iSteve

Aires makes a wheel well for Revell's Mk IXc kit. I was thinking of putting that in.

It's looking more like I'm just going to detail the Hasegawa kit as best I can: new resin cockpit, brass guns, Archer fasteners around the engine cowling, even bought riveting wheels and might give them a try. We'll see how it goes. Could use a suggestion or two as how to improve the shallow wheel bays.

Thank you Giorgio! I think I'll just try and improve the Hasegawa kit.

Here's the thing: I want to build a 1/32 Spitfire Vb Trop but the most accurate is the old Hasegawa kit with raised panel lines and very little else. The Hobby Boss kit is too inaccurate for my taste. I could rescribe the panels and replace the fasteners around the engine with rivet decals, but I was wondering how difficult it might be to take a Tamiya Mk VIII kit and use parts from the Hasegawa kit to make a Vb Trop. Is it just a matter of the Vokes filter and the exhausts, or is there a lot more to it? Would modifying Tamiya's Mk IX kit be easier? Thank you for your input

I was surprised and dismayed when I saw Revell was releasing that. Pleasantly surprised because it was out of production for so long and dismayed because of the great hunt I had trying to get the early Type VIIC. Oh well It was the Das Werk kit that put the bug back in me to get a 1/72 Revell U-boat. So now I'll have two huge kits in the stash and looking forward to building both.

Thanks Grant. That was my primary source of information that begged the question. Other than a slight difference in length and no other proportion changes, the IXB and IXC are identical. The conning tower that came with the kit is also standard on a type IXB, but not for U-66. So it looks like I'll be building U-103. Thanks for the link - I'll check it out. But, as you pointed out, there were a lot of variances even among the same types, so photo references are the best source. This build won't be for a while yet. I'll be doing U-96 in 1/144 scale before I get to the 1/72 monster And I've added WWI U-9 by Das Werk in 1/72 to the list.

I just picked up Revell's 1/72 IXC U-boat (U-67/U-154) and was considering converting it to make U-103, which is a IXB. I thought I had read somewhere here that all that was needed was to replace the conning tower. Is that so? Anything else? Is there an aftermarket conning tower available for this conversion? If the above isn't feasible, I was originally thinking of making it U-66. In that instance, I shouldn't have to change anything except the emblem, correct? Thanks for your help!

Yup. I had been putting off shipping from my private warehouse as long as I could in hope all postage methods would become available, but still no change. It's becoming prohibitive to ship from HLJ, which used to have some really great rates.

Beautiful work Bill! I hope one day one of the major manufacturers will come out with a decent sized VIIB, but until then we can ogle yours. Wouldn’t it have been easier to modify the Amati conning tower than the Revell since it’s a B and the Revell’s is a C?

Never mind.

Any word if they'll repop the 1/48 Columbia & Eagle with opening 3rd stage?

Hi Paul, Never mind - I see the cart automatically shows no VAT for foreign buyers. And I should have read your post less quickly

I think the story for Solo could be a good one, but I'm still trying to get past the lead who, to me, only kinda looks like a young Ford. Minor quibble in what could potentially be one of the better films of the series. When I first heard they were making a Solo movie, my first thoughts were Disney's picking the lowest hanging fruit for tons of cash, and in light of that why bother? We'll see.

Watched the first episode last night. It has potential so I'll watch a few more. That robot is going to be an interesting story arc all by itself.

Thanks for the heads up. I think I'll stick with my Blu-ray, but this is mighty tempting.