BlrwestSiR

There's a lot of fantastic builds on here. Thanks for sharing everyone!

Something out of my comfort zone but it seemed like the right time to build it. As mentioned previously, this came about through an effort by Here Clunk to get me to try building a biplane. The kit is all resin with the struts reinforced with metal rods. The fuselage even has alignment pegs moulded onto it. Like seemingly all Hawker aircraft (I haven't checked the Hunter), there's a tubular frame to the cockpit. My copy had a couple breaks in it along with some resin flash. Rather than try to clean things up and fix the breaks, I decided to give making a replacement from styrene rod a try. Here's the first one almost done. Carl

Years ago, Ernie sent me a Silver Wings Hawker Hart as an enticement to join the Dark side of the Force and build models with more than one main wing. I decided it was finally time to give it a shot. The cockpit framing is a bit warped and has some breakages so I've started on making new ones from plastic rod. Let's see how that works out. Carl

Took my two boys to it on Friday. I enjoyed it and so did they. There's a few "What was that ?" moments but overall I had fun. My sons enjoyed it enough they waited until it was over to run to the bathroom (they're 6 and 8). Carl

The box art looked nice?

Very nice looking Merlin there John. Even though a bunch of it is the same parts used in their Spitfire and Mustang kits it looks so much more detailed in the Mossie. Carl

If anyone hasn't won a prize in the raffle, please contact me and I will send you the Eduard BF109 that Dale won as per above. Thanks Dale and thanks again to Ernie plus everyone else that participated in any way. Carl

Ernie, I'm thinking I'll take the Dambuster version as I have the HK Lanc already to build VR-A in wartime. Count me in for that. This will be one big project. Carl

Thanks Joy! Carl

Wow, I'm completely speechless. Ernie, I don't think I could thank you enough. Not just for the grand prize, or overseeing this great draw, but also for making this place so much fun. You really do make it fun to be here. Thanks again!!! Carl

Merry Christmas everyone! Carl

Nice progress Tony. The one thing that's really stopping me from getting this is the rotor span. Helos can take up a fair amount of space. My Hind sort of proved that to me. It would be cool to have one next to it though. Carl

The Tamiya VIII is a very nice kit. I've built one as an VIII and converted a couple more to a VII, XI and XIV. Dale, if you're looking to add a V to your collection maybe start with the Revell II and use the AML V conversion set? I think it may out to be less than a Hobby Boss V would be before corrections. Carl

I'd feel right at home at your bench Dale. Carl

My sister and her family are visiting from Wisconsin for the holidays and they took the boys out to a Christmas market so I had some time at the bench today. Got the majority of the main decals done. There's some stencils left to apply and the 109 needs some legs. Hopefully I'll have both down before the end of the year. Carl

Looks like a very nice kit indeed. I'm partial to the box art one with the shark mouth. Can't wait to see this started. Carl

Glad to hear you're home for the holidays Martin! Carl

Thanks guys! I'm into the home stretch now with possibly my least favourite bit: decals. I started with the fuselage crosses and then the one on the rudder. Next up will be the wing ones and the exhaust and it'll be done.

I've got a bunch of Model Air paints that I've given to my boys to use for their builds. I kept getting mixed results with them they love them but they're mostly brush painting with them.

Jeff, the odd part is the lacquer lifted as well as the acrylic. The RLM 02 is AK lacquer and the RLM 70 is Gunze Aqueous. So I suspect there must have been some surface contamination. Here it is after touch up and with the white wing tips done. Carl

Whoops, started clipping sprues, then the glue came out, spent some time throwing paint with my airbrush and this happened: Oddly, had the same paint peeling that Jereon experienced on his BF-109 so touchups are coming... Carl

John, if the Mossie racks are suitable let me know. I have two sets in the spare parts box. Carl

I checked Grey Matter and MDC. I couldn't find any bomb racks for the Hurricane. The Fly kit doesn't seem to have them either. Tamiya's Spitfire kit had bomb racks as does their Mossie. I don't know if one of those would be suitable though. Carl

Wumm, I actually haven't started gluing bits together even though it's so very tempting. I have looked inside the box and I'm suitably impressed, especially for the price. The suspension is the same as on the Jagdpanther I built earlier this year and I didn't have any issues then so don't expect any now. The rest looks very nice. The only thing I'm not fond of is the indie track links. Each tooth is a separate part and unlike the Takoma ones, you've got to trim and glue them on one at a time. The RFM links are easier to assemble as you assemble several links at a time and they're workable. I haven't decided what tracks I'll use once I do start building it. Carl

Thanks Dale! It's a mecha version of an A6M Zero. Carl