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That's a big plane. Thr paintwork so far looks great. GPM, a paper model company does (did?) a 1/33 Buff which I briefly entertained the thought of trying. The promo pic had a little girl holding the finished model with its 8' wingspan.

After purging my wallet, I picked up a nice Glenfiddich in Hong Kong. My wife Sue added the Kavalan when she left Taipei.

Rob, it was worth the blood, sweat and tears. Not to mention the swear words.

I think it's what happens when you have the "Buy it Now" button set to auto.

I wish it was a private jet. Edward and I are stuck in the cattle class section of the plane. At least there's more legroom on this part of the flight compared to what we had flying from Hong Kong to Vancouver.

I purged my wallet at the duty free picking up a nice Scotch. Just got on our flight from Vancouver to Toronto so I'll post pics when I'm home.

I've done something similar with Tamiya's thinners. At least I was able to pick it up on sale so wasn't as expensive as what you probably paid. Some Mr Color products are getting harder to find in Canada due to labelling and chemical compounds in them. Tamiya aerosols already got banned for that reason.

Rob, it's really awesome just being able to go down the block and see so many shops here. The Tamiya shop was evenly split between RC, Mini4WD ( their biggest money maker) and scale models. My son browsing the model section. They even sold individual sprues from kits.

Went to the Mong Kok district in Hong Kong today. Last time I was here, there were numerous hobby shops in close proximity to one another. This time it was pretty much the same, although the first one I tried to visit no longer existed. I did find a Tamiya Factory store though. Going around the corner from there, we found a mall that had at least 20 shops selling Lego, Pokemon cards, action figures and diecast cars. On the next floor, it was more of the same except Gundam models instead of Lego. There also several RC car shops and an airsoft gun shop too. Finally found a more typical hobby shop and I picked up a more travel friendly sized Godzilla kit.

Hope you and the flappers are getting better. The 109 is looking most excellent.

Absolutely! I enjoyed it very much.

So close to completion too. I'm glad you're going to take a pause before deciding on your next steps as it's a lovely looking build. Hopefully we get to see it back in one piece. Carl

That looks great Dave. To think that just a few years ago, that level of detail would have required an AM cockpit set. Carl

That's a lot of tiny decals. The results say it's worth the effort though.

Amazing attention to detail. Then again we wouldn't expect anything less from one of your builds. Carl

So Taipei has a Pokemon centre, one of only two outside Japan. It becomes a must visit for my son and a couple of his cousins so off we went. While there, I noticed next door was a Godzilla Store. So I spent some time in there. Saw this figure and wanted to pick it up. Sadly I figured he might be a bit big for my carry on suitcase so I had to pass.

Well, it's been 2026 for a few hours now here in Taipei so I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy 2026! Here's to lots of plastic (or resin) to fondle, bench time as much as we want (or can stand) and all the new releases you could hope for. More importantly, I hope everyone has a great year away from the bench as well. Some folks have had a challenging 2025 and I wish 2026 goes better for everyone. Carl. PS- obligatory fireworks photos to celebrate. This is Taipei 101.

Mecha squirrel! Didn't get this one as it's too big to fit in my suitcase so settled for a smaller version.

So truly sorry to hear that Hubert. Our deepest condolences to you and Antoine's family. Carl

Hubert, I'm so sorry to hear this. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Carl

Merry Christmas everyone!

Looks fabulous there Martin. Thanks for not blaming me.

The engine looks really good there Rob. The finish on the gearbox is particularly convincing. Too bad Zero paints aren't available in Canada.

I was wondering about the blue when you mentioned it was the Toyota Tom's kit. Are you going to do the body in blue as well? That would be a different paint scheme that's for sure.

Mr Surfacer in jars is much easier to find in Canada. There's also Aqueous Mr Surfacer which I have used and not really noticed any differences in. Another good option is to check out some of the Gundam stores for stock. They tend to carry a fair bit of Gunze/Mr Color products.