BlrwestSiR

Was it a stuffie? If so, hopefully not one of yours.

I masked off the areas to be painted black. There's also a small bit at the end of the tail boom that's red so masked that off and hit to with some white primer first. That might be visible in some of the pics. I also masked off the stub wings. Black and red are now on. Moment of truth. The good news is that there isn't any bleed thru under the masking. The bad news is that the canopy had some gaps around the edges where I glued it to the fuselage and some paint dust got in and is on the insides. If I could get the canopy off I could wipe it off. It's just stuck in place with static electricity bit I don't think I'm going to risk it.

Not quite music but I'll put a movie on and just let it play while I'm at the bench. Generally it's something I've seen before so I don't have to pay close attention. If I hear a particular scene I want to watch I'll pause what I'm doing, watch the scene and then continue on with my modelling. Mostly it's background noise for me.

Thanks folks! Had to take a pause as it turns out I didn't have olive drab. So i finally made it to the hobby shop today and picked some up. I got to work on putting some paint down. I started with the black areas of the fuselage and then realized it would be easier to mask off the OD and paint them after. So I've now got the OD on and it's drying. Hopefully late today I can redo the black areas and continue on.

Some nice kits there gents. I think 25 kits about covers my Tamiya shelf. Finally made it out to my LHS and picked up paint for the Su-27 in the blue digital scheme.

Dana Bell's latest book arrived today. Nice and comprehensive. Definitely a great resource for any Corsair fan. Carl

Hannah looks lovely. One reason we got Jimmy was I didn't want to be without a dog as Zoe was getting up in the years. She's 14 and having Jimmy seems to have given her a new lease on life. Speaking of Jimmy, he was at the vet on Monday for a checkup and is now 61 lbs. He's not even 6 months yet.... Oh and he loves car rides.

Thanks Rob! For the canopy I used Tamiya Extra thin Quick set cement. I put a tiny dab on the seam and let capillary action do its thing. I found that I needed a couple small shims to make the panels fit. I used thin styrene strip for that. After doing a test fit, I decided to not follow the instructions and I stead started with the rear side panel rather than the centre one. I could this had a much more positive location for fit especially with the shim needed at the front. I then added the front side panel, shimmed it, then the centre panel. Lastly I did the other side panels again starting with the rear one. I don't have Future so gave the panels a quick polish with Tamiya finishing compound. I haven't seen many builds of the kit so hard to tell if the canopy fit was operator error or not. Seeing how everything else has fit so well it could be.

I'm with Martin, go with floor heating. In floor radiant is fantastic. And since you're building it from scratch shouldn't be too hard to incorporate. My y wife regrets not doing it in our kitchen when we reno'd.

In going over the fuselage I found some imperfections that needed a lick of putty. I then finished the cockpit adding a couple armour plates(?) to the cockpit. Then, I got to the hardest part of the build. The canopy is in 5 parts and everything is a butt joint. First I added some details to the centre section of the canopy. Then I added the outer panels. Finally I masked it off ready for paint.

How is the Comet? I keep looking at that kit ever since it came out. Carl

It was originally on Scy-Fy in the US and Space in Canada but was cancelled after the third season. The fans petitioned Bezos to have Amazon pick it up and he did. So season 4 onward were exclusively Amazon. The authors have had a say in the adaptation so it has stuck fairly close to the books. Carl

Thanks Martin! I've been using them since they first came out. I like them as I'll think them down in the bottle and leave them that way ready for use. I find they flow fairly well and generally cover nicely. The only exception is the whites. Those I find too translucent which is interesting as their acrylic versions cover nicely. For white I usually just use their surface primer in the bottle.

Pennies aren't legal tender in Canada any more so it's a good way for me to use them up. The armour plate only goes on the one side of the fuselage. It's the same side that the underwing cannon is which is why I think it's more of a gun blast protection rather than cockpit armour. B-25s with the fuselage mounted gun packs had similar plating added to them.

And the Su-27 arrived today. Impressed that Canada Post is still delivering on weekends.

I hope that means you're enjoying The Expanse.

Wednesday to today! And I thought I was making good progress on the AH-1. Carl

Thanks Harv. I took a quick look at the masks. The instructions seem fairly comprehensive and they include a sheet of transfer film to help position the masks.

Just arrived today. Now for the kit to arrive.

I got some more work on the fuselage done. The transmission covers need a small tweaks to fit better. They sit a bit proud of the surface. There's a tab and corresponding recess on the panel. When I deepened the recess the panel dropped in better. I repeated this on the other side. The fuselage needed some nose weight so I epoxied in some pennies in the nose under the cockpit.. 9¢ deemed about right as there's nothing in the instructions about adding nose weight. I then attached the lower fuselage panels. The fit was again fantastic. Lastly I added the applique armour fitted to the port side. I suspect this is due to the cannon on the inboard station.

Thanks Rob! It's definitely going together nicely. Speaking of which, I got the cockpit in place. And the fuselage closed up. You're supposed to install the tail rotor at this point but I'm leaving it off to make painting easier.

Here's an example of the great fit. There are separate tail sections to reflect the change in the early and late versions of the tail rotor. ICM made sure to use a suitable overlap so the join is strong and aligned easily. I installed the engine bay into one side of the fuselage and then painted it interior green. I then added the gearbox(?) after painting all the bits. Back to the cockpit, I tried the Quinta seatbelts and they worked out nicely. Then I added the remaining cockpit details. I'm getting nearer to closing up the fuselage.

This is my first ICM kit as well. I'm really impressed by the fit and overall quality as well. I've got the Special Hobby version as well. The paint instructions are much better in the Special Hobby kit than the ICM so I've been using them on the build.

Next to a B-24, a Lancaster actually looks kind of small...

Their sprue cutters are very nice but don't drop them. They're easily broken if dropped. I snapped off one tip after dropping them. I ended up grinding down the other side to match and they're now usable but a bit short. I keep them for back up after replacing them. They're also sold by Meng but are the same piece. Sometimes the Meng ones work out to be cheaper. Carl