BlrwestSiR

With the epoxy cured, I mixed up some Apoxie Sculpt to join the wing and fuselage and fill in the gap. I put a bead of it around the lower cowl/wing join as there was a sizable gap there now. While it was still soft, I removed the excess and smoothed it out with some tools moistened with water so the Apoxie wouldn't stick to it. The cowl now matches the fuselage in diameter and I have some smaller imperfections to fill in. So I'll chalk this up as a win.

It seems that the record may not last for long. Apparently the 33" Enterprise from Star Trek has been found. Folks at the RPF are trying to confirm if it's the actual one seen in many publicity photos with the cast and that used to be on Gene Rodenberry's desk as well as used in some of the VFX shots. It disappeared after it was lent to Paramount for preproduction work on Star Trek Phase 2.

Thanks Peter! Your build was very informative. Unfortunately I've run into the same issue with the cowl that you did. So after the epoxy dried, I checked the fit of the cowl to the fuselage. One the actual plane, it's a very tight fit. The cowl and the fuselage are the same diameter. On my kit, the cowl is a fair bit bigger. At first I thought that it was going to be a pain to centre the cowl on the fuselage with and even spacing all the way around until I realized it's supposed to be the same diameter. I considered using the Special Hobby Tempest cowl as it's also Centaurus powered and a predecessor to the Sea Fury. Thanks to Peter's generosity, I was able to determine that it measured only slightly smaller than the Fisher cowl. So I decided to risk it and I carefully separated the wing and fuselage. Thankfully they came apart without anything breaking. I then mocked up some spacers between the wing and fuselage. This gave me the correct diameter to match the cowl. Or at least much closer than it had been before. So I've now glued some spacers onto the fuselage. Once the epoxy is dry, I'll do some shaping and then attach the wing a second time.

Unintended oil canning effect? At least they look like they fit in the closed position. What about after filling and sanding them, you mask the perimeter and use a coat (or two) of Mr Surfacer to replace the RAM tape? Might be more subtle.

Both subjects look great John. The white cowls on the Corsairs are certainly different.

Peter, any chance you could measure the diameter of the cowl in the Tempest kit? I'm considering using the cowl on my Sea Fury. Thanks. Carl

Amazing work Ron. The tracks look great.

I've got 3 more Tamiya Spitfires in the stash myself. I need to shrink my stash too but I'm failing badly at it.

Glad to see that the Kotare Spitfire is even a reasonable deal for US members. It's definitely a decent deal up here where things tend to be more expensive.

Fran, great review on the high back conversion. I was fortunate enough to be able to get the low back (bubble top) version when it first came out. I'm partway through the assembly at the moment. One thing on the template for the wing tanks. For some reason, when I used them I ended up with curved rather than straight panel lines. I ended up filling them in and re-doing them using a straight edge. Other than that, the fit has been excellent. It's very well thought out. Now to convince Matthieu to do an F2G Corsair conversion.

Sunward Hobbies is blowing out the Kotare Brian Lane Spitfire and the Andy's M4A3 E8 Late kits. They are both $129.99 each (in Loonies!) with free shipping in Canada. https://www.sunwardhobbies.ca/kotare-spitfire-mk-la-with-brian-lane-1-32-scale-32601/ https://www.sunwardhobbies.ca/andys-hhq-m4a3e8-sherman-easy-eight-late-wwii-korean-war-with-figure-takom-ahhq-004/ That works out to around $94 USD at the current exchange rate.

It seems that the X-3 kit has come in for a fair bit of criticism with regards to the quality of the 3D printed parts. I don't have the X-3 myself but do have a Viggen from the first run. That's not perfect either but it seems that it may be better than the X-3.

Wow, stunning paintwork.

I'm way down the list so it will be a while before I get mine. But it's not like I don't have other kits in the stash to keep me busy. Like the Mig-29UB that Martin reminded me that I had forgotten about.

Looks great Ernie. Glad to see you're already back at the bench.

Apparently it only existed as a prototype. But it would look nice next to a floatplane Spitfire.

Resin, PE, and white metal if it's like the other MFH kits.

Great to hear it's off Harv!

1/12 1st gen Corvette anyone? I definitely didn't expect this but it's coming from Model Factory Hiro. https://www.modelfactoryhiro.com/SHOP/K829.html

Revell, Tamiya or Trumpeter?

Great job on such a small model. It's much better detailed than the 1/144 models I remember. A couple of us on here recently did a couple Final Countdown Tomcats in 1/32. @ScottsGT did one using the Revell kit and I did one with the Tamiya.

Subscribed!

Something I haven't seen before. Apparently it's only available at Duty Free shops. My parents brought it back from Taiwan for me.

And what might that be? A Trumpeter 1/32 Mig-15?

Harv, we're all cheering for the day you're back at the bench.