Egilman

Not a big seller for Tamiya, that's why it costs so little, but it's the only real game in town for that particular model.... It's pretty accurate and cleanly molded... Would benefit from aftermarket tracks though, T91E3 Workable Track Links 1-35 AFV Club It's had an undistinguished career as a tank, designed to be a light recon tank, but sized more like a medium tank, it never really fulfilled either role well... After the initial issue to US troops, (who didn't like it) the remainder of production was sent to foreign allies.... Aside from Vietnam where the bulk of it's combat history took place with the ARVN, (who loved it) it's only real combat capabilities were revealed in the CIA backed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, 8 of the 16 tanks landed held off three companies of T-34-85's in the only successful incursion off the beach, they eventually ran out of ammo and were destroyed or forced to surrender, the other 8 were abandoned on the beach... It was a good tank, but by the time it was being issued, the whole concept of heavy, medium & light tanks was passe'.... The Main Battle Tank concept was being developed along with the M-48 Patton.... I'm down brother...

Looks pretty darn shiny to me..... (metallic shiny)

His web store is Scale Collectables.com... The owners name is Dan Silvestru... He's a great guy... A little over a year ago he offered to collaborate with me on the creation of models, I would create the STL files and he would create the masters for production... It looks like he still does that for designers....

Thanks Rob.... Not really a drawback, it's an expansion of knowledge.... With the extra images to study it makes for an even more interesting build.... More practice as well.... An example of why I had to start over... Frame rails... the first part modeled.... On the left is the new version, on the right is the old version... Currently figuring out the suspension bracket that inserts into the frame rail on the forward end... (it's what those rivet's are securing inside the rail) The new pics give me a lot of that exterior detail... Back in the age this car was built, (and most cars of the period) welding wasn't something that was widely employed... Today a car like this would be completely welded together and my first drawings didn't make this delineation... Another thing, there isn't very many washers used, it seems that generally they just bolted and nutted straight to the parts, unheard of practice today... Today you do not design or build/assemble machinery without washers... {chuckle} Little details.... Well, the Doc is very optimistic, Me, all I can do is learn to live with it, it's not the end of the world....... Keep plugging away....

Welcome to the Log, and Yes it is, no easier way to change things on the fly... I'll try to keep it interesting..... Thank you...

It's up on evilbay.... Fowler Tractor 1/35th scale D Models, that's in their e-bay store.... Not a bad price for what your getting...

That is the finish of a brand new bird fresh off the assembly line.... The minute it hits the outside air it will start to turn dullish white/grey... Takes about two months for the metals natural oxidated protective surface to come out in real life... Very very good job spraying that surface.... A little too shiny for an in theater service bird, but hey, that finish is extremely hard to duplicate.... By the time this particular bird reached service, 27 days from delivery to first mission, this is exactly what she would have looked like getting her unit markings and colors... No one could do it better my friend... WELL DONE!!!

Thank you for signing up to ask me a question about truck trailers... In response, maybe you can explain why Truck Paper has an auction listing for a 1977 52' Hobbs Dry goods van which sold for "$645.00 Christmas Eve 2022? They listed it as a '77..... How about you taking a look.... For example.... 1978 UTILITY 48 ft x 96 in sold just 4 months ago.... In fact I pull an internet search there are still some 1977 48' van trailers around selling for peanuts at auction.... I mean they are used for storage only they aren't really road worthy, but they are available today... If they are still available today, they were available back then... Maybe you aught to explain to those auction companies how they can't possibly have sold 1977-78 48' (and longer) trailers to people cause they simply weren't being made back then...

Anyway a new update on the progression if this exercise.... It's time to assess the progress to date.... So far everything done has been the result of collecting pics and data off the net... Some good data and very nice pics, but since the coverage is sparse and distant many of the small details are lost in translation... But, I have had a benefactor step forward.... A Gentleman that is kind and gracious and very generously offered me detailed images of the Marmon Wasp... Unpublished images, about 100 more or less of various sections of the car that no amount of picture taking from behind the ropes will cover... In perusing these images, it has become painfully clear that I need to do a redesign... Not that I'm completely wrong with what I have done so far, but it would take three times more work to redesign many of the current parts to match what is now known to be real on the real thing... 3/4ths of the current design needs some level of work to bring it up to the current level of knowledge and factual imagery... For example, take a look at the rear engine mount crossmember.... That is what it has looked like as I had no references to how it was affixed to the frame.... This is what it looks like today.... Accurate motor mounts.... Above the front side, below the aft side.... Getting that detail added required an almost complete redesign of the cross member.... And yes I have absolute photo proof that is the configuration of the Marmon Wasp's rear motor mounts... Almost every part I have designed to the best of my abilities and experience has issues like this on this model.... So I'm going to start a Version II of her... I will be using many of the parts I already have done as the basis of the redesign, but it will be a completely new model.... Given the new info I now have, there are too many parts that would need complete redesign to make them fit the pics I now have.... Currently I'm in the process of indexing better drawings for use as base images in SW and restarting the model... Look at it this way, you get to see it build up from base images and I can explore the process of creating something like this... I know it may feel like we are retracing the path we have already gone down, but in the end, we will have the most accurate model representation of the Marmon Wasp around.... (at least as accurate as I can make it) Thank you for putting up with me and following along on this excursion into fantasy.... Version II coming soon.... EG

Amen brother, the Admiral, a former nurse says much the same thing.... (all the time, chuckle) Thank you....

Yeah the eduard Mustang has those canyons for panel lines... Very well, I concede the point my friend.... That's a model manufacturers engineering error/failure... Yes they are puttied to smooth the wing, you have to fill them to get a decent build out of that kit... Modelers have been doing that for years... {chuckle} But in scale, 1/48 & smaller shouldn't have recessed panel lines they would also need to be filled on a 1/32 scale model as well... On the 1/1 bird they were filled to cover the micrometer sized edges and gaps, maybe only a few thousandths of an inch. This is why when the paint is stripped off you don't notice the fill... Windtunnel testing in 1940 established that the filling/smoothing added 20kts to the planes top speed... The practice continued into the 50's... North American deleted the process on the F-86 when tunnel testing showed that it made no difference to the planes top speed... Laminar flow was dropped when power overcame drag sufficiently till where it just simply didn't matter anymore... In the 1940's they were looking at everything that could conceivably make a plane go faster, Laminar Flow gave the Mustang a 5% boost in airspeed, with the supercharged Merlin, that boost became 10% over 20kft, and created a legend. Scaling it down to show it on a relatively small scale model, what's the point? you can't scribe a line small enough to represent the actual size of the panel gaps from a real P-51... Engineering defects caused by deficient thinking in the production of a model aren't the fault of the airplane being modeled and we as modelers have been fixing such for generations... It all comes down to the modelers minds eye and what he/she sees when they look at the real thing... It's why we build to suit our view of the subject... I didn't check to see if the Airfix or Trumpeter kits has those canyons, but the newer Tamiya's don't... (At least the one I have doesn't) I'll put it this way, the filling and smoothing done in the factory was never really noticed in the field when they had to strip and repaint the aircraft, that's how small the effect was... And thank you Dan for reminding me that we shouldn't be derailing a great log... My humble apologies....

Absolutely, it was restored to be displayed and demonstrated at airshows, they would do it that way... Besides the aircraft is never going to be required to perform where the absolute smoothness of the wings matters.. ie. never over 30,000 feet at 400+ kts and have to do combat maneuvers at that altitude at the same time.... That is what Laminar Flow provided the aircraft.... It's combat days are long over.... So make it purty to impress the crowds who have never seen one up close....

No problem, you didn't... Not at all.... Any true restoration of a 1 to 1 P-51 aircraft should be finished that way as that is the way the real ones were done, the point was doing in in scale.... And yes that is a restored full scale P-51.... I've yet to see a scale model of a P-51 that has had it's wings puttied and painted over trying to simulate something that at it's thickest would be around 10-20 mils thick in real life.... (less than a thousandth of an inch in scale) as far as color goes your correct, they should be painted high gloss aluminum not bare metal like an F-86.... But then the example your showing is a museum warbird and the fuselage is semi polished, (seen by how reflective it is) which they never were in operational service... They would be barely reflective as a bluish white/grey shiny metallic surface, Modern models don't have the deeply engraved panel lines of earlier models, which a good modeler would fill in anyway.... So the issue is forget the filling, sand off the rivet bumps and just paint it the right color in the first place... Besides most casual observers don't know the difference, and wouldn't notice it... And the ones you see at the airshows with shiny bare metal wings are not full historically accurate restorations... They are nice, and representative though and really impress a person when standing next to one.... Do me a favor, show us a modern model where the modeler filled and sanded the wing to get that color effect.... I've been unable to find one.... EG

Thank you Brother! Well, it is off the beaten path, but welcome to the thread.... So far everything is going well, Doc is happy, Last scan showed no tumors and in 10 days I start another course of chemo... Prophylactic in nature to keep it from coming back since this type of cancer never goes away and could show up anywhere at any time... Year and a half in and I'm doing well they tell me, almost a third of the way to beating the average life expectancy of this... (5 years) God willing is all I can say.... I'll keep plugging away at something, like the title says keeping my head in the game....

There's another guy that went one step further than just restoring them to flying condition... Paul Allen maintained a collection of warbirds, (a warbird is a plane that actually served in combat) that were not only restored to flying condition, but to original manufacturers specification as originally built... if they couldn't find an original part they went to the original part manufacturer or the current owner of the technical documentation, and had the part made using the original materials... Sometimes, they had to make the materials before they could make the part.... (the cloth covered wiring on the P-51 was a good example) all of the aircraft, (except for the Hurricane), are combat warbirds, and all of them are restored to original issued condition, and flyable... But of course it takes deep pockets for such, and with 30,000 million dollars to his credit (30 billion) he could afford it... The collection has been sold out of Mr Allen's estate, (his family didn't share his love of such things) and is being maintained by a 501C non profit corporation, created by one of the Sam Walton (Wal-Mart) heirs...... Flying Heritage

But it is something impossible to model... What he is talking about is the panel joints, yes in the mfg process, the panel joints were puttied to fill any gap, then smoothed to make an ultra smooth surface so the Laminar flow process would work to it's best advantage.... It's why you don't see it on any restored warbird and they polish up into seamless mirrors.... There isn't a modern kit out there that is going to require puttying the wing panel joints.... Besides the Aluminized paint the used to cover the putty polishes up almost like the metal itself does and a wartime bird didn't ever see any polish, cleaners yes but never polish... The only time you see a polished mirror shiny warbird is the airshow, never in theater... After looking at 10's of thousands of P-51 photos, reading the manufacturers manuals and the military reference manuals... Puttying the wings is something you can't model realistically.... Just my opinion as an avid P-51 lover and modeler...

Thank you my friend, something to do while I get RL in order... Still recovering from the government actions that cost so much financially.... Currently working on the firewall.... And the reverse side.... It's complicated, a lot of other parts previously created have to mesh with it and it's not just one solid piece.... Closeup.... About to start version 2 of it, after I correct a few of the issues the other parts are creating... Anyway, onwards, eventually I'll get it sussed out....

Yep the last assault before the KGL gave it up... I always thought the French troops looked exhausted in that painting... That's why they lost.... The reduction of Le Haye Sainte, is one of the dramatic visions of heroism ever seen on the battlefield, on both sides...

Yep, on all mustangs the panel around the exhaust was stainless steel.... And Yes, some of the Mustangs, (like the T-bolts), had camoed wings and bare metal fuselages... but for some reason pics are rare....

Yep Radio aerials are never taut, especially in the beginnings of wireless.... The copper wire was just plain too soft, they would break under their own weight if stretched too tight... By the time WWII came around they had switched to aluminum wire for aerials, much much stronger, they could actually pull them almost straight... I have a headache from trying to figure out how he did it without making a tangled mess...

It's a Whirly-bird? I'm in...

That's a pretty good rendition of the swell on a mild day on the North Sea.... (10 to 12ft) Now to duplicate the greyish black-blue of the water... Geese, a master at work... It's a sheer pleasure watching you do your thing brother...

It wasn't really that, it was the other.... {chuckle} there is a reason he had us shoveling out the milking barn.... He didn't warn us either, dad said it was the fastest way to permanently learn not to stand behind the cow....

My Great Uncle had a farm in West Burke VT. 40 some odd milk cows and a bull.... (learned not to stand around the back end as they were being milked, {chuckle}) They were very friendly, and always came in for milking in the morning.... The Bull had his own section of pasture and would stand about ten feet inside the fence and just stare at you, the look in his eye was terrifying.... We used to build forts in the hayloft from the bales.... it was a grand time in my life....

Excellent job!!! The depiction of a NE Normandy pasture scene is par excellence!!! And Yes, the livestock frequently got in the way....