thommo

Yeah, I'm addicted to it now. Just remembered I have a Cricut machine which I'm going to use for the first time in an attempt to cut styrene for this build. Just have to work out how. Think I need to use the knife blade (which I have) and maybe the multiple cuts setting. Wish I'd remembered this before, could have got a neater result than doing some bits by hand (maybe....). And then there is the issue of the plasma 'bolts' between the engines. I once saw a build where the guy used some sort of electricity to make actual bolts. No idea how he did that. Mine may be flexible LED string (bit thick though at 2mm) or perhaps optic fibre with side leakage.

More engine progress. Some paint now on the front engine cowlings. The centre of the engine behind the front cowling are being built around a tube from a pen. Wrapping bits of styrene & Pepsi can aluminium around it to build profile, Tamiya tape & wire of various sizes.

I'm not a huge StarWars follower, but always loved the podracer scenes, and thought I should build one some day. And so it begins. I looked at a few pics, and will just use them to make something up. It will be painted in Cronulla Sharks colours of course. Never forget 2016, the end of my 45 year wait for that first Premiership 🦈 (I thought I'd die premiership-less).

I had intentions of doing this GB, but other projects got in the way (diorama's for family & friends). However (and I think I've posted these elsewhere) here is some of my Matchbox stash & a few built kits. I now have 77 of all 107 1st Edition 1/72 Matchbox aircraft kits (72%), but I've stopped collecting (for now at least).

Yeah, but we understood what he meant. It is a huge event here in Oz. Both reflection & celebrations. My Old Man said going to war worked out really well for him. He was a real academic & wanted to finish school but his father pulled him out in Yr9 & said he had to get a job - as a clerk in the Forestry Dept which he hated. During the war he was able to study for his school leaving certificate while on Navy ships, did amazingly well, got into Medicine at NSW Uni & became a doctor!

Pure evil. Inherited when our daughter left home.

Cheers mate. Both my father (Australian Artillery then seconded to the Australian Navy) & my wife's father (Navy) fought in WW2. My Old Man might have lied about his age on joinup 😆 From my father's war diaries I worked out they were about 50m apart on different ships in the Solomons, though they never knew each other. He saw the HMAS Australia get hit by a Japanese Kamikaze plane right alongside their ship the Shropshire. 50 men incinerated.

Superb.

Sweet as bro! What did you use for the chrome on the rear of the engines?

Love it! I have a '93 Hilux which is my fishing rig....complete with the HiLift jack on the roof. Wish mine had a bullbar like you model however. I reckon if I hit one decent roo with mine, it will fold. These vehicles are bloody bullet-proof compared to modern 4WDs. I just can't bear to part with mine and upgrade because while the new ones are much, much nicer on the bitumen, off-road they can't go half the places my stock standard Hilux can without spending another truckload of money on them with lift-kits, diff lockers etc.

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Yeah, I really like that! BTW we've been to Norfolk - our daughter did a gap year at the Gresham School in Holt. Great little village & a local took me fly-fishing on the Wensum River where I bagged a cracking brown trout.

I should add, our daughter works for the company (Hachette) which published the FitzSimons book on Wilkins. But it was actually my mother who bought it for me at Xmas.

I'd never heard of him either till I was given this book: https://www.hachette.com.au/peter-fitzsimons/the-incredible-life-of-hubert-wilkins-australias-greatest-explorer How this bloke lived past the age of 21 is beyond me. The risks he took were huge. War photographer then an arctic & antarctic explorer, first in dog sleds, then in aircraft (some pretty dodgy, but not the Vega) and finally in a very dodgy submarine.

HI Andy. Polystyrene foam, then made some slight terrain variation with paper machete. Then sealed with AK Foam Texturizer & Sealer which was also used to make the ski tracks by dragging a piece of plastic of correct width through it while still wet. Then finally I used Vallejo Acrylic Snow #73.820 to cover any bit that needed it and add the 'chunkier' snow in strategic places. Both those products are a joy to work with, easy to apply, remove, shape & dilute with water. Mostly applied with soft wide bushes and a toothpick in tiny areas.

No worries mate.

What about his sub under the ice? Or one of his earlier planes (The Fokkers?).....busted in the snow! I've only seen a few pics of those though.

Built this one after reading the book by Peter Fitzsimons on the life of this little known Australian explorer.

Finished. I'll stick a few more pics in the Completed Aircraft section.

In the home stretch now. A few last minute issues. The skis stuck down nicely with 5 min Araldite, so pleased I did not take them apart for re-aligning. The wooden crates & oil drum were too overscale for my liking. I stuffed up the measurements somewhere, so instead of putting them all in one stack which would have been well over the men's head, I've taken the top ones off & will add a lid to the top one on the stack (lid not yet added). And I've rebuilt the oil can & funnel to better scale (not yet added). Ordered an acrylic dome to cover it today, but not sure it will clear the starboard wing. If not, I'll use it for another diorama.

OMG, that is so good!

Nice. There's something about Wildcats I really like. Not sure why because they are ungainly looking beasts, probably that, despite their ugly looks, they did quite well in WW2 against Zeros etc. and were a big part in winning the Pacific war (along with dive bombers which didn't look much better!). Ditto I have a soft spot for the chunky old Buffalo.

Oh wow. Our move will be about 1,000kms (621 miles) but there is no way I'm doing 2 trips. I'll have 2 big moving cartons on the back seat of the car with my models in them. Will build cardboard shelves in them, then on each shelf separate each model/diorama with a foam hard barrier to stop them sliding about. Then I'll pray for 1,000kms & have a conniption every time we hit a big bump. I moved them like this once before, but only about 3kms! Modelling supplies can go with the moving company, they'll be ok. However, the way house prices are going up at a stupid rate in our target towns, we might be here for a while. Won't get out of it for under $1M at this rate.

All my models might get a shake soon. We are looking to move to the South Coast of NSW in the next few years. I'm bloody dreading the model move bit!

Base progress - paper machete then AK foam sealer, which is also good for doing a little sculpting.