BlrwestSiR

Chris, according to the box, - 739 plastic parts on 32 sprues - 35 screws - 3 springs - 10 metal chains

Paul, most have cockpits in them. I don't think autonomous mechs have become a thing until much more recently.

Alright time for an update even if it's a small one. I started on the cockpit finally. Guess I'm doing it backwards since most builds start with the 'pit but anyways One thing I decided to do was update the cockpit a bit. I'm using a couple sets of F-35A cockpit details from Eduard. One is for the Trumpy kit and the other one for Italeri. Notice the slight size difference. I'm going to use that to my advantage. First up was smoothing out the kit IP panels. I cheated a bit and simply flipped the panels over. The angled ends were cut off and glued back on to the opposite side. Voila, instant smooth IP. Close enough anyways. The "backside". Once dry, I can start painting.

Congratulations Jeff! Glad it was worth the trip out to our end of the country. Don't forget to stop by for some beer and BBQ before you fly back. Carl

That's always the way.

Closest I can relate is my sister and her husband wanted to go for an evening. My mom offers to babysit their 6-8 month old daughter (I can't remember exactly how old she was). Not half an hour after my sis went out my mom calls me frantically for help. Thankfully I'm a 10 minute walk away so head over. Sure enough, my mom is like, this is more than I can handle. So l stayed over until my sis came back. Can't imagine what will happen when/if we get grandkids. As it is, Sue will 63 and I'll be 60 when our youngest finishes high school.

Amazing price.

That would be a pretty big pocket! I keep finding myself looking at the series of 1/200 kits and thankfully have resisted their siren's call.

Cockpit time! Seat and controls first. With the pilot in place. Mounted to the inner cockpit ball. In the anime, the cockpit has a full 360° HUD. Outer walls in place. Hatch open. Cockpit in its frame. Fur back to her place of honour.

Time for an update. First up, I got the head all done. There's a clear bit to direct light from the LED to the eyes and the light on top. The "skull" I guess you'd call it. Outer panels in place. Opened up. And completed with the antenna in place.

Check out Lucky Model. They're having a huge sale. Minimum 20% off everything. In case you didn't know, Lucky Model is the parent company for Kinetic. They even have a UK warehouse so that should possibly circumvent any duties. https://www.luckymodel.com/scale.aspx?search=Y&q_brand=KIN&q_category=&q_scale=&q_item_no=&q_word=&q_show_instock_only=Y&q_whse=UK

The Scharnhorst looks amazing. I'm still not sure if I'd be up to a ship build, so much to add. One thing I only recently learned about is the colours the Kriegsmarine used to paint their turrets for ID purposes. Really makes them stand out.

Oh and the props go in the spares box for when the hair dryers crap out.

You should see it in 1/32 Phil. Here's mine standing on its tail tucked behind some other bench warmers which are also 1/32.

Ernie, glad to hear you're all safe. Tornados are truly scary and there's no rhyme or reason to where they want to go.

Nice progress on the Viggen Gus. Glad to hear the decal problem didn't end up permanent. Sounds like you were in Edinburgh the same time my wife Sue was. Alas she was there for a funeral so didn't get to do much sightseeing and I certainly didn't risk asking her to pop into Wonderland Toys for me.

Chris, the exhaust tubes can sit free. The fit is just snug enough that you don't need to glue them in place if you put them in last. Don't worry about the mounting tab between the burner cans. The only AM company that used the same setup was Aires and theirs were undersized so would fall out if you didn't. Your post reminded me that you might need to check the clearance on the inside of the wing at the back where the burner cans go in. Putting the burner cans in afterwards means you'll have an easier time getting the wing/fuselage seams dealt with.

Scott, it hink it's because of Fur's age that her nails have become an issue. She didn't have problems before but she doesn't climb any more so her nails don't wear down like they would if she was more active. There's no way I could have trimmed her nails when she was younger. Hopefully knowing to check on them I should be able to. Jimmy's nails are always trim from his walks and size while Sunny uses his all the time climbing and hunting.

Thanks everyone. Fur is pretty much back to her old self. She's the last of the pets that Sue and I had when we met. She had two cats, Fur and Tasha while I had Zoe. Tasha and Zoe are both passed on. Sunny and Jimmy came along later but the day Fur passes, it'll be a changing of the guard. I think we'll be sticking with just these two for the time being.

Ok, I just realized we're coming up to the end of May which means I have a little over a month until the end of the GB. Time to get back to this build. The good news is I finally found my Tamiya scriber so I can fix some of the panel lines and get on with the build. So hopefully I'll have an update this week.

So true. On my 2002 Civic, Honda had to lift the car to get the bumpers/headlights (I can't remember which one) to the minimum height required by US law. It looked like an SUV compared to the Euro version. I picked up a set of coilovers and dropped it 1.75" which made a works of difference in both looks and handling. Wish I had some pics of it.

Oh, one more thing, the front cockpit coaming doesn't completely full the opening. It's a bit short at the front. It's an easy fix, just add some styrene to the front of the coaming. This only on the E versions. The short nose ones are fine.

Great progress there Chris. I'd say you've done a good job on the intakes. I've used several different intake sets on my various F-4 builds and none have fit 100%. They've all needed tweaking and the odd lick of putty. Like yours sometimes one side is a drop in fit and the other needed massaging. I would recommend closing up the fuselage/wing assembly first and then add the burner cans after. The fuselage opening needs a slight thinning around the shoulders but then you should be able to just slide the burner cans in afterwards. When you put the upper wing on, check for flexing around the fuselage/wing join. Sometimes the fuselage will flex and that can make for an annoying seam fix. The cockpit looks great. The Quinta stuff really pops. I've got a couple resin cockpit seats so I'm a bit torn over whether to go that route.

I got my my Carpet Monster back. Fur has been sick the last week. On Monday, I noticed that she clicked while walking. Which cats shouldn't do as their nails retract. Sure enough, she had 4 that were badly ingrown. They curled all the way around and were actually puncturing her paws. Don't know how she put up with the pain. Anyways, I brought her to the vet and they duly took care of them. Unfortunately they noticed that she was dehydrated and potassium deficient. Both are signs of kidney dysfunction which we knew she had but it wasn't as bad. Sue was really worried that we would have to put her to sleep. But after an IV and some potassium supplements, she's closer to being her old self again. We might not much more time with her, (she's 20 years old best guess) but we'll be happy to enjoy what we have.

Thanks for explaining what the broaches are. I keep seeing them abd had no idea what they were or how to use them. Makes much more sense now.