HubertB

Very nice P-40, Peter 👍 ! Although complex, this kit delivers a VERY convincing result in the hands of a proficient modeller like you. Congrats on a stunning result ! Hubert

Someone, somewhere, is going to complain that it’s over-engineered, with too many (6785 !) parts 🤣😂🤣 Hubert

Had two days of administrative tasks and grocery shopping, and back at it today Hubert

John is finishing a kit - and in what a way : masterful as usual - in less time than it takes me to think about which sprue cutter to use for snipping a part off its sprue Well done, John 👍 ! Hubert

And another (as per usual) great result, Mike ! I really love the vignette of the two men resting against the aircraft’s wheels. And the Aviattic linen effect with the silver dope is great. Well done 👍 Hubert

I received a few sheets of rivets from Archer, ordered as Archer was liquidating its stocks for Woody’s retirement. Quite a few of them now in stock, although they really go fast when you start using them on an 1930s’ airframe festooned with dome rivets. Hubert

Nice start on a very nice kit. I love the yellow-winged schemes. But most of them had the Vought float, that was later substituted by the EDO one (although there is one pic in the Dana Bell book that shows a yellow-wing scheme with an EDO float). The BBs initially had the Kingfishers with Vought floats and Yellow wings. I always promised myself I would design and 3D-print the Vought float ... One day perhaps ... Hubert

I cannot build a kit without absorbing all the information I can muster. As for refs, I still like old-fashioned books, although the iPad is also on the bench … when I am not using it to take pics of the said bench 😉. I have four different walkarounds folders opened on the iPad for this build. Hubert

WOT ? You mean this is not typical seasonal Canadian weather ? Hubert

Fisher is gone for good. He went trough a very tough period after the Paradise fires, especially as the insurances proved their usual generous and disinterested selves ... He has come back on-line on LSP just before Christmas, but the molds, and everything else are gone for good. Your only hope of buying a Fisher kit is on the ususal auction sites on the net, assuming someone will not behave like Gollum... Hubert

I can drink strong stuff, but positively dislike the concept of beer with a strong alcohol content … Hubert

It’d really be a shame if they got discouraged by negative comments … Whilst both the Helldiver and Vampire are not in my sphere of interest, and are nos shake-and-bake I have seen more than one built with great results, and the risk-taking of the company is to be applauded. But then, I have 7 times more HPH kits in my stash than Tamiya’s Hubert

You’ d be lucky. I know I wouldn’t sell off ANY of the Fisher kits in my stash Hubert

I actually find them a bit soft as molded by Fisher. But then, we are being spoilt by the Quinta sets and the likes, and I look at them with maximum magnification of my Optivisor 🤓 Hubert

Ok, time for some modelling pics, even if few, now that the bench is tidy and cleared for some action. This is where I had left my build : The fuselage halves had been assembled, trapping the wings and the sturdy wing-box inside, the intakes added (and shhhh…, don’t tell anyone but the engine faces at the end of the intake trunks have been glued in a wrong position), the seams filled but not yet fully cleaned-up. I had also assembled and painted the cockpit tub and IP, but : 1) my beloved - and sadly passed - cat Looping munched a bit of the cockpit 2) the cockpit details, especially the side consoles, whilst probably scale-accurate, were looking a bit flat and lacking relief 3) the side consoles are anyway wrong for an F7U-3 M, lacking notably the -important- weapons and missile selector switches on the left console, plus some other bits and bobs everywhere. I had ordered a replacement cockpit from Paul, which cost me just the shipping charge, but the details were even softer than on the original version, plus the rear bulkhead was badly distorted, so some scratchbuilt mods are of the order of the day, using the new part with some delicate surgical intervention, rather than butchering it … Here is a pic of the cockpit modifications under way … The electric engine coil is my primary source of fine (0.18 mm) wire fir the switches … And the left console broke off from the cockpit tub when I sawed off the distorted rear bulkhead. It’s convenient, in fact, for what I have to do. More progress later. Hubert

Me ^2 ! Hubert

It's a well known photo sequence. Unfortunately, the captions never say whether the pilot survived, wich seems doubtful considering the subsequent fireball ... Not only were the engines inadequate, but they were progressively derated across the operationnal life of the Cutlass. A single-engined carrier landing was a no-go and ejection the only option. It could not spin, officially, but after bleeding energy in high-altitude manoeuvers (it was a very agile airframe), could enter what was called a "post-stall giration". In which case the verdict was also to eject ... Still, to think that the first drafts were done in the late 40's. A really innovative design for the time. Hubert

The incidence was driven by the short catapults of the Essex carriers, and the lack of power of the engines. Hence the very long nose gear, which unfortunately sometimes failed, and triggered the ejction seat (which was not a zero-zero design) On the second pic, notice the washout of the AB engines on the Essex wooden deck 😱 Hubert

We had the same comics' readings, Rob. I liked Buck Danny, although the aircrafts drawings were not that realistic. Buck Danny was flying Panthers and Cougars at that time. He bypassed the Cutlass ... As for Dan Cooper, I always felt a let-down that he moved from the Blue Triangle to the F5-A Hubert

There you go …

The Cutlass was a fascinating design, in a great lineage of avant-garde fighter designs that started with the F4-U, and continued until the F8-U III - well, ok, the F6-U was a bit of a casting error in this line-up -, both the Corsair and Cutlass being brain-children of Rex Beisel. Whilst looking definitely Si-Fi, it was unfortunately ahead of its time when it came to engineering capabilities, of such things as jet engines, or high-pressure hydraulics, which it pioneered and became standard in the later generations of jets, but proved its Achilles’ heel. Anyway, I love this generation of early jets. I just hope to be able to do justice to Paul Fishers great kit. Hubert

In spite of my abysmal record at finishing anything, I’ll launch myself in the great bath … As some may know, I am in-between two house moves, having sold one and renting another before moving in a new one … For this reason, the « stash » is literally a palet in the garage, that I have no intention to unpack before the next house. So I had to find something stored in an accessible way if I wanted to participate in the GB. And, luckily I found a box I had started some time ago (read « a few years back ») on LSP, then stalled fairly quickly when my cat munched a piece of the cockpit. I got some new parts from Paul (which, by the way, showed that the molds were getting « tired ») but the box was shelved nevertheless … until now. So the Cutlass it will be, and hopefully I will find enough time to work on it AND finish it this time, knowing the next 6 months will also be focused on signing off - finally - the purchase of the future house, and monitoring the significant transformation works we have planned for it. I’ll post some pics tomorrow, but I am really well below the 25% threshold 😏. Hubert

I really like the look of the CW-20 … I am sure you have seen that One-Man-Model will release a 1/32 C-46 this year…Now that’s a good New Year’s resolution 😉 Hubert

+1 ! Hubert

I’ll be happy if I can finish just one kit this year … This said, at John’s rate, I could consider adding to the stash without more guilt Hubert