Clunkmeister

This showed up in the mail today, and tomorrow I’ll open it up, spread it all out, and take some quick pics of the different series from the F-5E. My foist impressions are “WOW”, so that should say something. I’ll follow it all up with a fairly quick OOB build using kit decals, etc. There’s been one or two built elsewhere, but I’m not a big jet modeler, so this will be a test for me. Ernie I aplogise for the crappy ‘Ernie pic’ but it was just a snap with my cell.

Greg Cooper is my HPH source. Very reasonable prices and decent service. I know he's on eBay as well... You might do well to give him a call. Oh, and make sure you get Airscale instruments for this one. The HPH decals don't work well in this situation. Also G-Factor gear, too.

Neat. You learn something new every day. I actually thought they were a "by gosh and by golly" 'set it and forget it' missile. Light the fuse and where it lands, it lands.

This is insanity! I'm following as well, Tom. This will be one for the books.

Ron, I'm honestly not sure, but it certainly needs it. That goofy setup is certainly toylike. I think the gear legs are plenty strong OOB, if I remember correctly, they have wire inserts for strength. It's been 7 or 8 years since I built mine, and it's still sitting quite nicely in the cabinet. I even used the rubber wheels too. I'm pretty sure resin wheels are available but I haven't bought any.

Jeroen, these weren't guided were they? I thought they were purely ballistic. Why would they need a radio system, or is it a proximity fuse or something to arm the warhead once it was safely on it's way?

I'll be watching for this build. this ought to be good. The Tamiya A6M2 was the very first LSM I built when I got back into large scale modeling. I built it box stock, and I'd now love to take one to the next level. They're a sweet build except for the silliness with the retractable gear and spring loaded inner gear doors.

Haha@Gaz Believe me, I thought about exactly that. But I’m an Eastern front guy so I was thinking 65/70/71, with a splash of 04.

Which is why I really appreciate you guys. I think Glen thought it’d be fitting to watch a prop guy struggle through a jet, but I will prevail! I’ll do some looking and get the right shade tomorrow. I can quite nicely spot it in. I have a fairly steady hand and it should be OK.

Yeah I think it’s close. It needs a bit more blue shade on the darkest color.

Go pick one up Harv. It’s a stellar kit.

Me too, Peter, me too! It’ll be the only 24th scale kit I’ve ever looked forward to.

Hey John, I’ve said it once, I’ll now say it again. This build is seriously stellar, man! Have you heard anything about the big Airfix release and when to expect it?

OK, here’s couple shots with a bit of lighting on it. Definitely lighter, and I think it’ll lighten up a lot with a flat coat and in actual sunlight. Thoughts?

It’s my new favorite tool. Seriously, I love mine more everyday.

I felt I needed to write a little blurb here right now. I’ve used rivet tools before, but I’ve always been less than overwhelmed by their performance. After doing reconstructive surgery on my F-5F, in desperation I turned go this little beauty. The results are simply outstanding!!! Radu, you just saved me many tedious nights of poking pins in plastic. Thank you! ernie

Phil, agreed. The Luftwaffe might have had a hard time getting a bead on that. It must have hurt their eyes to look at it. Send in the colorblind pilots! I’m thinking those who flew there took a lot of good natured ribbing from the other crews. But what a crappy job, flying the most beat up, clapped out, barely hanging together piles of junk in inventory, that if not for needing an assembly ship, would have long before become a source of spare parts. Id expect some of those barely wheezed themselves into the air, and the airframes were so bent that they crabbed along half sideways. With B-24s, they talk about “The Mushers”, which were aircraft that were rigged wrong at the factory and couldn’t get up “on the step” where the Davis wing was efficient, instead they just mushed along, nose high, needing more power to keep up with the others and drinking their fuel as a result. I expect that’s what these things flew like.

hehe. Phil, you, Sir, crack me up!

I’m considering lightening the lightest grey a bit more still. It’s definitely too grey, although it looks good in person. I might take it out in the sunlight to see how it looks. Maybe mist it in white tinted Future to lighten up the entire thing It these are the color call outs I found. I don’t necessarily trust KH or any kits color call outs. These colors I got off a VFC-111 site and I used Gunze paint

Ivan, there are two schemes for this aircraft, a tri tone grey, and the blue camo. I’m doing the tri tone grey because Glen wanted OOB. There’s the grey scheme... And the blue... Same jet, different camo The model as it sits If anything, my light grey is too grey, although it’s much lighter in person.

Oooh, nice choice, Mike. Finally someone's bringing out the Big Iron! I have the Rudel G boxing with the cannons, and a bit of AM including brass barrels. I've always wanted to build it, but other stuff kept getting in the way. Great choice of subjects, and I'll follow this with interest!

Taxidermy gone wrong. You're supposed to use preservative, Martin. Or did you just Frankenstein the dear departed cat that your dog just dug up in the neighbor's yard?

Pimp my Ride!

hahahahaha. Poor Drifter, all alone down there, so far away he can't smack our heads when we make sport of him.

I remember poking holes through them with hot needles to make "bullet holes". Of course I went way overboard and in the end they looked like ground targets at a gunnery range.