ghodges

Impressive production line Duke! How do you keep all of their parts from getting accidently mixed together? Do you have a humongous work bench that allows easy separation of all of your on-going projects? I know I have space problems if I have 2 going at the same time! GIL

I don't know of a list, but have fun, especially with all of the 2nd edition versions! I know I have at least 140 of them and I've made NO attempt to buy them all (just the ones I need for building). My oldest ones have the original $3.95 price on them! The biggest problem in a vendors area is not buying a duplicate while thumbing through a pile of them! Best of luck! GIL

Ahoy Bob! Welcome aboard the forum. Lots of us built models when we were young and then drifted away only to return in our adult years, so you'll find you're right at home! Have fun and don't be shy about asking questions or posting pics of your models when you get them built! Cheers! GIL

Deadlines-smedlines! Lookin' good! GIL

That's a heck of a Hudson! I'm really impressed at such fast progress on a kit that's not known to be a shake-n-bake. Your side windows came out very nice. Are those the kit parts? What methods did you use to get the fit so nice and to keep (if not actually improve) their clarity? Thanks for posting and congrats on a superb build! GIL

Hi Rob! First question (since I'm a Floridian) is exactly WHERE is your shop in central FL? I'll be attending the Orlando show in a few weeks and a trip to your store to see this collection sounds very tempting. As to figuring "values" for such a collection, your best bet would be to find a copy of the "Kit Collectors Clearinghouse", or "Kit Collectors Guide" that was published by John Burns. I think it's not being printed anymore (John retired), and I'm not sure how old the last edition would be (mine dates from the 80s!); but it covers EVERY type of plastic kit manufactured up to the time of its edition. Even an older guide will help with the older "obscure" items you have. Barring that, Ebaying and advertising the items on this forum and other modeling forums will get them into the hands of modelers who actually appreciate them, and will also give you a better chance of maximizing the return on your investment. Hope this helps! GIL

Welcome Don! Glad to have someone from down under with us on the forums! GIL

Note that the "black helicopters" didn't show up in the pics! They're THAT stealthy! The Janet 737's are actually just decoys for the black helicopters anyway, or so a guy in a tin-foil hat told me...... I do like airliners. There are some really cool liveries out there. The problem is matching kits and decals, as it's hard to find BOTH in the same place at the same time, even at the Nats! Cheers! GIL

Richard (and all): 1) The Squadron green stuff and white stuff is essentially the same stuff as the auto-body red/blue putties; just more expensive in smaller quantities. There are some differences in grain (fineness) between them, but it's the "putty equivilant" to all those different brands of superglue, which are ALL cyancrylates of various viscosities and you can pay more for brand names if you choose. 2) All of the "automotive putties" are thinnable with good old Testors liquid cement (in the big clear bottle). I'm sure the Tamiya cement is very good also, but the Testors cement is probably more available across the country. Keep in mind all of these types of putties will shrink a bit, especially if applied too thickly. Also, they cure from the OUTSIDE IN. If you do build up a big area of putty, be sure the bottom layers are fully cured, and not just "dry" before applying more. How do I know this? Well, you should see the nose of my 1/48 F-11F Tiger I built in the 80's where I used 3M Acryl Blue for the majority of the nose extension. It was fine for about a year, and then it slowly "bent" to the right as one side of the putty cured faster than the other! 3) To help presereve your putty in the tube, put a couple of drops of liquid cement into the neck just before you seal it back up. Also, uncap it only long enough to use it (whether dipping from the tube or squeezing out a line). Air is the enemy, so keep it capped when not actually using it. 4) I've read great things about 2-part epoxy fillers like Aves, but they're harder to find, harder to work with (mixing), and almost always lead to a LOT of waste because you always mix way more than actually needed! I save those types of fillers for the BIG jobs where large area needs filling/reshaping/building up, and for areas where I want absolutely NO shrinkage. 5) The bottom line is whatever works-works! Try all of the suggestions above and experiment on your own. Order some stuff if it's not available near you. What one guy finds a breeze to use may be too much trouble for another. There is no ONE right filler! Hope this helps! GIL

Sage advice Chris! Even if you only use resin detail parts, or conversion parts, and never build a full resin kit; your method will help avoid problems. GIL

Wow! That is at least 5 different and workable approaches to filling gaps and seams, and no one even mentioned superglue/baby powder as a filler. Rich: you seem to be implying that your putty is "crumbly" and dry before you can get it into the seams or gaps you want to fill. What are you using? THAT will help us give a little bit more avice on how to perhaps help you use what you have in a better manner. It could be a poor product (ala the OLD original Testors tube putty); or your product is old and dried out, or the cap was poorly sealed and allowed the product in the end of the tube to dry out, or....well, you get the idea! However, ALL of the above suggestions are very good ones, and will give you a lot of alternatives if your current putty of choice in't salvagable. GIL

Zat is a sweet Zerstoyer! Is that a 1/32 kit? I also see that the flaps are down and the rudders kicked over, which are nice touches. Are those kit options, or did you cut and reposition them yourself? GIL

Looks good so far Duke. what NMF are you going to use? GIL

Well, I've started one model since I got home from the Nats........ Lookin' like you're backin the saddle Duke! Thanks for the modeling mo-jo! GIL

Welcome George! I know I'm looking forward to y'alls shindig in 2012. In the meantime, I look forward to seeing you at R-11 shows. Look me up if you make the Orlando show next month; I'll be vending! GIL

If you want a really NICE Tempest in 1/48, you can hunt down the Eduard kit or wait and see if it's repopped. But, If you just want a "shelf sitter" to represent the typical Tempest, you can get the old AMT 1/48 Tempest and throw in some Monogram Typhoon parts (or even look for some Tempest aftermarket) and it'll do nicely for your private collection (if you're not hung up on accuracy). Best of all, you'll still have only spent about half of the money needed to pry an Eduard kit loose on Ebay. Best of luck! GIL

Nice looking Stuka Dick! Did you use a masking set for the camo, or lay out the patterns yourself? I have a masking set for that kit, but I've never used it before so I'm wondering how well it will work. GIL

Ed: That George is one of the BEST Revell 1/32 kits EVER produced! I built it years ago, but unfortunately it was destroyed in a move. As I recall, it went together very well and was nicely detailed OOTB. However, you could probably also sell it for $150+ seeing as how rare it is! You could probably also swap it even for one of the more expensive Tamiya or Trumpeter 1/32 kits (or even get a 2 for 1 swap). Ying: OTAKI was a Japanese company that produced many very nice 1/48 aircraft 1975-1980. Their kits have been eclipsed today by more modern kits from Hasagawa and Tamiya. But, their kits are still considered easy to build, reasonably detailed, and also cheaper than the newer versions. They're excellent to build as "shelf sitters", but require some work (extra detailing, some corrections) for compitition purposes. You'll also find some of the Otaki molds under the name of AARI. Some of the Airfix 1/48 kits are also old Otaki molds. Some of the better 1/48 Otaki kits are the F4U-1A Corsair, The F6F-3 Hellcat, the Bf-109G-6, the N1K1 George, the Jack, the Tony, a late model Ki-43 Oscar, and the P-40E. You can get newer, more detailed, and more expensive kits of all of those now; but when Otaki released them in the 70's they were the BEST out there! They also made a P-51D and a Zero; but those weren't as good as the others even back then. Otaki also produced other models in other scales, but I'm not as familiar with those. Hope this helps! GIL

One man's trash is another man's treasure. The key to selling anything "collectable" is to hook it up with a "collector". Robin's assessment seems spot-on to me. The real question Kev, is what do YOU want to get for it? What's your bottom line? If you think the $100 is what its worth, then you'll just have to be prepared to hang onto it until that ONE guy who HAS to have it comes along and gives you your price. If, on the other hand, you just want to make some bucks and move it quickly; you can ask $75 and then see how it goes from there. I looked at an Aurora 1/48 Me-109 kit in Phoenix. That's the first model I built when I was a kid, and would love to have it just for nostalgia's sake. However, his $150 price-tag (despite its rarity) was WAY more than I was willing to pay to indulge a second childhood! Ebaying and allowing bidding will probably "shake out" its true value in the end. However, if you're just looking to sell, I suggest the swap/sell section on this forum and the Hyperscale Plane Trading forum will move it faster with less hassle. Best of luck! GIL

That's a gorgeous Shiden-Kai! I especially like the differing metallic shades ont he bottem. That's a very pretty build, thanks for sharing! GIL

OK, who are you, what did you do with Bill, and what happened to that AZ Hurricane? That model looks much too nice to have come from that lump of short-run plastic shown earlier! GREAT work! GIL

Ying: Those rivets are Otaki molded. I added nothing in the way of rivets, except for a few needle holes to replace rivets on seam lines lost during sanding. This model is 1/48. Revell of Japan did mold a 1/32 early model mid-wing Shiden (George) way back in the 1970's, but those molds are at the bottom of the Pacific, and finding that kit today is very hard to do! Thanks for all of the kind words. Cheers! GIL

Beautiful Spitfire, and not a scheme you see every day! Is that some Waldron placards I spottted on the right wall? Regardless, the cockpit looks smashing! Thanks for sharing!' GIL

Your impression is mistaken! OOTB means you use ONLY the parts that came in the box, as they were molded. You can thin kit parts for a more scale appearance, but you cannot surgically alter them to another configuration (in other words, you could NOT droop the elevators on the stabilzers, nor could you slice open the closed engine cowl to show off engine details). Also, if you add ANYTHING in the way of detailing (with the exception of seat belts/buckles), it's no longer OOTB. The full rules can be found at: http://ipmsusa.org/NCC/NCC.htm (just click onto Contest Rules and scroll down to the OOTB rules). There's NOTHING wrong with your project, it just wouldn't qualify for the OOTB category. Cheers! GIL

Lovely scheme on another great build James! Thanks for sharing! GIL