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I went to my local kit collector show, fully intending to spend no money... Unless an emergency presented itself.

I used to build 1/43 scale cars. They always have clear parts to cut out and fit. Tape and sandpaper are your friends here. Tape the area you are holding to prevent scratches, then cut the part close to but not exactly to fit. Then do the final "trim" with sandpaper. It's slow, but much better for a precise fit. Stick the sand paper to a block or use a sanding stick. Go slow, and keep the block/stick 90 degrees to the plastic so you get a square edge and less likely to slip and scratch the clear.

The rivets really are the final touch on that piece. it looks so plain without them.

The other thought, and I have seen it done, mostly on 1/43 scale cars, is a dead flat paint job. The idea being that you wouldn't see the shine at the scale viewing distance. Idk, maybe you don't buy scale distance, but I have seen some nice race car models with a flat finish.

Yes. Race cars, like super models getting ready for the cat walk, are fused over by their various servitors (40K, please forgive. lmao) So they are as perfect as possible before they get clipped by another car, or trip over their own dress, and ruin everything... Overall, then, it needs to start at clean, glossy finish. Which differs from a WW2 aircraft which I doubt, and have proof that, they didn't have perfect finishes. In both cases you could use a bit of grunge to hide a sin or two. But the car should start off looking as pretty as possible.

Not always. They can be finished as "post race" dirty and beat up. My Porsche 911 RSR will be finished this way. I have a reference book of photo's taken post race so all the dirt and wear is documented. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I think it will be fun.

I bet the JU is more likely. They have yet to venture into twins. But a metal wing Hurricane is almost surely the next thing. They will follow the Spitfire plan and milk those molds for all they are worth. And / or a backdate of the K-4 into a late asymmetric cowling G

Late to the party. And you didn't bring beer, did you?

Kotare Hurricane MK 1 options as listed on their page The optional parts include: - Two & three blade propellers, - Three styles of exhaust manifold, - Two styles of undercarriage doors, - Unarmoured and armoured windscreens, - Ring & bead and reflector gunsights, - Pilot’s seat with & without safety harness detail & armour plating, - Two styles of wing join fairings, - Short and tall rudders and tailwheel fairings.

It's not a metal wing. Early, fabric. Otherwise they would not be offering the two blade prop and all the other early items. The pattern that they are establishing with their Spits would suggest that they will use this as a jumping off point for a metal wing version in the future.

Which one? ZM or Takom is more accurate? I was never going to buy the ZM add on. I don't trust thin resin castings. I've seen that go south too many times.

It does. Similar to the ZM kit but without the detail inside the wings. I noticed the slide molded nose also. Very slick. The "B" nose is also slide molded. Curious that ZM is now also preparing a kit version of the "B".

So I waited, as I do like the strike Valkyries, but I wanted the standard version. It's ridiculously big, even without all the fast-packs and ordnance.

Interesting. It's certainly possible. You can see the buck in one of the garage shot in Ford Vs Ferrari. Not that that's any kind of proof, Hollywood screws up stuff like that all the time.

X-Plus 1/8 Red Sonia. Another company I really like, but again, have yet to build one of their kits. I read all the Conan books I could get my hands on when I was a teen so this was another obvious must have for me.

1/72 Battroid VF-1S. I love these Valkyrie's. Palmax kit seems really nice but I have yet to build one.

My most recent Spotmodel order. Decals for the Tamiya Porsche 911 GTS R3. Narrowed it down to two base colors, so I bought stripes for each, as they were very inexpensive. And a better set of Carbon decals which include the interior/rollbar Wheels, brakes and diffuser/exhaust system for NuNu Porsche 911 RSR LM 2018. Kit wheels and tires are the same at all 4 corners, which is incorrect. So these fix that, though the rears are only a tiny bit bigger now. The rest is just "see want have" and probably unnecessary.

Gotha Transport. Wanted this, but wasn't sure it was worth $99.99, which was Sprue Bros discount price. But waiting a few months brought it round to the "Lightning deals" page for half that. No brainer at that point. Not an expert on these, but I am curious if it can be back dated to the original glider version.There are a few parts marked not for use that look like they are for that.

P-39 werk. Added the station formers in front of the doors. They are noticeable in photo's. One door will be open so I tried to busy it up with a bit of added detail around the instrument panel. Oxygen regulator, without hose. I doubt the Russians bothered with oxygen in these. Some wiring and tubing. A few punched discs for knobs. And some sort of box near the floor. No idea what it does. But it's silver, so it will be add some color.

Kow stole them. And the Hughes 500's and booms from P-38 Lightnings. Throw in some ping-pong balls cut in half and a little Bondo and you have a WW5 (or whatever) anti-gravity fighter/bomber. He used those 500's for a lot of the "German" power suits as well. Everybody in the know claims they are not space Nazi's, but one look at the paint jobs and marking kinda kill that argument, for me anyway. And, at least early on, a lot of the "Allied" vehicles had invasion bars painted on them... That's what drew me to them. I was just learning about Japanese Anime/Sci-Fi kits, and that semi plain box with just the machine as art work was the hallmark of those kits. The best, IMO, are the early Macross kits from Imai and Arii. Beautiful painting of the mech on an otherwise plain but brightly colored box.

I have all, or at least most of the modern Ma.K kits. I had almost all of the originals at some point, but I sold them off. Very special, unique kits, but just a pain in the ass to build. The modern ones are clearly better. I have a Falke about halfway along, it got packed up during various moves and just never made it back to the bench. And I now have the new 1/35 scale one as well. I saw Docrob's build of the Knight. That's really my only no on these kit's, just hate that design. And the Grosserhund. Will not buy one, ever.

Not saying it is, but some of the interweb Aero engineers on that other forum were saying the nose is the wrong shape? Opinions?

Is under the bench cleaner than the top? Lmao. Idk how you manage to keep track of anything, always so many parts on your bench.

Understatement of the week. lol. Huge sale. They should change their name to Enabler Brothers.

1/48 Eduard P-39 Airacobra. Will be Russian. They seemed to have the most fun with these. Added stiffeners and a roof to the front landing gear bay. The bump at the back is correct, allowed clearance for the drive shaft. That later was covered with a box to hold lead shot, but I didn't take a picture of it like I thought I did. It can be (barely) seen in the tail sitter balance photo. Mock up for balance see how much weight it needed. Dihedral seemed off, side to side, so I made a Lego jig and some spars and a central box from .060 Evergreen to try and even it up. Hopefully it fixes the corresponding wing root gap on the low dihedral side. I am working on an actual, honest to god large scale model, just not ready to post it yet. Someday.