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Eesh, what a time to get sick. Get well, rest up and have a merry Christmas. Carl

Ernie, just a small change to my gift. Just change it to the online hobby shop of the winner's choice. Thanks and as @GusMac said, no need to rush. Enjoy your day first. Carl

Merry Christmas everyone! Carl

Thanks Gaz! Going to have to check them out. Carl

Ernie, glad to hear your first kit finally arrived. It's in way better shape than mine. I've got several broken bits in it that I need to contact Jet Mads about. I've heard their customer service is decent so here's hoping. Ernie is the guy who convinced me to: 1)try something with more than one wing 2)rigging and 3) resin The Viggen ticks 2 of the 3 I guess if you count the canards.

Looks great. Haven't seen it before. Any idea where to get the stuff? Carl

The best way to bend the wooden tracks is to steam it and then bend it around a form/jig until it sets. To do this, you can make a wood steamer using a length of PVC pipe long enough for the tracks to fit inside. Put the tracks inside the pipe. Place one end over a kettle spout and cap the other end. Slowly boil water in the kettle so that the fills the pipe with steam. Carefully remove the track and clamp it into place around your jig/form and leave it there until it cools and sets. This is commonly used for bending wooden strips used in canoe building so there should be some reference videos available on YouTube etc. Hope that helps. Carl

Paint and assembly are now done. Just need to do the decals.

It's always great to be able to share the hobby with your kids. I've got part of my bench reserved for the boys so they can build and paint when they want to. Carl

Nor should you feed too many to your child. Made that mistake when Findlay was almost 1. Then got to watch his diaper overflow as we were about to get on the plane at Heathrow. Sue was not happy with me.

That's a great pic of your friends. Sunny our cat is still trying to figure out if Jimmy is friend or foe.

Well, I was up at 4 and then 6 for Jimmy but at least he pee'd outside.

Nice assortment of kits there Rob. I've heard that Belkits are nice but to watch out for the instructions as they can be a bit unclear. I've done a couple cars where the paintwork has been just decals. Some work best when you use a hair dryer or a cloth dipped in hot water to get them to fit around curves and creases. Carl

And we're off to a great start! Carl

I ordered the late version from Hannants and the Special Hobby release is the same price. Oh well. Guess I'll have to pick up one of those too.

"Mistakes were made"

Another dog that liked tobacco! My sister's first dog Portia (Rottie/Shepard mix) would steal a whole pack of smokes out of guests' purses, eat the tobacco and spit out the filters. I had a get together one year and right after a friend lit a cigarette, she jumped up and snatched it out of his mouth and ate it. He said all he saw were teeth. She once drank a Mickie of peach schnapps. My sister's roommate came home to a very drunk dog.

Nice Rottie! My brother in law loves them. He only takes in rescues and sometimes they've been a challenge but he doesn't give up on them. He and his fiance currently have two, one's a long haired Rottie.

Thanks for the thread Martin. Here's our current menagerie. Sunny, my bench companion. He does like his German armour. Next up is Fursnake who's a Spitfire fan. She's also adept at overheating laptops and fridge surfing. Zoe, who gave us a big scare last month but is otherwise back to normal. The newest member is Jimmy. He's named after Sue's favourite coffee shop. Which is fitting as Zoe is named after a local bakery. Sue thinks he might be a big boy. He's nine weeks old in two days. This is when we picked him up this afternoon. Here's my first dog Checkers. With Zoe: She was an absolute diva but also one of the smartest dogs I've met. Tasha was Sue's other cat (along with Fursnake) when we first got together. She still misses her.

I know but Sue picked him so I don't want to scare her. He's 9 weeks old on Tuesday and I think he's around 15 lbs already. He was one of three in the litter which partly explains why he's so big but we'll find tomorrow at the vet what they say.

Meet Jimmy! Probably not going to have too much bench time in the short term while we get him acclimated and trained. Carl

Medium well burnt iron?

That's quite the prize and extremely generous of you Hubert. Carl

Wanted a quick build so started on a Bandai dreadnought. I'm planning to do the Prometheus.with all the stripes. Started painting on the red bits. And masking off for the grey. I'll see how it went tomorrow.

Looks good. If it's the tracks that are killing your mojo, just get a Dragon Wagon and throw it on the trailer. Done and done. Except for building the Dragon Wagon...