Confusionreigns178

I've read that a lot of Pacific landing-strips were made out of crushed coral. When an aircraft's propeller got it flying around, it acted like very coarse sandpaper and reduced exposed areas of the planes to a nearly-naked state. Is the chipping as "bad/overdone" as you're thinking? I also read that the Japanese fighters had paint dropping off in big clumps, mainly due to the very poor-quality paint used and the "sand-blast" effect of flying coral pieces. Cheers. Chris.

Hi, Chrish. I just wondering when the "mediocrity" you referred to earlier is going to turn up? I see an excellent model Lanc, with restrained but very effective use of weathering. Thanks for sharing with us. Cheers. Chris.

Methinks that beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder, here. A great design? Functional in the extreme? Yes and yes. Beautiful? Well, that's another matter entirely.... Cheers. Chris.

Thanks for all your efforts on behalf of the modelling community. They are appreciated, I'm sure. Cheers. Chris.

I must admit I've only tried to fit one Aires resin set into a model previously and that was a BIG struggle. The ironic thing was, I was using it on the kit it was intended for! From what I've read since then, the fit of Aires parts is often a major challenge. Cheers. Chris.

I can fully confirm what Kevin said in his review. Easily the best big MIG reference I've ever seen - packed full of super-sharp close-up images and some amazing air-to-air shots. Excellent stuff! Chris.

Is that pre- or post- Big Bang? Chris.

I recently received a second set of 1/32nd B-25 legs from Ali. As with everything I have bought from him previously, they are beautifully-made, flawless and a HUGE improvement over the plastic ones supplied in the kit (I've read some early copies of the kit provided metal and plastic legs - my recent addition does not include the metal ones). Very highly recommended and virtually a "must-have" for such a big and heavy kit. Cheers. Chris.

Very easily fixed, Thierry. You just use the size of accessories that suits the greatest numbers of your figures. A Coke-can will look very different in tiny hands, compared to a "shaved-gorilla" with hands like bunches of bananas. Thing is, I can well believe that mixing similar scales just doesn't look right, even though people come in all shapes and sizes in reality (just to state the very obvious!). Probably best we leave this part of the thread there. Cheers. Chris.

Sorry to rain on your parade, Thierry. To state the very obvious, some 1:1 ground-crew men were 5 feet 1-inches tall and others were 6-feet 7-inches tall. I've read that the average height during the 1940's was 5-feet 8-inches. Now, we can all get into a HUGE conversation (ie: row) about whether using 1/35th figures and 1/32nd men in the same scenes will look weird, or not (it will, by-the-way). The funny thing is.... it will be a genuine reflection of real-life, but probably non-viable at the same time. Isn't life full of beautiful irony? Chris.

Yep, I read the same on Britmodeller. According to a number of posters on BM, they had a habit of not providing the correct items or just not posting anything at all. Apparently, they then ignored all communication about the issues. If all that's true, they deserved to go out of business. Cheers. Chris.

A great story. Thanks for sharing it with us. Chris.

How about "Not what it was originally designed for"? Chris.

The Eagle Pub, Cambridge. I've never visited myself, but it's steeped in WW2 history. Visiting fighter-pilots of the era signed their names on the ceiling and - I believe - the pub has remained virtually unchanged over the decades. That has got to be worth seeing, if you make a trip to Cambridge during your vacation. I've just looked the pub up and it has a second claim to historic significance. In 1953, scientists Watson and Crick made it public here that they had broken the code of human DNA - there's a blue-plaque on the wall outside, recalling this event. Whatever you do, enjoy your time over here. Cheers, Chris.

I've been told that a single, large new mould can easily cost $100,000 to produce. If a big subject in 1/32nd needs several such moulds to be created, you're talking selling in some very substantial numbers to make your money back. Having said that, I read around 8 years ago that Trumpeter have sold more than 25,000 of their 1/32 A-10's - in that situation, the initial outlay doesn't seem so bad. Also, I understand that Trumpeter and Hobbyboss receive very substantial financial support from the Chinese government, as they share a parent-company. Cheers. Chris.