Fuman FLAK, flash fettling 'fun' – I just need to learn Japanese first.

[Gorby]

I seem to have lost my way from the wingy thing bit and stumbled across entirely unfamiliar territory.

Wanting to add interest to a possible future dio, I hit on the idea of using this. Not only am I starting with the disadvantage that I have never done armour before, there is an additional handicap – the instructions are entirely in Japanese.

Although, twice in the dim distance past, I have dated two language teachers (not at the same time mores the pity) I often struggle with just the one language. Not even school-boy French is going to help me with this.

 

I believe at this point I am legally required to say, “this kits got more flash than Gordon”. Now that's out the way, we can all move on.

 

 

Looks like the carpet monster has gone on the offensive. A Spanish modeller once told me that he lost a complete 1/48 cockpit, so I concluded that continental carpet-monsters must be particularly voracious. As you can see the damage to the sprue must have been inflicted by a similar beast.

The sprue was still sealed in a bag and no sign of the missing piece, so this is is damage before it was packed.

 

Viewers of a nervous disposition should not go any further.

As we can see from the CGI re-enactment, my in-depth research has lead me to the conclusion that the carpet-monster is a rat sized beast, with a crocodile like snout. It must possess chameleon like abilities to blend into any carpet and breaks plastic down in its gut to enable it to grow a lush Nylon/polyester blend pelt.

 

I was trying to think of something witty to say about this but it's not worth the effort – it's just bad, very,very bad. Its got to go.

 

Needs a bit of a tidy up, but a little better.

 

 

It would be very helpful to know the Japanese for 'do not glue'. I used Google Translate to see if it could help, and it gave me '糊付けしないでください' ! I didn't really expect that this knowledge would help a lot, but some of the characters did relate to one of the instructions - 接着しない. 'Adhesive' was translated as 接着剤 and 'do not use adhesive' became an equally impressive 接着剤を使用しないでください – which contains all the relevant characters (with a few spares thrown in). So we can conclude that '- 接着しない' means something along the lines of 'no adhesive'.

 

I'M LEARNING JAPANESE! If only I knew how it was pronounced so that I can casually drop it into conversations to show how clever and cosmopolitan I am.

 

To be continued.... 

[Gremlin56]

An impossible kit with assistance being rendered by an inflatable crocodile? You are a very brave man..........................................

[Max Headroom]

Japanese by deduction? I'm impressed. I'll be interested to see how this turns out.

 

Anyway, since you presented us with an open goal.....

 

 

An annoying little ear worm of a tune.

 

Trevor San 

[Jim Wasley]

Think you may have it up side down and I think they read from right to left.Ha Ha!! brave Man.

[Gorby]

Thank you all for taking the time view the swamp I have managed to find my way into. 

 

@Gremlin56

Are you suggesting that I went on Google images and pinched a photo of an inflatable croc, rather than spend hours creating a simulated computer image of a carpet-monster? Damn your good!

The thing is, I didn't realise that it was a brave thing to do as I hadn't heard of Fuman before. So I'm bumbling through it the best I can. It's a bit of a a mental workout at times trying to fathom the instructions without any written information.

 

@Max Headroom

I was wondering who was going to be first to mention The Vapors. 

I may have to do a bit more 'Japanese by deduction' - all the colour instructions are in Japanese, there isn't any paint numbers at all, Gulp.

 

 

@Jim Wasley

All this 'brave man' stuff is starting to cause me some concern…

Whatever way I read it Jim, it's gibberish. 

[clive_t]

Following with interest... Always nice to know I'm not the only one trying to do the equivalent of crossing a darkened room full of furniture without totally trashing my shins in the process

 

Good luck!

[Gorby]

Welcome to the land of confusion @clive_t .

That's an excellent comparison. As with crossing at darkened room, swearing is coming in very handy at times.

[Max Headroom]

If you have a mobile/cell phone there are free translating apps available. Google has one for example.

 

It may be a bit hit and miss but you may find one of use.

 

Trevor

[Bullbasket]

It reminds me a little of a kit that I had back in my 20's (and that was so far back that I can't even see it with a telescope). It was a Japanese kit of a Rolls Royce (can't remember the model) in 1/24th or 1/32nd scale. The instructions were in "English" for want of a better word. I'd have had more success with the kit if the instructions had been in Japanese. Did cause some humour though.

 

John.

[Gremlin56]

http://www.engrish.com/most-popular/

 

You speakee Engrish John

[Gorby]

@Max Headroom

That's an idea. My phone was made when dinosaurs still roamed the earth, but the other half has a smart thingy phone. The trouble is, will the instructions on how to do it, be in Japanese? I was just going to type various colours into Google Translate – pink?, Mauve? Hearing-aid beige? Vermilion? I'm sure that will work.

 

@Bullbasket

I know exactly what you are talking about – the amount of instruction manuals I have had to wade through like that. English can't be that difficult – I can do it.

 

@Gremlin56

Now why did you have to do that? I was going to do some actual modelling today, but now you've given me something better to do. 

[Bullbasket]

1 hour ago, Gremlin56 said:

You speakee Engrish John

Nah! nothing like that. I could understand that!

I bought a new land line phone the other week. Although made in China, the whole of the box was in English. Got it home and went to set it up......French, German, Dutch, Italian, Russian, Greek Urdu, Swahili, Venusian, Martian, in fact everything except the most widely spoken language in the world.

Sorry Gorby. Didn't mean to hijack your thread. I'll let you concentrate on the kit. You're going to need to. You're also going to need a sharp scalpel to remove all of that flash. 

 

John.

Edited June 18, 2017 by Bullbasket
Add to.

[Gorby]

@Bullbasket

No problem at all. I like the way that people have a good natter on BM, on Scalemates it's about modelling and noting but modelling. So if you need to hijack my thread for that, feel free - you can fly it to Cuba for all I care. 

Gorby

[Gorby]

This is my first WIP, so you will have to forgive me forgetting to take a 'before' photo of the cable reels, but we all know the usual offering, so you will have to take my word that this is an enormous improvement. I don't know why the wire is red – I just happen to have it and as it was just the right thickness and quite soft (probably alum), therefore easily reeled, it was a no-brainer.

Other than the reels, the photo shows the holier than thou seat (I always like to drill a few holes in things), and in the top right, the bit on the end that I had to replace from the carpet-monsters munch.

 

What is it about modellers, that they will spend unnecessary time attempting to improve detail on something that won't be seen? This is the inside of the wheels. Incidentally, I'm just assuming that they should be holes rather than just shallow depressions. 

Please note the informative text on the instruction sheet.

 

This should be a strait tube – you have to fashion it out of two bananas.

 

Thanks for looking, comments and suggestions welcome – particularly if you read Japanese.

[Kris B]

Respect for taking on that kit. When I saw how much flash is on the parts... brrr. 

[Gorby]

@Kris B

Thanks Kris. You know that the flash is a bit too excessive when you save the bigger bits for the spares box – some interesting shapes in very thin plastic, might come in useful. It's by far the most flashy kit I've ever attempted. There are also way more overflow stubs attached to the parts. So with those problems and the poor moulding quality, there are times when it is difficult to decide what to cut off and what to leave. So my eventual FLAK may not end up looking entirely accurate.

[Kris B]

Fully agree with you. There is some kits that you just want build and accept as they are. Will pop in for updates. You doing well up to now. 

[Blaubar]

Nice extra detailing here. The Flash does look nasty. Good luck.

[Gorby]

Isn't it interesting how fascinating the internet can be when your procrastinating?

 

With aircraft modelling it's build a bit, paint a bit, build a bit, paint a bit etc…. I wanted the experience of when I was a nipper – when you glued everything together in one morning and then considered the possibility of painting it (or not). But this build has been nothing like that – study the instruction pictures for clues; whittle something acceptable from a vaguely shaped lump of plastic; glue it into what I assume is the correct position (and hope it isn't too obvious if it isn't); repeat until you either run out of parts or run out of patience.

 

I don't know much about these things, but I think that this is the noise generator.

 

Fuman can't even mould overflow stubs correctly. This an example of what I have been fighting on almost every part – more flash and stub than actual part. The shape can been seen on the instructions behind.

 

I have no idea what this lump was moulded into the base for. It seem to serve no purpose other than to stop the two pieces being joined together. Note: there is nothing on the outside to justify it's existence. I found later that that there should have been a hole on the outside of the part. Cutting the lump out caused no problems at all.

 

The only reason to show this photo is to expound my love for these little sewing clips. They are enormously useful, surprisingly strong and they are sold in packs of 50 for a few quid.

 

As my linguistic abilities are second only to my stunning looks, I've given up with the Japanese and decided that, when the going gets tough, it's time to cheat. Bless you Scalemates! I found instructions for a Dragon and a Tamiya FLAK, which I used for reference during the build, but they are mostly intended to help with colours.

Having said that, I am quite confused about the main, overall colour. Some say that it should be a darkish sandy yellow – which seems an odd colour for either the western or eastern front; or alternatively German grey; with a third camp suggesting dark green. I haven't yet decided, but the odds are that it will be a bit of a work of fiction anyway.

 

So this is how it looks before the painting starts, but before painting I'm going to build a Tamiya kubelwagen...

 

and before that I've just got to de-flash, remove the mould seem and generally detail and make acceptable, this lot….

 

As you can probably tell, I'm looking forward to it enormously.

 

I may be gone some time...

[Gremlin56]

It's getting to look suspiciously like an 88mm. Maybe your Japanese is better than you are letting on

[Gorby]

@Gremlin56

I think it might be like the infinite monkeys eventually typing Shakespeare. If I throw enough bits at it for long enough, it may end up looking like an 88mm. Best stop now before it ends up looking like a steam-punk armoured hamster.

[Bullbasket]

I admire your tenacity with this build. It would have been in Room 101 long ago if it had been me.

 

John.

[Gorby]

@Bullbasket

Thanks John, I must admit that it's a relief that buildy bit is over. Not having done armour before I feel a little trepidation about the painting and weathering.

[Gorby]

A quick update:

I found a few images online showing the wicker shell containers and being a sucker for punishment I decided to show one with the end removed.

So the process so far has been to razor saw the end off; mark VERY carefully where to drill; use a 1mm drill to do a sort of pilot hole; then use a 2.35mm drill to open it up. As you can see from the photo, I used the drill bit with an elastic band wrapped around so that I use the drill bit by hand. This is so that I can 'feel' where it is cutting, and control it more accurately.

This is the result. The hole on the right will have the end of a shell inserted, so it doesn't need to be as deep as the other two, which will (hopefully) look empty. I'm not drilling all the way down because A) I don't think the part will be strong enough hold together; You can see how close I am to going through the 'wicker' so I don't want to push my luck; and C) It would take to ****** long.

 

Question for you armour bods:

The kit provides 40 x 88mm shells, but surely they wouldn't be left lying around before firing? Wouldn't they be taken straight out of their boxes and loaded into the gun? Or would they be stacked up in some way?

 

Thanks for looking - Gorby

Edited June 25, 2017 by Gorbygould
typo

[Kris B]

Impressive work.