Egilman

Next step, getting difficult to continue, still waiting on parts, running out of subassemblies. I usually prefer to collect everything I need and run a build right through to the end one continuous stream... but having issues with shipping delays in the middle of a build is no fun at all.... Trailer colors.... we know the bullnose and doors are black, and the sides have their murals.... what about the rest of the trailer...... Movie capture, looks grey.... Yep, light grey... the real thing..... Now that looks like a light ghost grey. (but look at that light level also, it's so bright that the light is reflecting off the tread of the tires!) Let's try another pic without the intense light.... Now that's more like it, sunny day in the shade, medium light grey seems to be a good choice, and look at the upper right corner, under intense flash, it shows a blue cast.... Testors Aircraft Grey is what I'm going to use.... I think it fits the bill perfectly..... Trailer parts, minus the box.... Painted Aircraft Grey.... We start with the sliding tandem unit frame.... 7 parts... (and notice that under the bright flash, it has a blue cast to the aircraft grey, color is spot on) So the first step is to mount the spring/flange parts to the outer side frame rails...... This is where the first problem reveals itself.... Sorry for the blurry pic, but it is still clear enough to see that the flanges on the spring parts sits proud of the frame rail. It is supposed to sit flush with the frame rail top flange...... So I have to relieve the spacing on the inside of the part. Unaltered part at the top, relieved part at the bottom, done by using a flat file to shave the part down between the flanges without damaging or breaking off the springs.... Again sorry for the blurry pics, corrected part at the bottom, untouched parts at the top. Relieving is necessary because the crossmembers need to fit between the side rail flanges while meeting the spring flanges flush. Without shaving the cross members do not fit tight to the side rails which is needed for strength.... Gluing the springs to the side rails.... Crossmembers installed and squared, the forward end is too the left.... Axles, radius rods, brake levers and air pots installed...... Auxiliary air tank and regulator installed along with the air hose support..... Stock wheels and tires assembled and installed temporarily to get the delicate detail parts off the table where they will get broke.... The sliding tandem unit is now complete, I have resin wheels and true rubber tires on order if they ever get here, they are much more accurately detailed and the new tires have the correct tread pattern as seen in the movie.... And, except for the landing gear, I have no other sub-assemblies I can build without more parts arriving. At this point I think I'm going to put this on hold until the parts arrive, I have tractor hubs, trailer wheels and tires, mural decals, and other assorted needed details arriving sometime in the future from all over the country and world in fact... until they get here there isn't much I can do, and I usually like having all materials and supplies on hand when I start a build.... This is why this is advancing agonizingly slow, (agonizingly slow for me) So I'm going to put this on hold until all the parts arrive and I can proceed like I enjoy doing.... smoothly and without interruptions beyond my control.... In the meantime to occupy myself and bore you to tears, I'll be starting another build log shortly on a simpler subject that should be easier without the delays... haven't decided what yet, I need to look thru my stash and see what I've got that isn't going to require any aftermarket or just minimal scratchbuilding, that rules out ships, most armor and most aircraft. Maybe this will work.... An OOB blast from the past would be perfect..... Rest assured, you will NOT go away without seeing the end of this build, until I have glued the last part and posted pics of it for you! Thank you for looking in and commenting.... EG

Breakout the diamond dust paper that'll sand it smooth.... (Flintstone's manual on petrified wood ship building, chapter 27. (edited by Rubble and associates, 1st engraving 23 million BC)

Our public education system at work.... (teachers more clueless than the students) And ours are some of the highest paid teachers in the country!!!) Anything I can do to help? :-) The bird will patiently wait, we here will patiently wait, (no matter how much we don't want to) and pray that you and yours stay safe, take no inordinate risks, as we are all in the same boat as you for the most part.... Thanks for the warning my friend, but I'm sure, no one here classifies it as a warning to fear.... Remember, when the world dishes out lemons and refuses to allow us to make lemonade, grab a mint julep instead, more tasty and satisfying in the end... (it's become a crazy world out there) Take care and stay safe, we will be here..... (as long as the guv doesn't shut down the internet in the cause of social distancing)

Nice sharp work......

Yeah, and eventually you combine them, and we get multimedia.... for those wild and crazy days....

Now under the light you have there is looks perfect.... And your brushing it straight out of the bottle over light colored plastic with no primer? I'm impressed!!!! Damn fine paint job...

Ah!!! Old School..... Great Job!

Nice looking Tie Nick... My suggestion is Testors dull coat or gloss coat for clear finishes..... It is lacquer and stinks the place up, but it's the best as far as I'm concerned...

Yeah I've been known to do that on occasion also.... So your not alone....

Yes, the casting job is very nice.... looks to be a well thought out kit..... (and your better at dry brushing than I am) Good Job!

Well my experience, (50+ years) in the real world of model building has been that the dedicated wood ship builders tend to look at plastic builders as something less than real modelers, but this forum is changing my opinion on that rapidly, and very happily if I might add...... To me it's all modeling, the medium and techniques/tools may change a bit, but it's all the same in the long run...... Recreating real life for others to enjoy, same as painters and sculptors in fact model making is kinda a combination of both those other art forms when you come right down to it...

I already have one, several really, but I didn't think of that! Anyways, I"ve done my testing and application to the side panels..... Two coats of Mr Surfacer 500 on the joints.... It filled the grooves quite well.... My only problem with it was I didn't apply it directly to the plastic, I applied it over the Tamiya primer, so when I went to use the thinner to smooth it off, it also moved the primer..... UGH! so now I had to decide to either do it all over after removing the primer or test shoot it with the final white primer and see how it lays in the grooves.... Test shot with white.... Wet... Dry... That actually didn't come out too bad, it's not completely smooth, but it doesn't really stand out either and it's not hiding the rivet details either.... A couple more shots.... The vertical join.... The horizontal join..... Not perfect, but a lot better than it was. I'm going to go with it, the decal will ride over the joints without sinking now and once installed and flat finished I don't think it will be that noticeable, and besides the coat of future going on it for decal adhesion will do some smoothing out itself also.... I'm happy with it...... Next time I know to use the Mr Surfacer before any paint.... also use this in a WELL ventilated area it's Acetone based and the fumes will not overpower you, but the aroma will linger in the room for quite a few hours.... (my experience in my 500+ sq ft workshop)

Yes, Welcome to MSW! AS a short-timer here I have found the place to be very very welcoming... Downright homey in a good way.... They even tolerate us plastic people.... {chuckle}

I will definitely pull up a ringside seat for that one....

They actually got 4 B-29's that were damaged over Japan and overflew to vladivostok and were interned. Three of them were damaged beyond repair but one was almost untouched. (it's fuel tanks were holed and the fuel loss did not allow them to return to Tinian)...... The crew actually landed it on the runway to the great excitement of the Soviet AF officers present..... They threw them parties and did the whole comrade thing until they were told they were being interned. They were eventually allowed to "escape" through Iran at one of the transfer points for lend lease going into Russia, but the russians kept the plane of course They actually built their version the TU-2 or was it 4, my mind is not remembering it right at this moment. But I do remember the shock our side had when three flights of them showed up at one of their May Day parade/flybys...... (they weren't generally liked by the russians assigned to fly them, they were very unreliable)

Nice, I like the scribing on that kit, very well done...

I don't remember where I got it from but after the war they recovered somewhere between 20-25 of them in flyable condition. And yeah they were assigned to the "Commando" units for secret missions which undoubtedly included dropping bomb at some point..... They also had several B-24's but just a few, B-24's generally didn't fare well crash landing so it wasn't as easy for them to repair them.... Somewhere in my library I have a book of reminisces of a pilot that flew for KG-200, If I remember right there was no real proof of what he said but he did say it.... KG200 was top secret and not much of what they did was recorded nor did a lot of the records survive.... I've told people about the B-17's that the germans were flying during the war and some of them called me crazy and wouldn't believe that the Germans were interested in flying enemy aircraft..... Heck the Germans would use anything they got their hands on if it would work.... So did the russians and so did we.... (the vaunted 88 comes to mind) and the germans were all about learning new tech especially when it came to building 4-engined aircraft..... Your info coincides with what I remember when I was researching it..... one of those almost forgotten paragraphs of history that are fantastic to those not familiar....

My understanding was they used them as high speed transports. they were faster than anything the germans had as transports and they were well familiar with their toughness/durability.... I imagine that it is possible that they used them as bombers, but I don't recall reading that...... KG 200 was their special projects squadron, stuff that they wished to keep secret....

I sincerely appreciate this Lou.... I will let you know. (although I'm pretty sure it (the KH) will be more than I'm willing to pay)

I need a "D" model to go along with my "B" model, I have the Seminar UH-1B already in the stash. the Dragon kit isn't a bad one at all but yes I'm waiting to see what Kitty Hawk puts out there. If it's anything like their MH-6J Littlebird that's where I'm going.... (unless it is too expensive, KH models have been progressively going up in price lately)

US Coast Guard fluorescent red-orange (FS 28913) or fluorescent red (FS 28915) It was used on USAF rescue craft also.... I looked it up once cause I need it for the air-sea rescue Huskie I have..... I know that Testors made it for a while but I will look around.... Well, that was quick.... fluorescent orange is available from Testors (1367A), Model Master II (2041) or Gunze (GSI Creos) (H98), or for fluorescent red, Gunze (H99), Model Master (1775) the last one your local Hobby Lobby should carry... You will want to airbrush it over white primer.... Now in the real world, Coast Guard aircraft are painted FS 12197 hi-gloss International Orange and White. But Model Masters international orange is a bit too dull, over on the Arc forums they say MM's Chevrolet engine orange is the perfect match under most light conditions MM's international Orange..... MM's chevy engine red.... You tell me.... others use Zero Paints, mclaren red/orange..... Personally, I like the Zero Paints the best

Ken got the reference Denis, all the captured/rebuilt B-17's the germans had (around 25 or so) were labeled DO for Dornier 200 and assigned to KG 200 hoping to keep it secret... They used them quite often cause they simply didn't have any other aircraft of their own design that could do what the B-17 could..... The German pilots that were graced with the opportunity to fly them loved them.... When you built the Wolfhund, you inadvertantly built one....

OUTSTANDING!....

Yeah, me too, I can't build that tiny stuff anymore....

That why I grabbed it, unfortunately it is coming from Austria, and they have suspended mail service to some countries cause it the virus crap. The seller is paid so he will hold it till he can ship it... Unfortunately it will join my burgeoning collection of 1/32nd - 1/35th scale helicopters.... It up to at least 13 now not counting this one....Still need to get a Huey and a Jet Ranger....