The group build to end all group builds - THE GREAT WAR

Jack That is QUITE the impressive paint job on the Native American Bust!!!!  I have done figure painting in the past and it is a skill and an art.  Your colleague should be not only impressed but blessed to receive such an impressive piece!

Thanks for the kudos on my build.  So far it is just for me though part of it is the development of some new tools.  As I stated earlier, I have been building and photoing.  Both are getting better with the practice and the rust of using my old Canvas program is starting to sluff off as well.  It has been quite a while for all three.  The old Olympus E-20 has been in it's bag for the last couple years and had been used intermittently before that.  I am now using functions that I had never used before and thus the photos are getting MUCH better.

Speaking of which, I have another update. (told you I had been building  )  The member of my local modeler club here in Memphis got the see the mounted fuselage at last weeks meeting.  Those that didn't show really missed out.    There were some nice kits brought to show off and some newly built models

Anyway, on with the show:

There you have it folks.

Hope everyone has a great week.  Back to work tomorrow.  Be thankful for having a job and more so for one I really like!

Paul, you continue to amaze me with the scratch building. I don't think I have to patience to even attempt half the stuff you do.

Jack, that is fantastic display of painting skills. I especially like the 'five o'clock' shadow effect.

Jack that is some spectacular painting

HE... I am convinced that your real hobby is the design and construction of metal building aids.  The fact that a plastic model pops out of them is a side effect

I have made some progress but not taken any pics.  Putting the lozenge decals was the easy part.  All the rib tape is a real PITA.  That was followed but the linen texture decals.   That took a few days but the final stages of that are drying.  I get some pics up later.

In this case the tools are a result of the model.  I never have learned anything or built anything new if I didn't have to fix a screwup.  Learned more about computers by messing them up than I ever learned by them working as they are supposed to.

I specifically picked the Hannover just for this challenge.  Thing is once I have the tools built to deal with it's faults, I will have them and the next build will just be a quick smooth one.  (I also plan to build something that doesn't need so much "fixit" work next)  The other thing I hope to maybe accomplish is to maybe work something out with a manufacturer to offer these tools for all you folks.  Possibly as a base kit and then add on's for specific problem solutions.  It would be nice to have a little extra $$ coming from all this and making it easier to do the stuff I am working my way through now, but that is not why I am dong this specifically.

I guess it all goes back to the old original "smoothie" Starship Enterprise from Star Trek The Motion Picture.  I always wanted a small mill so I could cut the slots out on the engines to light the damn thing.  I was even making a sliding table out of brass tubing that would mount to my Dremel drill press and slide so I could use the Dremel to cut the slots.  Never finished that but am quite a ways beyond it now.  Woohoo!

It may not be the "light at the end of the tunnel" yet... but it's getting brighter down there

in order of appearance...Wheels weathered, cabanes mounted and aligned with a jig.  And least A final mock up of the sub-assemblies.

I have about 100 eyelets made.  Whatever does not get tweezer-pulted into oblivion will carry over to the next build.  I start cutting the brass tubing tonight.

Stunning! That's just the word for it Marc.. The longze decals and the wood effects looks great.

I think this patient doesn't have a pulse.  Sorry if I let it get that way.  hard to motivate a group when one has hasn't been very motivated himself lately.

Well anyway... here is my 2nd build completed.  The Wingnut Wings Roland D.VIa

Marc - absolutely gorgeous! I hear ya about GB's getting away...my Weathering GB went the same way. Thinking I may shorten the timeframe on the P-47 GB I'm planning. Keep it more focused since they do tend to sputter out a bit. 

I also have to apologize for not getting onto Pup 2. Between the Spitfire taking longer, the layoff, and the impending move, I just don't have it in me right now...

Marc - looks sweet - another great build!     Really like the look of the wood fuselage strips, very different from the usual panels.  Did you have to make the rivet detail yourself?

This is only the second group build I've signed up for, (and first completed) but I enjoyed it.  Maybe motivation is part of it, but I know for myself, summer kind of throws a wrench in the routine, whether it be visiting family out of town or just wanting to spend more time outdoors.  This morning though going home from work, light frost on the car window so summer is pretty much over where I am.

regards,

Jack

I also have to apologize for not getting onto Pup 2.

Love...errr... Modelling means never having to say your sorry

Thnaks for the comments doogs.

Jack,  if actuality it is more the case than not.  I have been in many GB that do the same thing.  Lots of signs ups... but stuff happens.  So far it's about 25% completions and there is still a few months,  Maybe I will extend the date to match the length of the war

Marc, I like your new Roland even better than the 1st one - the strip wood effect is wonderful.

This is an interesting GB, WW1 doesn't get too many of them, and none that mixes all categories. If this GB stays on track for another month or so, I can finish another kit that I've committed on and perhaps come back in with this new kit on the market - a 1/48 Ford T ambulance. A somewhat unusual topic for a new kit, especially in 1/48.

Paul, you just keep doing what your doing and that bad bad will look great.

Waikong... DUDE... i love that thing.  Can't wait to see you work your magic on it.

Splendido Albatros. Bar is very high here.

Just wanted to report that morale in the Kreigsmarine is excellent and all rumors about "talking about Lenin" are British propaganda.

Below is a snap of Konig as she moves toward whatever area is large enough to hold the thing. (Hadn't realized how bloody big a 350 scale BB is.) Obviously a work in progress: needs boats; detail painting; railing & rigging. But it's beginning to look the part. (Obviously wasn't a bright idea to put a ship with black masts in front of a laptop, but we'll make that good later.) Ships are very odd - the sequence is so different than other genres especially, as I'm finding out, if the model is big. Most of the weathering, minus some ping washes and work on the turrets, is done. Normally that's the last thing to do. But with all the fiddly stuff on deck, the rigging etc you can't finish this kind of fine stuff and then weather. It would be hard to reach the right spot but as time marches on, you don't want to handle the model any more than needed.

Anyway, done before Armistice Day.

Eric

Eric she looks great. And putting it front of the laptop was just to porve that camouflage really works.  Right?

Finally!  Finally!  Finally!  I've been able to start work on the Emhar 1:35 Mk.IV Whippet tank!!  Sorry to have taken so long to get involved, but I had to finish up work on some previous GBs.  Actually those aren't quite done yet, but enough to start assembly on this GB's kits.  But first......

Ebergerud - the Konig is coming along great!  Those dreadnought class ships were pretty cool, can't wait to see that one done!

Bondoman - The Dresden looks great!  I really like that wooden base your mounting it to...very classy!  I see that you're a SF resident....are you  checking out Fleet Week?  Me, I'm too busy across the bay working on kits for all these GBs I signed up for!

Paul - Wow that is some work you're doing on that Hannover!!  You sure pulled out all the stops and the work is phenomenal! Also,  I really like your photo steps...I may have to try something similar on some of my WIP posts!  Thanks for the excellent posts and keep up the great work!

Jack - I know the Native American bust isn't for this GB, but it looks fantastic nonetheless!  As said before, absolutely fine work!  Can't wait to see how the Fokker DR1 turns out!

Marc - What can I say, that Roland D.VIa is just stunning!  Every bit of it is a masterpiece!  I don't know squat about WWI fighters, but I can tell what a beauty this one is!   Kind of makes me want to bury that Glencoe Pfalz D.III kit and just stick to tanks!! LOL!

Now I wasn't actually planning on starting this Emhar kit today, but it was such a beautiful warm, sunny day that I couldn't sit inside working on kits.  So instead of airbrushing, detail painting, applying washes or weathering armor, I decided to sit in my lounge chair outside and start removing parts from the sprues and cleaning them up.  Here's the kit:

There were 3 sprues with parts but I was surprised to find that all the parts on two of the sprues had the part # embossed on them!  So I just carefully removed those parts, cleaned them up, gave them a bath in soapy water and laid them out to dry:

It was so relaxing to do this while enjoying the sun and fresh air!   Something I don't do enough of.....

I've read that the Emhar kit is somewhat lacking in detail and the vinyl kit tracks are mediocre, so I picked up these AM parts to improve the build.  Airwaves PE set, indy link tracks from Model Cellar, and some Hotchkiss MGs from Calibre 35. 

These photos show where some of the improvements will be done:

I'll start working on some of these improvements now as it will be easier to do this before the assembly starts.  Hopefully I'll have an update in a week or so! 

Keep up the great work guys!

I DID THIS KIT

Be EXTREMELY and I mean EXTREMELY careful when putting together the turret, make sure you line it up a hundred times before you try and glue it, its very easy to glue it out of place and end up with the worst gaps.

What?  The GB did n't slip into a coma and fade away?  YIPPIE!  Looking forward to the prgress pics.  I can see why you opted for the AM sets.  I know lots of guys will redo the rivets that sit so proud on the older tanks   Do you plan to redo rivets or go with the molded ones?  I think they look OK.  

Hey smeagol!  Haven't seen you in a while, nice to see you're still around!  Thanks for the tips - I hear you on the turret problems, in fact problems all around, which seems par for the course on these old Emhar kits.  I definitely plan on dry fiting numerous times to make sure fit is as good as can possibly be before gluing....but I'm also prepared for major problems should they arise.

Marc - fading away, possibly, but definitely not in a coma!!  Maybe I can help revive it as now I can focus on the the two kits for this GB.  I'm hoping the Whippet kit doesn't take too much time...it looks pretty simple except for the detail I'm adding to it.

Yea, its a pain... Either go with EMHAR and build those WWI tanks in 1/35th scale or go with Airfix and build them in 1/76nd or dont build them at all.   There are not to many options.

Bufflehead  You might try using very small touches of super glue to tack the parts together.  To do this you place just a couple of touches to the glue area of  of 1 part. Then the mating part is set against it and it only glues at those points. Don't use too much! You just use a small amount so that when the mating part is set against it, it just tacks at those points.  Fast superglue is rather brittle so all it takes is a little flex and a pop with a sharp xacto to separate them.  I have been doing that with my Hannover fuselage and it has been a lifesaver.

Well guys I have spent all day getting a new update on the Hannover put together.  Those updates don't just put themselves together.  It takes some work and time to figure out how to put it all in a pack that makes sense.  It seems to go through stages where the updates get a little easier and quicker, then I get into one that is a real bear (like the one today)    Learned some new things about my graphics program though so it wasn't all a drag.  (Yeah Right!)  

Anyway, here is the next installment,   ENJOY!

That's it for now.  Have gotten off to a good start on the engine.  Am building it so that I can make some molds and make some resin castings.  Have taken into account the 0.5% (half percent) shrinkage. Not that it would amount to much with something this small.  The more accurate you make it though, the less that you have to adjust for tolerances.

Well I just figured out why all my photos are undersized!    

Dad burned PHOTOBUCKET screwed them up when I uploaded them.  They have an almost hidden little options switch that defaults to 1024 x 768 size.  

So to get the displays on the new post big enough I will have to Edit the post.  Just not tonight anymore.

Amazing isn't it how much of a Pain in the Can it is to do something that should be quite basic.

MARC - Your Roland is the cat's meow!! Cant pick out one thing I like better than the other it all complements each other.  It's beautiful!

WAIKONG - That would be really interesting too see built up.  Defiantly different from what is normally seen.  Look forward to seeing what you do with her.

EARNEST - SWEET!!  Have really wanted to see this kit built!  With all the extras you have this should come out great.  Those Model Cellar tracks work wonderfully and are a huge improvement.  Used those on my MK IV earlier in this GB.  If this one goes togther like my MK IV be prepared for some nasty seams and have a tube of putty ready.  Will be watching with much intrest.  I myself have really been wanting to build this kit.  I'll use your's as a guid if you dont mind.

HEAVENS EAGLE - Thats some great work!  You should make your own kits to sell.

Ahhh! Tho old bit goes tried and true.  If you don't "F" it up you won't learn anything fixing it.  Learned a bit more about Photobucket and how it works as well as how to fix the "Buggered" undersized photos.  Even found an easy way to fix those that needed to be larger without having to redo and re-upload everything.

If you are saving my photos, I only fixed the last 2 or 3 posts.  No real need to go back further.  They are now 1280 x 960 instead of  1024 x 768.

Learned something. . . . .  

Thnaks Rob.

HE, that interior is kick @$$ nice.

Thanks Wing Nut.  It still needs a lot of little stuff that can't be placed till after paint.  Also I think to do the Spandau correctly it will require some more cutting on the fuselage and some tweak.

Wait till you see the engine.  The oil pan is basically done.  Upper crank case is laid out and marked for holes for cylinder centers, push rods and a few other things.  The hard part is the area around the back end and the magnetos.  Hard to tell from photos and drawings just what is really going on there so am going to "wing" it a little.  Carve and sand on a piece of plastic 9/64ths thick, 1/4 inch wide and a little over an inch long.  

Anyway here is a little teaser of what I am now working on.  Shows the extent I am doing on the research.  The building is the easy part.

Paul, Great working on the interior PE.  I've trying to teach myself soldering on PE myself, do a half decent job for circuit boards, but just can't quite get the hang of it for PE yet. Greatly lacking in the skills department to make the solder fill in only where they should.  I guess practice makes perfect.

Oh yeah, cool digital calipers!   Looking forward to that engine.

Question Marc-hmmm....that just doesn't sound quite right...anyway, I've not forgotten about my commitment here so I would to know if I can do a cross over and combine builds for this one and the upcoming Weekend Madness GB.  If so, I would like to change my build to the Eduard Weekend Edition (of course) Fokker E.V....the one with the funky yellow/black bumble paint scheme.

If not, I'll go with Plan B.....

Cheers

Paul - You continue to do amazing work!  The detail you're putting into the Hannover is fantastic and quite jaw dropping!  Thanks for the tip with the superglue; I MIGHT give it a try....CA glue and me don't seem to get along very well!!  I have a tendency to glue eveyrthing but the parts together!!

Marc - Sorry, I missed your question about replacing the rivets on the tank.  Except for any that get lost in the detail work or assembly I don't plan on replacing them...they look pretty OK to me.  I'll probably add any obvious missing rivets or bolts, but that's it.

Unfortunately no work done on the Whippet yet.  I still finishing up a couple of other builds.....sigh. 

Bufflehead - CA is not that hard to use, IF, you follow a few simple tricks.

First off I use the CA in the bigger bottles usually found at hobby shops or Hobby Lobby.  Those little skinny tiny tubes of CA found at Wal Mart or such are trouble waiting to happen.  Mainly that tiny thin little tube cannot be controlled like the bigger oval bottles.

As to the types of CA I use, the thicker type that flows like syrup is better for building as a general rule.  It can also tend to set up slower which can allow some repositioning.  Always plan ahead though.  Have everything ready, and test fitted multiple times to make sure and to practice setting the parts together.  A little thought on the steps and process you will use can make it fast and easy.  Once you have worked with it for a while it becomes a lot easier.  The thin CA that sets like lightning, glues your fingers together, and runs EVERYWHERE is to be used in rare instances.  It usually has a stronger joint, but you really have to have your head fully concentrating on what is going on.  I had to fix a part on the side of my carpet vacuum that got snapped off. This part holds the power cord in storage and without it the cord goes everywhere.  The best and strongest fix was with thin CA.  Managed to glue my finger tip to the vacuum in a VERY awkward position  and ended up having to carry the thing in an odd way to my work room so I could use a razor blade to free myself.  It happens.

Lastly, if I am gluing small parts I put a drop of the thicker CA on an old sapphire watch crystal and use a sewing needle to put the glue where I want it.  Any piece of glass will do in a pinch though.

A good set of tweezers is also a MUST!  Those old eyebrow yankers that you get at Wally World etc.  are WAAAAAAY too stiff!  You can damage or crush the part you are trying to hold without even realizing it. (or drop it and feed the carpet monster)  If you are interested in some quality type tools that will spoil you got to Jules Borel at http://www.julesborel.com/ or Frei & Borel at http://www.ofrei.com/ .  Both of these places are watch supply houses.  They will sell basic tools etc to anyone.  A really good pair of watchmaker tweezers can run up to $70 + but there are some decent ones there that are less than $5 and many that are really good in the $20 to $30 range.  Note that the better watchmaker tweezers are sharp as new #11 Xacto blades and can punch holes in your fingers if not careful.  Go check out their catalogues and dream on!