Bengalensis

Very impressive project, three at the same time, and great looking work to. The 262 is such a lovely looking machine, I might have to do a racing version of one some day...

Sorry, late reply. Thanks. Yes, that's the one, if there are 1/144 decals available. Any more progress on this one?

This is looking real good flying over the water. I like the small but very effective base.

Great detail work, and now comes the paint, this will be very interesting to see evolving.

Looking good with some paint going on it. I tend to forget how small it is when looking at the pictures.

Many thanks. I'm just as surprised over what's actually possible with the kit. When I took the box down from the forgotten dusty section of my stash I didn't have much hope for it. This morning I messed around with glue and sand. I had to strain the sand through a tea strainer to make it look reasonable. It will now have to dry up for a few hours before I do a little work on Wilbur's attachment and dusting. I also have to decide if the edges of the base should be painted black or left as they are.

Awesome paint work, well done!

Interesting project and lovely work! I always fancy these odd short run kits that are a bit of a challange.

It is indeed an amazing selection of models in the gallery, clearly showing that this was a fantastic idea for a GB.

Thanks a lot. I have thought about the base for a few days, and I think you're right, it should be a little wider allowing Wilbur to be bit further out to the side. I think of him as having run alongside the wing tip, possibly helping to stabilize the plane the first few meters on the rail, so that's roughly where I want him. After a few days filled with lots of work and computer problems at the same time I got a little more done today. I started to cut some more paper to come up with a better base and in the end decided to settle with this. I then went out to my workshop to search for some material that would be for free, and found a piece I cut off from a shelf in my office a few months ago. I cut a piece of it to shape and sanded the edges. It has enough thickness so I can attach something to its side to hold the plane in the air. The rail was cut down and glued with epoxy and a mounting hole for Wilbur was drilled. I think I will "paint" the surface with thinned PVA glue and use some fine sand to cover it for a start.

Great to see them all built. I have them all, but only one built, I have some catching up to do... Those small black eyes are much better now with gloos and hint of light in them.

Thanks a lot guys. The engine is a real beauty, I just hope the rear windows and all vents will show enough of it. All the exhaust parts were cleaned up and test fitted as I need to determine the width of the engine bay to be built. So far the fit is impressive for this kind of parts. I will probably need to scratch build the top section of the gearbox closest to the engine, nothing else will be seen from anywhere. 38 mm should give enough clearance and still place the side walls reasonably like the reference pictures suggest. So I built the walls and top sections from 0,5 mm sheet plastic. They still need some final sanding . Here is what it will look like with the top section in place. Next I need to build that transmission top, the fuel filler pipes and one or two small details that will go on the side walls. I also suspect I have to invent some way to transfer the mounting points for the large rear exhaust chamber from the body to the chassis, while maintaining its exact location relative to the body. Otherwise I can't figure out how to assemble the exhaust system as the engine covers are closed.

That's lovely, well done. The Blue Tits I think is the kit I Iike best of the Airfix birds, they're nice little fellows and their pose adds interest.

Amazing work! That's a lovely piece of miniature engineering.

The front of the engine was assembled so I can start building the structure that will surround it. I also made the coolant lines from solder wire. They are a very sharp blue colour and a hint of them might be visible down deep. I had to make some definitive locating points for the engine so I can work on the surrounding structure and the exhaust system knowing that it will all fit later on. I cut two square pieces to a precise fit into the bottom frames, added a good drop of glue to each, then put the engine with the squares in place and dry fitted everything around to align the engine properly. When the glue had dried the engine was removed leaving the squares glued in place. I can now continue from a defined position. First I made a wall in front. I only need to create some basic surrounds to cover in foil to get the right look.

It's taking shape towards a very nice little model. It may give my inspiration to do old 66 in this scale if there are decals.

Many thanks for the kind words. It's been two quiet weeks for the F1 as I've been more concentrated on the Wright Flyer, but today has seen more progress. I made a start on the engine, cleaning up the main parts. They are very nicely executed and truth is that I probably wouldn't even need the front section parts as I'm building this one all closed up. It is however a bit odd that we get a very nicely detailed engine and exhaust system in the resin set, but no transmission. I find that a strange approach. Admittedly not much is seen of the transmission under the exhaust system, even less in my closed up model, but anyway. I glued the main parts together to be able to do some dry fitting in the car. I'm keeping the valve covers separate so I can paint them black and sand/scrape back the photo etched text and stripes more easily, as well as the large air intake chambers that will largely be carbon fibre. The engine will quickly disappear to a large extent in here, but I hope it will look good under the rear windows and through all the air vents and outlets with a lot of gold and reflective foil added around it and the exhaust system... That's actually a hundred pics right there of not coming further that this...

Thanks a lot. She's actually been around here for a while, since last summer. And being who she is, she will always follow you... And no, you're right, those eyes are hand painted.

It's often details like this that lifts a car model, that brings it to life, looking like a real miniature, instead of "just" a well built model.

Thanks a lot Riggers. It feels good to be going again.

It's great to these bird kits being built. I think this little pair could benefit from a gloss coat on their eyes, it would bring more life to them. Keep the birds coming. The Blue Tits and the Robins next?

I like that too, nice work.

It's a very impressive build this, top work!

Thanks a lot Neal. Not easy to decide what to do with the base, but I think it must be something like the smaller one. I just don't have to confidence to decide how, yet at least. Well this thing with the propellers was harder than I thought. I've only loosely hung them in place so far, they should also be aligned to meet tip to tip. Could this be flying, or is it just two painted poor attempts?

Thanks a lot, glad you like her. Yes, it's various shades of Alclad over a gloss black enamel base, I think I used steel towards the centre and chrome along the edges.