zebra

I like it, I think we should go with this. And I think we should change the name to three is the magic number. @Mjwomack do you agree?

I really like the idea and having tried to get a conversions GB off the ground before I hope it succeeds. Defining it is hard. Can I suggest that instead of focusing on the number of changes or parts or whatever it is, it could be defined in terms of what you want participants to achieve, and maybe express it as a principle rather than trying to set a rule? Maybe backed up with a few examples of what would and wouldn’t work?

If the poll standings stay as they are right now, I'll have just one kit in the stash that I can't fit in to any of the GBs. This really isn't going to help me decide what to build (90s seems to catch an awful lot of them)! I know what Enzo would say - if he can arrange for a large inheritance from a long-lost unknown relative so I don't have to work, I'll give it a go. And a self-indulgent bit of self-reflection: It occurs to me this is a striking example of my autism and ADHD at work. The ADHD side of me can never decide what to build and finds group builds a useful way to prompt the decision. It also means I'm easily distracted from what I'm supposed to be doing by thinking about group builds. Which is where the autism side joins in and gets far too deeply into identifying what kits will go in which GBs. I usually find modelling quite therapeutic, now I'm not so sure!

Sadly I think trijets might be about to become even rarer so maybe we'll be commemorating their demise. Given post war four is looking pretty unlikely to get up, maybe we should consider making this one three or more. Any views on that?

Count me in. All I have in the stash for this is a Tracker, plus a Turbo Firecat conversion, and I could do with the motivation to build it.

Pretty happy with where this is going so don't think changing any of my votes will be worthwhile. Although there are 8 GBs and 1 STGB above the line that I'd be keen to participate in, which is too many, I'll never live up to my ambitious build plans, so maybe I should try and sabotage some! Speaking of STGBs - I actually forgot I'd proposed the Canberra STGB, I'm in danger of having to host it!

More progress - intake, inner wings and empennage are on. I've also added a bit more ballast in the front of the weapons bay. The intake needed some blending in as there was a bit of a step - unsurprising given that cutting a chunk of the fuselage out to fit a replacement part inevitably changes its shape a bit, I think I did well to get it as close as I did. No more glue incidents to report! more soon Julian

More progress - seams cleaned up, weight stuffed in the nose (assorted small denomination foreign coins) and various wing and tail components assembled. Not without self-inflicted setbacks though - another superglue mishap - I was trying a new thin CA to stick the weight in the nose, with one of those long thin applicator nozzles, didn't quite appreciate how thin it was. A pretty gentle squeeze of the bottle resulted in a jet of CA glue that travelled through the fuselage and out of various openings leaving yet more glue on my hands and in various places on the fuselage. I managed to clean it all off though. Might not be using that thin CA again. Next jobs will be to paint the insides of the upper wing and the wheel wells, assemble and attach the inboard wing sections, intake section and empennage, and then get on with things like the canopies so I can start painting. more soon Julian

Interior finished and fuselage closed up, a few dabs of filler here and there to clean up. I've also added the fairing to replace the radar - quite a nice fit, but inevitably a little filler was needed. I'm a bit worried about the join at the back end of the fairing by the cockpit though, there's a little bit of a step that I think might become troublesome - watch this space. After the filler's been cleaned up, next job will be to try to stuff 54g into the nose! This build is really restoring my mojo. more soon Julian

I don't know how I managed it, there was so much of the stuff on my hand! Got it all off pretty easily. And the new glue has turned up. The instructions call for another 50 or so grams in front of the cockpit! This thing must really want to be a tail sitter. The resin fairing is in place and quite a nice fit. I filled the gap at the back by sticking in a sliver of the original fairing, still a bit of blending in to do but it seems to have worked. I've also been cracking on with the interior, most of the painting is done and most of the 3D decals are on. more soon Julian

As I understand it, both the Russians and the US put nuclear reactors in aircraft (a Tu-95 and the NB-36H) to test radiation shielding in the aircraft, but never actually flew a nuclear-powered aircraft. Environmental concerns, the weight penalty from the radiation shielding and weight of the reactor, and concerns about what would happen in a crash put an end to it.

Me too! I seem to have a bit of a habit of proposing slightly off-beat topics that don't have the appeal I think they should but this one's so wide-ranging I thought it might be different. I wonder whether the timing is awkward, given there are so many qualifiers that are still unknown, but I had thought England qualifying might attract a bit of interest. I don't think any European countries used Devastators!

Yes! A very old-school, black and white sci fi. When Aviation Week published a photo of it they said it was nuclear-powered, which was clearly wrong but seems to me to go quite well with the sci-fi-ness of the thing.

They certainly have. There's also a space dedicated to ballast - a little box between the cockpit floor and the top of the weapons bay - which is a nice touch. I've now got it to the test-fitting stage: The resin part is a pretty good fit, but I seem to have removed a bit too much plastic at the rear of the cockpit. Not as bad as it looks though, because the resin part is warped and will be a bit longer once I've straightened it out. So the next step will be to glue the resin part in place, although that's going to have to wait as I'm temporarily out of CA (trying to unblock a tube of CA gel led to the tube bursting and my hand getting absolutely covered in superglue - I did a good job of not sticking myself to anything! - so I need the replacement glue I've ordered to turn up so I can get on with things). In the meantime I can get on wit the interior. more soon Julian

Excellent, I'm going to need it!