Rob K.

Very nice looking 737

Well, that required skill in making it the way it looks now on the finished model. That is quite extreme. Nice job in correcting that situation. Rgds, Rob

Thanks SebTartar. I know exactly what you mean and there was a real risk in it being too plain and to some it might be. Nevertheless, I often build models with a Dutch connection due to my heritage. I really wanted to build a Soesterberg (Camp New Amsterdam) Super Sabre. There is the much more colourful red/white and blue (late) livery, also displayed in the Military museum located on the former airbase, but it has been done before a few times in scale and it was covered in an all Aluminium coating for corrosion protection. Really wanted to have those original various metal shades, even though the 1956 livery does not stand out spectacularly. Also couldn't go full out with regards to the often purplish and blue heat stains near the exhaust area. The Super Sabres in 1956 were rather new. Hope the rest of the model with the NMF and the slight weathering makes up for it. Thanks for your comments, much appreciated. Rgds, Rob

Hi, Just a short update on progress. Decided to refrain from using the Wolfpack resin wing fold upgrade. It consists of thinning the plastic on the edges and I don’t really fancy to invest the time needed to accomplish this with the likely mishaps and consequent repairs to make it look acceptable. The original Airfix parts look fine to me and should give the model strong enough support for the wings in the folded position. The result so far: I sanded away the little square cover plates/hatches on top of the cowling as they didn’t quite line up and if necessary I will add or engrave them later. Did use some black CA filler at the fuselage joint. If there is a central top panel separation, it will also be scribed back later. Will use the resin Barracuda engine and cowling (dry-fitted at the moment): There is quite a nice Seafury documentary on YouTube. It is in the Dutch language, but if you go to settings it is possible to activate the subtitles and auto translate to English. Translation is by no means perfect (a dogfight is translated as dockside), but you get the general feel of the experiences of the men who flew and maintained the aircraft and some interesting info. There are various episodes, describing other aircraft as well. It also describes the practice flights using rockets on the target range. Which brings me to my desire to depict the Seafury with rockets. However, then the question arose if rockets should be placed on folded wings. Browsing through many Seafury images with wings folded, I came to the conclusion that this may not have been a common or safe practice. Could only find one image out of many: Something I have to address retrospectively is the locating holes for the drop tanks. I forgot to drill them out. That’s all, thanks for watching, Rgds, Rob

Handsome looking Halifax. Zoomed in on some images…looks good to me. Also around the cockpit area. The white stripes on the vertical stabs to my eye breaks up the black/green/earth camo a little. Nice choice of livery. Rgds, Rob

Great, hope you’ll do a WIP Rgds, Rob

Amazing work in 1/72. All great builds and nice subjects. Love those Mysteres.

Thanks John, Aah, I found something in the spare box that didn’t look far off. Then again, the cockpit opening is so small and any detail will be very hard to see. I have done a little bit more work on the Seafury and the fuselage halves and inner wings are assembled. Quite impressed with this kit. It may have a few reported inaccuracies, but it looks like it builds up to a nice model. I’ll see if I can post some further progress foto’s soon. Rgds, Rob

Very nice result. I found this a surprisingly nice kit to build looking back. Really like your weathering.

Thank you @Vultures1 Hi John, Thanks. Regarding next projects: I have started an Airfix Netherlands Navy Seafury in the WIP forum somewhere, however, it’s time to return to my regular job soon, so will pause for a couple of months. Only have a limited stash which I first want to work through in no particular order: Monograms B-24J and B-25 solid nose version. Eduard P-51, Kinetic NF-5, Hasegawa P-3 Orion, Kinetic Mirage IIIE and MicroMir Fokker G-1. Except for the P-3, all in 1/48 scale. Even though promising myself never to do builds like that again, I seem to get the most satisfaction lately in updating and detailing the old Monogram kits. Thanks for asking, Rgds, Rob

Hi, Please find the RFI link regarding the Super Sabre link below: Thanks to @billn53, @Biggles87, @Paulaero, @AntPhillips, @Ben Brown, @Serkan Sen and @PeteH1969 for feedback and comments along the way, Regards, Rob

Hi, Please find my latest build of Trumpeters 1/48 Super Sabre. The intake was modified with a resin part. Tried to depict an early NMF Super Sabre prior the Aluminium lacquer coating that was commonly applied around and after 1957 to prevent corrosion (and the later Camo colours). Further details with regards to the build can be found at the bottom via the WIP link. Thanks for watching. Regards, Rob

Hi, It is almost finished with just the navigation lights to do. Some hurdles along the way again when I sanded the wheels and test fitted them but couldn’t rotate or remove them again, especially on the nose wheel. Broke the horizontal axle and had to replace it with 2mm copper rod. Throughout this build I kept making unnecessary mistakes. On the whole it is quite a nice kit to build. In the middle of a home renovation, I probably didn’t quite concentrate enough throughout assembling the F-100. Another item that escaped my attention was that it took me until now to find out that there is no option to display the model with an open canopy Nevertheless, I now do have an early NMF 1956 Soesterberg Super Sabre. The result thus far: Need to do some dust removal in the intake, but I am happy with the shape. The canopy is only glued with 1 tiny drop of Kristal clear. Still want to explore a modification to have the canopy displayed open. Also the pitot tube is glued with this PVA type glue, since I didn’t feel like modifying the base in order to receive the Masters Metal version, which is still sealed in its package. I may tackle these items in a couple of days. That’s all, thanks for watching, Rgds, Rob

Yes, I find the Super Mystere quite a nice looking aircraft and am watching the current build on B.M. But I still have a Mirage IIIE to build first. Rob

Hi, Upon further inspection it turned out that the USAF decal on the starboard wing had crinkled. Tried to sand it out which looked promising, but after another coat of aqua gloss, the situation returned. Repeated the procedure and by now I sanded through the metal coat. After attempting further masking and touch ups, the masking tape pulled away the rest of the decal. The raised varnish edge left after the decal removal had to be sand away. In the end, I decided to sand down the entire starboard wing, re scribe and re-rivet everything. In the process more masking tape touched the insignia and ID code on the starboard fuselage, so treated this the same way, trying to avoid the panel detail. Had some USAF and serial code numbers/letters in the spare decal box, but that was of no use. Turns out that NAA had a slightly different font applied to their 1950’s aircraft when they left the factory. DutchDecal has printed this correctly on their decal sheet. Therefore had to airbrush the letters and code on. USAF Amarillo font was no good as this was the standard USAF font. Therefore looked at many standard fonts which showed the best resemblance and cut the masks on my Cricut machine using Tamiya masking tape sheets and using Frisket film to transfer them to the model without distortion. Anyway, the result after having applied a flory wash: Windshield and canopy are not glued on yet, but dry fit quite nicely. Also further weathered the exhaust area with some Tamiya weathering powders. Some difference noticeable due to the paint repairs, but I am not going to touch the coating anymore before I am causing more trouble. That’s all, thanks for watching, Rgds, Rob

Hi, At the moment applying decals. No problems with the rest of the DutchDecals, they settled nicely. Wasn’t too sure at first about the green white livery, but with the rest of the Decals on, I am quite pleased with how the Super Sabre is coming together. A few more technical decals to go and then they will be sealed in under a coat of clear after which I will apply a dark brown flory wash. Thanks for watching, Rgds, Rob

Hi, Tried to apply the DutchDecals, starting with the green white squadron markings especially around the intake area but unfortunately the decals had trouble conforming to the contours. They ripped and I had to remove them. Decal softener in the meantime had affected the Tamiya clear coat and underlying metal finish. Therefore had to sand the surface smooth again and repair the damage. This kind of threw the Soesterberg version I wanted to portray out of the window. Actually ordered some other decals from a different unit. Nevertheless, all of the alternative versions could potentially present similar issues as tail and intake markings had to follow some challenging contours still. Therefore decided to try and mask and airbrush the Soesterberg markings. Only matching colour I had was Humbrol Brunswick green. However, I am not very good with airbrushing enamels and I did not want long drying times, so mixed mr colors yellow and blue and matched it to the decals. Here is the result: To be continued, Rgds, Rob

Hi, Mark, sure. Yes, the wheel bay is a kit part, but have the Barracuda engine, exhaust, cowlings and spinner. When I bought the kit sometime back I did not know there was a wing fold option in the kit, so ordered the Wolfpack wing folding set. Not sure whether I will use it though. Rgds, Rob

Hi, I have been working on the Airfix Sea Fury in between some other kits that I am building. Plan to do the Dutch fleet air arm version (MLD). Quite some good images found on the IPMS NL website of a nicely preserved museum specimen: https://ipms.nl/walkarounds/walkaround-vliegtuigen-props/walkaround-hawker-seafuru Noticeable is that colours can differ from Airfix instructions. The preserved Sea Fury for instance appears to have Sky coloured wheel wells, perhaps later applied during overhaul or maybe applied by Fokker where it had been license built. Anyway, this is what I have so far with a few additions (and liberties) thrown in: The Barracuda resin engine and exhaust additions: Thanks for watching, Rgds, Rob

Hi, Just a small update on the below with the black sections on nose, spine and tail applied: To be continued, Rgds, Rob

Hi, Engaged in quite a bit of masking trying to bring out some different metal shades for this ca 1956 (Pre Alu lacquer covered) Super Sabre. Naturally attempted the heat stained aft end of the fuselage using pale burn metal from AK Xtreme as a base, followed by Red, yellow and blue Tamiya clear in vertical passes. Found it quite difficult and overdid it considerably. Nevertheless, a few light passes with some Pale Burnt Metal took the worst away. Think I have a reasonable base for the aft heat stained end a can further shade with some Tamiya weathering powders. Too much heat standing is probably also not realistic for this early Super Sabre. Most of the model is covered in Mr Color Super Chrome Silver. The panels on the wing, gun magazine covers, nose cover, elevators are AK Xtreme aluminium. Tail panels are AK X duralumin and so will be flaps and leading edge slats. Next up are the black section on the spine and the square section on the upper intake lip. That’s all, thanks for watching, Rgds, Rob

Another classic done well. Looks great!

Great work on a beautiful plane!

Hi Ben, I have used Ueno black as a base coat for AK’s Xtreme polished Aluminium and in this case Mr color’s Super chrome silver 2. Do seal it nowadays with an acrylic gloss coat as through handling it can rub off a little, especially if you grab your model at the wings edges. However, when this happens and the black gloss coat returns in places, I use a cotton bud with some metallic chrome or aluminium powder/ pigment and polish it back up. Below was done with the same method: Would look great on a NMF f-105👍

Hi, Airbrushed the entire model with Mr Color Ueno Black, ready to receive the metal coat: The Ueno Black was then airbrushed wet again with Just Mr levelling thinner in order to obtain a higher shine. This Color dries quickly and goes hard rapidly. I usually wait only a few hours before I airbrush the metal coat since I want to avoid dust settling or finger prints to start accumulating from handling. The result: Next I plan to protect the metal paint with some acrylic gloss varnish as recommended on the manufacturer website for this type of polished metal coat. A lacquer or enamel based varnish apparently can disturb the paint once more. That’s all, thanks for watching, Rgds, Rob