First things first....GO DUCKS!
Ok now that I have displayed my "Oregon Wall" back to the Panther. For those not in the US the NCAA Football championship game is set and it will feature my beloved Oregon Ducks VS the Ohio State Buckeyes! Ok, as for the Panther time to start doing those pesky Fruil metal tracks. For those unfamiliar, Fruil makes amazing metal individual track links, they have great detail (these actually have casting numbers on each link) but require a bit of clean up, 162 + pieces 81 per side worth of clean up. I use a guitar string chucked in a pin vice to clean the holes the wires that hold the links together with will fit in. Then you must clean some flash off, straighten the guide horns and well off you go! This effort was aided by 3 bottles of Scuttlebutt Brewing Tripel 7, Belgian style ale, 9% good for steadying the nerves while doing a tedious task!
You're gonna need a whole lot more Scuttlebutt before ya get through with THAT job...oh wait, that might not be a good idea, given the finesse you'll need to assemble those links. Speakin' of which...are you nuts..?! You'll be sitting in a chair with a blanket on your lap and drooling by the time you get all those individual links assembled...! 🙂
That Is quite a project. I have seen the results of these tracks and they are as close to the real deal as you can get. As for the opening photo. Gee those girls are pretty. I'll take the Gretsch. Cool stuff.
California Steve
LOL, well the hard part is done, and actually the clean up after I started using the guitar string was easier than many plastic indy links!
Wow what an endeavor, that it time and Scuttlebutt consuming. I have never worked with Fruil but I am aware of the quality and detail. And for the Duck's way to go Pac 12. Will play ya next year. And hope Oregon beats Ohio St.,
and oh yeah "Fight On"!
Nice work Rob, N.
Ok, Rob, a sneaky way to get in a plug for your Ducks. As a U of Iowa grad now living in Minnesota, I've gotta be for Ohio State. That said, I'll be working on my Revell 1/48 F-15E when the game is on so I might miss Mariota passing/running for 500 yards.
I've often been disappointed with Fruil tracks - not with the quality, which is superb, but with the fact that after all that work they have to be treated/weathered/muddied under which all that lovely detail may as well be Dragon/Academy kit sets (sigh...).
I hear you Rob! I have generally gone for the less expensive track sets, or used the ones in the box. What I like about Fruil for Tigers and Panthers though is, a smooth curving sag is much easier to duplicate than with glue on tracks. And Bob, I think this is the year we end the beating we have taken from tOSU over the years, The Buckeys have a great team and great coach, but we have just as strong a team...and Marcus Mariota!
Rob...Oh St is my emotional favorite, but I agree with you... Mariota with his up-tempo team of speedsters will take it all. Thanks for sharing modeling ideas/techniques, altho the Scuttbutt scares this aging red wine guy.
Well the Scuttlebutt as with most Belgian Tripels I have had has a smooth fruity/earthy taste, not unlike some wines so hey you might like it!
The pin ups are pretty sweet but the SoPac F-unit with the "Black Widow" paint scheme is a nice touch. Good luck linking all those track cleats together. I linked up some metal tracks once (for a bulldozer) and that got that "modeling evolution" out of my system...Cold Beer...salt peanuts...yum...
Rob, if Oregon wins could you please use your influence to get them to buy uniforms that don't make my eyes bleed, or are their "offensive fashions" part of the Duck Attack.
On single pin track like you're working on, I use staples that I've seperated and straightened. The adhesive on them and the "knuckles" from the corners keep the pin in the track yet allows you to take the track apart at any point.
LOL Rick, I love the apple greens, now some of the bright yellow combos I could live without 🙂 I personally like when they wear their throwback jerseys like they did against the Huskies.
Rob...Can't wait to see what Phil Knight and Nike come up with for the Duck's Championship game uniform. You have to know it will be awesome.
I'm sure it will be! I would love to see a repeat of the throwback unis from "The pick" era, when Oregon's rise really started. Plus I know tOSU will have traditional colors, what a way to start the CFP era!