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Peter, I haven't used it for taking any of my build or RFI pics. It's up in our living room and since I pretty much have my phone with me all the time, that's what I use. Maybe my next bench re-do I'll add a their for shooting pics. I need to get it out and try it more. Otherwise I'll never get used to it. Carl

Peter and Rob, thanks for sharing all the info and tips about photography. It's something I've had a passing interest in but never took the plunge. Back in high school I had a friend's Nikon F4 for shooting the school yearbook and you're right Peter, it was an absolute tank. I had no idea how to truly use it, mostly as a point and shoot but it took great photos. My neighbour who was into photography eventually bought it from him. I bought a Canon EOS M100 a couple years ago for family trips and what have you but I still don't use it that much. I'll have to give it a try more. Carl

Awesome! Would be cool to see you hold one now.

Thankfully Sue's parents haven't compared me to any of her previous boyfriends or ex-fiance. And conversely, mine haven't done that with her. In all honesty, both Sue and I think that our folks are just relieved that we each found someone to get married to.

I'm their only son in law so does that make me their favourite by default?

The cats and dog go to my left and behind me.

Got these for Father's Day from my in-laws. I suspect they know my interests. Or Sue gave them a clue.

Having used the new bench for a bit, I've made a couple small tweaks to it. I finally put up the paint racks and started hanging up my tools and random detail bits. I've also moved the lights so there's less shadow now. On the work bench, I've also moved the lights slightly and put up a spare TV at the end. The T-34 is my son's most recent build. So I'm fairly set up now me thinks.

The ZM F-4EJ is $110 CAD at the same LHS that has the Tamiya F-4B for $135 CAD. They had the limited edition ZM F-4EJ Kai kit for $135 CAD.

I think I'm around the 200 mark. It's smaller than it was thanks to my boys raiding it and building stuff I most likely won't get to. I know one guy who has 5,000 kits in his stash and my LHS bought one at an estate sale that had 10,000 kits. As for what my wife thinks, Sue doesn't mind too much but is more concerned about where the finished ones would go. Carl

Very true.

So are the cuts on my fingers. Although those take a bit longer than the mats to heal.

What's funny about this is that Tamiya is the distributor for Italeri in Japan. They often put Italeri kits in Tamiya boxes sometimes with a few tweaks to them.

Gaz, thanks for sharing those pics. I've got one of the kits coming on the very slow boat from China so I'll be sure to check for that. Carl

Great start Rob. It good to hear Tamiya is finally giving you precut paint masks. Much of the actual car is built by Multimatic not far from me. For the finish, I would recommend doing a clear coat prior to polishing. This will give the paint more depth as well as protect the paint in case you get carried a bit too far with the polishing bit. Tamiya make some different grades of rubbing compound you could try. Carl

I ordered some Reskit burner cans from Hannant's and those arrived today. The F-5 ones are absolutely tiny compared to the Super Hornet ones much less those for the Mig-29. I also had a small order HLJ arrive at the same time. An F-16 Night Falcon This goes with that F-15J Kai I got earlier. Both are from Patlabor. I also got the ADFX from Ace Combat. It seems I'm slowly building a collection of 1/144 fictional aircraft.

Been there, done that. Didn't get the tee shirt though as my fingers were too stuck together to grab it.

Rob, I hope you start a WIP for the Ford as it would be great to follow along. The Tamiya lacquers really do spray nice don't they? Carl

That's for sure!

They are in last week at my LHS and they put them out over the weekend. $135 CAD so a bit more than Sprue Bros. But if you preordered it, they gave you a 15% off coupon for your next purchase. I still like the long nose Phantoms more so didn't get one. Maybe down the road we'll see. Let us know what you think of it Peter once you start.

With the news that Kitty Hawk was winding down, I decided to get off the fence and pick up an HH-60 kit. I ordered it from China on the third and it arrived today. Looks to be a nice kit and it'll go nicely with my Little Bird. Carl

I've tried a few different brands and some don't live up to the hype that's for sure. I'm still mostly a Tamiya paint user and now that they've got their lacquers, it is hard to not use them. I used Gunze for a while when it was more available and then it becomes hard to find here. Now there's more shops carrying it so I've started getting that again. It's handy as it's compatible with Tamiya. I've also got AK's Real Colors as they're easier to get than Gunze and have a nice selection of colours. The big change for me is that my sons are now building kits and I'm trying to find suitable options for them. Paint that's easy to clean up and not too pungent being the main criteria.

So a quick update. I've been using the compressor after the cleanup without any issues until last night. Looks like a connection has popped somewhere as it's got a slow air leak. Not from the tank but I can't see/feel where it's coming from. It would seem I cursed it by doing that service on it. Time for the spare to step in I guess. The old one is in the left.

Thanks folks! The mottling hasn't worked out as well as I hoped so I'm going to do some post shading ok it once I've got the whole lower side colour on. The port side is now done so I can start on the starboard one next. So far I've used about 1/4 bottle of Mission Models Gunship grey. Now I understand why my LHS said they haven't made any money carrying the brand. It seems to last a while.

Thanks for letting us know Maru. Condolences to his family. Carl