Wall

Spanjaard
very nice Greg

Moreno Baruffini
Che bello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lochsa River
...order some more red paint when it was over?

Greg Baker
Luckily I've still got some red paint. This one took a bit of a tumble (had an LED light attached by a sticker drop on it) so I had to do a bit of repair work on the pontoons and reattach the wings (just popped out of the holes, no real damage done! Whew!).

Robert Podkoński
Lovely! (and based on Schneider Trophy races!!! 😉 )

Flight Line Media
Wow! It looks great!

Greg Baker
Thanks everyone. I'm glad this little project made a bit of a comeback. It's one of the parts of my Tintin collection that I felt the most proud of.

Lochsa River
...Comebacks are great!.....nice fun piece, Greg

Mark
Wonderful. 👍

Greg Baker
Thanks guys. Much appreciated! I've got another Tintin boat on the bench... hopefully I'll find time to finish it soon. Been busy at work and what little spare time I've had seems to have been sucked up by Canada's World Cup Qualifying campaign... 😉

Greg Baker
Sometimes a kit from the stash just falls off the shelf into your hands... best to just go with the flow.

Robert Podkoński
Watching with interest, of course 😉

Lost_Erik
Looks fun.

Cuajete
Taking a seat.

WhiteGlint
Cool, so this will be an Area 88 Blue Angels?

Roland Gunslinger
Watching ...

Clifford Keesler
Count me in.

Spanjaard
i am in 🙂

Daniel Klink
Still a seat free?

Spanjaard
are you 3D printing it yourself Greg? looking good

Alex K
New horizons for your model-making, Greg?

Greg Baker
Yeah. I've got a small resin printer. It's a bit trickier/messier than a filament printer, but the results are much smoother in my opinion. Starting small with a boat hull I found on Thingverse, but I have lots of grand plans. 🙂

Simon Nagorsnik
Good work!
A 3d printer is a very useful tool, if you can handle it
Is this boat in scale or without?

Spanjaard
We are going to see amazing things in the future 🙂

Cuajete
Interesting!

Torsten
And another nice project 👍

Greg Baker
Thanks guys. Simon, the boat is roughly 1/72 scale. It's based on an Aquamarine, but quite a bit smaller, so I just used the Tintin pictures as reference for the size. I've also printed off several 1/700 scale planes for some very small dioramas.

Bruce Huxtable
My all-time favourite toy as a child, was a clockwork, tin plate boat like this 👍🙂

Alec K
Great to see that printer in action 👍

Chaz Gordon
Interesting plan Greg, Doing it that way, you have the opportunity to use uninsulated wire for more metal per mm2. I would expect a connie to have the potential to need a bit of nose weight, or course, you could also run one of the wires through the nose gear and use that to secure it to the base.

Greg Baker
The plan... such as it is... is to secure all three wheels to the base with wire and glue. The wires running the motors will come down the landing gear - hopefully looking like brake lines, and then move through the tires into the base. I wasn't extremely worried about nose weight because it will be secured to the base, but a bit of weight will put less stress on the wire to pull it down towards the base. Erik's comments about the motors sitting in front of the centre of gravity is something I hadn't quite considered, but I'm going to try and do an ad hoc test to see how much that helps.

The arduino is an interesting idea... It's possible and I have a couple of nanos sitting around... but what would I do? Fire the engines in sequence? Hmmm...

I've got 3 more large planes scheduled for inclusion into my Tintin 1/72 projects... The Heller DC-6, the Mach 2 Convair 440 and the Heller B-707 (which I plan to light up like a Christmas tree!).

Chaz Gordon
Well, I guess it depends on what the scene is planned to be. If you are replicating the panel with the passengers disembarking, the engines would never be running. If the engines are running, All nav lights would be on too.

Erik De Smet
If all 4 engines have to work seperately, you will have 4 "brake lines" on each undercarriage. If you put both motors on each side in series, than you can do it with two and use a 5 V powerbank as power source. With a variable resistor in each circuit, you can start the engines "manually" . I guess you have already glued the wing and the fuselage together. Otherwise, you could run a common + line on the nose wheel leg and through the fuselage, and have separate - lines for each motor through the main legs.

Cuajete
Nice progress!

Robert Podkoński
If there are no embassy receptions in near future, however, you could go... I have seen sequins in few handicraft shops in my local mall.

Cuajete
Following.

Juergen Klinglhuber
I am in too,......interesting kit & model

Thomas Espe
Following too, should be interesting.

Matthew A
🚁

Roland Gunslinger
Really nice Greg 👍

Laurent "HELLER-forever"
in french the canon is to right

Bruce Huxtable
Unless it's a selfie 😉

Greg Baker
Since this is based on the scene from the Area 88 manga, there are machine guns on both sides.

Cuajete
Nice job, Greg 👍

Jan Peters
Not my cup of tea, but very nicely done with the light effects 🙂

Matthew A
Great photos - really captures the action

Nils Steyaert
great work 👍

Greg Baker
Thanks guys. I added this to my blog as well, so feel free to check it out if you'd like a bit of information on the story this build is based on. https://strobez.ca/wp/index.php/2021/09/22/messerschmitt-me-262-the-black-knight-of-berlin/

Villiers de Vos
Very creative and an accurate depiction of the box art. Great work.

Spanjaard
Turned out very nice, Greg!

Roland Gunslinger
Beautiful finish 👍

WhiteGlint
Very nice, Greg. 👍

Cuajete
Nice result. Congrats!

Daniel Klink
Sweetie Pie!! And a real cool result once more 👍

Greg Baker
Thanks guys. Cuajete, I came up with the "virtual museum" as a way to pose my projects in "action" but without the need for pilots. They're "dioramas" of a museum display, rather than true "mid flight". That way no one gets hurt. 😉

Bruce Huxtable
Just popped in for stroll, and became enthralled by the Moon Rocket. Superb and great fun 👍👍👍👍 Soo many more gems to oggle 🙂

Greg Baker
That moon rocket was a very fun project… and keep checking, I've got big plans for big planes!

Gary Kitchen
…and Red Rackham's ship? 🙂

Greg Baker
That too!

Dominik Weitzer
you have my attention. Will you build it in comic-style?

Greg Baker
Yeah, basically. The comic version is pretty simplistic, so I'll try to adapt it to the kit as best I can.

Greg Baker
That does look very nice. I've got the Platz offering in my stash, so I'm wondering how they compare. Sweet is usually a bit more refined and delicate.

Matthew A
Wonder if they used Jumpei Temma's drawings?
http://soyuyo.main.jp/ki43d/ki43e-1.html

Spanjaard
👍

Greg Baker
Not really much of a project. Just cleaned off the extra thick paint (looked dipped!), painted the trim, added new wheels and made a little flag. But they all count, right? 😉

Spanjaard
certainly does 🙂 👍

Roland Gunslinger
Very nice 👍
It's the little things that make life beautiful 😉

John Thomas
Nice work

Rui S
Vey well done, as ususal 👍

Alec K
Great 👍

Daniel Klink
How could i miss this! Never saw this before done!
Very cool Greg👍

Greg Baker
Hah! Thanks Daniel! I just snuck that little project in. I've been busy at work (comes with a promotion usually I think), but I'm hoping to get back to the bench soon. Your projects keep inspiring me.

bughunter
👍 This is still the most beautiful helicopter! All the movies in the 80ties used one 😉

Greg Baker
I think so too. I'm surprised there aren't more kits available of this helicopter. The vacuu-formed kit will be a real challenge I think!

Greg Baker
Had to dig around in this box for some parts for my SA 341 Gazelle... and once the box was open... I slipped and some pieces just fell off the sprues and got painted...

Villiers de Vos
Magic!

Spanjaard
it is incredible how some kits seem to have a life of their own.... 😉

Roland Gunslinger
Ah, i see ... helicopter time 👍

Greg Baker
Yeah. With a touch of Space Battlefortress thrown in...

Cuajete
Following! (one more time 😛)

Johan van Meerloo
nice
Im making a AB204

John Thomas
Very cool, nice work so far

Matthew A
You may be better off looking for this Bell 206 JetRanger (Italeri 1372, 1:72)
Or even backdating a OH-58 would take less work and be cheaper than the RarePlane kit

Greg Baker
Yeah. I did a bit of research and came more or less to that conclusion. The Italeri kits are quite hard to find though...

Matthew A
Ow blow now I want to do a conversion - pants I can't add yet another project can I ?!?

Matthew A
It looks like the only major change between the Italeri/tamiya Jetranger and the OH-58A kits is the hight of the skid. Bell OH-58 Kiowa (Tamiya 60712, 1:72)
Bell OH-58A Kiowa (Italeri 195, 1:72)

Matthew A
The time stamp of the video didn't work. 39:26 shows a profile of a 109F being used as reference.

Greg Baker
I've watched this video many times, but never noticed that before. Sharp eyes!

John Thomas
More nice work, really like your base

Greg Baker
Spellcheck Complete!

Chaz Gordon
Haha, you hid the evidence too!

Alex K
Gee... No comment!

Greg Baker
Sometimes you just need a little side-project...

Roland Gunslinger
Are the pilots self-made in the freezer bag?

Greg Baker
Yes they are. A combination of resin moulds and 3D printed resin.

Matthew A
Back to something familiar

Greg Baker
Yeah, after wrestling with the 1/72 Connie for a bit, it feels nice to be home. 🙂

Spanjaard
back to 144 🙂
i did the revell one as first build after my first modelling "pause"

Greg Baker
Is your current pause over yet? There's something comforting about 1/144 scale.

Juergen Klinglhuber
Who or what is meant with "Steinberger" - the pilot?

Greg Baker
In a flashback scene, the West German pilot Hoover (Kfir) saves the Englishman Benditz (A-4E) from certain death after a MiG-21 gets him in his sights. In gratitude, Benditz offers Hoover a bottle of his favourite German wine, a '76 Steinberger.

It's a neat little scene in the Area 88 manga. Hoover later dies, so Benditz (after being discharged) orders a bottle in Paris and drinks in his memory. At first, the French hotelier is a bit offended that someone would order German wine in France... but she does have a bottle stashed away regardless.

The whole chapter is a touching sidebar story actually. We've never seen Benditz up to that point (he's basically created for the story), but this is an unknown story involving the secondary, but well-known, Hoover. The story follows Benditz's successful discharge from Area 88 after serving his full 3 year mercenary contract and his trip home. Everyone calls him lucky because he's never even been hit, his A-4E is in pristine condition (unlike everyone else's). Then, minutes after finally getting off the plane in Heathrow airport in London, he's stabbed in the chest during a random mugging over a couple of pounds and dies on the floor in a puddle of blood. Meanwhile, back at Area 88, everyone is guessing what "lucky Benditz" must be up to, back in the "real world."

Juergen Klinglhuber
Thx for sharing.... 👍

Spanjaard
Yes Greg, started building again recently, just a bit...
Have not posted anything yet 🙂
But I am back in my 1/144 project(s), that it was supposed to be finished almost 3 years ago....

Nils Steyaert
im looking forward to se this one finished, 1/144 Kfir's are hard to find these days.

Roland Gunslinger
Oh, a scooter...Count me in.

Greg Baker
It's my first one! I just completed my first Bf 109... now an A-4... what's next? Should I finally build a Spitfire?!😉

Alex K
Well... there IS a Spit in "Voir et Savoir", isn't it?😉

Greg Baker
Yes there is indeed! I've also got plans for a few as part of the Leijiverse projects.😉 I'll get to them eventually.

Greg Baker
Now that my Tintin Bf 109 build is done... time to get back into some more 1/144 Area 88 action! So let's blow up a MiG-21! This seems the perfect kit to do it with!

S M
Yay! 😄 Awesome project and fine addition to your Area88 collection.

Matthew A
?

Maciej Bellos
Phoenix, just by the name of it! You'll do wonders in this scale, whichever you choose though.

Greg Baker
Thanks Maciej! It's hard to decide which one to do!

JD
We have little in common subject wise, Greg, but could I tempt you to build the VF-1S Super Battroid Valkyrie (Bandai 0030495, 1:100)
To remedy the situation? 😄
I take that back.. any sailing ship will do fine😉

Joonlae Kim
I vote for "The Fight of the Phoenix" because I love F-4 Phantom...^^

Roland Gunslinger
Greg, At your new huge workplace, it shouldn't be a problem to build all three at the same time😉😉😉

S M
Vote for Steinberger, 'cause it would have lots of action with perforated MiG

Chaz Gordon
Wow, that's one of the tiny ones, I had assumed it was a 1/43ish. Guess I should have known. Nice work Greg

Alex K
Victory indeed! 👍

Cuajete
Very nice job, Greg. Congrats!

Neuling
Very nice!👍

Roland Gunslinger
Great work 👍
A restoration with heart and soul.

Chaz Gordon
It's all been replaced with the Hunt for those kits I couldn't afford back in the day (or made a mess of). I've been pretty lucky so far, about 2/3 of my Stash is 90's and earlier, no longer being produced and not likely to be re-released. I do wonder if those MPC Star Wars moulds are still preserved somewhere in Round2's storage, waiting for the day Revell can't get a licence from Disney.

John Thomas
Nice work

Martin Oostrom
It must have hurt a lot, as you're posting it twice 😄

Spanjaard
thanks, solved

Chaz Gordon
Now this thread make no Onions

Greg Baker
Oh for... that's what you get for using American comic books from the 1960s as a reference. Tell me the roundels are okay at least!

Erik De Smet
That was a quick repaint ! The roundels are certainly french .

Greg Baker
The tail colours in the comic are wrong, but because it specifically says the Hangman is French, I'm going with the correct colouring. Also added a small homemade decal for the gallows marking. You can't see much because the pilot is all in black too, but he's in the cockpit. Just the rigging and mounting left now.

Just...😉

Vittorio Gentili
Figo!
Nice, I'm in. I want to see the final frame of the cartoon!😉

bughunter
SPAD on SPEED. I that time I think about a detail Greg builds and paint a model completely.

Spanjaard
i got mine from Amazon. i think it is straight from China....

Clifford Keesler
Neat work room Greg.

Matthew A
Found the garage led light bulbs. Some look like their from star wars - I really want
a basementt now lol

Donald Dickson II
I have two of those in over heads in my basement. They are flipping awesome

Chaz Gordon
If we had those basement furnaces in the UK, I'd be really tempted to leave the area visible and decorate the equipment steampunk style. Also a good place to put a proper shop compressor for airbrushing, you'd only have to run it once a month.

Clifford Keesler
Cool ME-262

Clifford Keesler
Cool ME-262

Greg Baker
So great Clifford said it twice!

Well, by unpopular demand, I decided to dive into the second Me262 in my stash. I have to say, the Hasegawa kit leaves a lot to be desired as a follow-up to the much newer Academy kit. But since it's wheels up and a pilot in a closed cockpit I'm going to take the path of least resistance.

Scalemates Schwalbe Group build 2021 | Album by strobez (1:72)

Juergen Klinglhuber
Greg - great model! congrats!
Looking forward to your next Schwalbe coming.....

Guy Rump
Looks great 🙂

Spanjaard
i am in 🙂

Greg Baker
I can always count on you!

Greg Baker
One thing I'm trying to figure out how to handle is the fact that the Haunted Tanks all fly the Confederate Battle flag (being haunted by a Confederate cavalry general and all). It's certainly a bit controversial at the moment, but I'm likely to add it for 3 main reasons 1) people put nazi symbols on WWII era models all the time, 2) I hate revisionist history, even in comics. Tintin had some issues with racists (Tintin in the Congo), and trying to hide the past dooms us to repeat it... and the distant 3) is that, to me, as a child of the 70s/80s, the Confederate battle flag is more synonymous with the Dukes of Hazard General Lee Dodge Charger than anything else.

I wonder if anyone else has any thoughts?

wilky
I actually don't like flags at all.
Being symbols of division but you have to put the flag on because you're making a model and that's what it had.
I love the Dukes of Hazzard.
One of my favourite slot cars is the General Lee and it wouldn't look right without the flag.
Neither would your model.
In Australia the Southern Cross flag has been appropriated by the racists too.
Racists suck, they wreck everything

Spanjaard
indeed, they do

Greg Baker
I added the "inspiration" for the Jigsaw tank. It mentions the chassis as being a modified T-34 but not where the turret is supposed to have come from.

Greg Baker
Ok... a bit more ghosty now. I decided that the ghost should be a bit more stand alone because there's a pretty good chance I'll also build the Jigsaw Tank and the M4 Sherman versions of the Haunted Tank too. Anyone got a suggestion for a reasonably priced 1/72 Sherman?😉

Spanjaard
very ghosty indeed 🙂

Greg Baker
Ok. The more I thought about it... the more I wanted to include the other two Haunted Tanks in this project. After the M3 is destroyed, the team moves on to build a Jigsaw Tank. That one is later destroyed as well and the team takes over an M4 Sherman (much to the chagrin of their ghost-in-residence).

The Jigsaw tank is the bigger challenge. The chassis is from a T-34 (I was going to get a Zvezda, but found a Trumpeter box on the shelf instead) but what really put it over the top was deciding to go with the M24 Pershing turret. I have a turret leftover from my Blue Tintin Moon tank project, and it looks enough like the Jigsaw Tank's that I think I'll be happy with just a bit of modification.

I had thought I'd need the turret from a M42 Walker, but given there's only one (relatively expensive) option, I was hesitant. Once I realized I could dip into the spares box... there was nothing left to hold me back.😉

Tom ...
Well Greg. it's simple... what you start, you got to finish. It's the modelers' code!... i.e., we expect nothing less! 🙂

Greg Baker
Thanks Tom. Well work is under way on the Jigsaw Tank, and I started a new album to go with it. The Haunted Tank (Jigsaw Tank) | Album by strobez (1:72)

Greg Baker
Good eyes Łukasz. However, in my defence, that's what it says in my reference image (the header on the project page). I actually did know it was wrong, but decided to go with it for two reasons - a) because it's the reference image, and b) I had USAF decals😉.

The Roundel in the reference image is wrong too I believe (not a WWII marking), but I compromised with one that had a red stroke around the outside (which I think is still WWII) but not with the red USAF bar in the middle.

I blame Irv Novak for not doing his homework when he drew the issue.😉

Łukasz Gliński
Sure, understandable. I'm curious what is the little black button/switch for?😉

Greg Baker
That's the button for the propellor. Hold it down... it spins~

Łukasz Gliński
Cool 👍

Slavo Hazucha
That spinning propeller de´finitely looks better than a photoshopped one! 👍😉

And the cloud looks pretty heavenly too!