Peterpools

Just arrived: Vallejo Metal Colors and their metal varnish. Will be using them for all the NMF areas on the Tomcat instead of Alclad and see how they work. Just want to start distancing myself from all the lacquers, as I use up my supplies.

Scott Super progress and a mighty good plan. I also try to leave the small and easily breakable pieces until the end or at least the last minute but these days, I do add a lot, so I don't have to worry about marring the paint finish.

Rob WOW, decaling looks simply tremendous and your approach and technique absolutely was the right way to go. Mix in a lot of patience and skill and the results speak for themselves. Your rigging POA sounds foolproof and I'll be following all the way.

Dave WOW ... looking fantastic as in your hands, the whole masking process worked perfectly🏆

Gus Looking mighty good and your constant progress and overcoming the 'pitfalls' of the kit should be a lesson for us all: when there is a will, there is a way. Of course, I should be first on that line.

Paul Fingers crossed on the save.

John The weathering was perfectly done and enhanced the build as compared to heavily weathered models that should be displayed in at least a vignette for time and place. I should have been clearer in my original post.

Looking mighty good and hopefully the SMK is on the back burner and scheduled for repairs down the road.

Carl Thanks for posting the competition photographs - the level of the modeling was outstanding for sure. So very hard to pick a favorite but for me it was: The C-130 Herky Bird - perfect in every detail. Glad you and the boys spent a fun day together attending the show.

Mark Looking forward to the start of the build. I normally start a build as you are, sorting through the parts, getting assemblies squared away and cleaning up the parts so when I'm ready to go, a lot of the preliminary work has already been done.

Chris I'm Quinta's number one fan and any work prepping parts is money in the bank. I'm not sure how many pieces I needed to remove the relief from on my Tomcat but once the Quita decals are in place; it's an amazing transformation

Chris Looking good and just take your time. Yup, the F4 is BIG and needs space but well worth the effort.

John Just over the other forum - what a tremendous redo and the Corsair looks awesome. Weathering is light and so very realistic. 🏆

Rob I'm pretty sure I remember this build thread and now knowing and remembering how the weathering pencils work, I'll absolutely be buying a set. The effects are brilliant and I need to develop a creative hand as yours. Thanks for the info and photographs.

Scott Nothing more important then your wife's health and recovery. Sure, fooled me as to how the Cutlass was mailed and absolutely going to be a quality build.

John What a terrific redo - awesome paint and weathering - surely the right touch. 🏆

John Looking fantastic ... new life into a shelf queen who had seen better days.

Scott Holy smokes, what a haul for sure: A Tamiya Tomcat and a Fisher Cutlass. Sure hope you are planning to have them cross the bench pretty soon.

Paul Nice buys for sure. I've been thinking about the weathering pencils for a while and would appreciate your feelings and thoughts on them after testing them out. Then I would make a decision on whether or not to buy a set.

Martin Nice to see you're back at the bench, break over and making nice progress again.

Dave Nice stat on the masking and going to look awesome for sure.

Chris Great to see your GB build is underway by tackling the seamless intakes first, which have always been the weakest part of the kit. Followed your Catalina build from start to finish and I do remember; ... knows how much I just LOVE grafting resin onto styrene.

Rob I see what you mean and when working, my bench does get quite disorganized at times. It's become a habit over the years of labeling parts, so I don't confuse left and right parts or multiple parts that look nearly identical - just seems to work so much easier for me. I have to admit, I do have numerous small work trays (rectangular water mixing pallets) I keep small assemblies or groups of parts in until needed, as it helps me find the parts as a group, especially after removal from the fret and cleanups. For us Seniors who need to take lots of mulligans and easily forget where things are and spend a good deal of time looking for the parts. It's a time saver and cuts way down on where in the world is the part hiding. 😉

Looking mighty good. I'm always amazed and envious of this type of computer work - for my generation, seems time has passed us by.

Carl Right with Martin, awesome work.