The Rat

After having a couple of projects ruined by crappy Academy decals, the 'Red Tail' P-51C that they came from was left on the shelf. No more. First coat of primer is on, combat role identified, decals easily sourced from a totally different aircraft in the stash. Note that I used the Malcolm Hood that was an extra part in the kit. Stay tuned...

Absolutely gorgeous, and I'm not even a WWI fan. 👍

Looks right champion! 👍

Had this in the stash for a long time, maybe I should have left it in there. Needs more work that I was willing to put into it, and the decals for around the nose finally convinced me to Whiff it instead of going Real World. Had some old Swedish decals in the stash, so the Svenska marinen got one, just to be bigger than the de Havilland Dove that the real world Svenska flygvapnet bought in 1947. Decals went on ok, but one fuselage roundel shattered as it was applied, so I didn't try any others after that in case it turned into a disaster and my language turned the air blue. If you decide to build one, the amount of nose weight required could bankrupt you and/or damage your storage shelf. You have been warned.

Just... WOW! 👍

The venerable Frog kit, crude, but good enough for my purposes. Mostly a test of my airbrush and spray booth, as a few will be over the next few months. Underside Tamiya Sky went on nice and smooth, topside Extra Dark Sea Grey, not so much. A coating of Future helped a bit, but it's still pebbly. Decals from CanMilAir, and they're lovely. Modifications were scratching a basic cockpit, nose thingies, blanking intakes, and rescribing panel lines.

Yes, really inconsiderate of them to mess up modelers 80 years in the future, innit? 😁😂🤣

Sturdy envelope arrived yesterday from CanMilAir Decals, the markings for a Royal Canadian Navy Sea Fury, so the Attacker will soon be back on the bench.

Certainly are, it tells me that the slightly fuzzy edges are accurate!

I followed the camo pattern in the instructions, so if it's off then that's Revell's fault. 😁 The colours might be a shade off, not sure, just went with what I had to, again, match the instructions. Thanks for looking and commenting!

Well, they do hybridize where their ranges overlap. They were long considered two species, then they were lumped together as one, until some trouble-making ornithologist did more research and they were split into two again. Maybe this guy didn't get the memo. 😁

Not the greatest job, but better then I expected. Trying out my portable airbrush, and a spraybooth, decided to try a quick 'real world' build instead of my ususal 'what if?' models. Haven't bothered with the tiny little decals, my 70 year-old eyes are a bit weary, plus I might need them to make a whiffer look more authentic. Masking was with blue-tak and shop towels, paints by Tamiya. Hadn't installed the pitot before taking pictures, and the canopy frames need a bit more scraping. But she's done!

Bullock's Oriole, Icterus bullockii, first year male Toronto, Ontario, March 24, 2024 Normal summer range is western North America, winter range Mexico to Guatemala. Seems like this young male got lost on his first migration and wound up here. Feeders have kept it alive all winter, but I suspect it will move on once it fails to get replies to mating calls in a few weeks.

This may be the greatest sink mark in modeling history.

If memory serves, it was discovered before any catastrophes.

Dang, if I wasn't skint I'd pitch in some money for the replacement kit.

Skillz, u haz them. 👍

I wouldn't worry about it, you'll probably never get close to 1/48th of the real stuff unless you use Saran wrap. A quick Google search says that the average fighter canopy is about 3/4" or 20mm thick, divided by 48 gives us 0.147mm.

WHAT THE ****?! I didn't realise that it was that teensy! And RIGGED! Gobsmacked, GOBSMACKED I AM! I think I'll take up knitting, or maybe photgraphing shoelaces. I'm just not worthy.

Thanks! Whiffers save almost anything, we never know when it will come in handy. I have enough decals to open a chain of 'Decals 'R' Us' stores.

Oops, yes, should have mentioned that. The Vought F6U Pirate, a terrible aircraft that made only one significant contribution to aeronautics: the Westinghouse engine was so weak (because it was Westinghouse, they excelled at anemic engines) that Vought engineers had to invent something to give it more oomph - the afterburner! Having thus secured its place in aviation history, it went on to a career that studiously avoided any US Navy operational squadrons, instead being used to test crash barriers, and as instructional airframes. One can only surmise that the main instruction would be "Don't build aircraft like this!" Wikipedia article

A number of whiffs on the go, some will be subjected to my new toy, $212.42 Cdn, after tax: With some external changes, this will become a Cutlass that ain't gutless, re-engined with RR Avons. Intakes have been cut back to enlarge them for the increased suckage, exhaust enlarged for the increased blowage. Fuerza Aérea de Chile, with desert camouflage for operations over the Atacama: The ancient Frog/Novo Supermarine Attacker, planning on finishing it as a Royal Canadian Navy example. Panel lines rescribed, perhaps a bit too deep, but I'm new to this part of the process. In what can only be described as a shock to the system of every modeler in the world, Novo managed to slam out a rather clear canopy on this one, so the interior needed to be less spartan than the original 'bust on a board'. Instrument panel was procured from an old drop tank, the 'go to' part of many a modeler scratching things. What would we do without them?😁 Pilot doesn't look too good in the photo, but since the canopy is attached with PVA glue I'll pry it off and give him some cosmetic surgery before closing him in again. This one is taking a lot of time, and putty. The Revell Douglas Skyrocket, modified as an 'in service' aircraft. Hypothetical switcheroo of the engine positions, main one is now a jet, small jet replaced with a rocket for extra boost. Side intakes from, you guessed it; old drop tanks! Tail assembly will be moved forward a bit to allow for the wider back end required for the jet. Finally, I actually did a 'real world' model, unusual for me. The first time I've tried a short-run kit, wasn't as difficult as I anticipated. Decals were absolute crap, if you find one of these kits be prepared to lay on a few coats of Microscale Liquid Decal Film to prevent them shattering. I used regular varnish from a rattle can, didn't prevent it. Next I tried a brushed Tamiya varnish, still no joy. The final attempt to secure them with the MLDF did the job, but too late to salvage the ones applied first. The kit itself isn't too bad, don't pass it up if you see a good price on one. 20240223_215712 by Dave Bailey, on Flickr

Beautiful shot!

Years ago I had the pleasure of watching 3 of them take off from Muskoka Airport YQA, one after the other. Haven't yet seen them in scooping or dropping operations except at airshows. Got aboard a 215 at the Bushplane Musem in Sault Ste. Marie, impressive beast. Having a job as a waterbomber pilot would be awesome!

Greg does incredible work on all his builds.