opus999

Wow Chris, I love that Seafire. Fantastic work!!

That looks great ME! Nice job on the spinners! I may have mentioned this before, but I'm inspired to do an Iraqi Me-110 myself someday.

Boy, that looks great!

Thanks everyone! I'm really happy with how this one looks... certainly different from any Zero I'd seen before. I love the little surprises that turn up in research -- so many things I didn't/don't know about WWII aviation.

Boy, those turned out terrific. What a great line-up you've got there!

Thank you! Thanks. I really like the black basing method. It's too bad there aren't more kits available, this is such a great plane. Thanks Adrian. Yeah, I'm pretty happy I picked this up when I did. If I recall, it was on clearance. It was a long time ago.

Wow you are a brave man with all the cutting, but I'm sure you will get a much accurate end result. I hope the stuff I wrote down about my A-36 adventure helps in some way.

That looks terrific!

That looks terrific! Nice job.

I think you did a great job! Brush painting offers its own challenges compared to airbrushing and I've seen some fantastic examples of brush painting here. When you get some good paints and pick up some of the neat tips I've seen people offer here, I think you'll be really pleased with your work. As long as you're having fun! Welcome back.

This is an absolutely realistic looking build! The diorama is superb too. Nice work! Did you use salt weathering for the paint effects?

Beautiful work. That interior is really great.

Yeah I think these are great looking planes too. I didn't think so at the time, but now I'm quite a fan. I really want to do a Raptor now too. Thank you very much! Thanks! I tried really hard to match what I saw in the photos.

Thanks Dennis! I agree -- I've really become a fan of the 190 in the last few years. My dad had only made a model of a 109, so I really didn't know a lot about the 190s growing up. I like the 190A's better than the 190D's, because the 'D's seem kind of lanky looking. They're growing on me though! Thank you Bill! I'd love to see what you can do with a Fw-190! No pressure though. Thank you! It is quite a challenge in 1/72 scale, for sure. Thanks! I really appreciate that! Thank you very much guys!

Thanks Dennis. A kamakaze zero would be an interesting subject! Thanks guys!

Thanks Ventsislav! I agree that the panel lines are not too bad with the dark colors. That's one reason I decided not to mess with them (such as fill them in and re-draw them). I will. I just don't know if I'll ever figure it out! 🤔 Oh, man, that's got to be true! I can't figure out any other explanation! Thanks Chris. there's actually a hole in the canopy behind the aerial (which I really don't know the purpose of) and I blew into it and nothing happened, so I guess its there to stay.

RFI is here

A6M2b Zero | Airfix | 1/72 Tsukuba Ku | March 1944 Finished this on 4/6/2024. It is the original Airfix boxing of their new-mold A6M2 from about 12-13 years ago. I read the article at the aviation of japan blog (http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2011/11/new-airfix-zero-partial-build-review.html) and was convinced by the evidence to make it with an orange-yellow bottom since it was a trainer. Airfix seemed to think it was a combat aircraft complete with the light gray bottom. Everything was out of box. I mixed my own aotake for the wheel wells and used Eduard masks for the canopy. WIP is here. Hope you like it! Comments, questions and constructive criticism always welcome.

RFI is here

Fw-190D | Tamiya | 1/72 Waldemar Wubke, pilot | JV44, Ainring Airfield | March 1945 Finished this on 3/17/2024. Not much to say about this one except it was a marvelous kit. It's interesting that Waldemar Wubke was the pilot, since I built his Bf-109E-3 from earlier in the war, also. I love the bright "don't shoot me down" colors on the bottom. For those who don't know, these 190's protected the Me-262 on take off and landing. Since the early jet engines took time to spool up and spool down, the Me 262s were vulnerable to attacks from prowling allied fighters and so these Fw-190s were there to fend off any allied fighters that appeared. The red bottom was to prevent the AA gunners from shooting down the defending fighters. WIP is here. Hope you like it! Comments, questions and constructive criticism always welcome.

RFI is here

YF-23 Black Widow II | Testors | 1/72 Finished this on 3/15/2024. I've had this in the stash for ages. This kit dates back to the mid- to late-90's and features raised panel lines and so-so detail in the cockpit. I sanded off the panel lines and rescribed them, which is a rarity for me. I felt that the scribed panel lines would show off the anti radar features of the panels better than pencil would, since I felt the pencil wouldn't be visible on the dark gray. The decals were typical 90's Testors with that milky gunk on them that would turn brown after a couple of months. Luckily for me, Caracal decals had a new run of their YF-23 decals back in December and so I used those instead. The kit seat wasn't too detailed, so I ordered an Aires resin ejection seat. Other than that kit was out of box. Fit wasn't terrific since the parts were warped and there were some really large gaps in some of the seams. I got it whipped into shape though. WIP is here. Hope you like it! Comments, questions and constructive criticism always welcome.

Wow! Yikes... I'd be really nervous the first time. Especially using a knife! I have a couple Eduard Bf-109 kits that surely have the new decals in them. I'll have to try it.

That AIrfix Tomcat looks fantastic! I like how you dealt with the nose gear bay -- that was a big turn off for me when I tried building this kit. It's really too bad about the primer. It interesting how much this build mirrors my experience. When I got back into the hobby, my first build was a double build of an Airfix Tomcat restoration (I'd originally built it in high school) and an new in box Airfix Tomcat from the '70s. I finished the Airfix, but I used Testors Acryl primer and had the exact same paint-pulling issues you have had. It drove me mad!! So I can really empathize with what you're going through. I never finished the Airfix Tomcat and it became a paint mule. I have some nice decals for it, though. Maybe I ought to clean it up and finish it off. Also, I wanted to mention for paint removal -- I've used Mr. levelling thinner and it takes paint of so quickly it will make your head spin, but it leaves the plastic untouched. So, that's a thought if you want to speed things up.

That is fantastic!