marktiedens

I got more done.......I'd say I'm as close to the finish line.....   the only parts left is the nose glass,  which is almost framed out.......handling is removing the paint as I go.  this is producing a less than stella job,  than the cockpit glass,  but I'm not going to go back over it {just what appears to be rubbed off}.  I put the bombardier / nose gunner seat in place and painted it.

...and without flash

I did begin to add decals too.......you'll see more soon   the wing decals were also put in place.....due to the crispness of the riveting,  it split the top wing decal.  I tried to fix it,  but it is there to stay.....so I'll concede.

due to the guns,  the tail gunner's turret was put in close to the end as well.  the props followed after that.

 

the session continued........

The gun crew are done! Don't look too closely,  my figure painting is still rusty!😉
Thanks for looking in!
 
I would love to see more photos Darius😊
Cheers 

Evening all,   another evening at the bench/table  type thingy,   so  it was  airbrush time again  - first  was the Black primer, so I used by trusted Vallejo  and gave the inside pit walls  and the jet pipe,  then after drying  I used my Mid Grey on the walls  - a couple of light coats did the job, then it was the turn of some oily Alum  for the jet pipe (I wasn't too fussy as its only the last couple of Mill  taht you see).
 
After putting my airbrush away (after cleaning the needle)  I  checked with  instructions  and it was now  joining time of the Two sides,   firstly the pit was glued in place on the one side - then some weight was found  for the nose, I found a bit of steal and encased it in bluetack  and with some more bluetack positioned  also  - that made more tahn enough weight.
Then glue on the one edge and pushed home  - the join is that good it did not need any  elastic bands or clips  just some gentle hand presure  while lining the seams up, it will only need the slightest sand.
 
So this is tonights state of play.
 
OC.

Evening all,    some good progress  on the bench  -  I started off by  doing a wash over the seats and tub, then after drying  I used a White dry brush  to weather it a bit  and bring out the details, after drying  they were glued in place.
 
Next stage  (going by the instructions)  was to  cut away the Two fuse  sides, the  Jet pip assy,   the front u/c  well, the rudder  and  a few small items,   firstly I dry fitted the tub in situ  with both sides  - "A very nice fit",    next  off was to assemble the  jet pipe parts, not to much fuss  as it wont be seen when its buried inside the fuselage,  then I glued in place the rudder.
 
That's  basically where I am now.
 
OC.

And finally the engine and display are finished :
 

 

 
The tracks and sleepers of course are cardboard as well :
 

Hi 🙂

Amazing - I just can`t stop looking at your beautiful work!.  Thank you for sharing.
 
Mark

First crack at it....This took all day to make.  The original draft actually has quite a detailed drawing of this which is a bit wider and shorter than the contemporary model depicts.   Its very interesting and helpful when you find a draft like this. So I will share it with you.
 

 
I will explain the step by step..
 



 
 

Time to finish this build
Added some rust and some bare metal here and there.
Glued the model on a base plate and gave a matt black wash.

Tagged and stored with his T34 and SU brothers and sisters.

Thanks everyone for following, comments and likes.

Post Thirty
 
Looking at the guns
At this point I make up a gun because it will prove useful in checking the level of the ports.
Sphinx was fitted with Armstrong pattern Nine pounder guns which had a length excluding the cascobal of 7’ 6”.
 
The barrel
The kit has resin guns which are spot on for scale, and look very realistic, incorporating  both Royal cypher and vents.
They are so impressive that for the first time in my model building career I will forsake  the blackened brass versions I usually favour.
The muzzle face is nicely finished, the bore is scaled, and the reinforcing rings cleanly moulded. These barrels need no cleaning up such as the  removal of moulding lines etc.
When I think back to the appalling Amati guns supplied with their Pegasus kit, this is light years ahead.
 
Well done Chris.
 
The Carriages
The good
These are nicely finished in Pearwood.
 
The trucks are engraved with both bolt holes and section joints, and the Brackets have the engraved planking line which represents the two parts that usually made up the Brackets.
In reality these were secured with iron straps on the inside of the carriage.
 
I am pleased to see that the trucks have round holes rather than the square versions supplied with the Alert kit.
 
Chris has innovatively designed the capsquares as an integral part of the  brackets. This has the advantage of securing the barrels, always a fiddly job when capsquares are separately added. This also makes it easier to add the Capsquare eye and joint bolts.
My initial slight reservation about whether the capsquares looked too chunky was dispelled once I had assembled the gun.
 
The not so good
I am still not a fan of the provided etched eyebolts for the brackets. They look clunky to my eye, and the Breeching bolt lacks the ring thro’ which the breeching rope passes.
As with my previous builds I will replace these with more convincing Ring bolts and tackle loops.

03531(2) Gun Carriage as fitted to Cutter Alert model.
 
I find that Amati fine eyepins and rings are perfect for the Breeching rings.
Even with these deficiencies which are easily addressed the guns overall are very nice, similar to to the ordnance supplied by Chuck with his Syren models.
 
Assembly
First job, gently remove the char from visible edges, I use a home made sanding stick for this purpose.

0873
Secondly, gently round the  truck axles to fit  thro’ the trucks. This takes very little, a slight rounding on the corners is sufficient.
To assemble the guns the brackets require pre-painting because once the barrels are in place access to the inner areas is limited.

0915
The Trucks are fitted on a wooden toothpick to sand off the char around the rims.
With the char left in place it looks like the iron rims fitted to land based guns, a real no,no, onboard a ship.
With the trucks fitted to the axles I am pleased to see there is sufficient length to drill micro holes to take the keys.
 
Fettlin’ the barrels.
This is required before they are fitted to avoid any marring of the carriage paintwork.
I am looking at using weathering powder to to create an ‘iron’ finish, using Chuck’s approach.
Wash the barrel.
Spray with fixative, I use Winsor & Newton professional.
Apply weathering powder, and buff off with a soft brush.

0891
My pop up spray booth.

0887(2)
The basic resin gun.
 
Under macro I note a fault with the button, unfortunately on the top side. I checked the rest of the guns and a similar deformation was present in a further five of them.
Not a great problem to put right, but it is an additional job to do.

0901(2)
Fixative applied.

0903(2)
Weathering powder applied, I used Revell Rust Red.

0907(3)
Finished gun with buffed surface.
 
Before fitting the barrel between the Brackets I paint the capsquares. For this I use Vallejo  Black Grey which gives a good scale iron effect.
This area is too small to apply weathering powders without the risk of marring the paintwork.

0927(2)

0931(2)

0940(2)
Fairly satisfied with the result.
 
Final check, how does it sit on the deck.

0944

0947

0951

0955
This gun remains unfinished; I’ll re-visit the ordnance later, but for the present it’s back to port lining.
 
B.E.
26/10/21
 
 

Evening all,   bit of an update on my  Hawk   - starting with  what I thought was going to be  a stop to my modeling as my light  stopped working, the leed (very thin wires)  where it meats the power block   had broken away, and yep  You guessed it the power block  is a sealed type so I could not get into it,   what I found out  was  the  rubber protection gromet was able to be cut away  revealing the Two wires   about 8mm  left showing, so I had just enough room to join them back  by twisting and taping  the super gluing  with more tape wrapped around  - its a temp  mend but at least it got it working again.
So  -  on with some modeling  -  I  did some detail painting on the tub first  adding black to the dials  and side consols, then some detail  dry brusing with alum,   then both bang seats  got  - Green on the cushions, Brown for the straps  and a  Alum  for the buckles, then the jstison handles got their Yellow and Black  bands  (fiddly)  and a tiny bit of Yellow detail under the seat cushions.
Might give them a was and some dry brushing  not sure yet  or leave them be?
 
OC.

Good evening 
 
today the planking between the two decks was sorted, this should be ready tomorrow, when the excess  fine filler on the simulated fixings has beeb wiped away, then i have to decide whats next
 

Figure 140: After a careful work, this is the status.
 


That's all for today!
Thanks for watching!

Here we go with the start of the build. As we examine the two halves of the hull, we notice it’s very well engraved but something is missing. It’s the portholes. With this kit, the photo etch sheet contains a dozen or more templates that align on each side of the hull to serve as a drill template for each and every porthole that was found on the 1945 version Yamato hull. This seems to be further indication that Pontos plans to do other versions of Yamato and probably Musashi later on.
It didn’t take me long before I broke my .5mm drill bit, but Amazon to the rescue, I ordered a couple of dozen more and they should arrive in a couple of days. In the meantime I will drill the portholes with my .35mm hypo needles and open the holes when the .5mm bits arrive. Lots of portholes to drill.
 
 

Greetings!
I've recently started school at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, I thought I might post a project from the curriculum. This mallet was both a practice project to learn mortise and tenon joinery, but also to create a useful tool to use through the year. 
 
I started with the handle by making a template, cutting the template out, and then using it to transfer lines to cut on the band saw. I cut the handle and then shaped it using a spokeshave, chisels, scrapers, and a little bit of sanding. There were marks left by the saw, but I decided not to fuss over it too much and I decided to live with them.

 
The mallet head was made from a solid maple block, and I drilled a hole before laboriously chiseling out the inside to create the mortise.

 
Once the mortise and tenon fit, I marked the mallet head for beveling the faces to an appropriate angle. 

 
Then I cut the excess wood off, rounded the top and bottom, cleaned the faces and fixed the head to the handle using wedges. I chamfered the edges with a small chisel. Once that was done, I applied a light coat of beeswax orange goop finish. I don't remember the proper name, but it smelled nice!


 
Even though I didn't use any glue, it's quite solid and very satisfying to use!
 

Hi all,
after quite some time, I am able to post some progress on this build. I had to apply the camouflage with several iteration because I did not like the colors which I originally chose. I will post a little of the history, just to show why it took so long. The first picture shows the airframe ready to be painted. Surface was degreased, lower surface were masked and the camo pattern was outlined with a pencil.
 

 
Then I applied the lighter color, the Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow:
 

 
However, I did not like how this color came out, being it too pink, too similar to the one used during the gulf war. Nevertheless, I went on with the green, the XF-13, which was instead too similar to a NATO green. The result was not very Soviet-like, in my view.
 

 
At the end, I took the bold decision of removing all that camouflage work. For the new light brown I started from a RAF Dark Earth which I lightened with white and yellow while for the green I made a 50-50 mix with the previous XF-13 and XF-5, which is a brighter green. This time, I tried to spray the camouflage bands freehand with my airbrush. The final result was declared OK after many touch-ups to correct the most obvious oversprays.
 

 

 
Finally, the masking tapes were removed from the lower surfaces and the paint was wet sanded:
 

 

 

 
Now, I will have only to address the few hundred defects and it will be ready for the glossy paint.
 
Best regards,
Dan.
 

At this stage, I envisage it being new year before any further work can start. That's fine with me as it gives me a small break after my Vanguard Models stuff, before I dive back into this. I was looking through my files tonight and found 3 pics that Chris did of the original prototype. I'm not sure if these have been seen before, so I'll add them to my log so you can see what to expect as this progresses.
 

It’s been a while since my last update. Been busy with other projects plus a much needed long vacation with my wife. Still busy but I have managed to get some work done with railings, ladders, bits and animal pens. Skylight is next. 
 
 

Fcastle planking is completed.  I also added the mast coat as you can see in the photo.  This is also the same as the earlier ones we built.  The open areas of the decking reveal plenty of the gun deck.  Just remember,  you can add more deck planks if you prefer.  You can also plank one side completely and leave the other side just showing the deck beams and knees.  Its up to you.
 
Now its onto either the belfry rail or jump over and start working on the qdeck coamings.  I havent decided yet.   There is also a large knee at the bow to make.
 
Chuck
 

 

Not sure why, but I never posted these last photos on the BR-52 before I sold her. Anyway, for posterity...
 
 

Elevators complete. And since there was so much recent interest in the cans on my desk, I've made sure that they feature prominently in this shot. 😜
 

The cockpit is in!!😊
In the end this is the only gap left to fill. 
The joint between the fuselage and the wings is pretty poor,  but no worse than when dry fitted without the cockpit 🙄
Thanks for looking in, the advice, encouraging comments and hitting the like button!
Cheers 

Evening all,   right  I got my airbrush out  and  firstly  my Vallejo Black primer  went on,   dried with the hair dryer  - then a few  light mid Grey coats  went on   -  I am loving my airbrush.
 
OC.

Calling Prinz Eugen finished.

Baby has new shoes. Each main gear has 15 17 pieces, and the tail wheel has 9. I left off the brackets that normally would hold the gear doors to the struts, because the diagrams were very vague on their placement, and they are tiny parts in any case.