Very nice cockpit, Pedro. It looks great.

I have a lot of these Eduard 110s in my stash. Based on your and Emres comments I know what to look out for.

Looking forward to see more

PS. congratulations on giving up your freedom, Emre

Emre,
Congrats on your upcoming wedding (at least I got it correct this time) I also posted some guards at your door just incase you decided to do any running before the up and coming ceremony.

Hey just kidding buddy I hope for you and your wife the best.

Bob

Here is the FineMolds 1/72 Me-410 that I am working on. The kit isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, though it isn't as good as I imagined it would be. FineMolds seems to have a almost mythic reputation for build quality that rivals Tamiya's. I am not sure that even Tamiya always deserves it, though their 1/32 Spits and Mustang do seem to be awe inspiring.

If I went by all the hype (though funnily enough it was kind of a I know a friend of a friend who once built a Finemolds) this should have built itself. Now in all fairness its not bad. The cockpit went together really easy. It didn't fit within the fuse as tightly as I thought it would, but again it wasn't terrible, just not the amazing fit I expected. The wings went together fine, but the cowlings were a pain. Cowlings seem to be a common kit problem for a bunch of manufactures so I can't slam FM for it to much, but the gaps were a little surprising. Tail section was good and I just taped one side as it was a little loose and I didn't want it to take on the wrong angle as the glue dried.

Used some putty here and there. Puttying is still one of my weak points. Close to painting now. Through a layer of Tamiya FinePrimer on. Its drying now.

Thanks Jesper and Bob! Let's see how marriage turns out. I'm thinking it won't be very different, since we have been together 9 years with my wife-to-be.

Pedro, a question for you. How did you manage the areas I marked? There's a significant step there, did you cover it all up by putty then rescribe? I was thinking maybe I should sand it all to shape and then try to rescribe lost detail, but I guess it's beyond my league. I'm not that good with a scriber. The other option could be filling the step with epoxy putty and raise the engine side to the level of the wing, but getting the right shape can be hard. What would you recommend?

@ Emre,

In my opinion there is no easy path to resolve painlessly those . cowlings...

Actually my approach is the epoxy putty ( lots!) on the cowling side of the step, mainly because it makes more sense in ease of apply (of putty I mean), and has less panel lines & rivets to scribe.
Mind you Emre, the C/D/E version can be less vicious than the G version with that bump right next to the step

Spirits up, because the the kit is actually very good in all the rest, though I wonder how the Cybber-Hobby kit behaves in this area?!?!

Cheers

Best wishes on your wedding Emre! It would be a pity giving up the build given your excellent work on the cockpit.

The fit of my P-61, well, I will not comment on it with my limited experience, but I'm seeing a hell of puttying and sanding awaiting.

Still there's some detail I could lose puttying just behind the step. I think I'll also have to use epoxy putty to retain the proper shape.

I think these Eduard kits are very curious. They have marvelous amount of detail, yet the fit is horrible and there's flash on the parts. Sub units (like the wing-halves, fuselage halves, etc) fit together wonderfully, but you can't fit any of those sub units together...

I also have a CyberHobby D kit (the nachtjager one), but I'm afraid to open its box after this adventure.

C'mon Emre, your not being fair to this model, after all even the wing halves joint is not that good!
But seriously, I totatly agree with you, great details (crême de la crême, in my view) hamperd by a somewhat vague fit of parts.
Back in those Eduard's early models, this issue was expected due to that "cottage industrie" halo that came with all Eastern european makers. But now?! It really disapoints.

On the other hand, don' t be put off to try that nachtjager, I'm counting on you to get that good excuse to spend a few more euros

Cheers

@ Emre and Pedro: 1A cockpits as usual guys, dont give up on them now, even when the kits suck in other areas. Emre, I would say the worst parts done, it will surely be downhill from now on.

@ Aaron: Fine Molds Me 410? Well thats new. Could You make more pictures pleeease ?

@ Jiang: Im following Your build with intrerest, since Im planning on the 1/48th P-61 for some time now. Keep making pictures !

Well we have made it to the airbrush bay Managed to forget to spray the doors so will have to do them this weekend. Admittly not the best spray job in the world but didnt think it was too bad for a first attempt at this camo pattern

I also got to the spray bay last weekend but before that I had to prepare for some salt weathering. please bear with me as this is my first attempt at this

First you need some water, salt (in the shaker that looks like a light bulb), an old toothbrush and a small paint brush



The technique seems quiet simple wet the toothbrush with the water and flick it onto the surface then sprinkle the salt on. For larger patches of weather area just dab water on with the paint brush instead the salt should set with the water almost instantly.





I left the salt to dry over night and then knocked of any excess area that i didn't want chipping with a cotton bud (Q-tip)



Once happy it went to the spray bay. As it's an overall green I decided to pre shade the panels with black in the hope it'll break up the monotony of the colour. At this point I realised that the salt masking is very fragile and some fell off or blew of with the airbrush before the paint got near it. So take care not to knock it all off or put extra on to start with.



And then the coat of Tamiya XF-11 J.N. Green was applied in light coats to build up the colour but not hide the preshade too much. Before the paint had fully dried I got the toothbrush and scrubbed the salt off. I'm not sure if its meant to do this but the scrubbing not only removed the salt but has also left a patchy apperence to the paint as well... bonus







The gun bay door was a result of applying the water with a brush

The engine nacelles got a similar treatment but were sprayed with XF-18 Semi Gloss Black but the salt was harder to remove (i think it maybe the paint that caused this)



And drop fuel tanks received the same treatment but with a coat of Tamiya XF-12 J.N. Grey



The next step will be to mask off the yellow band on the leading edges and the marking and to do the same treatment to the red and yellow to hopefully show some of aluminium and the green

As always comments, critique and suggestions are welcomed

So thats where the salt shaker disappeared off to

Looking good! That salt technique makes a very realistic chipping, so tipical of those jap paints! Thanks for sharing those steps, valuable as guidance to future atempts. Keep it up

@Naseby: thank you for watching, but you may do the upcoming Great Wall Hobby kit instead; many parts of the revell kit fit horribly

Hi all, and WOW !! There's some really great progress lately by everybody (except me).

Jiang, I didn't find the fit too bad on my old P-61, I just had to do a bit of sanding on the joins and continual test-fitting and it went together quite well. There are about 40 progress pics in my Photobucket album HERE .

Pedro, excellent work on the 110, I can't wait to see it painted up !

Aaron 611, great progress on the 410 mate, just make sure it doesn't go the same way as the IMAM mate !

Camo, very nice job on the mottling. I've never worked up the courage to try this yet, but I hope my first attempt is as good as yours.

Tomcat, thanks for the mini-tutorial on the salt-chipping technique. Your paint job is superb. I am hoping to do a weather-beaten P-61 next year and will give this method a go.

As for me, I'm resigned to the fact that I'm not even going to get started in this Campaign now. Work is driving me insane and I'm getting preciousl little bench time. I would rather save the Zerstorers in my stash for a future Campaign, when I can do a decent job, than rush through one and stuff it up.

Anyway, I have updated the Roll Call/Build Status post on page 1, and I'm really enjoying running the show and watching and learning from you guys. Keep up the great work and keep posting progress reports please.

Cheers, D

@Damian, I may have done too many tamiya kits to form that impression, but it is quiet a dilemma to sand the joints and lose the raised panel lines.

Yeah, I know the feeling for sure. Maybe my explanation wasn't very clear though. I found that when I test fitted the parts there were gaps caused by "raised" sections along the edge of the part, especially around the locating pins. Once I evened those areas out, sometimes by removing the locating pins, the gaps disappeared and I barely used any putty at all.

I hope this makes more sense.

Cheers, D

@Damian. Yeah its too bad a kit. I wouldn't call the fit awesome though. The reviews for most Finemolds stuff is they almost fall together. Not this one. Its nothing like the old Airfix or anything terrible. Just not that amazing goes together without much help. Its certainly easier than the Italian bird though. Realized I don't have all the paint i need for it so I have to pick that up. Then I am not far from finishing it. Just finished my 1/48 Val for the Midway campaign, which leaves only this one to finish.

Thanks for the advice Damian, I should have removed those parts to get a better fit.

Got some more done this weekend... I made my own masks for the Hinomaru's, Leading edge ID and the tail code as I wanted to salt weather these as well. Ideally I would have used Mal's Miracle Masks but I know he's very busy at the moment and I didn't realise that I'd get to painting this so soon.

I taped the decal sheet to the back of some clear plastic-card and then made them out of Tamiya tape. I then masked everywhere else,Salt weathered and then sprayed the various areas in their respective colours. The Hinomaru's were Tamiya XF-7 Red, the Leading edges Tamiya XF-3 Flat Yellow with a drop of XF-64 Red Brown and the serials are Tamiya XF-2 Flat White



Then all the salt and masking was removed and this was the outcome







Again the water and salt had a funny affect to the paint but Sam and I think it adds a bit of extra weathering to it





The props have also received a base coat of Tamiya XF-10 Flat Brown



Next will be a coat of Klear to seal it all and then the only 4 decals I need to apply (as they were too small to make masks)

As always comments, suggestions and critique is always welcomed

Hi guys
Progress has been a tad slow as of late due to work and Mrs Torch
heres some pics of the monster mossie,hope you like.

the guns with and without replacement barrels

cannons

the 303 gun bay and fuel tanks and a close up of the fuel tank


the bomb bay sides with doors, cockpit and U/C doors after washes


the cockpit sides


and the cockpit and radio






@ Allen,love that salt thingie,I'll try that on the props and spinners
Cheers
Andy

Awesome work!

Absolutely knockout work on the Uber-Mossie Torchy, the detail in that kit is stunning. Thanks for sharing your progress.

Best wishes from the Great Southern Land to Mrs Torch as well mate, let her know she has friends on her side everywhere !

Cheers, D

Hey D
Thanks for the kind words mate,this kits a legend,theres sooo much to do.
Its going to be donated to the De Havilland mesuem when finished