Plastic Modelers in the IL-2 Community

[STN]

Thanks. I can see why. Very elegant shapes.... unlike my next subject...

[Buglord]

Again great work all .That U-boat and Mossie are the dogs nuts... ? Would like a mossie but my museum is full , that`s why i`m building Armour for a while... iv`e an 1/350 Aircraft Carrier begging to be built but... no room.. until i move next year. 

[Feathered_IV]

42 minutes ago, Buglord said:

Would like a mossie but my museum is full , that`s why i`m building Armour for a while... iv`e an 1/350 Aircraft Carrier begging to be built but... no room.. until i move next year. 

What if I told you there was a scale where you could have all that and more....?

[Hoots]

Stop what you're doing, we've all been wasting our time...

 

 

[STN]

another weird one on the desk

[THERION]

3 minutes ago, STN said:

another weird one on the desk

 

Let me guess - some kind of experimental plane, Italian design?

[Feathered_IV]

Some kind of toilet seat?  Maybe Danish?

[hetstaine]

4 hours ago, STN said:

another weird one on the desk

 

The Lee Richards annular monoplane, version 3.

 

 

 

 

 

Looks like you have some rigging ahead of you

Edited November 25, 2020 by hetstaine
spelling

[KiwiMcG]

Thanks all - yes, next project even smaller 1/700. Talk about a downsize. 

[hetstaine]

On 11/24/2020 at 7:35 AM, STN said:

Done. That is as good as I was able to do this one.

The kit is a very basic one. Just added home made seatbelts (made from masking tape), hollowed out the exhaust pipes, the boots and a few air intakes. replaced the elevator support beams and the lower aerial. Added complete riveting but in the end it is barely visible. A strange thing happened after placing the decals- the blue colour caught a violet undertone. But all in all I enjoyed the build, even despite the low quality and prescision.

 

Dewoitine D.500

3C2 Navy Squadron

French Navy

1935

 

1:72 Kovozavody Prostejov

 

 

 

Lovely little build, quality pics as well

[OrLoK]

On 11/22/2020 at 1:36 AM, 19RAF_MJDixon said:

Amazing work on the Mossie! Hope to fly one in a sim or two around here soon. ?
 

Thanks, I didn't take many pictures during the build, just a few of the U-Boats models when they were finished pre-submerging (just in case!) and one when the resin was in the mould being held by its periscope:

looks amazing!

EDIT : all the models from everyone look *A M A Z I N G*

[Buglord]

Part 2 of the project : Sd.Kfz.253 Le Beob. Pz.wg.  Dragon 1/35 .  

 

 

 

Edited November 29, 2020 by Buglord

[Feathered_IV]

Fabulous looking camouflage Buglord.  Perfect both for winter or a safari!  

 

Did another test paint for the mercedes engine.  Not quite there (too bright), but I found that I could use little strips of silver painted decal to place in areas I couldn't reach with a brush. 

 

 

[Feathered_IV]

Had some time off today and managed to get some paint on the sub-assemblies.  Need to find a recipe for Pfalz silver grey soon.

 

[Birdman]

Finished phase 1 of the painting for the Kingfisher by doing the stripes on the rudder:

 

Took me a bit to get the masks right but I'm happy with the result overall, next step will be clear coat and making masks for the stars.

Edited December 2, 2020 by Birdman

[HappyHaddock]

@Feathered_IV  Loving your  work but I'll see your little  scratch-built 1/144th Pfalz and raise you one even smaller hand sculpted1/144th scale Pup ?

 

In all seriousness I had great plans for all I was going to get done in 2020, including much work sorting out my environmental mods for IL-2 but real life continues to throw a mass of busy at me and I've not been in the cockpit of my virtual camel since the start of the year, nor have I made a single model for myself in all that time.

Nevertheless I've been involved in more miniature model making and sculpting commissions for other people than I really should have taken on, though in the current economic climate it seems ungrateful to moan about being over worked. So just as a bit of silly fun I thought I'd share this quick picture of my latest commission if only to illustrate the unusual nature of the things I'm paid to make as a professional miniaturist.... Given the nature of my work I probably should invest in better macro photography gear but the last time I did that I just downsized my work again and was still left pushing the limits in terms of photographing tiny miniatures smaller than the dirt other people get trapped under their finger nails!

 

Cheers HH

Edited December 3, 2020 by HappyHaddock

[40plus]

2 hours ago, HappyHaddock said:

@Feathered_IV  Loving your  work but I'll see your little  scratch-built 1/144th Pfalz and raise you one even smaller hand sculpted1/144th scale Pup ?

 

In all seriousness I had great plans for all I was going to get done in 2020, including much work sorting out my environmental mods for IL-2 but real life continues to throw a mass of busy at me and I've not been in the cockpit of my virtual camel since the start of the year, nor have I made a single model for myself in all that time.

Nevertheless I've been involved in more miniature model making and sculpting commissions for other people than I really should have taken on, though in the current economic climate it seems ungrateful to moan about being over worked. So just as a bit of silly fun I thought I'd share this quick picture of my latest commission if only to illustrate the unusual nature of the things I'm paid to make as a professional miniaturist.... Given the nature of my work I probably should invest in better macro photography gear but the last time I did that I just downsized my work again and was still left pushing the limits in terms of photographing tiny miniatures smaller than the dirt other people get trapped under their finger nails!

 

Cheers HH

 

This forum needs a "Holy Crap!" reaction emoticon

[Matt]

Too much to do at work, so i barely have any time for modelling these months. But i basically finished spray painting the Falcon. Rest will be done by decals, brush painting and weathering afterwards. I doubt i'll be able to finish it this year though.

 

[40plus]

2 hours ago, Matt said:

Too much to do at work, so i barely have any time for modelling these months. But i basically finished spray painting the Falcon. Rest will be done by decals, brush painting and weathering afterwards. I doubt i'll be able to finish it this year though.

 

 

I hear yah on the work front...the only modeling work I've achieved in the past months is to grow the backlog of kits to build and paint. Picked up a 1:32 Polikarpov I-16 and a couple of 40K imperial knights.....lots to build, not time to build it ?

 

The Falcon looks great so far. I love the level of surface detail on the kit....Also, round satellite dish for the win ?

Edited December 3, 2020 by 40plus

[Hoots]

7 minutes ago, Matt said:

Too much to do at work, so i barely have any time for modelling these months. But i basically finished spray painting the Falcon. Rest will be done by decals, brush painting and weathering afterwards. I doubt i'll be able to finish it this year though.

 

 

I still maintain that's the coolest spaceship evah.

[STN]

Progress on the "Danish toilet seat" :D
Had to do some scratch building and junkyard parts salvaging. Unlike the 1:48 kit, the 1:72 one does not contain the rotary engine. The air intakes are non existent and so is the engine bay venting aperture. Luckily had a spare engine from a Fokker Dr.1. Added the fuel tank, the drive shaft and engine bearers plus floor panels. Not that any of this will be visible when assembled, but the feeling of these bits being there is priceless.

[Feathered_IV]

On 12/3/2020 at 9:36 PM, HappyHaddock said:

@Feathered_IV  Loving your  work but I'll see your little  scratch-built 1/144th Pfalz and raise you one even smaller hand sculpted1/144th scale Pup ?

 

Oh my!  That is amazing.  What type of magnification do you use?

[Hoots]

1 hour ago, Feathered_IV said:

 

Oh my!  That is amazing.  What type of magnification do you use?

 

I can only assume some sort of electron microscope...

[HappyHaddock]

1 hour ago, Feathered_IV said:

 

Oh my!  That is amazing.  What type of magnification do you use?

 

Up until recently none ... In my teens I used to be able to carve human hair just with a steady hand and  naked eye.

 

However, without wishing to seem overly fatalistic, I'm at an age where the end of my life is now probably closer than the start and the old eyes aren't what they used to be (I don't think my hobby/career choice helped! ?). My optician tells me that they'd tell anybody else with eyes like mine that they still had amazing eyesight, but they know what I do for a living and what my eyesight used to be. Consequently because they thought it would help they've prescribed a very mild prescription set of regular reading specs which I'm sadly now dependent upon even just to read my wristwatch. Otherwise what I used to sculpt at a few inches from my nose I now have to sculpt at arms length just to focus upon it but I still don't use anything additional by way of extra magnification.

 

 

At the other extreme, and I mean EXTREME, just yesterday I found out that I've got through to the final stage of tendering/contract negotiations for a "small scale" model making project  where the finished model itself is set to occupy about 2acres and stand almost 50ft tall.  Non disclosure agreements prevent me saying much more about this potentially multi-million pound project where I'm only really angling  for the  initial feasibility study  and marketing model work making a very very small scale nominally "portable"  model of  the proposed main attraction  more than I am wanting to  head up the team who will later be responsible for making the gargantuan main project. Fingers crossed for I get the impression I'm the front runner for this tiny first stage but I never count my chickens...

 

Money aside, as a  good few months of stable income is not to be dismissed, I'm more interested in the prospect of getting back to a lot of micro-work at around 1/1000th scale.

 

Cheers

 

HH

[von_Tom]

On 12/3/2020 at 1:25 PM, 40plus said:

 

This forum needs a "Holy Crap!" reaction emoticon

I was thinking it needs people in white coats to take some of you lot away. 
 

incredible work from everyone. 
 

von Tom

[HappyHaddock]

10 minutes ago, von_Tom said:

I was thinking it needs people in white coats to take some of you lot away. 
 

 

It's the micro model making that keeps the men in white coats at bay... without it I'd have to deal with the real world and that's enough to drive anyone crazy!

 

HH

[namhee2]

Great catastrophe for the model makers in the USA

 

Container collapse and other Modelling news, ( My stuff was on this ship! ) - YouTube

Edited December 5, 2020 by namhee2

[voncrapenhauser]

19 hours ago, HappyHaddock said:

 

Up until recently none ... In my teens I used to be able to carve human hair just with a steady hand and  naked eye.

 

However, without wishing to seem overly fatalistic, I'm at an age where the end of my life is now probably closer than the start and the old eyes aren't what they used to be (I don't think my hobby/career choice helped! ?). My optician tells me that they'd tell anybody else with eyes like mine that they still had amazing eyesight, but they know what I do for a living and what my eyesight used to be. Consequently because they thought it would help they've prescribed a very mild prescription set of regular reading specs which I'm sadly now dependent upon even just to read my wristwatch. Otherwise what I used to sculpt at a few inches from my nose I now have to sculpt at arms length just to focus upon it but I still don't use anything additional by way of extra magnification.

 

 

At the other extreme, and I mean EXTREME, just yesterday I found out that I've got through to the final stage of tendering/contract negotiations for a "small scale" model making project  where the finished model itself is set to occupy about 2acres and stand almost 50ft tall.  Non disclosure agreements prevent me saying much more about this potentially multi-million pound project where I'm only really angling  for the  initial feasibility study  and marketing model work making a very very small scale nominally "portable"  model of  the proposed main attraction  more than I am wanting to  head up the team who will later be responsible for making the gargantuan main project. Fingers crossed for I get the impression I'm the front runner for this tiny first stage but I never count my chickens...

 

Money aside, as a  good few months of stable income is not to be dismissed, I'm more interested in the prospect of getting back to a lot of micro-work at around 1/1000th scale.

 

Cheers

 

HH

Had my eyes tested a few years back ....Perfect long sight , I now use reading glasses and 2.5 mag for modeling.

Now unlike Feathered and yourself My models just get bigger.

I guess what I am trying to say is , with age eyesight flaws come to us all lol 

I am having a nightmare atm with my DeLorean build, I am at the infamous part 91 ....The wiring  , with all my additions to the model itself I have made a rod for my own back .

Just hope the effort is worthwhile in the end.

11 hours ago, namhee2 said:

Great catastrophe for the model makers in the USA

 

Container collapse and other Modelling news, ( My stuff was on this ship! ) - YouTube

Ouch!

Edited December 6, 2020 by voncrapenhauser

[HappyHaddock]

On 12/6/2020 at 10:25 AM, voncrapenhauser said:

I am having a nightmare atm with my DeLorean build, I am at the infamous part 91 ....The wiring  , with all my additions to the model itself I have made a rod for my own back .

Just hope the effort is worthwhile in the end.

 

I've always judged a project (at least private projects for myself) a success based upon new skills I've learned along the way and how I've improved as a miniaturist more than on what, if anything, I have to show at the end....

 

Sadly paying clients do seem to want some some of quality model in exchange for their fee which does limit you to repetition of things you already know you can do rather than trying things you can't.

 

So if it is any consolation or support, then view the "nightmare" as what is making your DeLorean project worthwhile... if it was a  routine, quick and simple project would there be any satisfaction to be found in completing it?

 

HH

Edited December 7, 2020 by HappyHaddock

[HappyHaddock]

This isn't a space for folks to grumble about their work, but I hope folks will forgive the following for as some of you know much of my income is derived from making miniatures.

 

I find myself in the situation of having a prospective client desperate to get lots of funding spent before a fairly tight window expires. They are enthusiastically offering me months of really interesting and challenging work doing the sorts of things I like to do for free as a hobby.  Nothing to grumble about there you'd say and yet I feel I can't yet say yes!

 

When you take on any kind of paid commission, let alone large well paid high profile ones, there is a contractual obligation to actually deliver what the client wants and has paid for or face the ensuing litigation. In this instance I'm damned if I can get this client to recognise they still haven't actually told me what that is... at least not in enough detail to be meaningful or useful.

 

I know they want a very small scale "model of a model" making as a kind of small portable preliminary/feasibility study to help market and fund raise for a larger scale multi-million pound model making project. I've established that the full size subject they want to represent had a combined frontage of about 3km yet the various individuals representing the organisation wanting to commission this work won't/can't decide on what scale they want me to make this "model of a model". Even in 1/1000th scale my work  could end up a few meters wide, and yet they were initially asking for me to work in 1/150th scale where they seemed very surprised when I pointed out how massive  and "unfeasible" this would be in terms of delivering a small feasibility study within their deadline.

 

On top of this I've spent the last several weeks asking them for various forms of reference materials by way of plans/drawings/photos on which to gauge exactly what is wanted and how I would/could go about making such a model. Though I have a rough idea in my mind of the nature of the overall project I still have a list of "primary features" for which I am waiting on information  regarding what these look like, how big they are or where they fit into the whole project. I've probably found out more about the subject from old photos on Google than my client has so far given me. However when the so called authorities on the subject you would go to to do research  are the very same client that has so far delivered very little info you feel stuck in a vicious circle.

 

I know if I can pin this client down to making some commitments as to what they actually want and then tell me what that is, I can do the work. However there are days when my job feels more as if I'm some sort of kindergaraten teacher come counsellor come detective come motivation coach.

 

I can't say yes until I know what I'm saying yes to, but I do need them to get a shift on in terms of collectively agreeing and offering some contractual clarity as to what they are actually asking me to make, otherwise they will have exceeded their deadline for spending the funding made available to them without ever getting to the starting line.

 

... everybody says it must be great to turn a hobby into your work but admin and internal politics come with every job!

 

Cheers

 

HH

Edited December 10, 2020 by HappyHaddock

[Hoots]

5 minutes ago, HappyHaddock said:

...

 

... everybody says it must be great to turn a hobby into your work but admin and internal politics come with every job!

 

Cheers

 

HH

 

That sounds pants. I work translating user requirements into technical documentation and act as a bridge between coders and users who often seem to delight in refusing to understand each other's positions. I do feel your pain. That being said I think I'd run a mile before agreeing to work with people who have that much of a limited grasp on what they actually want. Got my fingers crossed for you!

[HappyHaddock]

1 hour ago, Hoots said:

 

That sounds pants. I work translating user requirements into technical documentation and act as a bridge between coders and users who often seem to delight in refusing to understand each other's positions. I do feel your pain. That being said I think I'd run a mile before agreeing to work with people who have that much of a limited grasp on what they actually want. Got my fingers crossed for you!

 

I've done a little technical authoring myself way back in the day,  but more the reverse of what you describe in that I was writing teaching manuals taking coders/programmers "help guides" for their finished work and translating it into something ordinary end users could actually make sense of in terms of  then getting the best out of the new software... How many "so called" help guides state the bleeding obvious without actually telling you what you need to know! 

 

As for this model making project I don't think it is so much  a case of not knowing what they  each want  as individuals, but there being "too many chiefs and not enough Indians". When everybody is in charge of deciding what is important and how to proceed they all decide something different. Democracy only goes so far and I'm sure with a little more pushing in the right direction I can get the head honcho to "impose" a decision on everybody. Once they stop debating internally and are simply told what is happening I hope there will be more progress in terms of getting the commitments and reference material that I need to sign off on a formal brief/contract.

 

With this latest "potential" project I do at least have the major advantage of being able to talk directly to those at the top of the communication chain who have the power to make decisions (if only they'd exercise that power).  The worst model making  projects are those for big PR/advertising companies  who are basically only puppets for their own clients and where everything has to go up and down the system through multiple committees and middle managers before I get to hear of a decision from some junior nobody. Quite literally I have been involved in model making projects where by the time changes to the brief reach me at the bottom of the communication chain, those at the top have not only already changed their minds, but then made revisions to the revisions I haven't yet heard about. Still if you can charge a client for 10days admin  spread over three months for what turns out to be a 1day build and they pay without quibbling then you just take it on the chin and think of the mortgage and the utilities bill whilst hoping the next client is a private collector who knows exactly what they want ?

 

HH

 

[TikiBar_Ted]

2 hours ago, Hoots said:

 

That sounds pants. I work translating user requirements into technical documentation and act as a bridge between coders and users who often seem to delight in refusing to understand each other's positions. I do feel your pain. That being said I think I'd run a mile before agreeing to work with people who have that much of a limited grasp on what they actually want. Got my fingers crossed for you!

 

Just putting this out there...

 

[Hoots]

42 minutes ago, TikiBar_Ted said:

 

Just putting this out there...

 

 

How did you get this video of my last appraisal?

[40plus]

I think many of us identify with the above video LOL ?

[HappyHaddock]

I think the best answer I ever read to the staff appraisal question "how do you define your job here? was both brutally honest  and also very flippant when the respondent claimed:-

 

    " I follow discretely behind my line-manager covering up their incompetence, both so they can mistakenly believe they know what they are doing and also so I can more easily drop them in the crap when later wanting to jump them on the way up the promotion ladder!"

 

... and isn't that office politics for you in a nutshell!

[Birdman]

Alrighty, throwing the towel on the Kingfisher, the national insignas didn't look that great after painting so I applied the kit decals. The ones from 1974, went as well as you'd expect ? Any ways here's the beast:

 

It doesn't look too bad in picture but the decals look bad IRL lol. I got the kit to practice and practice I did, learned new things along the way.

 

[DD_FT-]

Started working on this one, I think nine years ago... 

The idea is to speed things up a bit.

[Lusekofte]

On 12/13/2020 at 5:45 AM, Birdman said:

Alrighty, throwing the towel on the Kingfisher, the national insignas didn't look that great after painting so I applied the kit decals. The ones from 1974, went as well as you'd expect ? Any ways here's the beast:

 

It doesn't look too bad in picture but the decals look bad IRL lol. I got the kit to practice and practice I did, learned new things along the way.

 

The kingfisher is a plane that talks to me. It give me the same good feeling as Duck and some Japanese seaplanes. Good job

2 hours ago, DD_FT- said:

Started working on this one, I think nine years ago... 

The idea is to speed things up a bit.

And the same goes for the stringbag

[Feathered_IV]

Nice work!   That’s an excellent reference shot of the Swordfish.  I’ve never seen that dimpled area just behind the wing root before.  I wonder if that is on the original aircraft?