Haliburton

Best wishes to your pup for a complete and quick recovery

Ahoy dear model building friends.
 
 
Thank you Jeff.
With my approach to the model, painting it actually takes a lot of time. I'll save myself this time if I filter out lots of tips and solutions in your construction report. 😉
 
I don't have much time to build models at the moment, but progress is still going slowly.
I have finished aging the hull for now and turned a new ship into an old veteran.
 

 
I particularly aged the anchor hawse and the area below the anchor berths, as a lot of dirt is likely to accumulate here.
 

 

 
And port side.
 

 
The chipping is also strongest here, as the anchors are likely to leave clear marks.
 

 

 
Amidships I aged more subtly.
 

 
And a little more at the rear.
 

 
The painting of the fuselage only continues when the missing parts are attached to the outside, i.e. pretty much at the end.
 
  The wooden deck was also glazed and applied.     Now I can start equipping the deck, which I’m looking forward to.  

Great progress with the big cat, Craig. The engineering of the AMK jet kits is fantastic and the fit of their MIG-31 kit was perfect, even on the most complicated parts, like the intakes. The only issue, I had with the kit, were the bang seats, which were horribly out of scale. I hope this is not the case with yours.

The pic shows the kit seat on the right, to the left is a seat from a Brassin refined SU-27 kit and in the middle is the seat with pilot, I used, I guess it was made by Aerobonus.



Cheers Rob

I'm leaning toward finishing her as a VF-2 Bounty Hunter OIF, 2003. All these photos are from that squadron.
This gives me the option of incorporating micro-size magnets to my ordnance, that way I could swap it out to any configuration I choose. If I find out I have the wrong combination, no big deal, just swap it out using magnetic action. 

Enjoyed the spoke discussion… I’ve been pre stressed and tense myself lately; our modeling hobby is good therapy.
The seats in the kit are a black flexible plastic, good quality but looked a little plain. I wrinkled up some leftover tissue from my Guillows spitfire and applied it to them with a fluid mix of wood glue and water, then a few tries with various brown paints until it looked something like well worn leather. Finished it off with a few brass pin heads from my wooden ship box, and a bit of Vallejo gloss oil stain on the saddle to give the impression of wear and sheen.
I cut off the shielding from the headlamp just because I felt like it, and because the kit has rather a nice lens I wanted to see. Added bumpers on the tank. Haven’t put in any tubing into the machinery yet, hoping I can do all that at the end. 
Tim
 
 
 

Thanks for the comments and the likes.   As mentioned, I've taken a bunch more photos and added some of them below.  I've joked before that I really only build models to have something else to take pictures of.
 
The final construction did have some hurdles.  First, getting the chassis into the body was a bit tricky.  At first I was not even sure it was going to be possible but I found the right sequence of actions and twists and turns to get it together.  Unfortunately, one of the small pins in the hinge for the rear trunk lid broke in the process.  There was not anything in the trunk anyway, so I just glued it shut.   Also, the hinge for the engine cover did not work well....I am not sure if I got the part that attaches to the cover too far from the edge or just what happened, but the engine cover only opens about a quarter inch.  So, the extra detailing I did on the engine will never be seen.   The front bonnet hinge works well though I now realize I forget to take any pictures with it propped open.   Finally, the last dicey operation was attaching the wheels.  They were attached with screws and it took some effort to screw them in (effectively tapping the hub with the screw as you screwed it in) and the wheels were just barely big enough to fit over the suspension bits.  I was quite concerned that I'd break something just screwing the wheels on, but did not.  However, you can see in one of the pictures that I have a lot of camber on the right rear wheel, and in fact the right front tire does not touch the ground.  Oh well.
 
Overall, I enjoyed this build and thought the kit was decent, especially considering it is nearly 40 years old.  The decals were rather thin and fragile but there were very few of them to deal with.  I feel like each time I get a little bit better with the finish on the body, though still far from perfect.  I tend to get a decent finish and then I am afraid of doing any more sanding or polishing or whatever, concerned that I'll make things worse instead of better, so I say "good enough".
 
Here are more pictures of the finished model.  Thanks, as always for following along.
 
 

Hi all,
 
Another short post to keep the build ticking over. Thank you for the Likes and comments.
 
So, onto the insides of the 'radio shack'.
 
First thing needed is a table. Space is at a premium so the shack's contents are designed to optimise the available space inside the shack.

 
 
Radio equipment can generate a lot of heat so there may be some kind of cooling available inside?...or perhaps they opened the rear doors when possible.

 
Some more of the shack equipment being readied.

 
Finally, a quick look at most of what is going to be fitted inside the shack. I've made a guess that the bench seat cushions are black coloured, and possibly leather (?).  I need to add some details to the instrument panels, and hang the telephone handset + cable.  I don't believe there are any decals for the radio equipment, but there are some for the cabin dashboard.

 
All for now, back soon.
 
73s
 
Richard
 
PS:  CDW, yes, I think that a lot of us have a bits of other nationalities in us these days. It helps keep the gene pool strong 😉

Hi all,
 
Work continues on the K51 radio truck.
 
The pic below shows the inside of the truck with all the radio kit installed. I had seen pictures of the radio boxes painted green, so went with that colour. But after having a further look I can now see some images of installations where the boxes were painted black. Black makes more sense since it helps dissipate heat slightly better.  I'm still puzzled as to how the radio equipments were kept cool - heat reduces reliability.  All that seems to be available is to open the back doors of the vehicle, to let the heat out.

Above, circled in red, is the telephone land line that could be used to communicate directly with HQ by cable.  A large reel of telephone cable is attached to the K51 truck's side.
 
And below a couple of pics of the telephone in use.
 
 
I had planned to make my build a US version, complete with US military figures but could not find any with suitable poses.
 
However, there is the 'Masterbox 1:35 Scale Commonwealth Armoured Fighting Vehicle Crew' which includes Montgomery and some tank crew.

...and the MiniArt K51 kit does accommodate 5 different users, including the 8th Army ie
- British Forces Radio Station, 8th army sector, Italy, October 1944
- Corps Signals Unit, 2nd Polish Corps, Italy 1944/1945
- 1st Armored Division, 829th Signal Battalion, North Africa, Spring, 1943
- 102nd Infantry Division, European Theatre of Operations, Autumn 1944
- US Marine Corps, 4th Marine Division, Pacific, 1944/1945
 
So the idea occurred to me that Montgomery (who was active in Italy in 1944 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Montgomery ) and one of his tank Commanders might have commandeered a K51 radio truck for a short while. So I came up with the scenario below.

 
I can't get the radio operator's feet to fit under the table. But it is reasonable to imagine he would likely have turned to face Montgomery who will be holding the telephone (currently lying at his feet) in his right hand....it was holding a mug of tea. So the final poses will be something similar to above.
 
The radio operator's left foot is too high so needs a box to rest on...I had thought of using a Jerry Can but I'm not sure that would have been positioned so close to the radio truck as electricity and petrol are a dangerous combination.
 
OK, that is it for this post. Progress isn't too rapid, but now that I have some figures to work with it might spur me on 😉 - see you in a week or two.
 
Richard

Apologies for my near silence for the last few weeks, there have been a couple of developments in my life, one very good, and one not quite so good. 
 
The not so good concerns my furry little helper, Freyja. A couple of years ago she ruptured her right cruciate ligament and had to undergo surgery to repair her knee (a TPLO surgery for all you vet types!). That all healed up exceptionally well, but with the caveat that if she’s blown one, the other will surely follow at some stage (generally sooner rather than later). Well, later happened shortly after my last post here. 
 
A vet visit and yet another surgery, and I’m now in the process of nursing her back to health again.
 

 
She looks a little silly, with her shaved posterior (complete with butt sling), and the doughnut of disgrace (we don’t like the cone of shame, we have figured out how to chew it to pieces), but she’s recovering well and within a few months, she’ll be back to her old bouncy, energetic self.
 
I’ll leave the good development for a later time, but suffice it to say that it was a long time coming, and that I’m happy.
 
I’ll do my best to follow along with everyone’s builds, and post something when I can. And I will keep you all updated on Freyja’s progress!
 
Andy

I had to do the same for my dog years ago within the first year of getting her.My vet tried to send me to a place it was 3K a knee I got her as rescue dog out of FL Gainesville area some people put their pets down for lack of funds but God gave her to me for a reason.I got that leg fixed with a country Vet the next county north of me for $1200 and like you said within the year the blew worst than the first.I have great sense of satisfaction that I was able to do that for her when I see her run every day.

Ladies and Gentlemen, lets start our engines and begin a new adventure.

Some month ago, I received my first MFH kit, after I saw some pictures of the finished model and fell in love with the bike immediately. There she was, all the great ingredients of an American bike classic minus the to my eye ugly mid section, the classic Harley Davidson models have. 

I will not tell a lot about the history of the bike, as I´m not an expert here, but it´s a pretty exclusive one. Hand built, the numbers of production bikes range between 60 and 300. The few surviving beauties are among the highest priced motorcycles of today.
The Crocker was fast, so fast, that the company complied, to give back the full price of the bike, should the driver be overtaken by a Harley or Indian on a strait road.

The kit was bought from MFH in Japan directly for a decent price and the fastest and trouble free shipping, I ever had and reached after six days on my doorstep.



Since then, I bought some more MFH kits, as simply browsing through the boxes, the absolute top quality of the kits has an addictive spell over me. The kits are multi-media, most parts are from cast white metal, some photo etch, rubber parts, different hoses and wires, some chrome plated metal parts, nice decals, ...

I preparation for the build, I read a lot about MFH kits, to get a hold onto the many new adventures, I was expecting with the build and as one result, I invested into a magnetic tumbler polisher for cleaning the white metal parts. It took my month to finally obtain one to my remote place in the world, but finally, it arrived.



After some successful testing, all white metal parts were dumped into the tumbler´s bowl, then, I added water with a drop of detergent and 200 gram of 0,3 mm steel polishing needles. The strong magnet in the base swirls the needles around the non magnetic parts and `hammers´ the surfaces very gingerly. After about an hour of tumbling the water was dark black and the parts looked like this.

 

It was not so easy to remove the tinier parts from the needles and I keep all the bowls with needles and the blackened water until, I made sure, I picked all the parts out.
For now, I rinsed the parts with water again and layed them out onto kitchen paper to dry.







The finish of the tumbled parts is fantastic, but of course, further cleanup will be needed down the road. Some parts will get polished, as the white metal looks perfectly, like steel or even chrome when polished carefully.

Next step will be checking against a copy of the manual, if all parts are there. MFH manuals include only a rudimentary parts list, but on their homepage, they have pictures of the kits parts, which will be helpful for the task.

I will add a few detail pictures from some of the parts, to show the fantastic casting quality. The tumble polishing of the parts effect surface detail only minimal, details remained sharp.

 







Stay tuned for more.

Cheers Rob

Today, I spent some exhausting hours to sort the parts, mainly the white metal cast ones, as they are the most numerous.

I made it a two step affair, first using the parts layout prints from the MFH homepage, to check if everything is there. These photos of the parts are especially helpful, as they are scaled and this helps to identify the parts.

In the second step, I sorted the parts into a plastic box with different sized trays, ordered after the steps in the manual. The tiny parts, like screws and bolts, I left out, as they are easier identified separately. Tomorrow, I will add resin and rubber parts along with screws, nuts and bolts.
 

 

 
Cheers Rob

I'm back ! Medical issue is under proper management for now.
 
Once I get past a few out of state high school graduations and a few assorted doctors appointments,  we'll be back in the model shop. I did manage to get the vegetable gardens planted when I came back. The flower gardens exploded into bloom while we were gone. 
 
Today it hit 90F and climbing. Normal highs for this time of year in this area are low 60s F to maybe 68F. Ugh ! 

I found the best way to open the gills and the air scoops on the rocker panels was to first drill out the openings using a .25mm micro drill, then cleaning up the openings using a #11 surgical scalpel blade. An XActo blade is just too thick, the surgical one just right.

Use a section of Flexi-file sandpaper to do the final cleanup of the openings. 

 

Worked on other projects this week, but one of those projects was about all I want to know about the subject...installed a new door gasket on a front load washing machine. Man, that thing gave me a workout. I count my blessings it was indoor work. The heat/heat index has been ridiculously hot this week.
All week I looked forward to today. There was a model car show in a neighboring county, and I showed up bright and early to see the model cars and vendors. Walked off with a few nice kits and took a lot of photos of the model car entries. A nice venue and a large crowd supported the show. I did not enter any models in this show because that requires you stay the entire day. I didn't feel like hanging out there all day long.
 
 

The vendor tables were well stocked at the show as well. Among a few other other things I brought these home.

 
Didn’t have any plans for a 1:35 PT boat, but the price was right so I snagged it. Good trading material if nothing else.
The Iwata HP-CS airbrush is smooth as silk. A great all-around airbrush. If you find one for $75 or less at a swap meet, do yourself a favor and grab it. You won’t regret it.

Mark
I think its the same sort of thing. I think it will only be useful for working over a small area but that's really what I want it for. It certainly firms up my uncertain brush when it comes to painting details.
This is the guide that was inside the box

Alan

Yesterday was another day that tries the patience of men. I was adding some highlights to the tunic of the Yellow Boy and the glue (Gorilla Glue) I used to secure the base to the pill container being used as a handle cracked away and the figure dropped. It landed hard, the base separated and the head fell off again. I decided to try 15 minute epoxy to resecure everything and had just placed the head back and thought it was settled when it fell off AGIN. Only this time it landed smack in the little tray of mixed epoxy and got a liberal coat. I gave it a liberal spray of alcohol which I had handy and wiped it off as best I could. Of course most of the paint came off too.
I switched to five minute epoxy and tried again and this time I think I got a good bond. Activity was suspended for the day to reconsider and repair the shower.
I initially thought of going back and air brushing the black and white undercoats but I suspect I wasn't able to get all the epoxy off and if so then over spraying it was going to obscure details.
I decided to use white primer hand brushed where needed and after it was dry, this morning, I started repainting. I may have lost some of the pre-shading on the turban but I think its good enough to carry on. I can try using different shades to deepen the folds. I see a couple of spots on the face which may need attention too then back to qorking on the details

I got ambitious and started adding the basic paint to Nabopolassar. In some ways it might be a simpler figure to work on. Its a great sculpt regardless.. The tan colour is an undercoat for the gold decorations that will follow - at least that's the idea.


Thanks for looking in and for the likes and comments
Alan
 
 
 
 
 
 

will never ever be happy with the shaft/rudder area, as she is designed to be an RC kit, so rightly or wrongly i added a rudder post, the gap looks far to large, between the prop and post nothing i can do about that
deck fittings are generic and oversized, and not many of them

bilge keels and below waterline coats sorted

at this point i still could not get the shaft are right
 

the deck is planked and painted

messy but fill sand and repeat
s
eventually i got the shat entry area looking tidy, and first coat of black on the hull

the Laser cutting is good, with very small tabs to be removed, but right from the start you quickly realise, there are just not enough frames for a vessel this size, it needs at least another 5 frames to allow fairing, and possibly adapting the area around the prop shaft area, as you are pretty well left to sort it out for yourself

planking is shown as laying one plank next to the other, NO TAPERING, and filling with scrap wood, i did it that way, but after building a decent kit like the Vanguard Models Indy, i was never going to be happy with the results
 

good morning everyone, im back (less boo's from the back of the room please)
 
loosing my best friend really took it out of me, and i made the decision to just go quiet on the forums and Facebook, although i do miss him so much, life does go on.
 
Having said that i have still been building, Indy was put to one side and i got the tug out
 
What ever people feelings are about Occre Kits are, i want to build OOB, no lighting, weathering  etc and see what i could do with one of their kits,
she will be complete within a day or so so this will be a short log, but may be of interest to a couple of people, 
OOB for me also meant i did no historical research for building, and she was done in my paint scheme