Currently building the dragon’s StuG 3 ausf. F
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I’ve spent the last few days working on locomotive “pilots”. This apparently includes most of the parts that make up the structure that couplers mount to, and serve as something of a bumper on the front and rear of locomotives - as you can tell, the specifics are new to me. Nonetheless, on to work I went:
As the base model didn’t include any of this, well, now it has it. The handrails are supposed to go on a different model trail, but they did the job here. I had the smaller lights in the stash and are supposed to be used as HO scale headlamps, but work fine for this. If you’re interested in this, I’m posting this in the railroad section too, as it will eventually be in a diorama.
Cheers
Nick 
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Nice subject! The quality of the kit leaves a lot to be desired however!
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Thanks Erwin!
And yes, not the best quality, but the only game in town-apart from 2 3D printed models.
Historica Productions(defunct now) did the best Breda 32, but I returned to the hobby a bit too late to buy one.
So- it is what it is and I’ll have more room for improvements,
Cheers,
Angel
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Did my usual binge catch up and there are some stunning builds going on or that have been completed, hats off to everyone 
@ayovtshev wow, so many great builds Angel with your usual flair for extra detailing shining through mate … and congrats on the awards, very much deserved mate
@frank _ you are knocking them out the park Frank, like the idea of that Warrior rapier !
@sgtchuck Great builds and that Dozer is sweet ! Nice finish on the JLT as well.
@bwilt lots of lovely work Bert and those 1/72 trucks look great … Bereg paint is lovely as well.
@agincajun That engine on the big bird is absolutely stunning …. Brilliant tonal variations and finishing.
@Terry1954 Lovely looking P51 mate, cracking finish !
@Denimo great looking rig building up there, paint work is great as well.
@Stickframe Nick, all your comments are on the main build blog
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Thanks Johnny and everyone for your kind words on the Sky Crane build, I had to go back and fix some silvering on the fuselage decals, the rivets on this bird were HUGE and should have been knocked down a little but . . . still have to finish the blade racks but jumped into a side by side build of RFM’s vs. Tamiya M551 Sheridan, so Big Bird got shoved to a back burner for a bit 
Cajun 
Edit: BTW everyone be advised the Rotor assembly and Engines are from ResKit so all credit for their detail goes to them. 
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Ah, the fun thing about locomotives - no two are ever the same. They could be the same model and fall under the same road name, and still you’ll find subtle differences, especially in the pilot area. I’m sure there’s plenty out there for Frenchy to dig up - these are a just a few of many I’ve taken of just the FWWR:
Other details:
Like I mentioned, you’ll need a lot of treadplate:
Field mod, like on armor subjects:
Piping, alternate bell location, and a study on weathering:
\\
By the way, there are probably dummy couplers available, as in HO scale, that look far more realistic than the working ones.
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Added some markings to my Meng F-18F,there are a lot more markings to go,a little,at a time.I love when the blank canvas starts to take life.
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Thanks Rob, you certainly have an abundance of helpful images! If you check out the build thread, you can see a bit more of what I’m up to.
The couplers caused me some grief. I started this with a fairly modest, older, used Lionel GP38-2. I think it’s fine for it’s intended users, who might not include model builders. As this will be used in a dio it seemed the smarter choice than buying a modern O scale loco, as they are expensive, especially when considering my desired use.
The coupler that comes with the base model is attached directly to the trucks, functioning like a draw bar on a cart. On one hand, it allows for the use of fairly tight turning radii, which likely makes sense for novice model railroaders, but on the other - it doesn’t look that good.
I purchased a used hopper car for this to pull and it was just luck that I bought a Lionel, rather than some other make, because it and the loco have really big couplers. I also purchased a set of better looking Kadee couplers that I thought I use to make the build look more realistic. These are fine, except, as the rail car also uses drawbar couplers, it would require reworking it too. This would not be a good base kit for adding a more realistic coupler box etc and I really don’t want to get into rebuilding both the car and the loco.
I have more experience modeling in HO scale, where there are plenty of detail kits and parts. It turns out, there isn’t the same in O scale, and here we are -
Cheers
Nick
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The M172A1 trailer is underway
Using a heat gun to separate the 3D parts from their supports is proving to be quick and easy. Keep the heat away from the actual part though.
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good choice on the color. that looks great. maybe a grey wash too.
Joe
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Unwrapping went fine…
Untill….
This will yake some effort to repair…. primer has come off.. used cheap cans… they’ll go into the bin…
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That is nasty! Good luck with the repairs!
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That sucks, always my biggest fear when pulling tape
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Dont know if this relevant for the future Bert, but using Painters Tape (not ordinary masking tape) I find that sticking the tape on and off a surface a couple of times to reduce its adhesive strength helps.
You’ve probably tried this already but thought I’d mention it.
Good luck with the repairs.
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I use my forearm. Adds a light bit of skin oil to the tape.
Good luck with repairs. It doesn’t look all that bad. I would seal it with flat clear, tape off the repair areas, and just brush paint the smaller areas.
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Thanks everyone, I’ve used this tape on my B24 Lemon drop as well, no problems, really think it was the cheap primer.. will try to patch it all up and if that fails, I will strip it completely and start again..
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That’s the usual Washi Tape, like from Tamiya, right? Shouldn’t give you problems, Bert. I use all kinds of Washi, wherever I can get it. But I always rub the adhesive side over my hand before I put it on the model. So it looses some of the adherence. Did you try that? Highly recommended also on canopy masks from Eduard!
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I use the purple painters tape it’s the low adhesive type.
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