Clunkmeister

This is completely out of my comfort zone, but it’s a unique piece of old world craftsmanship. A factory scoped triple barrel Drilling combination 12 gauge shotgun and 9.3mm rifle. A version of these was the standard WW2 Luftwaffe survival gun, which in itself is amazing, because this is one serious top quality handmade Old World piece.

Interesting piece, Kevin. I’ve never really been a huge fan of the Mauser action, simply because I was spoiled in the SMLE. But Paul Mauser’s 1898 action sure set the standard for the next 120 years now, didn’t it? Me, I just found this, a 1903 Colt .38 auto loader. As you can see, it’s the daddy to the ubiquitous M1911 Colt, although it shares little in common. 38 ACP is a dead caliber, so I need to hand load each and every round using 38 Super as a starting point. I think it’s gonna be mostly a conversation piece, but we’ll see I suppose. The only drawback to me is that it’s been refinished, which to me is a HUGE negative, but it’s pretty and fills a big hole in my collection of useless pieces of antique junk.

Those hydraulic rams hanging down with the engines and intakes removed, are they the actuators for the intake ramps and FOD screens?

The 29 is one of those rare Russian aircraft I just love. Same with the Su-17/22. Flown by plenty of NATO members to good success. The 29 is a modern day Spitfire: small, short range, and can out turn just about anything in the world

Smitty, what an super awesome job! What kit is that? The only kit I know about is the Kitty Hawk kit, and I seem to remember a lot of Internet model experts telling the kit was absolutely unbuildable?

Mostly kit decals, but I cut apart a Quinta set for a couple small details that added to it. Just individual details, though.

Beautiful work, Martin! I have those display team decals if you want to do something completely different.

A bit of cockpit work. Looks decent enough, although I’ll squirt it with those flattening agent.

Nice look so far. I’m getting spoiled by these GWH kits. Not “Shake The Box” but close to it.

Hahaha. Martin shaking the tree again. One of these days my friend, a big coconut’s gonna fall out of that tree and conk you on the head.

The old and the new

The kit seats almost look 1/32. Odd, considering how superb the kit is overall. But it still begs the question; why all the issues with K36 bangseats? There’s hundreds of thousands of them in service, they’re extremely well documented, and yet, it’s always the weakest point in a kit of a Russian aircraft

Across town…

1/48 is an exercise in learning to mumble to myself. I’ve never understood why model manufacturers seem to have so much trouble getting a K36 right. It’s in almost half of all the modern military aircraft out there, so it’s not like there’s none around. But kitmakers just seem to fight with it. That is the kit seat there, but I broke down and used Eduard belts and harnesses.

Right down the street from my shop.

A bit of progress today. I gave up on the kit seatbelts. They’re devilishly confusing, but Eduard again comes to the rescue. The seat is really starting to look like one of Zvezda’s finest. A drop fit of the intakes finds superb fit here. That was the one single area the build reviews tagged as bad, but I, for one, foresee no problems

You? An ASSEMBLER? Hahahahahahahaha. That is the biggest “untruth” I’ve heard since Jim Jones said “it’s just Koolaid”. You’re probably the best kitbasher I’ve ever met, and I’ve met a bunch. But I gotta say I’m loving this build. It’s simple and it fits great. The web reviews would say otherwise, but this kit is a little gem. Plus, according to the Fulcrum experts here, the shape is dead on accurate.

I just got a Brassin K36 in the mail. I’m gonna take a look at it as well. Man I’m not used to 1/48. I need an elektron microscope to see anything.

Was sticking a few bits together today. I need to modify the color choices on my K-36. That seT is a pain to build. About 20 pieces, where a simple resin seat would be so much more easily dealt with. But, it has all the detail

Very cool! ICM is chewing through the Luftwaffe bombers in 48, and their A-26K is stellar as well.

Good to have you back in the fold, Sir!

ICM is Ukrainian, scale is within our recognized bunch, so GO FOR IT!

Well, onward with the Fulcrum. The Quinta set is for a later version. So, panel by individual decal it is….

I finished mine a year ago plus, and have started another. Hubert is still working on his as we speak. I love this kit and it was one of the most enjoyable builds I’ve had in years. I bought it with my own money from Hannants, so there was no special kit prep by a manufacturer for a review, just a kit pulled at random from warehouse stock. This kit is HIGHLY recommended. The pics here were taken a couple years ago. I’ve since gone back and modulated the surfaces to break up the monotony of that light sucking khaki and prop. I may bring it to the IPMS USA Nationals in Omaha this year.

Another one we forgot about is Rexx Models. Oleg makes those amazing weathered metal exhaust stacks for our models. He’s in Ukraine as well.