Landlubber Mike

Anyone know what Parts E34 and E35 are intended to be? It's some kind of tube that fits on the under-wing bomb racks. I wasn't planning on adding bombs to the build (at least not the E38 small bombs), but might add this tube thing.

I've been slowly making some progress on these builds over the past couple of months. Managed to get the fuselage buttoned up and attached a lot of the exterior Eduard photo etch which adds some nice details to the model. Fit was very good, and it almost snapped together perfectly. I did find that there was a bit of an overhang at the front section where the side fuselage halves met the bottom fuselage part, so I feathered in a thin strip of card which eliminated the step. One odd omission in what has so far been a really well done kit is the lack of the rudder antennae post. It was fairly easy to add one: Another project in itself was building up the wing bomb bays using the Eduard PE set. A fun little side project which adds some extra detail to the model: At this point I'm a bit stuck as I'm trying to figure out what to do about the rigging. Eduard adds some PE attachment points that give a little more detail than the kit parts, but I think I would need to drill holes through the PE into the wings in order to fully seat the rigging. On the rigging, I have this AIMS PE set, but need to measure to make sure that they all fit as they are supposed to. One build log said many of the wires didn't fit. Two others I came across said they were a Godsend. Hopefully they work, otherwise I need to figure out an alternative.

Great idea guys!

Funny, I sometimes prefer using tube cement over Tamiya extra thin (usually for areas needing heavy bonds like locator pin holes, etc.), but this past week I was noticing my Testor's was stringy like crazy. I might have to try the Revell Contact.

I've got this one in the stash as well. Looking forward to seeing your progress and hearing your thoughts on the kit!

Really well done PW! Love it!

Looking really great! Can I ask how you go about cutting the piano wire? I didn't know if special tools were needed, and if you have to smooth out the ends and make them round again if you use a crushing-type of cutter. Thanks in advance!

Well done Rob!!! Looks fantastic! Love the figures adding to the liveliness of the model. Great job!

Sharp looking model there Rob. Nice job!

Amazing start Peter. I managed to get this kit with all the upgrades off eBay for a steal a couple of years ago, but don't have the Quinta set. I might have to add it after seeing how detailed it looks. Are you going to do the toilet version? I think I got a toilet from Brengun for it.

Super cool Scott! Nice job!

Wow P-W, that came out great! Nice job!

Looking good Peter!! Looks like you've sorted out those odd issues. I have a few Z-M kits on the shelf, now I'm not so sure I'm as looking forward to them as I once was.

Nice looking subject there Rob. Looking forward to seeing this come together.

I have those punches - you'll really like them, well made.

Nicely done man! That must be pretty large at 1/24!

Looking great! A beauty off the SOD that didn't deserve to be there!

I think he meant the second one on the picture? It shows it as the 21st in a list.

I vote for the bottom one, just to selfishly learn how to apply winter camo Actually, all of them are quite cool looking. I'm sure whatever you pick will turn out stellar as always.

Really nice job Chris! Congratulations on a beautiful build!

Interestingly, I just got an email from Hannants listing about three dozen Mastercasters products as limited availability.

Another beauty John. Great job!

Good luck, hope it works out for the Pontos set. I think it's a little nicer and more comprehensive than the Eduard set as you mentioned (I think you get a wooden deck as well as the turned brass parts). I believe the 1/144 Revell kit is actually pretty nice on its own - it's just that you can't properly replicate certain ship items like railings, etc. using injection molding. It's been a while since I looked into it, but I think there is someone on Shapeways who is 3D printing various Flower Class details - though seemed pretty pricey. In the end, probably more cost effective to go with Pontos. The GLS set is interesting. There are a lot of white metal parts (which some look like they have been replaced with resin/printed parts). The PE looks very good, but it's very thick/heavy. They recommend soldering the pieces together, which for me at least raises the difficulty quite a few levels since I've never soldered before. A guy on MSW was building the 1/72 with the GLS set, and it took him a few attempts but then the soldered detail items started looking pretty good. The 1/72 Revell kit is pretty rough, and it might be a re-pop of the old Matchbox kit. I believe it's recommended that you sand all the hull plates down, which is quite labor intensive given how big the hull is! You pretty much just use the hull as a base to add all the GLS stuff. I think I'm going to need to be in a particular frame of mind to want to tackle that kit. All that being said, these are really cool ships to model. Very cool design, the camo schemes are really interesting, and these were pretty beaten up so you can have fun weathering them. I'm probably a few years away from building them, but I've been thinking of doing the 1/144 in a diorama, and the 1/72 as just a regular static build (way too big for a diorama). I'm probably going to try and build US versions in each scale - like the Saucy and the Tenacity - but it's hard finding the slight modifications that different ships had. I did manage to find online the old Matchbox instructions, which allowed you to build the Saucy. If I remember correctly, there were only a few different parts that you had to swap out and these I think have been carried down in the Revell kits so it might just be a matter of figuring out how to do the numbering and other decal-type items.

Rob, nice score! Interestingly, this was one of the first two plastic kits I bought from a fellow modeler on MSW to get back into the hobby. I really love the subject, but wanted to get my skills up before tackling it. It's a nice kit, but the Pontos set is insane - definitely try to find it as the added detail from that set is amazing. Very cool that you built the Matchbox 1/72 kit. I also have the 1/72 Revell kit on the shelf with all the Great Little Ships upgrades. Now that I'm definitely waiting to improve my skills for that as the GLS stuff is pretty amazing, though I think learning to solder the bigger, heavier pieces of PE is a must.

Great work Rob - love the subtle weathering.