Landlubber Mike

Great painting and decal work! Looks like you're just about done!

Thanks Peter! It took quite a bit of time to work on the kit and aftermarket pieces to get them to work together, but the remainder of the build should be fairly painless. There are only nine instruction steps for assembly, and the fit on the kit is very nice - I'll need minimal filler it looks like. Probably the trickiest part will be the painting. Definitely a different type of build than the JRS-1 I just completed. Maybe I need to add more Hasegawa kits to the stash. 🤔

Looking good with some paint on it. Nice!

I don't mean to be too critical of the kits. The Hobby 2000 is 25 years older than the second kit from Hasegawa that I bought, and both otherwise have excellent fit. At least on these kits, the issue is very minor and should be easily remedied. Any estimates on how many print runs can come off these releases? It always amazes me how many old kits from the 50s, 60s, 70s, etc. are still floating around.

Hey Kevin - the one that Chris pointed out might be a panel line given how straight it is, though it's not shown on the panel/rivet line diagrams that Martin forwarded. The one to the left of the cut out definitely seems to be a flaw from the mold though given its shape. There's a similar one on the other fuselage half, but it's not symmetrical to the first one.

Great subject and great start Peter. Those parts look very sharp, should be a beauty when you work your magic on it. Hope you and Diane are doing better!

That came out really great PW - very nice job!

Looking really good Martin. Can't wait to see it painted up!

Thanks Chris - and good eye, I didn't see that second line! I think it might only be visible on high magnification but I'll keep an eye out now that I know about it. I'll try a coat of primer to see if the lines are visible and then go from there. Maybe a light dabbing of Mr. Putty will do the trick. Thanks!

So the fuselage and the wings have a very faint line, kinda like a crease or an indentation as you can see in the picture below (between the open panel and the unopened one): Is this something that will be covered up/filled with primer, or do I need to try and fill it? Any suggestions? Since the wings on my second diorama are removed from the plane, I actually ended up using the wings from the older kit as the lines were much fainter than those on the newer Hobby 2000 kit -- proof that the same molds are being used.

I managed to find a 2000 boxing on eBay for a really good deal, so I will do two dioramas (especially since I already have an Opel Blitz kit I can use for the tow vehicle). It's for a B-1, but really the only difference is the intakes on the nacelles so I can easily convert it. Another good thing is that this kit has an "O" decal, which I can use as a template to create a mask the Blue "C" for the subject I'm doing. I've spent the last few days working on the various CMK sets, cutting them from their plugs, cutting open the fuselage and wings, etc. Here you can see what was cut from the first kit versus what the original parts look like from the second kit. Given that the second diorama will be covered in tarps and partially disassembled, I probably won't use much aftermarket at all on it. If you're building this with the various CMK sets, the wing/undercarriage details need to be modified to fit everything in the wings. You have to really shave back the undercarriage tubs to be able to fit the wing fuel tanks from the CMK exterior set. I also had to cut an opening into the fuselage to fit the ammo magazine from the armament set. Thanks for looking in!

Very cool Hubert - can't wait to see this come alive!

Take care of yourselves Peter - hope you and your wife are feeling better.

Wow, looks great PW! Really impressive.

Looking great Chris - I wouldn't have thought to do a brown like that, but it came out nicely. Enough to highlight the panel lines and at the same time, showing a sandy bottom that will spare you from having to weather it too much more. One thing I've also struggled with is whether to use the same pre-shading color all over the model despite the various colors, or specially tailor the pre-shading to the eventual color. I haven't quite figured out what the proper technique is in such situations.

Hi Peter, hope you're feeling better. A couple of weeks after having ACL surgery in my early 20s, I had intense pain in my leg when I stood up that they thought was either cellulitis or possibly phlebitis. That was some of the most intense pain I've ever had in my life, but thankfully it went away after a week or so (no meds or antibiotics for me though). Hope your prognosis is better!

Looking great Kevin! Moving along quickly!

Looking great Chris! Annoying about the rear canopy piece, but sounds like you have a good solution in mind.

I'm running out of superlatives so x6!

Love that color scheme PW - looking forward to seeing you work your magic!

Thanks guys - it's a go for me. Should be fun!

Thanks guys, really appreciate it!

Fantastic PE work!

That's a sharp looking scheme Kevin - looking forward to following along!

Looking fantastic! That cockpit is really sweet.