Sunna

Good to know that you can get them for around £30, as all the ones so far that I can find are a good bit more than that. I don't mind spending but am a bit loathe to spend lots on something I won't use much. I will shop around. Cheers for that.

I have come back to this hobby recently after a long hiatus and one of the things that I have discovered is photo etch parts. When I was building kits years ago, this wasn't heard of. At least by me anyway. I took an interest and bought some for a U boat model I was building. I had mixed results. The bits I did manage to fit looked great and added so much detail, but I struggled with other pieces and couldn't form them correctly or get them to fit neatly. As I am now tackling more and more random kits I am getting more interested in buying after market photo etch to make the kits stand out a bit more. This is when I noticed that you can get p.e. bending tools. These vary from £20 to around £70-£80. I was wondering if any of you have used these and if so, are they are worth it? Is it better to buy an expensive tool or will cheap and nasty do the job? Maybe they are a complete waste of money and you just use a straight edge. Also I was wondering about gentle bending of large pieces (like the flood holes in the U boat kit) Do you anneal the p.e. in order to make it more giving? Thanks in advance.

Great job. I am in the process of making this kit and hope it comes out near as good as this!

I am currently making this very kit. This is the first ever Bandai kit I have made and I am absolutely blown away by the fit and level of detail that this kit has. I always thought snap together kits would be cheap kids toy type of models, but this is top quality. I will definitely get more of Bandai's kits in the future.

Excellent job Sir. The Bandai kits are superb for detail. Can I ask, is this the 1.48 or 1.72 scale kit?

Can I ask, how are you guys adding photos? On another forum I belong to there is an attach files option but I can't see anything like that on here.

Thanks guys. On the subject of realistic weathering. I had a disagreement with a guy on Facebook about maritime rusting. I pointed out that rust appears above the waterline where it is oxidising. Rust WILL appear under water but at a much, much slower rate. He said he had seen a ship with heavy rust under the water line. I said it must have been on the water line but he was adamant. I have seen many ships and structures that are subject to the rigours of the sea and know just how destructive rust can be but it needs oxygen to form. Structures that are permanently under water will eventually start to rust but just how many ships are permanently fixed under water? Growths, streaking and other such weathering is fine but heavy rusting is not realistic.

Thanks guys, I do intend using the Tamiya acrylics it's just that I have heard so much about Vellejo that I thought maybe I am barking up the wrong tree. Every Youtube video I watch someone seems to be using some other product and my head is getting swamped. It has been a few years since I have done any model building and I am wanting to make sure I have the right tools before getting started again. I wish I had access to all the tutorials when I was young. I had no idea how people could get models looking so realistic.

Superb job mate. Thats is some detailed work on such a small figure!

Hi guys, I have been away from modelling kits for quite a few years. I now have a few kits that I want to start. I have quite an extensive selection of Tamiya paints but I have seen so many other paints being recommended that I am wondering if these are the best I could use. I intend working on armour at first but will be tackling a couple of U boat models and possibly some figures at some point. Has anyone got any recommendations?

I have just received the above glasses and they are superb. What a difference. I have borrowed my wife's reading glasses and they helped with close up details but I couldn't focus on things further away. Clearly I need my own prescription. The magnifier is better because I can look through the lens or look past and see things with my bare eyes in focus. My problem seems to be seeing small things close up. I can see quite well at arms length. This set of magnifying glasses are going to be a Godsend and possibly a game changer for my model making!

Yeah, I have worked on this platform a few times now and as you say, it is a real rust bucket. Fair enough if you don't want to weather a model. It's just that this installation is so very rusty. if you want realism, you need to look at this.

Yeah, it's S92's that are used exclusively throughout the UK Northern sector of the North Sea.

Yes, lots are being decommissioned. You can see from this example how rusty they get.

Great job mate but honestly, the rust is much, much more prevalent on the real thing. You wouldn't believe how rusty some of these platforms are. only the reasonably new ones show anything close to nice clean paintwork and North Cormorant is not one of the newer ones. The decks in particular are rusty, the legs, cellar deck etc very rusty. All of the superstructure has rust. I am not taking anything away from any of your builds but you should feel free to enjoy yourself weathering. This is one area where you can't over do it.