BlrwestSiR

Well, March break ended up with more adult supervision that I had hoped for. I guess you just can't leave your boys outside all day and hope for the best. In my typical non linear style, I started work on the rocket pods. To improve the kit ones a bit, I drilled out the tubes with progressively larger bits until the walls were more suitably thin. Then, in probably a bad idea moment, I'd decided to use the Part PE set for the cockpit. So much for OOB...and of course Fur the cat came down for her visit. One nice thing about the Part stuff is they're not prepainted so no worries about matching colours. The bad thing is the number of parts. Rather than try to sand off and smooth out the kit cockpit panel, I just made a new one from sheet styrene. With a cat less in the way... Here's where I am at the moment. Each panel is made up of two to three layers to get the multicoloured end result. So that's probably around 20 very tiny bits of PE. Like I said, maybe a bad idea for a quick build. Carl

Thanks Rob! The Uhu fuselage is somewhere in there too. The Eduard set looks nice too. Probably more manageable size wise. Peter, John is on another level. The only person I know faster was Russ from LSP.

Thanks! I've always liked the different tiger stripe paint schemes, especially the low vis ones. I've got a CF-18 to do soon and possibly a Mig-29UB as well. Thanks Martin! Your dog?

Yup!

Really cool looking Gaz! Carl

Guess what's made it back onto the bench? Yup, a big ol' pile of wings. I'm not going to make the deadline for the HK group build but really should try to get something finished. Carl

Amazing wood effects there Ryan! And thanks for explaining your technique too. Carl

Thanks for noting the differences between the two kits. I've managed to get a G-6 kit ordered. Oddly, Australia was the cheapest I found, even with shipping to Canada. Carl

Uh oh, I'd better get myself checked out then as I have one of each on my bench. Or do they mutually cancel each other out? Carl

That was a hard one to read Jeff but like the others have said, a very courageous call for your friend to make. Really makes you pause for a moment. Carl

You're going to have fun with that kit Mark! They're truly incredible as far as the detail they can cram into them. I have their Porsche 956 and the brake calipers have separate brake pads and PE retaining clips. Needless to say, I'm not up to starting it. Carl

Ok, the blast tubes are all installed and even painted. I then cleaned up a number of ejector pin marks on the tray itself. With a coat of silver paint on and the gun pack fitted. Now onto the guns themselves.

Thanks Peter! It's following along with your build and some of the issues that you ran into that made me hesitate a bit. Hopefully you'll get back to your build one day. I still have stuff I started 20 years ago.

I'll get one out to you tomorrow Martin. Carl

Good luck tomorrow and hope it's nothing serious. If you need some additional Canuck humour to cheer up after Martin, let me know. Carl

Nice! My wife wants a Hellcat. When I asked what about the boys, her reply was they were now able to put their own seatbelts on so no big deal. Now to win the lottery so we can get one.

That is one wet kitty. All I've got to contend with is ours getting covered in plastic shavings since she's in my lap when I'm at the bench. Carl

On both my 2006 and 2008 Si's, you could rewrite the message that came on the radio when you started them up. So instead of "Welcome", mine scrolled "Buckle up and Hang On" I don't think anyone but me noticed it but I liked it. Carl

They would be a nice pairing. Carl

Why does Gaz's threads have all the women dropping in on them? Back on subject, nice progress so far. That is a tiny(!) cockpit. Carl

Thanks! I found the instructions for both kits online and can see the canopy differences. So I'll probably just track down a G kit for this. Carl

Ernie, I believe Hannants will be getting them in. But the decals are.no longer included in the conversion. You have to buy them separately. Consolation there is they now have Spanish markings as an option. Hobby Search in Japan has it listed too but there's quite the markup on it. Carl

Ok thanks for the info James. I figured if it would work I have an F-4 kit in the stash so it would save me buying another kit. Carl

James, I don't know enough about BF109s but could you start with a Hasegawa BF109 F4 kit instead? That way you don't have the multiparty fuselage. Carl

So neat and tidy. Can't wait to see more. Carl