Luft46's Blog

Regular readers of this blog blog if such a creature exists will know I go to Melbourne most years in June for the Model Expo. This year I managed a 4 day trip which I thoroughly enjoyed.

It was not all modelling with even a  bit of culture slipped in with a Van Gogh exhibit.

• I managed my usual visits to Metro Hobbies and Hearns without spending a cent.
• Also looked in on Mag Nation. This shop used to extend over 3 floors but they have closed off the top floor recently. Whilst the magazine offering used in be good this has fallen off mark and I won’t be going back again. My local newsagent does better and for a city one this is poor.
• I also went to Hylands bookshop which has moved again. This is the 4th location over the years. I bought 2 books with 1 being on Australian scorched earth plans in the event of a Japanese invasion in WW2. The other is yet another Justo Miranda L46 book. The move is not a good one. They are now located in a defunct movie theatre. Whilst the back wall has had the typical black material taken off the remaining 3 walls are black and being a theatre half is òn a slope with multiple levels. Whilst there are multiple lights on the walls trying their best it is dark in a lot of it. My camera flash worked overtime to get the shot.I think this may be their final destination. Finding it is not easy with no clear signage at street level and it is up an escalator , down a corridor and then up some stairs. I might have bought more if I could have seen the stock clearly. Bit sad to see this incarnation.
  

  

Off to Melbourne at sparrows fart tomorrow. Just got the deck on this kit. A fair bit of dremeling and fettling to get it flat over the engine section as I a opening up the back deck a little. Next time I might leave this stuff out for a quicker build. Sometimes I just cannot help myself.

Hopefully the below photos illustrate the peeling issue with the Vallejo paints

The painting on the BV P178 was not successful with me using Vallejo air 76 over Xtracrylics 75. Basically apart from leaving the Tamiya tape on too long which left behind bits the  likely cause of the paint peeling off in parts was the difference between the glossiness of the xtracrylics and the poor adhesion of Vallejo as noted in reviews I have seen elsewhere. It works ok straight over Tamiya primer as I have seen in the past but not over much else. The plane has gone back to the box for a rest. It will come back because it’s a nice kit , just a bit of a painting disaster.

Back on the desk is the Model Collect V1 launcher on a E100 body. The kit is not Revell standard in this scale and has a semi short run feel in places. Having said that they have gone the extra mile in places. An example is the engine, something I can’t recall in any other 1.72 tank kit. This builds up ok but needs some fettling in places. 

I’ve found I needed to think a little ahead and plan for the next few stages before closing things up. Just an example here …. the engine deck has nothing in the way of support for the front 3/4s. On one side it works fine but on the other it dips down. I’ve put in a bit of evergreen strip to support this and set the level. On the other hand in the engine area it sits high which may be my fault and I’m doing a bit of scraping to bring this back. While I was looking at the deck I thought I would check out the turntable for the V1 launcher. I wanted to have this rotate so test fitted it. This revealed that the two teeth are too thick to allow this. A quick cut on the top of each allowed it to rotate easily. 

The V1 body needs a second PSR cycle.

After an exciting day yesterday of training I managed to do some modelling. I’ve cut out tonnes of blobs and one more session should see me ready to paint. 

This parcel came about ten days ago from HobbyEasy. It contained 2 of the new diorama bottles from AK. I have only opened the asphalt one which looks good but has a strong of PVA glue.

The two Plus Models boxes are for a diorama due to get started one day !

After some misadventures I now have a good light from IKEA. Along with my magnifying lamp i have plenty of light for my eyes as they get a bit older.

Now my bench setup is working better some modelling is getting done. I completed the canopy masking last night which is always a slow process. The 90 odd patches over the RLM 75 have been started. The blown up instructions were covered by clear packing tape amd then Tamiya masking tape per a friends advice. I finally used the tool I bought in Telford last year to cut out the tape in those strange shapes. I don’t have to be 100% accurate as it is Luft46 anyway.

1. Ok my posts are probably like buses, you wait for ages then three come along.
2. So here’s a few photos of the bv p178. The rlm 75 from Aeromaster  is now on. The instructions have been blown up by 220% to be able to cut out the masks. Poor lighting means I will be doing the canopy tomorrowAnd something silly to finish off with.