Hello everyone,

It has been some time I haven’t updated the blog, so I wanted to write a few words regarding the restocking process and to share some thoughts that I had in the last few days.

I am currently in the process of production for the 1/144 Commander Cargo loader FMC15i. The first parts are being baggaged, although the photo etched parts are yet to be produced. I am aware that this takes quite some time to complete, so far, this loader is the item that requires most time, parts of it are created with different methods in order to have a better kit, I am currently at about 70% completion.

Items are being out of stock at the store, so I am also working on the production of those.

These days have been and are very busy, I not only focus on production, but I am also trying to achieve a higher chance of success in the resin and photo etch processes, as not always these come out right, I have been doing some tests and found a good balance finally, temperatures really impact very much on the making of the resin parts.

Some good news and bad news; bad news is that I had to take a step back on the B787 rear galley and the double scissors for the FMC15i. I was not totally satisfied with the result, so I am modifying these elements, untortunately I may not have them done by the next restocking. The positive side of this is that in the case of the B787 rear galley, the modification to do is minimal and on the double scissors, they have been made again and I am going to test them soon.

The good news is, the new equipment that I incorporated in the production is working very well, I was very surprised as basically, not much adjustments were needed, however, because of the file formats are different, all the work that I have done so far had to be resaved and converted, a few files were presenting issues but are being fixed now. Once this is ready, I will be able to restock in more quantities.

The other good news, now that I am able to create my own masking templates, a whole lot of useful ideas came to mind that will greatly allow me to make some projects that at that time were unreachable for me to make.
Being able to make masking templates means that I will be able to make crystal clear cabins. This means that there is not going to be a need for acetate windshields, but instead, the whole tractor cabin or catering truck cabin will be crystal transparent an thus the included maskings will protect the windshields in the painting process and allow for a better finish (similar as the clear cockpit windshields in the model kits). I cannot give much more details on this, but I am defenitely going to try it for the next project (catering truck).

These are  a lot of mix of emotions these days, I feel things are growing and I am currently changing aspects of how and where do I save the parts, preparation of materials etc. As more and more items are being produced, I must have things better organized and available.
Of course this mixes with the emotions for what I see on TV about the Covid-19 which is a problem that it seems is getting worse and worse. I do not know how 2021 will go, but I prefer to think about all the ideas and projects that I hope to start very soon and have in the back of my mind the idea that better times will come.

Wish you all a happy weekend and please, stay safe.
Guillem

 

Hello everyone,

Today I am sharing a couple photos of the progress done so far with the rear galley for the B787. I wanted to share this earlier but it took me more time than I thought.

This time I will be making three different versions of the front module for this rear galley. As I have seen in several photos, there are different configurations; some have no flight attendant seats at all and toilet doors instead (like the one here pictured) other version has a single FA seat in the middle and the two toilet doors at the sides, and the third configuration has 3 FA sets, one at the center and one at each side.

I believe that the -9 version is the one that should have the 3 seats due the higher number of passengers, it is obvious that there are also a few more FA in the aircraft. This is a bit difficult for me to clarify because it is hard to know where the photo was taken from, and even so, each airline may have their own customization for their aircraft interiors.

Work continues with this as I have to make the doors and design the photo etch, but so far so good, fitting tests are also done.

These days I have been doing some other tests that are related to the painting of the models and I felt that I always needed maskings for the windows if I wanted to use the clear plastic parts. I can still remember how painful it was to use the liquid mask for the A350 model build I did some time ago, being it so little quantity to add, it became a bit transulcent thus not knowing exactly where the mask was and if it was enough, later it was quite difficult to fully remove it.

Although I know there may be some masking sets out there, I decided to give a shot and try to make my own, so far I have done some tests with the A350 windows and the overall result is in my opinion very good, in the sense that the cut is sharp and the paper is of very good quality.

 

My idea is to continue working with this, and if results are successful, then I may be releasing them for everyone else whom like me, would like to use the clear plastic windows but that find it difficult later to paint the model, this has been in some cases, the reason why I opted to use decals for the windows. It may also be useful for covering the rims to paint the tires so these are other elements I may include in the mask.

 

Another progress is being done with the livery decals, the artwork is on its final stage and I am doing the last retouching and checks. The artwork will be done and printed but I will also have more work ahead as I plan to change a bit the instruction illustrations.

 

Restocking of the models will go according to plan as the material arrived delayed only for a couple days, so production has been restarted and the goal to have the Commander FMC15i back in stock at the end of the month is still as planned. I would like to restock other items such as the 787 forward galley set, so I will be putting those items back in stock progressively.
Work continues with the double scissors for the FMC15i, it may be a bit more difficult than I first thought, but nonetheless, the project is pretty advanced and I expect to start the first tests very soon.

That is all for now.
Stay in good health and stay safe everyone,
Guillem

Hello all,

I wanted to share a small update on the 1/72 GPU TLD414.
After several issues, I managed to finish all its parts, so I expect to release this model next month.

 

This is a comparison with a couple of 1/144 scale models.

 

The B787 rear galley is on its final stage so I am going to write another update within a couple days.

Although all orders are now being processed and shipped without any issues, you may have heard on the news about Storm Filomena. A big part of Spain is covered in snow and the different services are working to open routes; roads, train, even the airport which has been closed and expect to be opened again soon.

This is going to affect me to receive mateial once again (which I ordered prior this big snow), this delay is due the problems in the transit caused by this snowy storm. There is not much I can do, as I received an email today notifying me about the possible delay on my shipment, re stocking will have to wait a bit more.

I will, however, continue preparing things, working on other areas, as you know these items require quite a lot of materials and steps so I will continue working with them.

There are several items that require re stocking at the store, so I will be working on those progressively, at the same time my goal is to release the rear B787 galley together with the restocking of the forward/cockpit. For the FMC15i I expect to have made the new double scissors which I want to have available at the same time of the loader restocking. Date still stands (end of January) but it will all depend on this storm and if I can get the material on time.

 

I will be sharing another update of the B787 rear galley very soon.

Everyone take good care and stay safe,
Guillem

Hello everyone,

I trust you had a pleasant start of the year, still obviously and unfortunately dealing with the situation of the Covid-19, which I hope that will improve in this new year.

So far for me things have been not very smooth, I have and still have some minor issues that I need to address. Nothing impossible but it will take me a little while, hence why I advertised at the webshop that all orders placed today onwards will be shipped from the 15th (Update: All fixed now, shipping as always). I need those extra key days to solve and prepare some things.

It has been some quite stressful weeks, not much time for holidays, but I think everything is progressing very well and I need to adapt myself to the increase of items in the catalogue, that means have things better prepared and think bigger.

A  couple things that I would like to mention is the recent increase in the shipping rates, although it is a slight increase, I feel that I need to say this somehow in case you see a difference from last year. This is something I do not wish, of course, however, the postal services increased the rates as they said “they have improved their services”, I will not argue with that, and I am sure that this is not the only thing that increases every time we enter a new year.
Still for me the main problem while shipping orders are the long queues I have to do in the street, so even they have improved their postal services, the situation is that the post offices are very busy and probably would need more workers.

Now that holidays are over, I hope that people will slow down a bit and have more time for work.

I wanted to avoid mentioning the Brexit as this blog is about scale models, but I have to say that according to what I saw, UK still has the same shipping costs as the rest of the EU, however, custom declarations will be required for me to fill in as any other International shipment outside EU.

This situation is probably something that may affect me in some ways as I use two materials from the UK, I am not sure price of those will increase or if the distributor in Spain will continue ordering those, one thing I know for sure is that if I order those myself, I will probably need to pay 21% TAX over the total+shipping and 20 Euro fee for paperwork. This is a bit vague at the moment, but I need to stay tuned and see if obtaining that material won’t be an issue.

No matter what happens with this, I will not be modifying item prices unless it is for a sale price as it happened with the LD3 container dollies.

 

Work with the B787 rear galley has started as well as with the cargo loader double scissor. I hope to get back on track after the recent events and continue working on these projects.

Thank you all for reading and hope to share something more interesting next time.
Best wishes,
Guillem

 

Dear all,

Now that we are reaching the end of the year, I wanted to dedicate this entry which will probably be the last of the year, to give a special thanks and to comment on what I expect to make next year.

I am immensely grateful for all the support I’ve got throughout the year by everybody, I really mean it. I could have never imagined if somebody told me that I would have friends and communicate with people all around the globe.

To me, this is incredible, to communicate, share and write to so many people from so many different places makes me feel very special and fortunate, it feels a part of me, of my efforts, is around the world.

For this and for all the support, I sincerely thank you all very much.

All this support allows me to go on, to continue with energies and happiness and to give my best in every project, with enthusiasm and attention to detail.

The recent items released did very well and this allows me to invest even more in order to produce more efficiently and in the end, to keep things running and to keep things available as often as possible.

This leads me to mention what I expect to make on 2021, where are the directions I will go, which roads I will take slower and which aspects I would like to focus on the most.

The GSE in 1/200 scale has not been as productive as I thought it would be unfortunately, this saddens me a little as I started the business with an 1/200 scale model that did do quite well.

This matter always leaves me wondering what the reasons may be, either too small and therefore too difficult to build, lack of availability of 1/200 airliner model kits and therefore having less market, maybe 1/200 diecast collectors would prefer to purchase a finished GSE rather than assembling it.

It is a bit difficult for me to find the reason, but it may be a little of everything. I also assume a big part of this as I think that I have not advertised those 1/200 models very much.

This is something I will think about for next year, maybe the 1/200 scale would be something to sell assembled and painted having in mind diecast collectors, but that would also represent facing possible damages on shipping and such as well as the time that will be required to assembly and paint each unit.

Definitely I wanted to equal the catalog to the 1/144 scale, but seeing the results of the 1/200 belt loader, I may slow down that way and produce these a bit more sparsely. I would still like to continue with them as I do enjoy the 1/200 scale, these are smaller models that can fit in most places. I just wish that Hasegawa kits were more available or accessible.

The 1/144 scale is probably the scale I will focus on the most, it is actually the base for me.

Livery decals; a very very long project that has been in so many different situations, I am glad that they will come back next year, I am still finishing the artworks, it has been a very tedious work as I practically made the whole artwork new again, I really used very little from the first one, (basically dimensions/shapes) but yet the whole set will include more details, specially on the A320, so many details that you may be able to detail 2,5 A320’s combining different decals from the set (although the main elements will be designed for one A320/A320N/A321/A321N).

I hope to have them printed next year, first the A320 (A320, A321, A320N and A321N) and the A350 (A350-900, A350-1000). If things go well, I would very much like to go on with them and make decals for the B787 (B787-8/9/1000) and B777-200/300 and maybe B777F.

Airliner galleys and cargo holds: Making the galleys of the B787 has been a challenging experience, but more importantly, it has been my learning start point on this subject. I have been able to see things in a different perspective and at the same time this allowed me to fix issues that I had on a previous project, the B747-400F/-8F.

After the B787 cockpit/forward and center galleys, one of the first projects I will make next year is going to be the B787 rear galley so this way I can have the whole galley stations of this model prior moving to a different one.

The other galleys I plan to make are those of the A320/A321 and A350-900/1000, further galleys are those of the B737-800 and B777-300, but I am not sure yet if these last two will be a 2021 or 2022 project.

Regarding cargo holds; this is something I am very interested in making too, specially with all the cargo related elements and it is definitely going to be my “training” for the bigger project of the B747-400F/8F.

For this reason I will start with the B787 cargo holds which I may try to make prior the A320 and A350 galleys, again, as to have the “whole” interior of the B787 done. Chances are I will start them right away once I finish the rear galley.

Making the B787 cargo holds is something that I will be doing alongside the B747-400F/8F main deck set for which I will apply the methods of the previously learned experiences.

The B747-400F/8F will be started again for the third time, hopefully this time will be the right and last time. A quick reminder; this project will consist on several parts to make a fully opened B747 Freighter, meaning, nose door open, side door open, cargo bin doors open and thus detailed main deck as well as cargo holds. Attention to detail will be placed in several areas and even the aft bulk head will be created.

For the cockpit I am still considering what to do, but I may make it completely new as I did for the B787.

I will be providing a version for both the Revell and the Zvezda kits. Where I live, the Zvezda 747-8i model seems to be more available than the Revell 747-8F so I think it would be nice to make a freighter out of a passenger aircraft no matter which model kit manufacturer to use as a base.

GSE models: Before starting a new GSE project, I will be making the double sill for the cargo loader which could be purchased as an accessory, the bridge may require a design modification, so this double sill accessory would include this new bridge (adapted for the double sill), sills and photo etched handrails/ladder so that you can swap sills/platforms from the loader (note that the cargo loader instructions point this out during the assembly process, so you can leave unglued the two pins that go on the body pivot points).

The two center GSE projects for next year will be the catering truck, which I will base in the Mallaghan model and an hydrant fuel dispenser which at first, I will base on the Meteor version.

There will be “smaller” projects in between that I would also like to make; a towbar pushback tractor, a container transporter and some utility vehicles such as van (to do something more natural that can create a realistic scene). The van for example will be a “test” for me to make vehicles with doors open, this can be good for the hydrant truck or catering truck.

Figures: There will be new sets of figures, I would like to make crew of the B787 cockpit/galley, cargo operation figures (for the Commander FMC15i for example) and other different set of passengers, ramp workers (in general situations) and other variant of the baggage workers.

For the 1/72 scale I have a big curoisty as it is a scale that will allow for details to appear, such as nuts and bolts on the rims etc.

I am already starting the first tests with the GPU TLD414 and results are very positive, so I will be starting to produce this model in January 2021. It will be the first one in 1/72 and others will follow as well.

And of course, I save the biggest project of all for last, the B737 cockpit project. This is definitely the most hardest project I will take, although I put it here the latest one, this is a project that will be ongoing for the whole year, I will continue with it step by step, and although I may not have it finished by 2021, I expect to progress with it much more than I did in 2020.

A last thing I was forgetting… I would like to “tackle” a little bit the maintenance scenario, I was long ago inspired by many of the photos from the All Nippon Maintenence Center, so maintentance hangar stuff is something I would like to do; besides equipments such a ladders, I have always had the idea of doing something for the airliners, such as APU’s, engines opened etc, but that is a bit more technical and so I also will need time to learn and gather ideas.

Lots of projects and dreams for 2021, but I am sure that with dedication and passion, it will all be possible.

 

That is all for this year 2020 that we leave behind, hopefully 2021 can be the start for a better time, for sure I think that this situation has shown and put ourselves in perspective, we learn to treasure and appreciate more the little things, things as simple as go out for a walk.

I wish you all best of health and happiness, I see you all in 2021! Stay safe and stay optimistic!

Guillem

Dear all,

These last few weeks have been crazy. There has been a lot of work to have the items released on time and there have been also some obstacles that had to be overcomed.

Tomorrow Monday 21st I will be releasing the 787 galleys, both the cockpit/forward and the center galley as well as the 1/144 cargo loader. I have also been making units of other items, but due issues for getting more resin and basically having no more time for more, some items will remain in somewhat a low quantity for the moment. The time was tough because I really did not think how much time was going to be needed to make three new instructions, being the cargo loader ones the longest I ever done. Those two weeks that I spent doing tests with the other PE for the cargo loader really “killed” me here, as I would have prefered to have time to produce a bit more initial units and do them with more margin, but I had the objective to release these items before Christmas and that objective will be completed.

I should have ordered material some time ago thinking ahead that maybe the resin provider was going to be on a holiday, so I had to chose the resin from a different source and have been doing some tests (with good results so far) because even the color is very similar, every resin is different and thus settings for producing those parts must be modified. In any case, the resin I usually use will arrive soon so this won’t affect the next production.

As I mentioned, there is not going to be a lot of quantities at first, but it is a beginning because I plan to restock more units accordingly around mid January (although the work to prepare them will start earlier).

 

I will be shipping orders for the next weeks but I will be on a semi “holiday” for two as I will slow down a bit the pace but continue producing stock and at the same time try to have a bit of a rest during these “holidays”.

 

I wanted to dedicate a post on what are the plans for the projects of 2021, but I will leave that for the next entry which I expect to write next weekend, for the time being I wanted to share a couple photos of the work done with the 1/72 GPU TLD414 which is still in progress pending one part to fix, I aim to release it on January.

You can see it here in comparison with the 1/144 GPU.

That is all for now, work continues, but I hope to take the holidays and rest, organize things as well as try to advance a bit more with the livery decals.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and happy holidays! Be safe wherever part of the world you are reading this from.

Best wishes,
Guillem