Col.

The past week has been mainly spent waiting for paint to dry so that I could then glue some parts together and then wait for that to set before I could then paint more parts and wait for it to dry. At least that process has got me to here now With the much-modified figure of Maj. Anderson installed in the much-modified cockpit we're now waiting for the blob of Microscale's Kristal Klear to dry and represent his face mask. A little more detail painting and the unit will get installed into the fuselage. While on the subject of the fuselage, and the fallow time when waiting for paint and glue to dry, there's been a little more work done elsewhere The tailwheel undercarriage doors needed some packing pieces installed to ensure they sit level with the fuselage, the jetpipe piece is in place, and supporting tabs glued in to take the front undercarriage doors. All this means I can close the fuselage halves round the cockpit unit once it's ready. Reading through the book over the weekend impressed upon me the fact that everyone involved, be they the US, Cuban, or Soviet personnel, were living with a genuine fear that even the slightest action by any of them had a high potential to inspire nuclear war. The stress they endured during these missions must have been horrendous.

The result you've produced looks to have been well worth the effort you expended JB

Is the right hand side lever for another purpose? Such as a glider towing release mechanism. (Yes, as you can tell, I've no idea what I'm talking about and clutching at straws now.)

Lovely result on the Seafire Chris

Both your current work and the potential of Plan B have the makings of a good result Rob.

Ah damn. I'm not laughing at all Alex All I can offer by way of compensation is that you've proved you are capable of creating this detail so perhaps it was a practice session. Your decision to model K4288 as an example of the many otherwise unremarked machines which gave good service to no fanfare is an admirable one.

You've picked a lovely set of subjects to work on

I'll resist the temptation to comment upon how nice your pink bits look...

Gorgeous subject choice Colin

What a lovely subject choice

I was specifically thinking of the A-4 kit Giampiero and must apologise for not stating that clearly. You raise a good point about the lack of an alternative MB326 kit - a lovely aircraft that, like its stablemate the 339, deserves more attention. It is a pity the various 3D decal producers do not offer (so far as I know) sets to enhance the cockpit of those Italeri kits as they are the ideal blank canvas to lay such items on. Yes, hence why I stressed when they can be found, all too often reviews go to length at highlighting the positive factors in a kit and make scant if any mention of its faults. In many cases it's only when someone who knows the subject well has purchased the kit and set about working on it that the problems are exposed. With regard to prices around the world, I suspect transportation costs are also a significant factor that must be considered. Where's the fun in that?

@Marlin you certainly have a varied selection of kits and decals there Bosse

Of course. Always a pleasure to see your work.

Yeouch! The cheapest I've seen was a C on Amazon for less than £25 delivered but normal retail seems to be around £33 for both the A & C here in the UK. Thank you Alex. Hopefully I'll have sufficient usable decals from between the Caracal and Airfix sheets to cover my needs but will keep your kind offer in mind. Thanks Cliff but doing the straight and simple panel lines of the flying surfaces may have lulled me into a false sense of ambition over ability - the more involved fuselage panels are waiting for me

Sorry to learn you're not getting the time to model as much as you'd like Alan but hope that the other things taking up that time are enjoyable. You will of course always be made welcome any time you can join us.

Sorry to learn you're not getting the time to model as much as you'd like Alan but hope that the other things taking up that time are enjoyable.

Splendid result. Nicely done

Another nice subject choice Steve

Remember those wing panels I was moaning about yesterday? Bit of a lump due to panel thickness mismatch on both wings I've also added some extra detail to the cockpit while trying to keep in mind just how little will be visible under the closed canopy The supplied pilot figure is slowly being modified to better represent Maj. Anderson and his pressure suit/helmet

Work indeed Colin but worthwhile to make use of a kit in the stash and all good fun Must admit that I'm tempted to get the HobbyBoss kit to do at least one of the early NMF machines Dennis. That's the best way to get full value from the decal sheet Same Alex. Lower standards certainly made for more productive modelling sessions This GB is the perfect opportunity to get cracking with a kit that's been tempting me from the edge of the stash for a while. Is that the AFV kits you have Craig?

Tidy work Craig

Thanks lads. The plan is to do this one in-flight, thus accentuating the unusual lines and proportions of the machine, so the work avoided to detail the various bays and cockpit is instead directed toward making things such as the airbrakes and undercarriage doors fit better. Or just fit at all. I've done a lot of test fitting to that end and made a start in various sections. Airbrakes first: offer up the petals up to the bays and they fall in below the fuselage surface so packed them up with some scrap plasticard That's a bit better Same story with the under-wing panels As you can see I've also started scribing in the panel lines. The wings in particular gave me cause for thought; I remember building this kit in the late 80s and thinking it was good at the time. Now, however, getting the wings together has me thinking my standards have changed over the years and I'll try to share some photos this evening that prove why

With all my current projects stalled 'til the weather improves sufficiently to allow spray painting I added yet another one to the ongoing pile. This year's plan is to finish started models, either by myself or previous owners, rather than open any pristine and untouched kits but all the candidates I had were already being covered apart from this one Calling it started is something of a disservice as it seems the previous owner had simply removed the main parts for test fitting and nothing has been glued or painted yet but it gives me the excuse to carry on Quite how the 1983 vintage kit decals will perform is debatable so I'll enlist some assistance and a little inspiration from this sheet Further inspiration is coming from this publication The aircraft being flown by Maj. Rudolf Anderson over Cuba when he was killed on 27th of October 1962 features in both So there we have it gang; a Lockheed U-2A, built in 1956, shot down in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

With one of these in the stash I'm particularly keen to watch your progress and take notes Ray

More nice fabrication work and the change in ride height looks better