Peterpools

Oliver Hard for me to believe that for pure beauty, I'm a Spitfire man over the Mustang and when I finish the Revell kit, I'll have built more Spitfires then Mustangs. I still have three Tamiya Spits in the stash and the Kotare kit coming as compared to only two Tamiya Mustangs in the stash.

Rob Enjoy the beautiful weather and island life. The Arizona will still be there when time allows.

Tim Following and enjoying your progress and of course each update is a trip down memory lane for me as well.

Chris Amazing progress and the Big Cat surely is BIG❗ The wing sits every so nicely and solidly on the center section and all does look so good. I do see what you mean about the horizontal stabilizers having a bit too much dihedral and removing them isn't going to be the easiest operation to perform. Maybe the best way of reattaching them is to use a brass tube running through vertical stabilizer adding both strength and the correct dihedral. Just my less then two cents.

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Martin Aces on the freehand cammo work - looks fantastic. I just finished doing the freehand cammo on my Spit (Update tonight) and totally forgot about lightly drawing out the cammo pattern with a pencil as a guide, which would insure a much more accurate pattern applied. Next time, I'll follow your lead. t

John Looking so good and I tip my hat for questioning the nose weight issue ... perfect call ❗

Martin Looking mighty good

Thanks Carl for the explanation and it clears up my cammo schemes question.

The photographs show two different cammo color applications. Was there an A & B set of colors?

Thanks Oliver. I'm torn between the Spitfire and a Mustang for beauty. But when it comes to elegance, for me the Spitfire win hands down. It's the wings and slender fuselage. The Spit is in the paint shop as we speak, primer is done and first color coat is on. Hoping by early next week for an update.

Rob Looking so good under a smooth coat of primer. A milestone in the build for sure. Can't wait to see the color coats going on. Please include a few pics of your waterline tool. Side note: Rob, I also found that sometimes I'll tape off the area I need to use filler to keep it from spreading out way too far and apply it is a few thin layers making sanding easier and less collateral damage. I think the hardest part of filler and sanding is figuring out how to use the right amount of filler and keeping it in a tight space, nice a neat.

Chris Just seems to be one of those projects where there is always one more thing to do. The Big Cat has turned into quite a build and lot of work. So glad you keep moving forward and tackling each as they come. Nice work on redoing the tail and a nice solution for getting the horizontal stabilizers to sit at the correct dihedral for gluing and drying. (I made a note to myself to give it a try when needed). Seems some manufacturers just have issues with the canopy fit and it does take a lot of work to get them to fit and my Revell Spit has its canopy issues as well.

Oliver Was just thinking a little bit out loud and wondering if there were 1/35 scale figures that were on the large side. Fingers crossed on finding 1/32 figures. In photography as in diorama's, odd numbers seem to work best so maybe after you resolve the figures issue, you might do them an a group of three or five. Looking at the truck, it surely is going to be a 'ton' of work but my money is riding on you.

Oliver Amazing work. The crane is the equal in size and knowing you, complexity of the H34. Any chance there might be some 1/35 scale figures that might work?

Scott Sounds like the perfect ticket and the answer to your issues.

John Looking good and a better then good fit of the wings. Actually, they look perfect as is.

John Just had a feeling you had something up your sleeve 😉

Rob Don't drive yourself nuts with the filling and sanding. One thing I discovered over the years when doing a third and maybe fourth filler in the same area, is to thin out the filler. I use Tamiya White Putty filler and thin it with a few drops of extra thin of self leveling thinners. Seems to level out easier and makes the final sanding a lot easier. I also wet sand most of the time at this stage. Of course, following all your work these years, you would never know as the sanding, filler and paint work always looks perfect to me.

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PW Terrific build and a wonderful dio, showing off place and time perfectly.

End results look very good and convincing for sure.

Gus Very nice paint work and the light weathering is looking so good.

Chris Hang in there as your making terrific progress. I think the photograph of the wing with the worn off paint would be from water spray during takeoffs and landings, especially in salt water.

kev I feel your pain and completely agree. When I built the 1976 Monogram Kingfisher for the GB, there was a boatload of glass and I had no choice but to spend nearly four of five full work sessions masking with super small strips of Tamiya tape cut on a Infinity Mask Board. While I did have faint canopy frames to work with, I was still ahead of the game as your Emily doesn't have any. Good choice on letting the build slide as the masking would easily drive you to drink, not to mention a lot of shaking and cussing as John would say, LOL.