Wonderful New Fish Kit by Michael Fichtenmayer

[FichtenFoo]

I GOT SUBS!!!

Paid US orders are being picked up by the USPS on Wed and International orders are being collected and shipped as well. If you're on the first 32 kit list and are not in the US, check your email!

  Michael ,

    How about the second 32 kit list ? Do you have projected time when they might be delivered ? Sorry to sound impatient but I'm looking forward to receiving one with great anticipation ,

   Nick

I told my caster to get on it yesterday so we're looking at sometime around Christmas.

[davej]

Paid. Excited.

[MinerFortyNiner]

That is one interesting kit, Michael...it really gets the imagination going.  I may have to bite, only because it's so cool, and like nothing I've built before.  Details like the etched fins, gauges and builder's plate are hard to resist.

Your base with the masts and paddle wheel is very well done, and will showcase the finished model nicely...I look forward to seeing how it all comes together.

What's next after the fish...dessert?   

[FichtenFoo]

Thanks Dave! It was shipped out this morning.

That is one interesting kit, Michael...it really gets the imagination going.  I may have to bite, only because it's so cool, and like nothing I've built before.  Details like the etched fins, gauges and builder's plate are hard to resist.

Your base with the masts and paddle wheel is very well done, and will showcase the finished model nicely...I look forward to seeing how it all comes together.

What's next after the fish...dessert?  

Thanks! I still have a few slots left for the 2nd edition so let me know. I have a plan in the works for the next sub, but can't give away too much too soon.

[marc_reusser]

SUB'S HERE!

Came home today just as the mailman came...and there it was! Kit 13 of 32! (my lucky number...how'd you know?)

I have to say it is so cool and fun...all the way from the lable graphics to the wax sealed instruction scroll. 

From the quick perusal, the castings seem very well done, with no visible air bubbles or surface flaws. Some very minute flash and seam lines in a few places. The clear resin portholes are flawless, and the PE sheet is just beautiful to look at. The valves will take a bit of work and cleaning to get off the casting sheet...but most of us here can save the effort by just using an O scale barkewheel or some sim valve wheels from Grandt or PSC.

It all looks so neat it almost makes me not want to build it and merely save it in the box as a collectors piece.


Marc

[davej]

Buy another one to build!

[FichtenFoo]

Sweet! Glad you like it. I left the instruction seal as an unknown surprise... others have commented on it as well. The valves can be rubbed from the flat backside on sandpaper until they're "free" and have their holes again. That's the easiest way and why I did them like that.

The clear parts are why it took an extra week. He showed me what came out first before he remolded them and they were worse than awful. Definitely worth the wait.

[finescalerr]

And nobody can show us a photo? -- Russ

[RoughboyModelworks]

Excellent, though I'm jealous. Just checked tracking on mine and it's floating round Fresno somewhere... presumably the mailman is still playing with it in his bathtub...   Hopefully will be here on Monday...

Paul

[shropshire lad]

And the rest of us in group 2 have got to wait until Christmas . Pah ! I knew I should have ordered one before going off to the Narrow Gauge Convention . It won't happen again when Sub No. 2 appears on the market .

Still , Marc will have his built by then so we'll be able to steal some ideas off him .

   Nick

[FichtenFoo]

I'll try to make sure that sub #2 has a larger first run now that I know there's enough interest in these. I have already gotten 46 reservations for the 2nd run which will be 48 kits. 

[marc_reusser]

My only problem with this kit is.....

......figuring out how/what color scheme to paint it.  Outside I have no real ideas....other than a rusty wolf-pack dark grey upper, light grey lower.......or something like the spotted ME-109 scheme...which is very much like a spotted trout look. Neither very creative or necessarily doing the kit justice. I did think of a silvery metalic look like plates of some sort of "unobtainium"....but I don't really like most of the silver paints out there other than the All-Clads.   Then there is the interior color issue ......off white, or zinc chromate green.....decisions, decisions......so very frustrating!   


M

[FichtenFoo]

The Mr. Color "super" metallics are VERY nice. They're lacquerish/enamelish. not sure which... I just use the Mr. Leveling Thinner.

Mr. Super Silver, Super Chrome, Super Iron, and Super Steel are all very nice. hobbywave.com sells them as do a few other US retailers. I think I got some from some othger site with a "frog" in the name. Red Frog maybe?

I have plenty of maroon auto-interior "flocking" leftover, so that may be an interior option since I plan to paint it similar to the Dampfrich.

Examples of the Mr Supers:





Mixed With Mr. Color Semi-Gloss Black for a gunmetal:

[clevermod01]

Very, very nice. Your fish sub is the bomb. I haven't been too active on this forum but that,s about to change.

[shropshire lad]

Michael ,

   Are you saying you are going to paint the whole of your Fantastical Fish (hereby referred to as FF) in a similar way to Dampfrich , or just the interior ? Either way , I hope you explain what you do in words of one syllable because this is new territory for me and I've got alot of learning to do . I have been studying your Dampfrich in greater detail and that is the sort of finish I would like on my FF . I believe that when you built your Dampfrich Alclad didn't produce a brass finish , well (as you probably already know ) , they do now , so I think I will be experimenting with some of that , in addition to a number of their other finishes . Do you have any suggestions as to which Alclad finishes one should get first ?

   I have been playing around with some Humbrol Metalcote this evening and I think that has some possibilities , as does your Rub'n'Buff finishes . Hopefully , I'll have some sort of clue what I'm doing by the time mine arrives .

   Nick