BlrwestSiR

I remember those kits. I built their Boba Fett back in the day. And definitely one of the last places you'd think to pick up a kit. Carl

Looks great to me. The Comet is one kit I kept going back and forth on getting. Now that Tamiya is releasing one, I may just have to finally get one. Carl

Really nice work. Are you hand painting all the various instruments and boxes? It's so neat and tidy. Carl

Need one of those too. Ernie, don't you have a 3D printed one?

I always wanted a larger scale VF-1 Strike Valkyrie from "Macross: Do you remember Love?". This is a Japanese anime film that came out back in 1984. Most kits available were in 1/100 or 1/72. There was a very expensive, very rare 1/48 garage kit. Hasegawa started making kits from the series and announced a 1/48 one which I immediately bought but only built this past year. Then in 2019, Good Smile Company came out with a 1/20 version! Needless to say, I had to get that one too. It's the biggest kit in my stash. Once I figure out how to light it, that will hit the bench. Carl

Flu is not fun. Glad to hear you're on the mend. The Helldiver is really living up to its nickname.

Group builds can be fun. I know I've been pushed out of my comfort zone a couple times when participating in one. I don't always finish on time though. That's a neat idea. Fairly open too. Carl

I'm seeing spots...

The 109 looks to be a very nice kit. Can't wait to see you start that after the Whirlwind. Carl

Rob, we love the Egg. This is our second one. We got our first as a wedding gift. It was Sue's suggestion at the time. We had a bad wind storm here back in May that knocked a neighbour's tree down. It knocked down the fence which hit both of our BBQs. The gas one was dented and our Egg ended with getting chipped. The insurance company replaced both and we finally got them. Let us know what you needed up making. Carl

That's quite the haul there Rog. Glad you found an F-4EJ kit and didn't have to pay a ridiculous amount for shipping. Carl

One more pic. Sue and my sister don't eat meat so I made them steelhead trout. Not sure if I made enough for the two of them.

Best that you avert your eyes then:

Really nice there Scott. I've got the Twogar in the stash. When I got it, one of the intake lips was broken off. I contacted Paul and he was going to drop a replacement in the mail for me. That was a couple days before the big fire. Carl

I started the Egg this morning at 830. It's been on since then. A nice steady 225° like you said. Here's where I am after 5 1/2 hours. Another 4 to go so not quite 10 hours. For brisket and most other big cuts of meat, I like to brine them for at least 24 and preferably 48 hours. That helps to keep it moist. Here's the brine recipe I use: - 2 tablespoon brown sugar - 3 tablespoon kosher salt - 2 tablespoon maple syrup - 2 tablespoon Chivas or other whiskey/bourbon - 2 cups water If I'm really in a rush, I'll wrap it in foil for a couple hours first. That'll speed things up but you don't get as deep a smoke flavour or colour.

It's time to finally break in the new BBQ. 15 lb brisket for a family get together later today. It just fits...

It's a nice kit. I'd skip the two seat conversion. The quality doesn't match the rest of the kit. I've got one here somewhere and I think @harv has one too that are not the best even after they replaced his. Carl

And speaking of which, I got the cockpit tubs glued in place. I then added the engine and intake trunks. Time to close her up.

Thanks Peter! I'm glad theyre done as it gets me closer to closing up the fuselage. Carl

Looks good Peter. Glad the fix worked out. Carl

Always nice to have a "go-to" kit to build when you want something straightforward. So the bigger question is, USN, USMC, FAA or RNZAF? Carl

Here's the decal placement and camo guides. Nice to see they're in colour and a decent size.

Definitely something to keep the Chicoms happy but the roundels are in the kit. They've even made them into two parts like they do with swastikas in Europe.

I think the best bet for any GWH kit is to get it overseas. The local importers unfortunately seem to charge a fortune. At least here in Canada.

And the belts are finally done on both seats. Which means the cockpit tubs are both down so I glued them together into a single unit. I started on the gear bays, the nose one is different from the single seater so no point in using the Aires set. I assembled the MLG bay but decided to switch tactics and not install the legs. I figure this way I won't snap them off before I'm done. With a slight change to the centre beam, I can install the legs afterwards. I filled a couple ejector pin marks in the cockpit and once dry, I'll get a coat of paint on. Lastly, I painted the intake trunking. For some reason, Italeri only include the intake trunks from aft of the MLG bay and not forward of it. So it's a bit...odd once you install it.