CANicoll

Worker benefits there are much better than here. I worked for a telecom company that was acquired by a French company. They got a year's notice of layoffs. Plus benefits. I got 30 minutes to close out my accounts...

Wrapping this one up. Not a fantastic build, but the idea was to get some experience for a future 1/32 and 1/48 F-4 Phantom in SEA camo. The kit was for a Canadian F-4 and the decals were so old they shattered upon application. But it still is a very cool looking aircraft so maybe somebody will make a nice kit one day! This is the perfect example of a 5' model. Looks good at 5'. Don't come closer!! To really do this plane up right, resin engines would be nice, and then some detailed armament. And MUCH better pilot figures! The decals I came up with are too thick, and too old anyway. Oh yeah, this is a bit of a tail-sitter as well. Had to stuff a nail (yep, a nail!) up through the front nose gear into the nose to keep in on all three tires. Didn't take much weight, just a little. Resin engines would make a huge difference, however. There is life in these old kits, and a lot more detail than I remember. Maybe we need and "Oldies but Goodies" build category. I'm in!

Started work on the figures for the Cat, specifically the waist gunner positions where I'm hoping to show them looking out the side blisters. I THINK these guys, molded in black plastic, came from an old Monogram B-17G kit. Right now trying out positions - need to move a few arms, maybe bend a few legs. Also trying out the paint colors. Umm, Maybe my Model Master Acryl is a little bit old? Mixed it up, seems to be working ok so far. Here are the basic positions: Lots of work still on the figures, one of the big problems is, well, they are pretty tall! The kit gunners are both bent at the knees and waists. But trying to show these guys looking out like they are searching for downed airmen. A little bit of progress!

Are we going to do a group build of the Tamiya Mk VIII that so many of us purchased? Here is one of my other projects - the 6" hairpin legs showed up today for the upper shelf. Different workbench time!

Does it leave a mark behind? A residue on the paint?

Thank you, sir!! Took me a while, but it was a pretty good build. Cheers!

Don't we all!!

Looking good!!

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...