Clunkmeister

If I tried half that crap, I’d throw my hip out.

John, I’ll be curious to how you deal with the dihedral, air scoops, and that blasted landing light. Those three things alone kicked my arse hard on my build. There must be a better way! I’ll be watching and learning.

NICE!! I remember "BJ and the Bear" on TV way back in the 70s and their fancy cabover. But they drove a fancy Kenworth K100, not a Freightliner

Looking absolutely stunning, Harv!! Just a thought, and it might be a bit late now with the mud on her, but some very light exhaust staining around the pipe might help as well. Not much, just a bit, maybe some cauterizing/darkening of heat stressed paint? Not totally necessary and maybe too late at this stage, but just thinking out loud.

Many of the Fennec parts are in the kit, but you still need the tall 'A' canopy, which isn't in the kit. Now, if someone could vac one, you'd be golden

I was eyeballing the DC-3 but then went all in with the B-36, long may she reign!

Martin, these are GREAT building kits, man.

Indeed. Just measure the width by the fit of the greenhouse. But that blasted wing bites me in the arse. If the width is right for the greenhouse, then the main wing has a tendency to build up flat or with anhedral. It’s a job to fix, but not too tough. You got it figured, John!

Welcome Michael!! I'd venture to say you're probably right. In the Great War, the Germans used to have their National Insignia right between the crewmembers on their two seaters, and right under the pilot on the single seaters. 'X' marks the spot, or so they said. A very convenient aiming point indeed, during the days before mounted machine guns where observers carried their hunting rifles or pistols with them. In the end, they moved the insignia farther back to where all they'd be doing is punching holes through open space.

John, every one of mine are earmarked. Its a great kit with the only tricky part being the center section and setting the correct dihedral.

Gonna follow along, John! This really is a nice kit. Too bad it's OOP. I still have three in the stash and really want to finish another. Maybe as a racer?

Personally, I'd flatten them out a bit. I did the same thing on one of mine and it improved the appearance 100 fold

Tony, one thing to watch on this is the canopy. The kit totally missed the unique rollers and lifts for the greenhouses. The canopy sections Lift and expand on the front edges. The hydraulic rams are actually molded into the cockpit sills. I just fabbed a few official looking brackets and faked it in there. The first time, I got them too high. So cut them down and they’re good. Also, front and rear hoods are always open exactly the same amount. They’re hydraulic and it’s a peculiarity of the type. So the front can’t be cracked and the rear slid all the way back. And notice the flaps. They have steps built in for the crew. That’s the only way they can access the cockpit. The flaps are always down when at rest. Actually past full down. There’s a dump on the side of the fuselage to dump the flaps down if the previous hero to fly it neglected to drop the flaps. Then they’d drop to past the full down position. You can see that in the last two pics.

hey Tony, does the pitch look a bit coarse on that prop, or is it just the angle of the pic?

She’s a beautiful brute

Yep, she is, Rog. But I need to finish many long term SOD projects, and this one qualifies. And there’s little but final finishing left, anyway

I’ve been occasionally dating this lady on and off over the last several months. Maybe it’s time to push her through for a dance.

Please do a review, Hubert. I have absolutely NO time. And it’s pretty much a French aircraft, so you have more knowledge than I. The only thing I ask is, “What were they thinking, moulding the slats CLOSED? Handley-Page flaps are always open at rest.

There's a tiny bit of laser marks to give a sense of that, but in 1/64, I'm concerned with it being too much. I like 1/64 for ships. It's like 1/72 for aircraft. Too small for small vessels, but almost too big for the larger ones. A 74 in 1/64 would be amazing. A 44 gun frigate equally so.

The laser cur deck on this kit has the nail holes, edge lines, etc, but I’ve seen others not like the look and just plank it instead. Nits certainly more of a chore, but nothing looks nicer than a hand laid deck. Models always seem to be more artistic than realistic when it comes to planking, deckwork, etc. the wood decks are always highly polished, brand new and glowing, where most decades old real decks are almost a white from millions of pairs of feet, equipment, and being cleaned, scraped, scrubbed, and maintained.

It’s about right, but it has bobs upon gobs of dihedral

The F-84 is a nice build, but like you I sometimes have a hard time getting excited about it. There is the Black Widow, though... When I get in a funk I often break out a Hasegawa kit and stick it together, saving my effort for the finishing of it.

I actually thought about that, Hubert, but it's a very small hull and the first layer is thick and lays down nicely with no ripples. There is plenty of meat to fair it nicely. I've run a few test planks up and down the hull, and as of now, I see no bumps or lumps. But I may fair in a bit around the bow and stern with balsa blocks as you mention. It's certainly good practice when you're looking for good form. The coppering process should be interesting, but not too horrible, as we're all well used to working with PE. And yes, I'm looking to use a clear urethane on the second pearwood planking, which will, I think, look amazing, but the main wale need to be black. The kit comes with a gorgeous lazer cut deck which I expect will light up beautifully with a clear urethane finish.

Tony,I’m surprised you’re having so many problems with wing fit. On every one of my builds, they were the best fit of the entire model and literally plugged into the fuselage without even so much as a hairline gap. Its a tough-ish kit, not Tamiya, but not early SH, either. You need to work for it, but it will give you love if you keep at it. Oh, add more noseweight! If there’s room, add more. I’m talking, make it gamma ray proof with so much lead.

Mind blowing work there!