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.

I'm sold! Or should i say went out and bought one today at my local shop. Certainly $$$ - some bling like Tamiya kits ... but still... allot.. anyway what are you going to do? Clearly there is a pent up demand for large scale Italian WW2 planes. Now... a 1/32 SM-79... one can only dream... BTW I can get. the Cr.42 by ICM off the shelf too. Is it a good kit? Sorry for the digression...

super work on the cockpit - at least the corsairs had big cockpits - well, the later models anyway. One can see in them in the end at this scale. That crazy lobster colour looks spot on too. It is amazing how much controversy there is on the livery of these planes - it is hard to tell sometimes and in the pacific they got beat up really quick it seems to the point even with good photos it's hard to pin some thingws down. Bays with plumbing and wiring always get me hit and bothered- even if they are not that visible in the end - they are satisfying to 'kit bas'- thanks for posting - i'll be looking at this thread for my F4U-1A. Like the comment on the 'sand mandala that the Buddhist monks' make and "throw out". My wife once said "why do you spend all this time on things that your daughters will one day probably send to the trash can?". To which i responded: "If by trash can you mean the Smithsonian... I take your point...".

a coral / jungle dio for an F4U would be iconic. of course any palm trees would not be viable as they'd be about a metre high to scale! but getting that dusty, gritty look of the coral is a nice challenge. it might be almost white to the eye in the bright south pacific sun. I have the F4U-1A waiting for something like this too. Even with these great photos from 1942 to 1943 there is still debate on livery and colours - which is part of the fun. THe cockpit and engine look great - nice and clean and crisp and everything in the right spot. Something i have trouble with! The Quinta decals are great to work with because they have a rubbery thickness and are easy to position - i've used future or canopy glue to affix (albeit i was disappointed with quinta's wood grain prop decals as they curled and could not be uncurled- it seems the larger 3d decals are at risk of this). Even then some cockpit bits are really tiny or bendy - but again they can be easily repositioned once placed which i really like as my hands are a bit jiggly. Is that Pappy Boyinton talking to Lt. Ray in the photos in the link? Anyway if you want a good 1/32 head without a hat or helmet check out Hornet Heads or Jon Smith (I've got some through Ultracast which i'm using for a yet to be finished M-109 ground crew scene...).

fantastic build. Great to see the Mc.202 in 1/32. we need more large scale Italian offerings - as they are great planes with wonderful liveries as we all know. Seems like a must have kit. Canopy very well done in particular.

really nice scratch building on the cockpit! I really got to get me some of that 0.12mm mono-filament wire.

very interesting build. The pilot figure looks great - there is allot of good resin figures out there right now. The museum photos are. amazing too- I always think AMT-7 is shown as "too blue" in renderings but it really is a strong, sky blue colour....

great build and a noble gesture and great little story. Crazy that men and women from that time are still around (like my mom). My first attempt at masks were CW roundels for a Mustang and i struggled - one has to really... really plan it out... but yours look perfect. I have the Spitfire IX ... and some more masks... so an inspiration here ... to give it a go again...

Assembly patterns are so crazy it's great to see someone do one! The "clown dots" are the best. fantastic work and certainly a conversation piece for people who look at it go "what the ...? I..." I have the B-24D which reminds me i need to finish it. The Hobby Boss B-24 is a mixed blessing but few others would do this beast at this scale and at least it fits together despite all...

the 520 along with other french planes have been sorrowfully under represented at the larger scales. Inspirational effortsand love the panel shading, weathering, and the pilot figure too!

stunning work. I don't know how people do these digital schemes but they are very cool. love the detail on the landing gear and detail on the Harms.