Peterpools

Scott We've all been there and sometimes I'll try masking and some touchup AB work and if that doesn't do the trick, it stays as is, as you said, there is always the chances it gets worse.

Thanks Rob, you're so right and completely agree. When I learned to fly and on my own plane, the cowlings were for the most part thin aircraft aluminum, pretty floppy when un-fastened and the fit when closed far from perfect. Now why didn't I think of that before

Thanks Chris, very much appreciated and right with you about the Polish squadron. I need to check but I think this is the second Spitfire I built that was flown by Polish Squadrons and pilots. The cowlings are as good as I could do, as there is so much crammed inside effecting the overall fit. Hopefully tomorrow, it's priming time and then moving onto the cammo.

John Looking forward to the update and photos

John Welcome back. Glad to see the FG-80 has left the SOD and is back underway. Some mighty nice progress on fixing all those horrendous seams and gaps.

READY FO PRIMING With all the pre-painting parts now added, it was time to tackle the four engine cowling panels, which didn’t have the greatest of fit. I could have used the kit magnets to keep the panels in place but since I had no intensions of displaying the fully assembled Merlin and I wasn’t happy with how they looked that way on my previous three Tamiya Spitfires, I decided to permanently glue them in place as carefully as I could. They aren’t a perfect fit and do represent how a lot of spitfires actually looked and good enough for me. The ultra thinness of the parts was in this case a negative as there wasn’t any ‘beef’ to work with and sanding later on wasn’t an option. I decided not to use the Tamiya printed canopy masks and instead opted for an Eduard Die Cut set. I’ve had the kit for a long time and managed to lose the prop spinner and one of the screw covers for the landing gear. A quick email to Tamiya USA and within hours, the missing parts were in the mail at no charge. Customer service at its finest. The aileron hinges had been a pain on every Tamiya Spitfire and Mustang I've built, seven so far and the tradition continued on this Spitfire as well. When trying to install the aileron s/s hinges into their wing slots, they fought tooth and nail and just wouldn’t push into place, Revell Contacta Professional Glue to the rescue. My chosen scheme is a Spitfire from 145 Sq, Polish Fighting Team (PFT), Spring, North Africa, 1943: Paints to be used: Upper surfaces – MRP 121 Middlestone, Tamiya XF52 Flat Earth Lower Surfaces: AK Azure Blue RC291. A crazy mix of paints but the colors seem to look the best. Decals: EagleCal #115.

Scott Most likely you're closer to when all this might happen them me and I know I surely won't be around to see it. Yup, I know the feelings well when Nikon stopped supporting a lot of their older cameras but stayed with the F mount until going all out mirrorless and finally went to the Z mount. I took a small beating going from film to digital and then going from digital to mirrorless. Holy smokes, living on a lake - the photographic opportunities surely are endless. I refuse these days to do sunrises as well in the summer as it's way too early and wait for the winter when getting up is a lot easier for these old bones. I've always been a landscape and scenic photographer and these days have been doing a lot of urban landscape work at sunset and during the blue hour - always trying to learn new techniques and disciplines. Pull out your 5D, charge the battery and do some shooting - you're feel wonderful when you see those new files. 📷

HI Scott Over my lifetime, I've seen and been part of the group that says; nope, will never work or change how we do things whether it's modeling, photography, music, tv and almost everything else - I'm pretty conservative by nature. I've seen the cockpits of airplanes change from the old analog steam gauges and VOR navigation to glass cockpits and GPS - it's a whole new world and how things are done today. When glass cockpits first came into existence, and you went for an instrument rating with a then new Glass Cockpit, it was a limited rating for those type of cockpit setup only. Today, it's the standard. Besides flying, my other true passion has been photography, going back to the early 1960's. Film was the only way and when digital first came out, I was in the camp that said the prints look awful, the cameras were not good at all l and wouldn't last - little did I know. Today we have incredible cameras; I shoot with a Nikon Z8 and do all my own printing. Yes, I still shot a small amount of film here and there up to about a year or so ago and then stopped. You are so right as there is a small resurgence of film but it's a very small niche market and with the rising costs of film, processing and chemicals increasing, it's will most likely never go beyond what it is now. I feel the same about 3D printing - it will only keep getting better and better and I agree and meet you halfway in that the market may never go all 3D printing in our lifetime, but a big portion will or might be offered it as an option. As printers get better and faster, I wouldn't be surprised to see model manufacturers abandon ejection molding and go all 3D. Of course, what we have now would never cut the mustard but it's the future for sure. Just my two cents.

Chris The AK Paneliner works perfectly and a nice addition to the Tamiya PLW's I use. od course, my favorite is still the Flory washes as they are full proof. Thanks for the review and the excellent photographs.

Chris I'm willing to bet, in the not too distant future, the mainstream of the hobby will be 3D printing the entire kit at home - we just buy the software. Agreed with the present technology, there are issues and problems but given a few mor years, and it will be a new ballgame. I been researching the 3D printed large scale car model site Carl listed the link for and the kits are amazing. Yup, it's the future for sure.

Carl WOW, some mighty nice AM, - nice way to arrive home after the convention and to find loads of AM. 👍

Rob Agreed, sometimes S/S PE is the right way to go as long as it fits the bill.

Rob Some mighty impressive work on the first of the carburetor parts - just seem MFH, could have created the parts with correct sized holes for the NBW's. Carl's suggestion of substituting aluminum tubing might be a better approach to replacing some of the s/s parts. Even Tamiya seems to love using s/s for PE on its WWII fighter aircraft line of kits. I wonder why?

Just heard from John and everything is A-OK. His hard drive died, and he was offline until tonight.👍

Martin yes, I understand and will respect the boundaries John set.

Martin Some mighty good ideas.

Carl IMSA for sure. Shall do

If we're really serious about offering suggestions for our next GB, a few suggestions: An oldie kit: manufactured before 1975 Any racing subject: aircraft, boats, auto Any non military subject

Carl, that's my worry. We email each other a few times a week and I've sent four unanswered emails this past week. I'm really starting to worry and have no way to reach out to John other than by PM or email.

Carl Been to their website and some awesome looking kits. One shortcoming seems to be there aren't any decals offered with the kits and I've been looking for 1/12 962 decals without any success.

Thanks Chris Really am getting excited about my upcoming Viper project.

Kev Awesome work on your 190. Fit and finish is superb. Just a beauty for sure. 🏆

So glad Carl posted the site for the 3D printed Porsches. The 962 caught my eye right away.

Awesome - always a treat to see some new and different. Looking so good.

Peter The incredible work continues with new techniques being used with every update. I'm right with Kev, those screws look as real as they get. Love to know how you made the screws, as they could be real!