Clunkmeister

Dale, just take the locator pins as a good humour suggestion. Most line up, but a few don't. Like the ones for the lower fuselage insert below the fin.

The Beau with the Tamiya treatment would be a real treat. And JohnB might give us more Beaus than were built by Bristol's in the first place.

Dale, I’ll echo your list but chand the Skyraider to an Aichi Seiran. I love the Skyraider, but we already have a superlative offering from ZM. And as it just me, or does Tamiya’s 48 Skyraider seem to build up with a flat wing?

Thanks Rob. Yes the casting blocks are massive on this thing. If you see the deepness of the cut from the end, that's the throad deepness of the deepest razor saw I have. In other words, almost 2 inches. Like I said, IT"S HUGE. I always try to wear a respirator olus I vacuum myself off completely after each session. My wife gets VERY angry if I track resin dust all over he nice, clean house.

700 Crowns for a C-47??? Good bloody gravy! I trhink I paid somewhere around 650 DOLLARS for mine. I'm not sure if I'll ever splurge on a B-52. It depends on the B-36 and how she goes together. I'm waiting for the B-47 myself.

I use a simple Red Ryder BB gun against garden pests and invasive Sparrows. My biggest pet peeve ever is having bird droppings all over my stoop, and I've used fake snakes, fake owls, fishing line tied up around the prime real estate on my ledges, noisemakers, smelly stuff I spray on, but they still build. I'll knock the nests down as they're being built, and most eventually get the hint after two or three demolitions, but once or twice a year, there's always one..... and they get taken out by the BB gun. I don't like doing it, but if they are left to their own devices, they'll invade.

Phil, thank you so, so much for those pictures. I'm absolutely floored by the quality of the work that gets shown at Telford. You folks have some of the most talented builders in the world in the UK, plus you can also pull from all of Europe as well. Absolutely outstanding, and I've now come to the conclusion that I MUST build a Raiden in NMF. That Kingfisher diorama is easily the coolest I've ever seen, anywhere, anyplace, ever. If the quality is as good in person as it appears in your pictures, it's a show winner for sure. The table full of Mugs was something else as well. WOW! I saw somewhere else some pioctures of what looked like an HPH C-47 built to a flawless standard. Have you any idea who built that? I'd love to know. And that armor! I'm not really an armor guy, but those looked positively REAL.

GTG. That’s short for Good To Go.

Your GTG

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So far I’ve done some base color application to the interior in Interior green, Nd now we go to some lightening and a minor bit of chipping. From what I’ve been able to tell, these were the Free World’s nuclear strike force for 10 years, and they were kept fairly pristine. They were heavily utilized but received heavy maintenance to help the cause. So weathering will be minor and very sparingly applied.

So the instruction book would have me build the wings first, but I’m having none of that. Models begin with the interior, and that’s how it is in my world. I've been picking away at this for awhile, anyone who builds resin knows that it’s 90% fitting, cutting, carving, sanding and fitting, repeat as often as needed. The biggest offender so far is the nose gear bay. It protrudes into the lower deck area, and HPH will have you cut off the Mother of All Casting Blocks to get it to fit. I’ve been at this thing for a couple hours and I’m still hacking away at it. It’s too long and deep for a razor saw in one swipe, so I go at it slowly. I refuse to do the Dremel thing as that’d be the moment I slip and ruin an expensive resin piece. This nose wheel well is one huge piece of resin. This may be 1/48 scale, but these are massive components. These things dwarf anything on the 1/32 Lancaster or B-17

Just peed down my leg....

Nahh, I’m just a major investor. But I’ll encourage Mr. Castle to continue doing what he does. He inspires me.

I had a few teething pains last year, because I had never done one before, made a few mistakes, and learned much. It was a cool event on the other site and I wanted to continue it here. Its a bit early to start it now, but we’ll move with it soon enough. Pretty much the same rules as last year, but possibly a couple minor tweaks. Mark and I had discussed it previously, and it is my goal to see that everyone gets something.

Plans are afoot.... I expect similar rules will apply as last year, but I’ll announce something towards the last week of November, after Thanksgiving in the USA.

I keep saying I’m going, and then life happens

This should be a great time. I’m trying for the B-36, but we’ll see. The Lanc will be there, plus a racer for sure.

Dale, a couple of pointers: ensure that the engine assembly is squeezed together as far as it’ll go. The pushrods tend to spring out and it causes the nose gearcase to project too far. If that happens, the prop governor will hit the cowl lip and you’ll need to carve away some of the Governor.

I’ve built 9 at last count. I built the very first OOB T-28B to be completed on the web, then did a full conversion to AT-28D-5 standards using AMS resin and AOA decals. I did several for clients and hobby shops, then I did a quick OOB of the T-28C for Glen at KHM. The kit’s a gem. I love it. It assembles beautifully OOB, there’s piles of AM available if you’re so inclined. Aires makes a really nice resin pit plus air rake, exhaust, etc, Eduard makes a full suite of goodies, and AMS makes correct B props, armor plate, yankee seats, armament, and low pressure wheels for Vietnam birds. Plus AOA makes a cool decal set. Like all KH kits, there’s plenty of ejection towers, some locator pins don’t line up with the holes, and a few parts are numerically reversed on the instruction sheet. BUT, it all lines up flawlessly if you take your time, and all the parts it like a glove. Be aware that these aircraft are usually parked with the flaps down so the pilot can use the built in steps to step up to the wing. The flaps need slight shortening and the flap leading edges need a bit of reprofiling to fit properly. Also, the canopy, if modeled open, needs the sliding mechanism scratched to be 100% correct. It’s a very easy fix. Also bear in mind that the fat prop in the kit is the short T-28C prop, and the other one is fictional. Harold at AMS makes a good proper B/D prop.

That’s the one big problem with using a T-6 warbird as a prototype. Most have been crashed and rebuilt multiple times throughout it’s life. Plus, many were literally built from the ground up from a pile of rubble and a mishmash of parts from various versions.

It blows my mind that we don’t even have a decent Clunk in 1/48. That was a seriously important aircraft through the mid 50s and along with its partner in crime the F-89, gets absolutely ZERO love from model companies.

Yeah we DO need a Hellcat in our scale. I thought a P-38 and P-39 would be a perfect fit for ZM, as the Old Man loves special engineering.

Carl just got points.

My absolute dream kit of epic need (whatever that means) is Sir Barnes Wallis’s masterpiece the Vickers Wellington, done by WNW. The subtle fabric and framing effects that WNW is famous for would be showcased to perfection on a Wellington. It’s an important bomber, and extremely overlooked. Next in line would be a C-46 by HK followed by a Norseman, Beaver, Otter, Caribou, and Buffalo by Kitty Hawk or HGW/HPH.