Just started doing the PE zoom kit from eduard for the 1/48 tamyia Spitfire mk vb. So far I have completed the belts and IP. I have to say, I was unsure if I would enjoy working with PE as I felt like it might feel like cheating, having the small details done for me. Boy was I wrong, using this stuff is so challenging and so satisfying to get completed. Probably the most fun I have had in a long time and the results are beautiful! my only complaint is the instructions have a tendency to be difficult to read at some points. my first foray into modifying a kit and not building straight OOB. I have so much more respect now for those of you who get amazing results with all this AM stuff, especially those of you that do the full conversions. I will get there someday, as for now tho I am off to bed, spending two hours trying to wrestle some tiny seat belts onto a tiny seat I feel as tho I just worked a 10 hour shift…
Hey - it’s great to push the envelope…I’m glad you’re enjoying the new experience. Post some pics when you’re finished with the 'pit.
Usually, the fear of the unknown is what keeps us locked in our comfort zone - but venturing outside really isn’t that difficult.
Just wait till you get stuck into a resin 'pit or a major resin conversion…you often get not much more than…the resin…very scanty in the way of instructions or painting instructions…I guess they believe that if you’re up to hacking up a perfectly good styrene kit to replace a tail/wing/nose etc etc etc…then you don’t need instructions.
But it’s all good fun.
Nope! It’s not cheating. Sometimes the manufacturer will drop the ball and exclude some detail that should have been on the aircraft, PE replaces that lost detail the manufacturer omited. In cases where you may buy a model that has no interior detail at all, buying a PE set is as good as GOLD.
Case in point… Italeri 1/48 F-18E Super Hornet has no molded cockpit detail and only supplies a decal to represent it, buying the Eduard F-18E PE detail set #48377 ( as I was advised to do and did ) I will now have the cockpit detail I should have had when I purchased the kit.
Cheating??? No way! Improving? Heck Yeah!
I am with AMM. Just more parts for the kit as far as I am concerned. Some of the PEcan be challenging but once you getthe hang of it, it feels weird to build a kit without the stuff.
Here are some progress pics, Im really happy with the results so far
I fully understand what your saying. In some ways LastPriest it’s that “step” or “hill that you climb to get to the other side”. The AirBrush, PE/AM, and and and on. I read a post here once that said, That’s what set’s you apart from a kit assembler, to a (fine scale) model builder.[8D]
I would hope that is what we all stride for, I want to learn these things, overturn all the stones I find because I dont want to do anything I cannot take pride in. getting caught stagnant is something I find unacceptable. If I ever catch myself without the will to learn more about whatever I am interested you better believe that is the day I no longer participate
looks great, the PE adds so much. i was super disappointed with my current kits’(italeri 1/48 F-86E) cockpit detail (or lackthereof). Just decals and shotty ones at that.
Looks great Priest! Way to go on leaping that hurdle. [tup]
Very nice looking PE. The penney really gives the feel of how small those parts are!
I wish I were that good, thats a quarter
Be afraid, you have started down the perilous route of the addicted. Youll find yourself buying kits dependant on the PE you can get for it. LOL.
All joking aside it looks great so far. I find PE really brings a subject to life. OOB you can never produce anything anywhere near as great as the look PE brings to the model.
With those dashboards where you put the printed film behind the etched front. Put a drop of Microscale Kristal Klear in the openings. Only a drop. Not enough to flow outside the hole, and it makes a perfect lens for it and looks the bizz.
Top work fella, cant wait to see it completed.
…Guy
uh-oh tread carefuly lad - I seem to remember you firing up a 72nd p-40 OOB build not long ago… I have a whole closet full of abandon kits that got kicked to the curb the minute something cooler showed up on my doorstep! [:D]
All jokes aside - looks good priest! The temptation to move back into 1/48th is strong at times. but then I think just how insane it would make me to try and get that much more crammed in that cockpit… and i happily return desk and try and get the same level of detail into a 72nd cockpit and go nuts just the same… Cheers-J
Oh dont you worry, that little P-40 got finished. I still havent taken the completion pictures but that baby is done. I still am going to build primarily 1/72 due to limited shelf space, this bird isnt for my own viewing plesure its a gift. Thanks everybody for the kind words, like I said before the sense of accomplishment after putting that stuff together and getting such great results my first time using it is awesome
Now that this is going well and your “feelin it” you’ll want to get a nice set of PE for that neat little 1/72 scale model ya wanna do next. Adds the same level of detail in 1/72 also. Naaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh he screamed as he fell into the AMS pit!!! Good fun…
G.L.
It’s a long and treacherous journey down the AM road. Glad to hear to 40’ is finished priest. just checking to make sure, As I am a victem of dropeverythingforsomethingnewitiss and unfinishitis.
I think I need to go to meetings…
Good on you for sticking to 72nd It’s the gentlemans sale after all. and Gifts are always legit deviations, even for the 72nd faithful.
Looking forward to pics.-J
That turned out really great LP! [:D] Now you have certainly crossed over into the realm of the detail modeler. Feel proud of what you built, it looks great [tup]
I ordered my first set of seat belts while I was building a Tamiya Wildcat 1/48 because no seat belts are included in thier kits except sometimes they have decals for this but when the cockpit is open it does not do much to the accuracy of the kit. So I decided to try and Eduard set for US planes. I’m so pleased with the result that I’ getting more of the PE seatbelts, US, Brits, Germans because after seeing the installed belts I would not settle for anything less!
So here is even further progress on my spitfire, boy masking is labor intensive but I think it came out pretty good. as always any comments welcome
Looks good from here. Nice work.
Regards, Rick