BlrwestSiR

There was a shop near my work that had a 10 ft long aisle that was only Gunze products. They've moved so aren't as convenient to get to but do offer free local shipping on orders over $40.

For a moment, I thought that you'd managed to sneak into Ernie's place and get pics of his stash! Then I saw the Gundam models.

There hasn't been a bunch of announcements so far for stuff I'd like to get so the list will most likely expand as we get later into the year. For now: - 1/12 Bee Max McLaren Honda MP4/4 - 1/35 Takom Mi-28 Havoc - 1/32 Jetmads JA-35 Draken The last one is already paid for so just need to wait for it. Carl

Hi Ron, great to see the progress on this rig. The engine looks cool in a different colour. I did a Spitfire Merlin in red with chrome rocker covers once that thing popped. In your last post, the pics aren't coming up for some reason.

Rob, that's one complex decal job. Great job on the application. I did something similar on a Porsche GT-1 where instead of painting the bodywork, it was done with carbon decals instead. So much work.

While I was working on the seat, I started the nose gear bay. There's a lot of detail crammed in here. Easily puts some 1/32 kits to shame. One nice thing is they've made the detailed colour callouts a decent size. I've started picking out the colour details as per the above. Hopefully it will look better after a wash.

The seat is painted now. I then noticed I'd knocked one of the PE pieces off. Yup, that tiny dot is I think a lifting eyelet for the seat. Back in place. I'll get started on the belts next.

Martin, I know you'd do an amazing job on one.

It's interesting to see the price difference as well as availability. If I make it to the Nats, I should bring some down for you. I wonder why they're not available in the US. Tamiya in Canada is brought in by a small (?) distributor, while you have Tamiya America in the States that's owned by Tamiya itself. I've picked up my Tamiya thinner for $9 on sale, usually $10 a bottle, while the big bottle of Levelling Thinner is now $18. Plus those prices are Canadian so more like $6.50 and $14 USD respectively. Gunze doesn't go on sale often but Tamiya does. And absolutely, shipping costs are something that can't be ignored any more when ordering. But it's not always easy to consolidate everything into one order. I wish more places do what HLJ does. They'll hold stuff that you've bought and paid for, for up to 60 days. Then you can keep adding to it and ship it all at once. So you get one bigger shipment rather that several small ones.

It's like hitting the jackpot if you can order everything for a project from one place in one go. That's yet to happen for me. It's usually place an order for some stuff from one place, another order elsewhere or later on and hope it all arrives when I want to start. But shipping costs are making that an expensive option. Then throw paint and supplies into the mix. Just today I was hunting around in my paints for a colour I needed. I think I have around 500 different bottles of paint (not counting multiples) and I found two in the colour I needed. Yes, I really should consolidate on a couple paint lines and stop buying all over the place. As for Mr Color Levelling Thinner, it's gotten a bit thin on the ground here too but still available. More importantly though, it's gone up in price almost 50%. So with the last few sales at my LHS, I've stocked up on Tamiya thinner with retarder (their version of Levelling Thinner) and airbrush cleaner. Again, I'm happy to have a well stocked Hobby shop in my city.

Peter, the detail in this kit is really impressive. So far, the fit had been very good. But I've only made the ejection seat. That being said, here's the assembled ejection seat which I've used 18 parts for. Every one has gone where it's supposed to and I haven't had any fit issues. I still have to add 1 more plastic bit, plus 3 PE ones and the 3D printed belts and cushion.

Thanks Martin! Hopefully it lives up to expectations. So here's the 3D seat harness that's part of the detail set. After cutting away the safety cage, I noticed it had the seatback and cushion moulded with the harness. Which meant I had to pry off said parts that I had just glued to my seat. Thankfully I got to them in time. With the 3D harness in place. It a perfect fit. Painting it will be a bit of a challenge but that one part replaces just about every step on Page 2 of the instructions. That being said, the instructions for assembling the harness are suitably detailed and show you how to fold the PE bits and where they go.

Onto to assembly. The first two pages cover the ejection seat. Yup, lots of tiny parts. The second page is almost completely devoted to the seat harness, so I'll see how that goes as I have the 3D printed one. Thankfully there are detailed colour callouts for everything which is nice. The first couple (five actually) parts are together which form the seat base. More to come.

Okay, the Su-27/30/33/35 Flanker family has to be one of the purtiest jets ever built. Sukhoi got the basic shape right from a looks standpoint. No idea on the rest but she's a looker. Except when camo'd as a crater. This is Minibase's first kit release. It came out a couple years ago and I got it shortly after being released. A different company, Tan Models had announced they were going to do.a 1/32 version which would have been 1) huge, and 2) awesome because huge, but sadly wasn't more than vapourware so I was happy this was announced. The other option for an Su-33 in 1/48 was the Sol conversion using the Academy kit as a base. I remember one of the shops near me had it in stock and I'd look at it but it wasn't cheap nor an easy conversion. Anyways, back to this kit, they've done a nice job in the packing. It's a full box but carefully packed. There's an inner lid of sorts. You can build the the kit in either configuration, with wings, tailplanes, vertical tail and stinger folded or unfolded. The flipside of the inner lid has more artwork. Finally the sprues. The blue box has the missiles in them. They're one piece with all the fins attached. Some truly impressive moulding techniques there. For my build, I picked up the Minibase detail set and some paint masks. The detail set has 3D printed burner cans, landing gear, seated pilot and seat harness.

Peter, that's a fabulous start you've made on the kit. The cockpit looks exemplary between Miniart's moulding and your paint and assembly skills. To me, Miniart has been known for small, potentially fiddly parts but great detail and overall fit. Their armour kits are fantastic and what they're probably best known for.

Fantastic build Ernie. First one yet I've seen of this kit. Carl

Thanks Paul! I guess jumping around from project to project sort of keeps me going. It doesn't always work of course. I've got the Andy's Achilles in the stash. I'm still trying to figure out how to paint something that big before I tackle it so I can relate to your Sherman build. My folks' families were part of the Nationalist gov't that lost the Chinese civil war and moved to Taiwan as a result. That couldn't have been easy for them, same as for your Dad's family.

Still my favourite movie.

The paint needed a couple touch-ups. I wasn't surprised so at the same time, I did the fit of the wingtip lights, gun barrels and pitot. For the last two, I used a set from Master.

Some sublime work on the nacelles. Have you got the Wingleader book on the Whirlwind? There's a few pics of the moving nacelle section and linkages.

I just realized my HK Mossie suffered a similar fate. But that was due to my son attempting his first solo flight on a twin. Sadly, I'm 1 for 4 on completing HK kits. Only the Mossie has made it across the finish line but she didn't last long as per the above. The B-25s are long gone. The Lanc is still here but I need a big motivation drive to get her done. The M29 Weasel made me feel the same way.

Thanks! The kit has moulded on battle damage that replicates what was on the filming miniature. Thanks Peter! Here's the kit stand.

Time to get moving on this build. I broke out the masking tape and started on the upper sections. Then a coat of XF-24 for the Dark Sea Grey. Unmasked. Yup, it's nice to have things go the way you expect.

And done! Now to decide if I use this stand which isn't a perfect fit for the Bandai kit or use the kit one.

Time to finish this up. Just need to complete applying the decals.