BlrwestSiR

Thanks Harv as always! Thanks! I'm trying more and more scratch building. It's kinda fun. Thanks Martin and I agree. Nothing like a huge gun on a Sherman.

A tiny bit more progress. I installed the starboard waist gun and ammo belt on French Kiss along with the tail gunner's station. That side is almost complete now and then I can start on the port side. Carl

Thanks Martin! Those are some great photos. Looks like the Profimideller instructions have what I need. Carl

That's the one I have.

I've got a head on line drawing but it's too small and doesn't have any dimensions. I don't think the bomb bay door mod made it into service. There was also one that replaced the nose cannon with a rocket launcher that they could reload from inside.

Ok, so first thing first was to fix all the seams. For some reason, I didn't install the seat or control column so those will be on the list. Markings wise, I'm thinking of testing my airbrush skills and having a go at this scheme: Carl

Ok, here's a question for you guys. Some B-25s in the PTO were armed with HVAR rockets under the wing on the rails. French Kiss was one of them so I'd like to mount a set. Any idea on the distance they were mounted from the nacelle? Thanks, Carl

I'm going to have start wearing gloves when I work on this now. Carl

Please do! I wouldn't mind a Lancaster at all. Carl

Some great builds. I remember following along on your Corsair build. Carl

Thanks Mike! I'd love to enter it so if you could do do that, it would be greatly appreciated. Carl

Time to take a break from the uh, break. The upper turret for Betty's Dream is pretty much done now. I then painted the ammo belts for French Kiss. Compare to to the ones I'm using on Betty's Dream they're a fair bit simpler. Then again, you won't see much of them anyways with the fuselage closed up.

Thanks Jeff!

I really should focus on my B-25s but can I join in too? This has been sitting on top of my printer for the last 4 years or so. It's ended up as a bit of a dumping ground. I had to take a TiE fighter, and some car parts out of the box. Carl

The first Tamiya Spit I built I converted to a XIV using the RB Productions conversion. My XVI I did as TD248 in her silver and red scheme. Even the Merlin was red with chrome. Finally, the Revell/Matchbox 24 There's still a few more left in the stash so hopefully this will continue to grow. Carl

Here comes the IXs! First up is Tolly Hello. Don't have many pics of this one so I might have to take some new ones in the future. Then it's a pink FR IX. Takka! Takka! Takka! MH434 masquerading as a BoB era Spitfire from the Battle of Britain movie. Another recce bird, this time a PR XI using the Allycat conversion set.

Following in the lead of some of the other recently new forum members, I thought I'd post a couple pics of my Spitfire builds. Going in order of variant, here they are: This is my most recent one, a Revell II converted to a Vc using the AML conversion set. Here's a Tamiya VII that I converted using scratch built parts. The hardest bit was the deeper fixed rear canopy. Gotta have a sharkmouth somewhere so my VIII was built as Grey Nurse. This is the only one I've done inflight as I'm not the best at painting pilot figures. The one in here is probably my best ever.

Back to the Firefly, I started work on the turret. With the turned barrel installed, the mount got a bit droopy. Once the mantlet was installed, this rectified itself thankfully. Then I started on the paintwork. I'm using AK lacquer paint for the SCC15 green. It goes on dead flat which I was surprised by. I guess I'm used to the Gunze paints being a slight semigloss to them. Carl

Time to show the LCM some love, I worked on finishing the upper deck. The centre needed a couple supports to stay flush sonic added these from scrap styrene. RN LCMs had a different style of boarding ladder so I filled in the holes in the rear bulkhead. I then made a new ladder from styrene rod. This was then installed onto the LCM.

Thanks Peter! Yeah, they can be a bit fiddly but like you said, well worth it.

Always wanted to try building one of those wooden ship models. Just don't have the courage I guess. Carl

Martin, you're getting hip replacement surgery? Carl

The gear is coming out really well. For springs, check out Wave as they make springs in various diameters and sizes. I've used them on a couple builds. Carl

Speaking of tracks, I started work on the second run. Learning some tricks from building the first set made this one go much faster and I was able to complete them in just two sessions at the work bench. Now to start adding the smaller details and settle on some markings. Carl

Those look good. I like that they give you a jig as well. Might have to try a set on one of my future builds. Rob, I'd almost be willing to play that to not assemble them. Years ago, when I was racing 1/5 RC cars, the tires were an absolute pain to mount onto rims. I actually dislocated my thumb doing it. I asked the RV shop I dealt with how much they charged and when they said $20, mostly to cover the cost of the glue I couldn't throw my money at them fast enough!