HubertB

Gotta say this new wood grain looks much more scale-like than the firts attempt, Ryan. And you did not even to wait for a third time to get a charm ... Well done ! Hubert

Arrrrghhhh ! Ernie has been zombie-ed by the abomination scale ! Hubert

Very nice (and really worth it) work on improving the gear legs and framework sides for the nacelles. Hubert

Yellow-tinged headlights for vehicles were the norm in France until the late 90s, where EEC regulations introduced the possibilty of whiete headlights. Yellow gives a less luminous vision than white, but the human eye gets a better perception of relief with it ... I have no definite knowledge for the B-1, but clear memories of M-47s and AMX-30s in my father’s regiment with yellow headlights. Hubert

The Lodela vac-form cockpit canopy is basically molded around the kit’s part, but for a missing lateral horizontal frame. Hubert

Great demo, Nigel. Love the jig ! Hubert PS: now that the props are OK, I am afraid that these cowlings will need to be enlarged as well for the kit to look right

Then the answer is yes to the first one, and yes, to a degree, for the second one ... These machines are not exactly cheap, yet very good value for money when you think about it (about the investment of 2 1/32 kits - not Revell ones of course - ). And they provide an invaluable flexibility to you modeling needs. Just have a look at what people like Eric Galliers can do with them on LSP. For the kit-modeler, my recommendation would be the Cameo, and the Curio for scratchbuilders. Hubert

Hi Ryan, if by "plunge cut" you mean starting and ending the cut anywhere the answer is yes. If you mean scribing deep in a piece of card, the answer is still yes. Otherwise, can you please explain what you mean by "plunge cut" ? As for the wood grain template, the finest I could go to on the Cameo was about 0.2 mm wide strips (or concentric circles in this case). So cutting a wood grain mask (in thin mask paper like kabuki) is in theory possible. You'd still have to design the mask in the first place though. Have you thought about using RB Productions wood veneer PE templates ? Hubert

Super work, as usual, Martinn. I am however a bit puzzled. The fairing on the fuselage top is fairly evident on the pics, but what is this transverse strip supposed to represent ? Hubert

And the prize goes to Martinn ! Hubert (gotta love the dead puma)

Piper. Yes. Floatplane. No. (Although there were some floatplane versions of this one) Hubert

The Silhouette software that comes with the machine is decent and can already do a lot of things. If you want to be able to integrate vector drawings produced with other softwares, you will have to buy the « pro » upgrade for around $ 100. The Curio can do the same things as the Cameo, PLUS it has two heads, and can do heavy cutting in thick material, and embossing (rivets anyone ?). BUT one big caveat, it is limited in size two roughly 6 inches (or 12 inches) by 8.5 inches, when the Cameo is 12x12, and virtually unlimited in length (but still 12 inches width) if you use the rolls support. The software is the same for the Cameo and Curio, with some additional features specific to the Curio like dots embossing. I actually have both, and got the Curio just for what is shown, i.e. cutting « safely » plastic card or thin metal sheet. Back to my little project. Let’s do some guessing game The base kit is venerable (late 50’ first issue), but not 1/32 (more like 1/33 or 1/34). The fuselage is all wrong (too short and not high enough for even 1/33 or 1/34). The cowling is usable per se for a 1/32 rendition, so this will likely be the only thing I keep, and hence my redoing of the rest. One more clue : the airfoil is USA 35b. The wing is said, in this family, to be « short ». And finally, the kit comes with something absolutely unique in the whole plastic kits production history. Who will guess what my project is, knowing (one more hint) my personal tastes and inclinations ? Hubert

Been producing some plastic confetti .... Well a bit more than confetti, actually All of this with the help of some technology ... (crappy phone pics with a weird format, I know ) More on that later, in a specific and dedicated thread Hubert

Agreed. Good to see something other than these sooooooooo-boooooooooring camoed schemes And a personal bonus for an aircraft aimed at saving lives, rather than bombing towns and factories ... Like many, will follow with interest Hubert

Well that Mystery Ship is still in limbo as I procrastinate on how to modify some of the 3D-CAD work, with my existing software, or a new one I need to choose and learn ... Typical of my current mood Hubert

Not very Ernieesque ... but it is starting to look like a modeller's bench (Says the man who cannot pretend to be a modeller, given its output) Hubert

No arguing with that, Martinn. But, in my personal standards, there won't ever be an aircraft with Nazi swastikas in my home. Full stop. Each to his own. Hubert

A racer aircraft .... über cool .... one with a nazi swastika ... not so cool And a (personal) reason to pass, just as I resold my He-100 kit, which I intended to convert to Dieterle’s V-8 ... Hubert

Yeah, Russian aircrafts seem to suffer a lot from defective parts, especially in the electronics area. Notably with their IFF transponders. In the last month alone, Western jets in the Baltics, including LW and RAF Typhoons, and Polish F-16s, had to scramble a few times to guide back to Russian airspace (the Kaliningrad enclave) some Russian aircrafts that got lost with no transponder. This included an An-76, a Su-30, a Su-24, etc... So the problem seems fairly widespread Hubert

Well my French is perfectly OK. Don’t understand what your problem is, guys Hubert PS : très beau char d’assaut, btw, Rob

The new WB appears to be a one-man operation, or a family one. Whatever, they are a real pleasure to deal with, and react promptly to demands. Lastly, their new decals service is invaluable for people like me who have an old stash of old WB kits. ... And, btw, they have the 1/32 Wasp engine available for USD 5.95. Its not the double Wasp, but still a good and relatively cheap source of engine, even if you take two to make a Double-Wasp. FWIW, the P&W cylinders were almost all the same in dimensions, or the difference is negligible in 1/32 (like 0.5 mm in diameter of the cylinder alone). Of course, the cylinders got more and more fins as they evolved, but we cannot reproduce that many fins in this scale anyway. All of this to say that the big diameter difference between the different P&W radials is located in the area of the crankcase, and that is easy to scratchbuild. Hubert

Very very very nice build ... which reminds me I have to get the flotplane version one day ... Excellent work ! Hubert

You’re flying through this one, Martinn ! Hubert

In short, doable, but not without some significant hacking and cutting ... The linked LSP thread made me disciver that the early versions had a less-deep fuselage than the late ones. And one foot in this scale is not insignificant ... Hubert

I need to do a proper count, but I would think that probably 50% of my 1/32 stash is made of floatplanes or flying boats ... So it’s more than a keen interest. Maybe it’s my way of merging my interest in ship models and my interest in aircrafts ... If I can contribute a SIG thread, I’m game for it ... Hubert