Peterpools

Gaz Absolutely so. The small dio sets the scene for time and place and tells a story.

I'm just an MRP Primer Guy, wear a respirator and always shoot in the paint booth.

Ernie Right with you -the helldiver is looking so good and under a super, smooth coat of Black Primer. I'm pretty much now about at the same stage with my P-40 and posted a few update pics to show where I am. I checked all the panel lines with MRP Black Primer and I knew I would need some follow up work and the good old black primer agreed. Just love those Quinta 3D decals - can't build without them

Gaz Just incredible workmanship -the build and dio are amazing and those figures - so beautifully done

Rob Incredible work - some nice back-tracking and open field running and the stars and bars look perfect. Still blown away by the stencils -tedious and obviously time-consuming, but OMG, do they look fantastic.

Mark Nice work on the AM batteries - looking mighty good.

Carl Got ya and hoping the new display case will be big enough to house your growing collection of heavies.

FUEL LINES, CHECKING SEAMS AND LOOKING FOR SANDING MARKS First up was checking all the seams and the areas I used Evergreen styrene to replace the super thin PE parts up to now, priming with MRP Black Primer. I just knew I would need to do a good amount of touchup work and my guess was right on the money, so no surprises here. Final primer for painting as always: MRP Light Gray - super smooth as silk. Next area to check was the wing/fuselage fairings and while the fit is pretty good, GWH chose to split the fairing a third of the way up from the end / side panel line in the concave area, leaving a seam that needed to be removed. Tamiya filler was put to good use, just a little bit more work needed now plus a pass or two with my scriber and job should be done. The PE MG Breach panels (?) were replaced with Evergreen styrene and came through with flying colors. The upper spine showed a bit of the seam that needs some attention as well On the underside: The flaps needed to be beefier or at least one more attachment hinge so they wouldn’t have sagged when drying. If I went the route of the flaps down, I could have avoided a lot of work. My fault for not realizing how I glued up the parts but it was one of my typical very early morning work session: 2 AM! Just out of curiosity I wanted to see how the fuel lines looked glued in place on the belly. Nicely detailed and I didn’t waste any time painting them or the fuselage under them, as nothing can be seen after the balance of the lower fuselage is glued into place. If I was going to leave this section of the lower fuselage off or removable, I would need to move all the fuel lines one line over to the right. I guess GWH thought some builders might choose not to glue the flower fuselage in place, leaving it removable but I just can’t see it – I didn’t see any indication in the instructions that this portion of the fuselage should not be glued. To represent the visible portion of the fuel lines, I would think a small, one-piece part would have done the trick nicely by the engine cowl flaps. Another example of excellent details, included in the kit, that once built will never be seen. Beautiful fuel line details Presto - they are gone for good.

Phil, agreed. The bigger the kit and scale, the included details would become an issue, as so much more can easily be seen. I often wondered about the logistics: how to handle a kit of that size during construction and painting. When done, display of large kits for me has always kept me from purchasing the 32nd scale WWII heavies.

One good looking P-38 but simply way to massive. 🙁

A plus for sure

Rob Sure sounds like a lot of work but well worth the time effort. Any photos of the underside?

Yup, impressive and way too big for me ... not a chance it would fit in the display case or even in the paint booth.

Phil I built my Mossie when it first was released and it's not a hard build at all, you just have to stay with it. One of Tamiya's crowning achievements - no fit issues and the instructions are perfect from what I remember. I did use AM decals. next to the Sea Fury, my Mossie is the center piece of my collection in the display case.

Ernie I've good things as well and bought a bottle a while back, just hasn't used it yet. From what I've read and heard, it is Stynylrez and shoots great until you are about halfway through the bottle and then it supposedly gets really thick. I pretty much use MRP Lacquer Primers straight from the bottle and the results are always top notch. I used to use the older Mig Acrylic Gray and Black Primers which I did like but one I found MRP primers, I never looked back. Completely agree, the solvent based primers and paints seems to bite a lot better.

Carl You're flying through the Whirlwind, incredible progress and looking mighty good.

Paul Looking so good in primer and for me, the fun part begins.

Carl Nice start and it looks like you're digging into the SH Whirlwind. Will be following.

Mark Still, some nice progress for sure

Bill, Nice work on the Tamiya Birdcage - and awesome kit.

Sprue Brothers received their allotment of Wingnut Win g kits. There are restrictions on how many kits you can buy.

Absolutely agree

Ernie So you have a GWH P-40 secretly underway - how about a few pics, as I am eager to see how you tackled the areas that gave me fits.

Hi Gaz In my model railroading days, I worked in both HO and O scale, I tried doing figures and the results were terrible. I bit the bullet and continued to populate my pikes with pre-painted and costly figures. Every time your builds reach the point of painting figures for the dioramas, the erg to try again starts up. I might just give them a try as part of my GB build. See how it goes.

Ernie It's the GWH P-40B the Hawk. Looking to following and seeing how you tackle the kit.