Landlubber Mike

Wow, I see models like that and it makes me think I need to take up another hobby. Well done! I could have sworn I was looking at the real deal in 1:1 in those outdoor pictures.

I painted these on my F4F builds using Montex masks. Also painted the chevrons and belly band, but used white line decals for the edges. The order for me was white disc, blue background, then red center circle. The masks didn't sit particularly tightly and I had some running of colors underneath which was annoying. Next time around, after placing the mask, I might shoot a thin coat of clear around the edges of the mask to help avoid colors going under the masks. Anyone else do that?

Ernie - looks great! Martin, you're looking great as well! I wish I had more time the last few weeks as I might have joined you guys, though I'm no where near as skilled or as fast a builder as you both. I really love the squat bulldog type look of this plane. I have this one in 1/32 with the Brengun flaps add-on: And then this one in 1/48 with a crap load of CMK extras:

Feel better soon Harv!

Fantastic work Peter! Very clean, pristine modeling there!

Looks fantastic, really nice job!

Holy cow that's gorgeous, great job! I see models like this and I feel like I have no hope. Can I ask what paints you used and what colors? I wasn't sure if you used a NMF that is picking up that coppery tone, or used paint that color.

I heard you can find the book in a van down by the river...

I have this kit in the stash with the various goodies. Looking forward to your build! I need to get a lot more experience before tackling it. I'm thinking of building the one with the toilet bomb: If interested, Brengun makes a resin duplicate with the appropriate decals: BRL32012

That's really sharp looking Peter, really nice job! Looking forward to watching this one come together in your skilled hands.

A lot of goodies there!

Great work Rob! I have the Royal Class box set which doesn't have the cat mouth decals, but recently found the HGW decals that did. When I saw it, I knew I had to build this particular Hellcat! Good to know that the HGW transfers are very fragile - I'll keep that in mind.

I still have a decade or so to go, but I'm planning to take early retirement when I get there. I think the big considerations are (1) do you have adequate health insurance coverage to cover you until you go onto Medicare, and (2) do you have enough cash in reserves that you don't have to draw down tax-advantaged retirement accounts, take a haircut on any pension, etc. during the bridge period before you take social security, etc. To help those bridge years, I keep telling my wife that since she is three years younger than me, she needs to work three extra years. As I'm sure you can expect, I haven't been very successful at convincing her... Good luck with the home sale!

That wing fold looks nice!

What is that? A cicada? I can't make it out.