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Thanks Dale! My blood pressure is way lower than it was when I had my heart attack. It was something like 180 over I forget but crazy high then. It's more or less normal thanks to the meds. Thanks Jeff! I'm sure under a closer look there'll be stuff that wouldn't pass muster but I'm ok with that at the moment. Just glad to be accomplishing something. Thanks Phil! I'm glad to be back and just taking my time.

Ernie, it's a great gateway drug you've given out. I did manage to build a Snipe before this but just having no pressure to throw AM at it and build what's in the box was the biggie for me. I haven't made much progress in the last few days but I'll be back to it tomorrow I'm sure. Today I had to talk my wife through how to change the winter tires on the car. She did fine and our son even came out to help. So hopefully a proper update tomorrow!

Some great progress already Ron. The seats look neat. Carl

The HK B-25 had the nose weight as an add on item. It came with zinc cast landing gear legs as a set. Some kits were sold with the nose weight and metal gear included but not all of them had it. I ended up with one of each so had to make my own nose weights for one. Carl

Thanks Harv! Yeah, I'm still getting used to how easily I get tired. Had it brought home to me when I probably did too much walking on Tuesday and had to take it easy yesterday. One day at a time. Carl

So Ernie, I recall reading that the .40 was created in response to the 9mm as a comparable lighter round. Meantime, the 10mm was in response to those felt that the 9mm didn't have enough punch compared to the .45. Any of that true/accurate? Carl

Fantastic looking cockpit John. Are those the kit PE belts? They were the reason mine ended up on the SOD before I ripped them out and started over. Carl

Amazing as always. The base ties it all together so nicely from a shape standpoint. Carl

Thanks everyone! I'm just working on it when I feel up to it. Nothing forced or feeling that I have to work on the kit. I think that's been helping me out. Anyways, I've made a bit more progress on the build. I got the inner framework painted and together. First up was the firewall, control column and fuel tank Then I painted up the side frames These were then added in place. I added the instrument panel and the IP decals at this point. From here, I have the seat, belts and engine. Slowly but surely.

Hopefully you get over the flu quick enough Martin. Carl

Great project Ron! If ever there was a national plane for Canada, it would have to be the Beaver. On floats of course. Carl

Ok, found something suitable to donate so please add an Eduard 1/32 BF-109E4 to the gift list. Carl

That's fairly evil looking. Does Charlie Sheen get to fly it? Carl

It was. Went together nicely following the instructions.

I've been home for a couple weeks now after my triple bypass surgery. Last week I made it back to the bench but I've been finding it a bit of a struggle to stay focused. Part of that is I'm easily tired which is not what I expected. Everyone says it's normal after major surgery but I've no reference so it's kind of new to me. Which is a good thing I guess. Anyways I started working on a resin Zero kit I have. I thought it wouldn't be too bad. The parts count was low and it seemed simple enough. I ran afoul of trying to do the chipping needed for the finish and having to use wire to peg the individual fingers. Setting that aside, I started on a Hasegawa 1/32 Stuka G2. The problem I ran into there was I have too much AM and it was dragging me down. I started working on fitting bits but trying to make all these bits fit was too much. Maybe down the road... So that led me to this kit. There's a couple reasons for this choice. 1- It has almost no rigging 2- I don't have any AM for it so it'll be 100% OOB 3- It should go together (hopefully) without hiccups. Unless they're self induced. 4- It has almost no rigging So here's the box contents. And here's where I've managed to get today. I've painted and started assembling a number of cockpit bits. Painting around the brass fuel tank isn't 100% perfect but I'm happy with it. I know there will probably end up being some faults and possible corner cutting on this build but I'm fine with that. I just want to feel like I'm enjoying things and not getting bogged down. The interior is primarily NMF so I'm just using Matt aluminum for that. I haven't come across any wood that needs to be done so that's an added bonus. A big thanks to Ernie who sent this kit to me last year as part of the Christmas raffle. Carl

The Hasegawa one in 1/32 is quite nice. I have it in the stash and was going to start building it but I have way too much AM for it and I want to do a simpler build at the moment. The later variants of the Trumpeter kit are supposed to be ok as well. There's an issue with the gun pods in the G version supposedly. Someone with more knowledge will hopefully come along and confirm or deny that. Carl

I've just started on it but I'm enjoying it so far. It's going to be OOB which is what I really need at this moment. I tried to build a simple resin Zero kit but got bogged down trying to do chipping. So i switched to a Hasegawa Stuka but it has way too much AM that needs attention.

Sign me up and I'll find something to gift as well. Carl

Ernie, please put me down for entry and I'll try to find something to contribute as well. Coincidentally, I just started on the kit I won last year from you. Carl

I can't believe it's been only two weeks since my bypass surgery and 10 days since I got home. I'm back to picking the boys up from school so 6 blocks total which I started today. According to Google Maps, it's 800m one way. Thankfully it's flat in both directions and not uphill. Well, except for maybe the step at our front door. It's the distance my physiotherapist wants me to be able to cover at this point so I guess I'm doing ok. Just need it to warm up a bit.

I'm doing well Jeff. I run out of energy a bit sooner (ok, a lot sooner) than usual so I don't push myself or anything. My wife is keeping an eye on how much I do so I don't overdo things. She's even taking the trash out and shoveling the token snow we got yesterday. The biggie is not lifting anything over 10 lbs. Which means I won't be working on the Lanc or B-24 any time soon. It just feels kinda nice to be at the bench. Even if I'm not accomplishing huge things. Carl

Been randomly gluing parts together. Thankfully they're at least from the same kit. Carl

For me, F-14A Tomcat would be hands down #1. P-38 Aichi Seiran Carl

Glad to hear from you Martin. Carl

Looking forward to this. Ill try to get the decals out to you as quick as I can John. Carl