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It really had been a quick build. I'm going to get back to it tonight and see how much more I can get done.

Halberd Models is back up and running as well. I ordered his Cavalier conversion last week from Andrey. Carl

Very nice there. I've only built the T-33 version and have to agree that they're not a shake and bake kit. But I still enjoyed it. Carl

I got my first order in from Spot Models in Spain. Very nicely packaged and the prices seemed very reasonable too. These should be a huge improvement over the Trumpeter kit ones. Wheels for my road going 935 project. Unfortunately the kit wheels are a much larger diameter than the ones in the 934 so I may have to shuffle things around a bit.

The Fokker is my favourite WWI plane so when I found the MikroMir kit I had to pick it up. I saw your build and the struts are a bit nerve wracking even with the Aerocraft brass ones that I have. I will have to just brave them one day and build it.

I got them before prices got silly. The EJ kits were on clear out from Tower Hobbies and likewise the T-bird kits at a local shop that does primarily RC stuff.

Thanks Rob! I'm quite happy with the results. I started on the decals. They're working out nicely. The ones on the tail have gone over the rivets nicely with a couple applications of Mr Mark Softer. That being said, I'm thinking of masking and painting the shark mouth. There's just too many different shapes to cover with it if I use the decals.

Ernie, nice progress Can the ejection seat be added after the fuselage is closed up?

Last bit of paint for tonight. I used a mask for the Army script that goes on the tail. When I was applying it I was concerned it want flexible enough to confirm around the rivets. Worst case if there was a lot of bleed through I'd just overpaint it and use the decals. Turned out much better than I'd hoped. I went back and did the centre of the "A"sand that's one more bit done.

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.