Peterpools Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 ALIVE, WELL AND STILL KICKING A big thanks to John B for letting everyone know why my absence from the form for such an extended period of time and what has been going on. A few years before I was diagnosed with cancer, my wife Diane and I were looking forward to our retirements and planned a major renovation of our home. The best laid plans seem to always have a mind of their own and once I was in remission and well enough to allow contractors in the house (social distancing was a must and one of the ground rules my oncologist insisted on), we proceeded to hire contractors, set a schedule and off we went. We never imagined there would be so much to do, decisions to be made and my physical stamina put limits on all the preparation work we needed to do. As with any renovation we kept adding to the project, still thinking it would take about six weeks to two months; we’re closing in on almost six months and close to being finished. I’ve had very little time for modeling or even hanging out on the forum as my model room and cave was moved from one end of the house to nearly the other end (couldn’t ask for more) and became part of the work to be done. We’re in the home stretch and the vast majority of the projects should be completed and a few more remaining as we’re waiting for some items to be made and delivered. A huge portion of the project we greatly under estimated and never gave much of a thought to was packing and organizing and now unpacking, cleaning, replacing everything that was packed up in the beginning. Glad to say we’re hiring a cleaning company to help us, as it’s tiring to just think about it. We’re off and running and there is no rush to finish, to clean and unpack everything all at once – thank goodness. I’m finally back in my hobby room and sitting at the bench, getting ready to start building again and catching up. Revell 1/144 Embraer ERJ 190 Ukraine International Airlines With the Ukrainian GB well underway and now that I’m finally back at the bench, I knew the GT40 build would have to share both bench space and bench time so my entry would be completed in time. The new studio was close enough to completion so that I could start my original entry; the Roden 1/48 Pilatus PC-6 a few very late nights ago and now I know why Roden has the reputation I’ve heard so many times. I spent hours cleaning up some of the worst injector pin marks and injector pin towers I’ve ever seen and a good deal of flash joined the cleanup work. Interior part fit was OK at best. Then the project killer: two C frets are needed – only one in the kit and another fret where one was needed, there were two. At this point, I had already lost most of the mojo for the kit but missing parts and a short build window sealed the kits fate … binned. I still wanted to build something different and with a growing interest in 1/144 scale airliners, some research, I located a set of decals for Ukraine International Airlines and had to hunt down the Revell kit for the Embraer ERJ 190, which I found on ebay, at a very fair price. Not wasting any time, I went to work on the kit during my newly found late night modeling sessions. The Embraer is typical Revell, the only game in town for the Embraer, should turn out just fine and a nice value for the money. First order of business was to seal up the windows, which was time consuming but will be my SOP for all future airliner builds. I pressed fit standard Milliput through all the window openings from the inside out, cut the Milliput flush with the outer fuselage skin (a big mistake), let dry and then followed up with Tamiya White Putty on the exterior, then a few layers of Mr Surfacer and lastly Squadron Fast Drying Gray Putty. Overkill for sure but the windows were sealed smooth and gone. Next build, after I press fit the Milliput through the windows, I won’t trim or cut them flush with the fuselage which cause some gaps and depressions that added to the filler and sanding. I started the wings and some sanding was needed to clean things up. The underside of the wings are not flat and have what seems to be the correct airfoil contours and calling for some tricky sanding. Next up: finishing the wings, gluing up the fuselage halves and moving forward. Feels so good to be back and hanging out again Keep ‘em comin Peter Milliput applied and dried The fuselage sanded and ready to be assembled 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 Looking forward to this one. Don't see too many of this kind of subject! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted May 1, 2022 Author Share Posted May 1, 2022 Thanks Mike Thought it would be a very different entry and I've always had a huge interest in airliners and a perfect excuse to give it a go. Now that the home renovation is nearly done and I'm in my new cave, just finding where I put everything is a whole new ballgame. Keep 'em comin Peter 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 Great to see you back Peter and glad to hear the work on the house is almost done. I'm sure it's going to be worth all the hassle. Nice start on this interesting kit. I've never been too into commercial airliners but my brother built some when we were kids and now works in the industry, so a nice blast from the past! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted May 2, 2022 Share Posted May 2, 2022 Glad to see you back, Peter! Looking forward to seeing your progress. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted May 2, 2022 Author Share Posted May 2, 2022 5 hours ago, GusMac said: Great to see you back Peter and glad to hear the work on the house is almost done. I'm sure it's going to be worth all the hassle. Nice start on this interesting kit. I've never been too into commercial airliners but my brother built some when we were kids and now works in the industry, so a nice blast from the past! Thanks Gus Feels great to be back and at the bench. As we are starting to look back, all the work and hassles were well worth every one. I've always had an interest in airliners and civil aircraft along with all my military builds (I earned my commercial license back in 1970). Just love anything with wings. Glad you're along from the ride and a nice insight about your brother. Does he work for an airline? Keep 'em comin Peter 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted May 2, 2022 Author Share Posted May 2, 2022 Thanks Gaz Nice to be back at the bench and building again. I almost forget what it was like with no banging and clanging in the house and outside. Keep 'em comin Peter 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifter Posted May 2, 2022 Share Posted May 2, 2022 Good going Peter. Glad you are back and treating us with an exhibit of your awesome skills. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted May 2, 2022 Share Posted May 2, 2022 You can't stay away from the fumes of Tamiya's Extra Thin for too long Peter . Good to have you back here, knowing your home has improved a lot through that lengthy period of renovation. My own experience is, if you started renovations, you have to pull through, whatever it costs. The tendency to be lazy afterwards with the remaining work, which was excluded is too overwhelming. After all the stress and spent time, it feels overly good to have a 'new' home as you like it to have. After lots of different building projects around the house last year, this year will be a bit more quite, but there will be a complete renovation of the rooms inside. It has to be done and afterwards, I will realize, how much improved everything is. I never build a 1/144 airliner and I really like to take one of the many seats and buckle in, to learn something new. It never occurred to me, that you should substitute clear parts with decals, but why not, as 144 scale clears may look a bit blobby. The Ukrainian outfit looks great and is a nice addition to the GB. Bummer with the Pilatus, I would have really liked to see it in this crazy livery, but I understand, that some kits are just not worth the effort, except you absolutely want to have one of these in your collection. Cheers Rob 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted May 2, 2022 Author Share Posted May 2, 2022 Hi Drifter Much appreciated and good to be back Keep 'em comin Peter 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted May 2, 2022 Author Share Posted May 2, 2022 Hi Rob Oh so true and one of the decisions we made was when any of the contractors suggested an addition we had not thought about and seemed good, we did it and all was so well worth it. Of course you're right in that there is always more to be done down the road but at our ages of mid seventies, there aren't any big projects planned as these are the golden years and enjoying each day is a gift we want to enjoy. 1/144 scale airlines seem to be a whole new avenue of building and collecting and should add an abundance of fun to bench time and a lot of color to the display cabinet. Decals for windows and glass - a perfect solution and hopefully all will look good when done. Keep 'em comin Peter 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted May 2, 2022 Share Posted May 2, 2022 1 hour ago, Peterpools said: 1/144 scale airlines seem to be a whole new avenue of building and collecting and should add an abundance of fun to bench time and a lot of color to the display cabinet. You should buy a gallon of Tamiya LP-2 gloss white then Peter . Cheers Rob 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted May 2, 2022 Author Share Posted May 2, 2022 Rob Now that's a great idea for sure Keep 'em comin Peter 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted May 2, 2022 Share Posted May 2, 2022 Peter, meant to also say I'm glad to hear things have gotten better for you and that you are back to modeling. You've been a kind supporter for everyone else here these past few months, so we are all looking forward to supporting you on this build. Welcome back! Forgive me for asking, but why do you need to fill all those windows? Are you using decals for them? What would the kit OOB have you do? Just leave them open or add a drop of window glazing to the opening? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted May 2, 2022 Author Share Posted May 2, 2022 Hi Mike And thanks for the warm welcome home - just glad to be back and we're now enjoying our home so much more. For airliners, I much prefer to use AM black window decals which represent how the aircraft actually looks from a scale distance. I've never been a fan of the kit glass as most have all sorts of fit issues and correcting window spacing if need be, is a snap with decals. Many moons ago I use to be a dye in the wool model railroader and used Kristal Klear by the gallon for both structure and rolling stock windows. In those applications they worked so very well but for 1/144 scale airliners, decals are the way to go for me. Keep 'e comin Peter 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted May 2, 2022 Share Posted May 2, 2022 18 hours ago, Peterpools said: Thanks Gus Feels great to be back and at the bench. As we are starting to look back, all the work and hassles were well worth every one. I've always had an interest in airliners and civil aircraft along with all my military builds (I earned my commercial license back in 1970). Just love anything with wings. Glad you're along from the ride and a nice insight about your brother. Does he work for an airline? Keep 'em comin Peter Hi Peter, glad you're so enthused to get back to building. My brother started working as cabin crew with a regional company over here called Eastern Airways about 20 years ago flying Britten Islanders and Jetstream 41 to places like Wick and Shetland, then they moved up to Embraer 145 and Saab 2000 flying to France and such. He moved to another carrier, FlyBe, who went bust at the start of Covid so he's spent the last two years working on the checkout in a local supermarket but he's been really lucky and got back into the industry with EasyJet flying all over Europe. I thought his age might count against him but I think all the experience he has worked in his favour. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted May 2, 2022 Author Share Posted May 2, 2022 Gus That's some story and his persistence paid off. Does he have a favorite of all the planes he has flown? Nothing like experience in my book for whatever we do. Thanks so much, I truly enjoyed his story and so glad he made it back into the front office. Keep 'em comin Peter 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted May 3, 2022 Share Posted May 3, 2022 Hey Peter, glad to see you back. Even better to hear that the reno work is almost done and you've got time to spend at the bench. This is an unexpected subject but I'm looking forward to what you do with it. I've only ever built one airliner, the Minicraft 737 that I put Simpsons markings on. I still have it somewhere at my parents' house. Carl 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted May 3, 2022 Author Share Posted May 3, 2022 Hi Carl Feels great to be back and all the hassles of a major reno are now over and done with. I've been collecting airliners for a while, as they appeal to my build and finish side of modeling and a nice change of pace. Love to see a photo of the 737 with Simpson markings if you can find it at your parents house. Was it an all yellow aircraft with Homer Simpson on it? Keep 'em comin Peter 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted May 3, 2022 Share Posted May 3, 2022 23 hours ago, Peterpools said: Gus That's some story and his persistence paid off. Does he have a favorite of all the planes he has flown? Nothing like experience in my book for whatever we do. Thanks so much, I truly enjoyed his story and so glad he made it back into the front office. Keep 'em comin Peter Hi Peter He'd probably say the Saab due to the responsiveness but there was something 'seat of the pants' about taking the Jetstream into some of the little fields like Wick. Put it this way, the crew got a bonus every time they flew into there due to the conditions - they weren't allowed to call it 'danger money' but that's essentially what it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted May 4, 2022 Author Share Posted May 4, 2022 Gus Just love the bios and history - adds so much. Went to Wicks web site and found this photo of a Saab - fire trucks and water celebration. Keep 'em comin 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted May 4, 2022 Share Posted May 4, 2022 8 hours ago, Peterpools said: Gus Just love the bios and history - adds so much. Went to Wicks web site and found this photo of a Saab - fire trucks and water celebration. Keep 'em comin Great picture Peter. Jetset travel Scottish Highland's style! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnB Posted May 4, 2022 Share Posted May 4, 2022 That is a cool looking airplane Peter. I'm sure your model will do it justice!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted May 4, 2022 Author Share Posted May 4, 2022 Gus My kind of flying for sure. Keep 'em comin Peter 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted May 4, 2022 Author Share Posted May 4, 2022 Thanks John Treading new waters and I'm hoping for a colorful Embraer but Revell just has a habit of getting in the way. Been making a lot of progress since my opening post and in a few days, should be ready with the next update Keep 'em comin Peter 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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