dnl42

This looks very good! I'd love a static O-scale loco.

What an excellent subject, that I knew nothing about! Looks very typical for an early airliner. I wondered if perhaps that was open for the exhaust, but the photo above clearly shows it's a part issue. I can't image how such a part could have been improperly fitted.

Welcome aboard!

Nice work on this! Your yellow paint has excellent coverage to enable you to paint the tips on black blades! Purple indeed! I don't suppose this will be another instance of 'The Dress'

This continues to be quite the landscaping project. Have people come by looking to hire you? Interesting division of labor. My DW is responsible for gardening (over 200 cultivated hibiscus along with the hummingbirds that love them). I get the grass, which I promptly subcontracted to a local lawn care operation.

Models in their own right, indeed! Outstanding.

@Corsairfoxfouruncle and @Col., thank you for the warm welcome! First up is the Doodlebug. I set the parts free from their casting blocks. I'm thinking I'm going to assemble and paint the axles with their wheels, then marry that to the chassis so I can make sure it's level and all tires are on the ground. I build 1/144 aircraft with black windows, and will do the same here. I found a site with some good info, including a wonderful picture showing the beast fueling a DC-3 (about half-way down)! Most importantly, it shows the big Texaco hat on the rear. Thanks for looking!

USCG J4F-1 Widgeon San Francisco, 1941 This is Classic Airframes' 1/48 J4F-1 Widgeon in the IPMS USA 2008 Virginia Beach Convention boxing, which only included USCG subjects. Thanks to @81-er and @vppelt68 for hosting this mega GB and especially for those who liked and commented on the build. Here's a contemporaneous photo of the subject I certainly had to work on this short-run kit. Besides a lot of fitting, I needed to spend a fair amount of time figuring out how this wanted to be built. But I mostly got there in the end. As usual for me, I now know how I should have built it... And the WIP

Woohoo! I got 'er done! The kit needed some effort, but I'm very happy with the results. To be sure, the transparencies only fair, but it will stand proud next to its bigger brother, the JRF Goose. I used Mr.Color C46 Clear Gloss on the props as I didn't want to interact with the watercolor with a water soluble varnish.

Bravo! The concept is completely insane and it has been brilliantly realized.

@modelling minion and @81-er, you're very kind. I do like ceramic fibre for this use as it provides rigidity to the tip floats; they were quite weak transversely without the fibre bracing. I was hoping to be done today, but I forgot to consider drying time for the Grumbacher Academy watercolor I used for the propeller wood grain; I used a Molotov pen for the spinners and metal propeller edge/tip guards. I sprayed Winsor & Newton Satin Varnish on the model and brushed W&N Matt Varnish on the anti-glare, wing walk, and tires. I'll use W&N Gloss Varnish on the props in a day or two. The RDF loop was made from a copper 'jump' ring and brass rod soldered together for strength. The antennas are Evergreen strip. Thanks for looking.

Welcome aboard!

That's quite a good looking color scheme! Nice repair on the rudder stripes. I am always wary of such decals.

Thank you @modelling minion and @81-er. Well, I got ahead of myself and installed the floats. I used 6 mil ceramic fibre for this. The center braces are cut to length, laid in place, and glued in with Formula '560'. The side braces are inserted into holes drilled with a #80 drill and glued in place; these are cut over-length. I got ahead of myself because I wanted to clear-coat the model before installing the floats. Looking forward to finishing it this weekend. Thanks for looking!

I've seen the monochrome originals and am usually quite disappointed with colorization. This version was quite moving.