zeusbheld

I'm also doing a D, but i have a couple of Hasegawa 1/72 Js, and plans for an Airfix H, so it'll come in handy. the book has arrived, and lives up to the hype.

for those who favor nose turrets, it's been a bit tough to source a copy of Consolidated Mess. it appears it may have been reprinted, it's turning up in Eastern European online shops (mostly Polish, due to the publisher) for reasonable prices (about US$60 including shipping to Thailand, your mileage may vary). i ordered mine on ebay for about the same price from a Polish seller.

Amazon had it marked as shipping to Thailand, and a reasonable price... but when i put it in my cart it was "does not ship to Thailand." speaking of books and Amazon, if this book lives up to the hype, the Lib equivalent of Son of Sherman is about to drop: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/178155840X/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_10?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 volume one drops 17 September.

i'll probably go G backdated to F, but i'm not buying a Thud until i am satisfied canopy won't distract me every time i look at it. assuming canopies are open, how far off is the shape? i keep seeing people say "squashed"... how squashed? would a correct canopy require modifications to the fuselage? if no one comes up with an aftermarket one, i might try vac forming one or 3d printing, but right now i don't have the equipment or skill to do either.

found a copy of "It Wasn't So Jolly" for a reasonable price/shipping combo on eBay. it arrived today. it's a mammoth book at over 800 pages. this dramatically increases the odds of my big Lib being a 90th BG ship. i'll go ahead and get the DK sheet. slight chance that the chomky boi will end up as a Ploesti ship, but i'll probably do a mess of Ploesti ships in 1/72 instead (might as well get my money's worth from all these books LOL). i might do Moby Dick in 1/72 instead, as i like the idea of pairing it with the Piper L-4 Moby Dick Jr. a 1/35 L-4 is not an option for this purpose, so i'm wondering, how complciated would it be to backdate the Revell Super Cub to an L-4?

LOVE these tweak lists. they are immensely useful. some new stuff has been or will be released since this tweak list was written. it's almost enough to convince me i need a Thud. big question i have is how bad is the canopy, especially on the G? i could probably do it open if it will look OK but if the shape is still perceptibly wrong once i see it i won't be able to unsee it. Reskit have hinted they might do Thud canopies but only hinted; so i don't know if they mean frames or the canopy itself. this is the one issue that makes me hesitate. UpRise have some very nice decal options for Thud Fs and Gs, and they're the kind where you can remove the film. Reskit are releasing some rather splendid corrections for the Trumpeter Thuds. they've already released a vertical stabilizer, pylons, nose cone with pitot, wheels, and exhaust nozzle. they also have some very nice options for your planned ordnance loadout. i'm strongly considering a wild weasel G (or F). I don't have any Reskit parts yet but people who do say they are excellent. They are developing cockpit sets for the D and G, and this little beauty, an all-in-one set:

the kit arrived a few days ago. approximately another $35 in import duties. it is by far the biggest scale modeling-related box i've got, and it's chock full of stuff. i can see why the shipping was pricey even from Straya. i'll build a few 1/72 Libs as 'training' for this beast...

got the identical book on ebay, shipping was about $25 tracked. still expensive but this book is crucial to my project. and it ships from Australia, i love Straya post. for some reason Amazon won't ship it here, it says "ships free if over $35" but i put it in cart and doesn't ship to Thailand ><. generally though if you pay attention to your cart and get stuff shipped by Amazon and not the seller, Amazon is pretty good. most of this stuff is not available as e-books, so $$$$$$ link is on the other computer but i found a photo album of 90th BG on Flickr. from Alcorn's collection. not sure i can afford the Alcorn book though LOL

addendum: i just passed on the opportunity to pay $150 or so shipping for "It Wasn't So Jolly," a history of the 90th BG. $150 shipping. for a book. from the USA. (abebooks)

shipping to Thailand from Straya was over US$40. it's a BIG box. I'd expect to the US "normal" would be about $100 because the USPS, in addition to having become quite terrible, is grotesquely overpriced. i avoid ordering from the US if possible. $191 though? yikes. there are a few sellers on there, it's a platform like ebay without the bidding. there are sellers on ebay where the total including shipping is around US$200. one on aliexpress has shipping for $35 but the total cost was more than the BNA one thanks to the special sale. BNA have always been fantasitc and the Australia Post international shipping is excellent, with the most perfect tracking system of anywhere i've ordered from. probably the best bet for total cost at this point is ebay, but there may be a seller or two on aliexpress with a slightly better price. we know there is worse there LOL. another annoying thing about Ali Express is the search function is useless. i usually find stuff on there using Google. i got mine for US$124 or so including $40 shipping. it was a hell of a sale.

that was fast. i ordered as soon as i got the email. mine's shipped already apparently, and should be in Thailand within 10 days... it's getting hard to find in some areas. Ali Express still has good prices and several options. and the J for those who want a J. some people might be a bit scared of ordering directly from CHina but Ali Express has been very reliable for me so far, i've put in about 10 orders over the years.

i'm super-official in now... just ordered the kit itself, BNA in Straya have it half price. if shipping makes sense and you're looking for this kit, compare numbers. for me (in Thailand) it's net cheaper than Ali Baba. i'll get hit with duties but there aren't any available locally anyway.

she flew a lot of missions over a long time, it's not impossible that she might have gotten paddle blades near the end. however, i've seen no photos showing this, and the ones i've seen are clearly needle blades. the ones showing the Jolly Roger on the ttail are fairly late in her career too. most Ploesti-era Ds look like needle blades also. one of the best things about this ship is there are photos of both sides of the nose, so what art is and isn't there is clear. i've seen one aftermarket sheet that has 2 copies of the scoreboard, i guess it'd be useful if i screw up the decaling LOL that one with Moby Dick Jr makes me consider doing that ship in 1/72 instead of 1/32, as there is no 1/32 little friend. if i do a Ploesti ship i'll probably still need needle blades though. is Jr an L-4 or L-5? i've seen it identified as one or the other depending on the source. looks to me like a Piper, but the shapes are so similar that a Stinson with the cowl off might not look to different. looked at a few photos of Pipers and Stinsons and besides the cowling, the landing gear looks very much like a Cub. pity there's no 1/32 Cub, only 1/35. both Stinson and Cub exist in 1/72 (i have a Cub in the stash even). interesting. i'd assume the HK B-17E/F boxing has needle blades? they any good? if i feel up to taking on fixing the round nose i may get one. the 'fat fuselage' and slight curve where there shouldn't be toward the tail don't bother me but that nose does and it's a big fix. lol thhis is the thing that bothers me most, the cross section shape where it joins the fuselage is VERY visible in every photo. these are full engines, right? a cowl-off maintenance scene would be very interesting, but considering what i paid for the Vector engines i'll be using all four LOL

oh that's a GORGEOUS photo. i wonder if the skinny blade props were used on other planes? if i build Moby Dick i'll probably want those.

yeah same sheet I'm thinking of using. photo of Moby Dick shows no ball turret, haven't looked for it on other 90th Ds yet. still on the early part of the research. May do Moby Dick in 1/72 and do another ship from that sheet in 1/32, as there's a sheet (also DK i think) with a similarly-painted L4 (or L5) and no kit in 1/32 (1/35 next to 1/32? NOPE). still considering a Ploesti sheet, but only decal option I know of is for The Witch (there's Hail Columbia and maybe more, but at the time of Seven Dwarfs, which Kane hated and painted out when he got took his ship back). I'd be interested in other Ploesti sheets or masks but haven't seen much. slight chance I will go for Pete the Pom inspector, an assembly ship that was pressed into flying combat during the Battle of the Bulge. LOL i am also considering having a.... table... made to display this thing. There's a bit of non-standard aftermarket.