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Well, this is the start of week 2 and it shows. The house is cleaner, I've got time at the bench and my boys are sleeping earlier/on time again. Carl

Hey, so was I!!! Although I'm not sure if I need any TLC. My wife might say differently though. Carl.

Thanks! I think I have an Armorscale barrel somewhere. If not, I'll look around and see what I find.

Great problem solving there John! I sometimes wonder why model companies hate their customers and do things like that which make you crazy. Carl

Since I'm waiting on the LCM crew to arrive, I figured I might as well start on the cargo. I decided to go with the Tasca Firefly Vc for this bit. I noticed that the dimensions were a bit off... Just kidding, here's the right kit. The lower hull is the plate style so that was first up. The front transmission housing: And in the LCM hull which gives a nice size comparison. Carl

Thanks guys! I'm really getting back into it, so hopefully I'll get them done by the end of the year. Which year, we'll see of course. Carl

Peter, can't wait to see you work your magic on this. Carl

Just catching up on your build Ernie. Nice to see the progress you're making. Carl

Last update for tonight. I traced the waist turret seat onto sheet styrene and then cut it out. At this point, I decided to add the small lever that's visible in one of the pics Martin posted. So that's it for tonight. More on the weekend. Carl

Thanks Martin! That shouldn't be too hard to reshape.

I started finishing up the tail gunner's position. After test fitting it into the fuselage, I checked the fit of the ammo belts. The kit ones are missing a bend where the guide chute goes along with the lack of a booster motor. I used some soft metal ones from Master Details and added the guide chute to it. As they were too short, my original plan to use the kit parts that go from the breech to the booster motor and then join them there. The kit belts don't have the correct bend in them so I decided to use a shorter length of Master Details belts there bent to the correct shape. The kit parts are on the top and bottom of the screen with the Master Details ones in the centre. Now to make the booster motors. Carl

Thanks Martin but I had one pair built first so it was easier the second time around.

Thanks! It was more than I anticipated. Plus I realized that not much of it will be seen after the fuselage gets closed up so I simplfied it a bit on the second fuselage. Thanks Jeroen! My first try at preshading.

Great to hear Harv! On the Tse Tse, I haven't done much recently. The only bit missing is the ejection port for the shells. If I don't bother with the internal shape, then it's ready to go. Just cut a hole in the bomb bay door and that's it. What do you think?

Here's another one. This is also a Dragon kit but the more recent one. I used the Black Dog hessian tape conversion on it. Looking for appropriate crew figures for the LCM, I've found that Italeri make a set of RN crew figures for the Vosper MTB so my LHS has ordered a set for me. Carl

Awesome! Carl

Thanks Harv! Something different for me. A boat!

They are very nice kits indeed. Here's the first Firefly I built. It was done using the original Dragon M4 Hybrid kit and their second version of the VC Firefly.

Well, Ernie and Jeff beat me to it but definitely would like a 1/32 CF-100. Saw the Snowbirds perform twice this past weekend so a Tudor wouldn't be a bad choice either. As for 1/35, maybe a P.1000 Ratte? my kids could drive it around once it was done. Can't think of something in 1/48. Carl

Lovely model as always John. Can't wait to see what you build next. Carl

The engines are done: Making sure they were seated fully in the cowlings: With the exhausts installed and ready for the outer panels.

Thanks! Just about everything aft of the bomb bay is scratch built or AM. Here's a pic of when I first started on the interior:

Thanks to Martin, I was able to finally paint the ammo cases for the waist and tail gunners. Which let me start on the install of the waist guns. With the ammo belt and case installed: Now I just have to figure a way out to not knock it out of place.

Isn't that the case Peter? I haven't tried them yet but at this point it certainly wouldn't hurt. Thanks Harv. Your work motivates me as well so it goes both ways. Thanks Ernie! It's definitely been an undertaking and much more of a challenge than I thought it would be. And thanks for the clarification on TOS as I kept thinking The Original Series as that's what Star Trek fans refer to the Shatner/Nimoy series as.

Thanks Peter! Thanks! I've got a couple of the Tasca ones, including the rare Tamiya rebox plus one Dragon so I haven't decided yet. Probably going to be a Tasca kit as they go together so easily.