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Got the transparencies unmasked. phew. I was really worried about overspray getting in behind the transparencies from those big open cabin doors and gunners windows- I plugged them with foam...but you never know. about to start the dust application- and the Crew Chief got his head back- cheers, Pete

“It was a brooding machine; thirty tons of it. Even counting motors and turrets as one and excluding nuts, bolts and rivets there were fifty-five thousand separate parts. Over three miles of electrical wiring, generators enough to light a hotel, hydraulics enough to lift a bridge, radio powerful enough to talk to a town on the far side of Europe, fuel capacity enough to take it to such a town, and bomb-load enough to destroy it.” — Bomber: Events Relating to the Last Flight of an RAF Bomber Over Germany on the Night of June 31st, 1943 by Len Deighton My uncle Ivan died flying a Lancaster for the RCAF, so I am putting all my other builds (too many) on hold. Family comes first, so this will be a tribute build to him. I don't know what aircraft or squadron he flew with, so I've selected a late war lanc: "Sugar's Blues" KB864 NA-S of 428 Ghost Squadron, RCAF. I'm using this kit: Starting with the cockpit, I'm addressing some of the inaccuracies that have been noted: Seat Pan +4.5mm too long Seat pan height +1.5mm too high Plus floor is 2.5mm too high Armour plate -3mm too short Pedestal height should be 15 mm high The front edge of the seat is in the correct position relative to the IP, so the shortening of the seat pan will pull the seat back forward toward the IP. Starting with the seat, I used as many of the kit parts as possible, cutting 4.5mm from the front and 1.5mm from the bottom. I made a new seat pan, and shortened and reattached the base pieces: As you can see, I also scratchbuilt and folded back the head armor. I hope you enjoy the build, and please share any advice and encouragement you can! Cheers, Tom

Progress is painfully slow at the moment. Trying to juggle the care of a 2.5yr old whirlwind, keeping my home working wife in a supply of tea and coffee, my own part time job, and trying to make sure I do my daily exercise for ‘Project get aerobatic flight fit’, is robbing me of bench time at the moment. A rare occurrence happened however. I managed to complete something. I’ve finished the not so small task of the ‘Alamo’ missiles. Zactomans offerings are absolutely exquisite in their detail and quality. I’ve coupled that with the decals from Begemot (beware, there’s a whole lot of ‘em), that took forever to apply. There’s things I could improve on if I weren’t mounting them, like a few minor mould lines running down the top/rear of the missile bodies. They’ll be hidden by the pylons so why make more work for myself huh? The nose cones are probably the wrong colour too but there’s so many variations among the photo’s I looked at that I just decided that “it looks nice like that, I think I’ll keep that colour”. The decals haven’t sat down as well as I’d have liked, despite several doses of micro sol. I tried a bit of pre-shading and different colour base layers to create a bit of interest in the predominantly white finish. ....and here they are. Next....the ‘Archer’ missiles. Yay, even more tiny fins and PE parts.

Oh my goodness, I can't possibly accept or live up to such praise , those are the kindest comments I have ever read. The thought of any comparison with my modelling heroes is really beyond my comprehension - I just try my best and set myself high standards on your behalf thank you - it is the fuel of my motivation.. so, as I said last time, I started to detail the sidewalls in which there are many bits & bobs that mainly are mini models in their own right.. starting with the R/H wall - here we have a conduit housing on the far left, a big brass ki-gas pump, a sort of pull handle on the top rail and a couple of push switches... ..on the L/H wall a trim wheel made from laminates of 0.5mm ply, some big ratchet handle and a small lever quadrant on the top rail - there is another one on the far side of the rail not shown.. ..and again, it's a matter of constant dry fitting in the jig to make sure everything can co-habit with everything else.. I have to say though, I am really enjoying this build and have started to prepare for the bigger questions it will ask of me - things like vac forming the basic fuselage off a basswood master and looking at the best way to construct the wings following the Alcorn / Lee book anyways, until next time.. TTFN Peter

So the most difficult part of the nose conversion for me is the huge vac canopy, after careful cutting initial test fit is very good. Also looking at getting the fuselage extension fitted, I see lots of rescribing coming up on the fuselage when the nose and tail section finally come together. Fuselage conversion starting to come together now! Regards. Andy

Thanks for the input guys! Very helpful and interesting information! I haven't had much modeling time the past few days. The few hours I've spent on the Nachtjager have been spent looking at the cockpit components, referencing both the kit and Eduard PE instructions and trying to get subassemblies together prior to painting and determine which PE parts to use. For example, I've decided to glue some subassemblies like the pilot side panels together so that I can, at some point, dry-fit the cockpit components together. There are PE faces for the seats side frames but I doubt that they will be seen from above so I am planning on not using the PE parts. I'll make a more informed decision once I know how the seats fit within the cockpit. One PE component that I think will be superior to the kit part is the Revi 16 gun sight. It's no bigger than the size of a matchhead and yet it is made up of six separate parts... should be a fun assembly exercise. A PE bending tool is helpful when bending PE, especially if you want to get crisp/straight folds. I have a couple but The Bug by Small Shops is the one that I end up using most often. Once the initial folding is done, the box shape of gun sight is closed into final shape using my fingers and tweezers. CA glue along the closed joints seals the box shut. I used a small stiff paint brush moistened with Great Planes Pro CA Debonder to "scrub" away the excess CA glue. A visual reminder of how small this thing is. I thought it would be a good idea to mount the Revi gun sight onto the mounting arm to make it easier to handle and less likely to lose. The final bits are added to the gun sight assembly. The gun sight is primed with Mr Primer Surfacer 1000. Sometimes a mix and match approach will be used. The kit radar assembly has better raised detail than the flat PE box but the PE frame is a big improvement over the kit part. So I'll be using the kit radar mounted on the PE frame. That's all for now!

This is Dayglo Models 1/32nd scale FIAT G-91. It is a limited production resin kit. I have o say it went together very easily for a resin kit. The kit only comes with Luftwaffe markings, but Dayglo do a set of Italian markings. The only aftermarket I used was some Airscale decals in the cockpit Painted with Xtracolor enamels. Thanks for looking Angelo

Ok all little more progress. And a confession. This isn't turning out as well as I had hoped. The farther along I get the more the mistakes begin to pile up. Lets just say that I want to finish this and go on to my next project. But the wheels are on. Here are the gear doors. And last the canopies. Dan

Thanks. I'd give you some of this blue fabric Tim, but I got mine with a small photo-booth that I use all the time below. I've got a larger photo-booth with the same fabric for larger models and final pics, so it must be common somewhere. I'd try a professional camera store or fabric store. Cheers, Chuck

OK, just posting this in case I forget to tell you all later. This was a 'gotcha' for me. You probably already knew this anyway, but the 2 access panels on the RWR antenna are only on the left side! I just repositioned and rescribed them on the other side to match the left and realized they are only on one side...Ugh, filled with CA now. Right...back to it

Couldn't resist a quick trial fit! A little trimming, and I'm going to take off the SW moulded markers, this is where their thicker windshields would have interfaced with the fuselage.

Thanks Guy, and sorry Brian, they're not for sale! I'll send you some free, gratis and for nothing.....but sell? Nah, sorry! I added to the design slightly this morning, small tabs which hopefully will help with keeping them in place: and with a new blade in the cutter (the previous one has lasted 6 years, so not bad!): The clear panels are simply the front framework but outline only, also cut on the Silhouette. And painted and looking OK! Some tidying up to do tomorrow when all is dried:

Thanks guys. Taking a little licence. The boy is due at 10 am tomorrow.

I think I'm happy with the minimal exhaust staining effect, for a couple of reasons: 1. Exhaust staining is often overdone. I don't want to be that guy 2. I'm trying to replicate the pic of PC standing on the wing of this aircraft which I've shown many times above, and I don't see any obvious staining past the cockpit area onto the code lettering. Tough to determine on this old pic, but it also has brand new paint on the Cross of Lorraine and the 3 Squadron badge, so maybe it was cleaned up a bit? 3. Scale. As the exhaust staining dissipates aft of the engine area, it obviously is less visible. Most of the time I am looking at this model from about 1 foot away, so I want to show what I could see from 32 feet away from the real deal. 4. Randomness of any staining. I looked at a lot of pictures other than the ones shown above and found some similarities, but lots of differences too, so I went with the core of what is most common on both sides. For whatever reason, some had almost no staining (cleaning?), like the pic below. Paint looks pretty new too, so it likely is fairly new. Cheers, Chuck

Started the weathering base layer. this is a Payne’s Grey oil wash thinned with white spirits. I intentionally shot the base color a little lighter knowing that this wash would really darken up the base paint- much more to do- cheers for now- P

November 18/20 Short Update- as I play around with weathering, including the exhaust and propeller. Here are some pics of Pierre Clostermann’s Tempest and one other I stole from the ‘net. Note how the exhaust pattern is not behind the exhausts, but in an arc pattern above them due to airflow, then swinging down just under the bottom of the kill score sheet. It’s fairly dark too. And here's a good pic of the front of the propeller, showing wear and chipping on the gloss black spinner. So I tried to do something similar, and while I was at it, I spent an hour going over all the paint work with my airbrush, delicately spraying both light and dark highlights, similar to the Spitfire pics I’ve shown above. I think it looks a lot better now. Here’s a quick walkaround of just about everything. I also re-painted the bottom, but I’ll show that some other time after I have attached the landing gear. While you can see the chipping on the spinner, the prop blades didn't photograph very well, so you'll just have to take my word for it, that they are weathered as well. Lot's of subtle weathering here and there to come, like the exhaust stacks and the gun barrels. Cheers, Chuck

This one is finally finished. It was a really good learning experience with plenty of firsts for me. The kit is overall really nice with some exceptions. In general the fit is good and would build up into a nice model from the box but we modelers have a hard time leaving well enough alone. The weakest spots I see are the kit intakes, canopies and engines. This one has an Aires cockpit set, GT intakes, Eduard Brassen engines and weapons, AOA decals and probably a couple of things I'm forgetting. Most of the painting is done with MRP and oils for weathering. This is by far the biggest modeling project I have taken on and it gives me confidence to tackle other big projects. I had a bunch of help from many people on the forum who I thank very much.

Enjoy

I completed it on day 3. I missed a day.

Oh great, let’s start another multi page Tamiya wishlist thread. It’s been what, a couple of weeks since we had the last one? Nothing at all indicating that it’s even an aircraft, much less 1/32 scale, but why let that stop anyone. Let’s start the rampant uninformed speculation! It will be a 1/32 F-86 Sabre in a special Godzilla tribute boxing.

Well then... back to start with the seats!

The attention to detail by airfix when designing this kit continues to impress! Check out the mechanism for the flaps. They're labeled port and starboard...! I'm about ready to close up the wings. Have a bit of finagling to do. The fit of the parts is so tight, they even show you where to sand. Everything fits so well, its readily apparent when you've goofed. Patience is key (not my strong suit). I'm fighting a bit of a gap around the .50s, so that means my earlier construction was a bit off...nothing a bit of sanding wont fix, and totally my fault. Also took me forever to figure out what the clear parts atop the wing are. Of course Bill Reese had the answer in his oft quoted and excellent write up about a/c interior colors. They're blue formation lights. Most photos, especially B&W ones, you can't even see 'em. I'd never noticed them, but Airfix caught it and they're there. More soon -Peter

Thanks Alan! This is the first kit that I've run across that has this combination of finely-printed instrument decals on a clear background with a nicely-molded instrument panel. Zoukei Mura came close but they put the instruments on a solid color background, which makes it (a) difficult to align and (b) decal film with ink is stiffer and harder to conform than clear film. And I thought the molding on the kit instrument panel was not fine enough so I opted for the PE alternative on my Ta 152H build. Hasegawa also prints their instrument decals on a solid color background. And they make the decal option even less viable by providing raised details within each instrument.

Taking a few measurements: to base my drawing on: and ready to cut, just 7mm high: and for Silhouette users, the cutting details for 10 thou plastic sheet: The end result looks promising, it's worth just running a sharp point around the cut line to ease getting the frames out: The one standing up was the prototype which is why it's a bit wonky on one side!! Just a coat of yellow and some glazing now....

Hi friends, this my next finished project - Huey from Academy at 1/35 scale. For this project I used a lot of photo-etched and resin sets and parts. Painted with tamiya acrilic paints, weathered with oils, washes and dry brush - nothing new for us Put the girl-pilot next to "the choppa" just for fun Hope you will like it And as always thank you for watching and cheers guys

It SEEMS that way, buuuuuuut:

Last year I picked up a WNW LVG VI at an estate sale for a dollar. Ignorance can really be expensive.

I cant help but think the Gotha, in particular, is one of those kits that is such an enormous and daunting project that the vast majority of them will only ever be shuffled between people like this. Each new 'caretaker' will as a bit more aftermarket, then pass it on to the next person. Each seeing its value not as a kit, but an object of "limited" release whos value is only to those who see it in the same light as anything more than nicely shaped chunks of plastic. I imagine, in 10-20 years time, these kits will start showing up in estate sales completely untouched, and loaded with all the accessories, ready to be enjoyed the way Sir PJ intended

Even WITH the Pheon sheet and a set of REXx exhausts, that is utterly ridiculous. I kinda have to laugh at these people a bit.

Hi guys, I have just completed Revell's 1/32 P-51D early Mustang. This was OOB with the exception of the HGW textile harnesses. I used Tamiya acrylics and lacquers, Vallejo Metal Color, Windsor & Newton oils and AK weathering products. I really enjoyed this build, fit issues aside. I decided to use the supplied decals rather than masks for this build. The quality of the decals is fantastic. I believe they're Cartograf. I used flat and semi-gloss clear coats to represent the sheen in the areas of the hotly debated 'was it blue or was it green?' topic.

I'm not sure this is convenient to do in the inside, the topside is already rounded - the problem is that since it's angled on the inside, however you round the topside, you will always see the angle and flat surface. The solution might be to round the inside but this is quite hard to achieve - it was tempted but honestly I reached the point where I'm starting to get concerned that I will break it if I pursue. Here's the kit's part in the state it is now: The angles and flat surface are still quite noticeable. I'm not equipped to vac form a new windscreen so I looked in the spare transparencies box if there was anything of help in there and sure enough I found something that may fit just fine with a bit of surgery. I confess I initially looked at the newly release mirage 2000 windscreen, but it is so much longer than this one. But this old Hasegawa F-18 blue angel could be a possible solution: I marked the area I'd need and sawed it off, then adjusted more finely by careful sanding. The parts are not cleaned or polished yet. I'll wait till i'm 100% satisfied with fitting before polishing and declaring it useable or not. notice the original part and the even more obvious angular surface Once on the KFIR, the fitting is not so bad. Some gaps are present, but nothing that cannot be addressed by framing the windscreen with aluminium tape. And finally here's a comparison picture between the original sanded part and the salvage F-18 part. Let me know what you think gents? Should I pick any of these or should I attempt a first try at vac forming my own? Thanks for your input.

Those are very nice pics and clearly show how the fuselage slopes down sharply at the rear. Something that is not depicted in the Tamiya kit IMHO. Keep it up Anthony.

That's right. A student told me last Wednesday that he bought an Anime model and is half through it.

thanks Tim- chipped just like the cabin floor.. used hairspray between layers of enamel paint and Tamiya acrylic.. super easy. cheers Pete

It's actually a very unreal situation, kit wise, that happened to Paul and his family, but ofcourse not unreal to what actually happened, the fire, the destruction, the loss and all that goes with it. We all may have some of his kits one way or the other, and indeed it would be a terrible shame if these explicite kits wouldn't come to reality in being build, but i realize having these kits do present a certain "treasure" in having Paul's legacy in what he was trying to give to the LSP society ....... Okay enough of these reflections, i must kick myself as well to get some of his creations to fruition......

I'm really looking forward to trying some too! I'll try any aids to building a better model. It's not a 'cheat' unless you take a pride in purely using what comes inside the kit box, or scratch-building. Modellers once had concerns about photo-etch being cheating, and resin detail parts, and relief printed surface detail decals, and turned brass barrels - but now they've become a norm. Actually - modellers in the '50's and '60's once looked at plastic kits as cheating - and now look where we are! To me a model is about the research, the history and the subject I'm trying to portray. That journey starts in my imagination and, occasionally, results in a finished model. I'll take anything that aids that journey, but a good model is more than the sum of it's parts - it's still down to the modeller to capture the essence of something. And capture it well, or not. One aftermarket accessory does not maketh a model; the builder does IMHO. Iain (off to 'cheat' with some more of that new fangled 3D Print malarky)

A few more from work today. I ran out of light (I REALLY need to repaint this room a lighter color) so I stopped here. And, I ran out of paint in the airbrush, so....good stopping point? Again, not going for a sharp demarcation, since none of the images I'm finding show it like that. Let me know what you think or if you have suggestions. If anyone wants to see close up shots of Woody's rivets, let me know @Archer Fine Transfers

Thanks guys, appreciate it. Anthony, hopefully I can do justice for a RNZAF aircraft! Just more painting today. I tossed on some weird colors......not sure they show up much (wife said she couldn't see them), but I like the way the horizontal stabilizers look compared to my previous start on the wing. So far, no mask or poster putty. The paint jobs on these don't seem to have been......tidy, from the pictures I've found, so the demarcation lines are BIG. Yes, I paint in a reallllllllly random order. Works for me, so far! Let me know what you think.

Matching a pilot to a cockpit and closing the canopy for an in-flight is always a challenge. Very often the kits aren't done for closed canopies and the seat or something else is conflicting. When you add after markets and a stash pilot, you're doing it even mor difficult on yourselves I developed a method as I challenge myself with this quite often, dunno if that will help anyone but here is it anyway - At the early stage of the cockpit built, check the set height. Close the canopy and ensure the seat does not conflict with the closed canopy. if it does conflict, sand the seat base a bit. - Get rid of the belts on the seat (if any) and mill the seat cushion for the shape of the pilot back and butts - Assemble the pilot without shoes if possible, with no arms and no head. Test fit the pilot on the seat. It should be well cushioned in - Test the seat + pilot in the cockpit, ensure his legs are not too spread and conflicting with the side consoles and that the space between his leg is enough to fit the IP. Often a small cut at the legs is required for a proper fit. If shoes are an issue, get rid of them, nobody will see it under the IP most of the time - Cut the hands from the arms, - Put pins in the arm and head of the pilot and ensure you can assemble them without glue and move them until you find the perfect position - Put pins in the hand and so the same with the hands on the arms. Very often the hands should be on the controls, but hardly hands are molded with stick or throttle in them or grabbing a handle bar for WSO for instance - Mill the inside of the hands and glue flight controls there and not on the cockpit. Obviously the arm/hands should be in the correct place so the flight controls more or less match their native position. - Very often if you glue the arms before inserting the pilot in the seat, you can't go past the canopy sills. Plan ahead for that and consider gluing the pilot arms after the pilot is seated in the seat. - Pin the head (don't glue) and check that you can still close the canopy perfectly - Glue only when you're sure everything will fit and close correctly, don't forget to add belts (foil, PE, ...) attaching the pilot to the seat - once the pilot in glued to the seat, add the missing belts and seat ejection goodies. -Did I say check that closed canopy often The tree main assemblies going through separate painting and detailing The resin seat was too high to ensure a canopy close, so the bottom of the seat was sanded a bit more until the canopy closed correctly Both arms were reshaped and hands severed and repositioned after being milled for the flight controls. Invisible in the picture but right leg was bent inboard and the space between the two legs were sanded to let the IP centre pedestal slide through A pilot looking where he should according to the phase of the inflight and his hands where they are supposed to be (rather than doing the usual thumb up) is much more natural but is hardly well planned from the figurine manufacturers. I'd love to get more LSP helmets, hands with sticks or grabbing handles. in the meantime, we often have to make do with what we have in the scrap box. Now that the pilot sits in there comfortably, whish me luck because I'll start addressing that front windscreen and this is probably the critical point of this built. I need to remove the side mount as the C10 Kfir windscreen is one piece plexiglass. As you can see from the picture above, 20 years in its box already micro marked the canopy so it needs a good polish anyway.

Just passing through.....more progress from today. Sharing before I run out to pick up the daughter! Wing process.... And rivet love.....

Progress is still progress, no matter how slow it is. Especially when it looks as good as those missiles. Matt

I just put a Gotha on eBay last week (part of the daughter-needs-money-series), with a starting price of $0.99 and it went for about $450. Also for about the same price went my Fisher X-1A/B!

Next Tamiya 1/32 release..?

Thanks Andy! Nichenson has been extremely kind in offering me the parts I need from his B-25 kit. Bob, it’s great to have you along! Thanks Dennis! It’ll be like old times with our B-17 builds, only I will finish this one before finishing “Little Miss Mischief”. Cheers, Tom

I think it's been hinted at, we can only hope.

Next on the bench: -5F. PE seat belts and masks from Eduard Decals from FFSMC Some 3D printed goodies (outer wing pylons for the Mica IR, wheels, seat, intrument panel and lateral panels (with the proper throttle), rear view mirros and the police light (for the left air intake) And since it will be my third mirage, I have plenty of MICA A2A missiles. But first I have to move the bench (and the rest of the flat) across country...

Thanks Cees! Ummmm, yours IS plenty good enough mate. A big inspiration for me! I found the definitive glory shot that shows the FG.1 is straight! That has taken some hours to do. Iain, thanks mate, I would have just ploughed ahead and put the kink in it, but you questioned whether or not it is there on FG.1's. Thank you very much! I can go to bed now, one less job to worry about LOL

Got the truck up on blocks - the long awaited building jig. Starting to get a solid impression of what it’ll look like.

Managed to get the main work on the rear stabilisers completed today, the AIMS resin extensions are a little thick in chord but pretty easy to deal with. Some re-scribing required but pretty happy so far, need to do some work on the huge sail of a tail plane now! Regards. Andy

So first cuts made to this massive project yesterday with getting the already massive fuselage rady to accept the 70mm extension piece. Well, No going back on this one now and the fit of the extension is very good. Need to concentrate on the cockpit now and convert it from an A-4 in to a late G variant. Regards. Andy