Jboldt007

OMG stunning! What a great livery and a/c - truly they were boats with wings back then ... and nary a wonky turnbuckle ..! How do you do that? Jeebus! Very inspirational and i want to read up about the aircraft. The figure with the gloves and coat are equally great. Makes me want to get back to my WnW kits ... and straighten some turnbuckles...

the riveting is insane! Why can't I do that? I just can't concentrate long enough. The hunter is a huge plane - but so beautiful. with so many livery options. I love the attention to detail - the wheel wells and gear are amazing. Like the 'dry fitting is boring' comment.... sometimes it just feels good to give'er and damn the torpedoes...

goosebumps. i'd forgotten how iconic the voodoo was...

Holy doodles ! this is crazy. Amazing. I've probably seen more Voodoos (as a Canadian) than any other military jet- loudest thing I've ever encountered (next to the Vulcan perhaps). I've even seen a Voodoo crash. But it was an amazing plane ... with that second-gen good looks... great to see what this evolves into !

stunning work. Doesn't get much bigger than this! love the accurate looking wiring and plumbing. has a super authentic feel to it. The cockpit detail as well is perfect. should be in the Louvre!

absolutely inspirational ! Love the comparison photos of then and now. I built the "Nose Job" version of the HK Lancaster - not for the faint of heart but who else is going to offer large scale planes (OK there's the Border one). I mucked up the nose so never posted it. I see you got the side blisters on the canopy. I coudln't bring myself to add them. The canopy is a masking beast but it is so iconic it's actually a pleasure to see it come alive once one pulls off the masks.

absolutely brilliant - a work of art - prop, wheels, rigging, cylinders - but the whole thing has a very cool vibe.

i have the limited addition A6M5a by Hasegawa which i hope to post soon - i don't have allot of builds under my belt - and no Hasegawa kits before ... at least not this century. ... but it builds itself. The kit looks just like the 'c' (only the wing panels would be a bit different). i almost decided i didnt need to use a single blotch of putty - in the end just a bit at the wing roots. and of course the price point - sometimes it's just nice to build a great kit with no bells and whistles.

thanks for posting the photos of the Cr.42. Looks amazing!

i should ahave added i got the 'E' Takom kit. Not the Saraf. one thing which appealed to me for the 'E' guardian kit is the ability to display it with rotors folded. the Apache is a big plane. The folding rotors are great for those of us who have domestic storage / display constraints. But not all the Takom Apache kits have the bits for the folding rotor option - i don't know why because i'd think that would be a selling feature for the extra bit of plastic involved. I'd take that over the little PE and resin offerings in the Takom kit which are kind of lame.

i just bought the Takom kit in the hobby shop on a whim but accidentally ordered the Quinta cockpit for the Meng kit ('D/E' version). D'oh. But the decals fit the Takom kit so exactly that i thought ... hmmm maybe they're using the same moulds? Sounds like this isn't the case. Anyway i also bought the Blackdog bays A/M resin castings and so far they seem to fit very well - i might make a dog's breakfast out of it all in the end and even though i'm not really a helicopter guy... i DO dig equipment bays and cockpits ... so so far it's been fun... will need to get the caracel decals when they are available again to replace the Takom ones though...

canopies, wing roots, and cowls ... fit issues in these are such downers as they can be tough to fix. even the best putty i find is difficult to make seamless in the end. allot of work - have never comprehended how people in body shops can repair car bodies to the poiint where it's impossible to tell! but this jet is real gem and worth the trouble. i'm more inclined to place value on fit and kit engineering than subject matter but many see the less common offerings as a challenge even if there are production issues... i've just got about 3/4 way through a Hasegawa kit (my first) and it's such a joy...

cockpit is super. love the different weathering on the seat and the oxygen bottle...

great work on the rivets - it looks like you have one of those "punch" tools - i have one and it's great but it's so hard to be disciplined on the rivet spacing. I have templates for that but it's kind of agonizing to lay it out and mark all the hole spacings. But i guess thats the name of the game. I actually enjoy it but i get distracted and sloppiness sets in. I have a short attention span.

great build! I'm doing a Hasegawa A6M5a build right now and this thread has been very helpful. I like that you got a different colour for the fabric control surfaces. Many builds miss this and i would have too other than reading about this with respect to the zero.