WildBill50

So when is it due? I've always liked the different variations of Skyraiders, this is no exception. Nice Job, Gil. Bill

Everybody, This looks even better "in the flesh" as they say. Ed brought it to our meeting andit looks really great. Nice job, Ed. Bill

Thanks guys. I wish there were some more civilian general aviation planes available in a larger scale. There are some real interesting subjects out there. Gil, I think the only one in 1/48 is the old Heller kit. They have it as an 0-2 FAC bird. Chris, this was from my cousin who almost tossed it in the trash. He wasn't even sure if all of the parts were in the open box. Semi kind of silk purse fro a sow's ear. Thanks for looking

Here it is...Aurora's Cessna 337 Skymaster. I built it out of the box except for adding control wheels and lap belts in the cockpit. The paint scheme looks rather garish in these photos due to the lighting. MM German gray of some sort with metallic maroon and teal from the small square bottles. All of the stripes were painted on with various masking tapes. The gold outlines were from a Sharpie gold paint pen that was picked up at Hobby Lobby. This has a fine paint tip that worked oou really well. I placed the tip against the masking tape and drew all of my gold lines on in minutes. Some minor clean up from paint creep was all that was needed. I picked this scheme after looking at pictures of Skymasters that have been painted differnt from the usual. My friend owns a 337 and is thinking about getting it repainted. He thought the plane looked good in a dark color. Taking this cue from him, I painted the model Dark gray and then the various stripes. The stripes are in the standard areas that Cessna applied them in their various colors. I also cut out the landing light areas on the wings and filled them with polished clear sprue. Overall this was fun to build and just get a little creative with the scheme. No camouflage and FS #'s to worry about. I'll give this to my friend when he gets back to the world in a week or two. Hope he likes it. Comments welcome. Bill

Another fine job sir! I congratulate you on this vac kit. It seems it went together with few problems. Paint scheme/decal scheme is really unique. Bill

Love it. Shark(gator)mouth is cool. Nice job again, Gil. Bill

Thanks for the info on the SAM site Ron. Good clarity on movable compared to mobile. Great stuff. Bill

MOO! Can't spell it in Korean. Beautiful job Ron. Very cool markings. Bill

The pic of that Radar doesn't look that transportable. Was that trucked in and left in place? I always thought of a SAM Site a little more portable than that. Bill

Looking good, Gil. Can't wait to see it completed. Bill

Beware of Weasel's

Chris, I like WEM's stuff the best. The Burke and Perry were done with their brass. Easy to follow directions and clear drawings make a complicated addition relatively pain free. I've been looking on Modelwarship.com for some tips since the model came out (I figured this boat would one day get bought). I missed out when Hobby Lobby had them for $79.00. Got mine for $65.00 and now here we are. This may take me some time as it does take up some room, but I don't want it to become the ship of doom and gloom. Bill

I could not think of the name of the Rapier when I was putting that list together. I agree. Rob, I've got both, the Chaparral and the Avenger kits together. They are also my only armor pieces to date. Ron, I like those kits you built but they are getting a bit long in the tooth. A Zeus would be a bonus.

Having just completed the Trumpeter SA-2, it got me thinking of some other SAM's that would be cool to have in that scale. Nike Ajax, Hercules, Zeus on their respective launchers...all would be very worthy kits to own. A Hawk battery, even a new Patriot on its transport vehicle. All of those Nike's though...just good stuff if you ask me. Bill

OK, here I go on starting this build. I picked this up at a contest last year at a very reasonable price. I am going to get the WEM photoetch set for it...it's only four sheets of brass. I may get the other sets for the airwing and vehicles, I'm still debating on it. I bought another set of aircraft for it also. There are more CH-53's, Ch-46's H-60's, AV-8 Harrier's and V-22 Osprey's. I wish they had some UH-1N's instead of the Seahawks (H-60's). The Marines embark Huey's not Seahawks. Oh well I'll have to look for some. In a couple of pictures there is a purple 12" ruler for size. The kit comes with a small sheet of photoetch, but not enough to finish the ship. This look to be a fun build. I am thinking of adding lights inside to show off the hangar deck and wet deck. Let the games begin!

Two shows on Friday Dave? Thanks for looking. Bill

Thank you for the comments. Mark, I heard if I wanted to do a complete battery site in 1/35, it would be about 50' around.

Sorry double posted.

Hi all, Here is Trumpeter's SA-2 SAM. This build took just two weeks and was a real blast to build. The launcher was painted MM Russian Green with highlights and low lights brought out with lightened and darkened paint. I added an oil wash of burnt umber along with some aluminum chipped areas. The missile was painted MM Acryl Aircraft Gray (FS1473) with some highlights brought out with a gray wash. The decals went on good but you must hunt around to find where some of them go as they are not all shown on the direction sheet. Overall a very nice subject and a great addition to the shelf. It is one big missile. No wonder they called it a "flying telephone pole". Thanks for looking. Bill

Gil, is that going to be a navigators window in front of the cockpit? It is looking great. Wild Bill

Thanks for the comments Greg. And thanks for the info on how the strut was extended. I always thought the British K's looked so cool with that double extension. Bill

You've gotta love photo etch, especially for ships. I really like working with the stuff for some reason. It makes everything on a ship model just pop. Another bang-up job. Keep us posted. Bill

Steve, it was for take-offs. The British had smaller decks for their carriers, so the angle of attack on the wing of the plane needed to be adjusted so that it could get off the deck and still fly after launch. Brute strength from the engines and alot of stuff going on with the wings (slats, flaps and such) allowed for transition to flight after the cat shot. Bill

Thank you for the compliments. Greatly appreciated.

That is cool looking Rob. Nice job. Bill