HubertB

Welcome to the dark side of the force ... Powerful this side is ! Hubert

VERY good ! Hubert

Well, I do not know who the « some » are, but definitely not me . Although I am working hard at improving my relation with PE. As popular wisdom goes, you can be a good craftsman, but with bad tools, you’ll not go very far; you’ll go nowhere if you are a bad craftsman with bad tools; and you will maybe produce acceptable results if you are a poor craftsman but have good tools. Which is what I am trying to do . So I can say that, after I got the Toolz and Barracuda PE benders and a more powerful soldering iron, I am getting better at producing average results with PE, ... and soldering. As for you, Mike, you are in the fourth subgroup: a master craftsman with obviously good tools Hubert

Thirded ! Hubert

Jeff, as far as I have seen and read until now, the « fake news « media, and the public persona pushing these « fake news » claims are precisely the bunch who have persistently tried to minimise or negate the existence and impact of the pandemic ... Stopping there before treading any further on the thin ice of politics ... Hubert just my

FWIW, Tamiya’s white primer, whether in rattle cans or small glass jars, makes a very good and dense (read with excellent coverage qualities) white. It then can be covered with a gloss varnish like X-22. This is what I did with my Nieuport Sesquiplan record plane. Hubert.

Because this first tank kit (a Tiger, nazi stuff of course ...) was designed to fit a box size (as was the norm at the time - Frog were the first to advertise « contant scale » ). They then computed that the scale was close - not exactly - to 1/35 scale. They sold enough to carry on with the next releases in this « scale », and the other manufacturers followed suit. Had the box been 10% bigger, or the mold frame, we would not have this discussion ... Hubert

Well, the 109 and Stuka are the first in 1/35 scale ... Hubert

Now for my dream list. But then I have found a site where you can buy 3D designs, in .obj or .stl format. Which the first step for getting the 3D printers started... And I found : - a TBD - a Grumman J2F-6 - a CF-100 - a CF-105 - an OV-1 D - a Northrop Delta - a Martin B-10 just to name a few Hubert

Then, imagine it’s done by the « C team » in Trumpeter. You start with Gazz, and end up with something that looks like Pamela Anderson... Eahhh ... wait .... Hubert

I do not know this seemingly new company Border, but they seem managed by a marketing « genius » ... 1) a Me-109 G-6 ...yaaaaaawnnnnn 2) a Ju-87 G ... yaaaaaawnnnnn agaiiiiinnn But then , wait, in 1/35 scale ! Frankly, I doubt you will see many dios with either Axis or Allied hardware, just like I have yet to see many dios with 1/35 helicos and armour. What a waste of resources and money Hubert

Great build of the infamous « lawn dart » ! Congratulations Hubert

Happy New Year to everyone here ! And a more special wish for those (including you, Phil) who have suffered more from this rotten 2020. May 2021 bring you a reprieve from the hardships you have endured, Hubert

Thank you to all for your generous gifts, and to Ernie for organising and Joy for being the « Hand of Fate ». Merry Chrstmas to all again. Hubert

Reminds me of my car sometimes ! Well done Hubert

Deep into cooking for tonight and tomorrow ... Not yet Christmas here on the southwestern shores of the European continent, but Patricia and I wish all my friends here and their families a merry Chrstmas (in small contingent, I guess). There were a few good news in 2020 amidst doom and gloom. Let’s hope 2021 will see the proportions reversed, and that the year end festivities will all bring you back all pumped and full of positive energy ! Enjoy these moments. Hubert

Very neat and lovely build. Congratulations ! As for taking time to complete a kit, 5 years is not bad compared to my standard. I have on the shelf, still waiting to be finished, a scratchbuilt 1/32 Aichi Hansa. What is a Aichi Hansa, you may ask ? It is a Hansa-Brandenburg W. 29, licence-built in Japan in the 20s, motorised with a Hispano 300 hp V8. I started it in 2008, before Wing nut Wings even existed and way before they released a kit of the w29. WnW is now defunct, and I still have to complete my version of the Hansa ! Hubert

Agree on the box art. I remember my teenage days, when the box art alone could make me want to buy a kit ... Hubert

Loving this . it may be a simple parallax issue with the close-up shot, but the the IP looks slightly skewed, with the right side slightly forward compared to the left. Hubert

Well, having a business serving all types of industrial customers, It’s been affected seriously by the overall slump... Some customers have been deeply hit, but others have benefited from the events. One of them is in manufacturing medical devices (like vials, syringes, etc ... ). They are among the winners of the year, would you believe it ? In September they decided to give the volumes of their factory in Hungary, on top of the French one. They are now my #1 customer, btw ... And another one belongs to a Canadian group who have decided to transfer the production of their British factory to their French one, thus increasing the volumes for me. Thank you Mr Johnson ! So, all in all, my business will finish the year down 17.3 % (I had some - 50 % during the spring lockdown) but, unexpectedly, I have a 2.6 % growth for the last quarter, compared to the last pre-Covid 19 quarter of 2019 ! Hubert

Ok. How and where do you want to be shot ? Nice and clean or painful and slow ? (I am myself not too sure about what’s the most appropriate retribution ) Hubert

Ther were actually quite a number of interesting new kits this year (at least to my eyes), which consecrated the emergence of Central Europe players: Injection molded : IBG's PZL ICM's PT-13/PT-17 series, Fiat CR-32, and now, just before Christmas, the Tiger Moth ! Roden Pt-17 Eduard Bf-108 Mikro Mir Miles Magister Dora Wings Dewoitine D-500/D-510 Resin : Lukgraph Dh-89 Dragon Rapide and Hawker Nimrod Silver Wings Tiger Moth If, like me, you are into interwar, trainers, civilians, I'd say this was the best ever year ! Hubert

I am with Ernie on the PZL... But I'd like to throw in as well the DH-89 Dragon Rapide from Lukgraph in the resin category. All Ernie said about the PZL P11c, only in resin. Hubert

Fourded ! Those of us who can give will do, but there is no obligation for any entrant to do so. This is just a way to have fun and share, even more so in dire times. And if anyone feels it is not right for someone to benefit from the draw without giving, may I suggest this someone has some introspective thinking about his values (and no, Jeff, this is not a criticism of your thinking. I understand it very well. But there is no reason to be shy about willing to participate, and refusing to do so because your current situation is less « flourishing » than one year ago. We are all in the same boat on this one). Hubert

Yes, more gifts than participants. Can I enter twice, like Mike S, and get 3 gifts (at least) ? Hubert the greedy