Clunkmeister

That howl of pain after the CLUNK you heard was me screaming after my jaw hit the floor. BLOODY BRILLIANT WORK!

Agreed on the Panzer lll. A good, solid all around war machine.

I think most of the Canuck 2A6Ms are back home. Very few left in country. But they were needed when there. Most of the US Abrams were busy in Iraq Mostly they stayed up on the hills and provided fire support when needed. But yeah, that terrain isn't the best for heavy armor. But you can’t argue with that big 120mm German tube.

Abrams is decent, but put the same gun on a world class diesel hull and you get one of these... 2A6M Can, baby! Hoo Rah! Keeping Marines safe in Afghanistan for years!

The helicopter itself is simply stunning, but the support equipment and crew are the best I’ve ever seen, anywhere. The entire scene looks absolutely real.

The Mug-29 is one seriously gorgeous airframe. And with it having been flown by many of our allies, everyone is certain to find some cool and well documented schemes. The P-47 certainly is one of those kits that is seriously underrepresented in the build category.

Ha!! Yep, I know. My eyes are swimming in my head these days as I’ve spent the last two weeks placing individual instrument decals on the B-36 engineer panel and on the various radios, etc. you know how it’s; you sit at the bench for a month and don’t see one inch of progress. I feel that if I don’t take a few days break from it, it’s die a slow death. I certainly don’t want that. Last year, Glen hit me with an F-5 build. I didn't know it at the time, but it was a timely break from tedium. I’m starting to think the same all over. I thought about a SOD project, but most of them are resin kits: a P.11C, a P-63 racer conversion, and an S.199 conversion. The S-199 MIGHT be a candidate, just not sure right now. It could be fairly quick to finish, but it certainly isn’t OOB. As for AM, Hasegawa always seem to lack seatbelts, and more often than not, the decals truly suck. I guess you could stick the pilot figure in there, but I’ve never been a big fan of Hasegawa figures either.

Personally, I’m just thinking of a quick P-47 to scratch my itch. Not really sure of anything, but I spent all afternoon looking at Hasegawa bubbles and Trumpeter razors. Then went tearing the place up to see what I have in the line of decals. I have Kansas Tornado ll for the razor, and thought I had Big Ass Bird for the bubble. Hmmm. I look at the razor, and if you leave out all the silly interior stupidity, it should build up easily enough. Just for kicks, I masked off and slathered on the putty over the sink marks on the Hase bubble’s wing. Yay. The shape differences on the fuselage are marked. The forward fuselages compared between the two don’t even look like they’re from the same type of aircraft. The Trumpeter looks deep bellied...

Lots of great building, super accurate Hasegawa kits. Many good Japanese 109s, 190s, P-40s, P-47, and Ju-87, just to name a few... looking now at Barracuda and Eagle decals... Looking through my Barracuda and Eagle decals now.... hmmmmmmmm

Folks, I’m deep in the middle of a major 10 engine bomber build which I jumped into literally a week after finishing a major Lancaster conversion project. Plus I’ve got two other major resin projects on the way as well: a Sea Fury racer and an F7U, plus a Fisher Guppy I’m finishing. So I’m thinking of something to just get the juices flowing again. So, who wants to join me in building a Hasegawa kit OOB? I’m going to grab a bubbletop Jug, add seatbelts, decals, and spend a month or so making it look awesome. I’m not looking to build the next Nats winner, just regain my slipping mojo. I’m not talking about a big, long formal group build, but instead, a quick little lick ‘em and stick ‘em together then paint em’ up kind of thing. Say 30-45 days max, armor or A/C, informal fun build. I’m going to do this along with my big bomber build. There’s only so much sanding, fitting, and cutting a guy can do without taking a break every now and then... Thoughts?

I have had better luck cutting a bit farther away from the markings, yes. I use MM lacquer clear for by undercoat, but I doubt that would make any difference. Ill try allowing wing them to soak longer, although I leave them soaking longer than all others already.

Most of life’s problems are easily solved with an appropriate explosive charge. Stunning work so far

Trump kit is a bit of a bear. Hase kit falls together. I’m thinking of doing a quickbuild of one. Just as a pop off valve of sorts, and for no other reason than just to say I built something

Hasegawa P-47 is a bubbletop, buddy, and the only AM you need for that kit is seatbelts. You can do a Yahu or Eduard panel, but really, there’s no need. It builds absolutely awesome right OOB, man. This is one of the few kits where I can honestly say that “less is more”. If you want to spend on AM, a set of Barracuda or Eagle Editions decals will add life to it. The only razorback is a Trumpeter kit, and it’s another story altogether.

Mike, what’s your secret? I have always struggled with the HPH wet transfers. Despite my absolute care with prep and application, I always end up lifting some up when I pull the transfer sheet off. I’m all ears here, as I’m faced with using their transfers on my B-36, and not just for major decals. It also has about 20 million stencils to apply to it as well. Ernie

Nice catch, and a decent enough interpretation of the sheeted area. It certainly looks the part, that’s for sure.

This is what makes it fun, Tony! An entire community catching stuff and creating you more work. But everyone’s jumping onboard here, so I can safely say that your Avenger is going to be the “Group” build of the year. Phenomenal detective work so far! I can’t wait to have our two builds on the table together. Two Canadian classics! Hoo Rah, man!

I AM a traditionalist, and I truly love the look of the big Valiant. It's one seriously gorgeous design that just looks right. Of course, all the V Bombers looked "right", there wasn't an ugly bone in any of them.

The forgotten V Bomber

I do have some odd tastes in aircraft, but I doubt many will argue my choices. The first is easily one of the most elegant designs ever to take flight, and the second is the most beautiful subsonic airliner ever to take flight. Like a VC-10, but just a bit more balanced. I’d also mention the Mug-29, but Martin beat me to it.

Cheers, y’all! Happy New Year from North Texas!

Tony, just a thought, but have you looked to see if there are any diagrams from the various books on RCN aircraft that may shed light on a starting point from how the RCN performed their initial mods? Then you could just work from their, just as FPL did when they bought these as surplus.

Oh very nice choice. I have the US Army version of this kit on the shelf and have been contemplating it for quite some time now.