D Bellis

Water is the enemy of epoxy. As Rick states with "97% alcohol", go with the highest percentage of pure alcohol you can get. The remainder of the alcohol (IPA or Isopropyl Alcohol) is water that will both slow the drying time and result in a weakened final cure. The higher the water content, the longer it will take to cure and the weaker the cured material will be. As far as epoxy glues that are water thin to begin with, they don't exist. There are, however, other types of 2-part adhesives and resins (such as fiberglass resin) that do the same thing as epoxy while being considerably thinner. be careful trying to use 2-parts polyurethane resins because they tend to expand and/or bubble up in not confined in a mold. HTH, D

Beaufighter Mk.IF. HTH, D

The 440 Six Pack (and Plymouth's 440 Six Barrel) was factory rated at 390HP and 490 ft. lbs. of torque @ 4700 RPM for all 3 years that they were available ('69 - '71). I never saw anyone rate an engine at less than the peak of the power curve. It is not uncommon to get 500HP out of the 440 Six Pack with nothing more than proper assembly, carb tweaks and an aftermarket cam. HTH, D

This comparison shows the refinements made to the H-0 parts, and differences between the H-1 and H-0 kits: https://www.themodellingnews.com/2015/07/we-compare-and-review-zoukei-mura-ta.html D

Exactly! Yet some folks insist on having to apply numbers to late Luftwaffe paints, and act like they're making some grand new discovery. D

Yeah, because if it is/was a dark green, then it MUST be 70. Yeah, ok... The reality is that only the guy that opened the can of paint knows for sure, and he probably didn't care enough to actually read the label. D

Not likely. Monogram released an "F-51D" kit with the Phantom Mustang airplane parts in mostly silver plastic without the motors or stand. It had a small knob in the lower wing for manually retracting the landing gear (as chrish mentioned). Both kits were rereleased many times over the years. The Phantom Mustang kit was released fairly recently (5 years ago?) with a very reasonable $39.95 price tag. HTH D

Acetone is the active ingredient in CA "Debonders", and also plain old Nail Polish Remover. Nail Polish Removers also have various fillers and scents that dilute it enough to not attack plastic or resin while still easily removing CA. Straight Acetone definitely attacks plastic. While it might not attack some resins, I wouldn't want to find out that it does on an expensive kit. HTH, D

Non-Specular Light Gray. DF loops were wrapped with some kind of insulation, sometimes (usually?) half Black, the other half White. Correct: HTH, D

That print crop is a great reference - thanks for sharing! In addition, the sand color of the desert camo was used on the N's rear deck (original color photo of a factory celebration of some sort): D

The color under the rear windows of in-service P-40s is one of those extremely rare "always" and "never" things to do with WWII aviation. That area was always painted in one or more of the exterior camo colors (or left NMF on some early prototypes), and never painted Interior Green. Look at color photographs/images (not colorized) and discard the ones with obvious glare on that window. Yes, I'm aware that kit instructions often erroneously state that area is to be painted various shades of interior colors or Zinc Chromate. But it wasn't. Not ever. HTH, D

Well, the first Hs 129 boxing might have been a better seller if there had been more decal options included in the first place. Vicious cycle of "stupid is as stupid does". D

I just hope it has more than ONE decal option like the first kit idiotically did... D

Does anyone have any information or other pics of this F6F-5? TIA, D

That's no fun at all. The nerves will probably be extremely sensitive as they grow back, too. I certainly hope it heals up good as new, though. Having smashed my right wrist (I'm right-handed) at work back in '05, I know exactly what you're going through. Just opening a bottle of paint can take all day with improvising and experimenting different ways until something works. Same goes for most everything else modeling related, but opening paint bottles proved to be my nemesis because it isn't easy to do one-handed without shattering the glass bottle. Unfortunately, no one method proved fool-proof, so you'll have to experiment with ways to improvise clamps to hold your bottles while removing caps. Kitchen drawers held with my hip against it, shop vice jaws, pliers in the vice jaws, all sorts of rubber and cloth grippers to add friction to keep it from spinning, so on and so forth. Experimenting with props and jigs to hold things while you work on them will become an art form. It also helped to pick modeling subjects that were merely of passing interest to me - if I failed, then oh well. Try another not-so-important kit to occupy my time. The point being to minimize potential disappointments, and therefore improve the fun factor. The one-handed challenges can be rather satisfying in their own right just by defeating the obstacles. Best of luck with your hand! HTH, D