johncrow

I'm in!!

Anybody seen or heard of any updates regarding orders that have been placed for this kit? John

I TOLD you building slow has its advantages....who knows what you'll have by the time I get to decals?? Awesome job! jp

Hi Rich, I've had good luck printing those sorts of stencils (the ones that are too small to cut masks) using a little old HP inkjet printer. There's a font called USN Stencil that seems to be the font used for these type of markings. At least it looks the same to me....others' mileage may vary. I found the font somewhere, don't remember where, by googling "free fonts". Then I printed them on clear decal paper made for inkjet printers. There's also decal paper made for laser printers, so be sure to use the right type for your printer. Be aware you will probably need to adjust the kerning (spacing between characters) to get the markings to look just right. I use MS Word for all this, but I'm sure other applications would work just fine. I also spray the printed decals with a couple mist coats of a clear flat finish; the ink is water-soluble, and must be sealed. I did this on a Fisher Twogar a couple years back...lovely kits, as you know! Good luck, John

I just picked up a D150 from Troy Molitor. Love it... I consider myself a serious modeler. Not very good at it, but I am serious about my mediocrity. I figured it was about time to get some more real tools. This pin vise is awesome, and a great deal from Troy. John

Some years ago I used the Revell RF-4C to make an RF-4B, though I didn't worry about any cockpit differences. The RF-4C kit is light years ahead of the old RF-4B kit.

First off, a bigg "THANKS" to BiggTim for printing this part! This is the B-26 nose from Cults in 1/32. Not sure if anyone else has tried this yet, but here's what I've found. I'm trying to gather as much as I can for a B-26K build using the Hobbyboss kit. Disclaimer- I cannot comment on overall accuracy of the Cult part, but I suspect it is more accurate than the Hobbyboss kit, given its reputation. I do know that the gun ports on the Cult part are very much more accurately placed than on the kit part. I know there's a B-26K thread or two here on LSP somewhere. If this more appropriately belongs in one of those, or anywhere else, mods, fire away. The new nose is pretty close in height and width. The portion that mates to the fuselage is a sort of rounded-off square. The kit part is shaped....differently. New nose on left, kit nose on right. Here's the new nose on the left, kit nose on the right. (Please excuse the upper left corner of the new nose...in my haste cleaning up the part, I managed to damage the resin... not a big deal, easily fixed.) Here it is butt-fitted to the fuselage. The fuselage is angled; you can see the shadows at the top and bottom of the joint, indicating the shape difference. Here's the kit nose matched to the new nose, mating surface to mating surface. Kit part on top, facing camera. You can see the portions of the new nose that will need to be modified to get it to fit the kit fuselage. For me, this will be a better route by far than trying to reposition those gun ports on the kit nose. If they are not perfectly placed in relation to one another, it will look terrible. Again, I can't comment on the overall accuracy of this approach, but it'll work for me. Hope it helps someone. John

I like that kit, built a couple, and if they'd have turned out as well as yours, I'd be proud. Hope you're proud. John

Yes please...I'd be in for one for sure.

Ditto. I just got an A-4 Adversary set. Several pages of instructions that look to be very good. Will for sure be getting other sets. John

4 or 5 years ago I finally got a spray booth. I built it from a set of plans I got on the Internet somewhere. It's basically plywood, plexiglass, a blower motor, a replaceable furnace filter, and some ducting. It was an investment of $170 and a Saturday afternoon, but it changed this hobby for me completely. I have it in my office/hobby room in the basement, and it vents outside. Due to its efficiency, I was able to switch to lacquer paints, which was another game-changer for me. I have zero smell when painting now, zero complaints from family members, and the finished product is much better. I'd give up the hobby before I gave up that spray booth. John

Great tip, and thanks for the info Tony, very much appreciated. John

This is very cool. I only recently got into a few WWII props-- Spitfire, Corsair, Mustang, a couple others...and now thanks to this build, I'll be getting a Hurricane! Could I ask what colors/paints you used? John

Funny you should mention a theme.... Up until a month or so ago, I was a 'build whatever I thought was cool' type. That meant almost exclusively modern 1/32 jets. Then I built a Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire (sort of converted to a Royal Norwegian Air Force PRXI)...and wow. The sheer building enjoyment knocked me over. So I had to start another...and now, my first theme is 'aircraft of the Royal Norwegian Air Force'. (Just got a boatload of Vingtor decals.) Best part is I get to build a couple more Tamiya Spits, and a Tamiya Mosquito. The other aircraft I'll get to some day, but for now I'm just going to enjoy the Tamiya builds. John

F-106 F-102 F-101