Clunkmeister

Yeah, I’m nowhere near finished yet, so my opinions certainly don’t mean much yet. But the willingness of Chinese manufacturers in general it give us these incredibly substandard instructions is beyond comprehension. Tamiya, Wingnut, ICM, IBG, Airfix, etc, gave given us clear, easy to understand instruction manuals. ZM’s are intentionally busy, but once you get past the technical info, they’re simple. Even Revell, who for years, had instructions scribbled by a toddler in Crayola, have improved remarkably. The misnumbered parts just boggle my mind.

Well, most of it is simply the kit. It’s a no brainer through now.

Yes, it’s almost beating a dead horse regarding the Sand and Spinach RAF temperate scheme, but the lower color? The blue or the grey? My gut says grey, but being that I’m doing one of the first 100 nicked from RAF stocks, maybe that blue? I have the AK real colors RAF SEAC color set, which should work, with appropriate fading for sun effects, and I assume those are accurate enough? And, behind the coves, under the quarter glass….. continuation of camo, but not as faded?

For $180.00, this had BETTER be a good kit, and so far, it has delivered. Fit has been better than Tamiya with almost snap tite precision. BUT, as with most Chinese kits, the instructions let you down in a big way. Vague isometric views, some numbers incorrect, some parts missed altogether and suddenly they just “show” up as being installed. I can see what Peter is talking about when it comes to the nose fit. That wing-fillet-belly duct-cowl intersection looks like it could end up being a massive trainwreck if you’re not careful. A lot of stuff comes together right there at the firewall.

Oh man, I never even noticed. Good thing I wasn’t excited or there would have really been a photobomb. 😎 Tell me all about it. I dropped a #11 in a handle one time and it landed straight in the top of my foot. Went in about 1/2 inch too. After I pulled it out, the arterial squirt was impressive. My wife did some first aid, I got to the ER, and the doc made sure you tetanus was up to date.

I have a nice, quiet little auto start/stop compressor. You can hardly hear it run. Now, I am just this side of deaf, so, hey….

Well, my armor weathering often comes courtesy of an American size 11E Tony Llama boot. STOMP!

Nope. I’m just a jerk

Yes, I had and executed a cunning plan…. and, Great Success!!

TMI, Hubert. TMI. I’m not sure TMI translates well, but it stands for “Too much information”, or “information overload”, or in common man’s terms, “that’s a visual that I will never, ever unsee”.

That’s brilliant execution on an old kit. I can only wish I could build armor, but mine look hideous. The big Chieftan looks like he’s ready to deal out a loving touch to those who anger him.

Planning…. Actually, I had one at the office I use for checking transmission valve bodies. I liberated it for a day. 🤣

Big Time!! But it’s because I’m bored, sitting in a hotel, 60 miles from home.

Did all this in about 7 hours over two days. So far, this kit has been a dream. Everything fits beautifully as of now. If the rest of this builds as big let, this will be better than even Tamiya. FYI, I did ditch pretty much all of the extra crap in the rear fuselage, except for the big tank behind the seat. I expect that can be seen around the seat. Price I also closed the avionics hatch, and lo and behold, IT fIT PERFECTLY!!!

Did you know…. That airbrushing in a hotel room is considered rude?

Yep, another GWH Traumahawk build. I'm using Barracuda wheels and a few other Barracuda goodies, 3D printed seatbelts, and Eagle Editions decals. This started as a hotel room build while I was marooned in Lewisville due to an ice storm making the roads impassable, and we'll get as much done while I'm still here. My goal is to do a relatively painless build here, while carefully going slow and looking for the various pitfalls people have found regarding the wing/engine cowl/gun cover/fuselage join. Hopefully if I find a problem, I can document it ahead of time to help others avoid the same pitfalls that snuck up on Peter and others.

So far, this has had Tamiya like fit, but from Peter's and previous builds, I know that there are plenty of areas around the firewall that can bite a guy, so I'm going very slow, very easy, and triple fitting everything before daring to commit to glue.

If I recall my history correctly, those things folded up life a tent when hit with a good burst of .50

Don’t make my head expand, man. A combination of brush and decals.

I was gonna prick my finger, but it dries brown.

I just couldn’t bring myself to bring a big dollar resin kit on the road. What absolutely sucks is that I need red paint for the levers, and I ain’t got me none, dangit!

Yep, I’ve taken over the built in desk at the Holiday Inn Express in Lewisville, Tx. I had brought some stuff with me along with a couple changes of clothes as I had a strange feeling I might get stranded. I was going to go and buy a 1/72 scale fighter and try a quickie build, but then I found the Hawk kit, still in its shipping box, in the back of my car. So it won’t be a quick build, matter of fact, it’ll go straight to the SOD when I get home. I’m in the middle of a resin biplane build, and still building PE flaps for my Helldiver, so this’ll sit till I’m done.