HubertB

I love meat balls, but not the point of crossing half an Ikea store to eat them Hubert

I have three tricks to resist the Ikea brain-washing system (which must be called something else in Swedish, like « « brøenwetstag », or something close ) : 1) spot - and use - the shortcuts to avoid the twenty-mile long crawling through the store, 2) prepare your shopping-list on internet before going to the store. Their system is so good you know the store-stock, and the position of what you want to buy, 3) last but not least, and that’s my most efficient trick, refuse flat-out to go there HTH Hubert

Until the same individual takes a brutal economic driven decision and lays off overnight the talented team that helped him live his dream Just my Hubert

Gotta say that, although the Dr-1 was an obvious - and long-overdue, like French fighters - choice for WnW to do, I was personally never hyped-up about it. Good to see that the molds seem to get a deserved second life, though. Hubert

Yes, be extra careful, Ernie, Texas stats are not looking good, especially if you add the extra "pneumonia" deaths in the state (funny, they have quadrupled, but nooooo ... they are not Covid-19 deaths ) Masks do not protect yourself (at least those which are not FFP-2), but they protect all the others. So, if everyone wears a mask, then each one is protecting all the others. Simple logic, but the example has to come from the top ... I stop here, because this post is veering too much into politics already. Hubert

You guys mean the "LanciO StratUs" of course ? Hubert

I just love the « Swidish » Hubert

I could volunteer, once I get mine, but then Harv would be even more right Hubert

Keeping on the cardboard model side, found this for you : https://modelik.pl/0905-jupiter-p-432.html https://sklep.gpm.pl/modele-kartonowe/kolejki/1/45-43/hcp-1-6-2-bulgar-145 One is streamlined but not American, the other American, but not streamlined. Both shops in the links are worth exploring more. O scale is 1/43 - 1/45 IIRC. Here is a more general link to train cardboard models : https://modelik.pl/pojazdy-szynowe-c-25.html Hubert

So do Trumpeter. And IIRC, Revell had some HO steam locs, and Airfix has some old HO kits as well, some of which can be found on eBay. I am sure there are a lot more models, including in resin and brass in O Scale. Probably if you check on Kalmbach’s dedicated magazines and forums you will find more than what is suggested above. Last, but not least, there are some absolutely spectacular cardboard/paper models from Polish companies, like Orlik, and others I can’t remember the name of, in 1/25 scale. Good news is they require far more guts than bucks to get an outstanding mantelpiece eyecatcher. Bad news is exactly the same , but then for someone who tackled rebuilding an old muscle car, the guts must be there aplenty HTH Hubert

So it seems we are back to Dr Freud’s conjectures for why one chooses this length of stick Hubert

Most likely, but the total answer is, from others’ experience, you will never have your antenna tensioned identically twice in your model’s life ... Hubert

i hope everything turns out OK for you in the end, CAT. A word of warning about using hair for aerials. Hair are sensitive to ambient humidity. Which means your antennas will sag if the atmoshpere gets a bit humid, as the hair gets longer. So it's definitely not as good as other materials like stretched sprue, monofilament or elastic yhread Take care. Hubert

Very nice Albatros. And don’t worry about the long time. I still have an unfinished Aichi Hansa (a Hispano-powered, Japanese licence-built, W-29). I started scratchbuilding it in 2008, BEFORE WnW launched its kit, and also before it went OOP with WnW Hubert

Tuning Vespas is a thing for teenagers in suburban dwellings, Ernie. Talk about a 40s’ crisis Hubert

So the lesson seems that, when the plating is well done (i.e. a primer varnish and a -rather thick- homogeneous metallized plating) like in these old 70’s truck kits, the traditional cleaning methods will struggle ... You need to break through the surface tension on the metal plating, and for this you need micro-asperities, that will give a « bite » to the paint stripper. Just like champagne : you need micro defects in the cristal, or dust particles, for the bubbles to form ... Lesson stored for future use Hubert

Hubert

Don’t hesitate to make me an offer . It’s a nice kit, not without its fault, but it turns out into a nice result everytime I have seen one finished. The AM I bought can contribute to making it even more stunning. I was thinking of kitbashing it with the Revell kit to correct the slightly too blunt wing-root radiators, and the Revell kit is a (free) part of my package If i can remember where I put it, I will add the Tasman vac-form transparencies, I KNOW I have, but where ? And there is no beating the slender looks of a glass-nosed Mossie Hubert

On its way ... Now in the hands of the Portuguese, then Canadian Post Office, which is a lifetime adventure in itself, I understand Hubert

Absolutely. The product doing the work is caustic soda. It’s fairly agressive, so most oven-cleaners now have a «no-caustic soda » formula. If you can find caustic soda (soude caustique) in your DYI store, try it. Remember to wear gloves, a respiratory mask, and to dilute caustic soda in water, not the other way round. ( in short read the instructions on the bottle ) HTH Hubert

The alternative is to steam the strips. Take a plumber's PVC pipe long enough to hold the strips. Plug it on one end to the kettle, and on the other end, plug it with a small hole in the plug to vent-off the steam. It will work like a tubular pressure cooker. Pressure-resistant tube, like the one for swimming pools works better just for this safety reason Hubert

Remember heat allows for easier bending, especially if it goes two-ways like at the stern. Soak the srips in water, then swipe them with a soldering iron at minimum temperature, or under a hot air gun. Pre-twist them to shape, and finish the shaping in-situ. PVA glue adheres well to moist wood, btw. Hubert

Quite a cook, indeed ! Keep it on, and in a few hundred thousand years there will be a new charcoal mine in sunny Texas Hubert

Well I do find the same after a golf play, especially whan its warm and sunny like now. The only thing is the course is open (anew) but the club-house bar is still closed, because of Covid-19 restrictions Hubert

Nice progress, Ron ! Hubert