Hi!
First of all, my apologies about the missing part 12. I posted it under the wrong Blog category and as such it did not show up on the correct page.
Good news: the San Francisco cable car is finished!
The last things added were bells, indicator lights, handholds and headlights. Bells and indicators needed small holes drilled into the roof. This was pretty straightforward and worked without any issues.
The handholds as well just needed glueing onto the side walls.
The headlights on the other hand are supplied as just the pots, no detail, no lens. I cut and grinded some brass wire into something resembling lightbulbs and glued these inside the pots.
A coat of silver paint finishes the interior. For the lenses, I tried Micro Kristal Klear, but this was a failure. I used too much and it didn't dry hard enough. The opening may also be too wide for it. In the end I took some leftover acetate sheet, glued it onto the headlight and cut it out. A light sand to round it off and a coat of black paint around the edge. Simple, but I think it looks a lot better than just the empty pots.
After installing these, the tram is done.
You may notice there are two small passengers looking out. As mentioned before, I'm building this tram for my sister, who was relatively recently adopted by two kittens. I thought it'd be a nice touch to include them in this project. They're 1/24 3D printed items by a South Korean company called
SOL Model. I painted them with oils to resemble the actual cats, a black female and an orange male.
The tram (and cats) will be on display in my shop window for the next weeks/months, until they get picked up and go to their new home.
In other news: look who's back:
That's right: The Mercedes body is painted and gloss coated. I'll lightly polish it this week and hopefully I'll be able to declare this one finished as well in the very near future.
What else am I working on?
Well, I have the bad habit of starting way too many projects without finishing the previous ones. As a result, I have some 25-30 models in various states of construction. I need to finish these some time. So I dug up a tank (Amusing Hobby's ARL-44 in 1/35) that was already painted, decalled, and the tracks constructed. I had also made a start spot-washing the details. All I have to do is weather it further.
I started with improving the decals. These weren't laid down very well and had air bubbles everywhere. I cut into the air bubbles, used VMS decal solution to soften the dry decals and rubbed them with a Q-tip to make them conform better to the surface.
Next step is the exhausts and tracks. I'm using Ammo-Mig products (washes, pigments, dry mud effects). It's looking good so far and it really brings the tank to life.
Looking at this picture, I urgently need a toolbox to put my paint and tools away properly, because as you can see my desk is quite a mess...
I used bigger pictures on the blog this week. Let me know what you think. Better?
Anyway, see you next week.
