Treehugger I made sure to get one (1:72) at a nice price early on before the kits became expensive, much more expensive than the X-Wing models apparently. There is also the 1:144 scale version of the Y-Wing which you ought to check out (cheap), which is a nice model to have on the table in front of you.

Fun little detail: So I have a black'ish glass cabinet (the wooden parts painted black), and I've noticed that these small Bandai models that comes with a black stand.. the models looks like they hover in the air inside the cabinet which is a fun illusion. This looks really nice for the tiny (smallest) Star Destoyer model Bandai put out.

Christopher Mullins I have a display case, but its not black, but it may be an idea to get some black construction paper and surround the shelf where I have my star wars models, maybe but some holes in it for stars or something, maybe an idea

Chaz Gordon I have a pile of the Bandai droids to build, the quality of the moulding on those is outstanding, looking forward to see how this one goes together

Christopher Mullins me too, if I ever get any time to work on it, always working or over tired

Christopher Mullins The parts trees, some good details here but a lot of the parts are pretty small. Had a lot of trouble getting them off without breaking, and wasn't completely successful with it.

Christopher Mullins Both of the supports for the seat was broken, and it was very difficult to get them off the tree and back together again. same thing for the Machine Guns, one was already broken, and one of them broke as I took it off. I also seem to have lost one of the barrels because when I cut it off, it jumped and Im going to have to do some searching to find it again. I do like Dragon models, but I think this could have been a bit better engineered because the attachment points to the tree are far to thick and too close to the base of the tree for these small thin parts.

Christopher Mullins The top wing support was also already broken, like I got a box full of broken parts. Not sure how Im going to fix it yet. Really, I think these planes are too small for 1 48 scale, 1 32 would probably be better.

Wim van der Luijt try cutting fine parts with a hot scalpel or hobby knife...I use a candle to heat the blade before each cut

Christopher Mullins didn't think about that, i seem to be able to get em off best with a pair of fingernail clippers. Got a big problem with the top wing though, as one of the supports is broken so I have to see if I can create a new one.

Christopher Mullins When I was putting the top wing on one of the struts broke in half and now I cant find the half of it. I may have to get a new model because I have been looking for that thin plastic part for months and it hasn't turned up yet. Good thing they dont cost that much.

Christopher Mullins Well, I found the part of the strut that broke and that was missing, got it glued back together. It seems though that the top wing is too heavy for the parts they included to hold it up because the parts seem to be somewhat bent from the weight after putting it on. So after almost a year, this one is back underways

Christopher Mullins So I got the wing pretty much fixed, but it is a little crooked due to that broken part, and I could not get it any straighter. The top wing seems to be far to heavy for the supports here, it maybe should have been 2 piece, being hollow in the middle may have saved some weight and made it not so heavy. Not sure, well, I got it painted as well. On the pictures it does not look like a solid color but almost like, well, not sure really what to call it, but what I did to get a look that was similar was to first paint it beige, then I went over the beige with an Olive Drab and purposely left brush strokes in it to give that striped look like it looked in the pictures I saw.

Christopher Mullins So I started on the cockpit, pilot, Astromech unit, and the main fuselage now, I got he front piece except the interior mainly finished, waiting for the pilot to dry so I can continue painting it, and trying to decide whether I should use the older or newer astromech droid. I already sis some weathering on the front piece, the light grey plastic just does not look the part, these Y wings were old and beat up, so it has to be weathered pretty heavily I think.

Christopher Mullins Started this yesterday while I was waiting for other things to dry. parts look good for a tamiya kit, not like the old ones.

Christopher Mullins So, its coming along quite nicely, the camo is finished, just have to put the pioneer tools on and the rest of the details,

Christopher Mullins The Avenger seems to be coming along pretty well. I did a lot more interior detail painting as what it said on the instructions. Wasn't sure about all the colors on the cockpit, so I had to take a best guess looking at other ones I've done. I did the gauges in light grey and touched up the knobs and stuff with a bit of Iron color. Probably should be some that are red but I couldn't seem to find any pictures of the interior of a Helldiver. Had some problems getting the interior of the read compartment together, think it could have been Engineered a bit better really, but in the end i got it.

Roberto Rocat I'll follow

Christopher Mullins Seem to be missing the photo etch parts, I think then I will try to make the wires on the engine with real wire. Going to have to find something though for the ring that it is attached to, I think I have some old Road wheels from a tank that will fit though.

Christopher Mullins I am repainting the engine because the wright cyclones I have seen have black cylinders. Not a lot of work really. About the ring and plug wires on the front, got an idea for it. I think the right size of insulation from an electric wire will work for the ring and I have enough wire for the plugs. Got the wing painted, built and in place. Think it is looking OK so far.

Christopher Mullins I am using the red color for the flaps, and I think I have to order the Eduard flaps for it. I used Humbrol for this, the only Humbrol color I have, Think its Insignia Red. Its pretty much together, still working on the engine though. Gonna take awhile though because I am gone most of the time now.

Christopher Mullins Not understanding really how the flaps are after looking at some pictures.

Roberto Rocat Good progress

Christopher Mullins One Problem fixed, I drilled holes around the wing with my xacto knife and added 28 small brass wires around it into the cylinders using a picture I found of a wright Cyclone on the web. I will cover the wires with wash of black to tone down the color some, but I think it turned out pretty well. Just not sure what to do about the flaps, that will be much harder to fabricate than the wires.

Christopher Mullins So after a very long break with this one because of frustration, I finally got the wing flaps on and started painting it. It will be 3 toned but not like the instructions call, Revell just doesnt have a lot of colors, and the ones they do have are not very accurate, and the mixtures they give are hard to make with this thick paint that they have, so Ill go with the Navy colors from Model Master.

Christopher Mullins Been taking some pictures as I have been working on it, it is almost together and just posting now because of work. Got to do the seat and paint on the third camo color, but Im not sure if I should use NATO Green or Medium Green. The olive (ANA 613) I used is a bit darker than it should be because I ran out of the other olive green, so I was think about going darker with the NATO Green as well. The grey I used is Revell 77 Staubgrau.

Christopher Mullins Started on the Marder Last Night, as well as finishing up some details on my other projects.

Christopher Mullins This kit is pretty good I think, has a lot to it it seems. soon Ill get started on the camo and then to put the pionner tools on.

Christopher Mullins Been so busy and tired from work int he past 2 weeks, all Ive got done is the green part of the camo on one side, still have to do the dark red there too.

Christopher Mullins So I started on the D4 Judy last week, just got the pictures done though. About the kit, a lot of flash and fit problems. A Gap between the undersides of the wings and the rear of the fuselage which has to be filled and there is a separate part for the underside of the fuselage int he back, this part, I do not know if it was warped or if the molding was just bad, but the shape did not match the rest of the underside, it stuck out on both sides and it was at a shallower curvature, It didnt seem as if I could do much about the angle but I did file the sides so it matched better. These Fine Mould kits are not always cheap so I did expect a better product for the price, luckily I did get it on Ebay a bit cheaper than the normal price.

Mathijs Beenhakker Hi Christopher great looking model....Small hint..i usually paint the edges of clear parts with a brown/yellow paint to simulate the kitt used in real life and to hide the silvering edges and reduce the plastic look that canopy's usually have than i use lacquer to attache the clear parts

Christopher Mullins Got the camo painted on now, it hurts to sit so long and paint these stripes actually, maybe I shouldnt try to do it all in one sitting. Think it looks pretty good though, just have to do some touch up and start putting the rest of the parts on, mainly tools and exaust

James C Nice job on the camouflage This kit is on my to-do list as well.

gorbygould Nice job.

Olivier Here are the Fotos. I see them a little out of focus. Or do I need new glasses ?

Christopher Mullins NO they are out of focus, problem with the lighting, mainly being that there is no light today, once I get the decals on today or tomorrow I will try again to make some new pictures and post them.

Christopher Mullins last color put on, time for touch up and details, the decals and canopy, lookin good I think.

Christopher Mullins Got the canopy painted and put on as well as the scope. Just a little touch up and decals and its finished, think it look pretty good although I am not really sure how close the colors are.

Christopher Mullins The Bloch 151 is now finished, I like how the camo turned out and the Donald duck with a cudgel is cool. Wasnt so happy with some of the assemble because, for example the wheels didn't have pegs to hold them on, just these little studs, so getting them strait so that they dried strait wasn't that easy, and I dont think they are exactly strait. The painting instructions left something to be desired as well, for example, what color are the navigation lights, on the picture they look blue but it doesn't tell you they should be blue, that may have just been representing the clear plastic, I dont know really.

Christopher Mullins Have done a lot of work on this one, including a small review of the kit because its a newer kit. Give hopefully interested people an idea of the kit. The camo scheme is pretty complicated, 4 colors on top, my paint job wont be exactly like that on the instructions but close enough I think. It is a decent kit, but going to need some filling and sanding I think.

Christopher Mullins I have done up to the third topside color, and going to do the Chocolat, or as close as I can get with this and the D 520 soon.

Christopher Mullins Been wanting to build this for awhile. This is one of my favorite jet fighters, the lines just look so sleek cool, I think it looks better than the US fighters, and I like these Russian camo schemes too. Hopefully I can get most of it finished before I have to go back to work next week.

Christopher Mullins Well, the problem with buying stuff on Ebay, I bought this model some years ago, maybe 3 or so, never noticed the photo etched wasn't in the box. Maybe Eduard has replacements, gonna have to search around I guess and not going to have it finished this year probably

Christopher Mullins Think its turning out pretty good despite the missing parts, and I have some mesh from these tamiya tanks, as well as some other metal mesh, which may just be able to replace those parts in the intake.

Treehugger I just want to add that you can buy some brush conditioning goo, in a small bottle which might help keeping the brushes intact over time.

The one product I have is the small bottle of liquid Tamiya 87181 "Brush conditioning fluid". One is supposed to dip the tip in the liquid after cleaning it first, before storing the brush. Then, one would clean the tip in water again, before use the next time.

Here is a randomly selected review of the product off youtube:
Youtube Video

Martin Oostrom Brushes can be critical for your finished build, frayed brushes or lost hairs are very bad for the result. Don't go cheap, buy good ones. Go to an art supply store and buy the right brushes. Keep your brushes for acrylics separate from the ones used for enamels, or mark them visibly. Do not use a brush for enamels with acrylics and vice versa.

Treehugger I think it is also a good idea to keep some brushes in stock, unused. Because then you have them ready when you need it.

I had to do some touch up painting by hand, on some thin white stripes on a submarine model, and because the lines were so short and thin, before airbrushing on the white, adding the masking tape was problematic/difficult, so I had to clean up the lines with a tiny tiny brand new brush. And it worked.

Hans Robben What Martin said: don't skimp on this and keep them seperate. I have brushes from Kolibri with 2 different colored handles: synthetic in blue (I use them for acrylics) and rotmarder in red (for enamels). They also have a nice thick triangular grip. Go to an arts store and try a few to see what fits you best.

Olivier I did this one in my young days. Would love to see how yours turned out. Would you share some photos ?

Christopher Mullins photos are in album, it is about finished, just got to put the decals on it, and its a pretty cool looking vehicle, but I think I like the 234 even better.

Christopher Mullins Started on the 82E, looks like a pretty easy build, almost have the interior together and already painted the base color on the body

Christopher Mullins These Tamiya tanks really just fall together quite easily. 7 hours and just track and decals to finish.

Christopher Mullins Here are some more pictures of some of the details, think its looking pretty good and all I have left are decals.

Martin Oostrom Nice! I think I saw one of these very, very recently

Christopher Mullins an old WWII style beetle. Cool cars

Christopher Mullins Got this yesterday and already started on it. Was surprised I found one of these still, and think it looks pretty good for the age of the kit.

Christopher Mullins This is coming along pretty fast, even though it only has a half engine, the underneath still looks descent I think. the rest seems to fit together OK, I dont like how they do some of the seams though, it was the same with the Italeri HEMMT, weird seams. The engine looks like it is a bit crooked too.

Christopher Mullins A couple of problems here, it should have to Sincgars antennas and a Brush guard. It seems like those parts are made by a couple of companies if I can just get them here. Or maybe revell could send me an extra antenae.

Christopher Mullins Gonna do some kit bashing here to get what i need to make one, anyone need the leftovers?

Christopher Mullins almost finished, put some details on it and decals, which I am doing specially with my old unit and everything, so that might take awhile, and gonna have to realign the tarp on top, didnt dry right

Christopher Mullins Here is a T 26 that I started 3 years ago, problems with the tracks that came with it (they were way to big and didn't fit at all) led to me buying another cheap T 26 that had actaully had much better track in it, and they fit, and I could even resell the T 26 that I used without track. Then it sit on a shelf for about a year and I finally put the decals on it today, all three of them. Dont know why it took so long for me to do that, just forgot I guess. I like this one a lot better than the other T 26 I have with the two turrets.

Christopher Mullins Another light project. It is going together well, so far a found a little flash but no other problems. I will be painting it Panzerdunklegrau with Dunklebraun like some vehicles were at the beginning of the war, like I painted my Panzer IV basically.

Carlos Cisneros That's a great kit for a quick simple project.

Christopher Mullins I am surprised at the detail on the underside, almost messed up the wheels though, the A and B. Not going to put the protective cover on the back, I think that was more for vehicles in North Africa. This will be an early war version, East Front. I saw a picture of a 222 on a website that was from the early war and it was camouflaged. Think it was panzerworld.com. They said it was tank grey and a dark brown, but the picture was black and white, dont know, but Ill just do this like I think looks OK. Not going to add the figures though because I suck at painting figures.

Carlos Cisneros Lol. Worst case, you can use the kit figure to practice and hopefully improve your skills there.

Christopher Mullins Usually I just sell the figures on E bay, usually get about 3 or 4 Euros for em.

Christopher Mullins This is coming along fine I think, Been procrastinating on cutting out the mesh though. I painted tho bottom before I put on the wheels, I will be painting the top soon, when I get the turret hatches on. I want to make the hatch able to open and not just static though, shouldn't be too hard I think.

Christopher Mullins Finally went farther with this one, go the grenade cages on the turret hatches and the Panzer grey on it, gonna have to go back over the nets and poke the holes back out where the paint closed it up, probably get the brown on it today and then the details this week.

B R Looking good

Tim Heimer So far so good! Keep it going!

Bill Newcomer Following. Love the color.

Munkyslut That's a great link Chris! Interesting read, I've tuned a few 472's in my time & even a 500.
If you study that pic closely you'll see the blue painted dome shaped casting bolted to the top left side of the block. That's the fuel pump, the brass assembly to the left of it is the fuel filter.
Later blocks had the pump mounted much lower down the block, driving straight of the camshaft.

Christopher Mullins Those driving out of the camshaft are what Im used to I guess, how it was on most of the cars Ive owned with V8, my 79 Chevy with a 350 was the first engine I took a part after it threw a rod. the older engines Im not so familiar with though.

Christopher Mullins Well, finally an update, been busy with work and the last week with the flu so haven't accomplished all that much. Interior is mostly done though, except the Dashboard, was trying to figure out what some of the stuff was on there because on the interior pictures I found the piece in the upper left is a gauge but on the model it looks completely different. I also got most of the Chrome on the body, but I have to work on the Windshield because it was pretty badly scratched, got the big scratches sanded off it now, just got to polish it up now.

Christopher Mullins Got pretty far on the Caddy now, there are some adjustments that have to be made in the engine compartment to straiten some stuff up, the hood hinges, thats about it except for the one sore spot, the windshield, its terrible, it was so scratched up so I decided to try to fix it and then I broke it in half, so I guess the dude driving my Caddy hit a Bird? But the frame doesn't look all that good either, and I am having a really tough time trying to get any kind of shine out of the plastic. I guess it just the type of plastic that is harder to work with, maybe it has to do with the age of the plastic, Im not sure. Wish I could get a new windshield and frame for it , would be the best solution.

Munkyslut Have you thought about dipping the clear plastic glass in to Future floor polish?
It's a great way to improve stained or scratched clear parts.

Christopher Mullins so, what do they have in Germany that is like future? Gonna have to ask around I guess

Munkyslut It's available all over eBay in Europe Christopher, you should be able to buy it easily I'd have thought?

Christopher Mullins well, i see it on Amazon, and I think they have it my Mueller, just gotta go see tomorrow.

Christopher Mullins Ok, so the parts that I messed up on are fixed, and I've been thinking about what I want to do in the interior, I have a couple of olive colors with grey that I think would look good inside. I think Fern Green would be good.

Munkyslut How do you paint your interiors Chris? Spray or brush? Acrylics or enamel?

Tim Heimer Christopher I know what you mean, I'm on a fixed income and you see some of the work here and wish you could get the things others have to complete yours's the way you would like. I mix my paints the best I can, make the parts that I can't and improvise where I can. We are here to show what our imagination can do. We are also here to help and be helped.

Christopher Mullins Munky, I brush with Enamel. I always use enamel except for the exteriors, the Tamiya Acrylic spray is much better than the Revell Enamel Spray, they are the only ones I can get here, and they are both expensive, 8-10 Euros for 1 can. All of my military models I hand paint, except for aircraft with aluminum fuselage. The first car I did the, 66 Mustang, was with Revell Enamel spray and I was not at all satisfied with how the body turned out. The Tamiya spray colors look better, they are brighter and have a good gloss to them. Tim, I know exactly what you mean. I was thinking though, there is this aluminum or chrome foil they make for models, but Im not sure where to get it or how to put it on, and would like to use some on the caddy instead of the stickers if it doesn't cost too much. It might look better. I improvise a lot too, but sometimes i go over my budget and will buy an eduard set on occasion, or those boost parts if something is totally badly molded.

Munkyslut Thanks for the tips Christopher!

Christopher Mullins Havent made as much progress on the Hemi as on the Caddy, but got the Interior coming along now, Didn't go with the Fern Green, was much too bright, wanted the interior toned down a bit from the outside, so I went with Revell 361 which is Olive Green and I think it looks good, even though I think it looks more like a dark olive, but it may just be cause the grey is so light.

Tim Heimer Chris, for chrome trim and small parts I use the 2mm chrome marker, Just shake it up and go, cost is about 10-13 Euros but will last a long time. The bare metal foil will cost about the same per sheet. It is delicate to work with and to some can be a challenge. On the aluminum, I cheat a lot with a silver Sharpie brand marker in certain areas but also use the Bare metal foil where I feel fit. I hope this helps.

Christopher Mullins Busy at work so haven't had much time to work on models, but I got soemthing done in the last week, interior is done, except for a bit on the roof, and the windshields. Chassis is done and as soon as I get the windshields on it can go together. After that there is not much to do. It is the stock version of the car with the exception that I will be using the modified wheels cause I like how they look.

Christopher Mullins I built this in the 90s as a teen. That one didn't look that great. This one will be better. The instructions call for it to be painted gray, the studio model was brown, or well beige, but it did look quite gray or dark brown on screen. I struggled a bit deciding what color I would use. I like to try to paint things as they look on screen and not what the studio models look like but i decided using such dark colors on something like this would hide too much detail, even though it would also hide any damage that should occur with these big connection points to the tree. I probably spent about 2 hours yesterday going over the colors I have and what I think would look best. I finally decided on MM Armor Sand for the body, it is a darker beige, and I think it will turn out to look OK with that color. I just means I will have to do a bit more sanding and stuff to even out the seems, which some of the seams do not fit together well at all. ON the first part of the Docking ring I built there, was a hangover on one side that was probably a good 3 mm, and a lot of the parts are like that. This should also be the Lighted kit, but something like that I cant really afford. They cost between 250-300 Euros. This was a lighted kit that someone had taken the LED's out of and then Auctioned the rest, a normal DS9 cost about 90, I got it for 40, good deal I think.

Christopher Mullins First we have pictures of the trees, for an older kit this has descent detail i think, but the connections to the tree are going to cause problems. I got quite far last night in one sitting, the whole docking ring and promenade is built, and one section of the docking ring has a base coat on it.

Torsten Wendt I take a seat

Christopher Mullins Promenade is looking good I think, but the shuttle doors I think I will repaint in a lighter gray. There are a lot of problem areas around the Docking arms though, that will take quite a bit of work to get ti right. I do wih I had the LEDS for is though, but the 350 Euros I couldn't afford.

Torsten Wendt Yes, more different shades will give more life

Christopher Mullins Need more paint, been concentrating on the B wing for the time being while I order some more armor sand paint, but I did get the other three Docking Arms glued together, and most of the operations center and fusion reactor built and painted.

Christopher Mullins Found a new color from Humbrol, Dark Stone that looks good on it, its a bit darker than the other color but I think its better that way. I have god all the parts that were already painted repaint and and started on the other parts too. Now its coming along again and I found a good replacement for the no longer produced Armor Sand that I like to use on Russian Helicopters and other desert schmoes