Julian Herrero aka Yuri Awesome,,,, very good and unusual collection

Greg Baker Thanks Julian! It is a little different, but I'm having fun!

Martin Oostrom It's a joy to behold!

Christian Keller Very special collection, i love these storys of tintin

gorbygould Amazing collection of tiny little gems. I love that Alfa Romeo.

Alec K Great collection Greg

Uwe Kaeding Great collection Greg - but why is the Chipmunk labelled from The Broken Ear?

Tom Magnifique mate!

Julian Herrero aka Yuri That's all about fun .... Greg ... or shiuld be

Christian Bruer Great collection of an interesting subject. Love it

Greg Baker Sorry, nothing really new to see here. I just updated the album to add my latest two Tintin builds, the Scrap Rail Car from "In the Land of the Soviets" and the Loch Lomond Whisky tanker from "The Black Island". Thanks Uwe for pointing out that the Chipmunk was mis-labeled. It's been corrected.

Also, since I wanted to share this, I thought this album might be the best place to do it. I just finished watching a bio-graphical documentary on Herge called "Tintin et Moi". It's in French, with English subtitles for those who need them. It's a fascinating look at the man behind the art and the stories, but also the level of attention to detail, naive propaganda, political satire, and personal demons he put into them. Even if you're not into comics for kids, it's an interesting look at a man's life-long attempt to escape from his own grey mediocrity.

Youtube Video

Martin Oostrom Just punch a hole in your tamiya extra thin cap. Let evaporate for a couple of minutes. Add flame and enjoy!

Peter Hardy Available at all good hobby stores near you!

Uwe Kaeding Oh, now this one looks interesting. Are you going to get your lighting fix by setting it on fire? Also, are you looking for some of those ships from Daniel's link in 1/72 now?

Greg Baker You've sussed it out Uwe... this one's bringing the fire and water... by way of LED lights and silicone caulking (mixed with blue paint). And you know what they say, where there's fire... there's cotton.

Greg Baker So... tonight was the Goldilocks of silicone water... no blue... too much blue... just enough blue (and a dash of green). I'm not sure if I'm quite happy with the effect yet, but I have a giant tube of silicone caulking... I can make a few test runs I think.

Martin Oostrom Depends on where the lifeboat is. Deep sea is more blue than shallow waters. Tropics are more clear than North Atlantic. Can't go wrong if you do it Greggish!

Greg Baker LOL... I do it that way EVERY time...

Martin Oostrom You could try GregStyle or Modèle á la Greg next time

Greg Baker I should also mention, I kind of started my blog after getting a bit of inspiration from Rajesh Sinha's awesome blog The Transport Journal - https://thetransportjournal.com/category/cars-of-tintin/ - it's an engineering blog that has a special section devoted to the various modes of transport in the Tintin albums. He started with cars, then moved on the trains, ships and now airplanes... fascinating to read up about the real-world inspirations.

Greg Baker Hey Chris - thanks for checking out the blog~ I'm not really sure talented is the right word for it. I just don't often take 'no' for an answer. So I just started looking around for alternative ways to accomplish what I wanted to build as models and learned (and continue to learn) new skills along the way. The Tintin rocket clock is a favourite of mine. Even just building the rocket, which you'd think would be easy enough, was difficult. The shape is very subtle, but it's not just a tube with fins... and it's not even just a V2 with a checkerboard paint job.

Peter Hardy Well, Elon Musk has been reading your blog obviously! He has done a 1:1 scale of Tintin's moon rocket.

Greg Baker I'm proud of the rocket because of the manual skill, but then also learning the programming to turn on and off LED lights in a sequence so that they represent the digits of the countdown clock was a challenge. I almost started the countdown at '9' because of the challenges I had with multiplexing. That's basically turning each of the digits on and off so fast that the human brain thinks there's two of them - which is why the clock looks so funny in most of the final pics... you can fool the brain, but not the camera. After I finally got it all together, with one button to turn on the warning lights, then arm the countdown, then start the countdown, and then reset the whole thing, I showed it to my 9-year-old son... and he said "but what does it do?" I think he was expecting an actual launch...

Chris Greathouse well.... we're waiting

Greg Baker Heh... perhaps some day. I have thought about adding some sound effects though. In the meantime my Tintin list just grew. I had more fun than I thought with this rail tanker, so I just upped the ante and added a "Mogul" Class 76000 (B.R. "Mogul" Class 76000 (Kitmaster 30, 1:76) to my wishlist. It's probably NOT a train that would've been rolling around America in the early 1930s, but it's the train that IMHO looks the most like the one featured in Tintin in America. Uwe actually reminded me about that one during my short Rail Car build. So yes, I will include the small dynamite cart as well.

Martin Oostrom According to the most trustworthy source of all, Wikipedia, the last was produced in 1910 in the usa. It is plausible that there could have been a few in use twenty years later.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-6-0

Richmond Very nice

Greg Baker No exciting update today. The railing needs to be thicker, so glue, clamp.... glue, clamp... glue , clamp.

Chris Greathouse What are you gluing to the railings to make them thicker?

Greg Baker Some polystyrene strips. I didn't check the size since it just needs to look right (enough), but I think they're probably 2.5x1.5x30 or 3x2x30 mm. I have a whole drawer of various polystyrene tubes, rods, beams (U/H/L shaped), and strips. They are extremely handy when trying to scratchbuild just about anything.

Chris Greathouse Nifty

Michael Hickey Another interesting build from Greg, looking good.

Greg Baker Thanks Michael! I always say, if you can't be good... at least be interesting!

Not much of an update today, basically just cut a few more strips and got half of the posts done. It takes some work to cut them precisely enough to fit, but not have much of a gap. It's pretty easy to make one cut too many, so I took my time.

Martin Oostrom Columbus would not be pleased with how you are treating his Niña
I am!

Peter Hardy I always tell my grandkids, " If you can't be good, don't get caught"!

Lode Schildermans Dave, I think you're absolutely right. It is an art to look it easy when it is not

Timothy Heimer Nice work Greg!! Awesome

Greg Baker Thanks guys. I really only skip over the tedium... like sanding down the epoxy spats. I was only able to get one done last night before my mental strength ran out and I switched projects. It looks a bit funny with one giant foot and one normal foot right now.

Peter Hardy There are a hundred one liners to respond to that Greg but, I am going to demonstrate my new-found maturity by withholding all of them!

Greg Baker I'm struggling between trying to goad you into breaking your vow of maturity, and applauding it...

Peter Hardy Rise above it Greg, rise above it.

Alec K Awesome job Greg. The amount of patient sanding time on this baby must be considerable. The results will be worth it

Greg Baker Speaking of sanding... a bit more on the spats. But besides the propeller, that's the las of the major components that needed crafting. Once they're smooth, then the plane should be ready for some paint.... finally.

Tom Super cute! I want one.

Hanno Kleinecke Cool!

Peter Hardy ... and, in 24 hours! ????

Greg Baker Would've been less if I had rushed the "waiting for paint to dry" time, but I figured there was no real upside to doing that.

Peter Hardy LEGEND!

bughunter Quick and cool

Greg Baker That's what she said...

Peter Hardy In your dreams!

Thomas Bischoff looks much better now

Martin Oostrom You also cut the prop the wrong way?
Very nice as always Greg.

Greg Baker I cut the prop the wrong way? What does that mean?

Martin Oostrom In the book Tintin cuts the prop by hand. But the curve is the wrong way, so when he fires up the engine, the plane moves backwards. Then he cuts another prop by hand

Greg Baker LOL! Yes, right! Your comment makes more sense now. I didn't think to do that... now I'm regretting it.

Peter Hardy I gotta read more comic books!

bughunter Oh, a wooden propeller That is damn cool, you know. I assume, you used a pocket knife too?

Greg Baker Not quite... it only LOOKS like I did. however, there is a direct line between that wooden propellor and one of yours. I hadn't really thought of that as an option until I saw one of your amazing builds. I'm about to attempt it again for my paper-to-plastic Udet U-12 Flamingo build... so we'll see if I learned anything...

Bryn Crandell Very nice. Love the space.

Greg Baker Since Peter asked, I thought I'd update the pics to show off the growing collection and disappearing shelf space. Amazing to see the difference from 2 years ago.

Martin Oostrom I remember that stereo! We sold those when I was a bit younger. It packs a very good punch for its size.
I wish I had your space for everything. My desk might be bigger, but that's it.

Peter Hardy So the secret is ....... be tidy? Bigger stereo my arse, you're going to need a bigger arpartment!

Greg Baker Tidiness is almost always the answer... at least according to my wife. However, she disagrees with your assessment of my space being tidy. The area is actually supposed to be a wine bar, so it's just off the main living room. So my wife found it necessary to hang a bit of a screen to shield it from view. Unfortunately the bigger apartment isn't really in the cards, so I'll just have to stack higher and deeper.

Holger Kranich Now this is a nice man cave!

Spanjaard room looking better and better

Daniel Klink Wow!! SO well thought and arranged.. Cool. Like it very much Greg

Peter Hardy It is an ART Greg. I have the same moments, albeit without the creativity! More like painting a wall of a bedroom than your Chapel ceiling. I would love to see how you display your finished works. Might invite myself to dinner one night!

Greg Baker Come over anytime! It's not much to look at, but I updated my Man Cubby pics to show how my various projects are piling up. strobez

Alec K This is turning out great. The new rigging is definitely superior

Greg Baker Thanks Alec! I used stretched sprue in the end, but I have a hard time maintaining a uniform thickness. Then the line kept snapping on me just a millimeter shy of how long it needed to be... sigh. Oh well, it looks alright, so I'm happy enough for a one-off stand-alone project.

Bart Goesaert nice work on this one, that engine thing is looking nice, the pilot wouldn't have seen anything yet straight ahead.... You mentioned you hate rigging... well you used the same method I've learned from my father when doing things I hate, try to do them right the first time, then you're finished with it sooner...

Erik De Smet I just wondered why you called this project S7 when the kit is an S6 ? Recently I used 0.2 mm nickel Silver thread for rigging my biplanes and it worked well.

Greg Baker That's a good idea Erik. I'll try to find some of that thread. The reason I called the project S7 is because it's being built as an entry into a WHIF racing GB on www.whatifmodellers.com (whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,45910.0.html). Although modification is not strictly necessary, I didn't want to be held to a "real world" version of the S6, so I decided to give it counter-props, an engine "upgrade" and version of the wing/float radiator system based on the Macchi MC.72. I figured that was enough to push the design into a new iteration.

Peter Hardy Well, that would certainly put it in the "What if" category!

Donald Dickson II OK, are there any color illustrations of the plane from the series?

Peter Hardy I hate putting oil on the water (a lie) but as an accredited rivet counter I will point out the preposterous fact that the US Senate has never approved the sale of Phantoms to the Kingdom of Nod, errr Asran. Must have been another of those secret arms deals the US were throwing around way back when.

Apart from that Greg, I like the colour combination and think it looks awesome. Am I to take it that the Kingdom of Nod, errr, Asran was a tropical Monarchy? Carribbean? African? SE Asian? My imagination requires facts, not speculation!

Greg Baker No colour images Don, just B&W, but to my untrained eye it looks like every other Vietnam war era F-4E.

The background on Area 88 is that it's a mercenary airforce fighting the Anti-Government Forces (AGF) in the Asran Civil War. The fictional Kingdom is in North Africa - I like to think of it squeezed in between Libya and Egypt - along the Mediterranean, and the War takes place in the 1978-1983 time frame. Almost all the planes are sourced from "Old Man McCoy", whose tag line is that he can get you anything from a toilet paper to tactical nuclear warheads, as long as you can pay for it. Some of the planes "fall off the truck", some are cobbled together from multiple airframes/engines. So, it's pretty much anything goes as far as I'm concerned.

Donald Dickson II And there you go. It matters little how I see it. It can be anything you like then. The premise of the story almost dictates that nothing is going to be "standard".

Greg Baker Yeah. The colours are going to be limited by my meager knowledge, range of Tamiya acrylics and my patience. For the brown and the dark green I went off the FS codes provided by Platz with the kit painting guide... but then it got more complicated and I just took the path of least resistance. Even though it's fictional, I'd still like to keep it within the range of believability. If that makes sense. That's why I'm happy to get the feedback and advice, even if I choose not to take it necessarily.

Donald Dickson II LOL Well, the light green looks more to be the green used in some African nations planes I have seen and on Israeli planes.

The U.S. SEA FS numbers are (in case you dont have them)
Dark Tan FS 30219
Med Green FS 34102
Dark Green FS 34079
Model Masters makes them. I also have them in Tamiya rattle cans. Havent seen them in Tamiya bottles though.

Martin Oostrom To SEA or no to SEA. I see there's no sea. That acronym made me scratch my head a few times as a former sailor. They call it SEA and there's no blue in sight!
I also found some oil! I had to check google maps for your Kingdoms exact location: https://google.nl/maps/@26.8448164,26.3836146,1946695m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=nl (switch to satellite!)
SEA camo would not have been very effective there?
It is the best livery for an F-4 though and I also think yours looks awesome

Spanjaard let's say it came from a tropical country (vietnam?) and they did not bother repainting it, there is a war out there lads, and they are to busy to repaint the flying junk they have and of course, the sun can fade the original colors.... so i guess it is pretty accurate

Chris Greathouse showed a friend a bottle of 23ml Tamiya paint off my desk, she said that's a pretty small jar... Then showed her your creations and said the bottles in the pics are 10ml, she went nuts at how small they are. She loves Studio Ghibli and says great job!

Greg Baker Heh. I had to put in the Tamiya jar to remind everyone, including myself, of how small these are. Sometimes I look at the pics and wonder how I missed that spot, or why it looks that rough... then I look at them on the shelf and go "oh yeah.... that's why".

JOHN THOMAS Hey Greg, All very cool

Kerry Cox Some use a pencil tip too. :-O

Chris Greathouse some friends say awesome https://facebook.com/chrisagreathouse/posts/2089390834432833

Lode Schildermans Greg, so much your style. Greatly done without limits of imagination. I like it a lot

Greg Baker Heh, thanks guys. I noticed a couple of views on my blog originating from Facebook and I was a bit surprised to see them. Thanks for getting the word out. There is a Miyazaki Modelling group based in Japan that's done some really great stuff as well. home.b01.itscom.net/y-kano/miyazaki-index.htm

Chris Greathouse Thanks for the site, crazy neat stuff there!

Nils Steyaert love it

Nils Steyaert lovely collection