Christer A

Dang it! I was going to join this one, but since the house isn't finished yet the stash is in deep storage and can't be plundered so easily. I'll probably need the rest of the autumn before I can have a permanent modelling den... And I as soo looking forward to that nice looking Venezuela Viper....

You did an excellent job on a surprisingly nice little kit!

Got this one i my stash, but I'll stick to the normal blue/blue colors thank you! Have fun, even though I can't see any resin?

Luck indeed! When are you starting it? I'm quite sure that something close to happiness can be found i CA kits

That looks very nice Werner! Interesting kit as well.

I'm just guessing here but it seems that you have some issues with nasty resin-ney bits Thanks for the cheer though!

So far I've managed to resist opening up the big box o' Shack, but if I wasn't going to pack everything away for a few months at the end pf the summer due to the new house, who knows what could've happened? What did happen was a small Hawkeye though... But it is resting on the Gannet box, so all is well... Actually, I've been doing some stuff on the big bent-winged bird too! I've wrestled with the weapon bay sides, not an easy win. First, this is how it looks They are supposed to go in after the bay has clipped into it's proper position claims the Alley Cat instructions. It would've been helpful if they also included some pictures showing how it should look in a cleaned up state, but that is not the case. The way I see it something isn't right here, which is quite obvious when dry-fitting the doors. First, the doors are going on top of the front and rear bulkheads of the bay. I've spent a lot of time sanding them down to match the fuselage, but it seems that they should be a bit lower still! Probably the entire bay rides too low in the fuselage? It's too late to do anything about that in either case, so I'll cheat for a bit and shorten the doors instead, while whistling innocently. Second, the sidewalls that goes in from the top are very T-shaped the the top bar of the T is resting on the fuselage side. When the door is mated to the top here, the little square peg is almost completely hidden. That does not look right. I had made a cut out for it like this But that was still too high. Nothing to to but to carve off the outer piece then and make it into an upside down L instead. That works a bit better! Except at the rear: The side ribs aren't matching anything in the bay roof! They should either go into the slots, or in between but as they are right now it looks crazy. But I think I could chop them off and replace with some suitable bits of Evergreen plastic. Throwing all caution to the wind, I went ahead and secured the side pieces with some CA: That could work...

Is there any chance of getting the Milk Run decals seperately?

Well, the summer slowdown is in full effect...but I have managed to acquire a brass pitot-tube. Compared to what Revell would like me to use, this is a great improvement. It's not exactly a drop fit, since the nose needs to be sanded a bit to make it fit, but I'll take that. I also opened the auxiliary intakes under the engines, and the one on the front. A simple but oh so effective change. The tail was also attached, so now it seems that I really need to prepare for Primer!

That's a bunch of nice pictures of the AEW Shack! One could almost believe that you're actively trying to lure me to start yet another kit... But I shall resist the siren song! I'm strong-willed and dedicated. Oh yes.

Thanks! I'm having fun with beating this kit into submission. Let's just hope that I am able to speed up a bit, since during the summer vacation I'm supposed to splash some paint on this And of course, during the autumn it will be finishing the interior and move house! Thanks Steve! A Dakota as a classroom? Well, it must've been roomier than either Gannet or Sea Venom at least Thanks Chris! That Shack looks absolutely stunning in bare plastic. I can barely constrain myself from starting it... Thanks! There are a couple of spare sets available if needed....

Gosh! This looks very promising and I hope that you'll get the books soon! Speaking of that, which books are you waiting for? I might have to get some for my future Whirlwinds as well...

Yeah, those Uschi template thingies are perfect for giving an uneven finish. Takes a bit of practice I've noticed. I must say that you have a very very nice looking P-38 there Crisp!

That looks like an excellent kit! You did great work on it too For spraying yellow, I always undercoat with pink which gives a nice warm yellow tone.

It seems that my Gannet has stood down a bit due to that Voodoo and the completed painting of the Tonka. Well, since I scored some Revell goodies recently and a whole bunch of Eduard stuff to go with them I need to stop fidgeting and get going with the Gannet! I'm very distracted by new shiny things... That Shack looks amazing in bare plastic though! It'll be a tough fight to put it back in the box, where it belongs... But back to the Gannet. Even if it looks like it, the fuselage halves have not been joined together yet. The weapons bay is really making a mess of things, especially at the rear. The instructions for them states that they have a different shape than the plastic since it needs to be a bit more square. Well, I can force one side to the correct position but not both at the same time. Out with some sprue bits to help out then. Then I started to cement the fuselage, focusing on one stretch at a time. It does work, but it's very easy to forget to apply TETC evenly so some re-gluing will be needed. The fit isn't stellar, but brute force solves most of it, but not all. It looks like I didn't manage to close everything properly here, but I blame the weapons bay! As clearly can be seen, one shall not dribble the white bottle Tamiya cement on the fuselage sides... I resisted the urge to wipe it off, and hopefully it will have evaporated with no ill effects.. And pigs will fly too! How does the nose look? Most builds I've seen have had to pack out the nose ring some mm or so, and I expect to do the same. Not an exaggeration to say that it was a but dreadful to approach this area. What's this? It actually fits? (*) Did I do something wrong, or did the Hannants re-issue actually change the molds ? Well, no matter the reason this looks be good enough for me. Also started to work on the stabilizers. One side had both a nice little sink mark and some suspicious mold damage, but the other one was fine. They probably needs some kind of reinforcement pin to secure it towards the fin though. I also managed to find some nice masks and a bunch of beautiful resin wheels in some of all shopping sprees that has happened. (*) Fit as in normal Classic Airframes fashion