Kohl
Basic paint sceem or not, you achieved an excellent result. Top notch are particularly the exhausts. Simple but nice dio too.

Shar Dipree
Fine MiG-29! 👍👍👍👍

Hang Li
Many thanks, Mirko, Finn, Michael ans Shar! I bought some sakura brush pens just for the exhaust nozzles. They are quite easy to use.

44 Ben44
Nice Mig 👍

Vincent
Beautiful! Great display also🙂

Nicolas
I like the result very much. 👍

Ekki
Beautiful result.

Cristian A
Excellent build and very nice presentation! congrats

Neuling
Same as Cristian!

Gerald
Hello Welcome here 😉

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
Thanks for coming across - interested in the story behind this build? Great ... a year ago I didn't have a lot of experience in model building. As a kid I built some models and around 10 years ago I started again but didn't even finish the model I started. At this time I had basic knowledge in using an airbrush. So around one year ago I decided to dig in again and started building a model car (you can see in my projects), but didn't even know techniques like pre-shading, post-shading, ... So as I had this kit at home for over 11 years, I decided to give it a try. From watching YouTube videos I tried to study all this techniques and this is the result. First military plane ever, first kit using techniques like pre-shading, post-shading, weathering, ... it was hard, it was nerve-wracking sometimes, I did a lot of mistakes and I couldn't do all the things I wanted to do but in the end I'm happy with the result. I also think that this kit was not the best choose for starting ... 90% of this model is painted in Revell email colors I already had "in stock". I appreciate all of your feedback and I'm really interested in it. Please keep in mind, that this is my first plane ever using above mentioned techniques BR Thomas

Marius
Awesome result even for someone with much more practice. A quality model for sure!
Nice detailing overall. The cockpit and exhaust areas are looking very good! Too bad you didn't choose any ordnance/weapons for it.

The funny thing is that the Eurofighter (Hasegawa kit) was 3 years ago for me as well the first model after a 15 years break. Just like you, I tried relearning from tutorials.

I also finished the Revell double seater and I remember the nose landing gear was particularly weak and bending under the model's weight. How did you sove this? Or was that not o problem for you?

Because you asked, a small a side comment from me: you can try in the future maybe to better blend those grime or dirt streaks (from the underside for instance) with the main aircraft color in order to avoid a hard edge. Some of these streaks might have a hard edge in reality, but most not that much. Did you use oils for that? I am asking because not all oils behave the same. For instance the MIG oils are good for washes but in my opinion too "volatile" for an adherence to the main color, making the blending more difficult. For such streaks I prefer the oils from Winsor & Newton which are actually also staining your main color allowing for a beautiful blending (with the help of turpentine of course). The difference might be difficult to understand the way I described it, but quite clear in practice. But this might be just a subjective matter in the end.

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
@Marius: thank you for your feedback! Now I see that the ones on the underside are not blended well. As you say the edges seem to be too hard. I will try to do it on my next build. I used Abteilung 502 oils and I'm pretty fine with them.
During the build I had tons of issues with gaps, bad fittings, … but no issues with landing gears. Although I recognized that the landing gears were a little bent and quite tricky to attach. Thanks for sharing your feedback - have a nice day

Jos Jansen
Thomas, you can be proud on yourself mate, you've modelling skills I can see that. I agree that this Revell kit isn't the best kit to start with...but hey, you created an absoluty nice Typhoon. Marius talks about an oil brand, I prefer also the oils from Abteilung 502...very subtle oils for fine art works suchs as leaking oil streaks! If you want a reference model for subtle oil streaks, look at my project of a British F-4.

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
@Jos: Thank you so much for your feedback! I will keep going and I already started my next build Mil Mi24 from eduard. I´m not able to say anything bad on Abteilung 502 oils (but I only used this brand for now ... ). I´ll will check out your British F-4 later today. Have a nice day mate.

Neuling
All´s well that ends well! For me there are no flaws or drawbacks visible on this beautiful model.

Giorgos
Hi Thomas!
(a) Congrats on the Eurofighter! She really looks lovely! (To be honest, I like the fotos with the white background better 🙂 But the built is awesome!)
(b) Same life story here more or less 🙂 So, you are not alone! Keep it up!

Ludvík Kružík
Hard to believe this is the first build of the model. You did great. As Marius writes, it's a great result even for someone with much more experience. 👍
With each additional model you build, you gain more confidence and gradually find your own techniques that suit you and lead to even better results.

Slavo Hazucha
Impressive result, particularly when reading the story (!!!) - I myself had like a 20 years break in the Hobby and basically re-learned everything from videos & media (and wondered about all the marvels in materials and aftermarket I had no access to as a young modeller...) - this is an excellent "first model". And you took on a kit that - as far as I saw & was talking to people - that appears to be sub-par and difficult in more than one department - great way handling that too 👍 - I guess it can go directly to Zeltweg 😉

Regarding Oils (my favourite treatment for all kinds of effect) - I use Winsor & Newton (from an art-supply store in Vienna...) and had no reason to try others - they just "work" and are fairly versatile - I found the technique, thinning ratios, method of application, drying time and "technique and tool used for removal" being the relevant factors with which a variety of effects can be executed. Just love to experiment and learn new things with that stuff... I apply them directly on MRP paints without varnish and count in the effect of a wash or so on the final color, which also works fine (at least to my satisfaction... 🙂 )

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
@Neuling vielen Dank für das positive Feedback!

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
@Giorgos: Many thanks for your feedback! Appreciate it and I'm very happy that you like my build. I did some pictures with white background but I was not that happy with the result so I shared the ones with black background. I also prefer white background and tbh the shading was much more visible with white background. I'm looking for a photo box so probably pictures from my next build will be with white background

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
@Ludvik: Thank you for your feedback. I can't tell you how much I learned from this build, starting from how the improve glueing the parts together until getting more and more comfortable with the airbrush. Never thought that I'm able to use highly diluted paint (5%) and do post-shading. But I need to say after a view trials and playing around with pressure, distance and confidence I managed to do it without any bigger issues

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
@Slavo: I totally understand you - I was so impressed by finding out how this market developed ... amazing how the quality of the sprues improved compared to this old kit. I already have a good stock of kits and opening these boxes was really amazing for me. About the kit ... yeah ... not the highest quality I guess but with patience and putty you can fix almost all issues and I think the kit choose me, as it stayed with me for a decade 😄 I'm planning a diorama with a concrete ground and Zeltweg number painting, so he will be in small Zeltweg later. Regarding oil washes and weathering I also learned a lot and I'm confident for my next build. I really appreciate your feedback and enjoyed reading it. Have a great day

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
@Giorgos: I added some pictures with white background. Do you like them?

Daniel
I've heard of several experienced modellers that got frustrated and binned this kit, so kudos for conquering this one as your first jet! 👍 With an excellent result as well 👏🏻

Still, if it's going to be an EuFi in 1:48 this is basically the best kit around, same applies to Revells Tornado, another true PITA from what you see+hear.

What I noticed is that a lot of beginners (including me) make their start into modelling extra hard as they shy away from the "pro" AAA Kits and buy the cheap "beginner" ones - which are mostly really old and frustrating...(typical things I wish I knew before 😉 ) But great that you ve got the needed tenacity and looking forward to more jets from your bench 🙂

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
@Daniel: vielen Dank für dein Feedback. Ja, es war tatsächlich ein Kampf mit mir selbst dieses Modell fertigzustellen. Oft genug war ich an dem Punkt, wo ich ihn einfach beiseite stellen wollte. Aber er lag halt 10 Jahre herum, dann dachte ich mir, ich probier es einfach mal ... als nächstes kommt mal ein Hubschrauber - Mil Mi 24 eduard (Zvezda) weil ich mal was mit Photoätzteilen machen wollte und der eduard kit war da preislich ganz ok. Wahrscheinlich auch nicht die allerbeste Wahl, aber denke wenn ich den Eurofighter gepackt habe, schaffe ich den auch ... Danach dann das Warzenschwein von Academy - von dem erhoffe ich mir wirklich sehr viel. Mal schauen.

Daniel
Ohja, von der warthog verspreche ich mir auch viel 👌🏻

Giorgos
Indeed! IMHO the white background does justice to her! Congrats again!

Mid Franconian
Ein toller Eurofighter, gratulatiere!! Gefällt mir sehr gut!
Und noch dazu in österreichischen Markierungen. Sieht man m.E. viel zu wenig.

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
@Mittelfranke - vielen Dank! Als Ösi musste ich wohl diese Markierungen wählen ...

ScaleFella NAFO
lovely weathering

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
@NAFO: thanks - not perfect, but acceptable for the first attempt

Michael Kohl
Top result.

karatel
Awesome build. I also built Austrian Typhoon few years ago but 7L-WE

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
Thanks @karatel and @Micheal appreciate your positive feedback

CaptGPF
Based on the end result, it doesn't look like a first build after a 10 year hiatus!

This thread made me wonder just how many of just came back to the hobby after such a long spell- thanks to Covid! 🤔

Ludvík Kružík
It seems that this hobby has its own special charm - it is difficult to abandon it permanently. Many of those who took it up in childhood return to it in adulthood. I have left it and returned to it several times. The reasons were varied, but Covid was not among them.

Gary Victory
Really nice build Thomas of a kit that's not the easiest to put together well. Top job Thomas.

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
@CaptGPF and @Gary: many thanks! I really appreciate your feedback. Indeed the kit was a challenge, but I still sit in front of this plane from time to time and watch it ... 😄 reminding me off all the beginner mistakes I did ... @Ludvik: Similar on my side, childhood modeller as most of us, then teenager with totally different interests, gave it another try in my late twenties but didn't even finish the kit (I still have the unfinished car somewhere). Came back in 2022 almost exactly 2 years ago after stumbling upon a youtube video of Scale Model Shed. That was kind of inspiring so I was looking for the old kits and found the Samba bus and the Eurofighter .... the journey began and you know what .... my P-51 Mustang won first place on last weeks IMPS Austria so this time I will stay in 😄

CaptGPF
I forgot to congratulate you on your beautiful Mustang winning the IMPS. I agree with you guys - this is a hobby that has that ability to draw you back - even if we take a long hiatus from it. 😀

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
Thanks! Was very surprising because I didn´t even want to show it there ....

Ludvík Kružík
I still miss this small helicopter in my collection of flying machines used in Czechoslovakia. The time has come for me to rectify that. 😉

Villiers de Vos
I will follow along.

Ludvík Kružík
Welcome Villiers! 🙂

Greg Baker
Oh. I built a 1/72 version of the Mi-1M... This should be interesting.

Ludvík Kružík
Hello, Greg. I know there's a Mi-1M kit in 1/72nd scale. Unfortunately, only this and a rather old kit from Special Hobby exists in 1/48 scale. In addition, this kit is an older version of the Mi-1A, which is different from the upgraded version of the Mi-1M. It has a different nose shape, different cockpit glazing and other minor changes. And since I decided to build the upgraded version of the Mi-1M, I will not avoid modifications to the kit.
To give you a better idea of the extent of the modifications to the kit, I've included a picture with the differences between the Mi-1A and Mi-1M versions color coded.

Greg Baker
Oh, neat! I didn't realize there were so many changes between the versions. This is going to look great!

Ludvík Kružík
Greg, thank you for your support.
____________________
I started building the model by making new transparent parts.

Alec K
Taking a seat, this brings back memories of ABC magazine 😜👍

gorby
Nice work moulding the new transparent parts.

Greg Baker
Yeah. Nice work on the heat-n-smash moulding for the clear parts. That can be tricky to do.

Ludvík Kružík
@Alec K
I used to buy ABC magazine regularly as a kid and eagerly awaited each new issue 🙂. I assume your mention of ABC magazine refers to the occasional modeling tutorial section.

@gorby, @Greg Baker
It's not too difficult to make new transparent parts by stretching warmed transparent foil over a pre-made template. Preparing the template is the most work. Stretching the warmed foil onto the template is just a routine that anyone can do after a few attempts.

Alec K
Correct 🙂👍👍

Robert Podkoński
How have I missed this? Taking a seat for sure! 🙂

Ludvík Kružík
Hello, Robert! Good to see you here. You haven't missed much so far. Up to this point I've been more concerned with preparation than building the model.

Ludvík Kružík
I want to try to use the sandwich construction in the production of new glass parts for the coptics. So I made (using the same process as the transparent parts) parts out of white plastic sheeting. These parts will have holes cut out for the windows. The transparent part will then be inserted between these two parts. The white outer and inner parts will form the embossed framing of the transparent part.

Jennifer Franklin
That looks great (as per usual 😛)

Ludvík Kružík
Welcome, Jennifer, we're glad to have you on board and thank you for your goodwill. 🙂

Ludvík Kružík
I came back from vacation and it started to rain. Ideal conditions for modelling. 🙂

So I'm back and continuing to work on the model. I need to glue the finished nose to the glued fuselage so the cockpit overlay fits exactly. That determines the workflow. First I have to finish the nose and the inside of the fuselage and glue all the parts that need to be glued to the fuselage halves from the inside. After gluing the fuselage halves together, I would no longer be able to get to these parts (or only with great difficulty).

Photos of the work progress will be coming soon.

Alexander Grivonev
Oh some modeling for big boys, not glueing perfectly fitting parts together and throwing on some paint! Following 👍

Ludvík Kružík
Welcome, Alexander! 🙂

Ludvík Kružík
I glued several parts to both halves of the fuselage. These parts are glued from the inside, so they have to be glued before the fuselage is closed.
I also started working on making new parts for the cockpit.

Landlubber Mike
Wow, this is incredible work Ludvik! Thank you for sharing your steps - I've learned a lot from your pictures and descriptions!

Villiers de Vos
Fantastic scratch build skills.

Ludvík Kružík
@Landlubber Mike
Mike, thank you for your interest. Welcome aboard!
I've had the idea for this rebuild in my head for a few years now. Mainly because I've been waiting to see if anyone would start making 1:48 scale Mi-1M kits. Unfortunately, to this day, no manufacturer has this kit in their lineup. So I decided not to wait any longer and start building a model from what I have available.
My rebuild is just beginning. Most of the work on the model is yet to be done. I'd also like to try some new techniques that came to mind while planning to build this model.

@Villiers
Thank you for the compliment. I appreciate it very much.

Ludvík Kružík
I didn't have much time today, so I didn't make much progress on the build. But every little bit of progress counts. 😉

J35J
Great progress and detailing! Following

Bruce Huxtable
Wow! You don't shy away from challenges! Watchinh with admiration, and hoping to learn lots too. Hoping you are not amongst the floods? Stay safe!

Ludvík Kružík
J35J welcome! I hope you like it here.

Bruce, I like a challenge like that. I like to experiment and enjoy thinking of and then implementing ways to improve my model.

I appreciate your concern for my safety. I live in a town in the highlands that wasn't badly affected by the floods. Only the river that runs through our town has increased flow, but it hasn't spilled out of its bed. Moreover, our house is 80 metres above the river, so even if the river had spilled out of its bed, it would certainly not have reached our house.

Bruce Huxtable
It sounds an idyllic location.....Opravdu, česka příroda je krasná....

Ludvík Kružík
Bruce, thank you for the compliment. I'm sure the nature is beautiful in England too. 😉

Ludvík Kružík
I'm slowly continuing to make small parts.

Alec K
Nice progress, this will be a beauty 👍

bughunter
Another big bunch of parts, not to mention some kit parts, come together to form one big model! Not to be missed!
I'm late, but I have an excuse. First I was on holiday, and then this stupid C-virus knocked me out.

Ludvík Kružík
Alec, thank you for your support and your kind words.

Welcome, Frank. I hope you're okay, and I'm really glad you're one of my guests.
It's definitely not too late. I still have most of my work ahead of me. In fact, you could say I'm just getting started.

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
Uhhhhhh … this is going to be another good one from you! I'm in 👍

Ludvík Kružík
Thomas, welcome. It's good to see you among my guests. 🙂

Ludvík Kružík
I'm struggling with time rather than the model at the moment. At least I managed to draw a new dashboard. After printing it in scale (1/48) on photo paper I will use it instead of the kit part.

John
Another Ludvik conversion build with all the accuracy and attention to detail.we've come to expect. It's looking good, can't wait to see the final result! 👍

Ludvík Kružík
Welcome, John. Please have a little patience. This project is quite demanding and I will need a lot of time to complete it.

John
Ok, I aimed that to "I can wait to see the final result" (but I'm still eager) 😉

Alec K
Wow, the dashboard looks amazing. I can only imagine how much time that took. Really interested how it looks completed 👍

Ludvík Kružík
Alec, I drew the dashboard in the evenings for 5 days (about 3 to 4 hours each day). Add to that additional time (about 5 hours) for test printing and subsequent corrections.

I am attaching a photo of a test black and white print of the dashboard after all the modifications are complete. I will print the dashboard for the model in color later.

Ludvík Kružík
According to the photos I modified the fuselage where the main landing gear is attached to it.

Guy Rump
Looking good, following. 👍

Jakub Biganovsky
Good morning.
Realy nice and fine work.

Robert Podkoński
These modifications are just perfect, Ludviku...

Ludvík Kružík
Guy, Jakub and Robert thank you for your comments, it's a nice encouragement for further work.

After today, the hull is glued together. Now I'm adjusting the shape of the transparent cockpit cover.

Ben M
I continue to enjoy seeing this one take shape. Quite the effort to convert it!

Ludvík Kružík
Hello, Ben. I'm glad you're interested in my project.

Greg Baker
This is looking good!

Ludvík Kružík
Thank you Greg!

Villiers de Vos
Starting to take shape.

Ludvík Kružík
Villiers, the completion of the fuselage is only temporary at this time. It's only to modify the shape of the transparent cockpit cover.
Once the cockpit cover is the correct shape, I will take the fuselage nose down again to continue work on the cockpit interior.

Ludvík Kružík
Work on the model continues with the production of the cockpit.

Greg Baker
This is becoming a scratchbuilding masterclass!

Ludvík Kružík
Greg, thank you for the compliment.

A small shift in the work on the internal equipment of the helicopter's nose.

Jennifer Franklin
Ludvik, I greatly admire your skill.

Rando
Ludvik, a modeling god. The detail and scratchbuilding is just otherworldly and I always learn so much from your build logs

Ludvík Kružík
Jennifer, thank you for your kind words.

Randa, thank you so much for your contribution. Although I don't consider myself a modeling god, your comment made me very happy. Thank you.

Ludvík Kružík
This afternoon I continued making details for the nose of the helicopter.

Ludvík Kružík
Little progress today. The cockpit got a floor, internal construction and a coat of grey paint. Now I can start to get the cockpit "settled in".

Alec K
Great job on that instrument panel, turned out great 👍

Ludvík Kružík
Thanks Alec! The dashboard isn't complete yet. I still need to add a few more details. But I'll add those after gluing the dashboard to the nose of the helicopter, because I would (very likely) break them off while gluing the dashboard to the nose.

Ludvík Kružík
Again, little progress. I'm prepping the seats for the helicopter crew.

Jennifer Franklin
The red on the seat and cushion pops, starting to look natural.

Alec K
This build made me cautiously open the MPM 1/72 version of this chopper. I closed it back up very quickly… 🤣

Ludvík Kružík
Alec, I don't blame you for making that decision. The MPM kit isn't very good. To build a nice model out of this kit requires a really large amount of work on virtually all parts of the kit. Plus the plastic the kit is made of is quite hard and cracks easily.

Alec K
Agreed. The original MPM kits are now almost in the same category as the original KP: collectors' items. To be sighed over, but not disturbed 😁

Ludvík Kružík
I'm continuing to work on the seats. I finished the backrest of the rear bench and glued the assembled bench into the cockpit.

Alec K
Nice progress Ludviku. The dash and the canopy look super 👍

Ludvík Kružík
Thanks Alec! 😄

Ludvík Kružík
The new cockpit cover is slowly starting to resemble its model. The inner frame inserted into the transparent part of the cockpit and attached to the fuselage already shows the future shape of the cockpit cover.

gorby
Excellent work on the canopy.

Ludvík Kružík
Thank you gorby, glad you like it.

Ludvík Kružík
After a short break I continue building the model. I have finished the instruments and controls in the cockpit and am now working on the details located on the inside of the canopy.

bughunter
Not much of this coarse kits are build. And among those is no model with details like yours! To scratch all little things needs time but is worth the effort. Your hard way to do the canopy frame is a good example.
I think the instrument panel will not very visible at the end but for more contrast individual decals for the instruments are an option. Tom Anyz offers greatly printed universal dials in black and white, e.g. Universal cockpit dials 1.00 mm - 1.80mm (ANYZ AN037, No)

Ludvík Kružík
Bughunter thank you for the recommendation. Looks like the ANYZ decals are a great idea for simplifying dashboard fabrication.

bughunter
Yes! And Tom is a modeler too, so he provides things he need for his own models. So from modeler to modeler 🙂
The decals are well designed and printed by Cartograf.

Robert Podkoński
Taking a seat, of course!

bughunter
Welcome Robert! Which one you want to take, the yellow or a green one? 😉

Please do not miss the project description, for the _VERY_ important reason for this project!

Robert Podkoński
👍 A green one, please 🙂

Marcel Klemmer
Hi Frank, I am in and do not need a seat. 😉

Ludvík Kružík
I'll sit down too. If I'm not mistaken, one green seat is still open. 😉

Spanjaard
I am certainly in

Martin Oostrom
Green two for me

David H
Be rude not to join in. 👍🏻

gorby
I'll join the audience as well. 🙂

bughunter
Hello my friends! A warm welcome to each and every one of you!

Working on the parts of this kit can be considered bodily harm! The bright yellow hurts your eyes and you can't see any details or damaged areas that need work. I would have preferred a more common gray!

Michael Kohl
Moin Frank. Nimmst mich mit?

bughunter
Aber sicher doch, wenn Du eine wilde Fahrt aushälst 😉

Kenneth
Hallo Frank, the set with lap belts only could be intended for the US Navy variant of the Stearman, the N2S. Until US entry in WW2, US Navy aircraft mostly did not have shoulder belts. I read this in a review of a 1/32 Vought Kingfisher while looking for seatbelts and wondering about the same thing for my 1/32 Revell/ICM N2S Stearman kit.

Juergen Klinglhuber
Schau ich mir auch an,...

bughunter
Welcome! Thanks Kenneth! That makes sense, as the kit offers also a yellow Navy plane with red stripes. Luckily my wife want it blue-yellow. All the pictures I found shows also shoulder belts, but that was mostly still flying machines and I guess the shoulder belts was added later.
I had already downloaded the ICM manual as an additional reference and looked at reviews because of an oddity on the upper wing. More on this later.

bughunter
Because I was still in soldering mode after the seats, I immediately turned my attention to the tank on the upper wing. I like the look of the metal fuel tank now.

Robert Podkoński
Perhaps you will find my photos useful for your build:
Hangar 10 | Album by podkon

bughunter
Yes, definitely 👍 Thanks!

bughunter
Found a nice page: stearman-aero.com/

bughunter
The wing is yellow again, but now the look is better!
I used here MRP-142 Orange Yellow. If someone remembers my Piper: the yellow was "Dark Chrome Yellow" also from MRP. Even this one here called "Orange Yellow" it looks more yellow compared to the Piper.

Ben M
👀

Alec K
I was just wondering where the heck is Bughunter, and here he is! Lovely progress and topic, following of course 👍

bughunter
Welcome Ben and Alec!
The lower wing is now also painted yellow. I only not sure about the blue. I want to go with the darker later blue, tried AK Pure Blue, but I will also try others.

Jakub Fiala
Nice work on this interesting type of aircraft so far 👍 Following for sure!

Ben M
Love these old trainers. They used to show up at airshows a lot when I was a kid.

Greg Baker
Sign me up!

Zbynek Honzik
A joy and pleasure to follow such a project! 👍

Christoph Kunz
Ui, da habe ich den Start ja irgendwie verpennt. 🙁
Aber jetzt bin ich dabei.

Kenneth
Noch was, je nach dem, was das Vorbild ist: Part 71 in Point 4 of the instructions is in my opinion not correct for a WW2-era Stearman. Such a box typically houses a radio, intercom, transponder etc. on modern, restored examples

David Taylor
Watching.

bughunter
In the spirit of "Piano man": the regular crowd shuffled in ...
Welcome!
Oh, can someone wake up Kyle? 😉

Juergen Klinglhuber
Kyle! - come on, you will miss a good portion of the show and have to put the stool again in the back... 😉 Just kidding. It is never to late for a bughunter-show

bughunter
Kenneth, thanks for the hint! Interestingly the Eduard manual of the PE set here on SM told me to remove the mount points for this part 71. After that hint I checked some pictures of original machines and found the modern equipment. So thanks for the confirmation! After my PE set arrived I found out the remove of that mount points is missing in my paper version! Luckily I have checked the corrected online version first.

I would like to build a original equipped plane, but this is somehow limited. I have only the kit decals for a US Army plane "136" dated 1941. There is no serial number mentioned. I have not found photos of that plane yet. So I will build it according the information I have, with "educated guesses" on some points. Later more.

bughunter
I made the instrument panels. May be you know the Eduard sandwich method of multiple PE parts? Here we have a special thing!

Kenneth
Fuselage innner side colours are also totally wrong in the instructions (overall aluminium). See flugzeugforum.de/thr...103126/post-3062086 where I posted some thoughts about this.

The „thick" plate on the instrument panel which you chose is correct for the period, it's a padding saving an unfortunate student pilot's face when smashing it against the instrument panel…

bughunter
Kenneth, thank you very much for your great support 👍 Highly appreciated!
Now I understand, why the bolts of the instruments are hidden by this padding.
According to your picture I painted the fuselage halves bright linen and added the read brown tensioning varnish. It will not be very visible after closing the halves.

The inner structure is not in scale: much too thick! As it will be not very visible later I do not go the extra mile to replace the structure by brass wires!
Did someone say Jehovah? 😎

bughunter
The seat belts (what a fiddly job), the seats and the cockpit as a whole are finished. What beautiful interior!

Have I forgotten something, or can the fuselage halves be glued?

Ben M
Pancakes! (IYKYK)

gorby
Lovely work on the cockpit Bugs. 🙂

Kenneth
Looks perfect 👍 I was wondering whether there shouldn't be a fuel cock (the red lever on the lower left side in the front cockpit) in the rear cockpit as well, but found quite a few photos were this indeed not the case (but also some with one).

And while the ICM fuselage structure is indeed very delicate, it stops short of the rear cockpit!

bughunter
Thank you mates!
Beside the thick structure it is a nice kit (and Eduard PE set) with great fit. Sometimes even with the famous Tamiya click 🙂

@Ben Pancakes?! You say if you know you know, but I do not know 🙁
If you mean the upholstery of the seats - I think that this task was taken over by the parachutes.

bughunter
The kit includes a clear lamp to be installed on the back of the fuselage for Navy and Army. I have not found a reference photo.
Is this perhaps an anti-collision light on modern aircraft? Add it or leave it out?

Kenneth
That fuselage lamp (probably a modern strobe light) does not appear in the manual available on the Stearman Aero site (p. 105)… from which I've also just learned that the red lever I mentioned earlier is control lock and not a fuel cock.

bughunter
Thanks for the confirmation of my guess Kenneth! I glued stretched sprue into the socket for later sanding.

René "Lord Bilbo" Bartholemy
Bughunter "not going the extra mile"? 🤔
Usurper!
What have you done to the real Bughunter? 🤣

bughunter
Don't worry, I'm okay. I still go the extra mile, but where it makes sense and is visible.
The fuselage is now closed and other small things done.

Alec K
You are making a lightning progress Frank. I can barely keep up! The added detail is, as usual, superb 👍

babak chalangi
definitely watching this

bughunter
Alec, that is a Revell Level 4 kit with only 58 parts according to the box. Ok, the PE set and the belts doubles the number and there is room for a little scratch work, but the fit is fantastic! That saves a lot of time.
I have the Mr.Paint True Blue on order and hope it will arrive soon.

bughunter
Some more little details are prepared, for example a Venturi pipe. This idea is maybe useful for other types.
But I also decided to go the extra mile to meet all expectations and made it possible to mount the rudder in an angled position for more liveness.

Martin Oostrom
Great work from the master

Ludvík Kružík
Your work is gaining momentum. It's a pleasure to watch the model grow under your hands.

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
How could I miss this build .... very very nice progress so far and kudos for the soldering work!!!! I was thinking of this approach very often, but I´m too scared and always came back to CA removing the excess with debonder. Watching this build with interest 😊

Alberto
Very nice start, watching 👀

bughunter
At first glance I thought of 1:48, but so much the fancier 👍

TH SCALE MODELS (Thomas Haberl)
welcome @Alberto and thanks for your nice feedback. Also thanks @bughunter 🙂 I love working in this small scale and I do this beside the massive CH-54 - tricky to work in different scales but I missed working in 1/72 ...