BloorwestSiR

Another kit to add to the stash. At least it has Canadian markings in the box.

I'm fortunate to have Wheels and Wings as my LHS. They were absolutely packed on Boxing Day which was great to see. Their sale is still on until Sunday so I might try to pop back in.

A couple Gundam kits to add to the stash. Certainly the last kits for this year.

Happy birthdayTim!

Merry Christmas everyone!

That's great news Chuck on your save. You could even do the VIII in flight when you get around to it. It will even further bring out the shark mouth. I did my Tamiya VIII in flight for that reason. Carl

You're welcome Martin! I'll see your Frontal Aviation version withy USN one. Should be a fun WHIFF comparison.

I got a bit more done on the engine, including my least favourite bit about a radial engine- the wiring. I drilled the ignition conduit and used 0.3 mm wire. I painted the cylinders in semi-gloss black and then gave a dry brush with the gun metal. It's subtle but I'm happy with it. The cylinders were then installed on the crankcase. I then installed the pushrods using wire. This was followed by the wiring. At this point I learned that some of my colour choices for the engine were a bit off. Rather than muck things up completely, I decided to just paint the crankcase in grey.

Well I broke down and pre-ordered the big box set today. $131 CAD shipped was the tipping point. Andy's now has a Canadian site so between that and an intro special for the site, the price was too good to pass up. Carl

They already have one under their I Love Kits sub-brand.

Indeed! Although my wallet might not agree.

It's definitely an impressive looking kit. Can't believe how many weapons it's armed with.

The body is about 4.5" long.

Thanks Kev! The AT-AT was on sale and cheaper than it's been the last few times I've looked for one. I found I had a couple of the AT-AT kits in the stash and thought it best to balance things out.

Next up was the engine. I painted the main part and then masked to do the crankcase. And this is where I am after a couple days of work.

First up was removing the parts from their casting blocks. This was duly done with a razor saw and didn't take long. I then started on painting the various parts. Probably the only flaw with the kit is the lack of detailed paint instructions. They only have the main fuselage colours listed and nothing else. I did the cylinders in black. The cockpit was interior green with the details done in black. For the belts, I decided to use some Eduard pre-painted one I had in the stash. The major parts for cockpit all assembled.

I picked up the Halberd Seahawk when it first came out. It's been sitting in the stash since then. I decided that I wanted a simple build that was a bit different from the usual so I gave it a start. Here's a quick dry fit of the major parts to the kit. The fit and casting is really well done. I only found one minor casting flaw and it shouldn't be hard to clean up.

I picked up a couple sci-fi kits. Mostly Bandai but one Hasegawa.

You forgot The Ref, Lethal Weapon, Batman Returns, Gremlins...

Well, if it's like the white glue we used in school, about the same as it smells. Not that I know from personal experience.

A nice sized model of my favourite rally car. I have the much older Doyusha one as well so it'll be interesting to see how they compare.

Nice! I'm waiting on the Screaming Toad set myself. But as Canada Post is on strike, I'll be waiting a while longer.

Nautilus has closed unfortunately.

Like @Tony T, I've found their stuff to be hit/miss in terms of fit. For the Italeri F-104, the gear bays were a drop in fit. I did very little to make them work. The cockpit on the other hand was too big to even consider. Here's the kit cockpit tub above the Aires one. There was no way to shave that much out of the fuselage sides to make it fit. I didn't even bother to try but I did use the Aires sidewalls and other details on the kit which at least meant it wasn't a total waste. Carl

A Corsair in Gray's markings had been on my build list for a while now. I'll be happy to follow along. Here's the one pic I managed to grab of Vintage Wing's Corsair when I was there.