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Chris, The PE certification is your top priority. Go for it and let the Montana rest for a while. We understand and can wait. Best wishes for your success. Ed

I watched this whole video. What is accomplished in a one-day time frame is amazing. Of course, having an experienced ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) builder doing the building and painting reveals the techniques and time frames under which a movie professional must operate. Time is money in that business. My wife would have a stroke if I painted with rattle cans and airbrushes in mid-air in the middle of the room (ventilation?) without any protection for her laundry machines and floor from the abundant oversprays. Since he doesn't wear gloves while spray painting the parts he is holding, I did not pick up on how he gets the paint off his hands. This is why it would take me a year to build the same model. The finished figure looks great! Ed

This is a beautiful example about why some models are worthy of Best-of-Show honors and others are not. I may have no experience with this type of vehicle, but I can recognize outstanding model craftsmanship. Superb job! Ed

Hi, Bill, Looks great in photos. I'm looking forward to seeing this at next week's IPMS/Will-Cook meeting. My camera is ready. Ed

Hot dog! This looks far superior to the 1975-76 era 1/72 vacuform kit by Rare Plane Vacuforms, which is still the only game in town until this kit actually arrives. Perhaps some aftermarket decals (or more than one marking choice in the kit) will yield me a set of markings for the Rare Plane kit, which had none. Ed

Hi, Richard, You might try to find the 1/200 DML Kit #2004 of the C-141B Star Lizard from 1989. It comes with decals for both the white top and camo schemes. A couple of Humvees are included as a cargo load. The cyber-hobby kit is probably a reissue of this kit. If your friend worked on the aircraft in Viet Nam, it would be the C-141A version. Now you need to find 1/200 DML Kit #2003 C-141A Starlifter from 1989. It comes with decals for both the white top and bare metal (Viet Nam) schemes. A couple of pallets of box shapes are included as a cargo load. Yes, the fuselage of the C-141A is much shorter than the C-141B. Ed

Hi, James, You just triggered a bunch of memories of the 1968 GTO convertible that I bought new for $4,150. It was Solar Red! With a red interior, too. MPC had an annual kit of that car that has never been reissued since. I sold it in 1976 when the oldest kid became 16 and wanted to drive it. The last I heard of it was that the buyer dropped a u-joint on the drive shaft while attempting a 130 mph run on a long, lonely country road. Thank goodness it was the back one. The kid got even with me, though. He totalled my 1974 Grand Am while on a date. I paid $4,800 for it; got $2,300 in insurance, and sold the as-is carcass for $1,250. My depreciation over three years was just $1,250. Ed

As soon as you complete the seventh Roden bus and call it a wrap, there will be an eighth one. Ed

Whatever was keeping me out before has been resolved. I'm IN! Thanks, Eric. Ed

I have yet to see the new home page. I can't get to it through any method. I get the 404 error every time. I typed in Eric's suggested link above and got a white screen with the single sentence "The system cannot find the path specified." I am only able to get directly into the forum with Google Chrome by doing a search on ipms and selecting the choice forum.ipmsusa3.org , which takes me directly to the forum home screen and entering my username and password as usual in the box. So, now I am in, but clicking on the IPMSUSA Home Page link on the left end of the menu bar gives me the 404 message. I hate to think this is now my third computer that has been upgraded out of the IPMSUSA website. Ed

Hi, Bob, You are looking for Cobra Company set #72008 1/72 B-377 "Stratocruiser" Detail Set. I am assuming you need these props for the Academy Kit #1603. The Cobra Company set includes "Corrected Engines, exhausts and Propellers, New Main and Nose Wheels, Steering Cyls. for Academy kit." The props in this set are square tip and white metal castings with the tapered spinner. All the rest of the parts are resin. Ed

Hi, Kevin, That is one nifty figure. At first glance I thought the vest was plaid, but it isn't. Was there a film cell reference for Sam's colors? Animating a true plaid back 50 years ago would have been very challenging, so this rather effective compromise was used instead. The eye sees what it wants to see, and if it looks like plaid, then it must be so. Shading white is also difficult, and your snow details show nicely. Well done! Ed

Thanks for looking and your comment, Kevin, The Verlinden kit is #771 in the "Fantasy Figure" series. I can only wonder what other figures were available in that series. It may be in an old catalog somewhere. Ed

Hi, Warren, I'm confused. The box in the first photo says this is a Skill Level 2 kit. That must be for the young builder. "Dad, can you help me with the decals?" You seem to have your finely tuned AMS converting it into a Skill Level 6 model. It certainly looks like one. Great work so far. Ed

Hi, Z, Welcome to the world of car builders. Your Ford presents itself nicely as a well used farm vehicle. I like the dented right front fender and especially your wood pieces on the sides of the bed. Is this the old AMT kit? Ed

Hi, Chris, This is another of your outstanding works of art. The blanket looks absolutely real to me, as does the hat and face. To my eye, the blue shirt has too much color contrast because the whitish highlights are too bright against the dark blue in the creases and folds, making the blue cloth look somewhat cartoonish. Believe me, I really hate sounding harsh in my comment because I admire your work always. Ed

I never saw this coming in advance: a huge book! The New York Times Complete World War II--1939-1945. There is a DVD inside the front cover with 98,367 New York Times articles that I can read on my computer. The book itself reprints only 600+ articles on 595 pages, all articles originally published in the newspaper's pages. This is history written as it happened, with the writers getting things both right and wrong as their personal experiences impacted them. I love reading this stuff, and I'm through the prologue articles beginning June 19, 1919, through September 1, 1939, that set the stage for what was to come for the next six years. A couple of years ago I found a boxed set on my mother's bookshelves called Time Capsules, one volume for each year 1939 through 1945, filled with all sorts of articles from the Time magazines of those days. I read all seven volumes. Politics, world events, people, arts, music, theater, science, literature, etc., all were included. It may take a year to read the new book, and 20 years to read all the DVD articles. Thanks to the person who sent this to me. Ed

Hi, Mark, Your Y-Wing looks fabulous. Your washes and the light weathering make all the details on the surfaces produce the "busy" effect of the movie props. Of all the Star Wars kits I have, I've never had the good fortune of having a FineMolds example. Mine are of the MPC ilk, and still unbuilt. Happy New Year to you and your wife! Ed

How about the "disposable" income that goes into cigarettes? When I put $50 into my car's gas tank (lower lately, thank you), I see the signs in the gas station (convenience store) window for a carton of some brands on sale at $100. $100! Holy smoke (pun intended)! For less than one month's supply of cigarettes (one carton per week) you can buy that 1/32 B-17G and have enough left over for the resin, PE, paints, and glue, too. A visible wispy $400 smoke cloud curling in the air vs. a tangible B-17G model in the display case . . . hmmm. Ed

Actually, Bill finished the AMT XB-70 several years ago. Too bad the F-104 is 1/48 and the XB-70 is 1/72. Maybe he will post a photo of the XB-70 here. It looked fantastic also. Ed

Bill's color matching of the decals to MM paints was excellent. Yes, his paint did peel off on the wings when the tape was lifted. At our meetings he has been sharing the progress--1 forward step, then 2 backwards. The work that he finishes from month to month is outstanding! :D Ed

2015 celebrates the 80th birthdays of two incredibly significant aircraft: Boeing Model 299 first flew on July 28, 1935, and the Douglas DC-3 prototype first flew on December 17, 1935. These maiden flights led to a long succession of B-17 models/derivatives and DC-3/C-47 models/derivatives. There is time to set these 80th birthday aircraft as themes and to get them built by their respective anniversaries. Any variant will qualify. Are there any other 80th birthday subjects out there (armor, ships, automotive) that are as revolutionary and lasting? Ed

SSBN 743 Louisiana, last of the 18 Ohio Class ballistic missile submarines. She displaces 18,750 tons submerged; has a length of 560 feet; has a beam of 42 feet; has a speed of 20+ knots submerged; has a power plant of 1 nuclear reactor, steam-driven turbine, 1 shaft; has armament consisting of 24 tubes for D5 Trident missiles, 4 torpedo tubes for Mk48 torpedoes; has a complement of 15 officers, 140 enlisted; and was built by General Dynamics' Electric Boat. She was commissioned in September 1997. She is designed to operate for 15 or more years between major overhauls. On average, the sub spends 77 days at sea followed by 35 days in port for maintenance. She has two crews, Blue and Gold, which alternate manning the sub while on patrol. This maximizes the SSBN's strategic availability, reduces the number of subs required to meet strategic requirements and allows for proper crew training, readiness, and morale. Normally five SSBNs are at sea at any given time. Thanks to Seapower magazine for this information. Ed

Hi, Richard, I can honestly say that I am impressed with the D8H as you have built and presented it. For those who do not know the history here, Richard needed an AMT Caterpillar D8H for the article he wanted to write. The current (or most recent) repop by AMT was minus the license, so the grille and side emblems were altered from the original kit to not hint at a Caterpillar trademark. I provided Richard an original kit (in exchange for some cash) in a mint condition box. This is the first of the many models I have provided to modelers in need who have actually built the kit I sent them and then came up with photos of the final result. Well done! I'm happy. It's too bad that 1/25 figures are so difficult to find. Otherwise this dozer could have had a sunburned barechested operator. I trust the editorial staff at the magazine were pleased with your build article and photos. Ed :D

Something is wrong here. The seller is supposed to strike gold, not the buyer. Obviously I did not charge enough. Ed