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gsdpic

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Posts posted by gsdpic

  1. Interesting.  So @Mike Dowling, on the model expo sopwith camel, the control lines are made to actually move the control surfaces?  I am working on the Artesania Latina Sopwith Camel and the control lines are there but the control surfaces are not actually hinged, so nothing moves.  I have no idea if the Fokker Dr.1 is supposed to have moveable control surfaces.  Edit: Oh, I see it confirmed that the control surfaces are not moveable.

     

    But, I agree that figuring out a good material for all the rigging would be helpful.  And if you manage to do it, let us know because so far I have failed.   The AL Camel has some black fishing line and some thicker black thread and I am not crazy about either one.  The fishing line does not tie well, making it at times difficult to get it to stay taut, and the black thread is too thick to fit through some of the holes in photo etched parts, making it more difficult to deal with and the slight fuzziness of the thread looks completely unrealistic.  I also tried some multi strand beading wire.  It looks more realistic (except perhaps the crimps to hold the ends together) but is difficult to get it taut as well.

     

  2. 4 hours ago, CDW said:

    Raked and bagged about 40 of the 42 gallon contractor bags from the front yard alone.

    Wow!  I get tired of raking and bagging when I am on about bag number 5!  At least I have fewer leaves after last year's ice storm took a huge chunk out of my nicest live oak :(

     

    The mustang is looking good.  Looks like you are overcoming the challenges presented by the kit.

  3. I happened to be in Galveston over the weekend and saw the USS Texas.  Below is a shot of her from the Texas Seaport Museum, with the Elissa in the foreground.   Apparently the Texas will be refloated very soon but it will be another year or two before they complete the deck and superstructure restoration.   Eventually she will be moved to a pier just next to the seaport museum and re-opened.   I also went to the Galveston railroad museum while there and they had a temporary exhibit about the USS Texas with a few artifacts, and about 25 signs with highlights of the ship's history and photos as well.

     

    For more info and more photos and videos, https://battleshiptexas.org/

     

    IMG_1565.jpg

  4. Amazing details being brought forward on this jet.   Looking forward to seeing it completed.   Those extra decals look good but I've never seen a sheet of decals so packed together.  Better not let the scissors slip at all when cutting them out.

     

    And as everyone has said, congrats on the retirement.  I am about 10 months in on my retirement and still adjusting.  Though I don't have an admiral around to "help" with the adjustment.

     

  5. Nice, I'll follow along.  I checked out the kit, parts list, and instructions on the Artesania Latina web site.  Looks like it will be an interesting challenge, and I say that being about 75% through their Sopwith Camel.  (Though it is currently on the shelf again).  The Fokker definitely has more metal parts and fewer wood parts than the Camel.  And it looks like it has a few more places to attempt the fake wood grain paint look, and those parts are more conspicuous.

     

     

     

     

  6. 2 hours ago, Danstream said:

    Lovely models perfectly finished. I have a soft spot for the Gulf one, but also the silver looks great. I thought that the Tamiya silver was not the best, but from pictures it looks fine.

    Congrats,

    Dan

    Thank You.

     

    I kind of wanted to use the alclad polished aluminum, but they recommend to not use decal solution on their "high shine" paints and I knew I would need decal solution on at least some of the many decals.   And in my experience you need to be very careful about what clear coat you use over the alclad paints.

  7. Thanks as always for the likes.

     

    And here we have it, both models completed!   Overall I enjoyed this project and felt the kits were pretty decent though not quite up to Tamiya standards.   I have mixed feelings about the photo etch parts.  I don't enjoy working with them and many of them would have been (near) invisible on the finished model.  I probably used half or less.  Maybe if you were detailing a model and showing it with doors open and wheels off it would make more sense to use all the photo etch parts.   The decals with the Martini kit went ok, though I did tear a few of them.  The third party decals for the Gulf car seemed a bit stronger though there were no large decals to apply.  Unfortunately a couple of them bubbled up a bit when I applied the clear coat (Tamiya X-22 plus Mr Color Leveling Thinner).  One huge win was getting the black "paint marker" and using that around the edges of the windows and clear parts for the head lights.  That worked very well I think, and was fairly easy to do.  I feel like each kit I do, I improve a bit, so that is something.

     

    Anyway, here are a bunch of pictures of the Gulf car then both cars together.  Enjoy!

     

    IMG_1765.jpg

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  8. Thanks all for taking a look and clicking the ol' like button.

     

    I've now completed the chassis for the Martini car.   This time I took a few more intermediate pictures to try to show some of the steps of constructing the rear structure.  Also note that this is the one that I received painted blue and partially started.  You can see some remnants of the blue paint in these pictures.  Also, the plastic pin for the left front wheel had apparently been broken or lost and replaced but the front wheel did not quite fit right, so it is now attached with CA and does not rotate.  Oh well.

     

    Here I've added the X shaped piece in the back, and one piece on each side with vertical pipes to support the upper structure:

    IMG_1580.jpg.0c55fe341cfab51cd8a48578050d37a7.jpg

    And now I've added the upper structure with the spare tire, air intakes, and tail lights:

    IMG_1581.jpg.ea236c762d0352f4c8c63998d98b0a4a.jpg

    Added a couple more supports for the upper structure:

    IMG_1583.jpg.774972ff216f79e4dd5e2a2ff9b333b6.jpg

    Added the rear fender liners and the top half of the engine:

    IMG_1587.jpg.5b70d717ec60bc0523e4edbd3edf4379.jpg

    And finally added the wheels:

    IMG_1590.jpg.c1bb2eefeffa61e3ea5ba9dce89161fa.jpg

    This was easier the second time around, though still a bit fiddly.  The parts fit together fairly well, though in some cases the locator pins were a bit lacking, such as on those angled support between the lower and upper structure.  The end of the support with the point of the V shape did not have much of a pin to fit into the hole provided in the lower structure.  I just sort of lined it up, put on a drop of Tamiya extra thin cement, and held it there for a bit.   I hope that is enough to keep it in place....it is definitely something I don't want to touch or put any pressure on during the rest of the build.

     

    I still need to do the seatbelts on the Gulf car, then it is on to detailing the bodies.

     

  9. I also used liver of sulfur gel on the copper I applied to the hull of my America.  See post 77 in the build log in my signature.

     

    As I recall, I mixed less than the instructions specified in warm water, hoping to have a bit more control over how dark the copper became.  The consistency was just like water.   The patina did not rub off or flake off....it was very much like an old penny, dark brown not black.  Just like a penny, if you rubbed enough or used some sort of cleaner you could bring back the copper shine but it would take some effort.

     

    On my copper, I used a clear acrylic semi-gloss spray over the copper and in the years since then it has not significantly changed color...it maybe is a little darker now than it was.

     

  10. Well, I am now...almost...done with the chassis for the Gulf car.  I say "almost" because I realized while taking pictures I have not yet put the seatbelts on that car.  And, it looks like I should try to clean up one of the rear tires a bit.

     

    Since the last picture of the chassis, I've done all the work on the rear suspension and rear structure.  There are quite a few little, delicate, fiddly bits to attach back there.  Plus, the engine top and bottom halves.   And yes there is some light blue overspray in places but it will not be visible on the finished model, I think.   Kind of like many of the photo etch parts which I have opted to not put on.

     

    I'll work on the rear chassis bits for the Martini car, then I have a bunch of detailing of the bodies to do before attaching the body to the chassis.

    IMG_1574.jpg.0cff6cd1284c5bef23558eafbabfc4e2.jpgIMG_1576.jpg.e2a4adb66f1b6a3613998d6b0cccbeb5.jpgIMG_1577.jpg.ad7b1b0204f8777ded4edc6cc50f4f1b.jpg

  11. Thanks, as always, for the likes.

     

    I've now finished the decals on both bodies and put a few coats of tamiya X-22 clear gloss coat, thinned with Mr Color Leveling Thinner, on both.  I'll go back to working on the chassis and rear suspension of both kits while the clear coat cures, then decide if I want to do more clear or do any polishing.  I put 3 or 4 coats on each, though the Gulf car looks glossier than the silver Martini car.

    IMG_1571.jpg.51018674273cd38657b966f6cb2c0690.jpg

  12. Thanks as always for the likes and for looking in.

     

    I put another lighter coat of blue on the Gulf body, about a 3:1 or 4:1 mixture of Gulf Blue and Pure White.  I then taped up the body to prepare for the orange area.

    IMG_1568.jpg.6f9a0c2812d86be3762df79eaf7bbd57.jpg

    After spraying the orange, I added another stripe of tape just inside the previous tape in order to paint the thing black outline between the blue and orange areas.   I used a testors black enamel paint pen to add that stripe.  Then I did the always nerve-wracking task of removing the tape to see how things went.   Overall it looks good but there are a few areas where I need to clean up some blue paint that seeped into the white areas and a few places where the black seeped under the tape, primarily at the panel lines.  I hope I am able to clean up those bits without making things worse.

     

    IMG_1570.jpg.578ac367adef8e78df1e77130b53fa4f.jpg

    I also intend to paint the borders of the window openings black as well as the headlight areas.  I may try to delicately wet sand, primarily the border between the blue and white as there is a small ridge there, then add a few decals and then gloss clear coat with Tamiya X-22.

     

  13. A little change of pace.   But first, on the Martini car, I now have all the decals done on the starboard side of the car.  No pictures.  I'll take more when I complete the other side.

     

    But I resumed paint work on the Gulf car.   I started with light gray primer followed by Splash paint's Pure White.  I was not diligent about coating the whole car, mostly worried about the areas where the white number circles are on the car.  I then cut circles from Tamiya masking paper and applied them.  I am hoping this will work well enough that I can skip the white circle decals, we'll see.

    IMG_1566.jpg.a2443855912f7d4ca7881b0e47004564.jpg

    I then painted a couple coats of the Splash "Gulf Blue" paint.  I definitely feel like I should tone this down a bit by adding some of the white to the blue.  This modern Gulf Blue just looks a little bit too saturated blue for me.

    IMG_1567.jpg.98fe67408f2cb5c36ec8b3a7316b4c1f.jpg

    I'll probably do that and do one more coat, then let it cure for a while.  Then I'll tape off most of the body and paint the orange teardrop shape on the top. 

     

     

  14. 44 minutes ago, CDW said:

    Mr. Color has a dark blue that may be a close match.

    Thanks.  I tried about a 4 to 1 mix of Tamiya X-4 blue and X-1 Black and painted over some of the gaps and tears in that front decal and it looks good, so I think I can match it.

     

    Further google image searching leads me to think that the box art is a picture of the restored version of this car.

     

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