Gazzas

Amazing looking spitfire, man.

HI Ernest, some great looking work. You're smashing through this build.

Exactly... and worth every penny. But by the time you factor in shipping, I just don't have the pennies to justify the cost when I have a lot of 1/35 vehicles and probably 100 1/35 figures.

When it comes to large figures, you don't want to skimp. Think Jeff Shiu versus Tamiya.

I'm glad that US tech has once again shown the world that Putin's weapons can't match up.

This is interesting if true. Does Iran use mostly Soviet-Russian equipment?

I hope they don't go the Airfix route where every German plane is either being shot down, or soon to be shot down by some British aircraft. The K4 would have played a big part in Bodenplatte. It would be the one-time late-war where a lot of German planes could be seen in the air at one time. Wouldn't it look cool for the K-4 to be making a low-level beat up of an Allied airfield covered in snow and aircraft?

Can't believe you can find figures that cheap!

All I can say is that I certainly hope not. I never relish working with CA.

NIce! I might already have enough Swastikas in my house. I don't think the missus wants any on the walls.

I've come to the unhappy conclusion that I need vac-formed canopy parts. The Trumpeter clear parts are too tall, with radii that are too sharp. The Trumpeter fuselage is also 4mm wider at the top than the Revell fuselage. So, I cannot use the Revell clear parts as no clear plastic can be stressed that much. Therefor I am contemplating buying a dental vac form machine. I don't want to build my own as I don't have a spare vacuum and the MRS. would have a fit if I did anything with the one we do have. A couple of questions for those who have traveled down this road: Is there a certain height that my buck should be? Is balsa sturdy enough for the buck, or should I use something like pine? Is there a best thickness for this scale? And finally, which material is both easy to get and will do an adequate job. Gonna watch some videos and see if I can get any more useful info that way.

Thank you Kevin, and all! Now the moment we've all been waiting for... the mating of the nacelle with the fuselage. There are still adjustments to make. But I can only shave and sand away so much without the nacelle being permanently attached. To go further I will cover the completed nacelle with tape while I work the areas immediately adjacent. I'm beginning to have my doubts about this all coming out perfectly. I may be that the basic shapes that trumpeter used are all wrong. I took a photo with the clear parts dry-fitted. And they look wrong to me. Too angular. I may have to turn to the Revell clear parts, I fear. And I don't know how much more work that will make for me. During all of the work before, I damaged one of the small intake scoops. So, I've replace it with one made from thin brass sheet... Anyway... gonna let the assemblage sit and cure before my next session.

G'day everyone! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving... or at least a good drink over the weekend. Here we have the cockpit. Weathered. Seats-out. Seats-dry fitted. IP. I never really had a cogent plan to deal with the seat belts. I thought about making my own... But in the end ordered a few sets from HGW. So, the seats will be fit into the plane later. Nobody local had them, so I had to order them straight from middle Europa. I was watching Nigel's 1/24 scale stuka build and he was showing the Airscale 1/24 parts. I'm very envious, but settled with what the people at trumpeter gave me to work with, since there isn't a 1/32 set I felt like buying. Here are some pics: I wanted to show a cockpit that has been flown hard, sortie after sorties, supporting Barbarossa flying multiple missions per day. Lots of fine chips, metal showing through on the floor, and a level of dirt on the horizontal surfaces. In my life's experience, dry dirt is usually gray with the finest hints of sand colors. But I had to go a bit heavy on the brown to make it show. And a final pin wash was added to raise the detail a bit. Once again, UV gel was used to raise the lenses on the IP. Thanks for looking!

Great Finish!

Very nice CDL effects, Ernest.

Happy Thanksgiving!

eh... I dunno. I only like planes that actually existed and did something in the war besides become post-war attractions and fantasies. The pilot is kinda cool though. I've built three Takom armor kits and found them to be 'good-enough' in fit and detail without being over-engineered. I might have to wait for their next offering.

That would be fun in 1/16. I haven't bought or built any of their kits yet. Getting figures for it would be expensive.

I'd like to speculate. I mean, since I am kitbashing a Stuka from ancient Revell and horrid Trumpeter kits... I'm sure they'll announce a perfect JU-87B just before I finish.

Lovely weddering in dat dare pit.

I've heard some colorful stories about Special Hobby kits. You doing great, Denis!

The markings look great, Dennis!

Metallurgy was far enough ahead where they didn't use heavy steel parts. If you look at the few original color images available, you see heated metal. What alloys were used, I'm unsure. I do know that during WWI the Germans were using exhausts made with a copper alloy... so way back then there wasn't rust, either.

Where I live in Australia, Foxtel... Australia's cable network... seems to think we wanna watch the SEC. But alas I am a Michigan native and only care about Michigan teams. Thank goodness the Detroit Lions are so awesome these last two years and that I pay for NFL Gamepass. Great story OBG. Though I'm not a big drinker. I suppose that would change if I could find a liqueur that tasted like Cherry Robitussin. Drank a whole bottle of it my third night of Marine Corps Bootcamp in 84'. Did I sleep well!

My 100-ish kits stash is about 1/2 aircraft and 1/2 armor with about 3 ship kits. All of my armor is 1/35 and my planes are 1/32 single engine and 1/48 twin engine, roughly 1/2 by half. I have around 30 figures "kits". I consider them accessories and not really kits. I am now considering buying some of those Hobby 2000 109 F's. But I keep telling myself you're 58 and not getting a lot of building done due to that job and family stuff... plus laziness. Do I need more? Will Kotare come out and re-vamp the 109 world? When should I stop? I dunno.