Dunny

Why do I feel like I'm taking one for the team?!

Thanks very much James! It does take the edge off the lovely Tamiya kit, but hopefully it won't be too much of a hippocrocapig by the time I'm done! Cheers, Roger

Hi All, Some good progress today - I took a cheeky day off work to make an extra long weekend (Monday is a public holiday here - yay). The first job of the day was the instrument panel shroud. Now this is canvas in the actual aircraft, so I stole the idea from another build in the GB decided to use some tissue soaked in diluted PVA to add the surface texture. Here's with the tissue applied: A couple of wrinkles in there to add realism! Once that had dried it was given a coat of Khaki and detail painted: This and the gunsight were then attached to the front canopy and the assembly affixed to the cockpit using Krystal Kleer. I could then fill the gap between the canopy and the nose with Tamiya filler: Once that had dried I sanded it down, leaving a smooth surface: Some rescribing and general cleaning up, and we were ready for primer: This coat revealed the usual minor imperfections and defects which were soon sorted out. However, it did also reveal this: A rather prominent mismatch between the fuselage and nose That was not going to pass muster, so I'm in the process of sanding the area back: It's looking much better already, so I shall rescribe tomorrow and re-apply the primer, and no-one will ever know! More to come over the weekend, Thanks for looking, Roger

Lovely work Chris - those decals have really complimented your lovely paintwork. Not far off now! Cheers, Roger

Impressively speedy work Mark - look forward to seeing this one! Cheers, Roger

Thanks very much Wu! I agree that the range and ordnance of the P38 could have made a big difference - what juicy modelling subjects too! Appreciate the kind words...

Thanks very much James - most enjoyable it is too!

Now that is a good looking scheme CC - will look forward to seeing it take shape! Cheers, Roger

Coming along nicely Alistair - I'm almost tempted to crack out my 1:48 Tamiya FB Mk.VI, Cheers, Roger

Andrew, Lovely build and finish - particularly impressive is your treatment of the exhaust collectors. Most realistic, Cheers, Roger

Mark, A stunning RFI and a very engaging WIP - impressively speedy with no sacrifice in quality. Lovely work, Cheers, Roger

Good to see you on board Colin - great personal connection too! Good luck with this little beauty, Cheers, Roger

This one is worth a little trouble Chris

Thanks very much Chris - the kit is jaw-droppingly good. You need one...

Hi All, Another brief update. I decided to crack on with the nose this afternoon. Gluing the 3 components together with CA was a simple enough task, and on offering up the nose assembly (with bearing blutacced in place) revealed the extent of the gap: I'd already noted that the nose was slightly wider than the fuselage, so you can see I've started the process of profiling it (no shortcoming of the Red Roo set - as noted previously it is intended for the Academy kit ). In order to fill the rather cavernous gap I cut a shim from 1mm plastic card: Once that had been glued in position and set I then started profiling it: I also shimmed the area ahead of the canopy, and filled the remaining gaps with Tamiya putty. I'll let that dry until next time, so here's a final shot showing the state of play on the underside: A bit out of focus, but taking shape nicely - some attention with some fine wet & dry and some rescribing should see it come up nicely! Thanks for looking, Roger