SmashedGlass

Lead fly tying wire is available in sporting goods stores (fishing section) in sizes down to .010.

Stephen, are you doing any vacuuming of the silicone when molding and/or using a pressure pot when casting the resin?

Having built the Frog Javelin, and put quite a bit of work into it, yes it does "look the part". But one glaring error with it is the positioning of the leading edge bullet fairings and thus also the cannon openings. Not something easily fixed, so I left them as is.

I gave that last posting a like simply because of the IPA in it.

Your best bet is probably going to involve fabricating a longer wing spar for it, either brass or aluminum tube or square section, or from wood dowel.

Vallejo do now have a complete set for "Pre-war to 1941" available, I'm not sure how much of their range you may already own. Here are the colours listed for a BOB Emil: RLM 65: AV71255 RLM 71: AV71015 RLM 02: AV71044

For clears, Falcon Clear-vax set #9 includes the bits for the Airfix Greif.

Woo, been a long time since an update! Sorta lost the mojo for a while between work, life, and general lack of enthusiasm. I will start off with the sad announcement that Shop Kat passed away a few months ago. We came into work one morning mid-week and found her eternally sleeping under one of the customer cars on the lot She was at best estimate 18 years old by that time so I guess you could say she lived a good long life. We'll miss her at the shop. But, onto work.... Got the Falcon canopy on and faired in after a bit of a fight, I seem to have trimmed a little too much off the front edge, and at the wrong angle to boot. Sorted with two-part epoxy and Tamiya putty. Still have to put some more work in polishing it out and then some Klear. You'll also notice that I got some bleed under with the epoxy at the front. Oh well, I'll have to live with it and just learn from the experience (i.e.: "be more careful next time, doofus!"). I then began work on some sort of representation of the engine faces, as MB give you nothing other than a flat plate with a nubbin to represent the bullet. I was going to go whole hog and put compressor blades in, but after a few practice runs gave up and simply constructed a facsimile of the six vanes that are ahead of the blades. And then the fettling, fairing, and filling fiasco began....Though this is a fine kit by MB standards, I could not live with the trenches that represented things like the airbrakes, or the nose cone separation line. And the fit of the intakes and exhausts to the rest of the parts was atrocious. Had to employ loads of stretched sprue slathered with Tamiya extra thin, cyano glues, putty, and some finishing with brushed on Tamy primer (from the jar). In progress: After: The exhaust sections also required a rather large bit of thinning out to look acceptable, as you can see with the comparison of the original parts put together That will be finished off with some brass tube once the fuselage is completed. Lastly, whilst waiting for putties to dry one night, I gave a new scribing tool I picked up a go. This is a 'modelling chisel' marketed by Madworks in Asia. It's much like the old 'back edge of an Xacto blade with the tip filed' in form, but of tungsten. Works pretty well for me and produces quite nice, square section lines, but I may try some other tools on the market eventually. I highlighted the lines with an alcohol marker, don't mind the vacation spots--the ink got pulled out while I was wiping the excess off. That's about it for now, I'll try to post some more next weekend. I've promised myself that I'll spend more time in the shop!!

What happened to this build? Enquiring minds want to know.....

Gentlemen, if I may, a few of my FROG completions. Javelin FAW.9R Spitfire XIV & V-1 Buzzbomb Fokker D.XXI I still have several of the manufacturers kits (and re-pops from other countries) in my stash, though I've been slowly swapping out many of my older mould kits for snazzy newer tool ones as my enthusiasm for hacking them into somewhat acceptable shape has waned over the past two years. Cheers, Erik the H

I am unaware of any 'improved' parts that they replace the problem parts with, so....it's probably just a case of not enough 2010+ owners griping about the issue cropping up. Gotta count those beans up in Corporate Land! It's like the occupant sensors in the passenger seat of my recently disposed car. It was a 2005 Kia Spectra5. The Kia Rio from the same years had a recall for the sensor mat in the passenger seat that tells the computer a somewhat fully grown person occupies the seat, and turns on the airbag. Same exact system in the Spectra, yet no recall. Guess not enough Spectra owners complained, but the stingy people who opted for the cheaper Rio did. (They wanted $1700 + labor to replace my passenger seat, yet were perplexed that I already knew exactly what code it would throw and why) As a side note Bill, if you have a lengthy relationship with your dealership, you can throw a bit of a fit along the lines of 'never buying GM again!' and they might fix it pro bono. In any event I would definitely shoot a letter off to GM corporate about how displeased you are to have to pay one penny for a fault they already knew about.

Bill, this is what your Cadillac will look like by the time the chains can be accessed

What a coincidence, Bill. Yes, the 3.6L in the Caddies is prone to wearing out the chain guides, introducing slack in the chains and then an error from the cam and crank sensors. And there are actually three chains, so several chain guides and tensioners. All that gets replaced for the job. Radiator doesn't have to come out though it makes the job much easier, but..... Intake manifold, both valve covers, water pump, all the ancillary items on the front cover, then the front cover itself. It's a tedious and time consuming job. At least it isn't a CTS..... to change headlight bulbs on one of those, the front bumper cover has to come off

Timing chain jobs aren't cheap because of the man-hours they take, especially on modern V engines with dual overhead cams and whatnot. I did the chains and tensioners on a Cadillac SRX last fall; it called for twelve man-hours to complete that job...... And that's how long the bloody thing took me.

The photos are gone