ccoyle

Yesterday I stumbled across a card model site that is new to me, called Kartonowki. As the name suggests, it's a Polish site, and there is no option for viewing it in English (unless your web browser can do so). I have always said that the Poles must have a gene that makes them natural-born card model masters, and this site's gallery (nearly 5000 entries) supports my theory. Check it out if you have time -- you'll be amazed!

Construction begins with a bit of prep work. The parts sheets have been separated and treated with matte clear spray. The laser-cut billets have been given a coat of shellac and are now drying, stacked between sheets of wax paper and weighted down to help prevent curling. A trip to Hobby Lobby and the hardware store was made to procure some paint and contact cement.
 
Now comes the fun of mixing edge/touch-up colors. As I said earlier, there are only three main colors: a sort of plum brown, a light gray for the undersides, and an aqua for the interior. I've started with the aqua.
 

 
See those two big splotches on the printed color swatch? Good! Those aren't the final color. Hopefully what is far less noticeable are the eight dots in the lower right corner of the swatch, representing eight attempts at matching the printed color. I think I will call the last dot a match, since it is very close, and any more tinkering is as likely to mess up the paint batch as improve it. Within the confines of the finished interior, it shouldn't stand out, and that is the goal after all. BTW, the brown and gray blotches are simply samples of unmixed base colors to see which shades to begin with -- I haven't mixed those yet.
 
Cheers!

Some more deck houses added

OK, Sphinx Revision 2 manual all done, and will be sent off to printers, along with new box label.
 
The revised manual can be found using the download link at the bottom of the page here:
 
HMS Sphinx – 1775 – VANGUARD MODELS
 
Have attached the new box label, perhaps I will now stop getting enquiries asking if the kit has masts and rig.

Pretty much done, I’ll look at it with fresh eyes tomorrow 

Downhill now 

Interesting to follow the process of blending the matching colors. I'm in, Chris.

Construction begins with a bit of prep work. The parts sheets have been separated and treated with matte clear spray. The laser-cut billets have been given a coat of shellac and are now drying, stacked between sheets of wax paper and weighted down to help prevent curling. A trip to Hobby Lobby and the hardware store was made to procure some paint and contact cement.
 
Now comes the fun of mixing edge/touch-up colors. As I said earlier, there are only three main colors: a sort of plum brown, a light gray for the undersides, and an aqua for the interior. I've started with the aqua.
 

 
See those two big splotches on the printed color swatch? Good! Those aren't the final color. Hopefully what is far less noticeable are the eight dots in the lower right corner of the swatch, representing eight attempts at matching the printed color. I think I will call the last dot a match, since it is very close, and any more tinkering is as likely to mess up the paint batch as improve it. Within the confines of the finished interior, it shouldn't stand out, and that is the goal after all. BTW, the brown and gray blotches are simply samples of unmixed base colors to see which shades to begin with -- I haven't mixed those yet.
 
Cheers!

I'm on a bit of a personal roll here, so I'm going to ride the wave while it lasts. For my next project, I'm going to take on the 1/33 scale Ki-43-I Hei published by Orlik of Poland. This is another Lukasz Fuczek design -- you might recall that he designed the Curtiss Hawk 75 kit I gave up on a while back. Nevertheless, having finished one of Lukasz's other designs (Yak-3), I have decided to give him another go. This kit ticks several boxes for me:
I have the laser-cut frames set and a canopy. I don't yet have any completed models of Japanese aircraft. It's a monoplane -- no complicated rigging (I need a break from rigging, whether ships or planes). It has only a few colors needing to be matched for edge coloring.  

 

 
The Ki-43 Hayabusa (Peregrine Falcon) was the Japanese Army Air Force's primary fighter at the onset of hostilities with the west in 1941, having replaced Nakajima's earlier Ki-27 (Allied code name "Nate"). The Ki-43 was built for maneuverability, which it excelled at, but had no armor or self-sealing fuel tanks and was armed with only a pair of machine guns. Once Allied pilots learned not to get into turning engagements with an Oscar and to instead use boom-and-zoom tactics against them (and other nimble Japanese types), the Oscar's days as a premier fighter were numbered. Despite this, it was produced right up until 1945. Many were expended in kamikaze attacks. 5919 of all marks were built; the Ki-43-I Hei variant was the first to carry two 12.7 mm (0.5 in.) machine guns.
 

(By Stumanusa - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9430904Photo courtesy of Wikimedia)
 
So, there's your intro. Construction to start soon -- stay tuned!
 

Construction begins with a bit of prep work. The parts sheets have been separated and treated with matte clear spray. The laser-cut billets have been given a coat of shellac and are now drying, stacked between sheets of wax paper and weighted down to help prevent curling. A trip to Hobby Lobby and the hardware store was made to procure some paint and contact cement.
 
Now comes the fun of mixing edge/touch-up colors. As I said earlier, there are only three main colors: a sort of plum brown, a light gray for the undersides, and an aqua for the interior. I've started with the aqua.
 

 
See those two big splotches on the printed color swatch? Good! Those aren't the final color. Hopefully what is far less noticeable are the eight dots in the lower right corner of the swatch, representing eight attempts at matching the printed color. I think I will call the last dot a match, since it is very close, and any more tinkering is as likely to mess up the paint batch as improve it. Within the confines of the finished interior, it shouldn't stand out, and that is the goal after all. BTW, the brown and gray blotches are simply samples of unmixed base colors to see which shades to begin with -- I haven't mixed those yet.
 
Cheers!

Construction begins with a bit of prep work. The parts sheets have been separated and treated with matte clear spray. The laser-cut billets have been given a coat of shellac and are now drying, stacked between sheets of wax paper and weighted down to help prevent curling. A trip to Hobby Lobby and the hardware store was made to procure some paint and contact cement.
 
Now comes the fun of mixing edge/touch-up colors. As I said earlier, there are only three main colors: a sort of plum brown, a light gray for the undersides, and an aqua for the interior. I've started with the aqua.
 

 
See those two big splotches on the printed color swatch? Good! Those aren't the final color. Hopefully what is far less noticeable are the eight dots in the lower right corner of the swatch, representing eight attempts at matching the printed color. I think I will call the last dot a match, since it is very close, and any more tinkering is as likely to mess up the paint batch as improve it. Within the confines of the finished interior, it shouldn't stand out, and that is the goal after all. BTW, the brown and gray blotches are simply samples of unmixed base colors to see which shades to begin with -- I haven't mixed those yet.
 
Cheers!

Construction begins with a bit of prep work. The parts sheets have been separated and treated with matte clear spray. The laser-cut billets have been given a coat of shellac and are now drying, stacked between sheets of wax paper and weighted down to help prevent curling. A trip to Hobby Lobby and the hardware store was made to procure some paint and contact cement.
 
Now comes the fun of mixing edge/touch-up colors. As I said earlier, there are only three main colors: a sort of plum brown, a light gray for the undersides, and an aqua for the interior. I've started with the aqua.
 

 
See those two big splotches on the printed color swatch? Good! Those aren't the final color. Hopefully what is far less noticeable are the eight dots in the lower right corner of the swatch, representing eight attempts at matching the printed color. I think I will call the last dot a match, since it is very close, and any more tinkering is as likely to mess up the paint batch as improve it. Within the confines of the finished interior, it shouldn't stand out, and that is the goal after all. BTW, the brown and gray blotches are simply samples of unmixed base colors to see which shades to begin with -- I haven't mixed those yet.
 
Cheers!

Construction begins with a bit of prep work. The parts sheets have been separated and treated with matte clear spray. The laser-cut billets have been given a coat of shellac and are now drying, stacked between sheets of wax paper and weighted down to help prevent curling. A trip to Hobby Lobby and the hardware store was made to procure some paint and contact cement.
 
Now comes the fun of mixing edge/touch-up colors. As I said earlier, there are only three main colors: a sort of plum brown, a light gray for the undersides, and an aqua for the interior. I've started with the aqua.
 

 
See those two big splotches on the printed color swatch? Good! Those aren't the final color. Hopefully what is far less noticeable are the eight dots in the lower right corner of the swatch, representing eight attempts at matching the printed color. I think I will call the last dot a match, since it is very close, and any more tinkering is as likely to mess up the paint batch as improve it. Within the confines of the finished interior, it shouldn't stand out, and that is the goal after all. BTW, the brown and gray blotches are simply samples of unmixed base colors to see which shades to begin with -- I haven't mixed those yet.
 
Cheers!

Construction begins with a bit of prep work. The parts sheets have been separated and treated with matte clear spray. The laser-cut billets have been given a coat of shellac and are now drying, stacked between sheets of wax paper and weighted down to help prevent curling. A trip to Hobby Lobby and the hardware store was made to procure some paint and contact cement.
 
Now comes the fun of mixing edge/touch-up colors. As I said earlier, there are only three main colors: a sort of plum brown, a light gray for the undersides, and an aqua for the interior. I've started with the aqua.
 

 
See those two big splotches on the printed color swatch? Good! Those aren't the final color. Hopefully what is far less noticeable are the eight dots in the lower right corner of the swatch, representing eight attempts at matching the printed color. I think I will call the last dot a match, since it is very close, and any more tinkering is as likely to mess up the paint batch as improve it. Within the confines of the finished interior, it shouldn't stand out, and that is the goal after all. BTW, the brown and gray blotches are simply samples of unmixed base colors to see which shades to begin with -- I haven't mixed those yet.
 
Cheers!

I'm on a bit of a personal roll here, so I'm going to ride the wave while it lasts. For my next project, I'm going to take on the 1/33 scale Ki-43-I Hei published by Orlik of Poland. This is another Lukasz Fuczek design -- you might recall that he designed the Curtiss Hawk 75 kit I gave up on a while back. Nevertheless, having finished one of Lukasz's other designs (Yak-3), I have decided to give him another go. This kit ticks several boxes for me:
I have the laser-cut frames set and a canopy. I don't yet have any completed models of Japanese aircraft. It's a monoplane -- no complicated rigging (I need a break from rigging, whether ships or planes). It has only a few colors needing to be matched for edge coloring.  

 

 
The Ki-43 Hayabusa (Peregrine Falcon) was the Japanese Army Air Force's primary fighter at the onset of hostilities with the west in 1941, having replaced Nakajima's earlier Ki-27 (Allied code name "Nate"). The Ki-43 was built for maneuverability, which it excelled at, but had no armor or self-sealing fuel tanks and was armed with only a pair of machine guns. Once Allied pilots learned not to get into turning engagements with an Oscar and to instead use boom-and-zoom tactics against them (and other nimble Japanese types), the Oscar's days as a premier fighter were numbered. Despite this, it was produced right up until 1945. Many were expended in kamikaze attacks. 5919 of all marks were built; the Ki-43-I Hei variant was the first to carry two 12.7 mm (0.5 in.) machine guns.
 

(By Stumanusa - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9430904Photo courtesy of Wikimedia)
 
So, there's your intro. Construction to start soon -- stay tuned!
 

pics of the copit

She is a clean build on this one but another in the completed category.

Already started and have to say nice fit thus far but just the beginning.I have another RFM with the complete interior I believe a Tiger I that has way more pieces than this kit and the box is 2/3" deeper/taller however you wish to look at it.The idea is to cut my teeth with the easier of the two kits and see how RFM like to assemble their stuff together.I have not decided on a paint scheme yet but I will have to look around here at the other builds that are happening and the net to figure the weathering aspect of the build.This may take a while.

Pulling my chair up!

I'm here brother....

I'm all eyes Chris.......looks like a fun model  

I'm on a bit of a personal roll here, so I'm going to ride the wave while it lasts. For my next project, I'm going to take on the 1/33 scale Ki-43-I Hei published by Orlik of Poland. This is another Lukasz Fuczek design -- you might recall that he designed the Curtiss Hawk 75 kit I gave up on a while back. Nevertheless, having finished one of Lukasz's other designs (Yak-3), I have decided to give him another go. This kit ticks several boxes for me:
I have the laser-cut frames set and a canopy. I don't yet have any completed models of Japanese aircraft. It's a monoplane -- no complicated rigging (I need a break from rigging, whether ships or planes). It has only a few colors needing to be matched for edge coloring.  

 

 
The Ki-43 Hayabusa (Peregrine Falcon) was the Japanese Army Air Force's primary fighter at the onset of hostilities with the west in 1941, having replaced Nakajima's earlier Ki-27 (Allied code name "Nate"). The Ki-43 was built for maneuverability, which it excelled at, but had no armor or self-sealing fuel tanks and was armed with only a pair of machine guns. Once Allied pilots learned not to get into turning engagements with an Oscar and to instead use boom-and-zoom tactics against them (and other nimble Japanese types), the Oscar's days as a premier fighter were numbered. Despite this, it was produced right up until 1945. Many were expended in kamikaze attacks. 5919 of all marks were built; the Ki-43-I Hei variant was the first to carry two 12.7 mm (0.5 in.) machine guns.
 

(By Stumanusa - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9430904Photo courtesy of Wikimedia)
 
So, there's your intro. Construction to start soon -- stay tuned!
 

The only one I regularly check out is papermodelers.com. A number of MSW members are also members there. There are also quite a few over in Europe, as you may well imagine; some of them welcome posts in English, even if that isn't the official language of the forum. I don't visit these except for when I'm looking for information on a specific kit, 'cause hey, there are only so many hours in a day!

I agree with the gorgeous part, but the Yaks are fairly common in the card-modeling world, as well as on the warbird circuit.