CANicoll

Thanks Brian!! Slowly getting there....

Back from my first trip since Feb to visit family, and while back up on work, took a few minutes this evening to check out those amazing Model Monkey exhausts and get the AMUR resin flaps attached (AGAIN). I keep grabbing the wing, and the flaps, and they are not exactly attached THAT strongly... Those exhausts are amazing - just look at the bolt detail on the exhausts. These may be a little dusty in the photos. I've already test fitted the exhausts through the shrouds. I'm wondering how much paint I'm going to scrape off getting the exhausts through the shrouds. Hopefully the flaps will stay attached this time, but the detail in the AMUR flaps captures the tin canning of the flaps perfectly. Ok, that's it for now! Chris

Product teaser: The Model Monkey exhausts arrived from Steve (THANK YOU AGAIN) in gray resin and they are beautiful. I'm leaving tomorrow to see some family but when I get back looking forward to posting some pictures and of course, getting them painted up and installed. Chris

The problem is the ODO judge only looked at the first part of #4, and not the second part: where the clear intent of the same is to portray a sexual scene. Nudity itself is not explicitly banned. For Model Classic (and IPMS Nationals judging as well) we've had really good discussions about this rule and especially its application to historical nose art. The ODO judge would have bounced 'Passion Wagon' as well, but improperly. I did run into a judge at Nats who tried to disqualify aircraft with nude nose art by nitpicking on anything else he could find. Took the other two of us judges a while to figure out what he was doing and why he was being so critical of THOSE specific aircraft. We got him removed as a judge but we had to go back and rejudge an entire category. The thing is, he explicitly volunteered for THAT category, so it was like his mission to disqualify those specific entries. Very disappointing. That is the only other direct case I know of regarding nose art and judging that caused problems. Our monthly meeting last month had nose art as the special category - no complaints from anyone.

Eduard Update! I received this message from Eduard Customer Support this morning for all you Revell Builders: Thank you Chris, I have a message now that this particular part (CN: Eduard Brassin P-51D Propeller for Revell, 632117) was really redesigned in the past. So we will sent the new bigger part. The shipment will leave to your address within 7-10 days. Have a nice day and enjoy your build. Have a nice day. Petra Solcova Eduard M.A. customer support I also received a message last night from Steve (Model Monkey) about his new resin exhausts since I have the old ones. Guess what is also coming in the mail? Thank you Steve!!! I'm glad to see companies like Eduard, Model Monkey and Spruebrothers, staying in business and having terrific customer support. I don't know if Scale Model World in Telford will be a go this year or not, but I look forward to catching up with these companies to tell them how much I appreciate their support.

How about that? And personally deciding to disqualify entries because he was offended, IPMS National rules be damned. I don't think we will see a repeat at ODO, whenever the next event happens to be.

Thank you! Ha!! I'll put it right next to my Air-a-Cutie P-39. The good news is I believe that particular judge has either retired from judging or moved to a different category where his sensibilities are not offended. That was a ridiculous episode. He was going to judge Model Classic last year or the year before, but in the Automotive category to avoid the problem. And if he thought WWII had racy nose art, his head would positively explode over the Vietnam war nose art! You joining us for the July 1st meeting?

Hey Brian, No explanation, just an apology and that they are sending a replacement. When it arrives I'll measure and compare the two. I don't think resin really shrinks and molds don't either so not sure what to think at this point. I've not seen anyone else mention this as a problem, and with the kit piece fitting perfectly I'm sure (for once!) it is not something I did during the build (unlike the fuselage width issue...). Hopefully a one-off issue. FWIW, the Eduard Prop set is from Jan 2019 (thank you Spruebrothers for putting the date on the label on the box!) so not sure if they fixed the issue way back then, or if this is one-off. Will definitely let you know. Chris

Update on the Eduard Spinner and Prop: Eduard customer service responded promptly and are sending out a replacement set. Yay! Gives me time to perfect my spinner painting, which on the first go round was an unmitigated disaster.

I will run a wet cotton swab around the edge, and gently pry up the canopy with the blade. If its stubborn, I'll cut the bit of adhesive with the blade or at least score it, but usually, a gentle pressure releases it. I've also found masking agent work well as a temporary adhesive. Micro Mask for example. The added benefit is that the mask usually removed very cleanly. Chris

Yep, as everyone said - just a few dots of white glue, or PVA, canopy glue, around you don't need to put it around the entire opening. When you are ready to remove your canopy mask, slip a #11 or similar blade in there and gently twist, pry up.

Thanks Brian. The prop, etc are beautiful, but noticeably undersized. Not thrilled that something so easy to measure is that far off. I really don't want to go back and use the kit pieces (not to mention what I paid for the Brassin set) but hopefully Eduard has a good response. We will see. In the meantime I guess I'll be prepping the Revell parts, and getting that clear coat to seal the decals, then get that wing polished up.

So, working out of order, as I usually do I sometimes mess up and forget to install part 2 before part 3, etc. We've all been there, right?? SOOO, having finally painted the canopy I removed the masks from the windscreen (revealing the aforementioned problem) and the canopy. First the good - the Aerocraft canopy fits beautifully. I used the HGW masks for the Tamiya canopy and the only big adjustment I had to make was cutting the inside rear canopy mask in half to make it fit. Otherwise, the inside and outside masks fit perfectly. Pictures show the canopy frame is darker than the fuselage so I painted the frame with a black primer, and then the British Dark Green over that. The primer also helps seal the clear plastic from light shining through. Now have to touch up the fuselage cockpit opening. Notice what is missing?? Where is the IP shade?? Took a bit of fitting, but was able to retrofit the sunshade with a fit of cutting and sanding... Had to cut the back off the shade, then significantly thin down where it was cut. The good news is the fix is very quick and easy. Now just some touch up paint and attaching the gunsight, which I usually leave off until just about the end to make sure I don't knock it off... There we go!

Made progress on the markings. Huge difference between the Revell kit decals (kind of thick, inconsistent with setting solution) and the Kitsworld decals - thin, respond very well to setting solution. Found a problem with that lovely Eduard Brassin spinner set. Crap. Have not put the top clear coat on yet. Why didn't anyone tell me that when you get a cat, especially a short haired tabby, the hair is EVERYWHERE. Reference photos show both the black information panel with white lettering, as well as the black stencil with the nose are feet painted over the top. The black stencil decal is one I liberated from a different aircraft, cutting off the top part that had the serial number. Best as I can tell, there are not a lot of stencils on Passion Wagon so I've only applied the ones that I've been able to see. I've seen some pictures of the tape over the gun ports so took some decal and applied it to the gun muzzles. The taping is usually not consistent, hence the kind of random application. Have also seen the canvas cover over the tail-wheel but can't remember the last time I saw it on a model, so thought I'd give that a go to see how it might look. This is not exactly perfect - the actual canvas has the zipper up the middle, but with the aircraft on a base, this won't be seen anyway. Valleo sand painted on one layer of a facial tissue, then white glued into place. Testing fitting the Eduard spinner base onto the fuselage showed a problem. Here is the Eduard Brassin spinner base painted red, sitting on the Revell spinner base and it is easy to see the Brassin base is noticeably smaller than the Revell kit piece. Unfortunately, on the aircraft, the Brassin spinner base shows a 'step' down from the fuselage. I've sent a message to Eduard to ask if they've released an update to their Brassin piece. The Eduard prop does not come close to fitting onto the Revell spinner base, unfortunately. Each part of the Eduard spinner and prop looks to be about 2mm too narrow. Sigh...

Blast. Maybe I should have waited for Revell to release it than getting it from SH so many years ago... Of course, I do have the Barracudacast resin nose replacement already too. Will be interesting to see what Revell does with the sprues. I hope they upgrade the decals from their usual set. The 1/32 Mustang decals are not exactly top of the line.