Clunkmeister

Cool! The ubiquitous 172! Yeah, you pretty much have to no exactly what year airplane you want to model, a d stick to it, because Cessna built about 2 gazillion of them and changed them year by year, just like automobiles..

There were AM decals out there at onetime to simplify the application of the seal tape on the canopy and windscreen. I’m not sure they’re still out there.

Dang! That thing looks truly monstrous!

Now this will be fun to watch as Jeroen’s epic build comes to a close

I’d be 100% game. Texas will be hot and humid. But it should be fun.

Redoing the rudder ain’t a big deal, Bill. And if it’ll bug you forever, then fix it now. Nice job so far.

I’ve stalled out on a Hasegawa E. No reason, just chugged to a stop. This one oughta do it: challenging but accurate. My problem is that I try to outsmart the kit. Leave off internal detail that will be hidden, etc. at times, that gets me into trouble..

I think so, too. Gotta be one of the ugliest and most boring schemes out there for that bird, but it’s incredibly historically significant.

Oh good grief, I don’t want to know, either. What I will say is that both him and I spent at least a few minutes each about 2/3 of the way through the evening each individually hugging the commode with our arms and doing the old Technicolor Yawn. Had to make room for more, y’understand. Honestly though, I normally don’t drink. But we sure as heck made up for it that night. The year previous, Richard Alexander and I both sat in the hotel bar and tried to outdo each other. That ol’ boy is as Aussie as it gets and if we would have continued, I’d have been flat on my face and he’d still be standing tall. That guy isn’t human. 🤣

Well, you’re one of the bunch now, so maybe we bring the party to your place. 😎

To all of y’all who got together and sneakily sent me a Sprue Brothers gift card for Christmas, thank you! This is what I bought with it: It’s even the Christmas Special Edition! 😁

I forgot all about that as well. I was on the other end of the table talking to Radu and suddenly this commotion happens. “Nothing to see here, just a heroic lifesaving maneuver, that’s all”

I was thinking exactly the same thing. So far, you’re the only other brave soul…..

Yep, I remember William coming down and saying “something’s wrong with Martin” or similar, and mentioning that he had answered in German or some other language. No body knew about the extra curricular activities we had embarked upon the night before, and I immediately said “oh crap I just scrambled his brain with potato whiskey”. Then when he did come down, I saw the shape he was in and said “Oh Merciful God!” Did Martin Hatalovic, the ex Serbian warlord (inside joke) answer in some obscure Serbian dialect known only to him and God? Note to self: keep Martin away from the bottle

It’s pretty brutal to look at now, but we’ll give it some detail tonight. Plus, overspray some areas in clear orange or yellow for some depth. It’s nice to build resin that fits nicer than most mainstream kits do. Lukgraph gives you the basics, now it’s up to the modeler to tart it up, although not much will be seen in the front office, the rear pit will be wide open for viewing

I recall that lobby get together that next morning when we’re all gathering to head off to breakfast. It was mighty drunk out the night before. after supper the previous evening, Martin and I both headed to the wardroom to splice the main brace, and the next morning when I saw Martin, he looked like he single handedly saved Chernobyl from melting through it’s containment. Or, experimenting with a primitive nuclear device on his kitchen table. Me, I looked like I just crawled out of a bottle, which, in fact, I had. Smitty and Martin were rooming together, and Smitty voiced a concern over Martin’s 10 degree list to port the previous night. In plain English, he was truly shitfaced and it was all my fault. We toasted everyone, and I actually vaguely recall us singing Russian folk songs. The Volga Boatman comes to mind…..

OMG I about pissed myself!!!! 🤣😂🤣😂

Out at an antique auto show with club members, there’s that ever present beer again. how the hell did we ever survive?

Another where I just wonder WHY??? And that HAIR! 1962 called and wants their hair style back!! Drinking Labatts, I see. I’ve certainly moved up since then.

We certainly thought we knew where just oh so cool back then, didn’t we? 😎

This is one seriously awesome job, Bill. I have a couple of these in the stash, along with the Big Ed sets for them, and one of these days…. This kit is a true gem, IMHO, a d brings big $$$$ now on the resale market. Funny how it was so trashed when it came out. Ive seen several of these kits built, and every last one of them was a Nats Award winner.

That’s a great letter from Richard. It sums it up succinctly. I have a sneaking suspicion that not one of us on this forum are lacking in projects 🤣 Along with that sad fact, I’d rather wait a bit longer and have a “Wingnut Quality” Spitfire than a revisit of the Revell release. When you look at Meng’s slapdash release of the incomplete Wingnut Dr1, complete with unfinished tooling, you certainly appreciate their willingness to “get it right the first time”.

I didn’t go to Pima and immediately wished I had. But y’all were truly baked at the end of the day!