CANicoll

Guy, Fantastic build! What a beauty!

Hey Scott, Probable culprit is the prostate. Was good 2 years ago (or was it 3?) but things may have tightened up. I'm on medication to hopefully loosen that up (Flowmax, of all things. ). I thought it might be stones blocking, but when they inserted the catheter, they didn't feel anything. They left the catheter in for a week to let the prostate settle down. Seems like prostates don't take kindly to having catheters shoved up there. No kidding! Sucks about your wife and your son. Ugh. And the attitude that your problems were your fault - I hate that. My former wife was the same way. Sad. Hang in there! Chris

Most of us on LSM are people of a certain age, mostly men (sorry Maru) so we have similar maladies. Some of you may relate to my experience today. Bad night last night, up every hour, could not empty my bladder. Finally got up for work, had a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee. Pain wasn't really in my lower back, as has been the case in the past with my kidney stones. More in the front - bladder. Debated calling the doc or going to the ER, thought maybe moving around a bit (like at work) would help. Got to work and after an hour it was apparent this wasn't getting any better. Worse, my bladder felt even tighter. Headed home to see about going to the Emergency Room - normally a 15 minute drive. Not one but TWO accidents made that a 45 minute, excruciating drive. Debated on calling an ambulance, instead tried to find a friend to take me. That cost another 25 minutes. Finally get to the ER, pain definitely increasing, got signed in. Within 15 minutes I could not stand or walk. STILL took 90 minutes to get to an ER room and meds, which sounds horrible (much like the sounds I was making by then), but TWO people 'coded' so that took precedence (as it should). One was a stroke victim. Finally, some pain meds, a catheter and the miracle of an empty bladder - all 1200ml (most men's bladders hold 700ml). Most painful thing I've ever experienced. I thought it was kidney stones even though I knew if felt different. I almost took a pain pill (I have some serious pills from the Kidney stones) and went to sleep. Had I done that, it is possible my bladder might have burst. Then who would get all the kits in the stash? What a waste! How many stupid decisions did I make on this one event? Too many, and not to be dramatic, but it could have killed me. Seriously - please take YOUR health seriously, folks. PS : With the catheter, I now have a 'pee bag' taped to my leg. Which means I don't need to run to the bathroom to pee unless the bag fills up. So more uninterrupted bench time. Hoping to finish the Catalina this week. Win win!! (But it really wasn't worth the pain!) Chris

Finally got back to the bench. Just too much going on but nice to get some build time. Handling this thing is an exercise in patience. It is tail heavy, and the wingspan is very long so turning it requires patience and watching out to see what is going to get hit. Engines and the fuel tank vents are dry fitted at the moment. SO MUCH DUST!! The waist figures are in place, looking out for down pilots. Painted the antennas so mounting them and installing the exhaust pipes is next. Then some weathering, finally!

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!