Rob G

I'm surprised that you had to wait that long! Must be good stuff on the telly.

A twin boom triple build... that's a lot of boom boom. We love you long time? (Someone had to say it.) Following along. (I'm actually surprised that Basil Brush hasn't popped in to offer a word of support.)

My life being the way it is, you'll all have to miss out on the wonder that is my F-16. That is, I wonder if it's worth finishing. Grats to thems as managed to make it over the line, great work and well done all. Thanks to the mods for popping in from time to time and lending an encouaging word. See you all on the next one.

What Muzz said. Skinny like a supermodel. To make up for that, they had insane tyre pressures (350psi main, 240 nose), and from what I've read, they were always a worry for pilots and a PITA for ground crew.

Hey Botan, it's the Broplan one, and I've bought a couple of resin engines for it. I'm not sure I qualify as a 'fan' though. It's... interesting to look at. 'Nuff ssid.

Well... if they were truly reptiles, there would have been no exterior difference, given that modern reptile's reproductive organs are carried internally until it's time for them to be used (hopefully not too graphic an explanation. Because y'know, kids shouldn't be told the facts of life. ) Sgt, modern big reptiles don't shed in one piece. Snakes and lizards do, but the big ones do it scale by scale. Salt water crocs (Crocodylus porosus) certainly don't, and there's nothing around bigger than them.

Ooooh, I can do my LWS-6 Zubr, it'll fit right in here. <sigh> Put me down for this one. I'll give up on the shotgun approach to finishing GBs and make a start on carpet bombing the buggers into submission.

That quick, eh? Careful, you'll set yourself on fire at that rate.

Thanks Col, if by 'good progress', you mean 'taking 3 months to build a simple kit OOB' then yes, I'm making good progress.

Roight... Paint is on. Dangly bits and 'splodey bits are painted and awaiting some sort of wash/detail painting/whatever. Canopy was unmasked by 'someone' who was in a rush to see what sort of mess had been made but forgot that the gloss coat | decals | satin coat had to go on first. If I catch him, imma give him such a slappin'... in the meantime, that'll have to have a quick remask before further work. Then the (thankfully simple - gotta love those practical Danes; no foolin' about with naff fancy markings, just put enough on to do the ID job) decals and a top coat. This'un won't get weathered before the GB ends, but HOPEFULLY (fingers etc crossed) I'll have enough time to finish to a photographable standard.

Like swallows, probably.

Squirrel grey? African or European?

Re the pilots. Most likely made that way to save the embarrasment of sink marks on what would have been pretty thick mouldings given the scale; fairly typical for the era from what I've seen of older US made kits. I second the motion to smoke the canopy - save your hard-earned for better plastic.

I've been considering a set of Air Baltic decals - if I may, could I ask who printed your set and for a review at the appropriate time please? Thanks.

According to the data in Stewart Wilson's 'Vampire, Macchi and Iroquois in Australian Service', the export version of the UH-1B (Model 204B in Bell's catalogue) had a main rotor diameter of 48', with blade chord of 21". Looking at photos of them parked and tied down, it would appear that the rotor tips are directly above the tail fin/boom angle, give or take a couple of inches. I'm out for the rest of the day, but if I can help with further details, I'll be happy to. Edit to clarify - the RAN's Huey's were export models, so technically 204Bs, thus the 48'/21" blades. If things look odd, it's possibly because the tail boom is the wrong length.

Mike, within limits a simple blow up would work, but yes, for a big change it'd need a bit of rework. However, with a good outside model, the inside shouldn't be that big a deal (unless you're old and stupid like me, when it would entail a major effort.) And I'm sure that there are more designers on here than I've run across (reminds me, I must get those Bentley suspension parts ordered!) I have to agree, it's going to be interesting over the next few years - the biggest drawback right now is the cost, but that will come down (I recall Fine Scale Modeler magazine printing a 35th compressor 15(?) years ago and the cost was gobsmacking) and we'll see all manner of corrections and conversions rolling in.

3D printing is costed according to the type of material, the volume of material in the product, the time it will take to print, the time it will take to clean the support matrix away and the physical size of it, as smaller products allow them to put more things on the platen to be printed at one go - if the print head is moving over the platen, it may as well be covering as much area as possible. The only limits to the finished size of an object is the size of the platen and how deep your wallet is! If there's something you particularly want but it's in the wrong scale, send a message to the designer, and there's every chance he'll (she'll) be able to resize it for you and put it into the shop. The designers are people like us, and they want to sell their stuff - once it's designed, it's not that hard to resize it in software (within limits, depending on how well it was drawn) and submit the new plans. I've had one thing done by Shapeways (I should make a move and get that thing going one day) and I know that at least one other member here has products in there as well. I can actually forsee a future where there are no model shops as such - you'll buy an e-template online, which will get you a one-off code to allow use of it from the company (or sole trader!) you want to do business with, then get it printed at your local 3D printshop. Or printshops may spring up that have access to many templates for many things, and you'll pay them direct. And no doubt there'll be pirates selling hacks to allow you to reuse your template at home or through dodgy online printers...

Ahh, the old 'rules gotcha', happens to us all from time to time. Have fun with the stash diving!

(I'll jump in even though I'm not a mod - no offence meant.) It's not too late until the GB closes Rob S. Rules are on the relevant page here http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/forum/568-airliner-iii-group-build/ if there's any questions about suitability of the subject etc, ask the mods here. Start a thread and dive in!

As I recall, the civvie heliclopterer was going to be a Chinook for the Helicopter GB. This one was possibly going to be a pair of Special Hobby Cobras, or maybe a Huey from somewhere. Still, it ain't over 'till the fat lady sings, so never say never!

Yeah well... There's every chance that I'll be sitting this one out, despite having subjects for it. Too much on the stove as it is, models as well as life.

NOOOOOO! Not yet, there's so much else to finish! Utter nonsense, this one doesn't start until August 2016. Oh, wait... damn.

All 3 greys are (sort-of kind-of) on. Some touching up (ooh err Matron) to do, then the masking can come off and the radome can be masked off for whatever grey goes on that. Hopefully, Thems As Knows won't be too put out by my attempt. After the radome, decals and dangly bits. That deadline is looking like it's beaten (said he, ignoring hubris yet again.)

It's quite possible that you did a better job of initial assembly than I did. Looking at your photos, I think (from faded memory, so don't believe a word of it) that the big issue for me was that rear seam that cuts across the fuselage - as I recall I couldn't get it to lay down where it needed to be. Hence the filler. Maybe. As a matter of (possible) interest, OO-TNT actually used to belong to a Piper Seneca, and hasn't been reissued as far as I can tell. EC-FZE seems to be kosher.

My favourite is a caustic based oven cleaner, the cheaper the better. Spray, then leave in a sealed container for a while and scrub under warm running water.