BlrwestSiR

These guys might have some good ideas:

I don't think this is what the Germans had in mind when they named their tanks after cats.

I see you're having to share bench space with your daughter. My boys have taken over half my bench.

Started flinging some paint since there's not much else I can do these days.

It looks like the border between Canada and the US is going to be closed to non essential travel in the next day or so. My cousin last night decided to postpone her wedding which was supposed to be in 2 weeks. She has family in the Netherlands and my sister and her family live in Wisconsin so they wouldn't have been able to make it either. Meantime, I'm hoping I can get my dad to stop working. He's considered high risk due to his health, works as an interpreter at the largest airport in Canada and someone on his staff tested positive for COVID 19. He can't be that scared of spending time with my mom could he?

No problem Martin. Yup, those are from the Italeri G kit. I've also got the D which I'm planning to build in RCAF markings.

Martin, if these wheels are any better than the Hasegawa ones, let me know. I can send you a set.

JE-J Jr is back on the bench. The engine is done and installed. I found some misplaced parts too.

The RCAF flew some N models too out of BC. If I get the chance, that's the one I'd build. Carl

PS. I lose stuff all the time that I've put away for "safe keeping".

If you still can't find them, let me know and I'll send you mine. Carl

Knowing Martin, he's probably already sanded them off and rescribed the whole kit while I was posting.

When Sue and I moved into our condo, I had to build in the hallway on my lap. Thankfully we were the only suite on the floor so I had it to myself.

Victory Productions has a couple sheets for early Starfighters. https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/VPD32006?result-token=lWJKD https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/VPD32007?result-token=lWJKD There's one with whitewall tires even. If the kit had been a G, you could have built an RCAF one. Lots of options there. Carl

Happy birthday ! Don't get too bimbed! Carl

At the same time, I was working on the lower hull and running gear. Modelkasten includes a spacer you add to the idler and drive sprockets to make them the correct width. I then cleaned up and painted the road wheels. The lower hull is assembled from plates so I did that next. I left the upper hull plate loose but placed it into position to make sure the bottom was square. The Marder I'm doing was initially painted in German grey and then over painted in Dunkelgelb. So I did the same. With the road wheels in place. I then painted the tracks and fitted them in place. Which probably wasn't the best idea. I ended up having them break in a couple places while adding additional parts to the hull.

Ok I guess it's time I started a thread on this build since it's gone beyond just a set of tracks. I picked this up since it looked like an interesting kit and both and the Modelkasten tracks were on sale. Knowing that the tracks would be the stumbling block, I decided to start with those. Modelkasten gives you a jig to help assemble them. You remove the track links from their sprue, palace them in the jig and then insert the individual pins into each one. To make things easier, the pins are on those long sprues and once glued in place, just trim them off. Otherwise, here's a pin on its own. I spread out the track building over a couple days and did them in 20 link sections. Each side has 94 links. Here's the leftover sprue gates from once the tracks were done.

Great to see these back. And yes, an RCAF one would be cool. Carl

There was a couple spotted outside a Costco in Vancouver buying Lysol wipes by the skid (they had 2 full skids). They told the reporter who asked them what they were doing and they said they're reselling it on Amazon for $89 a six pack. Which they were paying no more than $20 for each. Amazon found out and shut their account down.

Reduce, reuse, recycle! Back on topic, CWHM has decided to postpone HeritageCon to a later date. No new date has been announced yet.

Looks good Harv! Carl

I read that initially as composed, not compromised. Harv, either way, I'm in the same boat as you with my zipper chest. Saw the doc today for a checkup and my BP was up a bit so I'm back to my original dose of BP meds. Carl

Why does this feel so appropriate here? TP and a reamer. They go hand in hand...

Still no word on whether HeritageCon is happening. Supposedly the museum is debating it at the moment and the IPMS chapter hosting there is waiting on their decision.

Last night I went to visit some friends. Went to stop at the liquor store near their house. The lineup to turn into the parking lot was insane as there is a grocery store there too. So I just park across the street and walk over. People are fighting over parking spaces. It was worse than most shopping malls the day before Christmas. Nevermind there was a lineup to get into the grocery store. Meantime, no lineups at the liquor store, everything seems to be business as usual. People have their priorities all screwed up. Lucky for me.