BlrwestSiR

CF-18. Here's what got me to take it out. An Aires cockpit that fits without making everything paper thin.

Well, if you want to make it worse, Rosso made one in 1/24 as well. They did all the stock versions including the one with the funky bass tube that filled the hatch area. They were somehow related/connected to Fujimi but weren't around long. I've been after one of their 1/12 NSX kits for forever after I melted the one I had.

Just toying around with something. Definitely do want to build it soon, just not sure how soon.

Cool! Now you just need the Hasegawa one. Alithough it was 1/12 scale.

Hey, I've got that RX-7 too. In fact I j ust took the body out and painted it. Just wanted to try out some paint techniques.

I don't have the X-02 but I did get the Hellhound when it first came out. Talk about a mean looking gunship.

Nice distraction. That M10 turned out great. Carl

That's definitely weathered.

What's a modle?

Nice start Bill. I think I took the same approach to the fuselage you have. For the folding wings, check the ZM website as there is an addendum to getting the wing join together. I can't recall if I followed it but I did get my wings to stay functional. Carl

Great progress there Peter. Definitely a different approach to solving some of the inherent challenges on an F-4 kit. Best part is it has worked out very nicely. Carl

Awesome paint scheme and job doing it Gus. It'll definitely stand out as the others have said. Carl

Nice, fairly compact collection there Gaz. I've gotten most of mine sorted with the basement reorganization. How do you find that Panther book? The External Appearance one? Carl

My LHS has a couple on their shelf. $60 each. One word of caution. We opened one and the funky rubbery gear bay walls were deformed and brittle/cracking in one of them so I suspect the other is the same.

Thanks for the great pics Martin. I used a white grey so definitely not pure white. I'll be giving it a light Wash that should tone it down further.

The Skyraider was an absolutely huge plane, especially for a single engine prop. I built the ZM kit a while back and it went together rather well. I've picked up a second one to do. Carl

Guess I'll have to go to the local art store and find a couple.

I think she could poke an eye out!

My mom and a bunch of her colleagues all took early retirement at the same time a few years ago. The bank they (and me at the time) were working at decided to make some big changes to the pension plan as well as their retirement benefits. The biggie was a cap on prescription drugs. My mom is a cancer survivor and my dad has had 3 heart attacks so they've got a fair share of meds to keep them healthy. So my mom took a hit on the financial side but kept the old benefits plan. That was almost 20 years. They would have maxed it out by now so it was the right call. Meanwhile my sister has been there since she was 16 so she can retire at 53 (I think or maybe 54?) with a full pension. Carl

Thanks Phil! I'll give that a try.

Thanks Peter! The white stripe I think helps to break up the monotone nature of the paint job. I masked off the stripes and did a pre-shading of the conning tower. I used the same vertical pattern as I did on the hull. I had to be careful masking around the railing that's near the base of the conning tower. I then painted everything. And with the masking tape removed. The primer coat definitely worked along with do the stripes first. A quick dry fit on the hull to get an over idea of how it looks.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement. I've been working away on other projects (brakes on our car, fixing the hitch, a couple car models) but finally had some time to get back to this. I painted the white stripes that go on the conning tower. These were used to identify boats that were in training. I used Tamiya white as a primer so I hopefully don't get any more paint lifting and then used AK white grey for the stripes. I figured this way they won't be so stark. Once that's dry, I'll mask them off and start on the main colour.

My Border Models Tiger finally arrived. I ordered it back in January. Not sure which slow boat it went on. I checked for the QC issues that Gaz mentioned and my kit doesn't have the shell hits so I guess I'm good. Some more detail bits for my Scammell and some crew for the Type XXIII on my bench. Lastly some zimmerit for my Rye Field Sturmtiger. I haven't used PE zimmerit before so hopefully it's not too challenging.

My vote is go for it and enjoy life! The time saved on commuting alone will be worth it. Eight years ago shortly after our second son Edward was born, Sue and I did some similar live/work calculations. Day care was going to cost us $36K a year for our two boys. I was making $50K so after tax, about $35K. I was burned out at work, had a boss who had it in for me so it wasn't hard to make the leap to stay at home dad. There haven't been any regrets on my part. Carl

Peter, the cockpit looks fantastic. Thanks for the tips on brush maintenance. I tend to kill mine off and I'm lucky if they last a year or so. My boys don't mind as they get a regular supply of my hand me downs. The nose gear bay looks great with the little touches of colour you've added. Really makes them pop. Carl