CANicoll

Carl, I'm sorry, this whole thing just blows my mind. The level of detail and the minute-ness is something my head just cannot comprehend. Wow. HATCHES THAT WORK??? Those boxes with the cable rings??? Next you are going to say the bloody thing floats and the guns fire!

The base is awesome and the ship is looking sharp. Can't wait to see the details up-close!

Gary, The half-round looks awesome as do the torpedoes. Wow, what a difference. Its the little details that really have a huge impact. Nice work!! For a minute there I thought you were going to foil a torpedo. That would be cool.

Peter, the finish, as is your trademark, is flawless and beautiful. You really pulled the best out of this 'simple' kit! Good luck with the dentist - take your time getting back - I've taken a few days off here to try and catch up on a few things. A break is good!

Battle damaged! Oh this is really cool. Nice job on the plane - thanks for the dialog on the diorama - whew. What a build!!

Terrific quick build and agree, the Tamiya kits are usually really well engineered and create a beautiful result - yours is terrific. Love the subject matter as you don't usually see a lot of Finnish aircraft. Nice job on the (tiny) IP and I think your mottling is spot-on as well - not too heavy from what I can see. Which airbrush do you use? I picked up a Grex specifically to do the mottling as I had much better control over the paint with their pistol-grip format than I had with my Iwata HP-CS. Yours came out beautifully. Chris

Very interesting display!

Ditto!!

Looking pretty good there, Ernie. Smart not to build the nose ahead of time - looks like you can make some adjustments along the way. I really like the B's and C's too, but as you say, they are badly under-represented.

Great progress, Ernie, and nice to see everything fit. Amazing how a big company can't get the research right, but a couple of people working on their own can do it. Agree with Jerry Randal's research with one notable (and early) exception - the nose checkers for their 1/32 Big Beautiful Doll set. They just don't fit. They sent me two addl sets from the one I bought and no matter what I did there were clearly gaps between the panels. I showed them the pictures of the decal placement and they said they scaled up the Tamiya BBD 1/48 decals to 1/32. Except Tamiya changed the shape of the nose slightly. We never got that settled and I ended up using Zotz BBD nose checkers, and Eagle's everything else. But the quality of their decals is terrific. With the research done by you and Peter, I'm looking forward to seeing how your painting comes out.

Finally pulled the canopy masks off - showing a bit of touch-up to do. the multi-part masks to cover the yellow window tape worked ok. And somehow some dust or something got inside the canopy. Oops! So more work to do.

Wow, that is REALLY cool!

Thanks Rob and Peter. Rob - now that you mention it, I think I may have had some fogging problems as well but that was when I left the liquid mask on for a long time. But to be safe, I'll cut up some tape. Thanks for the reminder! Peter - I'm rapidly getting to the point where one of my buy-decisions is if I can get a mask set for the canopy. Doing all that tape works just sucks the joy out of the build for me - I feel like I spend all that time for little return. Until pulling off the tape/mask and seeing nicely framed glass.

Ernie, You named my three favorite AVG pilots - all three signed my Tiger Fire print, and we share a mutual admiration of Tex Hill. My former wife sent my copy of his Biography to him and he signed it and returned it. A great birthday present! I missed seeing him when he came to DC and I still regret that. Love your build and I'll have to remember those clamps for the future. We have a ton in the woodshop and they are definitely stronger than what I have. I also like the P-40 but guess I have not found a kit that says to me "Build me!" I followed Peter's build and those problems put me off a bit. That is a lot of money to have to fight the build. Maybe your build will change my mind. Really interested in the colors you choose. They faded so much, like Peter said, it almost doesn't really matter what you start with. The wear and tear these aircraft endured is really something. A testament to the ground crews keeping them flying. You know, I've never seen an AVG modeled with any patches from gunfire. Hmmm For the P-39, I didn't mind the SH kit too much. Mine was free - it was a giveaway at the Phoenix Nationals (I wandered in during vendor setup to take some pictures and it was sitting on a table, with a sign that said 'FREE' on it). It is a simpler kit than the KH kit, but it was an OK build. The KH kit for me was an unmitigated disaster. Not a single panel on the plane fit properly closed. The KH folks came to our local show/competition and when I asked them about the fit problems I received a snotty response "well, that was an early kit". I've built a number of the Eduard 1/48 P-39/P-400 kits (they have reissued the P-400!) and really like the engineering and quality. They build up nicely.

Tim, Now you need to update your signature - no more 'In progress 2022: 1/16 Sopwith Camel skeleton'!

Looking really good, Ernie! Are those the kit barrels or did you substitute them? CN

Bit the bullet and sat down to finish the masking. Found an error in the Eduard instructions, which I think is pretty rare, and also this aircraft would be PERFECT for the T_FACE masks, inside and out. First the error: Eduard switched the places of two of the masks - fortunately it was VERY easy to see the problem as one of the masks has a cut out, and the other does not. Pardon the messy notes! The fit of some of the masks was not fantastic so I augmented a few with slivers of yellow tape. Otherwise, the masking was a huge help for this huge job. Have not filled in the windshield with liquid mask yet. Thats a few masks!! And still have the fuselage windows to mask. Not to mention doing the national insignia. The clarity of the pieces just amazes me, too. Especially being this old, there is very little distortion. They have been dipped in Future. Now I really have to get onto painting the figures...

Wow Tim! Its NAKED!!! Really a cool build, extremely detailed, and very impressive 3D printed cowling - looks great. Did you drill all of the rivets/holes around the cowling opening? That is a lot of work - whew. The engine is a work of art by itself - and what did you make the prop out of? That looks super. Nice work! Chris

An amazing job there, Ernie at home or on the road. Beautiful cockpit, by the way. Definitely looking forward to the rest of the build. Which plane are you building, which markings?

Hmmm. I've seen it done on a jeep, but that was easy - spray a muddy brown or dust around the arc. I think for the Cat, will just leave the windows clean.

Actually, I used to drive a '70 340 Duster!, with a 3/4 cam and the 727 Torqueflite trans. That was a beast. But really would love to get my hands on a TA Challenger. The Subie is a 2018 Limited as I really have to have a sunroof. After I burned through the stock brakes in 4 hours at the track, I upgraded the brakes to the 6 Pot STI Brembos rotors, and 18x9.5 wheels with Michelin AS3+ tyres to get some wider rubber underneath. It is a blast on the track (with track pads of course! Big heavy car, front brakes take a beating).

Ahh, gotcha. What about rough sanding (60 grit paper) the plywood to really roughen up the surface? I thought masking the Cat canopy was a lot of work!! And/or put down some staples or screws - not fully flush with the board? Gives the clay something to grab onto?

I know you said its plywood, but no need to varnish it to keep it from warping?

I'm completely at a loss. Everyone has presented pretty reasonable suggestions and solutions, so not sure why the crack keeps spreading. Was there any problem joining the fuselage that might be putting stress on the plastic? Otherwise, I'm clueless as to what to suggest. UGH! Feel for you though! Second thought - maybe its 'battle damage'? Or training damage? Reaching for straws here.

Nice looking target!!