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Mark, all the best on finding something new. Enjoy the week, use it to recharge the batteries. Have some fun and then hit the floor running! Me? I've been a stay at home dad for almost six years now. Halloween 2013 was my last day at the bank I worked at. For me it a culmination of a number of things. My wife and I were looking at the toll of paying close to $36k a year in day care expenses for our two boys. I was burned out at work with a manager who kept backstabbing me. So we did the numbers and found out we could manage on my wife's income if we didn't have the day care costs. Which would have close to what I was making anyways. That made the choice easier. It's not for everyone and there are days when I would probably rather be at work than with a cranky kid but those are thankfully rare. Plus Sue enjoys coming home to dinner ready and waiting. Thankfully she says I'm the better cook out of the two of us. Carl

A bit of an odd omission. Good thing you saw it though.

The last name would be pronounced Chew. Why they couldn't just use that, I have no idea. As for English first names, my parents gave me one when I was born in Canada to go with my Chinese name. But, they left it off my birth certificate for some reason. So although my passport has my full name on it, my birth certificate and driver's license don't. Which makes things all sorts of fun when people are checking my ID.

Thanks Ernie! I've been wanting to get back at it for a while now but decided to try and finish something already on the bench before starting up again.

Thanks Ryan! Stay safe out of Dorian's way as best you can.

A small update for this morning. I started doing some more paint work. The fuselage interior has been given a coat of Dull Dark Green. The white rod along the bottom is for the control stick. KH has the control sticks go into a short housing front and back but it looks to me like they're connected by a tube so that's what I did. Next up, I painted and wired the engine. Since both John and Ernie mentioned not much is seen, this is all I'll do. Lastly, I painted a number of the cockpit boxes in black to get them ready for installation.

That is a great view for a workbench. The wiring on the IP looks fantastic as well. Carl

I think my stash started because I would jump from one model to another. Before finishing the first one of course! It got to the point where just about everything in my stash had been started in one way or another. I still have some kits I bought at least 25 years ago that were started then. I keep saying I'll get to them one day. Carl

Actually, they reserve playing this for the Psy Ops division. When the OpFor hear him playing they run for their lives. Think of Ride of the Valkyries from Apocalypse Now. Carl

Phil, I decided it was time for one of my bi annual bench cleanups. I was trying to see if I could make more space or move some of the tool holders around for easier access. That led to a clean spot, which led to another and then I was gone too far to stop. Don't worry, it won't last long. Carl

Ok, with the bench cleaned up I thought this deserved a new bit of progress. I had started painting the cockpit bits in dull dark green before calling a time out for no particular reason. So that means some bits are already done but more paint will be forthcoming. Looking at the seat, there's a pair of springs on either side that seem to be fairly prominent so I added them. I used some miniature springs and stretch them slightly before cutting them to length. I scratched up a replacement scarf ring for the tail gunner/observer as that was another bit that walked away. The radio gear is mounted on springs. Eduard makes you fold up a pile of PE discs to replicate this. Instead I cut apart some of the spring wire and glued the short pieces into place. More to come... Carl

Yup, Tamiya Spitfire IX with the XXX mod. Need to fix the barrels and continue with that one.

Well, for the first time in quite a while.... ...I can see the top of my bench! Now time to make it messy again. Carl

Phil, you forgot it Labour Day weekend. So it'll be Tuesday at the earliest. Other than that, great progress John. What paint are you using for the chromate? Carl

Probably. At least I'm fairly certain they'll be swapping the AC/DC out for Rush.

Time to call this one done! I'll try to get some nicer pics in the days ahead. Got to say it feels good to have this finished. It's not perfect but I am happy with the way it ultimately turned out. Carl

It's definitely a moulding flaw. It's too perfect with regards to the rivet pattern not being distorted and it being in the same spot on both sides.

Just checked my kit and it has the exact same bulge and depression. So thanks for the heads up. Carl

I took my boys to a nearby airshow today and watched a CT-133 fly around painted in my favourite scheme (the Silver Shark). Once home, I got back to the bench. The canopy got a coat of paint. In the famous words of Red Leader, "Almost there...." Just need to repaint and attach the nose gear doors as the paint job didn't come out so nice.

I think it's still one of our original ones. The Aussie ones have started to arrive already but I don't know if any have entered service yet.

Both?

A couple more pics of basically CWHM's complete flying collection. On the weekend, it's the Toronto Airshow where the Red Arrows and Snowbirds will be performing. Carl

Some 1:1 scale stuff today. Just my phone so not the bestest. My youngest was particularly excited about this flyby as he's working on the Airfix Vampire and I've got the CMK CT-133 on the bench. He wouldn't leave until the big star made her appearance.

You're welcome Harv! It's hard not to love Calvin and Hobbes.

Harv, here's some motivation for ya