BlrwestSiR

Thanks for sharing the pics. Looks like a great day out indeed. The Chevelle looks purdy. Carl

Can't wait to hear your feedback on the kit Ernie and John. It's like buying a car and finding out the passenger side mirror is optional. Oh wait, that's what Honda did in the '80s. Maybe what Infinity could have done is offered two versions of the kit. One as a plain Jane basic kit, the other as a fully loaded special with the extra detail sets in it. Like Eduard does with their Weekend and Profi sets. Carl

1. Remove sprues from clear bags. 2. Place back inside kit box. Do not give in to temptation and use a larger box as it can throw off the fit. 3. Loosen bottle cap on a full bottle of Tamiya extra thin cement. If you're in a pinch, you can use regular Tamiya cement but no more than 1/2 bottle. Lemonine cement is out unless you like citrus. 4. Put lid back on box. Shake the box in a semicircular motion. If building a Spitfire, while shaking the box, repeat the sacred chant "Takka! Takka! Takka!". 5. After 1 min, open the box lid and pour a couple drops of the lower camo colours. Shake for 10 seconds. Then open the box and add a couple drops of the upper camo colours. Repeat. Let dry for 24 hours before the next step. 6. Finally cut apart the decal sheet and put those in the box. Give it one swift up and down motion. This is why Tamiya decals are so thick. They need to withstand the high G load of application. 7. For the last time, open the box and now remove your completed Tamiya kit and admire your workmanship.

Tamiya is supposed to be coming out with a revised Tomcat later this year. It's going to have new wings with lowered flaps and slats. Might be worth grabbing one then. Carl

Peter, I hear ya. Not always easy slogging through a kit that fights you at every turn. Hopefully it won't be too bad. Carl

I decided to get another Kitty Hawk Little Bird. I have their AH-6J kit in the stash already so decided the M was different enough to warrant getting. HLJ recently had a sale so I took advantage of it and got the Hasegawa Jota.

What Martin said!

Thanks for the update. I can't believe you basically started over on the nose. Looks absolutely stunning along with the rest of your work. Carl

Peter, great to see the start of your build. It really amazes me how Tamiya does things their way. Sort of like how Honda used to be when it was run by the engineers. I'm looking forward to seeing what you make of the Kits World seat belts. Carl

And case in point. It looks like I got a bit too heavy on the hood and the paint has pooled a bit. This means I'll have to strip it back and start over.

Rob you can get streaking and variations in the colour if you're not careful. This time around I thinned the paint quite a bit and did light coats. This gives you a bit more margin for error. Also use as wide a spray pattern as you can. The one challenge is that if you make a mistake, you have to start all over again.

I do now. When I run out I know where to get some so thanks for the tip Martin.

Strings Rob's excellent Ford GT, I've pulled a couple cat kits out of the stash/SoD and thrown some paint at them. First up is a Subaru Impreza WRC. I had to fix a lot small blemishes in the original paint and redo it. It's come out much better this time. That encouraged me to try painting a Tamiya RX-7. The base coat is Tamiya Titanium Gold. I've now started putting on layers of Tamiya Clear Red. I did this years ago with a 300ZX kit and it turned out great. Then the paint fully cured and spider webbed. Tamiya eventually changed the formula of their clear paints as it started to happen to other modelers.

I think I've made mine extra hard by swapping some Special Hobby bits into it. We'll see when I get back to it.

+2 but mine's not in the stash so much as it's scattered in various locations around my bench. Need to get back to it one day. Mark, you can glue some of the engine panels on and still be able to remove other ones if you want to be able to display the engines when you're done. Carl

Can't wait to see more Ian. I have removing ejector pin marks so I'm not looking forward to that bit. Catl

Nice to see these F1 kits on here. It looks like you've made a great start to it. Carl

I definitely consider myself fortunate to have an LHS that is not only fairly close by but also well stocked and having a knowledgeable staff. I picked up another of the limited edition kits. It still has the tissue paper wrapping. I'm thinking of finding decals for the blue camo schemes if I can. Carl

Happy birthday Martin! Carl

Rob, Blade Runner is my absolute favourite movie. I wasn't old enough to see it in theatres when it first came out. A local TV station every New Year's Day showed is as the first thing after the count down was done so I'd watch it then. Sue surprised me a few years ago and got us tickets to see it in a theatre. That was great. Hopefully you can find a kit as it's probably the only one that will ever get issued.

Thanks Rob. It's indeed a Subaru and my favourite one. Hubert, there's always something to break the rules.

Rob, that's a fantastic paint job and build on the GT. I guess I can blame you for me digging this out. It's the same Mica Blue that you used on your GT.

Well, some good news. My Post-It notes masking worked. I did a section at a time and got the upper hull painted. There's a couple small touch ups to do but that's it. No more major paint lifts. While that dried, I started adding the detail bits to the conning tower. That's almost done and ready for a coat of paint. I'm going to prime it with some Tamiya first before I do the colour coat.

The passion is definitely there I'd say. Can't wait to see the pics Peter. Carl

Fantastic paint and polish job Rob. I wish some of mine came out that nicely. Carl