Landlubber Mike

I used Montex masks for the insignia and numbers on my Buffalo build. They worked great and I didn't have any warpage, residue, or other issues. I'm a big fan having used them with similar great results on some F4F builds.

Wow, glad you and Joy are ok. That hail is insane!

Looks great Kevin!!

Thanks Peter, I think I'm leaning that way. There is a lot of detail in the front turret with the anchor and winch and some other items. Shame to close it all up!

Thanks Peter, you've convinced me on the windows! My thought is that from the pictures, just because a Walrus was on the catapult didn't mean it was about to launch. Some of the pictures I've seen don't seem to show a sense of urgency or anything in the scene. Windows are open, pilots are waving, etc. Now I have to think about the turret openings. All the pictures I've seen have them closed. But, there is a lot of cool detail in there with the gun, anchor, framing, etc. Some other models have put the Walrus on catapults with the turrets opened, so maybe I'll just do that.

Thanks B-C! I saw some Walrus on catapult pics, and it looks like it was not uncommon for various windows in the cockpit and even the ones further back to be open. So I might actually try to model the Walrus with some of the windows open. That will help expose more of the interior, and just make things more interesting. Not sure if I will model the plane with the turrets open and guns set into position in the turrets. That I haven't seen in pictures, but maybe this model will just show the Walrus with various things open and out, wings folded, on catapult, etc. Would be more visually interested than just a buttoned up Walrus sitting on the catapult.

I think even seeing 5% is going to be fairly generous, with the bulkheads and limited windows. Probably can see a little with the greenhouse type main canopy I guess, and then you can see a bit into the rear seats through the window. Eduard puts out a lot of cool PE interior sets, but if the plane is buttoned up, you never can see the pieces. I did end up recently getting a 1/72 Kawanishi H2K8 Emily kit with a full Eduard upgrade - I think I'm going to try to model it as a cutaway, with one side fully closed up, and the other open so you can see the interior and various personnel activity in the plane. Otherwise, a waste of the PE I think. Eduard's interior PE does have side window frames that you can add in a closed or open position. If I wasn't modeling the Walrus on the catapult, I'd consider opening one or both windows. I didn't add the frames in the closed position because they didn't quite fit evenly in window recess in the hull. They fit perfectly, but the bottom of the frame stuck out a bit and the upper frame did not, so it would have looked a little odd if I included it. Got these pieces primed and the base coat over the weekend. I'll add the colored PE in the next couple of days, add a touch of some highlighting and shading, and then button her up. I was going to try out MRP paints on this as a first build, especially since I found a log that posted the paints used, but instead I'm going to go with Vallejo except for Mr. Surfacer primer on the exterior. This model is so small it didn't seem to warrant spending the money on MRP paints when I don't have any near term plans to use similar colors.

Finally got through assembling most of the interior. The Eduard interior PE set is pretty intense with a ton of pieces (close to 100 if not more if I remember correctly). Probably took a good 3-4 evenings of work to get in, and my guess is 95% won't be seen. But, good practice I suppose. I've gotten a little better with some of the types of PE that have vexed me in the past, including circles/rounds. Had a few to do here with the two gun cockpits, and improved my skills there. Here are the pieces with the Eduard interior, minus most of the pieces from the colored PE fret that will go on after I paint these interior pieces: That little piece in the middle of the bottom row is actually the ship/boat's anchor - interesting! After taping the various edges, I ended up priming these pieces and a few other interior pieces this evening. Then it's onto painting the interior green, adding the remaining Eduard pieces, and a bit of weathering. Thanks for looking in!

It's called "work hardening" or "strain hardening" apparently. Bending the copper causes defects or "dislocations" in the cubic crystal structure, making it harder. Annealing it removes these defects or dislocations. At least that is what I gathered from here: https://www.materialseducation.org/educators/matedu-modules/docs/Work_Hardening_and_Annealing_of_Copper.pdf Yay science!

One of my other hobbies is bonsai, where you use annealed copper wire to wire your trees. From what I understand, the copper is looped in coils and heated to anneal the copper. When you buy the coils, the copper is soft and easily workable. Once you start uncoiling the wire and using it, it hardens quickly - a very good quality for wiring your trees because the wire locks into position. That's why you have to be very careful of any bumps to the pre-used coils, as the wire hardens and the thicker diameters get very hard to use. Not sure if this is what happens to brass that is annealed then worked. Very different from using aluminum wire on your bonsai, which is easier to bend and manipulate, but doesn't harden on use thus having lower holding power at the same gauge. Sorry for the digression Rob!

Hang in there Harv! Go play golf, join a gym, find a club or other similar activity. You can always go for retail therapy and buy lots of kits - or live vicariously through the others of us on here that do so

Rob, that's looking spectacular. It's not easy getting those masts and their platforms looking so perfect - what a wonderful job! I haven't annealed before - do you just hold the part over a flame for a couple of seconds? I might have to try it some day. So far I've been fortunate that the PE I've used has been thin with pre-fold channels to make it fairly easy to bend with tweezers or a hold and fold.

Wow, really well done!! If you were going to turn that into a lawn dart, I'd hate to think of what you would do with my models! That's a really fantastic diorama! If you don't mind, can I ask what blue you used for the insignia? I have to paint similar Finnish swastikas on an upcoming Finnish Buffalo build, and was trying to find a paint that matched that blue.

Wow, you're off and running after the Kingfisher, aren't you! Really fantastic work on the interior, great job!!

Great first one in bag! What a way to kick off this group build, nice job Peter!!

Wow, those figures came out fantastic!! Nice job!

Amazing PE work Rob - those cranes look incredible. Very nice job!!

Wow Peter, looks fantastic! You really did the old kit proud. Looks like it should be the box cover!

Another beauty John - love the color scheme! Well done on mixing and matching parts.

Beautiful!! Your canopy lines are perfect, wow! Very very nice job.

Wow, really great job Jerry!

Another quirky one for the stash. I've been interested in the Dornier Do 24T model for quite a while, and happened upon an eBay auction for not only the kit, but also the Squadron canopies (supposedly a big improvement over the kit ones) and more importantly, the out of production Goffy resin engine detailing set. When I looked up what other aftermarket was out there, I found that Hannants was carrying the AIMS very detailed interior and exterior sets, along with a Kora transport carriage that also includes parts to convert the model into a minesweeper. Ended up snagging the kit off eBay for an excellent price and picked up some other AM goodies. John's AIMS PE sets are fantastic, and the Goffy engine set looks great as well. Not sure what to think of the Kora set though - the resin parts look good, but the instructions are horrendous. I can probably figure out how to put the carriage together, but doing the minesweeper conversion is going to take a lot of guesswork. I bought the kit more for the carriage than the minesweeper, so it's all good. There's only a record of one minesweeper from what I can tell, and markings would be a guessing game since there may only be one grainy picture of it out there. Obviously not a LSM (it's probably 1/3 the size of the same scale BV 222 I posted earlier), but a pretty interesting subject especially with the current group build.

Now that looks really great PW - wow!

Very nice - and typical fast - work John. That paint scheme looks really cool! Can I ask what paint you used to paint the propeller? I'm not sure if it's the lighting or anything, but I like the effect you got on it. Thanks!

Nice job on the mine! And be strong should you enter the LHS...you know you can do it...