SoftScience

That's very very cool. I love Special Hobby kits, and it's always nice to see somebody tackle one so successfully. Beautiful paint job.

Are your fuselage panel lines based on plans or conjectured? I recently got this kit and was a bit surprised to see no surface detail on the fuselage/hull.

Along the same line of thought, would 3D printed uncut lengths of airfoil shaped rod be strong enough to make struts?

Absolutely fantastic work, and very inspiring! All those rigging lines make me feel far less intimidated by the few lines on the biplanes I'm working on. It is also interesting to see the interior, and to see that despite its great size, it was mostly empty. The bomb load is surprisingly small.

I try to be really mindful of it, then I also noticed it isn't always necessary to have dozens of little belts and different straps, making it look like a BDSM queen is on board . I've seen historic photos where stuff just looks thrown on. I guess if something was heavy enough and the tank wasn't going that fast, it wasn't always an issue. But I know what you mean. Packs and bedrolls don't just stick to the side of a turret. Even after the greasiest member of the crew just slept in one.

Now you tell me! I'm not going to mess with it now, but something I'll be keeping in mind for future builds. And thank you, everyone, for the very kind comments.

Presenting Tamiya's excellent A34 Comet tank built as "Celerity", a tank with the 29th Armored Brigade of the 11th Armored Regiment in April of 1945. Celerity was one of two Comets that knocked out a Tiger tank after crossing the River Aller near Essel, and assisted in the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Bergen-Belsen. The Tamiya kit is fantastically fun to build, and I pushed myself to really work with what I know of color theory to get a model with bright and vibrant, but still historically "realistic" colors. I really stepped out of my comfort zone and pushed to weather the tank with a somewhat more artistic approach that focused on color and pleasing contrast. There is much left to learn and plenty of room for improvement. Maybe next time I'll try zenithal lighting effects, and ramp up the color warmth even further. But I feel like this model was a step in the right direction. One thing I'm especially pleased with, is how the fabric on the figures and stowage turned out. The figures faces are a little gross looking close up, but their jumpsuits still look decent. Everything is a bit simplistic, compared to the master figure painters, but probably the best I can do, with my current abilities. I also like how the rust on the spare track is looking. I've been trying to get decent rust for ages now!

Also with many so called "classic" kits that I have great memories of building as a kid. Sometimes it's best to let the memories stay as memories, rather than ruin them with an update

Where have the photos gone?

Thanks for the responses,.guys. I wish more GB hosts would do them, then. And nobody should ever be embarrassed.

HI all, One of the things I used to really like about the GBs here, was the ability to chose a favorite from the finished builds gallery. I don't really see that anymore. What happened?

Your wash/dry rushing look great as always. I really like how they turned out on the tread pattern on the fenders. Not too stark! Which means the difference in color values you chose to use, is just right.

Moving along, if a bit slowly. The fuselage has been closed up. Fit is not terrible, but the sonar dome insert is a bit sloppy. A good deal more filler than I often end up using, but then this is a Revell kit.

Eh? No. I don't have a bulged door. I'll do it with the door open. May or may not go with the Arctic scheme.

Sounds like if I do it with the door open, I can cut my losses.

It was still able to rotate with the bulging door fitted?

Hi all, I've been looking at special schemes for the buccaneer in an effort to build my airfix kit as something other than an overall blue machine. I really like the winter camo scheme of XV160 but I can't tell if it's an early S2B variant without the bomb door fuel tank bulge, and which can be built from the Airfix kit. On this admittedly poor photo the belly looks flat. Were the door tanks permanently fixed? Because there is this picture where things look a bit more ambiguous. I'm just beginning to learn about the buccaneer, so excuse me if this is a really dumb question.

Moving along. The cockpit isn't very exciting. Various shades of black that my phone camera is not picking up, and the instrument decals. Once the paint on the seats dries, I'll add the blue colored seat harnesses for a nice splash of color.

Thanks for the tips, Peter. I'm going to build up the gear, but not attach it until the very end. I like to have the gear built and painted before I get to the end of the model, as that's where I tend to start rushing, and end up with sloppy final details. After posting these photos last night, I started building up the interior and checking the fit after each bulkhead was added. So far everything seems to be okay except for the thin little bit of fuselage between the bomb bay and the opening for the sonar unit. It just seems to short to fit around the bulhead, but I'll probably just a bit of shim if needed. Did you have any issue with fitting the insert for the sonar?

Hi all, I realize I have just a little bit over a month left, but that should be plenty for sneaking a model in. There is so much in the FAA arsenal that makes for fine modeling, but one of my favorites has always been the Gannet. I love strange looking aircraft, and the Gannet is near the top of the strange heap, at least as far as postwar FAA types go. I picked up the Revell kit recently, and just tore right into it. I tried building it about 12 years ago and recall running into some problems, but I don't entirely recall what they were. I'm hoping my 12 years of experience might help me face them more successfully. I began with the wings. So far, so good. No fit issues here. Just a little bit of putty on the outer edges. I think I'll build up the landing gear legs next. Just to have them out of the way.

That's looking very beautiful

Progress has been glacial. Not through any fault of the model. Anyone wishing to build this kit out of the box, could easily complete assembly in one or two nights. But since I decided to "improve" the details, I've been on the hunt for adequate reference photos, regarding details. Not much luck, and it's sapping my enthusiasm for the project. But I'm pushing along. I decided I should at least wrap up the suspension while I figure things out. Likely not too much variability there? Someone is about to tell me that each Matilda had a slightly unique suspension

Am I the only one not seeing any pictures?

I was hoping somebody would build this one. It's my favorite version of the Hurricane. Those Arma kits are really great, too!

Is this the heavily panelled mk i kit with a new wing, or an entirely independent tooling?