Rob G

I hesitate to ask, but are those covers chromed, nickel plated, or polished stainless/whatever. I would have thought that chrome was a bit of a stretch.

Lookit all those lurverly little Alpines!

Looking good George. Next time, try a liquid masking agent instead of tape, it's much faster, and easy to remove (if a little messy at times).

How about a Reaper and an insurgent armed with a Russian ground to air missile?

To remove it, follow the instructions on the bottle - an ammonia-based cleaner works quite well. I use Windex, put a bit in a cup/bowl/jar/whatever, drop the part in, let it soak for a few minutes, then pull it out and rub. Wash under warm water. As for the cause/cure - I'm not sure, but did you clean the parts before you put the Future on? If not, I recommend doing that (I actually use Windex, then wash it well under warm running water, wick the water away with a soft cloth and put aside to dry fully). Then recoat, and once done, put it under a cover to dry, to avoid dust falling on it. A polish can work wonders, too - there's a lot of choice here, from proper plastic polishes to Tamiya's rubbing compound and good old Silvo. All work, and should be applied to a soft cloth, then rubbed gently all over the canopy. Sometimes, you may have to make a support for the canopy, to avoid cracking it - plaster of paris works for this. And sometimes, things just go wrong. Strip it off, try again. Good luck! EDIT: Why did you thin the Future, and what did you use? As Caszerino says, the best way to apply it is to dip. I do it a few times, one after the other, allowing the excess to drain off in between dips.

Rules? No-one said anything about rules. Way to ruin a great group build, adding rules. Pfft. (Just to be sure, I'm kidding.)

I have beaucoup Mirages in Tiger Meet schemes... I guess I better sign up. Thanks Enzo.

I have an HB SLUF, and to my eye, it looks like an A-7. It also seems to fit together well, so far.

Glad I've caught up with this build. Doc, would you be interested in running off half a dozen copies of your canopy in exchange for Aussie drinking vouchers? I have 6 Tucanos to build at some point (yeah, I know, but I bought a decal sheet a while ago, and last month Big H had Tucs on half price special, and, well... things happen). I did have some Aeroclub vacform canopies that I bought (along with 2 Tucano kits) when I was in the UK in 2007, but they went yellow and brittle despite being kept wrapped, and inside the boxes, so have been thrown out. Let me know if you'd be interested.

re the Wankel, I was just playing Devil's advocate (in case no-one had thought of it previously). Quite amazing little things, but not real motors. And the others... your comment sparked that little bug in my head that says "Let's find out!" Because interesting is interesting. I read up on the Monaco-Trossi - apparently it was a dog, 75% of the weight over the front axle made its handling a little difficult... YOU can take it to Sainsburys, I'll take photos for the coroner. Now if they'd thought to move the motor to behind the driver... The big Russian radial boat engine led me to the Napier Deltic - for those who are into reciprocating thingies, there's one to look up.

(serious question) Do they really? I must not move in the right circles, I've never heard of anything like it. And I'm still none the wiser as to what the MPM/AZ issue is/was/might be.

From Wikipedia: One example is the Zvezda diesel boat engine series with 56 cylinders or 112-cylinders in 8 or 16 rows of 7 cylinders each displacing 383 litres (23,931 in3) and producing 10,000 hp (7,500 kW). These were used on fast attack craft, such as Osa class missile boats. 383 litres!! Just a small one, lads, don't need to go too fast today. And also, so that the car builders can get a look-in... https://oldmachinepress.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/1935-monaco-trossi/ The world is weird, indeed.

Oh drat.... now I have to join another GB. Seeing as it's rotaries as well as radials, I may be able to enter a representation of Mr Tommy Sopwith's Camel. Failing that, I do got some radials in other guises. Including a Sea Fury with all the resin bits. And before anyone else asks, I take it that Wankel/Mazda rotaries are excluded? (seeing as they don't got pistons 'n' all.)

3 (or is it 4 now?) entries finished, and here's me having not even finished my last GB entry... sigh. You fast builders are just too much.

I INTEND TO OFFEND EVERYONE! If you wallow in self pity, young Procopius, people just point and laugh. Much better to have another go, then when it all goes pear-shaped a second time, throw the darned thing against the wall. People will still point and laugh, but the display of temper will make them do it from a lot further away. I do feel your pain. Happenings like this are why I seldom finish kits. Love building, hate painting.

Confusingus say 'To fix the Future, be sure of the past.' Shut up, ignorant Chinese philosopher. To fix the Future, may I suggest that you equip yourself with a selection of Q-tips and a bottle of Windex. Soak Q-tip in Windex, apply gently to the areas of the canopy requiring remedial action, rubbing and changing Q-tips as required, with the object of removing the Future from its unwanted locations. Once satisfied that all is well, wipe gently with a wet cloth to remove Windex, then recoat with Future once dry. Maybe not as good as getting it right the first time, but better than leaving it in a state that makes you unhappy. Once you have restored the Future (sounds like an SF movie plot... hmm...), gentle use of a small paintbrush (and the appropriate paint) on the damaged canopy frames will enable a reasonable repair to be made. If you happen to colour outside the lines, a toothpick sharpened to a chisel point makes a good teeny tiny paint scraper for clean-up after the paint has dried somewhat.

'Wiped out details'? Are you sure? I couldn't see anything there to begin with, so I think you sir, are having a lend of us! Sorry to hear of the misadventure, but things are always easier and better 2nd time around (or so I have been told.)

'respective supporters' What are they, football teams? I'm sorry, the whole thing just sounds faintly ridiculous, and so very Eastern European - don't they have enough to fight over in that area of the world? Duck season. Wabbit season. Duck season! Wabbit season!! DUCK season!!! ... etc

I'm just painting it as it is and gluing the canopy shut. 72th is much too small to mess about with detailing cockpits, despite the example of the SARO Skeeter running in WiPs at the moment - some have it, some don't; I don't.

That's a fair bit better looking than the Revell Dam Buster Lanc I did way back in ummm... way back. Mine was black, because it was moulded in black, which meant that even the shiny silver bits were black. So there. (And there's still bits of it hanging around, 35+ years on.)

Ouch. That's worse than Hasegawa prices...

After a bit of Googling around and following odd links, I found this, which may be of some small help. http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=124982 No hard links, but an email address in there which may be of some use (or may not be... it was 2007.) Read the whole thread (it's not long) - the post you really want is nearly at the end, from 'coby'. HTH

RAF downsizing, by the looks of it. They'll need to increase the budget a smidgen though, they'll have to be able to afford a tail fin.

Maybe this particular one was actually moulded by Heller?

Update. Life's been busy this week (see my Lightning post if you want to know the details), but I have managed a bit on the cockpit in preparation for fitting and masking the canopy pieces, which will be followed by (yay) colour. Photos when there's something worth sharing!