crazypoet

I gave up on PB after their great extortion - though I had so much shared from there at the time I gave them a few shekels to keep things visible while I migrated off i have received about five emails from them this week - great way to alienate whatever customer base they have remaining

So is this a fix that can be applied just through careful gluing or will there need to be surgery?

I just watched both videos and am once again in utter awe at the scope of this work

I’ve also convinced myself to replicate the metal flange around the base of the stick, as that’s another bit that’s kind of obvious in the middle of the floor.

One of the key motivators I use for myself when i’m stuck is to say to myself “hey - it’s time to do something irrevocable!” looks like you’ve done exactly that!

The one that comes to mind just now is the Signifer 1/48 Grumman Goose Its gorgeous insofar as details are concerned, but the internal fit is abysmal

Cockpit clutter coming along slowly, and without a huge amount of bench time it’s going to continue this way for at least another week. At least there’s some reportable progress... I worked out the throttle quadrant linkage, built up from some spare plastic and .015” hard wire. Once that was in, I turned to the control lock and rudder cable pulleys. The control lock is a bit of 1/32” brass rod, with a coat of thick CA applied and trimmed to form a sleeve. I need to do a second layer and cut it square before painting and attaching to the stick. The pulleys for the rudder cables seemed to be a bigger challenge than they are turning out to be (at least for the moment!). I punched out four 1/8” disks from .010” sheet, which when glued in pairs make quite passable pulleys. I drilled them and used some small brass pins left over from the Picket Boat as hubs - i’m happy so far with the results. I need to cut and build the mounting brackets from some thin brass, then paint and these will be done. getting the rudder cables rigged will be a bit of a pain, since there’s about zero working room. I figure i’ll connect the rigging line the the rudder pedals before installing them in the cockpit, then route the lines around the pulleys and out through the cockpit sides. I’ve seen a couple different versions of the cable routing - one variation has the cable routed through a thin guide tube from the pulley to the cockpit wall (outside of which is another set of pulleys), while the other simply has cable exposed the whole way. I’ll flip a coin and go with the version that seems closest in time to my bird... lastly, i’m making up the leather boot for the stick out of plain brown masking tape - it has exactly the right grain for this purpose and I have a pattern from an original P-47 parts manual page to use to cut it out. so that’s it for the moment - hoping to tie this all up and move on to the rest of the build after this coming weekend!

I think she’s been taking to my SO - it’s a conspiracy!

I love your approach to detailing - I am settling in to watch this develop

It's sad when there's even a hint of bias in judging - and also frustratingly unavoidable in something that depends so sensitively on the eye and mind of the beholder. I would love to know the actual objective criteria for these things, and how it's supposed to be applied.

So out of plain perverse curiosity, what *did* win in the judged aircraft category?

Congrats! I have zero doubts that these birds will show phenomenally at the Nats - i’ve Seen the Lanc in person and it is a simply stunning build I look forward to seeing the final, finished version at the award show next year!

Dry fit of the office, to see how much room I have for clutter... Not a ton of space in here! the stick is waaaay too tall - by something close to half an inch. It does at least have part of the connector for the control lock, which makes that a bit easier. There’s also *just* enough room for the rudder cables and pulleys and a bit of odd wiring along the floor. I’ll add throttle quadrant knoblies later - too much handling just now and i’ve Already lost one bit of PE to the carpet monster i also have to redo the seat - had an unfortunate incident with some thinner, and it needs a whole new coat. Fortunately it’s *supposed* to look a bit used! I’m debating whether I want to do the corrugated front bulkhead. There are a few angles from which it will be visible, but it’s also a right royal PITA - jury still out on that! This is something where trumpeter just flat dropped the ball on something simple... Once those are in... washes to dampen things down, a few instrument highlights and on to the next bits

I’ve not had a ton of bench time this week, but still made a bit of progress. Most of the cockpit color PE is done and i’m working on the throttle quadrant and the mechanical links between the quadrant and controls. Once those are done, i’ll turn to cluttering up the floor - the pulleys for the rudder cables, control lock bar (this build will be displayed as during mission prep, so the control lock will be in place) and other suchlike bits Everything is all a bit bright with that lovely clean color PE - it will tone down considerably with some washes applied

It’s a very tasty combo! That was my first try, about a year ago - i’ve Since come to agree that it works best with zero ice, but with all ingredients near-frozen and yep - love me some Monkey 47 gin!

Here’s a start... Compari, Gin and a float of Absinthe... They layer perfectly for presentation purposes, then mix to a perfect Halloween orange when stirred

This from the man who’s building a 4.5 **meter** RC Wellie??? But yeah, I guess we both have a certain soft spot for the big’uns! I very much look forward to following this build over whatever number of weeks or years it takes to complete

Exactly right! i’m finding Ways to work with larger projects in limited space - i’ll Need room for that 1/48 B-52 at some point - so planning and best-use-of-space

Nicely done on that shading - and a nice solution to a tricky problem with the gear...

I am truly jealous of your workshop!!! my entire bench is shoehorned into one small section of my living room... but I can dream!

There was standout work across the board! I was in the presence of giants, and I was both surprised and delighted that my wooden boat was recognized at a plastic model show. I understand that the next IPMS Journal will have pics of all the winners - i’ll post the other winners as soon as it shows up and for the record, Ernie’s Lanc conversion would have been a shoe-in for Best In Show has he entered it - it’s *that* good

My favorite SPAM - courtesy of time spent in Hawaii in the Army Evidently, it's a big thing there... SPAM Maki!

Amen - I've been looking for one of these in 1/32 ever since I got back into the hobby! I'm delighted that it's coming out from a top-flight maker Another book you might like is this one, detailing the history of the A20-equipped 312BG in the Southwest Pacific

Nice!!! The Germans did have some very unusual SP artillery, which makes for interesting builds watching this come together is great fun

Test fit of the cockpit wiring, and glass on the gunsight most of the wiring will be invisible, but i’m not sure which bits will be visible from where, so I went a bit overboard