Rob K.

Forgot there was a 1/72 DC-8. It might have suited me more. Did notice the Mach 2 thread on B.M. Just now. Perhaps I got carried away by boxart and hype when the X-Scale came out….

Decided to push it a little more and masked off some wing panels and used some MRP white aluminium for the large center panels and some Mig polished aluminium pigment for the wingtips and two trim tabs. Not sure if it shows, but below the result: Masked some more on the engines, also highlighted the louvres with white aluminium and fixed them to the pylons. Tried to apply the decals, starting with the window decals that run from the font to the back. The decals when being moved about almost teared instantly at various locations, so there was no point continuing. 1 or 2 tears can be dealt with, but mine were so brittle that I stopped in order to at least preserve the paint work before Microsol started eating into it. And that has been the theme for me throughout this build. 2 steps forward and 1 step back, only making slow progress compared to most other builds. In the meantime I have ordered other decals from “Decal 26”, they are meant for a slightly longer DC-8 version, but since the windows which go on the banner are all separate, I should be able to work it. Just hope these decals are of reasonable quality. The one Decal I did decide to put on were the cockpit window ones, since I was unsure if my new decals were made for the X-scale model: So will be taking a break for a couple of days, To be continued, Rgds, Rob

Think I am going to put the decals on tomorrow and wrap it up. Start something that I will enjoy working on. Rob

Thanks Neil, Did make some progress today (I think). Rob Quite hard to come by this easy sanding CA, but I found one shop in Leeds who sells and ships this. Sands very well, but it took about an hour to dry, just doing a seam and applying it sparingly with a little cocktail stick. So continued using my regular recipe of thin CA mixed with some Mig gunmetal pigment for contrast. Rgds, Rob

Hi, Soldiered on and managed to re-scribe all the lost detail. The topside a little better than the underside. Since it is quite a challenging build and I don’t want to stall, I chose for the safe option and airbrush everything with mr Color super fine silver II (SFSII). No black glossy base, no polished aluminium, just spray a reliable and durable coat of SFSII in order to keep making some headway. The KLM blue is Tamiya X-14 straight from the bottle but thinned with mr Levelling thinner. The underside is not great, but it will have to do. The ailerons are dry- fitted and Sprayed with Tamiya AS-12. The Vertical and horizontal stabilisers/elevators are still dry-fitted and airbrushed with mr Color GX Cool white. The engines are still a work in progress and the idea is to apply some white aluminium squares on the louvres area, and some dark aluminium where the pylons attach. Perhaps further wing panels will be picked out with a different metal shade if I feel like it tomorrow. Thanks for watching, Rgds, Rob

Yes, after today I’d like to retract that statement.🙄

Hi, On a different note, once the miliput had cured overnight, I further sanded it down a little and tried to make the fairings a little more rounded. After this, the model was checked to see if it was any good and I was reasonably satisfied with the result. Quite some re-scribing to do, but enjoy that anyway. Think the front end looks better too. The underside looks acceptable from my standpoint point. The ailerons when dry fitting stood a little proud as can be seen. Have adjusted spacing between the gaps where necessary since and they now fit properly. The inside of the nacelles and parts, were all painted using metal shade mr Color markers. Once the 2 nacelles halves were put together, I decided to use Tamiya AS-12 as primer for those engines and check for any ugly seams of which there were a few. Using the metal coat as a primer, did not make me ruin the turbine blades (with grey primer). Do have to also restore detail here, so the engines below can be still considered in primer coat, despite being nice and shiny. Like these little X-scale engines. Here are the engines dry fitted: When dry fitting the engines I noticed that Engine No1 pylon was a little warped to the inside. Therefore corrected this and it now looks a little better. Next up is re-scribing all the lost details. To be continued, Rgds, Rob

Wow, amazing result. love the 2 tone blades. Great work and build report. Rob

Hi, Tried the Tamiya 2 part epoxy for the fairings, but it didn’t adhere to the surface. In the instructions it does say you have to sand and rough up the underlying material up a little. Perhaps the 1500 grit I used previously on the surface was already too smooth. Tried miliput 2 part next and it stuck straight away though. Below is what I am left with after sculpting. At the moment it is still curing and will still have to do some careful sanding and likely corrections with some Tamiya regular filler. Since I forgot to put any weights in the nose, with no cockpit parts either and after dry-fitting it appears it may become a tail sitter, I decided to make the model in flight. Therefore made the Tamiya 2 part epoxy to further use to fill up the main wheel wells. For the front landing gear bay I glued the parts at the bottom to a slightly rounded plastic U beam underside. Left it slightly raised and filled all seams with black CA and sanded it flush with the rounded contours of the fuselage. Will need re-scribing of course. To be continued, Rgds, Rob

Not quite. The fairing being rather short, making it difficult to follow the wing contour connecting to the pylon and the at the same time curve slightly towards the fuselage. Guess some sort of compromise may be necessary. Rob

Hi, Without a doubt the DC-8 is fighting me a little. Did so much sanding that the area near the wing fillet disappeared. Therefore cut away a small section of the flap and inserted some thin evergreen strip fixed with thin cement and CA and sanded back into shape. Recovery after sanding: Thought it wise to have a look at the fit of the pylons. As can be seen below, the transition pylon with the pylon wing fairing is not the best. (Pylons dry-fitted) From the drawing below, the fairings indeed do not follow the straight line of the pylon and they do slightly curve towards the fuselage, but I found above situation too unsatisfactory to continue. See below the shape of the pylon wing fairing on the drawings: Therefore removed all those kit fairings: This is the pylon from up close, viewed from the sides: Glued the pylons to the wing. Experimented with some tubes and rods and half rounds, to make the new pylon fairing, but it didn’t look the part either. Tomorrow I may have a go with some Tamiya 2 part epoxy putty. To be continued, Rgds, Rob

Hi, Engaged in a lot of filling and sanding today. Still a number of corrections to make after application of an all revealing primer coat. The nose is getting there, but just in front of the windshield on the starboard side there is a small ridge: These air scoops could do with a reduction in width by careful trimming with a scalpel: My choice of fillers are Tamiya easy sand, which I now mix with some Mig gunmetal pigment for contrast and thin CA mixed with the same. The Wing/fuselage connection looks on starboard looks ok: Portside not so much. Have to go back there again. Normally I would have used some Vallejo wipe away putty, but sink a lot of the aircraft is NMF, I choose CA to fill the seams. Same for the top engine mounts on the wing. It all felt flush and filled after many sessions, but Mr hobby tells a different story: Significant re-scribing to be done as well: Nothing insurmountable, just will take some time. That’s all, Thanks for watching, Rgds, Rob

🙈 Forgot……

Thanks, good to know 👍😎

Hi Alan, Yes, a day filled with filling and sanding, filling and s……. Rgds, Rob

Cool David, We are nearly parallel. I can already see that your underside looks better than mine. 😎 👍 Rgds, Rob

Hi, After my recent Super Constellation build, which was also my first airliner, I thought it might be nice to have another go at another Civilian aircraft. Another premiere, since I have never built a 1/144 aircraft. The kit is is from X-scale and in preparation went through a few builds on the internet, so know there is likely some work ahead. Planning to use the cockpit window decals, so no need to build the cockpit. Attempted to construct at least the floor and the cockpit bulkhead for some added strength, but they were already a difficult fit, so omitted those. They are not really necessary. Closed up the fuselage halves (no locating pins and holes). The advantage is that I can drop the forward wheel bay from the top, so it straight away fits well to both fuselage halves. It is best to first sand the fuselage halves flat before joining them. (forgot to do this by the way). Fitted the transparent cockpit section. In hindsight, I would have primed the section first as it was difficult to line the part up with the panel lines of the nose. Had to remove the section again after it was glued on and primed, when it turned out that it was out of alignment. Another small challenge was fitting the top of the engine mounts on the wing. First thought they were ment to be slightly raised, however on the parts run the panel lines and half of an inspection hatch, so had to do a lot of scraping in order to fit them more or less flush with the wing. Despite being flush, the seams will have to be filled and lines re-scribed. Also when glueing wings and elevators together, the inset parts required to be sanded down considerably to have everything flush. A lot more filling and sanding to be done as can be seen. So started with filling all the seams with Tamiya easy sanding CA. Hopefully it does what it says on the tin. That’s all that was done today. Thanks for watching, Rgds, Rob

Nice Avenger. Like the paint work and the weathering 👍

A beautiful and unusual build. Never heard of this good looking flying boat. Like the photos with the drawings and publications as a backdrop. Sophistication well executed. Rgds, Rob

Hi, Underneath the Ready for inspection link: Rgds, Rob

Hi, Please find the Revell 1/32 Westland Lynx in Dutch service. The kit was converted to a SH-14D using the Mk 88 and HAS 3 boxings. The kit was more or less finished early this year, but with the kit’s basic conventional rotor configuration. Only recently have I come round to change this to a folded rotor blade configuration using the Scale Warships conversion set. The port side engine compartment was opened and a resin engine added. The dummy torpedo was modified with detail added, using parts of a 1/48 A.M. Avenger torpedo. Although, perhaps an unlikely weapon combination, in addition a machine gun with platform was added to the starboard side. The machine gun was used in some operational situations. (Ref. YouTube search for: boardingteam Tromp Taipan) Since the 1/32 Dutch Decal Lynx sheet was unavailable, I asked Heli Scale Quality to print the decals for me. I supplied various images and they delivered. The decals are now available on their site. Paints by MRP I found this to be a very nice kit. The only critique I have was the use of white plastic, which for some reason wasn’t too pleasing to the eyes. Luckily the HAS 3 boxing has many more grey plastic parts in the box, but this is just personal. The Build report link is posted at the bottom of this post. Comments, critique, feedback are all welcome. Pictures were taken outside against a white vinyl sheet backdrop using an Iphone. With clouds passing you will notice a difference in image colours. The IPhone camera made most photos a little darker than they are in reality. The model is unfortunately too big for my photo box. 📷 Warning: picture heavy The “Work in Progress” report: Thanks for watching, Regards, Rob P.S. This build was inspired by Mr. Vreeze a Dutch model builder who built a 1/32 Lynx a few years back. Just loved the look of his Lynx. To not engage in a mere copy, I decided to fold the rotors.

Thanks Collin, Yes, it is not the best looking appendage on the Lynx and by the sound of it, not the most effective system of the aircraft. Should really add it to the nose……but it looks so ugly 😉 Rgds, Rob

Hi, Made some rotor lashings from 0.5 and 0.7 mm metal tubing, which slide into each other. As such I made them telescopic, so it was easy to achieve the exact distance from rotor head towards the securing point on the top fuselage. Once in place, thin CA was applied to the telescopic ends, fixing them in place. Earlier, I glued a resin tie down with hook to some 0.5 tubing with thick CA. Below the result after painting and weathering: Attaching the lashings to the rotor head was easy due to the earlier installed eyes. The other ends were placed in some tiny spare parts I found on an abandoned sprue. Both ends were secured with Kristal Clear, fearing a last minute CA mishap on the model. The end result: The Lynx is finally finished. I will follow up with an RFI later. Thanks for all the feedback during this build and the comments, critiques and likes along the way. Rgds, Rob

Hi, Did some DIY in the morning, laying deck boards until the sun ☀️ got to strong, which was a good opportunity to go inside and finish the folding arrangement (minus securing). Decided to incorporate the operating cords and secure them the support rods with some thin CA. Think they look ok from a little bit of distance. Then dry fitted the rotor blades with support rods again and realised the need to glue the rotor spindle/axle fixed. Started with the lower blades which come from the most forward rotor blade receivers First I loosely fitted the yellow blade clamps to the end of the rotor blade. This clamp will need to end up where approximately the forward boom rod support brackets are situated. Then fitted the blades to their rotor hub receivers and placed the support rod with the bottom sleeve in the boom bracket and the top sleeve into the hole at the bottom of the clamp. The angle of the forward rods are suggested to be 29 degrees of the vertical plane when viewed from the rear. I eyeballed the angle. Everything at this stage was dry fitted stil. Next I used a CA glue looper with very thin CA and carefully ran this at the joint blade/rotor head. This was followed by some thin CA applied at the bottom sleeve where it rests on the fwd boom bracket. Lastly I carefully lifted the model and applied thin CA where the top sleeve of the support rod meets the hole in the bottom of the clamp. Repeated this for the other side and then turned my attention to the blades which fold over the bottom ones. Again dry fitted everything first and then repeated the glueing process using the aft rods. The aft rods are meant to be at a 5 degree angle with the vertical plane when viewed from the back. The clamps also need to be positioned in such a way that they are across from the yellow boom brackets. When viewed from the side, the port and starboard rods are meant to line up and they should also be about 90 degrees with the topside of the boom. Again this was all done with my “Carpenter’s eyes” for this build. Just looked at some images and judged what looked acceptable with all those details in mind. The result below: Also finally fitted the boom antenna wires Carefully forced the clamp operating wires a little outward, so it looks they hang a little. And viewed from above: Now awaiting delivery of the rotor lashing hooks so I can finally finish this model properly the way I had envisaged it. To be continued, Rgds, Rob

Hi, Have already been dry fitting the rotor folding arrangement. Indeed it is important to carefully follow the measurements in the Scale Warship instructions. I have copied them from the SWS drawing. Measurements are based from the bottom of the support rods and then up to the base (underside) of each sleeve. The bracket locations (and measurements) which guide the wires for the blade clamps are also listed in the instructions, but are less critical and placed between the top and bottom sleeves. Constructed the operating wires and handles from florist wire, cleaned them in acetone and applied VMS metal primer. They don’t look spectacular, but I will paint the loops (handles) black and white and see if it is any good. If not, I’ll do without. Also inserted the brackets in the indicated positions. Applied decals to the underside of the rotor blades and airbrushed a matt coat. It is minimal, but I also applied some red brown panel liner at the quadrant shield to simulate the red sealant as mentioned by @speedy. After the above image was taken, I lightly weathered the blades with some Tamiya weathering sets. I can really recommend the Dutch IPMS NL website and the Lynx Walkaround section. It has an abundance of detailed images, which are very useful. Going through the Walkaround section, I came once again across an image of the tail rotor. I noticed they also have bare metal leading edges. I bit the bulletin and masked everything off once again and applied a NMF. Luckily it it has a snug but not cemented fit. If I have time, I may fit everything together tomorrow, Rgds, Rob