1to1scale

When I was single, I bought my first house, one of the rooms was an engine building room, where I built engines for my hot rods. So, no shame in toolboxes in the house!

http://www.videoaviation.com/figures/132-usaf-vietnam-crew-figures/ http://www.videoaviation.com/ground-support/132-usn-deck-crew-vietnam/ http://www.videoaviation.com/ground-support/132-usaf-fl-maintenance/ https://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/kits/va/kit_va_175632.shtml

The newer tool ones tend to be easier, I built some older 1/72 kits a few years ago, they were a nightmare. Newer kits are getting nicer. Maybe the Yak-3 or Tempest. You will most likely have to deal with some fit issues, fabrication, resin, and PE on most others.

yes, i saw that too, awesome idea!

8! Yes, I got tired of filling and sanding, these hasegawa P-40's need a lot of work, plus I took on a gray matter conversion. I decided that I am going to get back on these, but I need to tackle paint two at a time. I cant handle painting them all at once. I also have 2x P-40B (not started yet). 2x P-40E 1x P-40F (started, but in the box) 2x P-40K 1x P-40L 2x P-40N (early and late)

I have, its better than Sprue Brothers! The crazy thing is, he buys 3-4 of every new kit that comes out, with AM!

You definitely win this game. But my friend Ron up in Minnesota is the King of SOD. He has probably 3000-4000 kits, and at least half had been started. He actually finished 2 models in the past 10 years.

My SOD is the most literal definition...a shelf. Of course, this isn’t showing my Fokker D.VII, B-24, P-47, Zero, SD.KFZ 222, and Wessex. So I hang my head in shame at 15 models.

I’ll say hi to Alice for you.

Trumpeter kits may not be 100% perfect, but they build very easy, quick builds or good for beginners.

That was a bad picture, this one is better. I was torn if I should have used my last set of Resin2detail radios, as they are no longer made. I decided to save them for either the B-17 or B-24 build. I added some scratch detail to the kit radios, pretty basic, but as they are buried below the camera, it would be hard to see them later. I also robbed the battery from my Trumpeter P-51B. It’s basic, but not terrible. I also made a fluid reservoir (not sure for what), and finally added lead wire to all the cockpit boxes, not visible here.

It’s getting busy back there.

..and down the rabbit hole we go...

I have a couple books too, if you need specific info, I can take a pic of a few of the pages

Good luck, wish you the best!

I like your progress, I guess OOB plan went out the window. Its sad that there are two models of a Hellcat, and it takes all this work to make a descent one. Good work with the seat. Whats with the giant rivets on the back armor plate? It really is true that Trumpeter has an "A" team and "D" team. I always thought of combining the Hasegawa kit with the trumpeter wings, and a resin cockpit.

Very nice, I love the finish on the bomb, looks like iron, how did you do that?

I just wanted say I’m not hating on HK, if their 190 actually is good, I’ll probably buy one. I still stand firm that with the A5’s that Hasegawa released, there is no “need” for another. I just hope that they stay in business and keep giving us the more esoteric choices. I just wish someone would produce a few of the forgotten planes of WW2 that many of us have been asking for. And if Tamiya ever releases another 1/32, and it happens to be a 190 or 109, I will buy one just because it’s Tamiya.

I had to relocate the mount a bit, the front was hitting the camera body, but i think it fits pretty good, i also sanded an oval into the quarter window, along with a slant into the lens shade.

I have the Same stack of 190’s and 109’s, not to mention the P-40’s I have!

And I completely understand that decision, it made sense, it would basically just appeal to US modelers with an interest in early naval jets. Now, what if they decided to make a plane that has worldwide appeal, something that has been seen everywhere, Mig-15? Most of Europe and Russia would be celebrating. An F-11 would be a better subject for Fly, or Special Hobby. They could recover costs faster and with lower volume. Now here is a thought, KH and Fly partner and take the work done and make a short run kit? It’s starting to be more common, R2Detail and Fly are working on a B-26 right? Think about it, KH invested time and money into the F-11, and SH has limited resources, why not partner like Revell did with Italeri and Dragon? I’m just saying, companies need to start collaborating to keep each other alive.

I see your point, and this thread is just a rant because i keep waiting for promises, and keep getting plain white rice. Coming from the business perspective, and the fact that i am loosing my job because of companies keep jumping on the popular bandwagon, ignoring the slightly less popular choices, makes me irritated with them. I saw it coming twice over the years from my company, nobody listened to my warnings, but they focused on the popular and ignored the logical. Now they lost 10% sales twice in 3 years. Model companies operate under the same principals, and potentially have more to loose with poor choices. One of the things manufacturers have to contend with, you eventually saturate the market. And other than Tamiya, nobody releases the “perfect kit”, so opportunity for sales shrinks when you release the same thing over and over, and for double the price. What do think is going to happen to Roden Dr.1 sales next year, and HK’s Lancaster? Who is going to pay $329 for a marginal kit, when they can pay $369 for top end? It’s true, most of the above kits people don’t know about, but a good half of the list are really potentially profitable. Go take a look at how many of these have been released, over and over again, from different manufacturers in 1/48 or 1/72. I understand the pitfalls of the giant two and four engine planes, but a lot of the singles and smaller jets don’t take up too much room. And if manufacturers just started combining new subjects, ease of construction, and minimal resin and PE, perhaps this might attract younger builders. Another thing that happens is the brush off, if a company keeps releasing “me too” subjects, people start to loose interest, and you are only as good as your last Wow kit. A company like KH already has quite a few critics, now release a FW-190, those critics will start comparing them to their predecessors. And instead of positive press about a cool new subject nobody has seen before, now you get the inevitable review that says its unbuildable garbage because the pin does not fit into the hole, the wing has rivets, and the windscreen is not optically pure enough to read Tamiya instructions through. Now people go read model X reviews before buying, and see that it has issues, and go off and buy model Y. its just frustrating for us modelers that want a significant part of history to model, but end up getting the same hero plane again and again. Somebody like Revell has the potential to make a mint, release a DC-3 in 1/32 and charge, $199.00, they would make a mint, not to mention all the AM that would pop up, military, commercial, conversions, etc.

Why do model manufacturers continue to release the same subject over and over and over? Kitty Hawk releasing another Fw-190! It’s not like we need another! Hasegawa, Revell, and PCM make pretty nice versions already! ZM making another AR-234 and Bf-109G? It seems that some of the most iconic planes are being ignored, yet manufacturers keep carving up the same segment of the hero plane pie. I don’t understand the mentality of it? How many different 109’s, 190’s, spitfires, mustangs, p-40s, and zeros do we need? Why isn’t there a Kate, Betty, Val, DC-3, or civilian planes like the Staggerwing, Bonanza, PA-161, 172, beaver, otter? How about helicopters, why isn’t there an Apache, Ka-50, or Mi-28? Jets? Saab 37, Kfir, F-111, Mig-15, Canberra, mirage F1, Mystere, S-3 Viking, F-106, F-101, T-38, Super Etendard, B-58, Mig-25, Su-17/22, A-37, F3H, and the list goes on. What do you guys think, why is it the same subjects over, and over, and over again?

Nigelsmodellingbench at gmail dot com