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Ok John, I'll take a look and see.

John, is that the decals I sent you earlier? If not, I can see if I have it. Carl

I just realized I have the ZM weapon set which has the M117 in it. I glued one together quickly.

Starting to put the engine together on the Stratos.

Maybe start with 5:1 paint to retarder. It does thin the paint at the same time so you don't want to add too much.

Isn't that why you have the M61?

Same here. Doing large scale car bodies and even bigger RC car bodies are the challenge for me. RC car bodies have the added challenge of painting them from the inside so you have to reverse your colour order.

Actually, that's all Mr Color Levelling thinner is. It's regular Mr Color lacquer thinner premixed with their retarder. There's an article on the Gunze website about it and how they don't recommend it for a flat finish. The longer drying time is great for gloss coats but not so much for a flat one.

The retarders are indeed great if you're using their paints for brush painting. Tamiya also has their own version of Mr Color Levelling thinner which is premixed with their retarder.

Man, I had a hard time finding a pic of me. Most are either my arms holding a cat, or my lap with a cat or my kids. Finally found one from last year two months after my bypass. Carl

Looks great Pete. Seems like it went together nicely too. Carl

Rob, it looks good to me. Just needs some wheels. Carl

The silver plastic definitely makes the details look a bit soft. I'm glad they've moved away from it in their more recent releases. Carl

Thanks Phil! The Panther and Jagdpanther didn't use narrower transport tracks the way the Tigers did. They just hung over the sides a bit in the pics I've seen. Carl

It can be a fiddly kit but I enjoyed it. The biggest thing to watch for is the wing fillet. Glue it to the fuselage instead of the wing and it makes things much easier.

Finally got a piece of wood to make a base for the Jagdpanther and railcar.

Looks great Rob. I thought the polished aluminum made it look like a die cast car. Carl

Just got a small package from the big H. A couple more pieces of the puzzle for the Lanc. And some masks for stuff in the stash.

I'm curious about the Zvezda kit too. I've only got their Star Destroyer and haven't done anything with it so no idea on how they go together. Carl

Very nice finish John. I always like the gloss finish you manage to achieve on your builds. Catl

Gus, I haven't tried the windshield so you could be right.

Working away slowly on the Stratos. It's an older kit so fit isn't perfect but I'm enjoying it. The engine block was done the first time I started on the kit. I've since cleaned up a bunch of the seams and mould parting lines. Here's the central tub dry fit together. The chassis definitely needs help with alignment.

I think they just need better packaging. The parts were all just loose in a box with no real padding to keep them from banging into each other. Maybe they've done that. I'll have to find out and get something new from them.

I ordered some of their rocket pods for my Mi-24 build. When I got them they were beautifully done with very thin rocket tubes. Unfortunately almost all the tubes were broken because they were so thin.

So not the Meng GT40 but for $75 I couldn't pass up the Trumpeter one. Should arrive later this week.