Dreamsof51

Two review projects on my bench right now both Revell reissues: 1/24 Kurtis Kraft racer-painted and decaled 1/48 "Blue Angels" A 4 Skyhawk - in paint shop At least six others in various stages but limited time (high school football) is keeping me focused on these two.

Saw one of these in the air a few weeks ago at the Camarillo airshow. They had a Grumman cat line up consisting of the Wildcat, Hellcat and Tigercat. The sound of all those big radials really brings on the goosebumps! This is a great kit and you've captured the beastly beauty of this warbird very nicely. Thanks for sharing. Chris

Looks pretty good to me.

Phil, Thats one of my favorite parts of Vegas. I always request a room on the east side so I can enjoy the view. Drives my wife nuts. My other favorite is Red Rock park to the west of Vegas. The gambling and drinking part of that town lost its appeal for me a while ago. It will always hold a special place as thats where I married my sweetheart at a cheesy chapel that doesn't exist anymore. That part at least beat the odds as 20 years later we're together and happier then ever. I can tell you theres no better place to drop acid but that was a longgggg time ago. What a trip! Thanks for the pictures.

Tamiya putty is my weapon of choice but can be hard to find because (my local hobby shop guy tells me) the labeling does not meet U.S. or CA requirements. He gets a stash from a friend who travels a lot. Since you cant find the glue I guess that does not help. I've used auto body filler which works pretty well. Gave up on squadron putty a while back. It just doesn't seem as fine to me. For real fine lines I second the white out recommendation. It goes on easy, dries fast and sands out very smooth.

Gil Its 1/48 scale and an all new mould. All the control surfaces are separated the only exception is the slats which require removal of leading edges but are very easy to remove. This is a great build just needs some instruments for the panel. This one is well worth your time.

Finally finished this one for the review corps. The only model I've finished all summer what with vacations and such. A full write up will be posted soon but let me tell you if this is your type of subject you've got to get one or more of these kits. Only the first run comes with the engines so look for the "bonus," sticker on the box. Enjoy.

Painting with lacquer based sprays without a respirator or sufficient ventilation. I've noticed breathing difficulties after such exposure. That can ruin your day. Also working with lacquer thinner especially spilling it on clothes or under say a wedding ring where it promptly fries your skin! How about the whipping you get when you spill testors gloss green paint on your parents favorite couch. That was many years ago but it did seem like a good idea at the time. Oh and my favorite, wet sanding on a flat board and sanding off your fingertip skin in the process! Let me tell you that takes a while to heal and your hands feel like hamburger meat. Other than that I've been pretty lucky. Chris

I hope mine turns out that nice. I'm really a fan of the long nose Mk IV but I got such a good deal I couldn't resist buying the MkI Chris

Those kits are a bit of a pain, but patience is rewarded. When I think of Hudsons, I think of my Grandfather and many of his friends who flew them "over there," as pilots for the Ferry Command. I started the Bristol Blenheim Mark I from this company. Lets just say your a lot farther along then I am. Thanks for showing the process. Chris

Thats so cool. My little girl (six yrs old) has shown an interest in models. Shes very concerned about them looking like the picture on the box. I see a lot of potential there. Your daughter picked some great colors. Great job all round. Chris

Posts like this inspire me to step it up a notch the next time I hit the model bench. Really awesome.

Thats some nice airbrush work. Not an easy pattern to duplicate. I'm very impressed by this and your other posts. All fine work. Thanks for sharing and welcome. Chris

As I recall they were busy schooling some Skyhawks and Mirages on the art of air to air combat. Very nice build. Always more interesting to me when you know the history behind a build. Chris

I've had a recent experience that speaks to this topic. Having been with the IPMS review group for a few years now I've built and reviewed a number of kits for this web site. Most recently, the 1/48 Tornado IDS from HobbyBoss. I happened on another review at a different site and the all things that really appealed to me about that kit had the opposite effect on the other reviewer. Oddly enough, the one area of the kit I felt weak was not addressed in the other review. It made me wonder if I missed something critical the average modeler out there should know. I'm not a rivet counter. Overlaying parts on scale drawings is not part of my modeling technique. Not to say I don't admire the folks out there who do that for they produce some amazing work. The success of a model for me is not in how new the mould is but by the joy I get from building it. Some of my best projects were old kits I found on discount at the local drug store. My objective is too produce a cleanly built model no matter the starting point and have some fun in the process of doing it. When that doesn't happen anymore, its time to find a new hobby.

You where building some nice stuff way back in the day. I agree, without the explaination you could have easily passed these off as the real thing. Fun stuff.

You can always count on Tamiya to give you the launching point for a great model. Of course thats only part of a great build. The other is the skills of the modeler that turns a box of plastic into a miniature masterpiece like you've done here. Great job. Thanks for posting it. Chris

Great job. Its nice to build a kit that gets you to the paint stage quickly once in a while. Thanks for posting. Chris

I've started two vacuforms in my modeling life and finished zero. I think I went to a model show and saw what a vac kit done by capable hands looks like then compared that to where my project was going and gave it up on the spot. Funny cause I love to torture myself with limited run multi media stuff- just not vacuform. My major issue is cutting the parts away from the sheets. I sand off too much and things don't line up right. Its all downhill from there. I'll leave this one up to you Gil. Thanks for sharing the process with us. Chris

I second that!

I'm a sucker for mixed media kits especially those French in origin such as FM models and Hi Pro. I love to open the box and see plastic, resin, white metal, PE and vacuform. Ok, a little of the joy is robbed when you actually build them! I've never gotten the kind of satisfaction I get when I finish one of those kit as I do with others. The FM models CM170 Magister in 1/48 scale makes me smile.

I've got one of those in the works right now. In fact, I'm just about where you are in the construction. The only issue so far was closing the forward fuselage. Had a small gap to fill. My kit kit came with a nose weight which seems more than enough to do the job. I'm going to finish it in Russian colors so I can put the four bladed windmill on it. So far a very nice build. Chris

I've got to got me one of those black beauties. Saw Mario A take one around the Laguna Seca course a few years back. Awesome.

Wow! two in row. Really cool. Another great model. Thanks for sharing them and welcome to the IPMS forum. Chris

Now thats a great example of the perfect amount of weathering. The variation in gloss and flat finishes make it look real. The wheels in particular make the whole project pop with the flat tires and the toned down hubcaps. Very nice job. Chris