ModelMonkey

Thanks Chris! A really enjoyable build.

Calling this done but there might be more tinkering to come - extra weathering and maybe some lead foil tarps or similar. I've kept it a bit cleaner than I normally would, but always the opportunity to clart it up a bit more later on. My crate of spuds looks more like bread rolls, but I guess they have just raided a bakery! Crate itself courtesy of the coffee stirrers provided by my benevolent employer. I got this for my 40th birthday and I'm now 41.5! Overall I racked up about 104 hours. Really impressed by Trumpeters engineering, a pretty much vice free build except for the brake shoes, which snapped and had to be replaced with some bits from a Guinness tin. I've got about 225 in progress photos but I'll keep them to myself unless anyone wants to see any specific bits! Meet the family! 1/76 scale currently in gestation... And a few in progress shots - new brake shoes, thanks to Arthur & family! Comparison with Tamiya 1:35 King Tiger And just after I'd thrown caution to the window and sprayed Halfords "Garden Green" over the black primer. Around this time I was thinking "OMG - what have I done?!" After a misting with black and some dunkelgrun it turned out OK though...

As a Scotsman, I am too mean to use anything more expensive than Revell acrylics. I do splash put for Tamiya tape though, which as a precaution I cut to size and then stick down onto the desk and peel off a few times to remove some of the stick. I've never had any bother with the paint peeling off and I am often quite impatient so don't leave it long between coats.

Lovely! 101" Landie is my favourite vehicle of any description. Would love a real one but will have to wait for the lottery win... Yours is very nice indeed, it was the first model I did when I got back into the hobby, I wish mine had been half as good! I've got the KFS 1:24 version in the stash slightly nervous about starting it though - resin, white metal, cloth, etc...

Looks great! If I manage to get over my current T34 fixation I think I'll go for an IS-2. Bookmark duly saved for reference later!

Gorgeous! But simultaneously really quite ugly...

Another outstanding build! Great work Andy.

Just gorgeous!

Fabulous! Beautiful. I had one - not nearly as good - that a colleague accidentally knocked off my desk at work. If I do another one then I know where to look for inspiration!

Looks great! I might get one to practice some techniques on, can always use more practice! Good work!

"Sentries report Panzer IV's to the southwest. 6 of them." Great builds!

Nice, flying aside, just being within drooling distance of an idling Merlin is a treat!

Cheers Simon - it was a great experience. As it happened myself and my dad turned up at Fantasy of Flight on the very last of business in their current guise and the owner (Kermit Weeks) was wandering around talking to people. I suspect that may have been standard practice though as he seemed a very friendly bloke! We were all gathered on the taxiway, right up close to the P51. We were just warned not to touch it as it they'd spent all morning polishing it! Kermit wandered over and spent about 10 minutes explaining how to he came to own the P51, what it was like to fly, etc and we were gently ushered back as he fired it up, taxied it past us and then took off! For someone used to UK airshows with miles of barriers 100m from the flightline it was amazing - not a hi-vis jacket or fence in sight! After a few low passes he lands, stops it in front of us and then passes on a bit more info - great experience.

While not as dramatic, I lost post of my left index fingertip to a necrotising infection, which did require a bit of a rethink with fiddly bits. Hope you can manage to find a good way to get back into it.

Great recovery! I've seen the refinished 1:1 scale flying at Fantasy of Flight in Florida. Yours is a great likeness. I've done the Academy kit too and enjoyed it.