LSP_Kevin

Any possibility you meant jawhol? Kev

Fantastic work Alan. It makes my head spin when I see you guys do this stuff. Kev

Lovely work Ron! Should look really nice when it's done. Kev

In terms of length, I'd have to say the longer the better for me. And I'm not just saying that because I'm a guy. Kev

Wow Dave, that landing gear looks sensational! Much better than the white metal ones, I agree. Can't wait to see where you take this one. Kev

Yes, Charles does indeed speak for us all! This will look sensational when it's done, and you'll have something that's not only unique, but uniquely yours. Kev

Ha, not mine Brian! I wish it was though. Kev

Glad to hear your having some good results Dave. I'm a Milliput convert myself, though I wish it were cheaper and lasted longer. Kev

Yeah, that's fantastic! Reminds me that I've got to get back to mine... Kev

I'm looking forward to this one too Tony, as I also have this kit in the stash. What are you going to do with the engine area? My thinking would be to pose it separately from the completed airframe and keep the fuselage closed up. Kev

I've never done it myself Al (so I'm no expert!), but I've seen each of those methods you allude to used in practice. If the problem to be solved is an overly-thick kit canopy, it seems common to use that as a basis for forming a new, thinner one. If you need to fabricate one from scratch, forming a male mould and then plunge moulding it ("heat 'n' smash") seems the most common (and probably easiest) method. I'd imagine anything else would require a proper vacform machine of some sort. Kev

That cockpit looks sensational Richard! Fantastic work. Kev

Man that is some fantastic masking work Chris! How did you cut them out so neatly? Kev

Lovely job Perry, it has turned out really well. I've always like the Gladiator but I don't think I could have tackled a large scale vac of it! Kev

Fantastic work Alan, simply superb! Those stencils look amazing, and the level and quality of detail on your build floors me. Kev

Great to see this one restarted D, and very interesting to see your progress shots. You humble me dude! Beautiful work. For my build, the only shape issue I corrected was the too-broad tail profile. Another problem I only noticed after assembly is that the dihedral is too flat - yours looks OK though, did you fix it? I love your fix for the trim tabs too. I had no idea what to do about those, so I left them as is. Thanks for the idea! The one area I still wish I had addressed is actually the horrible tail wheel. It really detracts from the finished model. Are you going to use the Hasegawa part D? Keep 'em coming! Kev

Here here! Kev

Wonderful John, and congratulations on your win. The model certainly looks like it deserved it. Kev

Thanks for the encouragement Keith. I certainly do seem to be going to a lot of trouble to avoid having to scratchbuild these things. Seeing Chris's latest update to his Tornado is both inspiring and intimidating! Kev

Wow Chris, that looks stunning! And with lights! Any more photos? Kev

Thanks for the nice comments Maarten! I did consider using the top of the resin wells as the upper wing top surface, but I think it would sit too high (it would look like a speed bump on the wing ), and it's at the same angle as the internal profile, which wouldn't match the wing surface profile at all. I also considered reducing the profile of the lower surfaces of the wells, but I think it would be beyond me to do it evenly all the way round - twice! Also, the strut mounting block would have to be left as-is to be useful, so that complicates that approach even further. The approach I'm toying with at the moment is to remove the strut mounting blocks and reduce their height to fit the Revell wing, and then scratch build the rest of the well using the CMK parts as a template. I've also considered chopping each well into 3 parts: strut mount, leg bay and wheel bay. That way I might be able to customise the profile of each section separately, but I'd be left with some pretty ugly joins to deal with. Thanks for the offer regarding the books too Maarten. I'm at work at the moment, but when I get home I'll send you an email. Kev

That's exactly my philosophy too Texas. You might not end up with as nice a model, but it's definitely a superior approach for improving your skills. Kev

I'm currently indulging in a short break from the Zero while I await packages from Dave (RookieLSP) and Manny (canuck63). Well, the first has arrived (thanks Dave!), so I thought I'd take a look at the wheel wells. The CMK wells for the Tamiya Zero fit the shape of the Revell cutout surprisingly well: The kit cutouts are about a millimetre or so longer, but no big deal. However, I've now discovered that they are in fact way too deep for the Revell wing, probably by a good 2 mm. I just don't see a way to fit them in, as there's virtually no spare resin on the back to remove (it's already translucent), and the plastic in the upper wing is not thick enough to allow that much to be removed. So, I'm now considering my options. I thought I could possibly widen the cutouts so that the rim of the wheel wells is flush with the wing surface, but that has a few down sides. Firstly, if it doesn't work then I've basically stuffed the wing. Also, making a strong join in this important area would be much more difficult under those conditions. I also thought of forcing the upper wing over the too-large wells, but that would put a lot of strain on the upper-to-lower wing join at the leading edge, and detrimentally change the profile of the upper wing against the wing root. My only other option would be to scratch build a pair of wheel wells, but the way I'm going at the moment, that would be like Andre the Giant riding a winner at the Melbourne Cup. Suggestions? Kev

Steve, Lynn crops up on the HyperScale forums reasonably regularly. Kev

OK, glad that's settled. Can we all go down the pub now? Kev