IvanP

You are absolutely correct, Jeff. What I mean by “different” is when comparing details that are common to both ships and should look the same. I believe this should be the case, as they are sister ships. I’m not really too concerned on a kit being extremelly accurate, but I just want to make sure that the build will not require any sort of correction or scratchbuilding to fix some glaring mistakes. And also that a minimum amount of photoetch will be required, if I want to improve some areas. My limited experience working on the destroyer shows that working with photoetch in 1/700 is demanding.

Thanks, Rob. After the Helldiver, I think I will stay away from HPH kits for a while. They demand just too much work and energy if you want to build them into a nice replica. So, right know I’m working on ther kits, some easier than others. Some are conversions that are already half completed, so I’ve missed the opportunity to document every step of the building process from the beginning. But I will take note of your suggestion and consider it for some future project. Cheers, Ivan

Thanks, Jeff. Perhaps I should clarify that I have both kits, but I’m trying to decide on which one to keep. My main modelling interest is aviation, so I’m not that knowledgeable of ships, but I do plan to build a few. So far, I’ve just started building a Dragon 1/700 destroyer. The Fujimi kit has less parts than the Pit Road one, seems easier to build, and detail looks slightly sharper. I’m not sure if this is comes at the expense of accuracy. Some areas are represented slightly different when you compare both kits. I also have a couple of photoetch sets for the Musashi, but non

Hi Rob, Unfortunately, there’s no WIP of this build. I took these pictures just to record the end result of my scratchbuilding, for my own future reference. As for the techniques and materials that I’ve used, there was nothing really special. I’ve used mostly strip, rod and sheet styrene , as well as aluminium wires (like those used for Bonsai), of diferente gauges, cutting them to size using a couple of small rulers, to keep them steady, and a hobby knife. I’ve also used a “Rosie the Rivetter” tool and a needle to replace the rivets that were lost while sanding. For al

I’m not too familiar with these kits. So, if I had to choose between the two, which one would be worth having? Thanks in advance. Ivan

Hi Keith, From what I've seen on the web of the Infinity kit, it is an injection plastic version of the HPH resin kit. All parts look very similar, with less details in some areas and little improvements in others. Unfortunately, some of the pitfalls that I've noticed during my build of the HPH kit were apparently not corrected in the Infinity kit, which is a shame. I don't want to be harsh on HPH/Infinity, as they have some nice products on the pipeline and I appreciate their effort in bringing us modellers some interesting subjects., that I will certainly will want to

Many thanks, guys! Appreciated! Ivan

Many thanks for all your comments. They are really appreciated. Ivan

Hi David. The base is from Eureka XXL and is resin. All I had to do was to assemble and paint it. Cheers, Ivan

That's correct, Keith.

Here are some pictures of the 1/32nd scale HPH SB2C-4 Helldiver, that I’ve finished earlier this year. This was a very complex and time consuming build, that took me about three years to complete, working mostly on weekends but with some other projetcs in between. Every step of it’s construction required some scratchbuilding, to add missing details, correcting the kit parts, adjusting parts so that they would fit and be aligned or a combination of them. The lack of comprehensive references for this version of the aircraft made the work much more difficult. Here are som

This is the Airfix 1/72 C-47, built with some slight modifications and painted to represent aircraft #2015 from the 1st Air Transport Squadron (“1º ETA”), of the Brazilian AF, circa 1973. The squadron was, and still is, based in Belém, state of Pará, in the Amazon, and provide aerial support for both military personnel and the civilian population living in the small towns and villages in the region. At that time, the squadron also operated PBY Catalinas. At present, I believe they fly Cessna Caravans. The squadron badge has a winged river turtle, know locally as "Tracajá", and the

Fantastic! Congrats! Ivan

Perfect! Cheers, Ivan

Fantastic build! Congrats! Ivan