CANicoll

Oh awesome!! Looking fantastic! I'm way behind on keeping up, but wow, looks great Rob! Chris

Gorgeous Peter!!! Lovely build and as usual the paint work is stellar. CANNOT wait for the 109 to appear! Chris

Very nice work, Carl! I'm still in awe at panel line rescribing and all. I can't scribe a straight line to save my life. Great subject too. I just have to get going on my next build, to try and keep up with you and the guys.

This is something I would do!! LOL

After reading everyone's comments I'm beginning to wonder if I sanded down the pylon just a bit too much to get it level and flat. Even if I lowered it a mm or two, that would change the angle and hence the length of the strut. Hmmm.. Same problem on the 1/72 Cat build I did. So I think we may have found the culprit: ME!! I did sand down the top of the pylon as it had: 1. a huge seam and 2. was kind of 'peaked' in the middle. The wing had the opposite kind of peak, but that also let the wing rock on the pylon, hence my sanding the pylon down so it would be flat. If I had another kit, I would see if the struts would level out the wing on their own. My main concern with the contact patch on the pylon to the wing was that it needed to be sufficient to keep that huge wing in place as I didn't think the (thin) struts were sturdy enough to do the job. I was counting on the pylon to really be the main attachment point, and the struts less structural - if that makes any sense. The power of the people! Thanks for everyone's comments, I do appreciate it! Chris

Gary, This is amazing work! Great job and making me want to try and afford the kit! Super work and great pictures. Thanks!!

Carl, it is only a few mm, but enough to bend the strut. In hindsight, I should have set the wing, and then cut the tabs off of the struts and put them into place and been done with it. Originally I used the struts to set the wing level so that was the first mistake. All is well that ends well!

She flies!! Been so busy this week with a lot of things, including getting some personal stuff worked out but things are definitely getting better. SO finally took the opportunity to get some bench time. Which means - let's get the wing on! LOTS of dry fitting and making sure the wing struts fit well before applying any cement. Didn't matter... The 1/72 Cat I built a while ago had the same problem: the struts just don't fit well. Spoiler alert - they all seem too long. After lots of dry fitting and seeing that they aligned well and fit into the holes on the underside of the wing just fine, hit the struts with the CA. Big mistake. Flipped the fuselage over to sit on the wing and inserting the tab of the rear strut into the hole in the wing, resulted in this fitment: Actually, this was #3. The two struts on the other side have already launched themselves across the desk. Sigh. The fix is simple, cut off the tab on the strut that goes into the hole. But frustrating that this measurement is so far off on the struts. They are so visible they have to be straight. The good news is, the mating surface for the wing to the fuselage pylon is HUGE and as long as it is properly flattened (it has a bit of a crown which needs to be cut-down) this is where the strength of the wing join will be. Once the aircraft is on its head (so to speak) it is easier to attach the remaining struts. Joined the wing with some slow-drying CA to make sure I could keep the wing level while I did the strut work. Here they are: At this point after verifying the wing was level with the elevators, I flowed extra thin Tamiya cement into the pylon/wing join and let it set for a good 7-10 minutes. LOTS of touch-up of the paint is needed as I ham-fisted the fuselage strut joins. Another view: And now on its fuselage bottom. The good news is that the wing join seems very strong. I wouldn't say the weight of the wing offsets the weight of the resin tail, but it helps. More resin in the nose (if that is possible) or the wing somewhere would help. But it is still a bit tail heavy. Picking it up from the stand requires a careful grip! Here the wing looks a bit tilted, but that is me being a bit tilted taking the picture. I have to say, I love this view!: What a cool view of a cool aircraft! And the view to show relative position to the elevators: Putting it down to dry for a day or so, and while that happens - get to work on those antennas. They are fairly intricate with LOTS of sprue attachments. Pictures to come next. That's it for now. I'm very far behind on commenting on the other builds. Sorry folks!!! Hope to catch up this weekend.

Rob, The detail work really catches the eye and this is already a really nice piece of eye-candy. The details really bring out the build and make one want to spend a LOT of time, just looking it over so carefully to see everything. The scratch building is terrific - I don't even have the bits to even think about scratch building like you are. Chris

Gorgeous! Love these aircraft. Nice job on the weathering, too.

I was tempted to start the ZM Mustang but didn't want to get SOOO involved. Both of you, can't wait to see!

Very cool idea!!

I hear you Rob, Weathering the all-back cat is a bit of a challenge, but we'll see what works. Thanks! Chris

Appreciate it Gary. Always a wonder of what will be seen, and honestly, I could not remember if I really had masked the windshield properly so that was a relief when that came off.

Thanks Peter. Seems like this has been a long build, but mostly just dealing with the fit issues - some expected, and some unexpected. Whew!

Thanks Carl - I definitely need to get on the weathering. I'm seriously considering duplicating that one picture showing the wear on the underside of the leading edge - I've never seen that before.

This is awesome!! Very cool. I never thought of the GB as a mini-competition. Its all good, and great to see you and Joy getting younger people involved. Even better!

Broccoli and Leeks?

Gary, 86 crew??? You ship guys are CRAZY! PW- looking good and an interesting subject. I thought a "zestorer" was an aircraft!! (The BF 110, but ships too I guess). Chris

Gary, AWESOME work! Love the figures and the detail and the rigging is spot on. The figures add so much to the build but the details on the boat just keep adding up. SO much to look at - great job! This is like four builds in one. Chris

Sounds cool! What is this Ernie? Neighborhood kids pick the winner of the GB? Neat!

I Love these aircraft. Super nice job with a nice kit. I keep forgetting about Hasegawa and how good most of their kits are. A full set of stores, too!. You did a super job with this beauty!

Thanks Gary and Kevin - Still working on a fix! But made a bit more progress today. Followed Gary's example and instead of using a thick Styrene loop for an antenna, went into my stores for some appropriate wire. Here we go! CA is joining the loop. Will add a bit more to smooth out the join, then will see if it needs some silver paint. This is for the top of the wing, between the engines. Hit the fuselage with some Satin coats, so time to peel off the masks, and hope everything came out ok. Fingers crossed! The tools for the unmasking and the result. The toothpick doesn't scratch the plastic as it lifts a corner of the mask, while the pincers pull off the mask, but often times the clear needs a bit of future touch-up from the toothpick rubbing. The Blister was first, and the clarity is really nice. Can actually see through the entire fuselage which is kind of cool. Lots of windows in these blisters, but the masks worked really well. Still very surprised at how clear this old plastic is. The canopy came clean as well. Check out the windshield wipers!! Love that you can actually see the pilots. What you can't see are the painted engine controls hanging from the top of the center of the canopy. Because I forgot to attach the part before gluing the canopy! The turret is masked completely wrong. Oops! But look at those Hell's Angels! The wing insignias are painted now so tomorrow's job is to work on the antennas and get the wing together. Getting there!

Sweet! Saw a picture on IG today of a cammo Connie. THAT would be pretty cool so intersted to see how your shiny (or not) bird turns out.

Love the bloke casually drinking his tea!