discus

impressive !!!

Sorry to judge but I sense a bit of bad faith here. I have both the Tam and Rev Spit sitting next to each other on my cabinet. Rivets are not such an issue seriously. You cannot expect a Tamiya panel line quality for the price of a Revell kit. That's a simple fact. Tamyia kits are expensive due to the amount of engineering, their level of details and the precision in the shape and lines of the kit which mean very expensive moulds. I don't recall poor quality fit on the Revell. You want the engine? Then get the Tamiya kit. you'll have plenty of details on top. Alan clearly said he was looking at both the Revell Spit and P-51. He even said later that he will ultimately get both. So that rules out the Tam kit. And for me that's the sensible choice to make: get both of them !!! The spit and the P-51 are both recent design kits so although I don't know the P-51 I can guess it is in the same vain as the spit: a good bargain if you want a simple kit, not too much details just enough and of good quality. As said above, you can eventually get a aftermarket exhaust pipes and PE seatbelts.

I don't know the P-51 but the revell Spit is a very good bargain. Surely it's not Tamyia's but it is much much cheaper and very good quality for the price (I don't care about the rivets). The only thing I'd recommend is to use aftermarket exhaust pipes but that's it.

So sad to see this iconic Cathedral engulf in flame when I got back from work that day. Now, 4 days after, here we are: - Firemen saved the building thanks to their courage but also thanks to strategy and preparation. It became quickly evident that they would not save the roof and the central tower (la flèche - "the dart") so the next thing was to poor water on the bell towers to protect them from flames and cool them down.. The bells are installed on a wood structure. If this would have catched fire, the 10 bells would have went down and the towers with them. We would have completely lost the cathedral. - the great organ has not burnt. It suffered from smoke, heat and water but seems if could be restored. - most of the relics and artwork was also saved. - big windows (especially the rosaces) have suffered from smoke but are still their. - President Macron said he wants it rebuilt within 5 years. That's ambitious but as we say impossible is not French. - Prime minister said they'll launch an international contest of architecture for restauration projects - around 1billions euros have been raised already This monument was there for 800 years and thankfully will still be there in 800 years from now - time is at the investigation and more importantly damage assessment and safetying the remains of the building. - how to rebuilt it will lead to pationate discussions and even polemics as only us French can have, dirty politic will play is part. In the end, UNSECO, the Church, Paris council will have their say in the decisions making and final decision should be made, as far as I understood, by the minister of culture. We have to keep in mind that these old building and especially cathedrals of that magnitude evolved over the time. And each time people used technics current for their time so why not use modern technics in this restauration. The framework supporting the external roof is not visible anyway so I wouldn't mind a metallic structure. In France, churches belongs to the states, not to the Church and it is under the responsibility of the city council to maintain those on their territory. Unfortunatly, this is often seen as an adjustment variable and very small funding is allowed for the maintenance. As a result most churches are in quite bad shape even in Paris. Even Notre Dame didn't got all the funding it deserved despite the 15 millions visitors each years. I heard that the works that just started (and that are maybe/probably at the origin of this fire) were funded by a fund raising held in the US... Maybe this even will remind us that we have to take care of our past but that's unfortunatly not really in our culture in France compared to other countries. And when I see already all the polemics about the fund raising that's not a given.

Beware the flight log book thickness...

Hello, After I finished building the Navy version of this beast, I realized that vietnam camo was really nice on the Spad. So I couldn't reasist in getting the Air Force version from ZM. Brush paint with Humbrol Enamels (116/117/119/28). I also used for the first time weathering products from Mig and AK. Yes it is more expensive that DIY but it works well. Pigment are quite handy for the oily smoke stains typical of the skyraider. I even reworked the ones on the Navy skyraider. For the loads, I used Mk82 from Eduard, napalm canister and WP bomb from DACO, modified rocket launchers from CMK and pitot/guns from Master. I replaced the static dischargers from the kit by toothbrush hairs.

wow that's crazy work !

The postman brought me this today Definitely not a LSP but that's the only scale available for this beauty.

Hello again I continue in the 70s display team with the Blue Angels Grumman tiger. It's the Fonderie Miniature kit and I must say that I was positively surprised by its quality compared to the previous FM kit I built (SMB2, Fouga, Alizé). Of course this is not Tamyia and you cannot escape from puttying and sanding but overall the fit was correct, the resin part did not need heavy work to be installed inside the plastique parts. I had some issues with the aged decals. So I used some bits of a decal sheet dedicated to the Blue Angels Cougars. Used paint: Yellow Humbrol 154, Blue Revell 350 et Metal Humbrol metalcote.

Hello, Here's a built that I struggled to complete but I finally got it done. It is the AMK Fouga Magister with Berna Decals showing and old school scheme of the French Display Team (Patrouille de France) from the 70s. Very nice built. There are a lot of parts, some with both plastic and metal option. No particular issue during the built. Fit is quite nice. With the Fonderie Miniature one I built at a time where there was no other choice to have a 1/48 Fouga. That was another piece of work to build.

Haaaa the silverwing Stearman... what a great kit it was to build.

Or the other possibility would be to drastically increase the prize of the SWS series to keep a low price on the Basis one. Which mean less SWS series sold. Also the cost of the mold machining is not linked only to the number of part you produce (or the way you arrange them) but the accuracy you put in it. The Revell molds for the Spitfire are certainly less complex/expensive than the Tamyia ones as the skin details and part fitting, although fine on the Revell, are not at Tamyia's level. I'am building the ZM SWS skyraider. I left other a lot of internal parts that would not be visible anyway. Surely they could have save some money by not producing them but in the end, I don't think this would have changed the price of the kit significantly on a 100+ € kit (I don't remember exactly how much I paid it...). On the 109 story, it seems to be a subject that systematically generate frustration. It is a bit like a Star Wars movie, there is so much hype, expectations and passion that, when all industrial constraints and producer's choice have been taken into account, it is not what we dreamt of. Obvioulsy, they can't answer every single expectation of every single modeler in the world. This is the difference between us, passionate people that can loose common sense and the cold perspective of an industry that need to make profits (bouuuh bad word...)

Well, If their research and the result is as accurate as their box art is**, one can be quite concerned by the result.... But wait and see the real thing before shouting. And I will probably get several of them anyway. ** M2KD is not equipped with MICA AA missiles....yet. they will be after the mid life upgrade but that will not be on ventral positions. Self defense AA missiles are only fitted on external wing points. It also does not have a black nose (the second plane on the back ground) but maybe they will upgrade to show a real 2KN on a final version. One can argue that it's only a box art but box art is the first thing you see of a new kit and it is also part of the brand image to have nice and accurate boxarts, expecially when this box art reads "...precision model.." Anyway great to see a 1/32 kit of the 2K in single and dual seater.

The engineering of this kit is another Tamyia masterpiece.

impressive !