jean

Hi Pat, thanks for the compliment. The canopy, although cristal clear, is rather thick, so I suspect that onlookers will be able to admire a blurred and distorted interior... But I am trying to remain Zen, and as I know that it is there, I shall remain happy with that silly little Zen smile on my face. JR

Hi Adrian, Absolutely fantastic build! But what a mission!!! Am I glad this plane does not attract me in the slightest, as this has the hallmark of a scary build. I know the final result will be stunning. Great show. JR

Hi everyone, as I have deemed the left half fuselage re-scribed to my (almost) total satisfaction, I have inserted the cockpit and the radiator. I addition I have added a blanking piece of plastic to stop looking under the skirts of the non-existent engine. This is painted black on the underneath. So the plan is to finish the re-scribing touch-ups on the other half fuselage and close the whole thing once and for all. Note to self: Do not forget the tail wheel! Here are two photos of the thing: I initially was going to add the throttle quadrant on the left side, but decided that life was too short, as absolutely nothing would be seen from outside the thick transparent of the cockpit. Thanks for watching. JR

It sure does look good! Super well done so far. JR

Precisely like the real thing! Absolutely stunning. JR

Different indeed, but the final result is plain smashing! I am so impressed. Congrats are definitely in order. JR

Hi everyone, slight delay in posting this photo, as I went with our rangers in a night anti-poaching ambush last night. Not s fun as modelling, but necessary. Anyway, here is a photo of the Typhoon's re-scribing progress. The fuselage has not yet been cleaned of the Tamiya green top glue with has gone into the panel lines to clean them of debris, etc. And the dark blue plastic retains a lot of superficial marks, but all is actually quite smooth. Some skid marks to be removed using CA, then re-scribing small sections,and all will be done. Only one half fuselage to finish. Thanks for watching. JR.

Hi Stu, as you say, it looks nice and straightforward. The paint job looks good. Is the underside already painted? Great show JR

It is a great feeling to know that the kit you want to build is at least accurate shape-wise. One thing less to worry about. Most FROG kits are that way. Of course, this implies that the set of scale drawings is accurate to start with, but we must have a little faith. I am looking forward to see your Tempest taking shape, especially with all these A.M. goodies. Enjoy. JR

Hi everyone, well, despite @JOCKNEY laughter at my weakness (I am not a fan of raised panel lines), the re-scribing is going well. Far better than with my P-47, where the soft plastic made it a real chore. So re-scribing is now in long final; wings done along with half a fuselage. In the meantime, here is a sneak preview of what is going to go inside that very fuselage when it is finished. Nothing earth-shattering, especially because the cockpit looks like a coal face, so narrow is the opening. So really, I am wasting my time, but I like it. I will show some photos of the re-scribed kit this evening. Have fun! JR

Hi Pat, no worries. The huge holes I made have been taken care of, and that is when I realized that the plastic was not as bad as I thought. So I ended up re-scribing the model.... Yes, I fell into the trap... again! But it is actually going quite well. Photos this evening I hope. Cheers JR

Hi Steve, this Typhoon is just lovely. So I know what to look forward to, when I eventually finish mine. Congratulations for a quick job well done! JR

Hi everyone, after over-enthusiastically opening the holes receiving the rockets, the terrible truth fell: no rockets, not ever, on the plane I wanted to model. So I just glued stretched sprue into each hole and after a good drying night, I will remove the excess plastic tomorrow. At the same time I am drilling the holes for the wingtip and landing lights. Tomorrow I will start as well on painting and gluing the cockpit into the fuselage. I must have a closed fuselage by the end of Sunday. Thanks for watching. JR

Excellent, as usual! JR

Hi everyone, despite not touching the ground, I have managed to deal with the missing half stabilizer and moving horizontal surface on the Beaufort from hell. Re-created in scratch. I am happy with these new parts. Just a little bit of gentle TLC left and they will be ready. So now I can at last start the real build. Not a minute too soon. I will take care of the cockpit and fuselage. Quite a bit to add inside, as a navigator table is nowhere near enough. Considering the opacity of the transparencies, I must be mad. Plus some of these same transparencies are slightly short shot. More interesting modelling hours to come. Thanks for watching. JR

Hi Mark, my build did stall in the P-47 GB and will be finished when I extricate myself from both the twin engines and FROG GBs. Re the black and white stripes, some only had white stripes over camouflage and some had the black and white ones. As I never managed to find a photo of the FROG example, may I suggest you go with whatever takes your fancy? Such fun... JR

Hi Dave, this is very kind of you, but it may be next Christmas by the time the decals arrive in our god forsaken place. I have set my heart on a 56 Squadron Typhoon (do not ask why) so it will be quicker and not too painful to plug the holes with stretched sprue. That will teach not to do my research more carefully. We never stop learning. Cheers. JR

Hi Dave, well you just spoiled my party. I stupidly never paid any attention and drilled the holes for the rockets... Since I read your post, I have been scouring all my references and photos and yes, I have found car-door Typhoons with rockets, but I am still to find a 56 Squadron plane with them under the wings... If all else fails, I will have to plug the holes. Damn! JR

Open letter to @2996 Victor Dear Sir, Madam, I hope you are well. By a stroke of luck, I am well too. Having just passed my Grade 7 with flying colors, I feel sufficiently emboldened to make a rude remark in this hallowed forum. I just checked the list of mad people having entered this GeeBee, and I saw that although I was technically number 13, I had been demoted to number 12A. I shall be so bold as to shout discrimination against garlic-chewing, beret-wearing and baguette-totting members of a funny-speaking BM minority, minority I am proud to belong to. I wish to stress in the most forceful way, that the number 13, beside being my favorite number, is my personal good luck charm. That you are trying to deprive me of such an important part of my life means that you care little about the mental health (fashionable these days) of certain modelling minorities. You are furthermore being very selective in your oppression. Take for example @JOCKNEY. He is at number 2, and has not been demoted to 1A, although he most definitely hails from a place where people speak and dress funny, and chew on some unspeakable sheep body parts while gluing bits of plastic! I hereby demand to have my number 13 reinstated! Non mais des fois!!! JR

Hi Pat, this is great work. And damn fast as we;;! I love the paint job: The colors look spot on to me. Shame the plane itself is only called beautiful by its mother... Congrats mate. JR

Don't you dare!!! That is the equivalent of the Holly Inquisition at work. JR

Really well done! What a beautiful Beaufighter. JR

Hi Colin, if the postal service was the only thing that had disappeared to date south of the Limpopo, you'd be laughing. We feel really sorry for you guys. It just took 5 days for our consignment to reach Louis Trichardt from Cape Town by courier! But we are not far behind you, and at least you have model shops in SA. Nothing here! Cheers JR

Hi again, here is a photo of the box art. Quite a nice one. Different from the old Heller Musee delightful box arts that were painted by Paul Langelle., but not bad nonetheless. Only one year to wait. JR

I have 6 or 7 Heller kits or Smer repops. I am drawn to the Curtiss H-75, which was a Christmas present from no less than @JOCKNEY, along with a couple of other gems. I will post a photo of the box art tomorrow. While in the UK, I managed to get an Xtradecal sheet about the Battle of France, and there is a gorgeous H-75 A-3 in the colors of the La Fayette squadron with green oblique fuselage band and Sioux's head. That's the one I have set my heart upon. Cheers. JR