GazzaS

Oh so pretty racers!

Thank you, Sir!

My motto is: If you can't see it when finished, it's not needed. I throw away a lot of interior parts.

Thank you, Fellas!

Hi Everyone! I completed this build today. My completion photos can be seen over at the completed models section... or you can click on this link: Cheers! Gaz

Hi everyone! Casting away the chains of both historical and movie accuracy I decided to build this bird as the pieces came to me either from inspiration or out of the box. I took about 50 photos today and only about 10 came out as acceptable. And here they are: Thank you for looking! Gaz

That looks great... but "only on Hulu" How in the hell do I get hulu?

For me, it's not so much that the Alclad lifts in the regular way paint lifts, but just a bit of the sparkle remains on the de-tacked tape. I'm gonna try Frank's technique next time. Thankfully I only use metallic paints on little parts. Really... once you have learned how to cover both the convex and concave sides of an intake with one piece of foil...

Ryan, It's .5mm tube that is 3mm long. For the control surfaces the tube is 2.5mm long. Gaz

Got the struts and upper wing on as well as some of the plumbing. I've left some of the plumbing and the exhaust off until later, though. Started the rigging, too. I always start at the center of the model and work my way outwards. Sometimes I partially heat-shrink the cables so I can dry fit other cables correctly. Nothing worse than shrinking your cables and finding that they've crossed on the wrong side. Gaz

Excellently done!

Nice Harv! Glad to see you've put distraction behind you. Gaz

Very nice Dave! You always crank out stunners! Love the low contrast green/mauve camo. Is that the Aviattic pilot with 5 heads? Gaz

Too good! So much more can be done when you have accurate knowledge of the panel structure. Can't always trust the panel lines on a kit. Drooooooolll Gaz

Now yer talking!

But later every time you walk by and the real metal light effect moves with you making the model stand out from your entire plastic fleet... how many times could it catch your eye... how many times will you think: “I wonder how great that could have looked foiled?” ....sorry.... lost control for a second...

Party with Arty!!

That table looks excellent, Carl! The Oak strips make it look heaps better than a standard pine table. Gaz

Great to see her buttoned up, Carl! Always a big step ahead once done. I'm not a big fan of Mr. Surfacer for a filler. It always seems to shrink a lot just where I don't want it to. But for giving that rough cast armor appearance, it's tops. Gaz

Don't worry about it, Jeff. I'm not bothered. In fact, I'm glad to see how nice a model you can make. Here are some more images of what I'm up to: I'm using a vaporizor box to raise the model to eye height. Trust me, trying to look under that wing while it's below your line of sight makes you feel like a turtle with a crook in his neck. Two powerful LED lamps as well as a light background. The light backgound makes it easier to see into your eyelets. Pardon the over-exposure. I was trying to use the flash to make the eyelets and brass tubes easier to see. First blood... so to speak. The landing gear are rigged! Cheers! Gaz

That's a great looking model, Jeff! Clean, straight, all the angles look good. Looks flawless to me. Gaz

Panzer III/IV tracks are pretty easy. But drinking is always good! Those tracks look like a PiTA. But anything beats rubberband tracks. Gaz

OK...ok....OK!! You've talked me into to it. I'll be doing the venerable Tamiya StuG IIIG: It served with the 116 Panzer Division at Normandy. I gave away the rubber band tracks, so I'm gonna use some saved magic tracks on it. Gaz

I've seen it built by a guy in my club. Won gold with it at show last August.

I don't know your circumstances. But if you can build any model, you can do this. I have poor close-range vision (severely augmented by a visor). I have heart palpitations which make my hands shake (the doc says I don't need medicine). And am also known to be rather uncoordinated. (Last guy picked for teams at playground sports: Me) And as I said before: This isn't my first time. But it is my third. And there are plenty of ppl out here on the interweb willing to pass along their knowledge. This model isn't perfect. There are lots of guys at it better than me. But I have fun trying to do it, and I feel real good about it when it's done. If I ruin it (the fuselage and lower wing assembly have been dropped at least three times already) it falls under the columns of "fun" and "trying to get better at my hobby". An adventure with a small pricetag. If I ruin it... I can buy another or build something else in the stash. Remember: It's only plastic, fishing line, wire, and Super Glue... oh and a little paint and decals. Sure beats mowing the lawn and washing and waxing the car. Gaz