GazzaS

Your wish is my command effendi. Of course, there is a lot of weathering to do before the Schurzen are on the kit permanently. I annealed and sanded the schurzen, and they are consequently very soft. I used SMS lacquer for the green. It took me quite a while to get past spitting and tip dry. I reckon it has to be thinned 50/50 with Mr. Levelling thinner to get to a point where you can actually do something with it. Still, it seems to cover better than MRP. Thank you for looking! Gaz

Looks great! Glad the Mk. I's are working better.

The area between strut and wing... interesting! It all looks good, man!

Call it a structural affect of age, then.

Thank you, fellas.

A fellow bad back sufferer. Nuff' said. I sometimes secure an ice pack to my lower back when working on models.

Ahh.... that's cuz you're on a phone. I didn't know that. Sowwy.

Gonna replicate the oil canning on the wings, Ern?

Two builds going but not much progress in either.... Due to the schurzen, pre painting and pre camo are a must... and I wanted to make sure I got the backs of the side hatches done... before I glue them to the turret in an open position. The schurzen brackets are only dry fitted. And I went a bit down the rabbit hole on the front end... There were supposed to be two runs of kit tracks across the front. Inspired by a pic in my collection of a Totenkopf IIIM, I used some small pieces of aluminum to make track brackets and added a third run. None of the runs is attached, but dry fitted while the CA solidifies. Anyway... thanks for looking! Gaz

Not far now, Rob! Keep up the great work!

Wow.... been a while since I did an update. And there was a spare part that reminded me of the cover of the centrally mounted cannon on the 109...but much bigger... so I used that to simulate the gun cover of the forward battery. I've since closed and up the fuselage and started up the motors... but no paint to see, yet... so no photo. sometimes I wonder how I complete anything.... Thanks for looking! Gaz

Still there... just look lower to the right. Birthdays near the bottom.

I bought some of those damn things, but can;t remember what I bought them for. And I still can;t remember what even inspired me to buy them.

Your Tomcat is looking great! Makes me wish that modern jets actually did something for me. I even struggled through my late MiG-25 build.

Harv, there are some who glue the upper wings to the fuselage first. To me that seems like a good way to keep your wingtips from lining up correctly. I always glue the wings together before attaching to the fuselage.

Very nice!

Bummer, Dude. I was hoping it was a photographic illusion.

It has been said that anything can be fixed with a 6-pound hammer.

Just watching the news... I watch various sources and other news programs from other nations. Europe seems to be reeling as infections spread and they talk about further lockdowns. Pretty depressing. Over 1 million documented deaths in 36 million documented cases. That works out as 2.78 percent of the infected cases. If you believe what many write over at farcebook, the true percentage is less than 1/2 of a percent. As for me... I don't believe the small numbers given by nations like China. Totalitarian regimes tend to downplay the effects of disasters upon their nations. Now... I've seen plenty of shit on farcebook. Ppl claiming that most of the deaths attributed to Covid are actually from other causes. It's all 'fake news'. etc. etc. Everyone has an opinion, often based on their special interest. Because I'm in sluggish morning mode, I decided to do a little math with free online calculators. The current world population is 7540000000.... That's 7 and 1/2 billion for those who find themselves swimming in a sea of zeroes. Anyway... 2.78 percent of 7.5 billion is almost 21 million people. That's still less than half of what the Spanish flu killed. Maybe we shouldn't be concerned... it's only half! Business is obviously an even bigger casualty. Now watching a program on the end of the 747 jumbo jet. The program mentions that they don't expect large scale air travel to resume for another four or five years. Personally... I fear the day it knocks on my door. My wife, daughter, and granddaughter are all people I consider sickly and not physically strong. That's not to say that this fat, middle-aged man won't be taken down by it, too. I do have a congenital heart condition, though it seems to reach full ferocity when my family gets into the 70's... those of us who carry the trait, anyway. So...I'm not keen to roll the dice. I'm notoriously unlucky when it comes to boardgames where results are dice driven. I notice some people are worried about the erosion of their civil rights... or personal rights. What to say to these people? I was watching some program where the spread of the Black Death was traceable in the local records of some English villages. The rate of spread was the same rate as walking distance from village to village. If you open the gates, the virus will get in and people will die. I guess to some, it doesn't matter until it's someone close. The thread title is 'how has Covid affected you'. For once in my life, my shitty job is a lifesaver. So, I'm not affected financially. But Covid does prey upon my mind. I just hope it never preys upon my family.

Rob, despite the setbacks, the fuselage looks quite nice. I too used them clay washes over oils once. Ruined a perfectly good Hasegawa Macchi MC-205. ...and I haven't used those clay washes since. 5-shots of rum in quick succession will fix any remaining agitation or jitters. I Gar-ron-tee it.

Crossed fingers here, my friend!

The oils really bring out the shapes, Rob. Now... report to the Kommandant for leaving your aircraft in the water for so long that marine life is taking shape. Is this what you're thinking of?

Ooh yeah, Rob! That is a huge improvement! Gaz

Thanks Rob! I'm not really keen on soldering, though I have the gear to do it. I did do the masts of a 1/350 scale warship with it... but I had to file away a lot of excess solder. I'm going to try to anneal the skirts to soften them up. I don't know if my little hand held propane torch can get them hot enough, though. Ideally, Schurzen on a kit would be held in place by photo-etch frames. I just haven;t been brave enough to seek that route, yet. Thanks Phil. Except for the orange box kits which I think are reboxings from somebody else, I haven;t met a Dragon kit yet that wasn't superb. Wish they'd crank out more large scale aircraft.

Looks awesome, Rob!