DocRob

The Academy Hetzer isn't too bad either. I have built it some years ago over a weekend when I was ill. One of my fastest builds ever and it shows . I added Friuls for that Prague Hetzer. Cheers Rob

I will check the plastic seats for the Academy made SU-27 today, maybe the pit is not correct scale wise and Eduard had their Brassin seats scaled down a bit to fit. Don't get me wrong, the kit seats and the supplied PE will make a great looking seat, they seem to be a bit high, when fitted into the pit tub, but I haven't tried to fit the canopy. Where I got confused was the manual, generally well made, it fails to show the application of the PE parts well enough. I should have checked other references, anyway I will have the option with seated pilots from Aires, when I'm allowed to by the circumstances. Cheers Rob

Yesterday I ran into some trouble with the build. I tried to assemble the ejection seats where the plastic went together well, but somehow I totally failed with the PE. I was to lazy to check against reference and payed the prize. The manual is confusing concerning the PE to say the least Today I decided not to use the kit seats and sourced my stash. An Eduard boxing of a SU-27 UB has two resin seats with Colour PE of the same type (or very similar). When I compared the seats I got this. Right the seats look like they were made for different scales. The direct comparison looks even worse. I have no idea who is right here, but with the kit seats, I don't know if the Canopy will close fully without hacking. I may opt for variant No. 3 and order two pilots with ejection seats from Aires, which was my favorite from the beginning, but with the situation now, I have no idea, how to get them soon. We had no mail delivered since one and a half week. Cheers Rob

Hi Phil, British planes of the era were normally rigged with flat wire and Uschis thread is round. You can use it for the steering cables (Coded green, yellow and red in your manual) The blue coded wires have a flat (aerodynamic) shape of 0,1 x 0,3 mm. You can use the Prym elastic thread for that which has a flat profile or use PE if you want to make it right. German planes normally used only round profile wires. While rigging my recently finished Pfalz, I experimented with different threads and found it very hard (near impossible) to thread the 'wobbly' Uschi line through Bob's buckles. Fishing line was way easier to handle. Cheers Rob

There are usually measurements of the different thread types in the WNW rigging plans. Cheers Rob

I haven't build any of your mentioned kits, but built Tamiya's BT-7, the ancestor of your Finnish BT-42 kit. I liked it a lot and it went together like a dream. It has single track links instead of rubber band tracks, which I prefer. The Elefant and Tiger need Zimmerit and I believe it is not molded by Tamiya, so there is more trouble here. Cheers Rob

Nice Start, I will follow with lots of interest. If you carefully brushpaint the PE-wires with not too thinned Colour they will appear a lot more roundish. BTW, some years ago I read this book and learned a lot about Polish pilots. The Forgotten Few: The Polish Air Force in the Second World War (English Edition) Zamoyski, Adam Cheers Rob

Your patience payed off Dale, your Tony is looking marvelous. The weathering and finish blends perfectly and therefore very realistic. I love the panel articulation with, I guess pastels. Great Job Cheers Rob

Nice paintjob, can't wait to see it finished and weathered. More pics then, please. Cheers Rob

Thanks Ernie, I have to get me one of this fascinating little fighter, though it will be a bit complicated these days. Can we expect a WIP soon? Cheers Rob

I don't want to spread panic, guys. Like me most of you have a well filled stash, which will last for an eternity, BUT It's always the little things which are missing when you start a project, some AM here and finally, ups, I haven't noticed that my RLM 66 supplies are down. What to do with all these kits when there is no glue available. There is no pure alcohol in the shops to clean a kit before airbrushing and did I mention masking tape . But as I said, no panic here, we will survive and we will build the kits, learning to improvise more, you now, some old school approaches like building Airfix kits as a kid with brush paint jobs, using Colours which were mentioned for a fence renovation. Cheers Rob

Bring it on Ernie, I had my started wooden ship model of the French Kutter 'Le Renard' in my hands yesterday, maybe…. Cheers Rob

We are through our first week of curfew now here in Spain. Yesterday we were told that it will be prolonged at least until 11.04. We are only allowed to leave the house to restock urgent supplies and to see a doctor. There are police patrols in the streets checking the purpose of your trip. It's only allowed to be alone in the car and the only way to leave your premises is to walk your dog alone, which is still allowed. Strangely we get used to the situation more and more. It's interesting to see how easy people adopt. We are very lucky to be healthy, to have a lot of space and a huge garden to move and we are not dependent on work here on the island. The few opened shops are still stocked and our (food) stash is usually well equipped, because you don't get everything here at any time. Economically this will be Desaster on my island. There is only one plane out of ten connecting per day and only for a few emergencies. The ferry is only for transporting goods these days. Tourism, one of the bigger economical factors here is shut down until at least may. My flights to Tenerife to make a planned trip to Berlin in the end of may are cancelled. The employment situation is traditionally complicated here, but it will get worse with lots of small businesses without the financial background to survive for so long. You see a lot of solidarity these days, restaurants (closed of course) prepare free food for home delivery for the poorer people and neighbours hang bags with eggs an vegetables on your front door. Cheers Rob

Never heard about that little plane before and have to shake my head, when I see the concept and the HP of the engine. On the other hand strange concepts always attract my wandering mind and it's great to see you, putting your magic on this one. The pic of the real thing looks like a slightly overscaled RC-plane. Cheers Rob

Nice paintjob and lots of masking involved. May I ask about the grey camo triangle on the right side of the fuselage. On the left side you have full black stripes and on the right there is mentioned grey triangle. Did they paint the original that inconsistent? Cheers Rob

Looking great Phil, closer to rigging now . Was the Camel flat wired, like most of the British planes of the era? I bought some thread made by Prym for my Snipe future build after reading somewhere, that it is useful for flat rigging. It's elastic thread, Prym 977770 Strickelastic 200 m or knitting in elastic. I haven't tried the stuff, but felt like mention it. Cheers Rob

Looking good Harv, time for the wings now . Cheers Rob

You read my mind on this, Ernie Cheers Rob

Will follow with interest. I have the same kit in stash along with the AM and cracked the box open several times. Maybe your build is a go for mine too. Cheers Rob

You are a serial kitter Cheers Rob

Very nice finish of one of the harder to build kits. I like the NMF for contrast, as most of the Cobras seem to have been OD. Cheers Rob

Beautiful, I love the contrast between the small vignette and the 'non refined' Flettner, Colour-wise, geometrical and size wise. Cheers Rob

That could be a scenario if nothing would be done about the spread of the virus. The measurements are harsh, but Europe is not China or Northern America, where you have nearly no borders. Germany alone has nine neighbours, all with different agendas. The main infection areas are in northern Italy and in the Madrid area. If what they have there spreads, than there might be a point to your little provocative argument krow. We are speaking of the beginnings of a plague and I think the situation in Europe may will be serious soon. The death toll by now is no real mark, because it represents only the beginning of the situation. The Chinese example showed, that harsh and timely measurements help to isolate the virus. Cheers Rob

Here on the Canary Island there is no more such thing as public live. Like in whole Spain, we are in an alert status, that means you are only allowed to leave your house to get supplies (no models ), or visit a doctor or a few other important things. This is enforced since Sunday for the duration of 15 days, but that may will be prolonged. There are police controls on the roads and breaking the rules of the alert status will be punished hard. Thanks god we have a big garden and a dog, because we are allowed to walk the dog, but only alone and you are not supposed to meet somebody else, while walking him. In the moment my wife and I are comfortable, but friends with businesses here are not anymore, because everything is shut down. The good thing is and that is back to the subject, we won't miss any shows here, because there aren't any, even in better times . I nearly forgot to mention, that until today we have no Corona cases on our island. Cheers Rob

Dale, your Tony is a stunner, it looks worn, but not overdone and everything blends in perfectly, with or without the aerial. Cheers Rob