Mjwomack

Whoops,it wasn't only Burton Albion who had a bad night.. In my eagerness to make progress,I forgot to mask the waist positions before painting. Schoolboy error,and our with the scalpel to scrap

One of the more intriguing features of the Minicraft kit is the rarely modelled, let alone existed, clear chin turret... Obviously, being rarely seen it is hard to see in this picture, but nothing that a coat of paint won't take care of. An attempt at the waist gun position, the edges will get tidied up with clearsil when the other glazing gets filled in. Scribed in the crew hatch- this is a very important and personal detail because it was how w got my dad inside when he was in the later stages of his life; we weren't sure he was agile enough, but determination overcomes a lot of things and we got him in, sat on the flight deck (even though he was a 73sqn Spitfire man) and out again.

I always remind myself that without the 11th hour and a deadline nothing would ever get done! It'll be fine!!

And I'm still here! A little progress has been made. Possibly too long has been spent researching and pondering,but my mojo is stirring Here's a before and after of the fuselage, cheek gun positions have been removed and the waist position opened up Hoping progress will speed up,especially with a few days off

SE Finecast do some brickwork http://www.sefinecast.co.uk/Building Materials/Building Materials.htm (the last one on the list) I don't know anything of this firm, but you could every brick right! http://www.sefinecast.co.uk/Building Materials/Building Materials.htm Personally I think life's too short but it would be VERY impressive

I've got one of these, but it's not Kuta material as such as I've never got round to opening the bag!

And now some pictures The box- this may yet be the best part and even that's got a dent in it! The parts, instruction sheet- though I'm not encouraged by the built example at the top of them. Replacement decals - such as they are (grumble grumble) and the rest of the instructions with such advice as BLACK inside and that all the gun barrels should be painted gun metal- that's a big help; I was wondering. Right, and this is going to restore my mojo so in we go

@Ol' Scrapiron I think I can spot a trend here! I remember this scheme, in the Boy Scouts we got a gig for a Duxford airshow as car park attendents and selling programmes and this is the livery she was in back then. About the same time the chap who had a Saturday job in the local model shop (they were sooo common back then) was a volunteer on the ground crew and fashioned the machine guns from broom-sticks. (He also got thrown out of a sweet job for making an impression of a Phantom taking off, but that's for another build maybe) But I'm going with the current Sally b/ Memphis Belle scheme as I enjoy the curiosity of Memphis Belle with a chin turret!

I'm regretting this already! But I was in search of a mojo restorer (maybe a B-17 what if), and seeing as 1:72nd is well catered for, and not being convinced that 1:48 is going to restore my mojo I thought, why not go the other way? So, I've got a minicraft 1:144 B-17G and some decals that apparently make it for Sally B... what could be more fun, a little bit off the beaten track and with some personal history from my South Cambs villages thrown in? Sally B it'll be http://www.sallyb.org.uk/index.htm Bit of an imposter as she never saw war service, but there were some bizarre mods in her life http://www.sallyb.org.uk/history.htm Photos to follow, but the mini craft kit has a decidedly 'toy' feel to it- maybe it'll actually match my skill level. And for all the discussion of interior paints, the mini craft advice is straight from the Rolling Stones- Pain it black (all of it!!) And the decals are rudimentary at best, and omit the crucial feature of Sally B, the yellow checkerboard on #3 engine Photos and progress coming over the weekend with a tailwind, but I'm in!

I've only just noticed that the bogies are assymetric which doesn't help. I don't know any locos like that

Umm, 6 months would seem fair given that I look like managing a grand total of 2 GBs this year from a hoped for 4- I may not build fast but I can do the numbers stuff quicker!!

I really hope that you can spot the difference I may have zoomed in more than was prudent, but I'm not really on close terms with Prudence at the best of times! The point is, I just HAD to replace the Airfix 'details' for something more detailed and add a brake pipe. I fretted that the buffers stood to proud, but on studying the Paul Bartlett photos, I think they do stand proud and Airfix rather undersold those. Arguably I should have used a screw coupling, but had some 3 link to hand and think it gives it a suitable clanky look.

Half way through the BG time, clearly I need to (1) stop going on holiday, (2) stop wondering about the JCB details and crack on. Actually, I can't stop wondering about JCB details, and there's another holiday next week but to give the pretence of progress I've made a start of the lowmac. Not many parts to worry about - but I will worry and am adding some more. Though probably not enough as I've already talked myself out of adding brake gear etc (who wants to stop in any case - nanny state nonsense having brakes!!) Decided to go for a light grey finish to give a faded look (along with heavy weathering) as I want to try and highlight the shiny new JCB against the ageing railway wagon. Plank by blank painting wasn't as bad as I'd feared. And on we go... ..just as soon as I can haul myself off this addictive website https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brlowmacek/h2398F265#h2398f265 I guess if photos of grimy lowers is your thing then addiction is too polite a word for it and my chances of social re-integration are pretty slim! but for anyone who wants a good source of railway detail photos ? @Heather Kay @nimrod54 and others, this is a gold mine

I'd have a go at the Dapol but it's taking me so long to do one build, I'll not have the time

But they could never find the tartan paint that you insisted you'd brought there the week before -oh the tricks we played!