GazzaS

I would much rather solder than rely on fickle CA. Had it not been for my 'recent discovery' of accelerator, I might have even more tempted to avoid it completely. Now, it's my number 1 filler. But I am still gonna back up as much as possible with a white glue. I've been using canopy glue because it's a little bit thicker and a little bit more tacky than your garden variety white glue.

That looks sweet, Ernie! You could pretty much argue that no defensive a weapons were successful without the bomber box. Even then, bomber gunner kill claims are generally a joke once compared to real loss figures. The USAAF would have had to drop it's daylight bombing campaign had not effective long range escorts appeared in 1943. It was wing-mounted .50 cals that enabled daylight bombing to continue. Meanwhile in Japan, most Japanese planes couldn't even climb to where the B-29 operated. And those that could were mostly armed with Japanese .50 cals and .30 cals. The late war types that had 20mm's were working with really bad synthetic fuels and were more too-little-too-late.

Nice clean paint work there, buddy! Always hated those things in IL-2 Sturmovik.

It's the world's baddest ass looking chopper. Can't wait to see it done.

I really, really hate binning kits. But I know sometimes there's no way out. I'll avoid as much PE as possible. But I am determined to master it or complete as many kits as I have. I recently received 3 large fender sets from Voyager for Pz III and IV/StuG's. But looking at the directions scared me half to death. Haven't touched it since.

Sweet!

Oh how tragic! To bin such a lovely kit! I know the PE was a PITA... but I had to finish, because the Marder III had been something I wanted to build since I was a teen. Mine wasn't pretty... but here it is: I never got the PE basket to sit perfect with all of the plastic around it. I've got a Tristar IIIM in my stash, too.

I have to say that I have sent more brass into space than NASA. Sometimes I don't even go looking for it.

I know that Marder kit well! I was so excited to build that kit, then all of the fun faded into a brass-colored haze of torturous and poorly bent tool clips followed by the aforementioned basket and clips to mount it to the engine deck. "I also hate the thin pieces you have to stand on edge with virtually no contact surface for the CA to bond to.": I have started reinforcing bonds with white glue once the CA is hardened.

Don't get me wrong... I love some PE details. Especially IP's and stuff on the side of the cockpit. I really take no pleasure in cockpit detailing. I'm not a steady hand when it comes to painting and it seems that no matter how much I look, the details in the model don't seem to match the images I find when I Google. I understand that detail gets left off for a number of reasons including space. I'm building a kit that has a sweet-looking Eduard IP. But there's no PE for the left and right hand consoles.... so I have to paint them myself. Not happy about that. A nice IP essentially hidden once installed flanked by two side panels with dodgy detail with my dodgy painting. What's the point? Even if I left the canopy open, you'd still want a dentist's reflector to see that sweet IP with it's PE levers and pull handles lovingly glued in by clumsy hands. The PE IP is quite a wonder. I'm pretty sure it was measured from a real IP from a museum aircraft. It was a devil to get in, though. I had to remove about a scale foot of interior plastic just to get it inside. I could almost read through the material that was left on both sides of the fuselage. So, I guess you could call that a successful installation. But I was nervous enough that I set aside the Dremel and finished with files and sandpaper. Then there's seat belts. Really lovely looking PE belts. But you cannot anneal them. And I always fear chipping off the paint by aggressive bending. I used my first HGW belts a month or so ago. Really loved them! But past PE belt results have never left me satisfied. The springiness in the PE belts made them hard for me to get to stick in all of the right places. Eventually I end up with belts that are stuck in one place and 'levitating' at the other end. Anyway... felt like grumbling about my least favorite process in aircraft modelling. Maybe you guys have some cool ideas that I haven't thought of? Gaz

That's just awesome, Martin!

What cages?

I wouldn't say it's sad. My first Sci-fi kit was the original USS Enterprise...dunno the scale. One of my Mom's boyfriends actually built it. I've only done two since, and neither were really great fitting kits, which looked ghastly once I was done with them. You can really only build what suits you. I'm glad nobody has ever asked for me to do a commission build... because if it were out of my narrow focus, I'd hate it.

I built an unlighted Klingon Battle Cruiser years ago before I knew how to make a plastic model look more interesting. Hand painted, it looked like crap. I didn't know anything about air brushing or weathering. I can see that the lighting is hugely important in making these models look good. Gaz

To me, the coolest looking space ships were always the Klingon Battle Cruiser or the Bird of Prey I know the long neck says "shoot here"... but I think they look awesome. And another thing... Why do Tie fighters need Solar panels? To heat the steam in their boilers? Gaz

Heh... very clever! When I look at spacecraft in movies or TV I sometimes try to reason out the reasoning behind the shape of the ship. I know...waste of time...

I wonder where the landing gear go on that thing? Seems like it'd be a logistical nightmare.

Google squirrel-in-toilet, and you'll find heaps of them. Seems to be a common phenomena. When I was in Camp Lejeune a large grey squirrel got into our squadbay. I caught him in a wool blanket and took him outside to freedom. The blanket saved us both from injury.

Happy Birthday, Martin! Sorry to hear your rear end is sloppy!

No fairing? Not to be difficult!

Great job Sofia!

After a few days of working on other kits, I've been able to spend a few hours adding the detail that was missing on the hull tub. It's not perfect, but it'll do: Now I'll have to decide how beat-up I want to make it. For instance... if the skirts were ripped off, how likely wo8uld it be that the tools would have survived on the sides. Cheers! Gaz

Thank you, Sir!

Thank you Rob! After reading how the panzer commanders kept their heads exposed to maintain situational awareness, it's become a standard pose for me to use. My figure painting skills are still pretty skill-less. But I hope to do a lot more. I'm not big into dioramas, but I feel a human body adds scale ad interest.