gwana

Another vote for Mr. Color thinner. I mixed some Tamiya smoke with clear blue and it worked great sprayed on brass gun barrels over a metallic base. I'd say 60% thinner 40% paint, but I was doing almost filter coats. I now use Mr. Color leveling thinner almost exclusively with Tamiya acrylics. Much less tip dry than X-20A.

At least it's not Daimler Chrysler.

I think the Liberator is just more iconic and liable to pull good numbers for being a HUGE kit. Think WWII US bombers and it or the B-25 is probably going to be #2 after the B-17 in popularity. The B-25 kind of opened up the market IMHO - HK dipped their toe in with a medium-sized 2-engine bomber in large scale and it was a hit, so the B-17 was the next logical choice. HB saw those doing well and jumped on the B-24. I don't think the Marauder has all that much recognition or currency in the market, or it would have been done. I suspect the B-29 is just too damned big to sell in any numbers.
 

Test shots often don't have finished surface detail like rivets, panel lines, or stressed skin. No point spending the time or money to perfect molds they may not use. They run a few sets of major components and check for fitment issues, then post them on the internet so people can tell them the window is .03mm too far aft. Then those molds get modified or scrapped - you'll likely not see the final finished surface until whole test kits go out to reviewers.

Test shots often don't have finished surface detail like rivets, panel lines, or stressed skin. No point spending the time or money to perfect molds they may not use. They run a few sets of major components and check for fitment issues, then post them on the internet so people can tell them the window is .03mm too far aft. Then those molds get modified or scrapped - you'll likely not see the final finished surface until whole test kits go out to reviewers.

It my experience, not necessarily with Iwata, but in general: Many times, the counterfeits come down the same assembly line but are 'diverted' or are seconds. Many offshore manufacturers already make the parts for the OEMs, nobody notices if they run off a few thousand more in the middle of the night and sell them to grey market sellers. You can get a lot done when you ignore quality control.
 
Mostly, don't buy from Ebay unless it's an Iwata dealer, don't buy anything from Ali Express or Alibaba unless you want a cheap knockoff.
 
In reality, in most of the testing I've seen the Chinese knockoffs aren't all that bad performance-wise. The airbrush is a pretty simple instrument that's been around for over 100 years. The problem is support, parts, and longevity. Either buy a $200 brush for life, or buy a $15 brush every few months.

My 4th E-2 kit arrived as promised by Dragon. I got the deal so I am passing the kit on to Pastor John as a gift from the LSP gang that so appreciates the new conversion sets. IIRC he was soaked badly by the Hungarian VAT and import fees when he bought one as a mule for his F and G conversion sets. This kit is so he can build one for himself or what ever. Life is good so pass it on.
 
Rick

I think that might have been an "oops" by Dragon, but I'm glad they honored the price. It's gone from their 1/32 deals page now.

I think that might have been an "oops" by Dragon, but I'm glad they honored the price. It's gone from their 1/32 deals page now.

Tell me about it...
 
No. No, you don't need it. You've got a bunch you haven't even started yet.
Don't. No. Bad.

Tell me about it...
 
No. No, you don't need it. You've got a bunch you haven't even started yet.
Don't. No. Bad.

Tell me about it...
 
No. No, you don't need it. You've got a bunch you haven't even started yet.
Don't. No. Bad.

http://dragonusaonline.com/item_detail.aspx?ItemCode=CHC3209
 
Says 1:32 on my end, and that part number is for a 1:32 kit.

Dragon's site claims it's in stock, on sale for $39.95, special code TOKEN for an additional 30% off. I put it in my cart and got that price. I do not need another 110.

Holy. Crap. (slinks off into corner to cry)

Thanks for all the talk, folks. Just discussing it has helped me wrap my head back around things and take a different look. I'm going to compartmentalize and stop thinking about the project as a whole and instead focus on modelling - a sub-assembly, an engine, whatever.  If I can't do B until I finish A, then stop thinking about C and D, and just work on A until it's done.
 
I also need to invest in a hair dryer to speed up my paintwork, which is ironic considering my hair situation...

That's way more than half the battle right there.   Those kinds of days eventually lead to the really productive days! 

Thanks for all the talk, folks. Just discussing it has helped me wrap my head back around things and take a different look. I'm going to compartmentalize and stop thinking about the project as a whole and instead focus on modelling - a sub-assembly, an engine, whatever.  If I can't do B until I finish A, then stop thinking about C and D, and just work on A until it's done.
 
I also need to invest in a hair dryer to speed up my paintwork, which is ironic considering my hair situation...

Anxiety. The thing I'm supposed to be relaxing from.

I think one decision I've made is to not stress too much over accuracy. Honestly, I'm not interested in representing serial # 12334 exactly as it appeared on September 8, 1943 at the Battle of Boogaloo. I just want a nice looking airplane that's representative of the breed. So if my tail number isn't right for the 489th Bomber Group, or if the scheme I selected was only on the -J and not the -H, well - too bad. Cal it Artistic License. I do enjoy what I learn doing research, but I'm not going to agonize over a shade of German Grey or whether *this* plane had the square intakes or the oval ones, or that Hermann Von Burgermeister never flew the BF-109G3, or that the kit I'm using has a rudder that's 3.5mm too tall.
 
I'll worry about that stuff when building gets boring or I submit models for judging. Right now, it's for me.

Sorry. Or not, depending on how you feel about it. In my case, my SO let me take over an entire extra bedroom for my man cave, enjoys accompanying me to hobby shops, holds my selections while I browse, and suggested I build a display case in the dining room. I think I'll keep her.

Thanks for this - it's a good thing to think about. I'm not at the point of selling off my grand stash of 8 kits, or even quitting, I think for me it gets to be more like analysis paralysis. I think 20 steps ahead, forget 3 steps, make big plans, then get disappointed with myself when I can't deliver. Maybe it's like writer's block. I have the ideas and the want to write them down, but they won't come out because I get hung up in the process. I wake up thinking today I'll jump in my hobby room and spend 3 or 4 hours catching up on paint, and then I go in there and realize that first I have to mask and prep and get things organized by color and oh, I didn't prime that piece, so I'll have to do that first, and now it's 2 in the afternoon and... and I just lose the drive.
 
I don't want to quit because it's hard. I want to learn how to let myself be an artist, and I think I need to slow down and lower my expectations of progress. I have a vision of the completed project, and I want the pride of looking at it and thinking "I made that." And I think I need to find ways to derive more satisfaction from the process itself.

I have found in the past that my greatest satisfaction comes from the build itself. So I think I put off the detail painting and move on to another sub-assembly, and eventually I'm at a point where I've got 5 or 6 different things - pit, undercarriage, engines, wings - in various forms of partial completion and I can't move on until I paint some fiddly details. And there's no point whipping out the RLM02 to paint just this, when I'll just have to paint that and that two steps later. So maybe I'll just start this other kit right now, and do a bunch of paint at once... but I never seem to get there and there's parts from 3 kits in the booth. So I made a decision on Sunday to concentrate on one kit, and to go back to Step 1 and finish that and move on. And that led me to painting detail, and I had a pretty good time figuring out artist's oils and brushwork, but I didn't get a whole lot of progress made in the grand scheme.
 
I think I may have to change my tactics and paint more stuff on the sprue before assembly (and plan ahead better), but that's never been my process. I'd rather have as much gluing as possible done and paint the whole thing. It's not working.

I can't seem to get myself back into the groove. I went to a regional IPMS show on Saturday, drove 3 hours each way, and I was sorely disappointed. I did see a few nice models on display, but I was really hoping the vendors would have a full array of stuff I could drool over and look at in person, not just admire online. I wanted inspiration and ideas, instead I saw basically a garage sale - a bunch of old kits in battered boxes, parts missing, or just junk. It was advertised as 80 vendor tables, but in reality I think it was maybe 7 or 8 vendors, and only 3 or 4 of those actually selling kits. I actually had a better time at a local show weeks ago that was 1/4 the size and got a couple of deals there that got my juices flowing.
 
I left really dejected, and it has lingered. I could have spent Saturday working on my own stuff, but I wanted to catch some excitement. Instead I got home not wanting to look at a kit and since then I haven't really wanted to bother. Between my commute and other responsibilities, I have very little time for my hobby, and I look at the thing and think "I need to do x,y, and z before I can proceed, and for that I'll need to dirty up the airbrush, clean it, paint that by hand... eh, screw it.

Well, Sunday rolled around and I found myself inspired to jump back in. I got some decals and instruments down in my cockpit, then decided to catch up on some paint. Thinned my color, added it to the cup, and... nothing but air. Airbrush needle is stuck. I must not have done a thorough cleanup last time.
 
So I ended up breaking down the airbrush and dropping every single piece of it on the floor at least once, spent 20 minutes looking for the tiny nozzle, and eventually painted two ammo boxes. 10 drops of paint.
 
But, for some reason, it was OK. I had a good day.