BloorwestSiR

With both interiors finally finished, I closed up both fuselage. I then installed all the glass. These were then masked off in prep for paint. The coaming was painted black. Canopies were polished and the upper hatch framework was installed. French Kiss had an armoured windshield so I gently engraved a panel line onto the canopy and then masked it appropriately. Okay, maybe not so gently.

With the tail gun position out of the way, I finally did the waist guns on Betty's Dream. One thing that was quite a pain was the retractable cables used to help balance the guns. I couldn't get EZ line to work so I ended up usi g fine wire. It's not perfect but at least it worked. The ceiling mounted pulleys were scratch built as the PE bits were way too small.

Here's the mostly stock setup on French Kiss. The seat broke off but I have since glued it back on. An overall view of the interior of French Kiss which is mostly stock.

Hi guys, time for a long overdue update. The twins got set aside for a while but they're back on the bench again. Along with the Mi-24, He-219, Kingfisher and another Tamiya Spitfire. It's a bit crowded but I'm managing.... ...I think. OK, so I mostly finished off the top turret. Just needs the ammo belts now. Speaking of which, the tail gunner's belts were giving me fits as they're not the correct shape. The belts turn 90° to vertical and then back to horizontal as they travel from the ammo cases to the guns. There is a guide on either side to facilitate this. I think it may to give the gunner a bit more room but that's purely conjecture on my part. To do this, I made the guide chute and then used some soft metal ammo belts from Master Models. Comparing the new parts to the kit ones. There's also a booster motor guide that I made which will go between the two parts of the belts and hide the join. With the shorter belt in place along with the booster motor. With the full length belt and ammo cans in place

I grew up in Bloor West Village. My folks and sister still live there. I was briefly in the Annex back in the early '90s when I bought my first condo right on St George. Then it was King West, then Brockton Village and now we're in the Junction. So almost back home but not quite. I can see my old school from the corner of our street though. Nice to see another Torontonian on here. I looked for the decals. I have the X code, roundels and fin flashes but not the tail numbers for some reason. Let me know if that will work for you. Carl

Really nice work on the interior Thomas! Carl

That's sort of where mine are stuck so I know exactly what you mean Jimbo. As for the control surfaces, I haven't come across the extra material that you have on yours. Maybe a qc issue? Carl

For the camera hole, I marked the centre of the panel with a pencil and used a small drill bit. I then used an RC car body reamer to make the hole itself. This way it's easy to get the correct finished diameter as well making sure I was still centered. I may have the Barracuda decals leftover so I'll take a look and let you know. Carl

Here's the one I built a couple years ago. On my two copies, the canopy fit wasn't the greatest but not impossible. The lower chin was also a bit short. Most people splice the front part of the lower cowl with the section of the kit part that forms the centre of the wing. The pink PR Spitfire is a bit easier. You just need to drill a hole in the side of the fuselage and paint it pink. I did that one as well but keep in mind it's a IX and not an VIII. Barracudacast make decals for this one but I used custom masks for mine. Hope that helps. Carl

Sounds like a great idea. We'll probably get there around 11 or so. No wheelchair on my end but look for the small screaming boy and his slightly older brother rolling his eyes at him. They're 6 and 8 years old. Carl

I talked to my boys and they both want to go so it'll be a family outing for me. Carl

Really nice work. For the engine covers, if you're careful, you can leave the upper one loose so that it's removable after completion. I started by gluing the upper and lower rear pieces on first to the nacelles, then the upper ones with the exhaust cutouts were next and finally I was able to slip on the front upper cover. The engine went in after the rear cowls were on. Hope that helps Carl

That looks like it could be right out of Ace Combat. Nicely done. I've wanted to do one of the JASDF F-15s from Patlabor 2 for a long tim which would be somewhat similar. Carl

The AFV Club resin doors were badly warped and I think slightly undersized as well. I think I ended up using the kit parts there even if inaccurate. Also, if you bought the AFV Club kit from Asia it was considerably cheaper than in North America. Mine was less than $100 when I got it. Carl

Looks really nice Jan! The bomb bay should be silver. It's usually painted on the restored versions as a preservation method. And yes, the instructions for the Profimodeler sets can be quite confusing. For the waist guns, here's what I ended up with: Carl

Some nice progress there Martin. You're correct in that once the fuselage is closed up, you won't see much of it interior. Carl

It is Kev. Bandai can really cram the detail into it though. There's also a guy on Shapeways selling upgrade parts if you want to take it further. Carl

Not an LSP, certainly far from it in terms of subject and scale but still fun. With this release I now have all three versions of the Falcon from the series. Well, in 1/350 scale anyways. Carl

I was in Wheels and Wings on Thursday and didn't see any around. They have recently purchased an 11,000 kit collection so there may be some in that lot but it's going to be some time before they get to cataloguing what's there and getting it into the store. I've got my eye on a couple items that are part of it but can't recall if there were any Hobbycraft kits.

Neat idea Brian. For a moment, it looked like you were going to do the Octopus ambush camo that was used on late war German tanks. Carl

I installed the cabin doors in the closed position. These fit fairly well in the closed position. Back to the engines, I finished their assembly by gluing together the exhaust and intake trunking. I also started on the MLG legs. Once those were cleaned up and assembled, I broke out the paint. So that's where I am after a day's work. Next up will be the cockpit. Carl

I started assembly with the engines. As the engine bay covers will be closed, I'm leaving off many extraneous details. I also started on the cabin. While taking a closer look at the fuselage halves, I realized what I initially thought was a mould seam turned out to be a very large crack. It's badly bent in at the bottom but I think that once the cabin and gear bays are installed it'll go back to the right shape.

Well, it's the first weekend of March Break here in Canada so I thought I'd start something new. We'll see if I can get it done before the end of next weekend when the kids gonna k to school. I've decided to skip most of the AM on this build, hence the optimism about getting it done. Also because the ResKit rocket pods are damaged from shipping and unusable. I will however use the DN Models paint masks for the tiger stripes and canopies. Carl

Looking good Brian. The lighting really makes a difference in the colour appearance of the various pics. Carl

Then it was time to fit the PE rib details. There are additional lightening holes on the PE bits so you have to drill these out as well. I traced the holes onto the ribs using a marker and then drilled and ground them to shape. So a bunch of work but if I can make the belly pack removable, it hunk it will have been worth it.