Madhatter Mk2

Hi guys It's that time of the fortnight again - yup: update time! I've been plugging away at yet more side walls and naturally, there is still a heap more to do yet. I did say this will be a loooooong build (ticked over the one year mark already with so much more to do). I sometimes wonder why I do this to myself but for the rest of the time, I love it I have to remind myself that I still have the other side to do yet as well as the bottom and then the sidewalls. Maybe by 2021 it'll be done..... As you can see, I still need to add some details to the hull to tie in the sidewalls but that'll happen soon enough. Anyway, that's all I have for now but I will be back again once I have done something worth showing Thanks for looking and if you have any suggestions for details etc, I'm open to them Cheers Si

I had my club night tonight so instead of wrestling the SD into the car etc, I took the B1B and it was a dream to build. I haven't glued it up yet as I still need to paint the cockpit etc but because it's "snap fit" (or wannabe Bandai), I can take it apart easily. The interesting thing about that kit is the tail section needs glue to stay attached, so it's definitely no Bandai!

Thanks Darren Your quite right it does get a bit tedious and demoralising but as you say, I do take a short break from it every now and then and often come back with some more interesting ideas. I have a 1/144 B1-B to make yet which I am going to do very soon

hi guys Well, time for another update. Not sure how many more I'll do for a while as I may take a break from this, but not just yet. I keep looking at how much I've done versus how much is left to do and I start shaking inwardly. Definitely a long term build. As you can see, I have made a start on the port side. I've installed the mini hangars and they look alright. I tried to dial down the brightness but may need to do more. And something I haven't shown you yet - a lighting test of the rear engines: Well, that's it for now but as always, thanks for sticking around and having a look Till next time Si

thanks very much Darren Hi guys Well, it's been 3 weeks and I've done 5/8ths of bugger all. I have made a start on the back end of the top hull plate which you'll see in a sec. I've not really touched it in this time as I have been building a Tarangus Viggen but that's stalled because I just can't bring myself to do the complex paint job. I have however think I have settled on a suitable base. It's also going to take some work but it'll be worth it. I just can't bring myself to do all this work on this and cheap out on the base. I certainly won't be making the same mistake as the Venator. [ I was blabbing on about some small side hangars in one of my last posts somewhere. I don;t think they exist on the filming model but I can safely say I think we're well past that.... You can see why I would think to have them though - those spaces look like they're meant to be like this, although I am wondering how much artistic license Zvezda used when tooling this kit Sorry to say but this is all I have for you. Till next time Happy modelling and thanks for looking in Si

So, here I am with another update. The roof is finished - or finished enough for now. It's looking pretty good to me. It's hard trying to keep it all in scale but I think I am doing alright. A test fit of the bridge and neck was okay but I had to remove some stuff off the back left sidewall to allow the neck to slide all the way in. The fit is not the best - I'll be honest, I'm not sure if it's all me, or part me and part kit or just the kit itself. Either way, I'll have to think carefully about how the final construction is going to go. Well, that's me done for another couple of weeks I think. I'll be making a start on the lower level sidewalls tonight hopefully, then the main body which will be very time consuming I think. Till then Adios amigos Si

Hi again everyone I had been asked on another forum for some lighting help and so I did up a very quick photo tutorial on how I use and install SMD's and fiber optics, so I thought I might as well post it here too for anybody to reference if they have never used them before. The pictures aren't the best as I took them quickly and had crap light today but they will convey the message adequately enough. First up are the Fibers. These are "Hobby Spools" which are available from here. They're cheap and there's more than enough there to light several models. You can make out the sizes on the labels. Next are 64 strand fiber cables - these are the smallest you can get AFAIK. You can also get 32 strands as well. Pictured are 60 ft and15 ft lengths. These are also the ones I am using for the SD windows. To use them, cut off the length you want - making sure you have more length than you need to allow for curves etc. You'd need to decide where on the kit you want the attach the light source before you cut. Once at the length you want, very carefully run a sharp blade along the side of the sleeve from one end to the other. Then gently pry the split apart the sleeve and pull the fibers out - carefully. To roughly and you'll split or fracture the fiber rendering it useless. Next up are the items you'll need to install onto your subject. In this example, a piece of scrap plastic card, some plastic tube - in this case a 1 cm section of 4.8mm diameter tube. The drill bit is a #80. These fibers are 0.25mm and the next sized fiber up would use a #78 drill bit. The SMD in the picture is 1mm in size. Heat shrink tube and a lighter. To install, drill out 2 holes close together on the scrap plastic and run the wires through the card. You can secure the wires on the back with a drop of CA or my preference is PVA as it's less likely to make the plastic coating on the wires brittle by providing some flexibility. Then glue the tube section over the top of the SMD. Trim off the excess plastic. Once that's dried, slide the heat shrink tube over the top leaving enough length at one end for crimping. It's where the fiber will go in. Gently heat the tube from below with the lighter until it's shrunk enough to hold everything in place. I usually also seal the ends where the wires exit with PVA and then go one step more and paint the dried seal black to light block it further. Once that's done, heat and crimp the other end of the heat tube and insert the fibers - again, sealing and securing them with PVA. Again, once dried, paint them black. Try to avoid painting the fibers themselves as I have had instances where the paint makes the fibers brittle and prone to snapping. I can't tell you enough how annoying it is to have to remove a broken fiber and replace it. PVA doesn't react to the paint.. And 'hey presto', you have lighting on a small scale. Notice that one of those fibers has split in the middle. This means that the end you want lit isn't as bright as the others. Some other things to consider are: you can naturally use a smaller tube. The length of the tube is also wholly variable according to your size limitations. You also don't need to shrink wrap the tube either. You can paint the tube black and use model glue to secure it against the subject as well. I prefer to shrink wrap it as it provides better protection for the SMD/LED If you use an LED - 3mm or more, a good tip to avoid harsh light is to sand the LED itself until it's frosted. This will diffuse the light so much better and provide a nice glow. I'll be doing this on the SD. It should dull the light down enough to make the effect more realistic and so that the SD is not powered by the sun. Well, that just about sums it all up. If you have any questions or you want something clarified, by all means drop me a line. Happy lighting folks!

My first car is definitely not worth a model of - that's for sure. In saying that, I found a kit of my third car which I loved and have started making a kit of it recently. I'm waiting for the AM rims to come in so I can finish it. I hope they fit. It is for a Toyota Levin GT. I even found a paint that's super close to the one I had.

yeah maybe - I saw it back in the mid 80's and my memory of that time is a little hazy due to only being 9/10 but I distinctly remember those headlights

I've almost bought this kit a couple of times in the past but couldn't make it happen for lack of imagination of colour choice. Yours has come out beautifully, and black is a hard colour to get right (surprisingly) Great job!

I don't like this word being used much, but it fits here: cute Very cute I had no idea you could even get a model of such a dinky little bike. I keep thinking you could put on a pair of "Ape-Hangars" and paint it back for a cartoon biker's bike - if you get my drift (no offense meant BTW)

Sorry for being late to the party, but that's way cool. I remember seeing a road version of the Manta around the corner from my house when I was a kid and I also recall thinking it was a cool looking car. It was gold in colour from memory. As has been said before, you may not build many cars, but this is a great kit you've made - well done!

Hi again Thought I'd share some pics of the successful lighting test of the hangar bay. I'm very happy with how it's come out. The light's aren't too strong which is good. Not far from finishing the top section. The windows have all been drilled out and is now ready for the fun task of installing the fiber. Joy Thanks for looking

Thanks Darren I'm hoping to install the hangar bay lighting this weekend so will have some pics of that soon. I'm also almost finished detailing the sides, then it's the roof, so once it's all done, I'll take some more pics then.

Got more work done with the top layer 3/4 finished. I still have more surfacing to do but I'm hoping to knock out a fair bit tonight (if World of Warships doesn't interrupt me) I won't go to crazy on the roof though but you can see a clear difference between the kit surface and mine. Some might say that's not a good thing but I like it. Besides, once the paint goes on the busyness will disappear. I've glued on the sidewalls and then will drill out the remaining windows. The roof is just sitting on there until I have threaded through the fibers - a task I am not looking forward to. I still have to drill out that center bit on the nose of the lower layer. I'll run some piping into it to make it more interesting. That's all I have but thanks for looking Si