LSP_Matt

I love the shape of the Yak fighters. What a great bunch of aircraft. Thanks Juraj.
 
Matty

lol. Come on. Ease up. Just be contently smug that we're metric and not using bananas as a unit of measurement.
 
Matty

I love the shape of the Yak fighters. What a great bunch of aircraft. Thanks Juraj.
 
Matty

I love the shape of the Yak fighters. What a great bunch of aircraft. Thanks Juraj.
 
Matty

oof.  Amazing to think of what they're worth now.  Life is full of sliding door moments, but especially for financial matters.
 
At least you did own one though. That's super cool. An iconic car. of the GT's the XA body shape and taillights are my favourite. I grew up in an XB Falcon.  Certain scenes in Mad max where he starts his XB trigger memories of sitting in the back seat watching Dad.
 
Matty

oof.  Amazing to think of what they're worth now.  Life is full of sliding door moments, but especially for financial matters.
 
At least you did own one though. That's super cool. An iconic car. of the GT's the XA body shape and taillights are my favourite. I grew up in an XB Falcon.  Certain scenes in Mad max where he starts his XB trigger memories of sitting in the back seat watching Dad.
 
Matty

oof.  Amazing to think of what they're worth now.  Life is full of sliding door moments, but especially for financial matters.
 
At least you did own one though. That's super cool. An iconic car. of the GT's the XA body shape and taillights are my favourite. I grew up in an XB Falcon.  Certain scenes in Mad max where he starts his XB trigger memories of sitting in the back seat watching Dad.
 
Matty

I love the shape of the Yak fighters. What a great bunch of aircraft. Thanks Juraj.
 
Matty

icm.com.ua/2022/02/06/catalogue-2022
 
LSP:

 

 


 

 

 
Juraj
 

Well the guys at cricket have started calling me "Thor".....gotta love cricketers!

You have to get a lightning strike tattoo on your shoulder now.. It'd be pretty gangster.
 
I've worked with a nurse that was hit by it. Swimming at the time and it launched her out of the water. I had a near miss once...wow. Not a nice experience.
 
Matty

Thanks guys. It's a pretty FUBAR situation, I mean who gets hit by lightning, it wasn't even raining and it missed a 50ft palm tree 30 meters away!
 
Have organised a rental now, looking to downsize though and mum said she doesn't want to rent for more than 12 months so hopefully things will get back to normal in a new place before christmas, but it seems such a long way off at the moment.

I'm sure if I were to sell off that part of my stash I'm not likely to ever build, it would fund this purchase, for the same amount of modelling time. And equal enjoyment. If not more. For less shelf space.
 
I've almost talked myself into buying two! And I'm an armour guy!
 
5000 kits worldwide... Not much really to cover the cost, particularly at full retail. Now, if they reduced their margin, then sales will go up, and so does revenue. 

thanks for the Link Matty! Very cool-
this one only makes about 100hp, but it’ll pull a tree stump out of the ground!
 
I agree. Love a simple, bulletproof vehicle that is easy to work on.
 
cheers
P

Those particular models of Hilux and Cruiser are renowned for their reliability and capability. I've seen guys cook their dinner (wrapped in foil) by wiring it to the exhaust manifold.
 
Really common to see a Marks Chev V8 conversions in either and they become absolute beasts in snotty terrain.
 
I wish they made uncomplicated vehicles like that today. Whilst all the mod/cons are nice to have the added complexity and cost doesn't add up to value for me.
 
Matty

As requested by Maru. Here's my P&W R2800 double wasp in 1:24 from my hellcat build


 
 

 

 
 
And here's a couple of the Merlin from my 1:24 Mossie
 

 

 
Lastly from my 1:24 Hurricane Mk I

 
 

I could be wrong, but I’m betting it’s just some local stock that they laying around in their warehouse before they shut down, not that they are resuming production.  I also suspect that it’s pretty much the more recent kits that were still available when they shut down, similar to what they sold at the tent they had at a NZ air show a while ago.  But, we’ll see what, if anything, happens when it does (or doesn’t) happen.

Lawyering takes a long time.
 
Sincerely,
Mark

Hi all,
 
Just wanted to share some info I got directly from WnW models.
I came across a number of forum posts mentioning they were still selling their leftover models via their website.
I checked their website and indeed noticed it seemed to be working like normal.
Not wanting to risk paying for something non existent I decided to email them directly about a possible order.
Here's the reply I got from Pete Connor:
 
"Dear Spyros,
 
Thank you for your email.
 I am afraid to say we are still not open for sales at this point.  However, we are hoping to reopen soon, so I will put your name on our list of people interested in making a purchase, and as soon as we have some news, we will automatically update you by email.
 I am sorry I cannot be of more assistance at this point, but hopefully we can get some model kits in your hands soon.
 
Kind Regards
Pete Connor
Peter Connor | Military Historian | Wingnut Group Ltd | Wellington, New Zealand"
 
While it may not necessarily mean we will be able to buy from WnW thought it would worth letting them you are willing to order should they get back online.
 

When I started this, I intended to keep detailing to a minor level since I'm building it to be a runner/driven hard. Just wanted to get it going on its tracks!
 
HAHAHAH and as usual... "Oh, I'll just add that little detail".... "Oh, maybe one more little thing"................Hahah well, the main thing is I'm enjoying it.
 
First up, rear hull details and addition of the fender braces.  Grab handles from both plastic and copper on the engine deck.
 

 
 
Installation of the spare road wheels on the hull
 

 
Turret details. Clips for gun mantlet cover. More weld beads. Hatch grab handles. Replaced molded plastic springs with ones made from wire. Added the commander's periscope holder under the hatch.
 

 

 
 
Finally a look at the turret with the huge 105mm gun tube added.
 

 
 
That's it for now. A little more detail work on the hull.... tow cable, pioneer tools, jerry cans/jerry can holders, some stowage.. and it will be time for paint.
 
In the meantime... boy, there have been some great games for the NFL playoffs.
 
Can't decide who to cheer for in the Superbowl.... Bengals? Rams?.... Just hope it'll be a great game.
 
Cheers, and everyone stay safe!
 
Dave/Ironman1945

Coooooooool!   Nice work Dave

Work on the turret, before installation of the gun elevation/recoil hardware. Added some weld details. Bit more texture to the turret body.
 
I said at the start this is being built as a runner, and I wasn't going to spend too much time detailing the heck out of it.  
 
But I do like the look of a Sherman with a canvas mantlet cover. I had to come up with a way of making it workable to allow elevation and depression.
I taped the gun in its maximum depressed position, and used tissue paper with a very thin plastic backing for the cover. Glued it to the top of the turret/mantlet. Then reversed the procedure for the bottom. The sides, I just made sure there was enough to allow for freedom of movement.
mantlet attachment hardware added with strip styrene. Still need to add the anchor points.   I think it looks ok and its functional.
 
Cheers ... and GO BENGALS! Joe Burrow is da man!
 
Dave/Ironman1945
 
 
 
 

The hardest part of this was always going to be fitting the Tamiya turret rotation gear into the resin hull. The Tamiya gear consists of 3 rollers under the hull and the turret rotation/motor unit.  The 3 rollers keep the turret centralized on the hull and interlock with the rotation/motor unit to ensure smoot turret movement.
 
Here is what you get with the Tamiya M4A3 hull.   Its basically a modification of their older 1/16 M4A3 105 Howitzer. They have added extra mounting points, indicated in black, for the new hardware in the M51.
 
 
And here is the resin hull in the middle of modification.  The resin hull was based on the old Tamiya M4A3 105 kit I mentioned earlier, and was designed for that old kits turret rotation hardware.  I had to cut out all the old mounting pegs and modify/add to it to resemble the ones in black above.
 
 
I've also added the LED for the bow machine gun. I added the mounting points by using plastic tubing super glued together, and inserted the rods right through the resin hull to get a good fit. 
 
 
 
And after many days of fitting, refitting, and filling/re-drilling the tubes, this is the final result.  Took a lot of work but its all aligned now.
 
 
 
Broke off both front fenders with all the rough handling, but never mind, I'll re-attach soon enough. The main thing is everything is lined up, and the gear teeth mesh perfectly.   
 
More as progress continues.
 
With the Saints out of the playoffs, I am now cheering for both the Bengals and the Bills! 
 
Cheers and stay safe!
 
Dave/Ironman1945

Awesome! I see "Oddball" with his loud speakers and paint shells....
 
Cheers and Happy New Year!
Ron

Way back around 1968ish I remember visiting Simpson's in downtown Toronto, and going to the toy section which had a very large model section. Back then plastic models were like video games for kids today.. very popular. My friends and I bought/built them all the time.
 
I distinctly remember looking for a 1/48 P-51B.  But during my visit I spent a lot of time at a large sand table display that had a large RC  Pzkpw Mk IV being driven around. So cool!
 
I've finally started getting back to the childhood dream of having my own RC tanks.  Have Tamiya's 1/16 M51, Tiger I, and Leopard 2 A6. I've also added an updated drive/recoil/sound/light system to Tamiya's 1/25 Panther A.
 
So here we go, 1/16 M51!
 

 
 
Lots in the box.