Peterpools

Carl Sure seems as if you're going all out on a few 48th scale Tomcats. I just finished the Tamiya F-14A and what a spectacular kit. Completely agree, Miss Molly is the pick of the litter and what a scheme for your Big Cat. .

Paul Nice group of new kits ... I especially like the egg girl - just can't believe how many there are now.

Holy smokes, hard to believe there is such a fit difference. Pretty sloppy work on their part changing the mold.

Carl Nice work on the ejection seats - looking mighty good.

Carl Holy smokes, you surely caught the bug and another F4 is underway, and I'll be front and center as always. Nice start on the front office, as the side consoles look perfect.

Chris Looking so good and things start to come together much quicker towards the final stages of the build. Just fight off the gremlins and take you time - don't worry about the July deadline as Martin will move your build to the LSM WIP forum so we can all continue to follow and enjoy your hard work.

Thanks, Paul for the info, as I always wondered if there was some sort of throttle built in. So glad you liked the structure build, just a fun project and I have another one planned in O scale and this time am planning it as a diorama, even with some figures - now that's tempting fate for sure.

John Great choice for your build as I have a soft spot for the RAF on Malta during the North African campaign. I fully appreciate you frustration and you know me, I try not to get started on photography and post work, as I carried away with myself. Regardless of the cockpit color, your front office looks amazing - some mighty nice work

Some mighty nice work on the tiny engine and I'm pretty much in Robs camp on painting parts on the sprue but there are times, I do paint them that way for convenience. I try to figure out where seams would be and also after cutting the parts off the fret, all the fret gate marks need to be touched up. John B is a master at it.

Rob Brilliant progress and the level of finish is museum quality - just gorgeous work.🏆 I take full credit for handling the #D printed ejection rails so clumsily and ham-fisted at the same time and have no one to point the finger of shame at but me. I'll be so much more careful the next time I venture into the world of 3D printed parts.

VERY SLOW PROGRESS AND LET’S TALK HERSEY BAR WINGS Not much bench time these past few weeks as my wife’s medical issues have occupied most of our time. I started the front office and right from the start, the parts orientation that comprise canopy mechanism aren’t clear in the instructions with lots of arrows and not exactly sure where they actually point to – pretty much the same deal I had with their P-40 build last year. Checking references and photographs were needed to resolve my questions. I decided to use the kits Aces II ejection seat rather then the 3D Aces II seat as it is very well detailed and no issues in assembling it. I had already broken the ejection rails in numerous spots on the 3D printed seat and will wait for another A-10 down the road to use it. The HUD is made up of all clear parts and there was no mention in the instructions it was meant to enable the builder to replicate the open grid framework that supports the HUD. I didn’t realize this until after I had painted the assembly flat black and then had to strip all the paint off, starting over. The first assemblies in the instructions are the nose gear bay and the front office. Since starting the Warthog, I hadn’t done any air brush work at all and began to have second thoughts about trying to shoehorn in the Quinta Academy Cockpit Set rather then wait until mid July for Quinta to release the designed GWH kit as noted on the Hobbynut website. So, I put on the brakes on this portion of the build and decided to wait for the correct Quinta Cockpit to be released. The Warthogs” Hersey Bar” wings are the next major assembly and all seemed simple when I reviewed the instructions: little did I know what was waiting for me. After cleaning up and gluing the two part wing together, the split flaps were the next step. Seemed simple enough but only two of the four sets fit well and the other two required hours to finesse them into place. The flaps aren’t a flush fit on the upper wings and duplicating this required some unique decisions by GWH. Personally, I would have preferred them to be simply molded in details, but GWH decided to make each of the four flaps from two parts, which left a seam at the rear of each flap needing to be filled with CA and removed - of course, this method does allow for a sharper trailing edge. The flaps can only be installed in the raised position and are not movable – so why bother? Could it be there was no way to mold it as part of the wing and maintain the detail? Who knows. The main gear wells with the refueling parts are nicely detailed and the instructions for some parts suffer from the vague arrow syndrome again, as to part location and orientation. Even the detailed CAD drawings that are included in the instructions were almost to the point of being useless in helping me determine how the parts were to be actually installed. There are seams to remove, clean up and a good number of the of the location holes for the locating pins needed to be widened so parts would fit better on my kit. Well, this is my progress to date – slow but moving forward.

No question the T-28 will work out just fine as well.

John Terrific choice on your Mustang redo - looks mighty good in her new paint scheme. Surely going to be a nice project on the T-28 redo's as well. Looking forward to following your progress.

John Absolutely awesome work and the freehand cammo is spot on and so perfectly done. 🏆

Rob Right with you and glad the chain portion of the build is completed. After nearly destroying my 3D printed Aces II seat ejection rails, I'm not so sure how strong a 3D printed chain would be and how easily it might just snap and break.

WOW< the fountain and bridge casting are looking fantastic. Thank you for going over your concrete/masonry painting techniques - the results are fantastic looking.

The engine parts are looking mighty good

Chris Carl's idea on how to sand the pylons to match to contour of the wing was a great guideline for sure and you pulled it off perfectly - awesome work. 🏆 Yup, way to hot to go outside for us seniors. I'm just not a summer/hot weather guy.

Nice progress and getting the concrete pieces in place and the paint work looks perfect. How did you get the concrete to look so old and worn? .

Change of plans. Decided to wait until the Quinta 3D cockpit set is released so I can continue in the correct build sequence. Looking at the Academy Quinta 3D set, the side consoles appear wider then the kits and the panel also seems to be a bit wider. No sense in 'fudging' it and shoehorning it in and won't look good. What I should have done is wait until I had everything in hand before starting. lesson learned as usual.

Rob Seems the Crocker is putting up quite a struggle at the end stages of the build. Glad you were able to resolve the chain issues as it seems the instructions weren't as perfect on this one assembly as all the other assemblies. WOW, the exhaust and the tank look so good and just have the right 'polished' look and feel to them.

Scott Yes I was and even as a boy growing up in the 1950's, thought the rockets and space craft were ridiculous but for movies from 1936, I guess it was as original as they could have imagined. I totally forgot there was a Flash Gordon movie made in the 1980's. Thanks for getting me back on the path.

Scott Going to be an awesome build. I do remember watching the old Flash Gordon movies on TV when I was very young. Surely brings back memories.

Carl Nice work related trip and some wonderful finds.

Rob Hands of a surgeon assembling and installing the chain - looks beyond brilliant. Lightening and photography go hand in hand. The earlier closeup images of the fenders clearly shows the incredible glossy finish you achieved. Looking so good.