PAnderson

Guys, After starting a new job in Sept. I have not had a lot of bench time. I have completed the engine and put the first coat of black on it. I have completed part of one wing and I am trying to bring the second wing up to this point. The instructions show the assembly of one wing with opposite part #'s for the second wing, so I am trying to just go with the flow. The assembly is amazing but using any kind of CA is problematic and time consuming when trying to use it sparingly. The white metal is obviously easier to work with. I never did like PE so I am gritting my teeth and just "doing it". A LOT of PE here so I hope my teeth hold up. I will be posting progress so far this weekend. I have to go to Detroit next week, so another little set back. She is moving along though. I am starting another project this weekend because I need something to break away to for a while periodically. Revell's 1/72 Flower Class Corvette. I will just have to enjoy that one myself. Oh' lest we forget, I will also post more pics of my WNW Sopwith Pup and 1/6 Le Rhone engine, which is coming along nicely too. Just not a enough time these days. Paul

Thanks Steven. Love those wheels. Paul

Paul, Gorilla glue also makes a CA that has a "rubber" component in it that takes a lot of the brittleness out of it. I have had a lot of success with it but it is a little on the thick side. It does create good, stable bond. I will be posting pictures of the finished, unpainted engine soon. Paul Grant, Thanks for your thoughts in regards to Mark and the Zero. We are working on a solution to getting that kit shipped to me in the States. Again, thanks a lot my friend. Paul

Very nice Grant. I'm sure you will cherish that every time you open it. Paul

Sweet Jamme, I almost bought that. I was worried about the quality. Is it the same as their other kits? Paul

This Wildcat was raised from the bottom of Lake Michigan in 1993, almost 50 years after a bad carrier landing. It is now for sale in kit form, with spares. http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/lake-michigan-wildcat-restoration-project-sale.html Paul

Here is an interesting little video. Apparently, this DH.9 was found in India, rotting away. It is now restored and almost ready to fly again. http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/update/2013-09-02/first-world-war-aircraft-found-in-elephant-shed/ Enjoy, Paul

It's all your fault Grant.

Lindsay, Yes, plain old crazy glue for a lot of it but for the photo etch I am going to give Gator Grip a try. First time using it. Paul

I decided to start the build on this magnificent, all metal kit of a 1/32 P-51 Mustang. I will take my time on this and will probably add Tamiya's P-51 to this in the future also. I can't say enough about this kit, it is simply awe inspiring. here is the shot of the finished model. I started the engine and have finished the first page of the beautiful instructions. And here are the results. The castings in this kit are beautiful and very well detailed. This kit will be painted as far as interior detail is concerned. The fuse and wings will be left bare metal. That's page 1 of the instructions. More will be added as time permits. Which will probably be soon as this kit keeps beckoning me. Paul

Thanks guys, for the compliments. That means a lot. Martin, thanks buddy, I'm glad these are done. Now I can move on to my Great War build. My WNW Sopwith Pup is waiting. Jeff, thanks. I wasn't sure how the all blue would be but it did lay down pretty good. I used Testor's Acrylic RLM65. I had Tamiya's light blue but it looked like it had too much green in it.. I bought some Testor's but it looked too green also. I decided to use it anyway and it came out pretty good. I primed with a dark grey primer. Thanks again, Paul

OK, now for shots together. Enjoy. A lot of work went into this, ver gratifying. That's all folks. I hope you enjoy these. Paul

Well gentlemen, the time has come. I thought these two kits would take forever. They almost did. But they are finished, finally. Hope you like them. First, the aircraft, done in the scheme from the Admiral Scheer. RLM-065 overall. This kit was well worth the money. It is an older kit, relatively speaking. And it seems Revell keeps raising the bar for themselves. Hats off to them. Now for a few of the catapult. Another nice kit, although a different medium. This kit has it's issues but since I don't build a lot of resin kits, I will chalk it up to inexperience and the nature of the medium itself. Read my build thread for some particular issues I talked about. The wood planks were replacements for the kit parts I did not receive with the kit. HPM was kind enough to send replacements, but they took almost a month to get here. I just figured I wouldn't get them, so I proceeded to improvise. After receiving the replacements, I wasn't happy with them anyway. The other missing part was the control cabinets/console. Those were nice, so I did use it after scratch building one. I bought a set of instrument decals since the kit instruments were printed on the paper in the instructions. Not too useful. These are the two kits comprising this setup. Next thread is the two together. Stay tuned. EDIT: Here is the link to my build. http://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/1038-arado-ar-196-wip-with-ships-catapult/

Uh, yeah, won't be seeing my bench. Paul

Awesome Rick, nice job.

Rick, I didn't write the title, it got passed on to me that way. B-17 Erection? Ha, your funny. ) PW stands for password, which is "ez", no quotes. This is really a fabulous manual. I have been through it. It could be a great aid for that HK B-17 your going to build. Regards, Paul

The on-off switch there because the base is actually a magnetic base, used for attaching the unit to anything metallic. The on-off holds or releases it. Paul

Awesome review Dave. I love this aircraft. Received mine two weeks ago and it looks epic. Tamiya just keeps bettering themselves with new tech. Paul

Nice one Grant. Love the Morane-Saulnier. Paul

I believe this will take some time if I want the outcome to be acceptable. Little here, little there. I don't think I can jump into this and bang her out. Way too many parts and fiddly bits. Thanks Martin. Paul

What I just got. 1/32 full structure P-51 Mustang by IMCTH. This is a one shot purchase. They also make a 1/16 scale Zero and soon to be Mustang that is a subscription purchase. I set of parts per month for 25 months. This is a link to the 1/32 Mustang. Paul

Ian, There should be no need for conversion. They offer straight MM sizes too. But 1mm is .040, 1.5mm is .060 and .8mm is .032. Paul Paul

Ian, No, I got he 1mm wire from McMaster Carr. The kit calls for .8mm, 1mm and 1.5mm wire. Mcmaster Carr has all sizes and is dirt cheap. It is an industrial warehouse. 50 feet is like $3.50, if I remember right. Brass tube can be found there too. telescoping tubing. 2mm fits into 3mm and 3mm fits into 4mm and so on. Way less than most hobby shops.

Thanks Gentlemen, I appreciate all the responses. Paul Ian, Cornwall model boats was the one I used. It works for me. Try this one though. Maritime Models

Now for the latest on the aircraft. I will say again, this is a beautiful kit. For those of you choosing the HPH Arado-196 in resin? I will watch intensely but no way or me, LOL. Here is the engine with cowl bracings installed. I will paint thes but they will be covered since I am buttoning up the cowl. Here's a shot of the Alley Cat resin canopy. Another beautiful product and a must have add on. The black masks are the masks provided with the canopy. They are the texture of electrical tape. Kinf of hard to wrap and hold form but more than adequate. The canopies are glued temporarily with white glue. They will be removed after priming and painting for finish detail and re-positioning. I did this so I did not not have to mask the cockpit area except for the area where the radio and gunner sits. Cotton balls to the rescue. Main canopy is not installed yet. The yellow Tamiya tape is the only mask from Alley Cat that I could not get to wrap around and stay down. For some reason, that one mask came in 3 pieces. That's it for now. Enjoy. Regards, Paul