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I feel your pain Martin. Our insurance company took 6 weeks before they would start the work on my car this summer after a minor fender bender. Their "preferred" body shop ripped them off so badly i couldn't believe it. I had a broken headlight and a dented fender. How that required a new side view mirror, door and hood repairs, I have no clue. Even worse, they did such a poor job fixing our car I sent it right back for a redo. Filed a bunch of complaints and threatened to sic the ombudsman on them before they finally got things right. As for the weather, last week it was 15°C, nice and comfy, today we're back up to 29°C. Please make up your mind Mother Nature!!! Carl

Now the fun really begins. Tasca give you decent looking rubber band style tracks. Decent but still rubber bands. Going through the stash, I found two boxes of these: They're very realistic, working tracks that are well, a serious pain to assemble. Here's the pads and pivots. The cleat is a separate part you attach. These are the end connecters which have a separate bolt to attach to each one. So, 9 pieces per link X 83 links per side.... = Fortunately, I found a set of Fruil metal tracks in another Firefly box. Slightly less painful in that you just have to cut the pivots from steel wire . Installed on the lower hull: Now to repeat for the other side. Carl

I've been plugging away at this over the last couple of nights. I started working on the bogies. First thing was to remove all the sprue attachment points and spray the wheels rubber black. Then I started on the bogies themselves. One thing Tasca does is make the bogies articulate. They do this using thin rubber pads that you insert. On later releases, they included a plastic spacer as an option to lock the bogies in place. Since I didn't have the spacers I made my own from strip styrene. Six sets of finished bogies: With those done, I attached them to the hull and had the primary assembly done.

Ithanks Maxim! I saw the Airfix kit for sale and was tempted to grab it for nostalgia. Thanks Ernie! I'm planning to do another Vc with all the spare track links that the Canadian tankers were so fond of covering their Shermans with. Thanks Peter!

Nice start Martin! And great info on the barrel. Learn something new about it. Carl

Just catching up obtaining your build Pete and it's mighty impressive. I'll have to check my tools but I think Hasegawa might make a larger rivet tool . Carl

Thanks Martin! I ordered two from Lucky Model and they're on the slow boat from Hong Kong so hopefully they'll get here this month? I saw your set which made me check into availability and I finally found one. A tank busting Ju-88 definitely got my interest.

It's been a bit busy here receiving stuff in the mail. First up was the recent Ju-88 P1 conversion from AIMs. This should make a nice companion to a Tse Tse Mosquito. Next was their Ju-88 C6 conversion. Lastly from AIMs was their clear resin canopy for the BF-110 G conversion. One more conversion set: So now all I need is a couple Revell Ju-88 kits. Carl

Nice to see the Corsairs are back John! I've only done two Corsairs (4 more to go) myself but Tamiya Spitfire #9 is on the bench at the moment. Like yourself, I like to use them as stress relief builds. Carl

For those of you that have been to both Telford and the US Nats, which would be cheaper in terms of accommodations? I've got the chance to attend one of them in the next couple years but it'll depend on the hotel rates. The airfare is covered so that won't be an issue. Thanks, Carl

Just had the postwoman drop off: - 1/32 Hasegawa Ju87 G Stuka - 1/32 Hasegawa BF109F4 - Ammo brand Paint rack And most importantly, a replacement set of waist gunner windows for my HK B-25!!! Carl

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?