GazzaS

ZZZZZZZZZZ No guns, no fun.

Thank you, Peter.

Getting those small details right is the difference between something that makes you happy, and something that makes you look at all of the mistakes, however small. Keep up the excellent work! A while ago I tiled our ensuite bathroom from ceiling to floor. Whether I'm shaving or shitting... I often look around at my errors.

Very nice paint work, Peter! She's gonna turn out awesome! I've actually been beneath an F4. Wish I could remember some useful detail. But all I remember is white paint.

Thank you, Kai! I had a look at photos, too. Not many had the sleeve chevrons. This one is particularly interesting because the insignia are on the leather jacket.

Thank you Kai! Honestly... I didn't know the rank badge was on both sleeves. It's only on one sleeve on any of the figures that have it.

Thank you, Kevin! If you don't mind, I segue straight into an update. I wanted to post an update yesterday, but I had to wait for the acrylic paint on our pilot to dry so I could matte coat. Then... this morning while I'm spraying said matte coat... I observed that I had forgotten to paint his hair! Anyway... Once matte coated, I painted his hair and put a little Future on the visor of his cap and on his boots. Some things should always shine! To complicate matters, while I was painting his Mae West yesterday, I noticed that the valve assembly for the Mae West's air bottle had broken off. Very flimsy it was. So, I made a new one out of stretched sprue and hurriedly painted it. He's still got a little sheen. I may hit him with more matte coat later. I'm always afraid to spray too much at once and end up with a foggy layer. I did it once before, and have dreaded it ever since. Even though I used oils for the skin tones, I used acrylics for everything else. But I'm not sure I'm totally happy with the finish. I think I'll go full oils on y next figure. Seems like oils allow you create subtle differences better. And I got back to the plane this morning! Revell... for some reason felt the need to make the surfaces moveable. So, to get them right, you have to slice off a few parts, and fill others. Here, I've used Evergreen sheet to stuff into the square notches. In a while, I'll shave them with a knife, fill the tiny crevices that may be there with black CA and sand off. I also added the three parts required to each wheel well. And started gluing the lower wings on... I'm happy to be done with the pilot, and looking forward to closing up the fuselage in a week, or two. Happy modelling!

Nice wiring harness, John!

Can;t wait to see that fifth wheel greased up!

Excellent!

Nobody wants Astra Zenica here. So that has caused some supply issues. At first, they were only offering Pfizer to people over 60. So, I wasn't gonna do it. But they dropped the age down to 50 so I eventually decided to get it done. My wife seems to think it will enable us to take a cruise from Sydney to NZ in January. But I have my doubts. P.&O. Cruise lines have stopped operations up until Dec. 17 of this year. The worst thing that can happen is getting caught in New South Wales. it's a continual Covid hot spot and Queensland, where I live, closes the border regularly. For instance, a workmate of mine went to Sydney for a wedding a few weeks ago. They closed the border and he was stuck in NSW at his expense while he self-isolated for two weeks. I just don't want that hassle/financial burden.

Kai, there are really only 4 attachment points. The 5th point, the hook and eyebolt joint is really only an optical illusion. The weakest part of each joint is where the rod meets the tube. The danger time will come as I work with the model near completion. Integrating it with the rest of the fuselage and weathering means that it may be subjected to movement... or even the occasional bump. Thank you, Rob. The instability of the joints can't be illustrated in photos. They only pierce the tube to a dept of less than 1mm. So there is no mechanical strength. And the CA... just does not like to stick to the Aluminum tube. I've sanded it for the CA to have something to hold... but it made no difference, really. But I need to work on something else for a while. Slap some plastic together. And paint the uniform of Herr Weiroster.

My wife and I got our first jabs of Pfizer today. Her by design, and I lucked out due to other ppl cancelling.

Cool! Beute Martlett!

Thank you for the kind words, Fellas. I know I showed you them as they'd be on the wing. However... I just rotated the pictures. I'm very concerned about gravity. I'll tell ya... nothing shits me more than when I go to admire my display... and I see some part that has become detached. usually... it's aerials, antennae, or some part that protrudes at an angle from the model. And these rockets are relatively heavy. So... mentally I've begun to rework the project. I ordered Styrene .5mm rod and once it arrives I'll see how it goes with the .7mm tube. And.... I'll make deeper holes that penetrate into the solid-aluminum rocket projectile. Because I've already imagined them laying under the plane in the future.

Foil it, Baby!!!

Well... Macro photos don't lie. But they might say too much. The following set of pictures depicts my WfGr. 21 in their current state. Complete. They will need some tweaking, and I might go so far as to drill into the missiles themselves and create new legs which fit deeper into the tubes/missiles. The bracket around the ignition wire is aluminum foil. The 'rivets' holding the bracket on are just little blobs of paint. The 'clamp' holding the ignition wire to the leg is also aluminum foil. Pictures show that the fuse at the tip of the rocket projectile is a lighter color... so I took the liberty of painting it a brass color. I also used the artistic license to paint the ignition wire yellow. Later, I filled the area behind the wing fillets I added with black CA. Then I sanded it down to close to level. My final useful act of the day was attaching the upper wing inner parts to the fuselage and spar. Then I set them to dry. If I did this right, there will be a nice, neat panel line where there needs to be. Thank you for looking!

VEry nice, Ron!

Looking beautiful, Kai! Nice start to decalling!

When it comes to Trumpeter.... just say "no".

In Australian parlance, the kitchen countertops... are the kitchen "bench". A couple weeks ago, my 12 + year-old pool-sucker started spinning in circles. Closer investigation revealed that one of the four axles was broken. So I ordered a new part. For 62$ it was cheaper than buying an 800$brand new pool-sucker. So, I diligently disassemble the contraption in a linear fashion and laid it out neatly. It's constructed by a clever use of snaps and stainless steel screws. Marine quality of course. The replacement part is actually the center/frame of the machine. But since I bought my machine (years ago) some of the parts have changed. The four pins that hold the wheels in place... now have a key slot that matches a key in the axle.... And, there are four new screws in the motor housing where the outer motor bearings are housed. It was just a pressure joint before. BTW... when I say motor... it's not really a motor. The contraption is operated by the flow of water through a chamber with paddles. As the paddles cause a shaft to rotate, the rotating shaft engage the two gear boxes which make it operate in a crazy series of maunevers designed to cover your whole pool. Ir's called a Zodiac MX-8. The gear boxes and sometimes the tracks have to be replaced every year for about $100. My wife says: "That thing has saved me so much time." Because before we got it, I let her clean the pool. But because it is now a mechanical thing... it's become my responsibility. But anyway... here it is now... I have to order more parts. Please refer to the "House with pool four sale" add I posted earlier.

Thank you, John!

Last time I looked, this was OOP.

Thank you!

But your jig needs to be more than 4 holes in a piece of wood. It needs to replicate enough of the wing to enable you to get all of the alignments right.