BlrwestSiR

Thanks! I think I'm going to get them. Fed up with the cat using my current setup as a scratching post Mostly I don't want to find him skewered after knocking all the tools over.

Got a quick question for you Harv. The little tray sections in the middle for the Tamiya cement bottles and the paint trays. Are those one piece to the tool holds in back or can the be left off and save some space? Thanks!

Harv, me too!

Good thing he wasn't annoying the bugs and setting fire to the dog! As for the Merlin, the wiring looks good. You may want to test fit the cowling frames to make sure it clears them though. I know that's been an issue for some folks.

Phil, I hope I'm a good enough teacher. Don't want to lead you down the Dark Side.

Thanks Martin! Speaking of seats, yours is on its way.

Ok, progress has been a bit slower than expected. Partly because my boys don't sleep any more now that they're home from school until most likely Sept. First thing I did was glue the fuselage front and rear halves together. I don't plan to show off the J-79 so might as well eliminate/reduce a potential step in the fuselage. The seam edges need a quick sanding to make sure they're free of mould lines. I then started on the bang seats. I'm using the Eduard fabric belts which come with some PE bits. I've started assembly of the seat on the left while the one on right shows most of the kit seat parts. The Eduard instructions are a bit vague on what goes where especially with regards to the replacement seat back. I ended up assembling the lower sections and then attaching the seat to that section. I also cut off the pour blocks from the Eduard resin burner can that you can see in the background. Next up I started cleaning up the MLG legs. They're not bad but the mould seams is quite pronounced.

Wheels & Wings had the AEG in stock. A bit closer than NZ too. https://www.wheelswingsestore.com/wnw32042-wingnut-wings-1-32-aeg-g-iv-late.html

Ernie, check out the Zacto Models intake for the Academy kit. It's very nicely done. He has both big and small mouth intakes. Carl

Oh, I don't think you'll be the first person that's made that mistake. I nearly did the same on my Mosquito.

Harv, the tracks look good as does the exhaust. It's nice knowing you're at least half done when dealing with working track links. Carl

GT Resin makes a small mouth intake for the Tamiya kit. I'm using that for my Polish F-16 build. You also need a parapack tail. PWMP makes a specific one for the Tamiya kit or you can try to find someone's leftover one from their Academy build. That being said, I found it easier to splice the PWMP tail into the kit one as I found it created a better overall fit. That's as far as I've gotten on my build. Those are the Model Maker stencils. The stock landing gear is fine from my understanding which would be the biggest hurdle. I'll have to double check that though. Carl

Some great pics. Thanks for sharing.

It still is. Just with the LSM touch.

A Canadian Lawn dart:

Michael, that looks awesome. Big too.

Already had my turn with the camo on my 109.

Not at all. Like I said, I couldn't find it again so having the link comes in handy.

I get the same reaction from the biplane guys when they see me take one of those out of the stash. Carl

That is one shiny plane. That's more or less the scheme I'm aiming for but RCAF markings rather than the CAF ones.

I found that when I was trying to figure out what serial to build. Thanks for finding it again and posting it.

Ok, so Martin and I have been talking about Starfighters lately. That sort of pushed this to the front of the queue on my end of what I wanted to start next. I won't be getting too crazy with the build as far as AM goes: There's a resin burner can, wheels and PE bits for the IP and seats. For markings, I'm using the Canuck Models decal sheet There's only one problem. There aren't enough markings in the set for a complete plane. I'm going to have to splice something together once I get that far in the build. Onto the subject I want to build. Originally I thought of doing 12641 which is outside the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. But the insufficient number of decals put pause to that. 641 would have been beat too as it's the same code on my CT-133. Then I read about 12666 which was nicknamed Triple Sick. In the book "Starfighter" the pilot mentions how after he crashed the plane, the ground crew would buy him beers as they were so happy they no longer needed to work on the plane as it had a rep for being a pain to maintain. Hopefully that won't translate into my build of her. Carl

Ok, onto the home stretch. I attached the beer kegs to the bomb racks. The rack fairing has a pin on it so I drilled a corresponding hole in the kegs and installed them that way. The braces had to be trimmed down slightly to fit. With that done, I had just the antenna and mirror left. Then while unmasking the canopy I realized that I hadn't done the cockpit door. So the outstanding parts are in the left. With those parts painted and attached, the plane is now done. For what is usually my go-to for a stress free build, this one took longer than I expected.

So true. I've yet to build their Mustang. Every time I come close, something else jumps out at me. The only thing I find fiddly on the Spitfires is the control surfaces. The PE bits to make them moveable are annoying.

All done! Onto to my next project. Carl