Artful69

Ok guys ... An update ... A special re-release of the Academy kit you posted there Smitty, has hit the shelves of one of the local Hobby suppliers - With RAAF Decals in box (I just hope they're 'normal' ones and not some flashy show plane!) ... I've ordered 2 - so I can do a "B" Conversion at some point ... Along with those I grabbed an F-35 (Italeri) in a boxing with RAAF markings. and a (Trumpeter) Boeing F/A 18.G - a Growler As you all have no doubt noticed ... I have the Trumpy F also ... So apart from various Awesome AM replacements (intakes, blah, blah, blah) ... to my knowledge ... what I'm needing is: * A 'B' conversion for the Academy kit ... (hopefully the additional canopy bits are in there!!!) ... though I'll hold off pulling the trigger until the box arrives ... They are marked only as A's ... but maybe some 'B' stuff is on a same sprue arrangement? ... Or maybe you know someone that had the Kinetic Kit and built an A or C and has the leftovers? * Decals for a 'B' ... I have one set on the e-Bay watch list so this might be taken care of. * Decals for the F and the G ... No-one I've seen has these in stock If any of you lot know where I can get the gear?? - most places I've checked have been out of stock for ages!! Rog

Final box from Booktopia ... This book looked interesting ... Pretty chunky with pic's and text ... Rog

There ... corrected! Rog

A fair whack of my final book order arrived today with a surprise ... I rang Booktopia the day after the mysterious "lost" parcel from Amazon arrived ... and I cancelled the 2 books on the B.25 and on the Bf.110, Me.210 and 410 I was given a PayPal refund ... Heres todays deliveries ... And ... a free inclusion ... The books are well filled out ... So now I have 2 books on the Mitchell !!! Rog

Rog

Don't nobody say "Dornier Do.17" ... ok?? .... .... I'll go .... A Short Stirling! Rog

Geez man ... leave the bar a bit lower so some of us lot can jump over it!! Are we specifying IM kits or does ANY medium in 1/32 count? Rog

When I first looked at the nose I thought the same ... with the big seam around the circumference of the nose section ... Certainly there were no major external changes to the overall shape of the fuselage, nacelles, wings, tailplane etc ... Like the Bf.110C-E - this kit screams multi-kit ability ... Just swap the nose over - 2 new sprues with the nose piece, some internals and a clear perspex section ... maybe add a couple of cheek blisters ... done! But there is no similar section where the Martin turret is - where there WAS major change ... if that whole dorsal section was a drop-in arrangement ... a later boxing might have had new tooled paneling section without the bulge for the turret, fresh internals and a clear rear canopy ... as it stands it would be an AM job to "Cut-N-Shunt" a new resin dorsal section in. But ... cut HGW some slack ... it IS their first rodeo Rog

Can't wait for this one ... One of my faves ... Rather depressing, though, that they didn't make moulds that allow for modulated construction ... like a nose piece that could be exchanged for a glazed piece or a separate fitment for the dorsal section with the Martin turret that could be swapped out to create an earlier incarnation in a future boxing. Rog

We need an emoticon called "Mind Blown" ... something with the top of the emoji's head exploding ... maybe some blood and gore. Rog

Oh ... We have a dedicated automotive thread here ... Cool! So ... I always wanted a Holden Ute ... And I finally got one ... Low Km's and well looked after The colour is called Prussian Steel Grey ... and it has a 6.0L V8 engine ... So I have nicknamed it "Panzer" I collect it on the 10/10 Rog

... That will be along shortly no doubt ... If I can get WWII ETO markings in the kit or AM I'm in!! Rog

Okie-doke ... we're on the same page ... I have been advised that there is dry-time issues with the paint because it's either full-gloss or semi-gloss ... unlike the flat Tamiya paint. Is this something that any of you have run into? With Tamiya stuff ... it's paint, decals, semi-gloss or flat clear coat, park ... no dry time issues ... although I always leave the subject at least overnight before decal application. I really am comfortable with Tamiya for a number of reasons ... one of the main ones being, of course, that it's a known quantity ... Won't ever touch another enamel ... so it's acrylic or bust ... besides the RLM Mr.Hobby stuff ... are there any other RLM paints I should look at? And thanks for the tip there Carl ... I can put the multi-grips away!! Rog

ok fellas ... I probably should have been more specific ... F-nose who Gunze is?!? But this is the one I was looking at ... http://www.mr-hobby.com/en/itemDetail.php?iId=83 If this is what you're all referring to as well ... then Awesome! and thanks for the feedback! Rog

... Specifically acrylic paint. I've loved using Tamiya acrylic's ever since I first used them ... They apply well and are time efficient on preparation ... and especially clean up!! However ... They have no "specific" RLM colours ... and this vexes me. Well, not really - but I've always gone picking out the colour of "best fit". Quite by accident (while online browsing today) I discovered that Mr.Hobby do an acrylic paint WITH specific RLM colours. Has anyone used both? ... the price looks comparable ... Are the RLM colours more or less accurate? How do they compare in use and finish? Rog

Hahaha ... Bow before our awesome nerdiness SBY 2199 is EPIC!! Rog

Today ... I had the last two expected parcels turn up .... and one unexpected parcel - more on that later. First up a couple of books that I ordered from Amazon ... They kind of look like a Vol.1 and 2 set ... a few black and white pictures but mainly text. Then a parcel from BNA Modelworld ... Some battery operated paint stirrers ... A four air-brush holder stand ... A cleaning pot ... A decent set of brushes for detail work ... and ... another piece of the RAAF puzzle ... Yesterday ... I got home to find a FedEx missed delivery notice ... with a tracking number I'd never seen. Now the only 2 FedEx numbers I DID have were from some orders from Amazon that are still showing "Shipping Label Created" from a month ago. Amazon refunded the money from these two orders - on the expected delivery date - because they were advised that they could not fulfil them. Each order contained 2 books ... the first was for a book on the A-20G and the He.219 ... the second order was for books on The B-25 and The Bf.110 and Me.210 and 410. While I was waiting for the refunds to clear I ordered the same four books again (plus another) through Booktopia (and I must say that the service and level of communication has been amazing with these guys) ... at every change in the process I get an email alert - much better. Meanwhile at some point a week or so ago ... a NEW label was created by Amazon and these items shipped to me ... somehow?? ... As you can see ... they are fairly chunky and about the same size as the Classics books. They weren't packaged very well ... no packing materials inside that destroyed box ... I'm pretty sure the ratty dust covers are the result of that sad effort. So I guess I have a couple of spares now ... some food for the e-Bay sales maybe?? So ... like I said ... that's it for the incoming packages for now ... except for the Booktopia order ... but I have no idea when that will show up. There's a few random tools that I'll be needing (like a CA glue applicator) ... and some AM (like RAAF decals for the Super Hornet) ... but I'll get them organised when I organise the next round of kits. There is the upcoming Academy F/A-18A's on order ... plus the HS.129 stuff from ZM and a Lanc' (I'll decide WNW or HKM once the WNW kit hits the market) And now I hear that the RAAF have Growlers as well as the F's!! ... stay tuned! Rog

Yeah ... I've seen some of that art work - the battleships and carriers are great! ... What scale are your Zero's? Rog

Yeah ... she turned out to be one of my favourite characters ... along with Akira Yamamoto. Rog

I love this SBY 2199 remake ... Got a couple of '72 scale kits to go with it a while back ... No Gamilian Czvark for Melda though Rog

... Now isn't that funny ... The three main things I notice most about the B-24 (in no particular order) are: The huge twin paddle tail, the clunky roller-doors in the bomb bay and the really odd mis-happen turrets that look like they were just shoved on as an afterthought. Like: "oh crap, we better give these poor bastards some sort of protection ... here you go mate ... good luck!" ... I had never even known what a Davis airfoil looked like ... until a bunch of you more astute individuals pointed it out! ... I might give Iain's "airfoil remedy" a crack if he gets to releasing a template to work off. But in the end I'm not sure I'll be all that concerned. Some people were concerned about the half-assed looking engines ... but while they really do look dodgy on the sprue ... looking at the cowl - I'm not going to see much at all through there so - meh! For those madly desperate for a maintenance and repair dio' I'm sure Eduard or someone will launch the appropriate Brassin cowl and engine gear. The frosted turrets worried me until I saw one polished out - even the seam doesn't look THAT bad on one fixed and assembled ... If I can find some clear drying stuff to stick 'em together (I think my normal plastic glue dries opaque?!) I should be set! ... I do know what you mean though ... about issues with a kit really bugging you ... I'm not a complete accuracy basket case ... but I do tend to notice some wildly off shape issues ... like, forgetting "nose-gate" on the HKM B-17 ... it just looks a bit chubby to me, you know? ... like it's developed a taste for a drive through diet. The Hobby-Boss Mk.V Spitfire looked very misshapen (although my HpH correction set should go a long way to fixing that one up) ... The Trumpeter F-thru-K Bf.109's look a bit too pointy, yet assembled and painted they turn out quite nice (and are pleasant to build, with no real vices in the engineering or fit department) ... Yet for whatever reason I can shrug off the Bf.109E's mistakes more easily. The more recent Revell Mk.II Spitfire had accuracy issues over the place ... but it was mainly the chunky look about it that disappointed me most. Still I haven't built one yet - so I may change my mind at a later date! ... I Still haven't got the Barracuda correction works for it either. Rog

Do ... you won't regret it ... Revised and updated but otherwise basically the same book as the Classics Publications one ... Other works are in the pipeline including the Ar.234 and the He.219: https://www.chandospublications.co.uk did you mean this one? ... with the separate upgrade sets? It comes out to about 600mm give or take ... if I'm not mistaken? ... the 350 would be a fair size bigger!! Rog

I gotta be honest ... I never the Trumpy kit that way ... is there heavy detail? - sure! ... but with a coat of paint it looks like a nicely detailed, accurate and well fitting rendition in this scale ... I certainly thought it was well worth the bucks, time and effort anyway!! Most of the "poo-poo-ing" came from the traditional anti-Trumpeter-Hobby-Boss crew ... I haven't looked at the Revell kit yet ... It'll be interesting to see what they've done better with 10 years+ better technology available!! Rog

Ok ... so ... back to models ... Today a LARGE parcel arrived from Model Hobbies in UK ... With a few kits inside First ... The rather decent Fw-190 ... "Sturmbock" edition ... I didn't get the Hasegawa version of this so it's the only Sturmbock in the stash. Then the (apparently) "better-than-Trumpeter" Me.262A ... we'll see ... Next ... another Mirage ... RAAF Decals - BUT different time period Decals are from 1983, whereas the Italeri kit I bought earlier has the 1966 markings ... and finally an F/A 18.F Super Hornet ... I need some RAAF markings for this one ... and some of that non-existent AM!!! ... Rog

Aww crap ... I’m on my phone and the original thumbnail was too small to see ... good luck!! ... be good to do a Space Battleship Yamato conversion!! Rog