Peterpools

Dennis Right with Phil and Harv- please do a WIP build. I check every day to see if the Revell Hurricane is available - and nothing yet in the states - doesn't seem to be available in Canada either. Matter of fact, we still haven't even had an opportunity to purchase the Airfix 1/24 Spit 🙁

Thanks Dennis Should be in the home stretch now

John Incredible ... Awesome work and all with a fantastic finish

Rob If I had a vote and of course I don't, mine would be for the USS Arizonia but that is a build requiring an enormous amount of dedication and time.

Rob Great to know the Mossie is high up on your build list. Yup, the GB is right around the corner and kickoff is in two days. I'm in with the latest version of the 1/48 Revell/Monogram Kingfisher. See how it goes

Mark Of course, isn't that always the way. I've never built a vac kit and it's way beyond my modeling capabilities.

Rob Beautifully done and the weathering while intense and time consuming, it is truly remarkable and so realistic. Just nothing like a Tamiya kit for excellence in engineering and near perfection in fit. For me, my favorite kit and the center of my display case is the: Tamiya Mossie - just an amazing kit and most likely the reason, Tamiya to give up on designing and releasing new 32nd scale kits.

A 32nd scale B-58 would be a dream come true.

Rob Much appreciated and I'm with you in lov'in the new Tamiya lacquer clear gloss. I'll have to do some double checking on the Tamiya flat and see how it looks on the P-40, as. I prefer my aircraft finish to be a light semi mat and not a full matt but the degree needs to be looked at. Decals are exceptional and are some of the best I've ever used. Thank you for posting the photos as they answer a lot of questions and if I had a full set of four of the lighter blue, I would have used them. They also show the upper roundels are larger then the lower roundels.

Thanks Gaz, much appreciated. Information provided in the kit pointed out the China Blue Paint used for the roundels didn't hold up well and faded rather quickly and the reason for the two different blues. How true that is, I don't know. Robs photos show all four roundels were the same lighter shade of blue. I'm just not sure and decided to just use the kit decals, which also had the roundel sizes reversed.

Ernie Much appreciated and thank you for posting. What a thrill, privilege and honor meeting Tex Hill a true American Hero. So glad he is honored and remembered by having a school named after him in San Antonio and yes, a true Texan. And of course, part of the Greatest Generation, who are now almost all gone. Many, many years ago, I meet both Bob Hoover and Frank Tallman and was honored for the privilege as well.

My builds for the year, three finished: Spitfire, Ford GT40 and the Embraer 190. One almost ready to cross the line: the P-40 and the Whirlwind that got away and needs another try. Plus the one that got away and will need to be a new adventure

John But there still are 18 32nd scale builds this year - amazing.

John I haven't built 25 32nd scale aircraft kits in ten years, you are simply a machine, no, an amazing machine.

Hi Oliver, You know me, I really don't do much weathering at all but I am thinking of giving the P-40 a more of an operational/used look. Just have to see how it goes. There just very well might be a dark side build next year. 🚁

Much appreciate Mike: painting and decaling are my favorite part of any build and it was a pleasure to finally reach this point in the build.

Thanks Harv Finally, I'm getting there and I think I can see the finish line 🤞

Thank Phil I decided to try Tamiya's Clear Gloss Lacquer LP-9, thinned with Mr Color Self Leveling Thinner 1:1 and couldn't be happier with the results - smooth as silk and no issues at all. I usually use Mr Color Clear Gloss #46 but Tamiya's clear lacquer gloss is easily the equal. .

Thanks Carl. I have to say, GWH's decals were superb and they should be a dream to use.

Gus how true but we Yanks had our own fugly aircraft as well: Boeing X-32, The MacDonnald Goblin and my all time ugliest: The Champion Lancer.

DECALING UNDERWAY Ready to decal and I still needed to make the final decision on whose P-40 I would replicate with the kit decals and decided on Tex Smith’s mount. I was surprised at how well the decals conformed and went down on the plastic. Unfortunately, the rivet and panel line details are so delicate, no amount of Micro Sol would allow the decals to show the panel lines and rivets under them very well. Using the full size color callout/foldout as my decals placement guide, there was a problem. The upper wing Chinese roundel markings are too small. The plans show them to be much larger then underside roundels but but the reverse is what on the decal sheet. The first and last pages of the instructions are removable (awesome idea and so very useful throughout the build), shows the decals as supplied and opposite from the gorgeous full size color callout layout sheets. Seems the QC team was out to lunch on this one. The large roundels should be 31.64mm and the smaller ones 24.78mm. I decided to go with what was provided in the kit, looks good and moved on. The decals are excellent, adhere well, are quite thin and all in register. My surfaces are very smooth and slippery and yet, the decals tended to grab a bit too quickly – you have to stay on your toes. Normally I use Mr Color Clear Gloss #46 for surface decal prep but this time, I decided to try Tamiya Clear Gloss Lacquer LP-9 and the results were excellent. It’s now a tossup between the two as to what to use in the future. I wasn’t comfortable using the red fuselage two-part decal stripes and decided to just mask it out and a good decision for sure. There are a small amount stencil data decals that were added and except for the prop decals, all are readable. All in all, the decals are top flite. Still lots of work to do on the undersides but I'm getting there

Looking so good and with the prop and spinner on, she is looking like one tough gal.

Oliver Simply incredible work - just got to love it.

John Nice going on replacing the armor glass - looks really good and once the Corsair is closed up, I don't think you could tell the difference between the kit part and your part

Mark Brilliant - looking fantastic