Peterpools

Welcome aboard and some very fine work on the Hawkeye and those props and brass hub: wow! Keep ‘em comin Peter

Carl Looking simply fantastic - can’t wait to see her cross the finish line Keep ‘em comin Peter

John Brilliant build and it has your style all over it. Added details and corrections blend in perfectly and the finish - what can I say - simply stellar work. Weathering is so realistic and enhances the aircraft - just love the effect.🏆 Keep 'em comin Peter

John Congrats on the build and heading over. Keep 'em comin Peter

Gaz Terrific painting for sure except for the crew of the Helldiver Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Rob Completely agree on how far Tamiyas decals have come and I've been using them hand and hand with Furball's (cartograf) and they look just the part. And for my money, I try to use the least amount of stencils - just looking for the effect. Both companies decals do respond very well to both Micro Set and Micro Sol which I've used now since the 1970's. 😉 Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Gaz, very much appreciated Keep 'em comin Peter

Kai I'm betting your tiedown spot on the Flighline is ready and waiting. What type of flat varnish are you planning on using? I don't remember exactly when I changed but these days I much prefer a final top clear coat of either semi matt or semi gloss, rather then a full flat finish, especially on aircraft that are well maintained. Keep 'em comin Peter

Scott Looking forward to your photos and the VMFA 323 Death Rattlers sounds perfect. The ZM and Hasegawa intakes just take a bit more work and your there. Keep 'em comin Peter

Kai What and eye for details - glad to see you caught the two missing canopy parts, scratch them out and added them to the Mirage. Nice work on the Shafrir2 rockets. Keep 'em comin Peter

Alan Nice to see your 190 underway again. Some of the best medicine is building and hanging out on the forum. Keep 'em comin Peter

Martin and Ernie A Buddy build - awesome. let the good times roll. Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Scott. Glad to see you are building Tamiya's F4 and making nice progress. I found the intakes a dream to build and attach compared to the ZM and Hasegawa traditional method. Which scheme are you planning on doing? Why not start a build thread so we can see and appreciate your work. Keep 'em comin Peter

Bryan Thank you for your kind comments on both the F4 and my photography. I do spend quite a bit of time on the photographs these setting up the lights and shooting area. Most of the photographs are focus stacked and then all are processed in Photoshop. The F4 has been a pleasure to build and it won't be long before she rolls out on to the flightline. Keep 'em comin Peter

John, Nothing like planning ahead and having everything you before starting. I have tought about decals and a paint scheme yet or is it too early? Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Kai, much appreciated I've gone as far as I am going on the right side and wing with the stencils - just want the look and feel. Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks John I really enjoy decaling but the Big Phantom is going to take a good long while to get them all down and add in the time to figure out from whose decal sheet I use for each group. Keep 'em comin Peter

John Does it mean you'll be diving into the P-51B? Keep 'em comin Peter

IT’S DECALING TIME 8/18/21 I’ve finally reached the portion of the build I like the most: decaling. After all the color coats had dried thoroughly, I gave the Big F4 a thorough going over with a Tamiya anti-static brush, removing any dust that still might be lurking here and there. Time to gloss the Phantom and my preferred gloss: Mr Color #46 Clear Gloss. Yes, it smells and even when thinning I wear a good respirator. I glossed the undersides first, let dry for a good six hours then gloss the top and sides and left to dry overnight. Tamiya’s decals look wonderful and they are getting better and better. The fly in the ointment is I had purchased had two Furball F4 Bravo Mig Killer decal sets a few years back for the Academy F4B & F4B/N , never built either the kit. The Furball decal set is gorgeous and printed by Cartograf. The dilemma, which decals to use. I decided to use the best from Tamiya and Furball. Both sets include the gorgeous CAG F4B of VF-51,The Screaming Eagles on a specific date of 5/6/72 so they should be the same but they aren’t. Looking over each set, I found loads differences in color, size and thickness of the lettering and the Eagle itself, especially with the Tail Feathers. Diving in, this is all I’ve accomplished so far and it’s a combination of both sets. The Screaming Eagle is from Tamiya as the Furball Eagle just doesn’t fit right as with the Danger/Intake decal – the Furball decal was a bit too big and didn’t fit naturally as well as the Tamiya. Nope I’m not planning on drowning the F4 with stencil data, just enough to look good and somewhat busy. While both sheets have the minimum of clear carrier film, I do worry a bit more about the possibility of silvering with the Tamiya decals as they are a bit thicker and the carrier film has a slightly milky look to it. I also wanted to see how the Tamiya black boarder stripes worked for the red tip bands and applied the first one to the top of the vertical stabilizer – it fits just fine. Just a few images to show as I’m out of the gate, with the decaling well underway with most of the decals now finished on the right-hand side of the fuselage and wing. Just a few quick images of where I’m at. Thanks for checking in Peter Nearly done decaling the right hand side and keeping the stencils to a realistic number before it drive me nuts.

Phil Much appreciate but what did you do with the tail that was so bad? Keep 'em coming Peter

Old age on my part - hate getting old and my apologies to Cees. Keep 'em comin Peter

Gaz Glad to see you decided to push ahead as you poured in an abundance of hard work and determination and nice to see the 109 up on her gear. Agree with Rob, about the gear in the second photo - hope it's an easy fix as the 109 just won't give in for sure. Keep 'em comin Peter

Frank Hope you enjoyed your vacation and looking forward to your next update Keep 'em comin Peter

Ernie Looking mighty good Keep 'em comin Peter

There are lots of other way over done subjects to add to the list but I think a WWII subject will have a wider appeal then a WWI subject. Best to sit tight and wait for an announcement as to what their first release will be rather then just guessing, which is what we use to do for the new yearly Tamiya release which has ceased to be. if it's a quality kit and from the team working on it, all the indications are t it will be a first class kit. Keep 'em comin Peter