BlrwestSiR

I've used lots of Montex masks and they generally have worked very well and I've gotten great results with them. Masks are my preferred way to do markings in 1/32, especially things like roundels and large codes. I think I posted a how-to on here. If you have any questions about how to do them, just ask. This is my Tamiya Mossie with painted on roundels and fin flash. Code letters weren't available at the time so I had to use decals for those. One thing though. Like all masks made from vinyl, they can deform with age. Mostly due to shrinkage after cutting. Here's a set of Montex masks for the Trumpeter P-40. I bought them for the Hobby craft boxing of the kit so they're fairly old, probably about 10 years. I can probably make these work if I take my time to line things up carefully but they won't always fit together perfectly. Carl

We ended up with thunder snow and I got to watch lightning and thunder as the snow came down. Definitely an interesting phenomenon. There's about 15cm of snow so only about half the worst case estimate they gave in the forecast. Time to dig out.

I've got a hair dryer relegated to my bench thanks to the handle being held together with tape. That's what I thought you had as well.

Glad to hear you're both okay. The same storm is due to hit us any moment now and drop 10-30 cm of fluffy white stuff on us.

Nice start John. I'm a bit surprised about the gunsight and that ICM missed it considering they did so many new parts for this variant.

Peter, don't forget Mark is in Europe so what he has may not be available in North America. Home Depot in Canada has LEDs where you can adjust the wavelength from 3K to 6k depending on the use. I imagine they should have those in the US as well. I'm using a pair of 48" work lights over my bench I got from Costco. They give off way more light than I used to have and were fairly inexpensive too.

The Catalina is progressing along nicely Chris. If I recall, the main wing is a fairly solid fit and I didn't have any alignment issues with it. For the tailplanes, it may be a good idea to run a brass rod and pin them to get a more solid mount. Revell did a boxing of Cousteau's PBY in 1/72 along with his Calypso.

Been wanting to see a Counter Invader build so this will be one to follow. Carl

A friend has a Series III 110 pickup. The ride was always incredibly stiff. One time a bunch of us went mountain biking and when we were done we all piled into his truck at the trailhead. 8 of us and our bikes crammed in. As we drove down the trail road, my friend commented that the Defender had never ridden so smoothly before due to us all loaded in there. Meantime my colleague's husband traded in one of the last Canadian Defender 90s sold here for the new one. I didn't say anything but that was a trade down in my eyes.

It's easy at the LHS near my work. I'd say more than 2/3 of the shop is dedicated to paint, tools and supplies with just the front section containing kits. Their Gunze section is almost a full aisle 15 ft long.

More Bond, James Bond stuff. Except it's the bad guys this time. Nicely done conversion for the recent Revell Land Rover.

Never built the Hasegawa one but I completely botched the Eduard version. Unless that was a Tempest?

The kit's not out yet and there's AM already for it and an important one at that. Great to see it fits and adheres well. Carl

Looking good Martin. Quite a bit of reworking there but you're making it look easy.

You can never have too many Spitfires. The new Airfix Spitfire kit is one I've been debating about getting. It wouldn't fit in with the rest of the Spitfires I've built (11) or the 9 still in the stash. But if I built it completely opened up, it could work...

Looks great and it's even better when you're having fun.

I think they're 1/48. The right side of that grouping has a 1/48 banner above the Mi-4 Hound.

Phil, some nice work on the cannon and grab rails. The later PT boats were definitely much heavier armed than the earlier ones.

Mines not finished. I'm still not sure where it went wrong but the dihedral on my build is out the window. Looks like a banana . Wing root gaps are fine so can't figure out where it went wrong. I think if you do it with the cowls open, it makes things much easier.

Gus, I've got the recent Tamiya kit which comes with link and length tracks. They had them on sale so I figured why not. Hope they fit.

Great Hobbies had their anniversary sale so I picked up a couple kits. First up was the Special Hobby T-33. I picked up Mako Shark decals for it earlier so I needed the kit. Next up is an Su-152 from Bronco. I like these turret-less tank/assault guns for some reason. Lastly, a couple add-on sets for existing kits in the stash.

Looks great Jeroen. The weathering looks really impressive.

The base looks great. I have the Humber car with twin Vickers in the stash that I need to build. I find Bronco kits are a bit like Miniart ones, lost of small parts and great details.

I didn't know the were working on one. That would be nice to go with the recent AH-64 kits.

I found the next mods for Martin's Jeep: