Landlubber Mike

Quick question - anyone have any ideas on how to represent a WWII carrier's hangar deck flooring? I haven't found many pictures of what it would look like, aside from this colorized one of what I think might be a Wildcat: I can't really tell what the floor is made of - metal? How would I represent it? A dark steel color with scribed lines to represent what looks like big metal floor panels, with some oil and other spills? Since I have the model with panels off, etc., I was thinking about sitting it on a hangar deck in a diorama scene with a mechanic or two. I have this Verlinden set which could supply some of the figures, though with the hoods, I'm wondering if those mechanics would be more apt to be on the landing deck versus the hangar deck: Thanks in advance!

I'm just about at the end of this build. Everything is pretty much painted, decaled and put together (aside from the folded wings which will be attached at the end), and has a coat of gloss pre-weathering, etc. So far so good. I just purchased the Proxxon hot wire cutter so can start making bases for my models, including dioramas.

No kidding! Wow!

I usually use Mr. Surfacer 1200 or 1500. I used to spray straight from the rattle can, but recently started buying the glass jars and thinning it through my airbrush. Grey or black, shoots very clean and provides a very strong bond that doesn't lift off when taped, etc. I've also used Tamiya primers from the rattle can - they go on similarly nicely, but the Tamiya rattle can nozzles I find can spit and otherwise cause problems. For smaller stuff that doesn't need to be taped like cockpit interiors, I've used Vallejo. I don't like Vallejo as a general primer because it can lift no matter how long it has cured. But for small detail stuff, I like it.

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.

Wow those look tasty. Need to get cracking on the ones I have to make for shelf space!

Kitlinx is a terrible company. They took an order from me for a few Taurus engine kits -- not cheap -- and never included them with my order. I sent them about a half dozen polite emails asking about the situation and they all went ignored. I wouldn't do business with them.

Gorgeous Peter!

Looking really sharp Peter! The Eduard set looks fantastic.

Thank you Peter, really appreciate the kind words. Maybe I'll start a separate log for the Vindicator. It's not a highly decorated plane for its war service, and there aren't too many kits available for it, but I think it's a pretty interesting subject. I'm actually planning on building it with partially folded wings, which should be a little different from the few models out there.

Sorry, I meant someone from another website (modelshipworld.com). And thank you very much again! Good to know that the sponge technique can work!