Landlubber Mike

Quick update on where I am with the two Hs 129 builds. I've been slowly working through the various details pieces like the engines, guns, landing gear, props, etc. Everything on this Hasegawa/Hobby 2000 kit is going together really nicely. If I wasn't adding in all the various aftermarket, I'd probably be long done now. For my first diorama of the Hs 129 being serviced, I wanted to show at least one engine exposed. The Verlinden set has only one engine in it, which made me think it would look a bit odd to have the two engines look different from one another. I ended up finding two engines from Vector which are really nice. Here they are next to the kit engine - I just need to add the rods, but you can see how much detail Vector includes which should make for a nice exposed engine. Next post will be on the bottom cannon.

Coming along great Alan! Even if the guns weren't deformed, those brass barrels are really sharp looking. This is going to be a sweet build!

Welcome back! I was hoping everything was ok as you hadn't posted in a while. I don't know if you remember, but you helped me with a bunch of tool purchases years ago. The one I'm most appreciative of is the Japanese micromotor - that has made modeling for me so much easier and more precise, particularly as I fell into the black hole of plastic model kits. Charlottesville is a magical place, I'm jealous! I went to UVA for grad school and have been counting the days to retire back down there. By the way, nice looking shop!

Just catching up here Chris - wow, that came out really great! You're a master of these card models.

Looking good Andy and welcome back! I found using a drop of Vallejo's thinner helps a lot, along with their flow improver. Helps the paints spray very smoothly.

Looks like a great kit Alan! Will be much more of an enjoyable experience compared to the last few that you worked on it would appear.

Looks great! Busy deck!

Hi Joelle, glad to see you back. So sorry to hear about your family's health troubles - my condolences for your mother. You're building this kit to a very high level as per your usual artistry! I have this kit in 1/700 scale, and think it's one of the more beautiful subjects out there. Your build will be a big inspiration for when I start mine!

Looks like a great kit Yves. That berthing box is such a great idea! Looking forward to following along!

I feel like I've been steadily working on the models but have little to show for it. I did manage to add additional panel lines and rivet the two models. I need to touch things up in a few places with primer, but the rivets look pretty cool. We will see how much of them shows up after painting and weathering. I also managed to build up the two Vector engines, though still need to add control rods. I'll post pics when they are done, but they are looking very nice as per usual from Vector. I have a couple of Opel Blitz trucks that are resin - took me hours to separate and clean up the parts, and now I can finally start building them. I'm hoping they look ok when done, as I'd rather not have to go out and buy a Tamiya Opel Blitz kit. Other than that, I'm working on landing gear bays at the moment. There's really not too much more I need to do build wise on these, with the exception of the open engines and needing to figure out how to make the Vector engines work with the Verlinden set and the Hasegawa kit. Thanks for looking in!

Clever work with the dryer sheets and the concentric circles for the whirlpool!

Amazing work Peter!! Well done! Now I need to find a spare 350+ hours to do mine

Looks amazing Peter. You're setting the bar very high for when I start mine!

Mr Surfacer is amazing for revealing imperfections. I am in the middle of riveting my Hs 129 builds, but will try and remember to post a picture of what they look like with Mr Surfacer primer on. The product really is amazing for revealing things.

Sorry, I meant which brand of figures are you using? I have some sets for my Enterprise and Gambier Bay from Black Cat, North Star and Ion.

Everything is looking great Peter! Nice job on the planes, wow! Which figure sets are you using? They look great!

Quite a puzzle to figure out how to do the whirlpool. I agree that clay inside the bottle is probably the easiest way, but also agree that resin tends to look a lot better. I was originally going to say maybe try to create the form of the whirlpool using clay then cover it with resin or a similar looking material, but then from the sides of the bottle where the clay was pressed against the glass it will still look like clay. There are other products out there with a thicker consistency than resin which would avoid the issue of pouring resin and it pooling and leveling itself out. Below is what I used in my Hannah SIB build (sorry for the picture size). You can build it into textures, and it looks "wet" when it dries. The downside is that it was a bit of a pain to scoop amounts out and then put it in the bottle without getting the product on the sides of the bottle. It also seemed to take a while to dry in the bottle. I tried using a fan to get air circulated into the bottle but it's hard to push air through a hole the size of a quarter without an exit hole. I got a little impatient so tried heating the bottle in the oven at low temperature, but even at like 225, it started to pop and I had to clean off the residue on the sides of the bottle. So maybe less heat would be better, or just let it dry on its own. There are similar products out there from other manufacturers in the model diorama world.

Wow, nicely done!! I have the 1/48 version of the PBY-5A and am similarly worried about where to put it if I build it.

Yes, I knew it looked familiar!

Looks great Chris. Do you end up painting/weathering these card models? Or just touch ups along seams? Seems like they are already printed with nice colors.

Hey Alan - for what it's worth, I tend to spray Vallejo around 15-20 PSI (15ish for their metal colors, 20ish for their paints and primers). I also thin their paints and primers (not their Metal Colors) with Vallejo's thinner, and sometimes use their flow improver. For a base primer, I'd highly recommend looking at Mr. Surfacer. I'll usually spray their gray 1200 or 1500 first to see what flaws need to be touched up, and then will spray their black 1500 (e.g., to black base) or white (usually if I need a white undercoat for tricky colors like red and yellow). You can get them in rattle cans or in jars that you can add Mr. Color Leveling Thinner to and spray in your airbrush. I'm trying to move more towards acrylics, but the Mr. Surfacer primers really are tough to beat. They clearly reveal imperfections, can be sanded, and level perfectly. For big areas like fuselages and wings, I'll use Mr. Surfacer. For small/detail items, I'll use Vallejo.

Nice job! The cargo net looks like a spot-on miniature representation!

Glad you came through relatively unscathed Craig. I'm sure it must have been a frightening period of time. Shame about the beautiful (live oak?) tree that was uprooted. It's amazing what big storms can do. When the derecho (straight line winds) hit the DC area a decade ago, some really massive oaks all over the area were similarly uprooted. And I think our winds were only 60-80mph.

Quick update - I've spent quite a bit of time this week working on the wings for the two 129s. The first one (opened up) was a bit tricky in trying to get the CMK undercarriage set to fit, along with the open panel for the first aid kit in the upper left wing and magazine in the lower left wing from the armament set. I found the undercarriage set not only needed a lot of shaving back along the sides to get the various aftermarket pieces to fit, but I also needed to thin them as they seemed to be a bit too tall and were bulging the wings a bit too much. Given that the undercarriage won't really be seen, if I had to do it again, I wouldn't bother buying/adding that set (which I didn't for the second 129). After a lot of grinding and test fitting, everything looks pretty good. Very minimal filler needed along the wing roots and nose pieces. This kit really fits together like a glove! A nice change of pace from my last few models that required a lot of work to get the fuselage, etc. to fit and close up big gaps. Next I worked on the wings for the second 129 (towed diorama). I removed half the wings as per the pictures. The trickiest part was creating the inserts at the ends of the wing stubs, but I think I managed to get a close representation of what those wing ends look like. Like the first 129, the fit of the wings and nose pieces to the fuselage was amazing and required minimal filler. I figured I'd putty some of the seam lines at this point as well as the hollowed out tails to which I'll attach the aftermarket rudders. While the putty cures (I used Tamiya's 2-part epoxy putty which I really like), I can start working on the engines and nacelles. Thanks for looking in!

Awesome! I bought this kit from a member a few years ago. Itching to start it once I can find a place to put it! Looking forward to following along! I have the Pontos sets but didn't realize there were the CMK sets. What do you think of them?