Schwarz-Brot

I admire your Scratchbuilding skills. Funny thing - I was trainee at Schlafhorst, a famous company for textile production machines, then owned by Saurer. Saurer was later bought by Oerlikon, another large swiss company, which had a special interest in the textile machine business of Saurer.

Rare to see the small scale mfh kits being built. I will follow closely. What you show looks to be well worth the invest.

Reasoned reply: To be accurate to the time this car was originally built, it's got to be french blue. Personal opinion: It is your build, so do whatever you like! Who says this car was not rebuilt later in its life? If you can come up with a fitting story you are free to do whatever you want to. Restomods are a thing these days.

Nah, it always takes two.

Steve, nevermind my view on things. You are absolutely right in saying this is your build and your interpretation. There is no right or wrong. I know some folks dislike critique on a finished piece. To me it is something that is essential in becoming better and something I welcome and expect from others if I take the time to show my work. This is why I will usually offer some constructive critique with my comments. "Good job" and nothing else is just noise (in my book). If I haven't more to say I'll just click the appropriate "like" button. I don't know how you feel about these things, so I offer my apologies if my points felt wrong to you. From time to time I chose the wrong words, being no native speaker. If that happens, just let me know I sounded harsh or was off with my comment. This is no offense, it just happens because I don't know how to express myself better. My comment came from personal experience around running gear, modern and classic. I know there are machines out there which do not show these signs of usage. As far as I can tell usually they have undergone a thorough restauration recently or have been washed to the last bit for sale. Most restaurations turn tractors into showroom gems better then they were when they left the factory. Oil leaks does not mean dripping wet with oil in my book, though this happens quite often. Usually you'll see some "fog" around the seals. This is due to the tolerances and materials used in production, the harsh environment and abuse these machines have gotten over time. Soil health wasn't really a concern back in the days. Most farmers I know don't really care to these days. With those old tractors robustness and reliability was usually achieved by extreme simplicity and overly massive parts, which will continue to work even when worn out considerably. I missed the part on the shiny, yet flat steering wheel. Sorry for that. Again, I like your build a lot. Jan

Very convincing weathering and beautifully built. I love it. In fact the paintwork is close to perfection, with only a few bits disturbing the overall impression (for me, as someone growing up around old farming machines): - On the steering wheel I'm with keeth. Though to me it is not the colour but the fact it looks quite shiny and new against the very old looking machine. A little dirty wash would add quite a lot, I think. - The motor would see oily fog or even runs around most of the seelings, these would look dark(ish) and wet against the other parts. Those machines are never ever completely leak-free. - the hydraulic tap and all of the links, especially around the bars on the back, would be very heavily greased, which again would show in a buildup of dirt mixed with grease around there. Very dark and wet looking. This is of course critique on a very high level. Your model is beautiful and very well done. I think someday I should build one, too.

alternative: do not use rods at all. Glue a short screw on backwards to imitate a nut and a bolt on one side. On the other side use simply a nut with the hole filled or a piece of hex extrusion to imitate the screw head. It is not a functional model, just a look alike. Again thank you for pointing out your mistakes and problems. I am taking notes along the way. Jan

Dear Mr C, we all know you are your greatest judge. And we all know your striving to achieve perfection. You showed us a true benchmark with your Rolls. A level only few will ever achieve, no matter at which scale. And this level is of course the one you will always judge yourself against. That's why it is called a masterpiece. Now, please take a step back. Forget a moment about the Rolls, better yet, pretend you never built it. Take a moment to click through some RFI threads. Come back to your Caterham and compare. Be honest to yourself. You'll find you're on par with most of the finished models. No matter what condition hinders you, no matter how much patience it took. You still managed to build a beautiful model. Perfect to some, at least very good to the rest of us. Was it a painful experience? I bet so. It never is a nice feeling to see you're not up to your old standard and even harder knowing you'll probably never get there again. Besides that - wasn't there any joy to it? Not the least bit? No feeling of achievement with every step taken? If there was no joy, why would you even bother to try to finish. Just to see if you could? Well, I guess that kind of personal challenge is somehow connected to joy as well. I totally get your point of raising attention to the builds of those who battle their own personal hindrances. And you are absolutely right. They do deserve the highest respect for their work and their perseverance. But you Mr C, must not forget on thing: Now you're one of them. If it's just pain, you're right to let go of building models. Else, come back and enjoy doing some gluebombs. Best regards, Jan

Got me an 1:1 1998 BMW Z3. Was too cheap to let go. Well, this is going to cut down my modelling time considerably in the summer time.

I can't help you, sorry. But I'm really interested why one would want that?

Plus, if you label them with the paints and the way it was built up (primer, base paint, clear), you have a reference for later work. Something I try to do with every new paint I use on a model. And, as said above - a good way to make sure the paints behave well, since they often come from different ranges.

This is something I highly respect and try to do myself. Being a wargames miniatures painter for quite a while I followed the rise and fall of several huge and vivid forums. I even moderated some of them. These days most forums die because the highly skilled members rather show off finished masterpieces on facebook or closed communities like P&P than in the forums where they had their humble beginnings. No longer interested in true feedback and not really interested in helping others. The last point is especially disappointing, since most are neither unfriendly nor unwilling to help. They simply chose it's not worth to post work in progress on a forum since there's enough "reward" in collecting likes. With such a small subgenre of modelling this leads to forums being ghost villages or shut down completely. It is most educational to post work in progress pictures, even if there's not a single comment to them. Pictures may provoke questions, and most people are helpfull and willing to fill in the points in question. The community gains lots of knowledge, tips and hints, even warnings about pitfalls, the modeller receives honest feedback and usually enough "likes" to be motivated to continue. To me this is a win-win-situation. So again - To you terrible (without a name), and also to all others, that post their work in progress. Thank you! Jan

Thank you for showing. Didn't even know these existed, but then again I'm not too much into trucks. I will visit your WIP thread for sure. Thank's for posting that one, too!

Beautiful. And the paint looks really smooth. Will it stay that silky or will it be finished in a high gloss?

Still following. All looking good. It's the small things that really push this build. The fine wirework for the handle is just another exquisite example. Very good and big effect.

Good to see another F40 coming to life. You guys do me a huge favour in posting your progress and especially the problems you encounter along the way. So thank you for taking the additional time to show your work.

How about spring steel wire? Can be found in all dimensions and qualities from metal suppliers.

I think I have never seen piano hinges done this way before in 1/24th. This is insane in the best of all ways!

Please do post your work. It is a huge undertaking and something only few are privileged to do. When I was not in the position to afford such expensive kits I drooled over the threads by those who could. I know there's quite a few out there who feel the same. It is somehow like high gloss car magazines. Unlikely to get such a car soon or even ever for most, but still beautiful to watch at. @Pascal thank you for the hint on the eyebolts / Augenschrauben. Stupid me works with large sized ones quite often but was too dumb to realize they exist under the same name down to watchmaker sizes. "Betriebsblind", as we say in Germany.

Very nice progress since I last visited. Lots of stuff to add even more interest and the color is beautiful on that truck. There's two things I noticed - nothing big, but maybe worth to mention: - Interesting mix of languages you have there. Most things seem to be german, including the haulage contractor. The writing on the tank is not german, though. I'd guess it is swedish. - The steering wheel sits very low - It would be impossible to get the legs under there. I guess one won't notice that once the cab is closed, but with the doors missing it is quite obvious. The deformed seat is a great detail, this adds quite a lot.

Alclad chrome is extremely hard to spray, at least for me. You don't really see any buildup of paint, and if you do, it is already too much. But if you get it right, it is the best chrome painting I've seen yet. But since you're not after a real chrome effect, I don't think all that matters.

Basematerial wood instead of foam, preferably some sort with heavier grain to give some teeth for the glue. If you work with foam, I personally have very good experience with "Planatol BB", a specialised bookbinders PVA glue that is strong while it stays flexible enough to be used on paperback spines. Specialised because it is formulated to also bind plastic materials to normal paperlike materials and because it is waterresistant once dry. Since I do some Bookbinding myself I have quite a bit experience with this stuff. It can be dilluted with water to better soak into the grain or fabric or foam, whatever you use - give it a moment to settle a bit, then reapply unthinned. As hinge there's material out there called bookbinders linen - which is fabric backed with paper, so the glue won't squeeze through. Might be too thick for your application but will never wear out. Most book hinges are made from strong paper (Packing paper? Kraft paper? Don't know the english term). These are the hinges that connect the block to the cover on hardcover books, so obviously they can carry a lot of load. You may give that a shot, as it is really cheap compared to anything else. All bookbinding materials work best when they are pressed with strong force while drying, might be hard in your case, but will help, if you can arange that.

I am also interested in the information regarding the fittings, @Pascal No matter how many have been sold, they are super expensive and ultra rare. To me this is also the holy grail of modelling, and for me it is certain that I am going to build this beast. I am lucky enough I could afford the transkit on top of the Pocher. How could I not at least try to build this... Why else would I sink so much money into it. Your progress looks good so far. Though I am not totally sold on the weathering. It feels not right to me - not consistent. This will probably get better with all the layers of parts that will be added on top, so no worries yet. Just keep an eye on it, to me subtle, consistent and to scale weathering is the key to ultra-realistic models. Keep us posted, every post of yours is a cliffhanger!

I don't think they are too glossy. There's loads of insulation types out there, and some are pretty glossy, especially those for rougher environments. But that is of course a matter of taste.

This is Propmaking at its best! You are not Harrison Krix, are you?