Chaotic Mike

Always liked the Scooter...

Thankee. How many have *you* broken? And also for the searching tips. It's not as obvious as it could be, IMHO!

Hello, I was wondering if there is an idiot guide for searching the site, other than using Google (other search engines are available). Simply put, it would be great (IMHO) if one could narrow a search to a particular branch of the Britmodeller tree: I might be in the market for a new compressor, so I went to the Reviews section, Tools and Tips sub-section, and typed 'Compressor' into the search box. The first hit (of many) was to the compressor faces of the Convair B-58 Hustler. All good stuff, no doubt, but not really what I was after. Am I missing some obvious search flag? I've been in IT for 25 years, so its entirely possible I am missing some new-fangled but oblique way of doing things! Mike

I got the drill as well as the nippers (which indeed are stupendous), but be aware that the bits are *very* fragile. I left behind one of the smaller ones in the hole when trying to extract it via a straight pull, and a larger one through twitching, causing it to snap. The technique for a safe extraction seems to be to 'unscrew' the drill via reverse rotation. Anyone know if there are compatible micro bits out there that don't need to ship via Alibaba? Mike

Woo-hoo! It'll be a bench clearer when it finally arrives...

Indeed, I'm using Halfords for the rest. The engineer's seat is included, but strangely HKM have you fit at after closing the fuselage. I s'pose I *could* have done it earlier... Currently working my way through 18 500lb bombs. Boring!

I've started joining the halves. Perfect fit from the mid-Upper turret back, but a bit tight around the cockpit and nose. C-clamps might be involved, which, given the brittleness of the clear plastic, makes me slightly nervous. Pics when it's all done and dusted.

Getting perilously close to zipping up the fuselage. Here's the left half... And the right half... I'll say right now that painting all those ribs and stringers freehand, and then repairing the damage/overpaint with a cocktail stick, didn't feel like a life enhancing experience. Looking t it, I'm considering continuing the ribs across the window strip - the way it is moulded the ribs are interrupted, but I'll bet in real life that they were continuous hoops. Here are a few closeups of the interior: I also ran a cable from the front back to the rear turret along on of the stringers. Guess what? Completely invisible. Soon, I think the world of engines and undercarriage will be featuring in my future... Mike

Merci beacoup.. M

I'll bite... What is it?

Beautiful seats...

And now I look at the picture, I start to wonder just how much I care about the ****ing ejector pin marks that I was blithely ignoring... Incidentally, the metallics in use are Revell Aquacolor steel, Citadel Skullcrusher Brass (got to love their names), and real copper for the pipe.

Back from holiday... I went to New Zealand, where they have whales, amongst other delights. Whales are just as hard to get good photos of as planes on the wing, with the possible exception of most of the Shuttleworth Collection because they move slower than the average whale. But I digress. Here are two sets of pumps, augmented with a little copper wire to represent the connections to whatever it is they are pumping: Because of these, and sundry other bits of the interior that will be coming along, I have decided to go ahead and use the starboard transparent fuselage half, to continue from the nose. After the pain of masking the nose to paint the stringers and frames, I thought I would have a go painting these freehand, and cleaning up bad edges with a cocktail stick. Initial experiments are showing reasons to be optimistic - I reckon if I just do a few frames per session, it'll get done without my going blind. Maybe.

I hope not... I'll let you know in about 6 month's time! Glacial? Me? Mike

It's going to go quiet for a bit, as I am going on holiday for a few weeks. When I return, I'll be tackling the rear fuselage, and probably making a foolish decision regarding the transparent option...