Clunkmeister

That is great to know. I had unintentionally done the same thing on one of my my WNW Felixstowe elevators several years back. The rib capstrip nails showed through the undersurface CDL nicely and looked GREAT, so much so that I did the same thing on the undersurfaces of the rest of the flying surfaces. I took it on the chin with that one, though, as a lot of supposed “experts” decried it as unprototypical. Maybe so, maybe not, but it is an interesting and extremely subtle effect, and really makes what are normally large, bland surfaces, really pop with life. (find me anyone who was alive and working on these, without using a crystal ball, and I’d give their opinions greater strength). 😀 But very nicely done, and I love the added effect of a soft pencil lead. Much more subtle than harsh paint.

Peter, this is looking amazing! I cheated and a couple months back, applied the Quinta instrument decals to my Hawk’s panel, then stopped to work on my Helldiver. Fit issues are a fact of life these days ai expect, as us consumers demand more and more out of our kits. The only company that made kits fit flawlessly, to me, is Wingnut Wings. Even Tamiya has traps and pitfalls that can screw a guy up huge. My Corsair engine and cowl gave me headaches after I used AM on it. But the more was ask for, the more complicated they get, and the bigger chance of interference rearing it’s head. I’m glad you’re making it through life arak right now, as I’m struggling as well. Death is all around me, and we fight on!

This is brilliant! And is now my new technique. I assume you follow the lead application up with a gloss clear before applying the decals? I didn’t read that far ahead yet. 🤣

Yep. No right or wrong way, as long as it works for ya. But it’s nice to have options.

Yeah we each do it differently. I have Smug Mug, but have stopped using it because of our direct upload feature. One thing that I love about LSM is that it unnecessary to do the whole third party hosting garbage.

Around here, we need to keep the mice out of them, so,…. Bounce dryer sheets work GREAT. Got the big Ol’ Holley 4000 teapot 4 barrel carburetor. And you have room for 10-15 bodies in the trunk. They did things different back then: exhaust crossover up front high on the engine. A perfect place to burn your hands at night. Plus, in 53 they even had a push button start, just like today’s cars

I’d love an old firebox and an old rotary payphone. I just like tinkering. Finding some cast off old junk in a trash heap and making it new again. I pulled a 53 Lincoln Capri 2dr hardtop out of an old shed. It hadn’t seen light in 40 years but was up on huge blocks so mice stayed out. The old bias ply wide whitewall tires still held air! Engine cranked but wouldn’t fire. All new fluids, plugs, points, condenser, cap, rotor, wires, new 6 volt battery under the passenger floor, drain the old gas and fill with new, and she fired right up with a bit of coaxing. It was like waking up an old Pratt 2800 though, smoke, smoke, smoke, clanking, banging, coughing and farting until it all smoothed out to an ultra quiet whir. Did the brakes and suspension, washed, buffed, and waxed it, and she shines like new. Original brown and cream leather interior, full power windows, seat, steering, brakes, and antenna. All the bumpers and grille pieces need rechroming, but I bought it for literally a month’s worth of Starbucks lattes. Nobody wants to deal with them unless it’s a 57 Chevy. People have NO vision. The thing is FAST. And solid, not a squeak anywhere. These were the original Hot Rod Lincolns, and won a TON of road races in 52, 53, 54, and 55. Often finished 1-2-3-4 in 1800 mile rallys as stock, unmodified cars. Massive racing history, but these days, nobody gives a shit anymore. Pics are when we hauled it out. Had just washed it with a hose, nothing else. Everyone knew about that car, nobody wanted it. They’re just scared of old American Iron. This was the first production car to top over 200 hp. Not a big deal today, but back then, a Chevy or Ford made 85-100 hp. Plus these Lincoln’s have a TON of torque. 317 V8 and Hydramatic drive. You could drop this engine in a newer pickup and it’d be right at home.

Alan, I’m not aware of any size restraints although it obviously benefits us all to keep sizes reasonable. The direct upload is extremely handy and certainly separates this forum from so many others.

Sorry to hear about the bad ending, Peter. I build a lot of these short run kits, and quite honestly, pretty much every single time I need to just step away from it for awhile and eventually return to it. They just wind me up at times. But I box it up and place it on the SOD, to be revisited at a later date. We all have our ways, but I just roll my chair back, cuss a few expletives, and walk slowly away. Too bad for your Whirlwind my friend, she was looking GREAT!

Gaz, they have a SOUL, man! Old cars, old jukeboxes, etc. just cool old pieces of old Americana Art Deco excess….. Old firearms have a soul as well. There are wear marks from thousands of hands. If they could talk……

An exquisite build!

This is what I’m finishing up right now. A 1946 Seeburg 146M. It’s often referred to as the “Seeburg Trashcan” because of it’s shape, and it weighs about 400 lbs. It’s a solid wood cabinet and it carries twenty 78 rpm records. It has a MASSIVE speaker with a huge magnet, and I also have a remote wall speaker for it. Similar models were also made in 1947 and 1948, but had metal cabinets with wood decals, and sound nowhere near as good. The 146 is also the only one with the red top, and those are not available reproduction anywhere.

I don’t understand pinball machines. I used to love playing them, but I truly sucked at it. One thing I remember is that they always seemed to need servicing. I have enough issues with jukeboxes, and pinball machines would be 50 times worse. Even with jukeboxes, I refuse to go newer than 1954. I like the early Art Deco 78 rpm machines, and the early 45 rpm machines. Into the 60s and later, jukeboxes started getting hideously ugly. That Rock-Ola 1438 is about as new as I’ll get.

There’s a pic in the dark, but I’ll try to bring up the video later this morning.

I posted a video. Does it not show up?

Next up (and mostly finished on its SOD is a 1946 Seeburg 146 Trashcan with remote speaker

https://www.facebook.com/reel/497467485677700?fs=e&s=TIeQ9V

Guys, Call me liberal minded here, but to me, the whole idea of a group build is to actually build. The first hurdle being to get people to actually build, and the second hurdle is getting people to actually complete their builds. I’m the WORST of the bunch here. My Mig-29 is literally a canopy and static discharge RS away from completion…. So, even though we all make noises about scale, etc, I’m MUCH more interested in having people build, mingle, a d above all, have fun with little to no stress. All we (as is all of us on this thread have decided), is that it is water themed. A T-2 Buckeye is cool, as is a fictional submersible, or an ocean liner. I’m going to break out the Lukgraph resin, but NOT till my Helldiver is complete, which should be by the end of November, God willing.

Thanks smooth Rat, but I don’t wantum smooth… needs panel lines and rivet marks

PCM kits are one of those lines that just got better with later releases. I built the short nose 190 and the cowl required copious amounts of sanding stick use. This looks relatively painless.

HA! LSP, Hyperscale and Britmodeler might have a bit of a research library, but WE have OUR secret weapon! WE HAVE ONE OF THESE! Absolutely unstoppable!

NICE! Great choice, Peter. This will be my next build as well, assuming I have time before the Wet Work begins in December. My goal is to build one from each Sqn, plus a true RAF version. I’m glad you looked into the colors, because I’ve always thought that they would be factory painted using standard RAF specs. I don’t know if you did or not, but I recommend the EagleCals AVG sheet for this build. Some colors on the GWH sheet are apparently slightly off. Plus, consider the Quinta 3D decals for the interior. I have a couple sets and they’re amazing. They are in stock at Sprue Brothers.

I’ve been pretty scarce to the bench lately, BUT I had a chance last night and this afternoon to do some smoothing of the wing to fuselage join. Much sanding and rescribing ahead. and it’s nice to not update my build for a week and when I look for it, it’s three pages back!

You’re sure turning this into a masterpiece. There were several close ups up you took that showed a lot of soft, vague detail, but your refinements and detailing have brought it to life. Beautiful work so far!

Yeah the tailplane is rugged looking, but it’ll clean up I’m sure.