DocRob

Great choice Kevin, can't wait to see this developing through your knowingly hands. I'm tempted to build the S-38, but there are so many PT or MTB's already in the GB. Cheers Rob

Phil this will be epic and I will follow your build closely. I was too cowardly to even consider my LS Vosper boat for the GB. Interesting to see, that they have different type of guns with very similar calibers (37 and 40 mm). There must have been a reason, otherwise it would be illogical to carry different types of ammunition. Cheers Rob

Nice Gary, when I was a kid, I saw it in the Airfix catalog and wanted one. Never happened, but now I will peep into your build. Are you up to skill level 4? CmK has some nice figures, as well as Scale 75, I'm still not decided about my entry for the GB. What do you think? My original plan was to build the Schnellboot S-38 from border along with figures from CMK and Scale 75 (not on the pic) I also have a soft spot for steam punk subjects and would love to build this resin and metal kit of a submarine with copper surface and burnished brass fins. The plan is to have the sub integrated into a delicate underwater dio, which will be no part of the GB. I always wanted to test m patience with a 1/350 ship build and there the USS Arizona came to mind. The Eduard limited edition has enough brass and printed parts in it, to hide the shortcomings of the original kit, hopefully. I added a wooden deck and Ion's 3D printed crew members. Cheers Rob

And a nice cigar too, happy new year to you all. Cheers Rob

Happy new year to all of you, I have to admit I have a bit of a hangover, maybe some Seelbachs too much I have a frightening arsenal of AM for my Vosper. It's my only Italeri kit, as I despise the company. An old company, with a huge portfolio and so many bad kits, it's a shame. I wanted one of their LS boats though and the solution was, to substitute as much of the base kit as possible. The Italeri crew was never an option for me. I bought all the AM maybe 10years ago and some of the extras may be hard to find now. Cheers Rob

I have the advanced set and never considered the Vosper kit for the GB for exactly this reason . To add some more pain, I have a lot of resin figures for the boat. Cheers Rob

Yup, me But this one will be different. Cheers Rob

I employed the method of deduction Peter. I could see which circuit was affected, it was one of two in my workshop / man cave. I disconnected all machines and other consumers and still had the fuse jumping. It had to be the lighting, the sockets, the junction boxes or the wires in the wall (worst case). I disconnected the ceiling lighting (easiest to detect culprit) and woosh, the rest worked again. Tomorrow, I will work my way in logical order backwards from lamp to lamp and renew the luster terminals by the way to a better standard. I'm always unhappy, when fuses jump out, but also very happy that they did, instead of something smoldering somewhere. Unnecessary to say, I'm not an electrician, but I accumulated some skills over the years and have my analytical engineering background, which helps a lot. I could do with a little more peace on the house side for a while, where the subjects accumulate a bit too much for my taste in the moment. First plumbing, then entering water through extreme heavy rain on Christmas, now the Lighting issue and all this in the middle of a storm with lots of clean up to do. Can't wait for a better beginning of the new year. Cheers Rob

Thank you John, so much praise from His Corsairness . The Tamiya Corsairs are surely the cherry on the modeling cake, engineering wise. Peter made me curious with him saying, the Mossie is even better. Cheers Rob

Today I have to be the electrician, as one circuit in my workshop failed tonight . Up to search and rescue now. Sometimes it feels, like i stepped on the foot of a Voodoo priest. Cheers Rob

Thank you Hubert, I'm still undecided about the GB. The submarine is very tempting, but only one piece of a huge underwater diorama plan, which I have in mind since years. The Schnellboot S-38 was my initial choice, as there are not many built from the Fore kit and I like larger scales in ship modeling. The USS Arizona is a new candidate, after opening the box some days ago and browsing through the subpar plastic, which will luckily substituted by lots of PE and printed parts. I like to try new things and I have never built a 1/350 ship with all the galore. But there is the Duchess of Kingston rigging looming, a project, I definitely want to finish this winter. (Un)Luckily the bad season here often takes until June. Decisions, decisions. Cheers Rob

Thank you Gary, some Corsair builds I have seen, some very good ones, better then mine, looked a bit out of scale weathering wise to my eye. My goa was a worn bird, but not completely neglected. The prop for example is only weathered slightly, because I believe, that such an important part would be maintained properly. I always try to imagine how wear would show, being it with the airflow, through use and maintenance or fading in the sunlight and try to depict that. Yes, the finishing steps can be testing, specially when the bad mojo accumulates in details and you feel like, the further I dig in, the worse the probs become. The finish line is what you declare it to be, not what should be appropriate . Cheers Rob

Amazing john, looks like I have cut less parts from sprues . You are a real building machine without neglecting the quality. Do you ever eat? Cheers Rob

Sorry Peter, the Mossie will have to wait a bit, there are lots of other projects attracting my interest way more, but first it's decision time about the GB subject: - Fore Models Schnellboot S-38 in 1/72 along with a crew. - Industria Mechanika's Long Nose Submersible, a steam punk mini submarine resin-brass-kit in 1/35 - USS Arizona from Eduard which is based on a Hobby Boss in 1/350 kit, with added metal barrels, tons of PE, printed parts and a wooden deck Or I continue with the rigging of my Duchess of Kingston build and skip the GB I'm eager to see what you do with the Kingfisher. I regretted not to have bought the LS one, when it was available. My only Kingfishers are part of my USS Arizona boxing, nicely 3D printed in 1/350 Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter, I have the Mossie in my stash along with a ton of AM, so this pleasure is still to come. But first I have to decide if and with what kit I enter the GB. Cheers Rob

Thank you Scott, I was not rushing the build towards the end so much as to encounter numerous problems, like stained canopy and windscreen after mask removing, fogging clear coat (luckily tested before), too well fitting clear parts, which wouldn't click into position, without leaving glue stains, chrome foil, which didn't adhere, gooey residues from blue tack, which needed hours to remove and a lot more after a trouble free build and painting phase. I don't like bad surprises that late in a build and try to optimize my process with good thorough planning. Seems like I failed a bit here . Cheers Rob

Well, the Corsair is called finished and I'd like to thank you for your input and your encouragement. I could have done more weathering and finishing in the end, but I got a bit worn out. Not because of the build or the painting, which was especially fun, but with the latest steps of the build, like clear coating, adding bits and pieces, ... tried my patience, as a lot went wrong, in a phase of the build, where I hated it most, after painting. I want to end the modeling year on a good term though and have to say, I'm more or less pleased with the result. The planned painting scheme including double layer chipping and masking for markings and stencils all went well. The build itself was a no brainer, with the Tamiya quality and was more a time consuming obstacle to get to the painting stage. I have to raise my hat to the Tamiya engineers. This is maybe the best kit, ever made in plastic, being complex and full of innovative design ideas. The level of detail you get out of the box is impressive, except maybe for the rubber wheels. The non painted pilot next to the Corsair is a symbol for the ambivalent ending this build took and that's why he's there. Maybe I paint him later, but first I have to clean my workbench and get some distance. Cheers Rob

My last purchase of 2022 is a precious tiny jewel, despite being large scale. When I was a kid in West Berlin, there were still some of these quirky vehicles around, polluting the air with their two stroke engines, often used by coal dealers. I have a soft spot for unusual designs, and I couldn't let this one pass. Cheers Rob

Awesome result with the decaling on your P-40 comes to life. I'm glad to hear, that the quality of the decals is decent, but like Gary, I'm wondering about the light shade of the upper markings. I use the Tamiya LP clear as well and it also works great for me as I can't seem to handle Mr. Color GX 100 on a constant base. I'm a little disappointed with the Tamiya LP flat clear, which is not flat at all, maybe semi matte. Concerning the insignia decals, I went through my Pensacola and found some shots from above as well, as some of the underside of the wings. Some were made with and some without flash. Hard to tell, if there is a difference and yes, it's a restored bird. Cheers Rob

As the others mentioned, paintjob looks spot on, but the top wow goes to the flaps, absolutely the signature parts of the Helldiver and the extra detailing helps a lot. I have a SH 1/72 Helldiver with more PE for it than plastic, I am frightened of that build . Cheers Rob

Not so easy to call a specialist on my tiny island. You have to learn how to fix things yourself. Of course ,there are some helpful friends around and some professionals, but in the end, it helps to find your own solutions fast and reliable. Good to hear, that your issues were soled before Christmas holidays Peter. Cheers Rob

Thank you Bryan, I got the tip from others as well and it is really helpful with these fiddly belts. I never built them smaller than 32 scale and have no desire to do so . Cheers Rob

Thank you Gentlemen, I hope, I can finish the Corsair in the next days and start a new project, maybe the 'all wet GB'. Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter, I don't like bad surprises close to finishing a build, but plumbing surprises, I detest even more. There definitely is a hole in a tube, as the clock is running with no consumption at all. I could exclude the houses, but one of the houses is connected through the garden water circuit, which was the affected one and I had to cut the whole circuit. The garden is huge and has about twenty water taps. I used a stethoscope on each and found an are with higher noise levels. I dug out the closest of these to the house and cut the tube behind it and sealed the end. Now we have water in the houses and in 80% of the garden, better than nothing. Later, I will try to detect the tubes and substitute the part with the leak, hopefully. In the moment we have a storm as well accompanied by heavy rain, so this will be a subject for the next year, I guess. Cheers Rob

Your paintjob is looking great Sasha, uniform but not boring, so hard to achieve with monochrome schemes and the decals bring everything to life. Cheers Rob