TonyOD

I've had a look @LostCosmonauts and realised that I'm committed to XS522 out the box because of the colours I've painted the tail rotor and wheels. It's a nice scheme. Thanks again for the offer.

in the early eighties

That's a great job @LostCosmonauts, love the little green berets. Kind offer too. I'll have a look when I get home. I don't want to mix decals from the Italeri and the Modeldecal sheets if I can help it because the whites on one are quite different from the whites on the other.

It's why my builds are very slooooow... I'm outdoors every chance I get!

I've often pondered the psychology of the stash. What makes people purchase and store vast numbers of kits that in some cases they literally won't live long enough to build? My stash runs to 40-50 kits maybe plus a heap of aftermarket decals, and I've mentioned elsewhere that I bought them all in a very short period of time 10 years ago (obsessive behaviour pattern arising from a mental health issue at that time - I look on the bright side, could have been drugs or booze!) but I would have thought that's exceptional. With me it's a very specific theme in 1/72 and I think there was a little "fear of missing out" thing going on - get that kit now, you might never be able to again! I reckon there's a doctoral thesis waiting to be written about this subject...

I ran/walked 184 miles over the qualifying period so I may be able to get one.

Welcome. This made me smile. I'm not in bad nick for 51, but I took ten years off modelling in that time both my eyesight and my manual dexterity have deteriorated spectacularly.

I've seen this elsewhere, Insta probably. I gather it's an impressively large medal. Very cool. If I'd known about it beforehand I definitely would have done it. I'm up for the Spitfire one though.

It's all relative... my "main" hobbies are cycling and outdoor pursuits and I've amassed literally thousands of pounds worth of kit. If you buy a kit at a time and don't hoard them* even with paints and tools scale modelling's pretty inexpensive in the scheme of things. *yeah, I know, don't be ridiculous.

Looks pretty impressive to me!

This looks like a lot of fun, will follow with interest. Going to look it up on Netflix.

Looking great. I was just going to rely on a dab of CA glue for each of the rotor blades but it looks like I'm going to have to do it properly now. The absence of a ceiling did strike me as a failing in the kit (to add to the list), nice job there.

"In no time" is a relative statement . This is a slow one for me. I have a mate who seems to rattle them out (to a pretty decent standard) in a matter of days. Must be using acrylics...

She's a mean, clean green machine! The primer showed up a few imperfections that I needed to sort out, not least a rotten job on the spine. Glad I spent time on the right shade of green. Now for the Klear...

Is there a definitive list of "ex Heller" kits, I wonder?

I used to be into tractors. But I'm not now. I'm an ex-tractor fan.

They do indeed. I bought some Prussian Blue for the spinners on my Mossie. Great range of tools and brushes at very reasonable prices. They do some of that Warhammer stuff too. I gather it has quite the following.

I'm following this, because it looks like a great build, and your use of the expression "bingo bongo" is commendable.

Must be like Aladdin's cave. I've had tonnes of stuff from them online over the years and I never cease to be amazed at the comprehensiveness of their offer.

Sorry. I already apologised to the OP though.

Love it!

Was genuinely thinking "so there's the plane... where's the model then?" Next level stuff, that.

I haven't been to Newark Air Museum in an age, must get over there. Their shop is great. I have a Boyes near me and they carry a good range of tools and full range of Humbrol paints. I never seem to be out of the place right now. When it was closed during lockdown I was paying a fortune in postage charges from Humbrol and Hannants online...

My stash runs to maybe 40 or 50 kits, all 1/72, all FAA or can be built as FAA with aftermarket decals and what have you. I accumulated this heap of kits within a very short period of time about 11 years ago, had a decade off, just came back to it (lockdown innit) and my what-next decision making is usually based on whatever I built most recently - I try to do something different to what I've just done. So, just done a Mosquito, now doing a Wessex, next up probably a jet. I'm a bit rigid about the FAA thing and the 1/72 thing and really should build whatever I fancy, however there's a lot of variety within British naval aviation. My kit acquisition rate is now almost nil, just bought a Corsair for the upcoming Heller Classic GB but that's it. If I'm completely honest my buying and hoarding of kits at that rate was symptomatic of some mental health issues I was having at the time that led to obsessive behaviour patterns(!) I don't feel the need to buy more kits, I've got enough to last me the rest of my days (though I've just found out that I can do a Navy Shackleton... and there's the F-35... )

None, yet. I fancied one of those plain all over paint jobs rather than one of those fiendishly tricky camo schemes the Italians seemed to enjoy putting on their planes. I like the look of this one (Casper decals), which was certainly flying during Pedestal, but I need to find out which FAA units it might have come up against.