Dandie Dinmont

Alistair, Once again, I am overwhelmed by the efforts you have put in to better the lot of your fellow modellers, and the sheer generosity of those who are providing this munificent bounty. It is of great comfort to me and Mrs. D. to know that as retirement approaches, we will be supported in our dotage by this cornucopia. I would write more but the tears of gratitude streaming from my eyes are threatening to short-circuit my laptop. We are blessed. Craig.

Alistair, Mark, Thank you for the trust and belief you have shown in conferring this great honour on me. I assume it comes with a generous stipend to finance the major stash expansion I will be required to undertake to set a good example (first step, build an extra room on the house)? Craig.

Good point! We all need to buy a variety of kits from various manufacturers and leave them lying around undisturbed for many years to see what happens. Hold on, that's what we've been doing anyway. We clearly need to buy more. It's in the interests of Science! Craig.

This is clearly worthy of study. It’s the last thing I want to do but I will have to buy a Vulcan as well to see if my pair use it as a seat. Science demands it! Craig.

If you can crack that, you’ll be able to buy your own island in the Caribbean. Cuba looks nice. Craig.

How exactly do you plan on enforcing this ban? Asking for a friend. Craig.

Hi Folks! Isn't it great that August is finally here and we can all get started on our Hellcat builds...What do you mean, everyone else started in June? I jest of course. I'm fully aware that I'm a little late getting started with this but I'm taking a new approach here. In my previous group build, I suffered a major mojo loss as the end of the build approached meaning that it was unclear until the 59th minute of the 11th hour of the build whether I'd actually get the thing over the line in time. For this build, I decided to get the period of demotivation out of the way early. Besides, an unexpected heatwave (and in Scotland, any heatwave is unexpected) had rendered my man-cave under the eaves of the house hot enough to boil a badger's bum so there wasn't much incentive to head up there. It was so hot even the cats were complaining. With the return of normal meteorological service, i.e. fog interspersed with torrential rain, I've finally got this puppy under way. Having been a little over confident in my last group build, I'm setting my sights much lower for this one and am tackling the Weekend edition of the Eduard 1/72 F6F-5. This one in fact This will be my first attempt at an Eduard kit. I own several of their products, all 1/48 WW1 fighters for some reason, but the combination of minute PE parts and rigging instructions they offer has always led to me shaking my head and gently, but firmly, closing the boxes, every time I contemplate starting one. No PE or rigging with this one so let's see how we get on! I'm sure most of you are familiar with this kit but here's a sprue shot anyway. At first sight, things look very promising with crisp sharp detailing and no flash or warped mouldings in sight. A little different to some Airfix kits I've tackled recently. The kit comes with two marking options and 2(!) decal sheets, the second packed with a worrying amount of stencils. I'll be doing the option on the right hand page above for no better reason than I'm also building a F4U which features a yellow ring around the front of the cowling and I thought the white ring on the Hellcat would match nicely. I have actually made some progress on this and am now at the stage where the cockpit is more or less complete, the multiple instrument panel decals provided being a great aid in making the office look sufficiently busy. Being the Weekend edition, the kit comes with decals to represent the seat belts. I was worried that these would appear a little two-dimensional so I thought I would be clever (never a good sign) and stick the belt decals to my favourite belt manufacturing material, tin foil sandwiched between two strips of Tamiya masking tape. How did this go? Well lets just say that the canopy is going to be firmly closed on this one. Next task is to close up the fuselage. While doing a dry fit, I was somewhat alarmed to notice that the fuselage halves feature no location pins whatsoever. Getting a decent join may pose a stern challenge to my modelling skills. More developments soon, hopefully. Thanks for reading, Craig.

Once again, I divert my attention from BM for a few days (big birthday for Mrs. D. so we took ourselves off to a swanky hotel in Perthshire, a region entirely devoid of modelling shops as far as I can tell) and return to find you’ve nearly finished another build! Honestly, I can’t keep up. I note though that you have once more shot yourself in the foot (figuratively speaking) during a build, then made a brilliant recovery which leaves us even more in awe of your modelling skills. A pattern is beginning to emerge (strokes chin thoughtfully). Great looking Hurricane and that Azure Blue is indeed gorgeous (must resist buying yet more paints, must resist...) Craig.

I have a minor complaint if I may. Since this build began, I have been anticipating a climax to this tale of struttery against the odds, victory snatched from the jaws of defeat when all seemed lost, and a searing contest of man against polystyrene. Instead, what do we get? “Then I put the wings and other bits on”. A trifle anti-climatic don’t you think? I have a similar complaint about your Lysander. Next time, do you think you could give some slight indication that this stuff poses at least a minor challenge and give us mere mortals a little hope? Oh, and it goes without saying (but I will anyway), fine fine work. One for front and centre in the old display cabinet! Craig.

I was in the middle of my usual early morning commune with nature/BM catch-up when Rudi joined me via the open bathroom window. He'd obviously had a hard night terrorising the local wildlife and felt he was entitled to a good kip. Luckily, he found a cosy spot to settle in to. Personally, I would have thought this was "where angels fear to tread" territory but he seemed really happy with his new digs and was purring fit to bust. Craig.

I appreciate you choosing this subject Alistair. Normally your builds make me want to rush off and buy the same kit but I already own an Arma Hurricane II so my wallet is safe! Great start, looking forward to seeing how the rest of it turns out. Craig.

Just read through your build thread and am flabbergasted, both at the quantity and quality of your work. I would never have guessed that this little beauty was brush painted and painted freehand at that. Great job! Craig.

Are you sure you didn’t subconsciously do it deliberately to prolong this highly enjoyable build? Craig.

Very nice. Your airbrushing skills have developed impressively fast (he said grinding his teeth with envy). Craig.

My little neighbourhood suffered a power cut in the middle of last night's match. It didn't particularly upset me (I had been endearing myself even more to my wife by pointing out all the mistakes in a program about Julie Walters touring the coast of Scotland by train) but judging by the comments on our local whatsapp group, there's a lot more English people in our little community than I had appreciated! The power came back just in time for the final penalty. You call that tough? I can manage to get no modelling done while working a straightforward nine-to-five in my back bedroom But seriously, oof. You certainly have to work for your kit buying tokens! Craig.

We had a stray, Buster who used to sink his fangs into me (and only me for some reason, maybe because I was the only one daft enough to try to pick him up) with such regularity that our local GP. practice started keeping stocks of an antibiotic especially good for cat bites against my next visit. I’d stagger up to the reception desk and they’d ask “Buster again?” I have the opposite problem with our latest lad Rudi. He’s a real softie and loves nothing better than leaping into your lap and kneading away with his razor-sharp claws through your thin pyjamas as you”re trying to down the first cuppa of the day and restore some level of humanity to your carcass. This serves as a real wake-up call as you can imagine. Quick Alistair! You need to dazzle us with some stunning modelling and distract us from all this cat-related nonsense! Craig.

Hi Chris, You only need to worry about Maisy taking over if you see her practicing using the tin opener. Craig.

Presumably after the vet visit, he was miffed mittens. Craig.

Thank you Alistair, it’s truly humbling to be recognised in this way by one such as yourself. Rest assured that should our dear friend fall for this manage to shake off the terrible burden he is bearing, I’ll be happy to share the proceeds with you since building it myself at my usual rate would likely require me to live to 300. Craig the even more saintly.

It’s tragic to be away from the site for a couple of days and return to see one of your fellow modellers has been afflicted by KAS (Kit acquisition syndrome), a dread affliction which can only lead to madness and extreme poverty. But fortunately, there is a cure. You must cast out all the foul plastic that is afflicting you so and since you are a friend, I will shoulder the burden of disposing of this toxic material for you. Just put it all in a box and post it up to me, I’ll pm you my address. Craig the saintly.

Hi Stew, Seeing your fine paintwork brought back memories of one of my earliest modelling experiences, building the old Airfix Liberator with my dad (we obviously didn’t believe in starting small). Neither of us realised that the olive drab was meant to be matt so we just kept slapping on coats of paint, in the belief that it would gloss up, until that Liberator must have have a paint coat a scale foot thick. Happy memories! You are doing a superb job on these Stew. Hope the markings arrive soon so that we can see the finished results! Craig.

That’s just making use of innovative materials in your modelling. Get yourself a pair of trousers a couple of sizes too small and not only will you be struttin’ your stuff like the Bee Gees, you’ll be singing like them as well. Craig.

Where were you last year when I was building my Hurricane? Do you thing your wing fixing efforts failed because the water was too hot, or was there no hope of fixing them? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, that kitten is a real cutie! I’m having to take extra precautions to stop Mrs. Dinmont looking over my shoulder when I’m reading Britmodeller in case she sees a photo and starts getting ideas! Craig.

Thank you, it does indeed. I can feel a couple of purchases coming on. Easily disguiseable thankfully. I have every confidence that your struttery will be immaculate. Craig.

Sorry, I seem to have developed some sort of fixation on this when I should be enjoying the quality of your work. If the G-S Hypo Cement gives a stronger bond, why didn’t you use it for the entire cockpit? I’ll shut up soon, honest. Craig.