ChuckD

Truth. Off topic, but relevant... I'm getting back into real flying after a 20 year hiatus and now iPads are all the rave in cutting edge cockpit technology. The idea of trusting my life to an Apple product? What has the world come to?

Apple TV... yay.

Bravo on the wingtips light fix. Even the most meticulously engineered model kits seem to have problems with well fitting tip lights, and I've had to use clear sprue in the past too. Yours turned out wonderfully. Same with the much maligned PE bits. Really enjoying this build. Keep up the good work!

Looks great! That kit is beyond phenomenal. Did one around this time last year and am thinking of doing another.

Grazie!

Thank you. I was more or less following the colors presented in the Pacific Profiles book. I don't get too hung up on exact paint matches either, so it looked right to my eye.

Hello, all. After ripping through the A-20G in no time flat, I wanted to keep up my momentum... aaaaand, I've been wanting to clear out some of the backlog of kits on my shelf of doom. So, down came this build. I did the cockpit and fuselage probably 2 years ago and it just sat and sat and sat. Every time I'd get it off the shelf, I'd look at those dumb little workable gear legs and gear doors and just nope it right back onto the shelf. This time, I swore I would finish it. Before I start anything new, I'm going to clear out at least 3-5 off the half built kits on the shelf, so here we are. If I ever do this kit again, I'll ignore any and all of the workable toy crap. It just complicates the build and brings no real value if you're doing a static model as I was. Outside of that issue, it was pretty typical Tamiya quality and was generally a decent build. Paints are generally Tamiya, but a custom mix to get it closer to what my eyes see. Cowling is MRP and, aside from an aftermarket seat belt (I no longer recall the manufacturer), it's 100% out of the box. This model represents aircraft X-182 of the No. 3 Kokutai when photographed at Lakunai Airdrome in Rabaul around October of 1942. Previous identity markings were crudely painted over in the field and the new markings added. It had previously been flown by chutaicho Lieutenant Miyano Zenjiro before he left the unit in April of 1942. The fate of this aircraft is unknown. Photo and description all come from Michael Claringbould's Pacific Profiles Vol V. If you're looking for inspiration on a build, they're a fantastic and informative resource. Hope you enjoy! Remember to subscribe and smash that like button or whatever the hell it is those youtubers are saying these days.

Love it! The world needs more P-38's. Edit: If you do end up building it again, take a look at what I did here to fix the wing droop issue:

Just throwing it out there, but what if the D-Day GB ended on June 6th, so we could do a wrap up/presentation thread on the anniversary?

Love it, Tolga. Very nicely recreated the look and feel of the real thing.

Look if I can be sorely tempted to buy a second just days after finishing the first, you all can put one in your stash without any guilt. it's a phenomenal kit.

Thank you. The Avenger compared to the B-25 is the one that really sticks out to me. The Avenger is just as tall as the Mitchell.

Of course, Ray. Would you like me to write up a more comprehensive article highlighting some of the build and the final product? Might take me a week or two, but I'm happy to contribute to this site.

Agreed. I got the shipping notification about an hour after I placed my order... on a Saturday.

Dang, I missed this one. A little late to the party, but this is looking great. 2 questions for you... 1. You printed/cut your own canopy masks. How did you get the measurements exactly right? I'm pretty good with my silhouette cutter and associated software, but I've not had the guts to try to print my own canopy masks. 2. What color are you using for the hinomaru? I don't have a wide selection of reds in my inventory and they all look a little wonky on my Japanese models.

I'm going to bump just one of Iain's review threads for the Airscale Devastator parts to say that I received my order from Airscale today and these parts are suuuuuuuper nice. I'm not associated with Airscale in any way other than being a happy customer. These parts are a must if you're looking to detail out the Devastator kit we've all been waiting for since forever. Bravo, Airscale!

Yeah, I can't make that clear enough: the part that broke on my build was the kit nose gear assembly. Since I started building my Havoc (literally) the day it arrived, I didn't have access to any purpose-made aftermarket. I did not use any Aerocraft Models parts on my build, but would be happy to in the future. Out of curiosity, do you have a mockup of how your part fits into the model? I'm having a hard time visualizing how it fits. Edit to add: this is a heavy kit, though the majority of the weight rests on the main gear. All plastic gear struts are strong enough to hold their respective loads, but the nose is really easy to snap off during the build. It goes in early on and is hanging out there in space for a very long time before the mains get put together and even everything out. I went into detail on this in my build thread. I would never shy away from using brass metal as they're often a good insurance policy. However, I would never use a white metal gear on any build due to the fact that it's soft and bends easily.

Right here: You can see that it was a clean break at the glue points between the main strut and the two supporting structures. If a metal piece could be manufactured in a way where the two braces and upper strut are one piece, that would alleviate the issue altogether. But having 3 separate metal pieces would still suffer from the glue between them being the weakest link. To be clear, none of this is to poo poo @Ali62's efforts towards metal gear. I'm a big fan of them on heavier models and have used them extensively in the past. My initial comments here were just to emphasize the crappy engineering of the original aircraft nose gear.

Having completed the build and knocked off the nose strut once, I can say that the weakness lies in the original design, not the kit. The main strut doesn't actually attach directly to the airframe. It basically floats in space and is only connected by small braces. So, unless a brass replacement is manufactured as one piece, which I would see as very difficult to do, the weak spots will continue to be where the braces attach to the main strut... which is exactly where mine broke while I was handling it. In the end, it's up to you to decide the value of a brass nose gear, but knowing what I know now, I would pass.

Holy crap, that's laughably bad. Nice work fixing it. Guess I know what to look forward to. Thanks for blazing the trail on this.

Dragon used to (maybe still does) print "CONTINENTAU" on the rubber sections of their tanks' road wheels to avoid copyright issues. If so inclined, the modeler could simply shave off the right vertical line of the "U" and be more or less left with "CONTINENTAL."

I believe he's referring to the "twist" of the propeller as you get closer to the tip vs at the root. Roughly, the first diagram here. That said, I just looked at the most recent picture of the prop and it looks fine to me. Capturing the subtle angle change even in a relatively large miniature scale is challenging and problematic. Again, it looks fine to my eye.

Thank you! The B-25 was a pretty straight forward build if I recall... It's been a couple years. I made things a lot more challenging as I threw pretty much every Eduard kit on the market into it. The boarding ladders alone took a day to build, and that's coming from someone that's pretty adept at PE. Off the cuff, I recall the wings locking on and staying, so that was challenging. The exhausts and cowling panels are tricky and fiddly to install. I didn't do a build log for it, but here's the RFI thread. Edit to add: The aftermarket props by AMS Resin are an absolute must, but availability is very spotty. The kit props look like canoe paddles.

It's been a while, but I don't think it can be installed afterwards. I've had to mask and paint it as part of the overall build both times I've built the kit.

Monday, schmonday. She's done!