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I am crossing my fingers for you. In any case you should cut the rear wing as this kind of undercut is very difficult to cast. Resin casters typically separate the shapes to get correct casting results and avoid damaging the molds.

Amongst some recent goodies from Harold I received these F-5E wheels and a counterweight for the RF-5E and F-5F, sadly missing from the kits, as is an ACMI pod which he also makes, which I've bought previously.

Nice work! If you need more or thinner scale wire bundles, I found that white EZ Line stretched and held together with sections of the thicker EZ Line work tremendously well \

Here is my entry to the group build. I had already cut a few parts off the sprue on this kit before a couple of months ago before the GB started, certainly far less than the 25% requirement. This model will complete my trio of FAC aircraft as flown by RAAF pilots in the Vietnam war having finished the O-1 and O-2. I asked Mac Cottrell (O-1 pilot) if he could recommend someone suitable for a build of this aircraft and he suggested Graham Neil. Graham was a Squadron Leader whilst assigned to fly US Airforce OV-10’s during his tour and reached the rank of Air Vice Marshall, the second highest rank in the RAAF during his career. He is quite active in the RAAF FAC scene and has been instrumental in recovering an OV-10A for the Australian War Memorial which is under restoration. He wrote an excellent small article about the 36 RAAF pilots that served as FAC’s in Vietnam. http://www.raafaact.org.au/topics/FACS.html I am yet to meet Graham in person but have so far had some correspondence with him via email and have had a chat to him on the phone. He is quite excited about the prospect of having a model built of an aircraft that he flew. I don’t plan on getting his one built too quickly as I have a couple of active builds on the go at the moment but will have it finished by the end of the year. We are yet to agree on a particular aircraft that I will depict but this will come in time. Firstly a pic of Graham. The kit. This was given to me by one of my best mates, Brent Simpson (Simmo.b on here) for my 40th Birthday, so it is extra special in that regard. Lots of criticism has been made against the kit for various reasons and I will try and address as much as I can. There is not a huge amount of aftermarket for the kit but I have most of it. AoA decals, Eduard photo etch exterior, Master Pitot tube and AMS seats and wheels. I started with the nose gear bay. As can be seen, some visible ejector pin marks. I filled these with mr surfacer. I needn’t have bothered though, as the nice photo etch provides a lot of needed detail in this area whilst covering the holes! The cockpit tub and bay have been joined along with the kit provided nose weight. The casting blocks removed from the AMS seats, these are well done and are a welcome upgrade to the seats provided in the kit. I also removed the casting block from one of the AMS wheels but unfortunately, these won’t be making an appearance on this model, as they are a fair bit out of round as can be seen here. There is just under 1mm difference across the hub and it looks quite bad. It won’t take too much to bring the kit wheels (on the right) up to scratch.

Apparently offered by De Agostini as a monthly series build. Has anyone ever seen one in reality? For some unknown reason I have a fascination with this aeroplane, and would would be keen to build a 32nd version. Here are two links from the net, from what I can gather there are 24 issues, but only 7 available? http://mavzolhobby.com/store/deagostini/legend-aviation-scale-132/

Just finished this one. This was on the shelf of doom for quite a while. I had purchased the kit for quite cheap and, due to the shape issues of the kit, it ended up being the last Bf 109 in my kit stash, so I figured I would go ahead and build it. However, I managed to destroy the canopy/windscreen parts before completion and also started to be really annoyed by looking at the shape issues, so I just shelved it. I finally decided to use a vac canopy from my spares and modify it to fit. I also sanded down the huge sharp corners that come off the trailing edge of the wing root fairing, into the rear fuselage. The fuselage cross section still leaves a lot to be desired, but this did improve the overall look of the fuselage, even if only slightly. But, don't even get me started on shape of the nose! In any case, I was able to complete it by adding the canopy mentioned above, MM enamels, oil and pastel weathering. The main decals were from the kit, but the unit/number markings were from a few different sources in my spares and represent an aircraft flown by 1./JG 2 around the Battle of Britain. I also added a few bits from scratch in the somewhat strange looking cockpit. In my rush to finish it, I introduced plenty of problems on my own, but the goal was to just finish it and then decide what I'm going to do next. I would really like to get into the Multi-Engine GB, but not sure what I'm going to do next. Anyway, I'm calling this one done (and I'm also likely done with Trumpeter, spare a couple of kits I already own that are from their "A team", which has apparently disappeared). Thanks for looking, John

Hi again Thought I'd share some pics of the successful lighting test of the hangar bay. I'm very happy with how it's come out. The light's aren't too strong which is good. Not far from finishing the top section. The windows have all been drilled out and is now ready for the fun task of installing the fiber. Joy Thanks for looking

Last update!

Here's post #2 of this set: A lot of people have asked me what I'm going to do with this ship when I finish it? Truthfully, I have no idea! I definitely am going to enclose it in a protective case to keep the dust off, but other than that, I haven't decided. I'm thinking of possibly displaying it for a while and them possibly donating it to the Veterans Home here in Grand Rapids. Who knows - that's a long ways down the road. The light gray deck is in place just so you can see where turret #2 is located. Nothing has been done to this part - it's just as it came out of the box. Aside from all the brass parts, the entire ship was this color. Everything except the decking (which is real wood, by the way) has to be painted either Haze Grey or Deck Blue. Here's a closer look at the foredeck and anchor chains Adding the 6 chain stops was a real pain in the you know what! The little red things with white handwheels are high pressure fire suppression water valves. As I said before, the deck railing has not been added, nor has the 20mm AA guns and flagstaff at the prow. This is a close-up view of the foredeck just behind the anchor chains, showing the various detail on the main deck. First are the windless and brake controls, then the (2) 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns, various hatches and vents, and then the (2) quad 40mm Bofors gun positions, along with their respective gun directors. The storage boxes are ammunition lockers for the respective guns, and the torpedo shaped things behind the 40mm gun tubs are the (2) paravanes This is a shot of turret #1. There is a structure that is located between turrets #1 and 2 on the main deck that has not been added yet. It won't be added until Deck #1 is glued in place. I glued fender washers under the deck and magnets inside the turrets to hold them into place. That way they can be rotated and removed if necessary. The gun barrels are brass, believe it or not. Yeah, I know, why would you pay for brass gun barrels and then paint over them. I'm sure all of you know why!!! This shot shows the back side of the breakwater and the equipment located there. Also, note the helmets for the gun crew and the loudspeakers mounted on the rear of the 40mm gun tubs. A lot of this detail was added by me and did not come with the kit. I have a set of plans for this ship that are 9 feet long that shows all this extra detail. Here is turret #2. It has a 40mm gun position on top of it where turret #1 does not. You can see why!! Also note the 20mm AA guns on either side of the ship. The small diagonal tubes mounted on the front of the splinter shield are spare gun barrels. Cooling tubes for hot expended gun barrels are located inside the splinter shield, as are more crew helmets. The two valves just aft of the splinter shield are refueling ports for when the ship is refueled at sea. all this is extra detail that does not come with the detail kits. Overall view of the starboard side of the fore main gun battery This is the part I'll be working on next. There is a ton of brass detail that gets added to the sides, along with wooden decking similar to the main deck. I also plan to grind off some of the doorways and show them open with brass doors. The (4) rectangular protrusions along the sides are where the 5" gun mounts are located. There are 10 of them on this deck and the one above. This is just astern of Deck #1 and the location of turret#3. There's a lot of detail around here including 20mm and 40mm gun positions, winches, hatches, vents, hose reels, and fire suppression equipment. The long, grey device on the side of the ship swings out and ladders lower to dock small boats that come alongside. OK, this is another 10 photos. There are 6 more which I will post in the next one - #3

Howdy Ladies and Gents, It's been a while since I posted pictures of my battleship. I thought I'd update you on where it stands now so I got out my tripod, cranked up the f-stop on my camera, and took some decent pictures for once. NO, I didn't do all this since my last post! This series of pictures (26 in all) will bring you up to date to where I currently am. From now on however, my posts will be a lot less frequent because a) it took me 2-1/2 years to get this far, and b) I AM working on my Monogram 1:48 B-17 at the same time. I just don't have anything interesting to post yet. So, here is my "Plastic Toy Boat" as it stands today. Hope you find it worthy: Here it is - 4-1/2 feet of pure enjoyment. At least for me. I love doing this. My big thrill is building models. Once they're finished, yeah, I take pride in them, but sitting there looking at them isn't like the work of building them, right! There are (2) 20mm antiaircraft guns and a flagstaff that are supposed to be at the very bow of the ship. Because I keep the ship covered with plastic for dust purposes, I haven't mounted these yet for fear of knocking them off. Note the railings along the hull are also missing. They won't be added until the ship is almost complete. In this next photo You can see where I made a big mistake. There is supposed to be a ladder made up of individual grab-irons up the hull at the stern. With the handling and messing around, half of them have been knocked off, reglued, and knocked off again. I'll fix this, but I'm going to wait until near the end so it doesn't get damaged again. The screws are real brass and the silver rectangles are anti-corrosion plates. On the Iowa Class battleships, the inboard screws were 5 bladed and the outboard screws had 4 blades. Also, the starboard screws turned clockwise while the port screws turned counterclockwise. You always thought a battleship was gray, right? These are the actual colors of the USS Missouri in September 1944, when Japan surrendered on the deck of this ship The chain hanging down from the bow is called a "Paravane" chain. Paravanes are towed from the ship and are used to bring floating mines to the surface where they can be detonated by gunfire. A view of the foredeck up to gun turret #1. The deck in front of the capstans is steel and the remainder of the decking on the ship are teak boards. OK, that's 10 pictures for this post. More coming on post #2 of this set.

That is possibly the best metal finish I have ever seen! I just keep staring at the detail and weathering, wondering how you did it! Richard

Thx for the replies Thierry. I will use this method : If that doesn't work (and I'm realistic and give it a 30 % chance of me being succesful in making the mould and casting the bodies). I'll send the master to this fellow modeller in Germany : https://www.mezzo-mix-models.de/

Hi Pascal, Well, doing some home casting is not necessarily easy if you do not have a pressure pot. However, this is a hard fact getting one for some rare castings is overkill... The first thing I would recommend you is to assess which type of rubber you need. This may look weird but without a pressure pot, I realized it is sometimes easier to cast in a latex mold rather than in a silicone one! Professional casters will never use this "poor man" approach but I succeeded in casting copies of very intricate instrument panel parts from an OOP CE Phantom set that were not perfect but at least usable after some work whereas I never succeeded in getting such a result with silicone molds (too many small air bubbles in the mold). Indeed, one thing you must keep in mind is the fact that before avoiding air bubbles in your resin castings, you must first avoid them in your rubber molds and to me, this is more complicated for intricate parts. Obviously, this is not a major problem if you just want to create a mold for a drop tank! For simple shapes, silicone is the way to go. Latex has also one other noticeable advantage: it is far, far cheaper and if you add tissue paper between some layers, it can become very strong. Working with latex is nonetheless awfully time-consuming as you need to paint latex very thin layers after layers with a cheap paintbrush on your parts whereas you simply pour once the silicone rubber on them to create the mold. So, creating a mold may ask for two weeks of daily work with 20 minutes per day whereas you can create a silicone mold in less than one hour depending on the fact you need a single or two parts mold. Latex is simply more forgiving as you have more control on where the rubber is going and can more easily remove bubbles in the thin layers you add. Obviously, this is only critical for the first two layers! To paint latex, simply dip the tip of you brush into some dish soap before using it to protect the brush hair and be able to clean it easily after use. Otherwise, you will destroy your brush with a single use! If you use a resin that asks for more or less twenty minutes for the initial curing process, use a toothpick to push the resin and remove the air from the mold holes and crannies of the latex mold. This asks for some practice but can give acceptable parts. However, without correct equipment, whatever is the rubber your use, single-side molds are generally the only ones that will give you acceptable parts. For more complicated parts, it is generally more efficient and cost-effective to sub-contract to someone who has the correct equipment. For your information, I did that for some parts that I sent to Harold. They finally became masters of parts he added in his range. So, this is a win-win situation: you get some copies of your original parts for free whereas the garage industry gets a master for free. However, this is not necessarily obvious as this asks for a minimum knowledge of how casting may be optimized while designing your parts. Finally, even if you will never get the results of someone who has the correct casting equipment, casting yourself simple parts may be a time and money saving approach and this is sometimes the only option as, for copyright reasons, no garage industry should/will accept to cast copies of parts made by someone lese, even if they are OOP. Hth Thierry

I started the WIP : Please feel free to comment in my WIP. I'm a total newbie with rubber and resin. All help is welcome. Sincerely Pascal

Afternoon guys! This post will finish up all the interior detail I needed to do before closing both top and bottom halves of the fuselage and then I can proceed to finish off the detail on the exterior of the fuselage. So what needed to be done was the ammunition belts from the emergency ammunition cans and the oxygen bottle for the gunner. I'll start with the ammunition belts.....By using just paper and wire I'd thought I would show you how I went about this task ..photo by photo... 1. The first task was to cut 4 pieces of paper to the length/width of the belts....I used paper as it will bend like a real ammo belt... 2. As you can see I then cut all 4 pieces..(you will see in the next few photos why I did this!)... 3. I then got some garden metal wire twine (I chose this as it looked the right scale for the rounds)... 4. This then had to be straightened using a flat piece of metal rolled across the top of a length of wire...... 5. After measuring the width of the pieces of paper I then had to cut... (loads!!).... of pieces of wire which would replicate the rounds,....laborious task!...although I don't actually mind doing it!! 6. These were the super glued onto 2 of the 4 strips of paper.... 7. Then the other strips of paper were glued over the top of the rounds This is the time that I bent the paper to the shape I needed.... 8. A couple strips of paper were cut and glued to both sides of the belts to make them look more authentic and I then painted them..... So now all I had to do was super glue one end of the belts to the ammo cans and hook up the other ends on a couple of posts....(the reason for this is that because I have exposed the top of the ball turret I couldn't glue them to the entry point of the turret!)...here are a few photos of the task complete...... The last task to do before closing the two halves was to scratch the oxygen tank for the gunner. I have so far made loads of oxygen tanks for this project so I just made them the same way as before....and that is a sanded down piece of balsa wood with plastic strips glued to them!......here it is.... I then glued the tank onto the post and made a couple of paper straps ....to replicate the securing straps! So here is the finished Ball turret connection structure...... So now its at long last time to place the top to the bottom!!..ha ha! I am now getting close to the end of the Radio room section of this B17G....the external detail will now have to be thought about before proceeding......so I'll see you all the next time around! Thanks again for looking in Fozzy

my last built , enjoy :

tell us how it works and what you used, i thought about casting myself

I decided to try it myself. Ordered the products, they will arrive next week. I think it will be quite an adventure to make the mold and cast the resin...

I have more than adequate references, probably too much, really, especially given that I tend to not mess with details all that much these days. This is just three of those references. (Even though my books are certainly related to this hobby, I generally see them as a hobby unto themselves.)

For those interested I’m willing to sell you Deans address. I will consider trades for 1/32 kits.I have an extensive wants list. My plan was to hire a mobile crane, lift the whole bloody shed, contents included and make like a bandit back to my mud hut in the inhospitable Northern hill country. Or alternatively I’m willing to take several kits from Dean to not sell you all his address and test his security. Of course, the only fly in the ointment is he has my address.

Living in Wales, nothing is allowed outdoors unless it's weatherproof.

Lovely pics. Good on you for getting a rescue dog, especially one with a leg missing. I think they end up so happy, and they always let you know. My pair hate water. I've taken them to a few beaches, and they'll run and run and run, except into the water, which they treat like it's acid. Never had a dog that didn't love running into the waves, let alone two.

I'd have been in the looney bin a LONG time ago if it weren't for my dogs. Yeah, Lulu is pretty arthritic, but she's never out of touch of a tennis ball. She doesn't do much chasing these days, but still likes to play catch with it. Trooper came from the Tucson city shelter right after we moved out here in 2017. He had been hit by a car (no microchip, no collar or tags) somewhere in the middle of Tucson. To their great credit, the shelter ended up doing three surgeries trying to save the leg, but had to end up amputating. While he was going through all that he contracted distemper because of the awful conditions in the old building the shelter inhabited at the time (their newly built one is gorgeous). The staff named him Trooper because he'd been through so much and come through with flying colors. Last year he ruptured his ACL, and in doing x-rays on that we discovered that before his HBC incident he'd had his left femur broken and never tended to. It was a nasty (the nastiest I've ever seen) spiral fracture, and the bone healed in basically a corkscrew. That threw out the geometry of his knee, which caused the ACL rupture. He came through that surgery with flying colors as well. He's the sweetest boy in the world. Dumb as a box of rocks, but sweet as can be. Here are a couple of pics of Lulu in her younger, more vigorous and athletic days. She loves the water...

I just need the wife to let me out now.

Enhanced Security. Carriage bolts, that can't be removed from the outside, and a 7 pin padlock with shielded shackle. There's also an alarm in there, motion activated security lights, an internet enabled security camera with motion detection is pointed at it, and I'll put another padlock on the lock at the top of the door, which also has carriage bolts. I just need to swap some of the screws in the hinges for bolts, to make sure the doors just can't be unscrewed and taken off from the outside. That should be it then. It'll never be 100% burglar proof, but I think it'll do. If somebody is absolutely determined to get in and make away with as many 1/32 aeroplane kits as they can carry, being chased by two very quick dogs and a man going quick enough to look like he made an effort, without putting himself in any danger of actually catching anybody, I'll be surprised. I'm still working on planning permission from the wife for Kevin's suggestion of a moat & piranha's. She's afraid one of the cats or dogs will fall in. Not me, just the one of the pets. "You're insured, you can't replace pets", or something like that.

Wohoo! My 'Anniversary' order finally arrived yesterday. It's been 'en route' New Zealand - Denmark twice, Since customs didn't give any notice the first time, it was returned to NZ... So I'm quite happy the kits finally arrived. Especially since I needed the exhausts from the Ninak Liberty Engine for the Aeromarine build. Cheers: Kent

Replacement has arrived for the HK 'Dambuster'. Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress 'Late Production'... One of my top three airplanes, a 'must have' in my book. Although it will require a lot of work, I'm happy with this. Cheers: Kent

Today update.

It's the Tamiya 1/32 kit with the Eduard Brassin port engine, Xtracolor paints and Aviaeology decals. The aircraft represents one flown by Squadron Leader Vic Cherry, a Texan who flew with the RCAF's 418 Squadron.

Boy that Hind is cool looking, but at a thousand dollars or so...... Hard no.

Yes they did.

Good times for scratchbuilders here on LSP - another gem to follow. Excellent start, can't wait to see more!

Dont they make the 1/43rd scale (or whatever scale) LSP Mellinium Falcon?

I don't think they have a presence in the US? Their thing is to flog stuff on a weekly/monthly basis, be it aeroplane kits, cuddly toys, car kits, etc, via a magazine-like subscription. The cost to the consumer is ridiculously expensive. They currently over a 1/8 scale VW camper van. 24 months at - wait for it - £50 a month, total outlay £1,200. £1,200!!!! For a 1/8 VW Camper model!! Bloody daylight robbery.

That's what I got when googled it 1/24th MIG29!!!!! http://mavzolhobby.com/store/deagostini/mig-29-scale-124/ 1/24 MI-24!!!!! http://mavzolhobby.com/store/eaglemoss/shock-helicopter-mi-24v-scale-124/

psssssst http://mavzolhobby.com/store/deagostini/legend-aviation-scale-132/

Wouldn’t mind getting this one, although I will wait and see for some better pics of the kit. Those ejection seats and undercarriage legs look a bit clunky.

Hey, we're talking about tiny pieces of plastic that are trying to give our models a bit of an artistic edge. No pilot would take off with a plastic cockpit either. Cheers Chuck

The Profimodeller wheels/tires are nice and with some small tweaks, they will fit the KHM kit. Cheers, Chuck

That's pretty much the reply I got, though I was more thorough and asked about the RF-5E , plus they did also say they'd be available Tuesday afternoon...

True Details makes some as well. but the tire shape is oddly squared. https://www.squadron.com/True-Details-1-32-F5-E-Wheel-Set-TDP32206-p/tdp32206.htm

Harold / AMS... Dan.

I have used KASL 1/48 resin sets and I can say they are very well done and very well detailed, they use gray resin, I have bought KASL from HobbyEasy https://www.hobbyeasy.com/en/category/AIR12345678/AC48U/maker/KASL.html , this page for example where You can see yourself the level of details in the sets 1/48 , perhaps in 1/32 will shown more. F16 I

I will have some B24 AM available in a few weeks (with instruments of course...) Peter

KASL are indeed producing cockpit sets for the kits.

Whoever is deciding Aires release list needs to really get out more. Someof there decisions both for releases and non releases make you wonder if they have any idea about what would be popular. No A-6 stuff in 48th or 32nd for a kit now in its second run in both scales, No Mig-29’s lucky we have CWS but lost money for Aires. Lets release heaps of stuff for the worst Trumpeter kits then ignore the big selling good ones...now lets do the same with Kittyhawk...marketing insanity.

Oh i really need one of these

thanks Gents & good evening my hand is healing so all should be well - at least I got some fabrication done so it can't be too bad best part of a day session at the bench for most of one part... started by sticking a scale printout of the plan view of the part - it's a complex structure with more going on the more you look at it.. ..then a coarse cutting disc to get the worst of the waste off.. ..a bit of a clean up and the profiling at the top.. ..once the height was filed I added the holes for the seat supports.. ..and then a diamond burr to do some more refined shaping - I drilled the mounting holes before I rounded the face..... note also how it is left attached to it's host bar stock so it can be more easily worked.. ..then finally it is removed and cleaned up.. ..and a check if it fits and is proportionally about right - it is not super accurate, but is the best I can do... it still needs two angled mounting lugs to be added to the top which I will probably braze solder, but that is tomorrows problem.. until next time.. TTFN Peter

evening folks Hi Kyle - I am afraid I have no idea! I am a long way from doing the tail, so I guess I will find out when I get there Hi Oliver, thanks for stopping by the template is one of 6 I got from HLJ made by 'Brain Factory'... they are often out of stock I find so get one while you can.. so, on to the P51.. I remade the seat back as I wasn't happy with the proportion of the rod frame so having done it 3 times already including test parts, one more wasn't too painful.. ..behind the seat are two natural metal struts which carry big springs I guess for damping or seat adjustment, so I taped some card to the seat back to get equal spacing and set about making the brackets that hold them to the seat back.. ..I made the springs by winding fuse wire around a brass rod - I CA'd one end of the wire to the rod so it was easy to spin the rod and get a neat looking facsimile.. ..these were then added before the lower brackets were fitted.. I will get the spacing of the spring 'rings' more even once I have finished building it.. ..I added some small tube fittings where the seat bottom meets the frame and as it is such a weak attachment I went belt & braces underneath with a big bit of plastic to give the set-up strength & rigidity.. ..there are two channel type brackets that brace the two seat parts sort of where the pilot's elbows go so after trying folding litho and failing, I settled on filing down some brass 'U' shape section to get a similar profile.. ..and added with some micro bolts... the main structure is complete now, it just needs all the levers and fittings added.. ..I now need to make the bracket you can see at the top of the seat structure where it mounts to the armour plate - I was going to do it in 3D, but I kinda want to keep building so will have a stab at it tomorrow.. ..in other news, Denzil from Aircorps Aviation has been in touch and to say I am thrilled with what he and Eric have sent me would be a huge understatement!! Yesterday I received all the artwork for all the placards & labels in the real Lope's Hope which I will be able to copy to make a bespoke set of decals for the cockpit and all the airframe internals - amazing.. those guys are so supportive, I am hoping one day when the real one retires from flying I can put the model with it wherever it is displayed.. ..in other news part 2 - don't try and catch a dremel diamond slitting disc spinning at 15,000RPM if you drop the flexi-drive... I did and have some nasty cuts on my left hand (thankfully) so may find things a bit difficult for a few days.... what a dummy... TTFN Peter