Mike

Tiny wee Nissan Micra in a blizzard. Stuffed up the reversing a bit, but the examiner passed me anyway. Later that day I was driving the family Maxi without any further ado, scaring the local populace at large.

This 3D printing lark really seems to suit you. I’ve got this kit too, as I have a thing about Gunships. Hopefully my fuselage halves are straight for whenever I get around to mine 🙏

Maybe I should float mine and buy another yacht?

Pernod & black, and Paula. I don't see much of either these days

Interesting. If this does morph into a build thread, just let us know by Reporting it, and we'll move it for you

They're a bit generic, but I've accumulated a few memes that relate to forums, modelling and such over the years. Those are all the ones that are fit for human consumption at least

Quite. I had an MG HS Trophy loaner recently, and I was pretty impressed with how it drove and felt. It was a 2024 model, which are allegedly a big improvement on the 2023 models in terms of build quality, and despite being a hybrid, you wouldn't have known until you're going slow or in traffic, which is where hybrids come into their own. Add to that the price was about half that of a similar spec European offering with a 7-year warranty, it's no surprise that they're making in-roads into the market, and if the Western manufacturers don't do something about it by offering better value to the consumer , they deserve to fail. Resting on your laurels has never worked in the past, why should it now?

I've fancied one of those for a while now, so that pleases me

Mk-45 Mod.2 5” 54 Calibre Gun (63552) 1:35 I Love Kit via Creative Models Ltd The Mk.45 is a 5” US naval gun turret that replaced the earlier Mk.42 in an effort to reduce weight and ease maintenance of the installation over its predecessor. It mounts an L54 Mark 19 gun in the new turret, and has been the subject of modifications over the years, initially by United Defence, but latterly by BAe Systems after they subsumed the former. It can fire a variety of munitions, and although it has a slower fire-rate than its British equivalent, the extra 0.5” allows a heavier load that results in greater impact damage. It was initially mechanically fired, replacing that with electrical ignition with the Mod.1, the following Mod.2 was an intended to be an export version that was later used by the US Navy. Mod.3 wasn’t put into service, but the current variant is the Mod.4, which has a longer 62 calibre barrel that gives greater muzzle velocity and kinetic impulse. The gun’s crew consists of six operators, a captain, gunner and four loaders that keep the breech fed with fresh shells during sustained fire operations, but a 20-round autoloader can also be installed for crewless operations. As part of the lower maintenance options, the rifled barrel liner can be replaced separately from the gun tube, reducing downtime during the change-over. It is usually paired with the more modern and efficient Mk 34 Gun Weapon System or the legacy Mk 86 Gun Fire Control System that was developed during the magnetic media era of computing. The Kit This is a reboxing of the initial 62 calibre Mod.4 that was released in 2024, and arrives in a modestly-sized top-opening box with a painting of the turret on the deck of a ship of undetermined type, sailing in close convoy with another vessel. Inside the box is a single sprue, turret shell and base in sand-coloured styrene, a Photo-Etch (PE) brass fret with just two parts, decal sheet, the instruction booklet in black & white, plus a single-sided colour painting diagram with five profiles and a small paint chart with Mr Hobby, Acrysion, Vallejo, Model Master, Tamiya and Humbrol paint codes, plus a swatch of each colour with its name over-printed for completeness. There are just fifteen parts in the kit, with good detail throughout, depicting the exterior of the turret. Construction begins with the barrel mount, which consists of a two-part D-shaped mount between a pair of trunnions that aren’t glued, adding two C-shaped PE parts with bolts etched-in top and bottom, and a small two-part spent shell ejection port assembly above the socket for the barrel. The barrel is a single part that has a slide-moulded muzzle inserted at one end, and a shroud at the other, plugging into the base via a collar, both of which are keyed to ensure correct alignment. The turret shell is inverted to install the gun mount, covering the rear with a separate part, then adding the base with turret ring moulded-in. It is then righted to install an appliqué panel under the front, and the barrel assembly is slipped into the socket in the mount, adding a heavily bolted lower turret ring to the bayonet fitting and twisting it to lock it in place, before gluing the ring to the base if you intend to use it. If you have another installation method in mind, such as a replication of a small part of decking and possibly some 1:35 sailors with too little concern for their safety or hearing, the base can be left unused. Markings There is just one scheme depicted on the painting guide, matching the grey of a battleship and doing a little detail painting of the barrel shroud and mount, applying a single decal behind the hatch on each side. The decals are suitable for use, and consist of a white E with diagonal underline, and a black drop-shadow that will help it stand out against the grey. Paint call-outs are provided in Gunze Aqueous and enamels, using their H and C codes, as can be seen above. Conclusion There has been a spate of naval weapon kits in recent years, some of which I have myself, and this new kit adds to the breadth of range available. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Get yourself some "The Masters" Brush Cleaner & Preserver. It's available in tubs or a bar, like soap, and you take a brush you're not happy with, clean it in water, then while still wet, rub it gently on the cleaner block without upsetting the bristles. I kind of dab mine on the desk sort-of side-on, working the stuff into the core, and then rinse it in water. Repeat as necessary. https://www.jacksonsart.com/the-masters-brush-cleaner-preserver As to brands, I've long been an exponent of Windsor & Newton's Series 7, but they're hellish expensive. For figure painting a longer bristle is desirable, and I've been using Rosemary's and Orange Brushes a lot for that. Again, not cheap, but if you look after them well, they'll keep you going. IMHO cheap brushes fit the maxim "buy cheap, buy twice", only more so. Sable is the good stuff, and Kolinsky Sable is the best. Synthetic brushes are for more robust uses, such as dry brushing and painting large areas. One last thing. NEVER bend the bristles more than a few degrees, and definitely don't scrub them on the bottom of your water pot, or you'll ruin them. They also say don't let paint get to the ferrule, but that's almost impossible to achieve, so just make sure you clean them regularly. That's about all I know

LAV-300 with 90mm Cockerill Gun (84573) 1:35 Hobby Boss via Creative Models Ltd The LAV-300 was developed by Cadillac Gage as a Light Armoured Vehicle, similar to the other vehicles of the LAV range of armoured vehicles such as the LAV-25, and bears an outward similarity if you ignore the number of wheels, despite being manufactured by a different company. Initial customers for the type were overseas, starting with Panama, followed by Kuwait, who both took a relatively small number of vehicles for their use. It was designed from the outset to be configurable into fifteen variants that gave it flexibility of operation, with a choice of different calibre weapons ranging from machine guns or Mortars, through TOW anti-tank missile installations to the 90mm Cockerill gun in the Fire Support Vehicle (FSV). Many of Panama’s examples were captured or destroyed by American forces in the late 80s invasion, and much of Kuwait’s complement were lost in Iraq’s invasion a year later in 1990, while the Philippines have kept their forces largely intact over the years. The Cockerill gun is a low-pressure weapon, mounted in a low-weight two-person turret that was engineered to be a drop-in emplacement in light-weight applications such as armoured cars, and can fire a range of 90mm munitions to give support to troops and other soft skinned vehicles with direct or indirect fire. It is proof against 7.62mm rounds, as is the rest of the hull that is made from hardened steel. Production was ended in 2000, with a new company Textron taking over maintenance and support ten years later, although no new variants would be produced. A LAV-300 Mk.II was proposed in the late 80s with improved engine and transmission amongst other upgrades, and a single vehicle was upgraded with a larger turret taken from the niche Stingray Light Tank, the only operator of which being Thailand. This was re-designated as the LAV-600, although it was never mass-produced, losing out to the M1117 in a bid for service in the US army. Like its sibling, it is now firmly in the rear-view mirror of wheeled AFV history. The Kit This is a new tooling from HobbyBoss of this relatively low-volume AFV, and it arrives in a top-opening box with a card divider separating the hull parts from the other sprues. A painting of the LAV-300 in a tropical backdrop adorns the front of the box, and inside are five sprues plus two hull halves in sand-coloured styrene, a clear sprue, a bag of six flexible black tyres, a length of braided copper wire, two Photo-Etch (PE) frets of different sizes in thick-gauge brass, a black & white instruction booklet with a colour painting and decaling guide on glossy paper slipped inside. Exterior detail is excellent, as we’ve come to expect from HobbyBoss, extending to the suspension under the six wheels, and the wheels themselves, including the chunky tyres, stowage, light cages, and main gun. Construction begins with a small suspension part with a PE handle, of which there are two under the front of the hull, adding suspension struts with gaiters, and building three axles with drive-shafts, with another stubby amphibious-drive axle under the rear of the hull, and a transfer box near the centre of the transmission tunnel. The LAV-300 is amphibious, and has a pair of water jets under the rear of the hull, made from two halves, plus a rendition of the internals, a PE mesh over the open intake, and a directional ‘bucket’ at the rear. More suspension units with gaiters and other suspension parts are fitted around the underside, plus a pair of rails under the front, which later supports a bow wave deflector, with an actuator lever added later in the build when the hull halves are together. The two front wheels are made as a mirrored pair, taking care with the direction of tread whilst adding the two hub halves around the flexible tyres, and installing an additional hub part on the inner face that is mostly hidden by the carcass of the tyre. The rear wheels are built as a pair that are mirrored on the opposite side, using a different non-steering hub back, sliding them onto the respective ends of the axles. The steering pair at the front have a linkage that joins them together, adding a pair of armoured PE deflectors to the amphibious drive parts, which by now have angled drive-shafts applied to transfer motive power when in water. The rear doors are first parts of the upper hull to be built, adding a single panel door with latches into the drop-down main door, with glazing in the small windows, a cage around each one, handles, and a hitch on the lower edge. Despite this being a predominantly exterior kit, there are elements of the interior included, such as the driver’s position, complete with seat, handbrake, two-part steering column, foot pedals, and a fire extinguisher to the rear. A set of back-to-back passenger seats are made from two main components, adding support struts to the ends with the help of an accompanying scrap diagram, mounting them in the rear on two large pins. Another crew seat is fixed behind the driver facing sideways, placing an instrument binnacle with decal and a pair of levers on the left wheel arch, completing the driver’s controls. A periscope and two vision blocks are fixed to the front lip of the driver’s hatch, with two smaller hatches on the glacis, and a step on the left side of the lower hull, gluing the upper hull in place, followed by the two engine bay hatches on the right, adding vents, grab-handles and sub-hatches to complete them before installing them both in the space on the front of the upper hull. Several small parts are applied to the glacis, plus four PE lugs on the left side that will support the towing cable that is made from the supplied copper wire and a pair of two-part eyes, wrapping them around the PE lugs and draping them appropriately. A side hatch is detailed with clear parts and handles before it is installed in the cut-out, adding vision ports and glazed-over firing loupes on both sides. More detail is fitted to the glacis, incorporating light clusters with clear lenses, wing mirrors on stalks, then moving along the side fitting more detail and clear windows, ending with a rack of two four-part jerry cans at the rear left. The driver’s hatch is a single part, adding a rack of pioneer tools to the rear behind the turret ring, and the massive exhaust unit that snakes down the right side of the vehicle, made from three styrene parts to give it a hollow tip, and three PE heat-shields, plus a grab-handle where it emerges from the interior. It is mounted on three lugs that correspond with holes in the side of the hull, adding a pair of rear lights and towing eyes to the rear. The turret is made from top and bottom halves, first adding the two hatches to their cut-outs, latches on the inside, then mating the halves, with a styrene stowage basket that has a PE mesh top installed over the top. Lifting lugs, latches, vision blocks and sighting mechanism are fixed to the turret top and sides, plus a pair of aerial mounts at the rear, and a searchlight with clear lens on the right of the main gun. The gun has a solid one-part barrel, adding a slide-moulded muzzle brake to the front, and a two-part corrugated gaiter to the rear, slotting the base into a shroud, then sliding that into the mantlet, with a coaxial 7.62mm machine gun muzzle inserted to the left of the barrel. The turret mates with the hull without glue, locking in place via a bayonet fitting, completing the build by adding two fuel filler caps to the rear sides, covering them with a protective cage, and adding more cages around the two amphibious propulsion units under the rear of the sponsons. Markings There are two decal options included on the sheet, depicting a pair of Philippine Marines vehicles, wearing different schemes, one digital, the other more traditional tri-tone. HobbyBoss aren’t very forthcoming about any other details however, but the vehicle numbers and schemes might offer some clues to those that are interested. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are up to HB’s usual standards, and should be suitable for the task, although I often worry about the density and under-printing of the yellow components. Conclusion This is a nice model of a niche subject that will doubtless appeal to lovers of wheeled AFVs, especially if they’re fond of big guns and low production numbers. It has good detail, and a portion of the interior adds appeal to the model. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

That's a bit cruel, don't you think?

Y'know I looked through the list, and didn't see him. Weird.

My understanding is that he's left the convo, but he's still getting notifications. Those can probably be turned off from your Control Panel, but as it doesn't affect me, I can't check

Thanks, but I'm not thirsty.