belcherbits

Last week, a couple customers of mine wrote asking ‘had I sold my masters for my 1/32 F-5A conversion to Phantom Phreaks’. I went looking and found that the new Phantom Phreaks conversion, produced in collaboration with Sprue Brothers, looked a lot like my product; nearly identical, in fact. Except for the solid fuselage (mine is in two halves) and the inclusion of burner cans, it appears to be a part-for-part copy of Belcher Bits set BB-19, which I have been selling since 2004. I wrote Sprue Brothers, requesting that they drop this from their list. They forwarded my request on to Phantom Phreaks who responded, denying that this was a copy. I am attaching photos from Phantom Phreaks site as well as mine, so people can see for themselves how similar the sets are. The proprietor of PP mentioned a couple of times how this was a small amount of money, and not worth fighting about. I note that the PP copy sells for 2.5 times what I sell my conversion for http://www.belcherbits.com/lines/148conv/bb19.htm I cannot force Phantom Phreaks or Sprue Brothers to drop this item; I have asked politely but am not hopeful. I am writing this here to advise all readers of the situation, let them judge for themselves and decide not to reward unethical behaviour. Mike Belcher, Belcher Bits

I gotta throw in with the 'Yes to a P-3 in 1/48, No thanks to a 1/32 P-3' crowd. Mike Belcher

Yes, I'm still in business, but sadly, the 1/32 CF-104 sheet is long sold out. How very generous of that member to offer it to you! Mike Belcher

Belcher Bits does both a Type C and a Type D bomb trolley in 1/32. See here http://www.belcherbits.com/lines/148conv/bb44.htm

Just want to put my two cents worth in w.r.t. Microscale. They have been printing all my decals for many years and I have been completely satisfied with the quality. They are opaque and settle down beautifully. Registration, especially in the last ten years or so, has been excellent. I look at ALL the sheets when I receive them and these days, I might have to toss out 2 or 3 out of 500 ... really. I get a lot of positive feedback about my decals. I haven't used Cartograph as a printer but I have seen their results and they are also very good. But Microscale, they are the gold standard as far as I am concerned. Mike Belcher, Belcher Bits

Ted; Where are you getting replacement turrets? Mike B

Alex I'm very excited about what you have accomplished so quickly. Did you happen to see the engineering drawings posted on the Hyperscale forum? Your parts look good, but by using these drawings, they could be PERFECT I want to get in on this development as I can see this as the best way to do a separate variant for the Dumbo nose radome. I like your idea of uploading the basic 3D drawing to Sketchup and letting others print it or modify it. I'm game, anyways. As for internal structure, building it into your 3D model is a double-edged sword. You really need to make sure the kit-supplied floor structure fits or else new structure will be required. Please contact me off-line at info@belcherbits.com for further discussion. Mike

Yeah, that's me. I have a few items for LSP fans coming out. My scale is 1/48, but I can be tricked into other scales Mike Belcher

Oh, my. I have a problem. I just got this kit and had plans to make a 'Dumbo' chin radome for a GR.V. When I opened the box and looked at the front clear part, I was shocked. It is clearly the wrong shape, being MUCH too wide at the bottom. If I cut the base of this part off and made my radome to fit it, it would be way too wide. Because this clear part fits the front of the fuselage, it also means the forward fuselage is also too wide. I'm not sure how or even IF this issue could be fixed. I don't want to be that guy who delights in pointing out flaws in Hobby Boss kits; I would rather the kit have been done right. I am attaching a photo showing the nose clear part from the front, with the Hobby Boss part on the left, and the same part from a 1/48 Monogram B-24D on the right. I am also attaching a couple supporting things I have got from the net via Carl Wimmi.