Stew Dapple

Lovely work Keith, she's a beauty Cheers, Stew

Include me in please Rich, got plenty of choices in the stash Cheers, Stew

I think so... they were pretty large calibre anyway, but my memory could be at fault Cheers, Stew

Forward planning It's the key to success, or to an easier life Cheers, Stew

Is the hole at the forward centre of the rear canopy part? If it is, it's for the aerial mast If it's the lower front 'triangle' beneath the main windshield, I believe it's a flare port. Cheers, Stew

Beautiful job Lewis, it looks great in that scheme Cheers, Stew

Hi Juan, This article lists the serials of four of the Zeroes that Saburo Sakei flew; I have no idea how accurate it is (certainly not with regard to the colours described) but I do believe it was not customary for IJN pilots to be allocated their 'own' aircraft. Hope this helps, or at least gives you a starting point Cheers, Stew

That's coming together very nicely Alistair Cheers, Stew

Careful Cookie, he's a bad influence that @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies Look forward to seeing how you get on with that Cheers, Stew

She's a beauty Heather, I look forward to the RFI pics Cheers, Stew

As you should be, an excellent result Cheers, Stew

Hmm I always thinned about 50% for brush-painting and factored the need for a second coat in, but I wouldn't think using un-thinned paint would make that much difference like the case you describe (though I still wouldn't do it myself and do recommend that you thin the paint). The main problem I do know of that causes enamels not to function as advertised is insufficiently mixed paint- this can prevent the paint drying properly; it's a bit of a delicate subject to bring up as everybody is sure that they mixed the paint sufficiently and some can get quite vexed at the suggestion that perhaps it could have been mixed better... but it really does need more than half a minute's manual stirring with a Tamiya paint-stirrer, especially a new tin that may have been standing for quite some time. I got a couple of IKEA 'Produckt' battery-powered coffee frothers of Ebay for less than a fiver (this was a few years ago), stripped the springy part off and use these as stirrers. I have to say that while I had no time for such fripperies before, I have not looked back and recommend something like that (or the proper Badger paint stirrers if you want to be a bit more spendy). I hope I haven't given the impression of trying to teach you to suck eggs, but I hope some of it might be useful for the future, Cheers, Stew

Welp, nothing wrong with your observational skills Cookie The same can't be said for mine, I had to scroll back and have a look Nice work mate Cheers, Stew

I haven't many (if any) tins of the WEM-era paints left, and I don't brush-paint very much any more, but when I did I'm pretty sure I never left it as much as 48 hours. What thinner-to-paint ratio are you using, and are you using a primer or applying directly to the plastic? Cheers, Stew

Beautiful work Peter Cheers, Stew