BiggTim

I hear you, but at least there IS a 1:32 Beaufighter in existence, unlike the early P-38. Granted, the quality of the Revell Beau is slightly above poo, but it's real, and you can upgrade the heck out of it with the great AM stuff being made by guys like Steve at Model Monkey. There is currently no easy option for an early P-38. I'm doing my best to rectify that with AM, but I'd just about give up "lefty" for a good kit from someone like Kotare.

Easy answer - P-38, especially an early one. That has been a GAPING hole in the 1:32 world for as long as I've been building models (50+ years). We are talking about the plane that shot down Yamamoto, and was flown by the two highest scoring American aces of WW2. The L-5 kit that Trumpeter/Hobbycraft first came out with in 1991 was welcome, but you have to have a conversion to make it an early one, and right now I'm the only one working on putting one of those cpnversions back out there (I own the rights to the Rutman/GMF one). Plus, the quality of the L-5 Trumpeter kit is not even close to your level. You guys are putting out some of the best stuff the industry has ever seen. I'd say P-51B/C as well, but chances are you'd be competing with a couple of other manufacturers who have announced plans to do that. However, you actually DO get things done, so maybe you'd beat them to the punch! I seriously think whoever puts that out first will sell as many as they can make. Those are the top 2 holes I see - there are others, but I don't want this question to turn into a wish list! I totally understand your desire to make Spitfires and 109s, as they are classics and always sell well. I love them, too. Plus, as I said, your quality is second to none, and I applaud your efforts wholeheartedly! Please do keep it up. I am kind of an odd duck in the model building world, so I'm admittedly hard to please. I have a small stash (maybe 30-35 kits), narrow interests (1:32 only), and a very limited amount of money to spend on this hobby. So, I usually don't build more than one or two kits of a given airframe. I've done Spits and 109s, because there are some very good offerings out there already, so it's difficult for me to justify spending the money on another one that will just sit on a shelf, even though I want to support your efforts. If either of those two - P-38E/F/G/H (or a better rendition of a late variant) or P-51B/C were to come out in 1:32 at any price, especially at your level of quality, my money would fly outta my wallet so fast, it would make your head spin!! Even if I had to walk to work for a month to save enough to afford it. Again, please keep up the great work, even if it's not what I personally am looking for. Your quality is amazing, and I truly want your venture to be successful. If I can be of any help, please let me know. Tim

How did you make it both wheels down and wheels up?

Bad. Never got what I ordered, and had to pester the heck out of them to get a refund.

I love Spitfires! It's just kinda old hat, for me anyway.

I'm happy they are doing high quality 1:32 stuff, but I sure wish they would release something I actually want.

Bummer, I watched his videos often, but had not heard about his death.

Why is it that they hold it somewhere cool, like Virginia, when I can't afford to go, and then hold it in @#*&%$@#@! Indiana next year when I might be able to afford it? What a bummer.

If it were me, I'd probably vacform the whole piece, and not try to just make the clear panels. That saves cutting and gluing them into the plastic part. To do that, I'd suggest filling the part with milliput or auto body filler, then pop it out and sand/polish, etc, then scribe a fine line around the edge of the window so it shows up on the new piece very subtly. I have had the heat problem before too, where it pulls off chunks of paint, but I think the choice of paint was the issue. You may have to experiment with that one. I think I settled on Mr. Surfacer 1500 or Tamiya Fine Gray and did not have issues. You can also try misting on some mold release spray for casting, like this - https://www.mann-release.com/products/ease-release/200/, though I have not tried that yet. Just my thoughts, anyway. Tim

Been away for a few days camping, so a little late to the party. Some years ago, I started struggling with this same subject, and even started a build thread for my Stuka project here, but lost my momentum about 6 years ago and shelved it: First off, I vacuformed all new canopies. If you want to know more abut that, you can check out my old thread. Then built the internal frame from copper wire of the appropriate size, which I can't recall at the moment. The wires were soldered together. Unfortunately, I did not take any pics of the bare frame, like a dumbass, but here's the rear canopy after assembly: As you can see, my first attempt to show the fasteners with small drops of paint sucked, so I planned to wipe those off and do what Thierry alluded to above, drilling small dents in the canopy and rubbing paint into them, which I tried, and slipped, scratching the canopy. That was probably waht made me take a break. At any rate, this was working pretty well, but man, was it hard!! Tim

Cool!! I like Hasepeter better, sounds funnier!!

😁Wanna pass those on?

I found pics of another one - https://aeroantique.com/products/compass-remote-fuhrertochterkompass-fl23333-luftwaffe?variant=20256009715801

I do free hooter inspections......oh wait, it might mean something different where you are!

Nice!! I collect as well, and I love finding foreign coins! Being in the US, I don't have the same variety of foreigns you probably get down under, but I have run across quite a few interesting ones. I find lots of Canadian and Mexican (obviously), but also quite a lot from Oz, Central and South America, even the occasional European coin. I was also given a large collection by an elderly lady I knew who travelled the world extensively back in the 40s and 50s, so some very interesting stuff in there. Sometime I will have to shoot a few pics of my favorites. Tim