Luft46's Blog

So the first two weeks back from Expo was mostly doing modelling adjacent activities.

On the way home we stopped at Holbrook and apart from overpriced food there are two submarines, the older one being only 1/5 scale.

First up was unpacking the car and putting things away including new books. I realised after I got home that I had issues 1, 3 and 4 of Axis Wings and had somehow missed getting Issue 2. Of course I needed to add a little something extra from Aeroworks after I perused their post Expo stock list as below.

Next up was a clean up of my other work area – the garage. This stretched over more than a week as unfortunately my third is not separated from the other messes that also needed to be sorted.

Towards the end of this I moved my spray booth only to discover that the tubing had turned brittle and would have to be replaced probably due to UV damage.

The cleanup caused the Lun to go back to the cupboard although conveniently the main body just fits sideways back into the box.

Also modelling adjacent was listing any unsold kits after Expo on Ebay but currently this seems a waste of time with no sales.

Next up was looking at what else was paint ready. The Ta 183 in 1.72 is very ready so after a quick inspection it’s on the ready to paint pile. I have also polished the Airmodel He P1080 canopy after its bleaching and dipped it in AK Gauzy.

It also needs a Revi 16 gun sight added which I fortunately have a few of that I bought years ago.

Li P13B – this and a couple of other kits got a look at to the point where painting is the next step. All I need is weather that excludes rain and cold for a few days.

Went to town and Hobbyco. As I’ve noted earlier there are less shelves for non Gundam stuff every time and in this case they are now stacking kits sideways in some cases meaning less kits are needed and even more depressing is that there is a lot of duplication in what is stocked.

I am glad I have a reasonable stash as apart from paint etc I don’t think my Hobbyco purchases will be much in the future. Also of note was that the railway section had shrunk.

H(?Helen) Grant was an employee who used to make lots of kits and dioramas that were displayed and these have sadly now also dissapeared.

I also got out this recent purchse for a quick fondle but it was returned to the cupboard for another day.

And lastly at the end of the day my Germanified B17G saw the light of day again. It may get some love but that will depend on how bad I get this lurgy my family have passed on.

I also now have my reading nook set up. Absolute luxury!

Saturday to Monday before Expo and still doing some modelling. I have put the skirts on the KV1 and more sanding on the Lun. Parts on the Lun are finally starting to come together but it’s certainly big.

Wrangling the skirts onto the KV was a struggle, I need to look at some YouTube for better ways to do this in future as I now have a few tank kits I want to do.

Packed away in my model cabinet prior to departure.

Speaking of which we passed through Goulburn and apart from the Argyle Emporium for second hand books ( which needs a map for how large it is)

It’s in the old Council Chambers !

We also went to Martins Toy store which for a country town has a good range of models.

I succumbed and bought the below – I have been meaning to buy this ever since it came out –

We arrived in Wagga and I went for a walk after enough driving and stumbled across this

At Expo and models entered. As I had done the entries before hand it was a matter of paying and being led to where they needed to go.

Quite a simple process.

Picked up a couple of books in the Axis Wings series

And these also

And a small selection of model photos

I normally post pictures of the art installations in Campbell Arcade near Flinders Street station but due to various train line works this has been closed for at least two years.

It’s now open again but apart from a welcome spruce up there is nothing of worth there. There is only one store occupied now so hopefully it will be better next year.

Last day of Expo was the Swap and Sell at $50 a table. I was lucky enough to be next to a vacant table on one side which we used to spread out the models which really boosted sales. Even had one person buying solely on box art. The person on our other side didn’t have much models and very graciously offered extra space to us also. Finished up with only one suitcase of leftovers and a nice pile of money.

The less said about the organisers decision to not activate the up escalator the better so we all trudged our kits up the stairs. Absolutely absurd decision followed by an attempt to block the lift in contravention of lots of disability laws!

They really need to rethink that, I am glad I will not be doing this ever again. Canberra also do a Swap and Sell so I will be interested to see their approach.

So did my entries do well ? …… unfortunately no but maybe part of that was my subject matter at least for the tanks, everything  else was very mainstream. Despite that I did have fun and will be back next year.

I am now heading back to Sydney and my model benches with more to read, a few extra tools and an extra kit or two.

And lastly despite the approach of winter I saw this before leaving on this trip in my garden.

The last week has been occupied with getting ready for Melbourne Model Expo on the June long weekend. I’m entering five kits being my Spiderman, the three storey KV2 and another three KV2 Frankensteins.

These are an upgunned KV2, Wurzberg D on top of a KV2 chassis and a Panther turret on a KV2 chassis as below looking left to right.

If I get a commended for any of them I will be happy.

Packed up models

After spending well over a week wrestling the link and length tracks onto the KV1 barn kit I am now up to adding the side skirts etc. The track process meant that some of the Vallejo paint scraped off so a select repaint will be needed before the highlight coats go on.

I’ve also managed a little PSR on the Lun but nothing worth photographing.

And lastly some nature from today.

For Expo items I want are a couple more scalpel handles now I am operating in the garage also a second hand Hase 262 for the canopy for one I messed up. Amusing Hobby have a couple of 262 HG3 kits in 1.48 I might get.

Your partner is doing a bit of work travel and is sick of the hassle of picking her black bag out of the many similar ones on the airport luggage carousel…. so you end up masking up a Tamiya primer grey line on the top and bottom of the bag to make it easier to find. 

I have not managed any traditional modelling in the last two weeks since finishing the Delphin submarine.

Partly I’ve lost my mojo on the 1.72 D9 bulldozer with that mould seam all around the tracks. It’s back to the cupboard for that one.

Prep for Model Expo in June is also underway, yes it is early but I don’t want to be rushing at the end.

First up was packing a few bags and boxes with models and books to sell.

After this was written I’ve had a good week of painting the KV1U19 barn version. Despite cold weather I managed two more coats today but it’s definitely a day time activity now.

I have also dug out the Ekranoplane Lun from Takom in 1.144. I had done some basic cleanup but no major assembly as yet.

The Delphin sub from MikroMir is back on deck with painting. The dark grey camo shade on the upper half is now on and after masking will be mostly covered by the lighter grey main colour.

I’ve been working on the torpedo with a coat of Model Master metallic on the front and after masking some of Vallejos Aluminium Metal colour paint which sprays beautifully.

Also on my other workbench is the D9. The tracks have a major seam running down the middle of the tracks so lots of sand, check, then sand again cycles. Most annoying is the instructions depict this issue as normal. Fortunately the work on the undersides can be omitted.

Since I started this entry I have now finished this sub kit. On the whole I am happy with the job I’ve done although mistakes were made and there are a number of lessons learnt.

• completion order list would be helpful
• pin parts where needed early on – eg the snorkel which was a bitch to add later, when I did this on the front dive planes this helped a lot.
• risk adding some smaller parts where appropriate – particularly the four brass tail braces – earlier would have been better.
• double check fit of major parts – the stand and canopy had issues that could have been fixed earlier but on first checking seemed ok
• varnish over Vallejo early on as I had issues with scratching on the paintwork
• OTOH I am particularly happy with the torpedo and given it was metal paint that is surprising.

BTW if you ever see this brand of drills avoid them. Unlike proper drill bits they are flat at the top rather than a peak which enables you to both centre it and also actually drill in rather than flopping around on the surface. Mine are now at the local tip!

And a recent backyard visitor

The last two weeks involved going on holidays and visiting two model shops with no purchases. On the other hand many recent purchases via the web came home to roost as shown below.

First up is my new airbrush with both 0.2 and 0.3 needles

Not shown is the Tamiya KV2 I forgot to photograph.

And below is my second completed model for the year. At some point I hope to finish something involving plastic!

I’m currently practicing my airbrushing with the new piece of kit. I’ve got to say it’s quite nice. I have fitted the 0.3 needle and following some tips.

My current mix is 2 to 3 drops of flow improver, 4 or 5 drops of thinner and 6 or so drops of paint being pushed out at around 25psi following a suggestion on Youtube.

I have normally used a lower pressure with little success in the past and as this mix is working I will stick with it for the moment. Vallejo’s Metal Color Aluminium got a try and this is quite amazing how good the finish is.

The Takom D9 bulldozer kit received sone attention also. It is typical Takom with nice detailing but lots of sprue gates. Early days so far.

So the model desk is tidied up and everything is packed away.

The Arado 234 and the Okha floatplane have been packed away. The first one suffers from too many faults and the second needs a miracle to get the floats on. I suspect both will sit a long while before I attempt them again.

A few unfinishable kits like the Planet FW1000x3 have been binned. Short of vacforming a new canopy an over large canopy is impossible to fix. Searching online confirmed other people had the same issue.

This pretty much concludes my troll through the boxes of doom which has left me with two boxes of kits that can be primed or painted in the near future.

I am away for much of the rest of March so I do not expect much modelling to get done though I expect to visit two model shops in that time.  I will also be picking up some kits from a friend so the stash will definitely be growing.

As April is very much autumn I’m going to get stuck into serious air brushing practice and hopefully start finishing some kits off.

Recent work has mostly been on the Ar 234. I have just finished a second coat of primer after the first main PSR cycle. I’m trying to carefully balance how much work I do on this kit given it’s age and quality. A good example of this is the cockpit consists of  a crude overscale seat and a pilot figure with the front instrument panel the only other element. There is no real point in doing extra work here so I haven’t.

I will do one more PSR cycle and probably call it quits there.

The Lippisch P13 has been and gone as I have done all I can short of airbrushing on this. Having made the decision previously that I would leave the canopy open due to it’s poor fit the cockpit is now detailed to an adequate standard with the skid and U/c bay now detailed.

I also briefly had the Unicraft (Unicrap) Okha Model 53 resin missile kit out. It would have been really lovely if the four parts of the tail surfaces fitted or each pair was roughly equal in size or thickness. As it is I’ve decided that it is bound for the tip.

Someone else doing this model would be lovely.

And lastly on the kit list is the Okha on floats. This is a very conjectural plane from Justo Miranda, it is very whiffy and even less likely than some of my other L46 stuff. To do this you need a set of Jake floats and a Hase Okha along with the float struts.

The struts were initially removed and metal pins added to ensure that the fit would be solid particularly for the rear ones that will be more at a 45 degree angle than the 90 degrees of the front one. They meet the body rather than the front ones that drop down from the wings.

Plans of sorts.

The biggest issue here is to get the floats attached with the minimum of swear words possible. My next update will be  whether I have been successful.

The photo above is with the front struts resting under the wing only.

The Shinden is now back in the box but this time it’s for all the right reasons.

I have finished all the pre priming tasks, the X-4s are now fixed with missing fins all back in place. These are in a scheme of 76 body with a yellow warning nose. I have consciously avoided the wood grain finish favoured by many. It’s now late 1947 and there is some capacity to camouflage weapons again in much the same way as the earlier Hs 293s were.

The canopy was attached with Deluxe Photo etch glue which is a PVA type glue that flows thin. This was after a quick light buff with toothpaste to get rid of some scuff marks then a dip in Glass coat Gauzy from AK. This treatment for canopies seems better than Future.

I’ve also test fitted four metal guns from Master Model. Next up will be an order to Super Hobby for more of these. In particular they do about half a dozen Fw190 sets so you can get exactly the combo you want. Particularly useful for Luft 46 modelling and at a reasonable price.

The only real difficulty was the wheels which are not well defined and in the case of the front u/c it is all one piece. Much back and forth painting before I was happy.

Next up is the Revell reboxing of the old Frog Arado 234 kit from the 1970s.This is a blast from my youth that I had built. As a teenager I built it in the basic version but not with V1 on the top.

Yeah basically it’s a dog of a kit that manages to make the Dragon version look acceptable. Detail is pretty crude especially in the cockpit, u/c and the elevator balances. And of course the sink hole on one side of the tail. I particularly remember the cockpit to fuselage joint being a pain. I recall using sprue goo that was my filler of choice at the time, now it’s Milliput.

As I used to hang my models on fishing line from my ceiling all kits were wheels up which given the crude nature of the U/C was a good choice.

Some assembly had been done on this kit by me but I’d obviously got sick of how crude it was. I will be bringing it all together over the next while, but  I’m not looking to polish the turd too much.

The downside of looking through all these old part done kits is that some kits just no longer spark any joy! The Planet Models resin He P1073 kit is now in the bin, there are many other kits that are more worthy of my time. 

And lastly I found an imaginary kits site on Facebook so here are a few favourites

It’s been too hot and moist the last week or so. Whilst most of my modelling is done in my new indoor room any airbrushing is consigned to the garage.

This means the weather needs to be a little milder before I can get stuck in favouring Autumn and Spring.

In the meantime I have been going through my boxes of Doom. In my last blog I’d rejected one railcar kit but I’ve now rejected the other one too. I think this is scale issue. In 1.72 the plastic is not strong enough to deal with all the fiddling neccessary to get six wheeled bogies lined up. Everything gets bent out of shape and is just too frustrating. This was a double kit box so the untouched kit will be sold.

The extra strength and size favours doing this in 1.35 sometime.

Next up was the Dragon Helldiver, now part of the pooch screwing here was my fault but basically it is not well designed if you want to have the cockpit and gun position open as was often done with this plane. If I see the Academy one I will give it a go. Again I just can’t be bothered so parts were stripped and the remainder is another paint mule.

So next up is this 1/700 Bandai Anime kit from Future Boy Conan. I bought it because I liked the shape and didn’t mind the movie. Initial thoughts were to Germanify it in a Luftwaffe bomber scheme. I got it out and fixed a couple of bits and then was about to reapply some primer. The more I looked at it the more I realised I had no further interest in this kit. It’s back in the box but I think it’s going to Melbourne with a $1 sticker on it to give it away!

And lastly today I had a look at my Hase Shinden that I was Germanifying with X-4s and a Luftwaffe Fw190 camo scheme.

This one is a bit different, it just needs a few things done. I need to do the 5% things before painting. I often don’t test fit my undercarriage and other bits like guns,  wheels, cockpits etc so this time I’m getting all those done in the next few days. After that it will go back in the box but it will be in my painting pile.

And this time like the other tanks etc already there I will know it’s truly ready to be finished.