BlrwestSiR

It was great to meet you and Gary and Dave (Denders) at the Nats last year. I wish I could have met more of you, including Harv. I was supposed to go to the Vegas one as it was my 50th that year. I even had the hotel booked and then COVID happened and I couldn't go. Carl

Camo time for the Lunadiver. First up was cream white. Then Elfenbein. Finally FS36081. Now for some drying time.

As Hubert said, the ZM one is the more accurate. As for the resin one, here's what mine looked like. There was no way to straighten it out completely as much as I tried. I know someone else who had the same set and theirs was even worse. The replacement set that ZM sent wasn't any better.

Wow, nice recovery there John. I guess the clean break at the tail helped. Hope the gear legs aren't as bad as they look.

Thanks for sharing the pics Vince. Some nice looking models there. Carl

I started on the paint work for the Lunadiver. First, a coat of primer Followed by some pre-shading. At this point I noticed the missing handles I'd left off so they wouldn't get knocked off. I'll add those and then start with the colour coats.

The ZM B nose supposedly is a different shape to the Takom one. It's supposed to be closer to the actual drawings and have a more correct rear cockpit. It'll certainly be better than the original ZM conversion kit for the 2 seater.

Wow, looks like you're in the home stretch.

It looks just like you're plumbing a real engine bay. Nice work there including the touch ups you've had to do.

Nice variety of items there @Count0. Spot Model is a great place to get stuff for car models. I love the VF-1 Valkyries too. I managed to grab the 1/20 Max Factory Strike Valk when it came out. It's a bit basic but it's 1/20. One day...

Years ago when I was the warehouse manager at a wine agency I had to cover for one of the regular drivers while he was on vacation. We had 1 ton cargo vans but there was no safety barrier between the driver and the cargo area. So when I had to slam on the brakes one time a case of wine went flying from the back right between the seats and slammed into the dash. Left a sizable dent in the dash. Surprisingly none of the bottles broke. After that happened , the drivers started putting the cases at the front so it wouldn't happen again. When the vans got replaced with newer ones they asked for and got the barriers.

Hey look, an update. Lots of squirrels running around since we're approaching spring but I managed to spend a bit of time on the Seahawk. I was kinda hoping someone would do a masking set for the Seahawk but it wasn't to be. So I did it the old fashioned way with tape and a knife. I then cut the canopies from the pour stubs. Might have been easier to have down that first but hey, squirrel!!! First up was a coat of interior green Then a coat of Gloss Sea Blue. I forgot to grab a pic before I removed the masking tape.

There's also a couple ways to tell on Japanese kits what type of plastic is used. Almost all Japanese kits list on the box the type of plastic, especially those from about the last 20 years or so. On the kit box, there will be a small info box that says what materials are in the box. So for example, on this Hasegawa FW190 D box, it shows PS and PE. The PS is polystyrene, PE is polyethylene (for the poly caps). No ABS. If a kit has multiple plastics in it, you an check the sprues themselves. Look for a tag moulded onto the sprue. On one side it will have letters identifying the type of plastic. So PS for polystyrene again. As far as I can tell, this applies to Japanese kits from roughly the last 20 years or so. Earlier ones may not be so labelled. So hopefully this helps out.

Oh I know that feeling. We just got a quote to get the space under the kitchen dug out and turned into a usable room. There's currently no foundation under the kitchen. So that's going to be dug up, a foundation wall built and sump pump installed. It will give us a bit more space in the basement and hopefully finally eliminate the risk of our pipes freezing. It does mean I'm going to have to take down the modelling bench. That could be a real challenge in getting things out away. So I best finish some of the stuff on it.

Paul, the Hasegawa kit should be regular styrene. I'm fairly sure the Wave kit is as well.

Rest in peace Harv. I'm glad to have known you, even if we never got the chance to meet in person. Carl

I'm not a fan of the Grosserhund either. Looks like the evil cyborg from Hardware. I mentioned it previously but there used to be a comic shop here in Toronto that had a few shelves of the Bottom MaK kits back in the day. Crazy expensive kits (for the time) in a fairly plain looking box. Meantime, I've got most of the seams on the lower hull cleaned up and puttied. Most of the smaller subassemblies are together now as well. Somebody's 911 kit is missing a set of doors. They're used as shields in the Lunadiver kit.

I saw that but don't know enough on the plane to really get into it. If the kit is a bit fat in the nose, I can live with it.

Back the Lunadiver, I've got the majority of the hull assembled. Lots of different shaped parts here. The underside has lots of rounded bits which made for an interesting parts breakdown. There's also the pair of Hughes 500 fuselages on either side. And it seems I've found a second Lunadiver kit in the stash. I thought I had the Falke and found a different release of the Lunadiver instead. Whoops.

If you looked under this bench, I'd say yes. But if you look under my second one that just to the right... it's probably just an extension of the bench. The stuff on the beach to the right is my son's so that's not my fault.

I think the closet you'd come to an H2S radome is one from a 1/48 Lanc kit and then modifying it to fit.

Wow, Rob that looks stunning. If it was on jack stands, you could pass it off as the real thing. I'm glad it's moving forward with fewer issues.

I finally spent some time at the bench last night. First time in almost two weeks. Of course this prompted a desire to start something new. Infinity DH Vampire: We'll see how this goes. So far, lots of dry fitting and tweaking but kinda fun problem solving the issues. At least it's all plastic. On the easier side, @DocRob's MaK build was an influence, not to mention the kit has been at my feet under the bench since I got it.

Nice, clean looking Sherman there Paul. Absolutely nothing wrong with a simple fun build. Keeps things interesting.

The steering wheel looks great as do the rims. Good idea on leaving the glass out until you can sort the body fit. Hope it doesn't require too much tweaking. I haven't had much time at the bench lately. Last night was the first time in almost two weeks where I was able to get to spend time there. Of course, I ended up starting something(s) new...