Peterpools

Thanks John very much appreciated. Going to do the few redo's this afternoon so I can start the tri color cammo scheme tomorrow if all goes well.

John Got ya and still a good roll for sure.

PRIMING IS DONE For me work continues at a nice pace, some filler being needed – most likely the builders’ doing. The biggest decision at the start of the build: wings folded or extended and I finally decided to go with the wings folded. Plastic card was used to block off the ammo ejection chutes – a good call for sure. Tamiya seems to be using the same basic fuselage for the three Corsairs versions they offer in 48th scale and care needs to be exercised which of the very similar looking parts are used, what holes need to be filled in and which need to be opened up. I missed a few and had to go back and correct what I missed. The F4U-1A cowl interior was painted ANA 601 Insignia White and the insides of the cowl flaps ANA 602 Light Gray. I spent a good deal of time adding the ASK windscreen and canopy mask set and a few of the masks seemed a bit small, requiring some strips of Tamiya tape to fill in the ‘short’ areas. I know I’m spoiled with how Tamiya engineered their 32nds scale prop fighters’ windscreens to be installed and on my 48th scale Corsair, the attachment point was just the bottom of the windshield framing and after priming now, some additional filler is needed to try and smooth things out a bit more. I addressed all the panel lines and rivets I lost in sanding and then the Corsair was primed with MRP Gray Primer. So far, so good. A few spots need to be polished a bit more and then it’s time for the cammo. All the parts are primed and drying.

Thanks Smitty I have mine as the winner of last year's Christmas Raffle Grand Prize and Ernie's incredible generosity. I've only built up one of the Merlin's so far and over the course of this coming year, will be working on the kit in between other projects. Biggest drawback is the instructions and complete lack of color callouts. An incredible model and at a great price. SB must be sitting on a load of them.

John WOW ... Another beauty done and in the books. 🏆

John Awesome build - fit, finish and weathering is spot on the money and looks fantastic.🏆

Carl Completely agree and I do remember all the costs and hoops we had to jump through with the Apache kit.

Rob Fully understand and appreciate the 'necessities' of living on a small island - guess it just comes with the territory. From how you have described your small island over the years, all the difficulties in ordering hobby supplies are well worth the time and extra work. Engine exhaust fit from my limited knowledge and experience in building race cars, have always been temperamental and quite finicky, both to paint and install. Fit looks spot on to me but as with Carl, I'm not seeing the heated metal effect at all.

Brilliant and wonderfully weathered.

Rob I feel your pain ... while I live on Long Island (NY), with millions of people, incredible traffic jams, most of my local hobby shops are long gone and driving to one of the few remaining ones in Nassau County is a long and frustrating trip, with no guarantee what I need, they have. Pretty much buy 99% of my kits and supplies online and rarely place an order where everything I need is in stock. I refuse to buy the remaining items from another vendor and wind up paying twice the shipping. Paint wise, I'm going back to Tamiya being my go-to paint as it is sold by most every online vendor and now as you, before starting a project, I buy and have on hand all the paints supplies I need for the project, otherwise it remains unstarred. Surely takes a lot of the enthusiasm out of the hobby for me - it's almost a full-time job. Gee, I remember the good old days, a trip to the LHS (back in the 70's it was the Squadron Shop in Syosset) and they always seemed to have everything I needed, kit and all. Paints were Model Master Enamels, Poly S and Pactra; racks were full, the coffee pot always had fresh brewed coffee and loads of guys to talk with. Belonged to a club, local IPMS chapter, which met once a month, with a few competitions a year and the IPMS Region One Noreastcon - loads of fun and the emphasis was on building and no building mistakes, not detailing or accuracy - I surely long for the good old days. No internet, no online forums, no pc's and no cellphones and once a month I received the Squadron mail order flyer and actually bought a few modeling magazines. Models were nowhere as detailed, raised panel lines and we were happy campers. Time to get off the old soapbox before I lose my balance and falloff.😉

Carl Awesome work and progress on your Sea Fury ... wheel by weathering looks spot on the money. I have my fingers crossed that the rumors/CAD photos of a new 32nd scale Sea Fury are true and we'll see it this coming year ... I'll be buying at least two.

Carl See sure is a beauty ... what an awesome paint scheme. 🏆

Awesome

PW Very nice progress on a brilliant kit.

John Nice progress ... looking mighty good.

Got ya ... shipping seems to be a key factor these days and getting worse. 🚛

Always seems to come down to spending time online searching for the correct colors but in the end, the finished model will look perfect.

Rob Looking mighty good and the slightly wear though look adds depth and highlights the details.

Sounds awesome and waiting for the photographs

Agreed and the always present towbar.

Wives just don't understand the concept of a stash and I'm afraid it's a losing battle trying to explain it. I'm just lucky, my wife rarely says anything at all when a box shows up and contains a new kit or two.

Carl Nice progress and looking mighty good.

Rob Nice purchases. Looking forward to seeing both being built, especially the Lotus.

John How right you are

Scott I feel pretty much as you, as I'm not an accuracy guy - I always try to upgrade the front office of any kit, get the colors and markings right and I'm a happy capper. My only point was, most likely not well expressed, even though the kit is a new release, it's engineering and design reflects the technology of a good many years ago and not to expect it to be the equal of today's kits. I'm just happy the Devastator was released and plan on building and enjoying the kit.