D Bellis

Great! Now go look for something with MEK on the label that ISN'T Methyl Ethyl Ketone, and you will have found the spirit of his question and my response. D

As Thierry stated, MEK is Methyl Ethyl Ketone no matter where you are. It is perfectly safe for modeling purposes as long as one doesn't snort it, light it on fire or bathe in it. I probably should have mentioned that I buy it by the gallon (around $20 and lasts me for nearly a decade). I bought a bottle of Testors liquid cement, dumped that in the trash, and then refilled the bottle with MEK so I could have a conveniently-sized MEK container for the workbench that has an application brush in the cap. MEK is all I use for plastic/plastic joints. Elmer's C

MEK it is. MEK is a common "active ingredient" in name-brand liquid cements, but better if if used straight. It is also FAR cheaper than name brand liquid cements, and is not diluted with garbage perfumes and fillers that do nothing productive. Want to pay extra for an inferior product? Tamiya Extra Thin is the way to go. Want a liquid cement that is just that and nothing else for pennies on the dollar? Get MEK. HTH, D

Yeah, for February in New England, we don't call this weather "white death" or any of that silliness. We just call it "Thursday"... D

Brilliant. D

I used MEK to assemble the 21st Century kits that I've built. But then, I have used MEK on every plastic model I've built for the last 30 years or so... D

The Shinden is not a weekend slap-together kind of kit, but I really enjoyed building mine with the ZM J7W2 conversion: The biggest issue is that the entire inner structure is ever so slightly too big, resulting in serious fit issues with the outer panels if not addressed before assembly. It's easy to work around, though, just sand down the outer surfaces of everything and test fit several steps ahead during assembly. The engine doesn't need to be super detailed, but the basic structure will need to be there in order to mount the exhaust pipes. The cowling parts do

That works, too. Not having the original abortion (fortunately), I always refer to that HS page which has had that clear, concise information and images on the Trumpeter F4F-4 differences posted since 2003. D

Stainless is some hard stuff, known for dulling cutting edges. It might be a good idea to check out fabrication shops in your area. A lot of them will throw a small job like that into their chopper for free and have you out the door in no time. Better that than potentially dulling out the bits for your Mini Mill? HTH, D

I built the 1/144 Revel shuttle a while back: https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/53107-revell-1144-shuttle-with-boosters/ Fun build for what it is. D

Compare what you have to this image (from the page I posted a link to in my previous post): HTH, D

The original tool was never released in the US. Yes, a few folks in the US/Canada got them from Asia before the retool, but those examples are very few and far between. Given that whole fiasco happened going on 18 years ago now, getting one of the first batch by accident seems unlikely. Have a look here for more info: http://kits.kitreview.com/f4f432reviewbg_2.htm HTH, D

K2's pic sure looks like the old-tool Hasegawa wing to me, which is in the kit in question. HTH, F

The best place to start would be an R/C forum such as: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/index.php This is a forum for plastic modeling for that won't be of much use to you. HTH, D

The original Sig Kadet was my 2nd airplane with a Merco .35. Shot taken in the early spring of 1975 at age 9: Me with the same Kadet in 1976 with a scratch-built symmetrical wing with ailerons of my own design (airfoil based on the Kaos center rib): A few years ago, I scaled the SIG plans down to 42" span and built an electric version of my original Kadet: D