Landlubber Mike

Looks really good Dave! I love how the decals show texture - definitely a nice upgrade for those kits.

Thanks Alan! Trying to get these done by January 1 for the LSM group build deadline. Cutting it awfully close

Great to hear Alan! Sorry to have been the bearer of bad news but glad it all worked out. It's really odd how they package things. I remember being super confused when looking for the Lutzow and almost made the same mistake. I also have the Flyhawk Bismarck "Deluxe" edition which includes their PE aftermarket along with the kit similar to my Lutzow "Collector's Edition" -- the Bismarck kit also doesn't include a wooden deck so I had to buy an aftermarket deck. Let me know if you end up starting it and maybe I'll build mine alongside yours (though I probably should start mine and get a head start since I'm a very slow builder).

The Flyhawk kit designations are a bit odd and I found them very confusing when looking to get the Lutzow. And, the kit designations vary between kits as well! 😵‍💫 My understanding is that the base kit is 1301, and the Gold Medal package, which I think does not include the kit itself (just the PE, etc.), is 780004. The Gold Medal package doesn't include wooden decks, it just includes deck painting masks. My version is 1301D, which I've seen marketed as the "Collector's Edition" and "Offshore" - it includes the base kit and the Gold Medal package. There was also a 1301S "special" edition that I think was the base plastic kit along with a torpedo boat kit. *** I just checked my box and it doesn't include the wooden decks. I've got the Shipyardworks' wooden deck. I think Hunter and Artwox also make wooden decks. Just wanted to pass this info along in case you're looking at the Lutzow. I think it's cheapest to get the 1301D kit if you want to build the kit with the Gold Medal package (which looks incredible by the way). Sounds like Santa only made a partial stop this year for you, so maybe he will bring you a Lutzow this year if you're nice...

The second plane has been a little easier. I did realize that the cowling shapes differed between the B-1 which was my kit versus the B-2 which i am modeling. It helped a lot having the Hobby 2000 B-2 boxing for the other model so that I had a model to convert the B-1 cowlings. It wasn't too difficult, and I didn't try to make them absolutely perfect given that the engines are going to be tarped anyway (all I needed was the general shape): With the cannon pod removed from the plane in this diorama, I realized that all that would be remaining would be the cannon rack as well as the open space in the bottom of the fuselage for the ammo, etc. So, I cut open the bottom of the fuselage similar to how I did the other. Much easier this time around as I didn't have the various aftermarket detail pieces in the fuselage so the fuselage was essentially hollow. After cutting, all I really had to do was line it which was fairly easy. I'll scratch the cannon rack and add it separately at the end of the build. This model is also primed, so I can start throwing on some color tomorrow: Thanks for looking in!

Quick update on these models: For the first diorama, I've gotten the plane and most of its parts primed. The flaps gave me a little issue as I was planning to use the CMK flaps so cut them off the kit wings. Well, as you can see in the picture below, the CMK flaps (upper right) are too short relative to the kit parts I cut off (bottom two on the right). Thankfully I remembered I had the Verlinden set which had flaps that were the proper size (top left, relative to the kit parts I cut off immediately below it). I finally got the pushrods added to the Vector engines. A real pain, but I eventually figured out a way to get them installed - only 28 per engine! But, the engines look pretty good now. I had toyed with the idea of adding a small connector at the ends of each rod using minuscule pieces of brass tube, but I dropped that idea quickly as it was just going to be too difficult and take way too much time. Here are pictures of the plane almost completely assembled, and later primed: I also remembered that I had a Verlinden "Luftwaffe Airfield Carts" that is a multimedia set that allows you to build an oil cart (first two pictures below) and a power supply cart (second two pictures below). Took much longer than one would think, but the two came out really nice I thought: I'll probably use one of these in the diorama, as I found this picture: Thanks for looking in!

Great subject Alan! I have the Flyhawk Lutzsow set that also includes the torpedo nets. The torpedo nets were the big draw for me - a very unique feature for the model! Just to let you know, for my Lutzsow, I don't think the kit included a wooden deck. I ended up buying an aftermarket wooden deck which - plenty of manufacturers like Hunter and Shipyardworks that you can find on eBay.

That came out great Alan!! Nice job!

Looks really good Glen! Nice work!

Yeah, these WW2 ship models do plod along as you build all the sub-assemblies -- which your Galatea has a ton of. But once they are finished and installed, the build is pretty close to the finish line.

Looking great Alan! You're making quick progress! Going to be a nice looking model at the end.

Not sure how I missed this - very nice job!

Thanks Ken! Yeah, CMK, Aires, Eduard etc. all help bring models up a few notches in detail. Sometimes you have to adjust the parts to fit, but generally, I've been very excited to add them to a build.

Thanks Alan - yeah, I was a bit nervous as you can see how much I already had to file off the CMK interior tub to get it to fit properly with the other CMK sets and especially the Aires side gun insert. The tub for the cannon likely extended to at least the bottom of the fuel tank, so I was worried that the CMK tub could break up, especially if the fuel tank was hollow. Thankfully everything stayed together. My guess is the parts from the various detail sets are pretty accurate when it comes to scale. It's interesting to see how much stuff was crammed into the fuselage, almost like a puzzle getting it all to fit.

While trying to figure out the landing gear bays, I also decided to take a look at the ventral cannon pod. The Hs 129 had a number of weapons configurations as you can see below: The plane I'm modeling had a Mk 101 30mm cannon - if you're looking at the picture above, it's the second from the top of the four weapons on the left side. Here's a cutaway diagram of it installed: The rack holding the cannon was on hinges, where the rack/gun swung down for service (and I think to reload). Here is a picture: Here is a picture of mechanic working on a Mk 103 cannon (different cannon from mine, but same principle): When I saw these pictures, I thought to myself - how cool would it be to model that? Seemed a little complicated to scratch build so I focused on finding an aftermarket Mk 101 cannon to improve on the kit part. Essentially, was just looking for a brass barrel given the gun itself was mostly hidden in the pod. Well nobody seems to make a brass Mk 101 barrel. I did randomly stumble upon a printed cannon by Omask specially designed for this kit. Figured it looked pretty cool and would be more detailed than the old kit cannon. When I opened the Omask set, I was really surprised to see that Omask gave your parts to actually build build an opened up Mk 101 cannon like in the pictures above! As an aside, the print quality on this set is fantastic. I am very impressed with what you get. As you can see in the instruction sheet above in the top right corner, you can show the cannon pod closed, or in one of two open configurations (one with the pod shell off and one with it on). I'll probably model mine with the pod shell off to show the full gun detail. I was initially super excited after cutting the parts out, but then realized to make it all work, I needed to cut out an opening for the gun bay tub. This, not only after I had already closed up the fuselage, but had already inserted the CMK interior tub and the Aires MG 151 fuselage gun set. I was really worried with how deep the tub was, as it would definitely bump into both the CMK tub and the Aires gun set. Warning - graphic photos follow: After sleeping on it, I decided to go for it. I used a cut off wheel and a hobby knife to cut through the bottom fuselage plastic. The gun bay tub sat directly under the fuel tank that is part of the interior tub from the CMK set. With a grinding bit in my micromotor, I had to grind out the bottom half of the fuel tank, as well as a small portion of the corner of the Aires gun set. Everything just barely fit, with probably not even 1mm to spare - whew! Just need a little filler around the edges and it's good to go. To make sure the tub sat properly, I put in some blobs of Tamiya two-part epoxy putty, and pushed the tub into it. That seemed the easiest and most effective way to secure it in place in the right position. That's enough excitement for today. If I smoked, I'd probably need a cigarette right now. Just glad it all worked out!

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!