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There's 12 in the second ZM set. Sprue Brothers has it in stock if your mugging is unsuccessful. http://store.spruebrothers.com/product_p/zkmsws007-m01.htm Carl

Great problem solving Ryan. I've got the Sea Hurricane in the stash so this will come in handy. Carl

Ernie's coreect. The Mk81s are in the bomb set for the A-1J Skyraider set SWS07-M1 http://www.zoukeimura.co.jp/en/products/sws07_A1Jskyraider.html Carl

Getting close to being back on the road. Just in time for winter... Carl

Thanks guys! You're right, I'll know it's there and the work I put into it. So after messing around with the assembled nose for French Kiss, I noticed I was having issues getting the gun barrels to align. The problem was I couldn't tell what was giving me issues as I'd sealed it all up already. Not to mention packed it full of pennies. Rather than repeating this issue, I decided to test fit the barrels to the partial nose for Betty's Dream and see what ,if any issues there are. It turns out the .50 Cal gun bodies sit slightly high. So rather than try to tweak each one and make them all sit level, I installed a couple pieces of styrene instead. By passing the gun barrels through their openings, I was able to mark the end points on the styrene and drill holes accordingly. With that done, I finally installed the nose onto the fuselage. I forgot to take some pics at that point as I was finally able to start painting. So here it is with a first coat olive drab on

Looks really good John. I never noticed the gunsight before so thanks for pointing it out. Carl

I got my bench back tonight and got back to work with some paint flying. Whoop, looks like I painted the wrong plane Here we go: This is using the new AK Real Colors RLM65. So far, I have to say I like the way it sprays. It's very similar to Gunze Mr Color in that regard. Unlike their armour colours, it also has a satin finish to it. Carl

I just picked up some paint for my BF 110 so I'll be using those shortly on my build. I'll let you know how well they work out.

Will do Harv.

So here's a quick update. The stash/collection has been sold as a single lot. I don't know the selling price as it wasn't my business to ask but my LHS were the buyers. They get possession in a month or so and then they'll be slowly going through it and getting it ready for sale. I've already put my wish list in so we'll see what happens. I was told that it's going to take them time to get it organized and it won't come into the shop all at once. Which I said was fine by me. Spreads out the pain to my wallet a bit more. Carl

Here's what they're working on. This is supposed to be Jeanne d'Arc heli csrrier Findlay wants to build more ship models so I'm going to have to find something better quality for him. I'm still shocked at how small some of the parts are and then the size of the sprue gates holding them on. Edward is.further along with his Folland Gnat. The paint scheme is his choosing. I have to say I'm really impressed with how well both of them have done on their first glue kits. I don't think I could've done as well at 5 1/2 (Edward's age) much less Findlay who's 8 in 2 weeks. I'm going to have to keep an eye on my stash from now on.... Anyways, I think I'll be able to get back my bench tomorrow. Carl

My boys have usurped my workbench from me so it'll be a bit later this week before I get some bench time. The little guy is building an Airfix Gnat and his brother is building some ship shaped blob of plastic. Sadly it's not a great kit but he is absolutely persevering with it. Carl

Thanks Nigel! I haven't seen the conversion set you're referring to but I've also heard it's quite the mess. And that was if you were lucky enough to actually get your order. Revell is reboxing this version of the kit so I don't know if they'll end up doing a night fighter release later.

Looking at the instructions for the D night fighter I found online, it looks like they fixed a couple of the errors but have made new ones! https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/m/image/10132823

For a moment, I thought you already had the cockpit done and the fuselage together. You know, building at the speed of John. I've got the same kit somewhere so it's great to see your take on it. For curiosity's sake, here's a comparison of a couple AM cockpit sets with the stock one. The PE one on the left is from Part, the middle is the CMK and the stock panel is on the right. Which leave me the question of what did I end up using in my kit? Carl

Back to the fuselage, I glued on the wing spar. At this point I did a test fitting of the nose cone and noticed a slight step between it and the fuselage. I was going to leave it and then sand it down after but when I fitted the lower wing centre section and noticed the same step u decided to widen the fuselage slightly. There's a small insert panel on the bottom so I added a plastic shim on either side. This gave me the width needed to eliminate the step. As no one else has run into this issue, it may be operator error. I did find another mistake in the instructions though. In step 10 you're supposed to assemble the tailplanes and tailwheel as a subassembly before attaching it to the fuselage. If you install the tailwheel, you won't be able to attach the tailplanes. The tailwheel mount is on the rear of the fuselage and since the tailplane is designed to slide on, the tailwheel has to go on after. So I'll be assembling everything but the tailwheel.

With the fuselage closed up, I went back to the MLG bays and gear legs. At this point I noticed that I'd painted them the wrong colour. So out came the RLM02. Much better. Then I installed the gear bays into the lower wings. After scrapping off paint on the gluing surfaces the fit was fine. Test fitting the upper wing, I had a slight fit issue with one side. I solved by scraping away some plastic from inside the nacelle. Then the wing halves were glued together.

It did indeed. I was pleasantly surprised. I think it'll be worth it. Thanks Gaz! Yea, I would not want that job. Plus manning the radio at the same time.

Thanks gents! I managed to get the fuselage closed up. The cockpit was a nice fit without any issues. The kit is really going to together well. Carl

Ok, I finally got the cockpit all finished. It's now ready to go into the fuselage and then I'll be able to close it up. Carl

Fantastic looking interior James. You know us Canucks Ernie, always sneaking in changes when no ones looking!

I believe it should be XF-71. Carl

I haven't tried them as I use Aurora Model Shop on eBay. One reason is that they include the shipping in their cost so whenever eBay has one of their discount coupons it applies to the total cost and not just the price of the kit. Glad to hear they're another option for getting kits. Carl

It's not actually CA superglue. Here's what I used: They use it primarily for giving the eyes on dolls and figures that glossy look. But it works well for replicating glass. You use a toothpick to apply it where you want and then shine the included UV light on it to harden. Something very similar is Bondic UV which I've used for the same purpose. This is also probably easier to find outside of Japan. It's a little thicker but otherwise it works the same way. I've even used it to make those small formation lights on wing tops and tailplanes.

Sprue Brothers has the E on sale today as part of the Deal of the Day Special for 64.99. Should be good until tomorrow. Carl