Bomarc

Thanks Larry. If you're referring to the GPM kit: I have it, but it was one of GPM's earlier efforts and will take some work to make it right. Some of the printed colors are rather "cartoonish". Now, I also have a later kit by GPM: Much better graphics and details. If I were to do a large bomber, this would be the kit. But I have to say the Mitchell was plenty big for me as it was. I may go the other direction for the next build. If you really want big, GPM also makes a 1/33rd scale B-52: How cool is that? Mike

WOW! That really is the same strut (lord knows I looked at the B-25 assembly enough times). I guess it was an "off-the-shelf" item. Thanks Derek! Mike

A few more: Mike

Well, as the German guard in the movie "Stalag 17" would say, "Ach-So"! I never clued in that the P-61 used the same wheels as a B-25/26. No wonder they look huge on a Black Widow (or small on a B-25, I guess it depends on your point of view). Thanks again fellas for the welcome. I'm good for one of these epics about every couple of years, so I'll definitely post here when I start another. I'll be like Ironwing Geoff and keep a dual citizenship between forums. My wife got a new camera for her birthday. The first round of pics posted above came from it, so I'd like to share another round as I experiment, this time the underside. Some close-ups of the U-cart for you Derek. I love landing gear assemblies, and tend to save those for last on a build. One thing I notice now that I have access to a decent camera, extreme close-ups reveal the paper nature of the model, which may detract to some, but I think it has character. I hope you agree: More in the next post.... Mike

Thanks guys for the warm welcome and kind words about the Mitchell! I'm delighted it's made an impression. Also, big thanks to Kevin for allowing me to jump the vetting process and giving me full posting privileges from the start. I wasn't aware of the prescribed path, but Kevin "pulled some strings" for me as it were. For the record, I'm been an IPMS/plastic modeler type for many years. This is a Spit I did back in '96: http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/1998...calingi_s31.htm It's been only in the last 10 years or so that I've been really serious with the paper stuff. I discovered the free V-1 download that Ralph Currell designed ( http://www.currell.net/models/v1.htm ) back in 2000, and I was hooked! Actually, I enjoy using techniques from both disciplines interchangeably for whatever I'm building at the moment, plastic or paper. It's the hope that this PBJ illustrates that the same level of detail and accuracy that's found in plastic/resin kits can be achieved to (almost) that same level in paper. Scratch building is scratch building regardless of the medium, yes? Derek, you've peaked my curiosity. What aircraft shares the landing gear with the B-25? Mike

Hi Jon The canopy was vacu-formed in much the traditional (at least for here) method. The LG and wheels were indeed scratch built (along with the door linkage etc.), but using paper mostly throughout. Some aluminum foil (oleo strut) and solder and music wire (brake lines, door struts) was used in their construction as well. Mike

Ah Geoff, that would be Mike Scalingi thank you very much. ........ Mike V. is a familiar and welcomed face at the P-51 SIG (and I'm sure here as well), but not the guy who sent you that stuff. Regardless, looks pretty good, although the 3 point stuff I sent might be more to scale. The other Mike

Greeting all! This is my first post here on LSP, however I've followed this forum for many years. I'm one of the moderators on the P-51 SIG forum run by Craig Quattlebaum. It's through there that I know Geoff (Ironwing). He's been getting on my case for not posting my builds here, but I had a reason. I couldn't post. Kevin was most kind to clear the way for me to post, so here I am. This build is a paper model, the kit of which was produced in Poland. Yes, I said paper, and the scale is 1/33rd, which is the popular scale in card modeling, but still (I believe) considered a large scale model. I ran a build thread for this model that was extremely long and drawn out, so rather that point folks there, some pics of the final result. Enjoy! I hope these are of interest. Best regards, Mike