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DocRob

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Everything posted by DocRob

  1. DocRob
    Thank you Dan, I had bought the Tamiya PE-chainset, but was really happy, when I saw Falcon Model releasing a 3D printed set, which I used. The detail is fantastic and my treatment with panel liner, followed with rubbed on chrome pigment, made it look good. With bike kits, it is all about material appearance, specially with metals. They have to look right with their individual colors and sheens in these larger scales. Cheers Rob
  2. DocRob
    Thank you Craig, the liquid mask worked really well, holding the spokes in place, but easily movable. I chose the thickest, I had, Mr. Masking Sol Neo. Tamiya recommended using their craft glue, which is in fact white glue, to keep the spokes where they should be. I feared visible residues and therefore came up with the idea of using liquid mask. For adding the spoke nipples, I started with very sharp tweezers, but found, the method recommended in the manual was even better. I used some double sided adhesive tape on the flat backside of a toothpick, to pick the spoke nipples pushed them carefully into their holes and wiggled at the spoke with tweezers, until the spoke nipple slid in. Other than you, I had eight spoke nipples and some spokes left in the end. Cheers Rob
  3. DocRob
    What I especially like about bike kits are the different metal finishes, you need to let it look realistic. Here, I used aluminum, titanium a mix from jet exhaust and copper and chrome, all from the AK Extreme Metal range. Chrome got a undercoat of gloss black, the others were sprayed directly onto the plastic. I was lazy, avoiding masking and sprayed the 3D printed chain in aluminum complete with the chain sprockets. The chain should look like steel and was therefore treated wit a heavy dose of black panel liner, followed by Uschi chrome pigments, which I rubbed in. The tyres received a treatment with a grey Flory wash, to enhance the detail and let them look a little less plastic like. The fit and engineering is still fantastic and putting together the kit is pure joy. Cheers Rob
  4. DocRob
    Your Lysander came out beautiful, Andrew. The matte finish looks perfect. I don´t know, why I always have to think about "The Adventures of Tintin", besides the secret stuff in France, when I see a Lysander. Can´t wait for your Gannet, as I have on in my stash as well. Cheers Rob
  5. DocRob
    The tiny tank came out great, Alan, lots of detail to catch the eye. Cheers Rob
  6. DocRob
    Looking good Craig, I found a hairdryer very helpful to lay down unruly decals. Makes the process much faster. It´s especially helpful with overlapping carbon fiber decals. Cheers Rob
  7. DocRob
    Today, I finished the second wheel, but somehow, it was a chore. I had lots of difficulties to fiddle in the shorter spokes, one half being a fraction of a millimeter to short, the other half too long, that they needed heavy bending, to get them into the rims holes. Anyway, it´s done now and looks better than the plastic wheels for sure. Cheers Rob
  8. DocRob
    Nice progress Craig. The paintjob looks pretty good. I use the same process for painting the gloss black Tamiya lacquer (and others). I don´t wait very long for the last coat. My thinking is, the high percentage of leveling thinner levels not only the last coat, but melts into the one before and evens everything. A guy, over on LSM claimed, that his last coat is sometimes pure leveling thinner. He learned that while airbrushing real cars. I haven´t tried that until now. The blackness, well, I had difficulties with the semi flat black interior of the Cobra Coupe at times. It was hard to see, where to place the parts, especially those which were fitted with the body already mounted on the chassis. I thought about the Meng Audi R8 as well, while there was a very good offer, but I can´t overcome my German background, where I always thought about Audi´s as the typical civil servant car . Cheers Rob
  9. DocRob
    Today, I finished the front wheel any difficulties and started with the rear wheel. After fiddling the spokes into the rim, I secured them with liquid mask and set the rim and spoked hub into the rim. Next, I inserted the spokes carefully into their holes in the rim, where some needed slight bending. Then the troubles began, while I tried to add the firs spoke nipple, some spokes flipped out of their holes in the rim, nasty. It was caused by slight movement of the hub in the jig and therefor, I used some blue tac to fix the hub like shown on the picture. During applying the nipples, a straining task, two spokes came completely loose from the hub, caused by too small heads, which slipped through the hole. Somehow, I got them fiddled in with a lot of swearing. On the pic below, one is still missing, but I fixed it now. Cheers Rob
  10. DocRob
    The Halberstadt is a beauty, Dave. Given the circumstances it was build under, it´s nearly unbelievable how great it turned out. I wish you the very best for your recovery. Cheers Rob
  11. DocRob
    Next, I started with the wheels, an extra set made by Tamiya to substitute the not too shabby kit wheels. But what looks better than plastic, right, metal. The rims are turned and the spokes are pre lengthened and pre bent. I recommend to study the manual very thoroughly and check twice, as it is easy to make mistakes. There is a line engraved into the jig for alignment with the valve and I nearly interpreted a cast blemish for the marking. First you add the spokes to the ABS hub and roughly align them correctly. The manual calls for using whit glue to fix them temporarily, but I thought, I try masking fluid instead, Worked great and will be easy to remove. After the second of four sets are aligned in the opposite direction, it´s time to put the rim and the spoked hub into the jig. With a pair of tweezer and very light bending of the spokes, you insert them into the rims holes. Finally, you add the spoke nipples from the outside. I used an old, very sharp pair of tweezers for that, holding the nipples by their middle hole and inserted them. Sometimes, a little wiggling with the spoke was necessary to insert the nipple properly. Then the nipples were secured with CA and whoops, half a wheel is finished. Cheers Rob
  12. DocRob
    I need a brain update, Craig, I didn´t remember your build, but had posted in it . I will re-read it, specially for the wheels, which are next on my schedule. Cheers Rob
  13. DocRob
    Good to have you on the backseat, Craig, but wait, its a one seater. Good that you also built one, you know, when questions arise... . The Tamiya RC166 seems to be a very popular kit, I haven´t realized before, but there are a lot of builds around, but I really would like to see yours. I already found the key for the chain set, I ignore it and use the Falcon Models, I bought a little later. Building up of the chain was also the most miserable part of the MFH Crocker build, so if there is a way around, I take it. Like your experience, the main problem was to close the chain. In case of the MFH chain there is a great risk to break the chain somewhere during closing and there is no easy way to repair it. Cheers Rob
  14. DocRob
    The engine got a bad hair day with the tubing. I used the supplied vinyl tube, albeit it may be a bit on the thick side, but I want a relatively quick build and not hassle with preparing all the connectors with tiny brass rods. Not much of it will be visible, anyway. The frame was sprayed with Tamiya LP gloss black, which again was perfect with it´s shiny finish. The light brown "things" might be capacitors, if I´m not wrong, which will be connected with the spark plug wires. The footrests are made from turned aluminum and are supplied with the original kit, nice touch, Tamiya. Cheers Rob
  15. DocRob
    Thank you Ken, I tried to match the colors to the reference photos I have. I think, scale wise they look halfway correct. Cheers Rob
  16. DocRob
    Thank you shipman, and yes your mentioned MV Agusta would be very welcome, even if I´m not very deeply interested in motorbikes. Fascinating subjects nonetheless. I wish, I could lay my hand on a MFH Ducati 750, as I like twins a lot. Tamiya is still providing new motorcycle kits, so at least, there is hope, but I guess, the RC166 was somebodies pet project with Tamiya Cheers Rob
  17. DocRob
    I started with the engine and I have to say, this kit is absolutely fantastic, even by Tamiya´s standards. I built their big F4-U and the 1/48 P-38, which were excellent kits, but the Honda is even better. The engine is very complex, but so well engineered and the parts are fitting perfectly. The cooling ribs are a piece of art and are only possible to be casted in plastic, as there are several thin parts, which get stacked onto each other, genius. I used Extreme Metal colors for the engine, matte aluminum for the block, titanium for the oil pan and other parts and a mix from titanium and copper for the carburetors. The air funnels are turned aluminum and the clutch consists from PE clutch discs and a pre fabricated metal cage. I used a brown panel liner for accentuation and painted all the screwheads with silver. Cheers Rob
  18. DocRob
    Since a while, I desired to start the build of the famous Honda RC166 from Tamiya, driven by Mike Hailwood, who won the world championship in 1966 and 1967 with this bike. What a change after the big Cobra of the same scale, I finished recently. Instead of the big block, there is a tiny engine build in, but it´s very special. It has a displacement of only 250 ccm but has six cylinders, generating about 60 PS with a max of 18.000 revolutions. The max. speed was 245 km/h. The Tamiya kit dates back to 2009 and I will add all the available extra sets from Tamiya, which I got for relatively small coin directly in Japan. There is a set of metal parts for the front fork, clutch and air intake funnels, another for the metal spoked wheels, one for the numerous metal rivets and one for building up a PE chain. The latter I won´t use, because I have a 3D printed chain set from Falcon. Cheers Rob
  19. DocRob
    Absolutely fantastic, Craig, what a beautiful Porsche with perfect finish. You could get a real speed ticket with this one. Cheers Rob
  20. DocRob
    Looking very good, Alan. I can only raise my hat to your patience with the track assembly. These links must be ultra tiny, but they look very realistic now. The abrasion on the hull and turret helped a lot, to improve. You could add a brown wash for more contrast. BTW, there is no actual Bernie Gunther novel, unfortunately. Kerr died some years ago and I read them all. After reading your post, I searched big A for a long lost novel, but found the complete series of 14 books for 3,99€ for Kindle. I read the first books in German and I want to read them again in English sometime later and bit. Cheers Rob
  21. DocRob
    Nice progress on that tiny bugger, Alan. I hear you on the difficulties with the DSPIAE circle cutter. Mine works with different materials, masking sheet, 0,5 mm styrene, ..., but it always needs a lot of trying to get the results right. The downforce of the cutting needle is the decisive matter and not so easy to adjust right. It also helps, to have the cutting needle aligned correctly, if it has to turn, before cutting, it easily tears masking sheet. Maybe a bit late, but the white winter camo was applied on the field, often not perfectly and irregular. The hairspray method would have been another approach. Base color first, then two thin layers of hairspray, on with the white after drying and then dampening the surface and use different tools for abrasion. The result looks less regular, like with the real thing. Cheers Rob
  22. DocRob
    Muchas gracias Ken and Dan and fimapa. The MFH kits do look very close to the real thing with all their enclosed detail. Pricey models, but worth it to my eye without the need of any aftermarket items. I actually had so much fun with the build, besides the woes at the end, that I already ordered another MFH kit, adding to my stash. It took almost six month to finish the Cobra, but I hope the next project will be a bit quicker and easier. Cheers Rob
  23. DocRob
    An absolute beauty, Craig. First you convinced me on the yellow and now, I even like the car, you are a magician . The interior looks fantastic, absolutely leathery with the stitching and choice of leather color. I can only envy your perfect closing doors, as I couldn´t do it with the Cobra Coupe, even with added magnets and many hours of adjusting. Cheers Rob
  24. DocRob
    Thank you Chris, it´s "near finished" though, but never mind . Cheers Rob
  25. DocRob
    Muchas gracias, Jack, Alan and Walter. The Cobra tested my patience and not everything went to plan, but about 90% were pure joy. The dreadful 10% accumulated towards the end and spoilt the experience a bit. All this is my fault, as I should have chosen a simpler MFH kit. The Cobra had it all, doors, hood, front lights under plexy, lots of vac parts, riveted on, ... , only missing wire spoked wheels. Lessons learned, my next MFH build will probably be a F1 car and definitely not my Ferrari 250 TRI from ´61. Cheers Rob

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