Clunkmeister

Melted metal

That looks stunning. I can’t even imagine how much work that the dog of a Trumpeter kit could be massaged into that. I’ll just start with the HPH kit, a very, very nice kit, although I realize it’s not everyone’s bag.

That would have been something, Tony. The one I always wanted for display purposes was an Argentinian Pucará. Talk about a cool pocket rocket!

I never could make a Kalashnikov run right. M16 was great, but sensitive to dirt. We used the inch version of the FAL. C1A1 ours was, Brits, Aussies, and Kiwis had a kissing cousin they called the SLR or L1A1. I’ve tried and tried, but I never once could stop one of those. Heavy, but they worked every single time. I was shocked to see how taken we were by what we thought was the state of readiness. We were terrified of their tank force, but it turned out that the vaunted T-72 was fresh meat to our Leopards. That big German gun on the Abrams and Leopard made believers out of us all. And turned T-55s and T-72s into big Bic lighters. What were we told? Something like if we penetrated the hull above the bogies, the crew had 15 seconds to bale out before the the stored ammo cooked off. That certainly wouldn’t inspire trust in your equipment But as to the MiG-21, who knew it was such a fatally flawed design. You can’t fight the enemy well if you’re always fighting your own equipment.

Agreed. Half of everything was always psyching out the other side. Mig-25 Mach 3 speed runs, MiG-21s to half the world, Reagan’s Star Wars programme, it always worked, up to a point. But I’d rather be playing mind games than throwing 147 grain pieces of lead at each other. I’d say the Kalashnikov rifle is the best utility rifle ever built. The MiG-31 is an amazing interceptor, the Tu-95 is the equal of the B-52, An-124s are moving all of the world’s oversized freight, and Soyuz was, is, and always will be the least expensive, most reliable man lifter in the world. I actually admire Societ engineering. They made things that worked, not things that worked and cost gazillions to develop. When the Soviets wanted to write on paper in space, they used a pencil, when Americans wanted the same, they spent millions developing a zero G ballpoint pen.

So which ten would you ACTUALLY get rid of? For me, I’d say: 1. Trumpeter 1/16 Tiger ll 2. Trumpeter 1/16 T-34 3. Trumpeter 1/200 Yorktown 4. Proctor 1/4 Albatross D.Va 5. Monogram 1/48 B-17 6. 1/32 Tamiya Mossie 7. 1/48 Tamiya F-16C 8. Tamiya 1/16 Sherman 9. Nichimo 1/200 Yamato 10. Encore 1/48 AT-37

I have this 1/16 Tiger ll, and I thought it was huge. This is insane.

Thoughts on the MiG-21? Full AB takeoff, suck up the gear, and congratulations, you’re now Bingo fuel. Either tank or RTB. Plus, it was, is, and will always be a CG sensitive little death trap. But, I guess if you only have pennies on the dollar to buy fighters, the Soviets were once giving them away like candy. I suppose they were ok as a point defense weapon, if used exactly according to the book. Veer one bit out of book numbers, you die a flaming death or learn parachuting skills. I’d rather walk.

Looking GREAT so far.

Rog, you’ll have so much research on this when you’re done, that the model’s gonna build itself. Im doing the same with the specific Canadian two seater that flew missions over Libya, so times are fun these days. We should be ready to start these sometime around mid decade I think.

I have one single lonely sci-fi kit, and it’s the Eagle transporter. That was my favorite show way back before electricity, and I still love it today.

Nice, nice, nice!

Harv, if you stick with it and do it OOB, you might just get it done. It's a very nice kit, but as you know, you can spend 90% of the time on the 10% of little details that 99% of people will never see.

We come on over, Phil. You'll leave with an armload.

There’s much interest in this, but I doubt it’ll be “official” per se. but I’m looking to start, say, Feb 1 and finish Mar 15? Or Feb 15 and finish April Fool’s Day, just in time for the 1/32 AN-124 announcement from HPH.

I just reorganized mine. I have more resin kits than plastic now, so resin and special stuff are in the closet of my build/gun room, and the plastic stuff goes off to the garage and barn, minus the decals, which are catalogued and filed. I had to shake my head at some of what I have. It makes no sense. 1/16 King Tiger? Seriously? Where in heck will I put that when done. 1/200 Yorktown. Another mystery kit. The only 1/200 ship I REALLY want to build is the Mighty Hood, and she's there with her full Pontos set and Shapeways goodies. Silliness abounds. I don’t build much Tamiya, yet there are more than a few here...

Working on the instrument boards

It’s nothing official as far as I know. Im just going to build a quick project and give myself six weeks. Anyone who wants to join in, May, of course.

Rog, I’d say anything that you could build in a month or 6 weeks. I have three I’m looking at: Trumpy Razorback ‘bolt, Hase bubbletop ‘bolt, Revell P-51D-5NA My idea was to do a quick something so I could put something on the shelf. Just a mojo restorer I’d say a Takom FT COULD be done in six weeks, but it’d be tough. That’s a huge project

Ya know, I WAS going to delete this as spam. But I’m not going to. However, I’m going to shorten it up and remove the personal insults , etc. No biggie if someone sees accuracy issues with a kit, but instead of going off half cocked, maybe try backing up what you say with facts and proof. And avoid the personal attacks and insults. This is not the place for that stuff.

Ooooooh! Su-24

The Dragon 110s are all brilliant kits in so many ways. Accurate and precise to build when the correct parts are actually placed in the proper spots. I’ve yet to see a bad looking build from one of those kits, and the worst issue I found with it was the tedium of masking that blasted greenhouse. I have one I’d like to use Pastor John’s conversion on, but have yet to do so. Plus someday I’d love to do an early Eastern Front version as well. My issue there is finding the online instructions for the Pastor John stuff. I’ve got two 110s and an 88 G conversion that I just can’t find what I need.

I’m surprised that more aftermarket hasn’t appeared for these kits. I’m definitely doing a D, and it will be an assembly ship. I still hope for some better engines, wheels, props, etc. And if Iain Ogilvie gets his wing sorted, I’m in on that as well.

This kinda followed me home. On sale for $28.95