Clunkmeister

And kiss it goodbye. I’ve gotten really good at packing models. This was just getting the cradles right. Then, I line the entire box with the pink foam, and cut the cradle ends down to fit. Hot glue everything together, then place tissue or a thin foam around the areas on the model that sits on the cradle. Hot glue stops against the model tp prevent it shifting forward or back, hot glue crosspieces on the cradles that lock the model in place, install foam top cover, then seal the box. It’s probably overkill, but it works.

Thanks y’all! It was fun.

Other than having to close the canopies at the very last moment, and spilling Tamiya extra thin all over the arse end of it, meaning a strip and reriveting job, it was a quick and mostly painless build. I can highly recommend this model to lovers of the F-5. It takes the 1/32 scale F-5 and makes the old Hasegawa kit look like a tinkertoy. Just remember, if you're planning on closing the canopies, fit them first. I didn't and the rear one, while better, is nowhere near perfect. Cutting down the rear seat mount to lower it would be needed, or lower the floor Either way, that's the only glitch for me and it happened at the very end of the build. I'll build mine with the canopies open. But it's HIGHLY recommended. Just do your research first. F-5’s had more options than a 67 Mustang. Well I just saw the flipped decal at the trailing edge of the fin. Dammit!

Well, this one is done as of yesterday and should be nicely winging its way to Virginia for a display. Here’s a few quick pics, Ernie style, from my phone, on my soon to be demolished bench. I have no clue how accurate it is, I think the drag chute door should be grey, it’s titanium color,.. oops, and the canopy will need a rubdown to get the handling smudges of it, but assuming it survives the trip unscathed, it’ll be ok. I don’t like to end a build in a hurry especially when changing horses midstream, but such is life. It’s a fun build, but if you want the hoods closed, plan ahead. These are not even close to being perfect, but that’s my fault alone. This is my first real jet build, and it was way way way out of my wheelhouse, but I had fun. It may not be perfect, but it’s pretty nice. A decent 5 footer

Oh boy oh boy oh boy! I have mine all ready to go with all the PE and extras, but an F-5F and Lanc got in the way. You’re gonna clobber this one, Carl. Then, hopefully W.12?

If I could, I would.

Those look like they belong under a Canadair 6, never mind a D!

Pics to follow.

Agreed. Snow is reflective. Like water, it reflects the surrounding terrain. Blue sky, bluish tinge to snow and icy tops reflect the sunlight like prisms. Grey sky, the snow is dull. But if you have vehicular traffic, whether it’s taxiing aircraft, land vehicles, or legged methane producers, the rust and footsteps mix with the dirt, etc, and snow quickly gets grey, brown, and dirty.

MARTIN, behave! Cough cough, sputter sputter.

Gotta check the kit. Not a big fix, but an obvious goof if you build the wrong block numbers

I’m going to use Eduard’s ejection seat and improve the panel some. Other than that, maybe wheels. But I’ve seen a few of these built, and they turned out amazing. Skip the engine, do the Hasegawa style fuselage assembly so it’s exact. I heard the belly pan is a pain and the rocket container is tough to build retracted.

It’s not unexpected. The kit’s engineered for open hoods, and I didn’t plan to close them until Thursday when the fog cleared. Good news is that the hatchet job will be invisible, bad news is that it looks much cooler with the hoods open. Life goes on. yes Ivan, the F-86D will be an “adventure”. But I’ve seen some incredible builds of that kit, and it can be done. As for Texas ANG, I’ve yet to find proof in photography that they flew the D. They flew a few bulletnosed Sabres, but I think they had different wings.

Yep, snow is never “white”. It ranges from bluish to different shadings of grey. oh, and for the ultimate realism, a little yellow spotting here and there is normal. Notice the grey around the Snow Snake burrow.

Well folks, Kitty Hawk throws me a slight curve ball. This is to be a display model at hobby shows, so it’s gotta be closed up. Open canopies, speed brakes, etc get broken constantly when picked up and handled at shows. That nugget of information completely slipped my mind during the build, so here we go. Yay. Because the kit is designed to have the canopies open, two guesses what that means. And the first guess doesn’t count. Yep, the canopies don’t fit! Oh, they fit the openings just fine, but the kit gives you all the scale goodies such as inner canopy rails, latch mechanisms, lifts, locks, everything. So, not only does all that go away, but the scale thickness of the plastic canopy means the rear canopy hits the top of the rear seat. By about 1/32 of an inch. So, out come the trusty nippers and #11 for some creative modeling. Heheheeeee

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, my friend! Next Kitty Hawk kits for me to build are the OS2U and the big ol’ Sabre Dog. But I never saw myself building this one, so who knows? Maybe I’ll snag me a Mirage or an F-5 recce Bird when they hit the streets. I like the kits. OOB yes, and maybe a few details are generic or not for your exact chosen prototype, but even OOB, they’re challenging enough to make the build enjoyable and not robotic. The coolness of resin without the headaches and resin dust.

I really like it. Not an armor guy, but I think I might be able to stomach his one.

Or by having to wear bib overalls and a straw hat.

Agreed, but as it’s OOB, on they go. Maybe finding a John Deere, Caterpillar, or M.A.N. Logo might help?

Almost there. OOB build, and it looks like an F-5: it looks fast and it’s pointy at the front. Tomorrow, on go the canopies, position lights, nozzles, and sensors, etc. I’ll then call it done and in the mail on Monday.

Awesome Hannover, Sir. What time period would this Polish kite depict? Obviously postwar, but late teens, early twenties or mid twenties?

Ron, the B-17 has plenty of shape issues, the most obvious being the nose cross section. The top of the nose area should be flattened, but the kit depicts it as round. That throw off the shape of the windscreen bottom where it meets the nose section, and alters the shape of the top of the panel. There are several threads on fixes for this, both here on LSM and on TOS, but it is somewhat "involved". There are also numerous other little niggles that Nige would be much better versed on than me. I have the kit, and will build it. To me, it looks quite like a B-17, and that's fine enough with me. Other guys here would slap my head for uttering such craziness, but to each their own. Nige is the guy to talk to on these kits, and like the Lanc, he worked up quite the list of things to make the big Fort 100% correct.

Go for it Jeff! Do they have any future plans of making this aircraft airworthy?

Well, if you want the problem fixed under warranty, get in, go for a drive, and blow a couple power shifts with your right foot glued to the floor. You might get an input shaft or even a complete transmission as a bonus.