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Bill, nice to see what it looks like. I've got two of them on the way but everything I read says overseas shipments to Canada are completely screwed up.

I ran into my first problem on the build. ZM give you a counterweight that goes inside the forward fuselage tank. For some reason, the cover plate won't fit. It fits perfectly without the weight in place. I thought it might be the placement guides on the bottom but nope, the weight itself is too tall. Looks like they didn't machine enough off the top of the weight. There's enough room under the cover plate that I won't bother joining the two together. Since no else had mentioned this issue, I'm figuring it's a one off. Meantime, I started work on the lower fuselage. The rear section had an internal walkway that will be visible from the topside so I painted that with a wood pattern. Unfortunately the wood graining came out a bit on the light side. I then fitted the lower ribs. This goes above the ventral gun pack. After installation, it confirmed something I was concerned about. I had added the ZM PE details and brass blast tubes to the gun pack. They create just enough interference that the gun pack doesn't sit flush. Leaving the guts out, everything fits perfectly. With the framework and blast tubes in, there's a slight gap around the front and about 1/2 way down each side. I might be able to clamp it or I can leave it removable and live with the gap. Another option is leave the internals out and display them separately.

Hopefully I'll be able to still make Vegas next year. Carl

Trying to get a decent gloss finish is the biggest challenge. Preferably one without dust or hair in it too. It's kind of fun building a model of something we own so give it a shot Phil. So far, these are the models of some of the cars I've owned that I can find: - 1991 Honda Beat by Aoshima - 1988 EF Civic by Aoshima - 2000 EK Civic by Revell - 2002 EP Civic by Fujimi - 2006, 2008, 2009 FD Civic by Interallied and Hasbro. That last one is a Transformer. Just need to find a 1997 Dodge Caravan, 2011 Scion XB and and 2009 Honda FIT/Jazz and I'll have a model of every car I've owned. So far. Carl

Ok, the GT-R is all finished. As a kit, it's ok. Mostly press fit or screw together and heavily simplified. But being the inlet option, it's better than the other 1/12 Skyline GT-R kits out there as they say.

Try to find a roll of Dolphin tape if you can. I got mine from the paint store near my house. It's the same stuff as Tamiya tape but about $5-6 for a roll that's the same size as regular masking tape.

Really fantastic work on the dozer. I wonder if they had chromium in the paint. Toronto police cars used to be a very bright yellow as they used chromium. Eventually they switched to white as the chromium turned out to be quite toxic. The old police workshops ended up being declared as contaminated and were forced to close. Carl

For my next large scale car, a nice little Honda.

Almost done.

Don't forget smooth saucer or engraved one. They made both but I believe the smoothie is an add-on and sold separately. Carl

Thanks Ernie! Actually it was Sue's idea to get married. She asked me first. The best part was our parents were all for it. In fact, mine told me I no longer had a choice as they liked Sue's parents so much. Carl

Ok, the cockpit is pretty much done now and ready to be closed up. I painted and added the details to the cockpit sidewalls. The light grey sections were panels I added after the fact. They won't be seen thankfully. I then turned my attention back to the rear fuselage. I assembled the dorsal cannon. This was then installed into the fuselage. Not much will be seen once completed. I may leave the cover panel loose. We'll see.

Looking good! The finish is really good. How much touch up on the silver have you done if any? Carl

This pretty much sums up the reason I've been spending more time on LSM than LSP. I build more than just 1/32 aircraft and LSM makes it easier to find stuff and enjoy the other subjects that interest me. Carl

Really great progress Rob. I think I reinforced the main gear on my build but the traditional way of just using a metal rod. The nose gear on mine was partly scratched as the kit one didn't look like the one in the Kagero book.

Yup, Tamiya Gun Metal. It's the first time I've tried warming up the can in a hot water bath. What a difference.

Gojira makes a return engagement. The weather has been just about perfect for spray painting outdoors so I got her done. Might have her finished this week.

Thanks Kevin! The Kamizukuri belts are my go to belts when I need something fairly common. One reason is the cost as they're much cheaper than HGW belts. One of my favourite aspects of them is they have carefully arranged the buckles on the frets so that you can lace them up without removing them first. This makes it much easier to handle them. The ones in the pic are a Sutton harness but gives you an idea of what I mean. You have to paint them yourself so that could be a bonus. The biggest downside is the buckles are made from plastic so you have to be a bit more careful. They don't have the detailed printing that the HGW ones have on them either. They also make a basic line where the belts are paper like the RB ones. Lastly, they have some of the best instructions for how to put them together, including a lacing diagram showing what belt goes where and how it threads through which buckle. Hope that helps. Carl

Phew, I was worried you'd break out a roller.

X 3!

I finished up the belts last night. Nearly used the wrong buckles but was able to fix my mistake. With the belts done, I installed the seats. I have some more small details left but the cockpit is almost done.

On an 11' model, I can see using latex paint and even a Wagner power sprayer. I certainly wouldn't want to airbrush something that big. Plus I think the Enterprise filming model was made from wood so latex again would make sense. Maybe check out Starshipmodeler.com and see what they suggest. When I had the 1/350 Refit, my plan was to do the base in white and do the Aztecing in pearl. Never got around to it and sold it. Carl

Thanks everyone!

Have a good one Harv!

On a Saturday that looked pretty much like this one (clear skies and sunny, not crazy warm) 10 years ago, Susan did the craziest thing. She said "I do" when asked if she would take me as her husband. I didn't have a choice according to my mom.  3 homes, 1 major renovation, 5 cars, more bikes than I can count, 3 cats, 1 dog and most importantly, 2 crazy boys later, we're still together. We still haven't killed each other, involuntarily or otherwise. So happy 10th anniversary my Love. Looking forward to many more. Carl