Bryan

I hate to publicly out my stupidity...but I have to confess...I don't get it.

That A400 sure is a cool airplane. It looks like the offspring of a C-17 and C-130...."mating".

No...he's not. Not human I mean....

This seems to be the case with all forum search engines, at least all of them that I have used. I belong to a couple of sites that use Vbulletin, and the search engine is utterly useless. The only time I have managed to find anything with it is if I know the post I am looking for has a longish, very unusual word in it.....which is almost never the case.

Totally agree! The P-47 is the real deal. I think a warplane needs a degree of brutish, purposeful, ugliness. I find the P-51 a bit boring in its perfect lines. Sort of like a "perfect" supermodel...in that flawless beauty is boring. My favorite aircraft: P-47, Typhoon, Tempest....in no particular order. That first image in this thread from 2004 makes me want to build a P-47 and duplicate it.

It is not only incredible having followed this all along, but the results are spectacular... What I mean is, in modelling often hours/days/weeks/months can be expended on work that does not really "pay off". I know we have all experienced it....going to great lengths to detail or paint or finish something only to find the result was not worth the effort. In this case, the result is a masterpiece and the effort was unquestionably worth it. I honestly don't think it would be possible to make a better, more spectacular scale replica. I don't necessarily mean in the sense of precision scaled down replica of the actual aircraft (which he has also achieved BTW), but more in the sense of a model that captures the exact "essence" of the real thing. Success like this involves a lot of intangibles beyond simply making a smaller replica of the actual aircraft. I imagine that is what we all strive for, within the huge limits of our respective levels of skill and determination....but in this thread we have actually seen it accomplished.

Fantastic result! I really like the silver scheme....accentuates the lines of the Tempest. Very clean flawless build.

I didn't understand that either. That is about the size class of the biggest of the non-nuclear US "supercarriers"...like the Independence, JFK, America, etc....they were all able to handle large CTOL jets including the F-14....which was a huge aircraft. There is no way the VTOL F-35 will have capabilities equal to the conventional variants....surprising the UK traded that away.

It's not just the Bradley. Most new weapons systems receive biased critical analysis from the media. I remember the M1 Abrams, the F-15, the Ticonderoga class cruiser (and Aegis weapons system), and the Apache helicopter all receiving harsh criticism....and all have evolved into effective weapons. The F-15 in particular was lambasted as being too big, too expensive, and too complex. And I think everyone will agree it has proven to be an effective warplane. We will just have to wait and see....it appears there is no going back now....as far as the F-35 is concerned. It will take many years to get some idea of the true quality of the F-35.....since the military always overstates the effectiveness of new weapons, and unfairly denigrates older ones (like the F-111, A-10, etc).

I don't know if I would say that picture is "beautiful"....but it sure is interesting....and useful from a painting/weathering perspective.

That single engine must have a hell of a lot of thrust....never saw the afterburner lit once.... The close up appearance of these new generation warplanes is always interesting....they look like they were carved from one piece of metal...or concrete...or something. Point is you don't see the normal panel lines and rivets. I know that is for stealth...but still interesting.

To me....FWIW....the green looks about right but the grey looks much too dark. The difference between medium sea gray and ocean gray is actually pretty subtle. You can tell they are different where the two colors meet up low on the fuselage, but viewed separately they look very close in color.

I have always been interested in aircraft powered by the ultimate piston engine, the R4360 Wasp Major....hence my attraction to the Hughes XF-11. Funny how you can always tell R4360 powered aircraft just by the shape of the cowl.

Ok....he's not really doing it. He had contact a few years back from space aliens visiting earth, and in addition to being "probed" he acquired some of their advanced technology. That's what it is. You heard it here first....remember that.

The problem for me has never been the cost so much as where would I put the thing when I am finished building it. The basic size and shape of aircraft models makes them space-consuming already. Must resist 1/24.....must.....

I have always thought....that once finished and in a nice lighted display case....warships are about the most impressive looking scale models there are. So intricate and busy.

I agree with this... I have a fairly good sized Craftsman compressor I bought to fill car tires and do other automotive work. I would guess the tank is about 30 gallons. I got tired of turning on and listening to the hobby compressor, so I finally put a regulator and line on the Craftsman and now use it for all my painting. It is louder than hell and scares the crap outta me when it kicks on to refill the tank, but that happens very rarely and when it does it only runs a minute or so. Painting models uses so little air that it almost never causes the compressor to come on. So I generally have a completely silent, consistent pressure air source. I swear my painting improved when I started using it in place of the sort of "pulsing" air from my hobby compressor. Also...it was cheap. IIRC (it was a few years ago) I paid less than $150 for it....although the regulator and hoses for the airbrush added some to that total.

Yeah...I gotta say...after looking at every post....I think I am more scared by the project than intrigued.... I find PE generally frustrating and unsatisfying to work with. I mean, I can handle some....but the amount in this build looks pretty oppressive. At my typical work pace....that project would take me at least 2-3 years to finish....at least. And that's assuming my morale/determination does not collapse in the middle. That kit is way too big for the shelf of doom.

Keep posting this stuff and I am going to wind up starting a similar project. It all looks really tempting. I will tell my wife to blame you. I think I would do either the Bismark or the Iowa though.

I'm not a huge "open cowl" type guy....but dang that does look really good.

I hate you and your petty project.

The B-47 tends to get overlooked....I think because it's career was kind of insignificant.... But you could easily make a case for it as the cleanest, most graceful aircraft ever designed.

That is incredibly cool! You definitely did an amazing job. Did you ever consider buying a real/surplus one? I have seen them in surplus stores over the years, and surprisingly they don't even bring all that much money. Admittedly though, they were always older models than the GRU-7. One time I almost bought one....but it would have resulted in a divorce if I brought it in the house....so I didn't.

I didn't post it...because I have posted up a few OT models and this is an aircraft forum...but just a couple months ago I finished the Gulf 917. I have to say it was a very difficult build, much more so than the 956. Thanks all for the kind words.

Ok, I have followed this thread long enough... Once a source of wonder, now it serves as a constant reminder of my own inadequacies and relative incompetence. So instead of praising your efforts, I am going to subtly start to undermine them.....so I can begin to shore up whatever is left of my sagging self esteem. Your cockpit is the wrong color.....and your instruments look dumb.