ghodges

Glad to have ya with us Patti. The more the merrier! GIL

No need for apologies! That's a fine model. You can't rate a quicky build the same as your regular efforts. I too would be proud of such a result! Congrats! GIL

Hey! I recognize that old kit! I got it as a "present" from my mother-in-law in the early '80's (yea, the witch KNEW I didn't build 1/72 ). I took it to the Dayton kit auction about 1985 and a feeding frenzy occured. Turns out it was out of production and a bidding war resulted! That little ol' Trimotor went for $11, which was twice the going rate of 1/48 kits in those days! AH, sweet revenge! GIL

Top-notch work! What tool did you use to scribe the doors out, a scriber, a knife, or? GIL

The pin stripe tape I tried had the right properties (the ability to stretch, as you mentioned); but also had too much adhesive; raising the risk of removing paint and/or leaving adhesive on the part. I've found the 3M plastic tape to handle the job with the same abilites and less adhesive problems. GIL

Simple, yet excellent remedy! Thanks for sharing! GIL

Exquisitly done! Nice camo, superb detailing, what more could you want!? I know you're burned out for the moment, but a year from now you'll have forgotten the "birthing pains" of the detailing and feel nothing but pride in your accomplishement! That's when you'll tackle another such project. Congrats on your beautiful build, and thanks for posting! GIL

Nicely done and displayed. Congrats! GIL

Oh yea Will.......now that we've told ya the "secrets".....we have to kill ya! As a friend of Ron's, I know one of his pet peeves is "ya just"; as in when you ask how to do something and the guy says "ya just.....", and leaves out 3 steps/tips/tools/techniques because HE'S familiar with all of it and assumes you can "fill in the gaps". It's an oversight and not a devious plan to keep secrets. In my experience, techniques that aren't talked about much are just assumed to be things everyone already knows! And you know about that ASSUME thing...... Cheers! GIL

"And he's off"!....to a roaring start too! Are the planes all 1/72 Duke! GIL

Glad to have ya here Brandon! GIL

Just give it time Paul, just give it time.....and you'll be as weird as the rest of us, who just HAVE to have more than one! GIL

John's original question seemed to be confined to building just one squadron. He didn't say why he was interested in the answer. A complete squadron would be one type of collection to build, as well as any of the other variations mentioned above. To each their own, as long as it's fun! Cheers! GIL

Let me jump on the "praise" bandwagon too! That's a museum quality build! Can't see anything that I don't like about it. The Wingnuts kits have a great reputation as fantastic kits, but they don't come out that well without skills like yours! Thanks for sharing! GIL

It looks absolutley great to me. It's everything I'd want in an La-7! I like the weathering; just enough to look used without being over done. Are the red/white fin stripes painted or decal? Sure can't tell just by looking! Thanks for posting! GIL

I'm still looking for a "He-man Woman Haters Club" sign for mine.......Thankfully, Hooters GIRLS don't count! GIL

That would work too. My example was for trying to make a one-piece tape mask for that center stripe. GIL

Second idea! This is a possible way to make that "conical" mask I mentioned above. The trick here is that you either need a spare spinner, or you need to be willing to use the one you already painted, AND you need a common circle template. 1) Wrap a piece of tape around the spinner. Make it wide enough to cover the "yellow stripe" you want to make. Do this at an angle so that the area is covered and the tape is NOT binding/wrinkling anywhere. Use two pieces if you need to. 2) Using the circle template, find the hole that best fits nearest to the BACK line of the yellow stripe (nearest the base). Place the spinner into the template hole and use a pencil to DRAW a guideline around the spinner using the template as a guide. Check the line to be sure it's parallel. Redraw if needed. 3) Repeat the process, with a smaller hole, for the front line. 4) Here's the hard part.......now take a knife with a NEW #11 blade and cut around the spinner along those guidelines. 5) Peel up the tape and you have your center stripe mask to transfer onto the painted spinner. If you do this ON the painted spinner (takes guts), then remove all of the tape except for the yellow center stripe. Cheers! GIL

What you really need, essentially, is a "conical" mask, made by interposing 2 oval shapes. However, I don't know HOW to do that..... So actually, the technique you tried is probably the best. BUT, the KIND of tape you use is important. Regular masking tape/kabuki (Tamiya type) tapes want to bind when wrapped around tight conical shapes. Try using (if you haven't) PLASTIC tape by 3M. You can get this in almost any hardware store/department. It comes in single/multi roll packs and is usually brightly colored. Cut it to 1/32 or smaller strips. The advantage here is that it actually stretches a bit, allowing it to conform around compound curves (like cones). It's still up to you to make sure you wrap it "parallell"; but you can do that by marking the spinner, or just using Mk1 eyeball. Do this for both the back and the front of that yellow stripe, and thin fill the gap with short thin pieces of regular tape. Two tips to remember when working with plastic tape: 1) Handle it as little as possible. The heat from your hands (and the room) will combine to have the adhesive start to come off. Handle it sparingly and in a cool room, and you should have few problems. 2) When you remove it, pull it BACK on itself, and NOT "UP" (a good tip for ALL tapes). This lessens the chance of pulling up paint. Short of a correctly shaped, exact fitting mask (say, from a spare spinner that you make and then transfer), this is the surest technique I've come across, even though it IS tedious! Best of luck! GIL

WOW Brian! SEVEN 1/32 P-47's, not to mention the others? That must make for an impressive display! Also, you must have more than the usual display area compared to most of us. Sounds idyllic! GIL

One of the keys to having a lot of the same models (at least for me) is being able to keep your models over a long period of time. I rarely build the same model type in one year, or even every couple of years. Also, outside of building for my dad or uncle, I rarely give them away. Some of the builds I have go back 20+ years, having survived several moves. However, I've also been lucky to have been stationary for the last 10yrs (and the forseeable future); which means the collection just continues to grow. Well, except when you tamper with them and drop shelf ends onto them! What I find most interesting here is the insight into what motivates builders. So far, I'm seeing a lot of references to favorite types (and their histories) as a motivation, and not a favorite kit. In my best Spock...."fascinating"... GIL

Although It crossed my mind, I dismissed the idea because of the following... 1) 12-16 aircraft to build, all of (generally) the same mark. Not enough variety of type to interest me. 2) A lot of the same markings. In the case of USN, only the bu#'s and a/c #'s would show a difference, as there's much less nose art. Even in WWII USAAF stuff, again, the only difference is in the nose art and side codes (generally). On the plus side, you can build in "factory" mode; making a lot of progress very quickly due to repetitive (and familar) steps in assembly and painting! I think a squadron build makes sense in the very small scales (1/72 or 1/144) IF you have a historical display purpose for the build, especially for a museum. Otherwise, I'd be more interested in building (for ex.) one fighter from each USAAF 8th Fighter Command wing/and or squadron. Although that might repetitive in type, it's much more diverse in markings for your display shelves! Just my dos centavos....Cheers! GIL

I was glancing in my display cases and realized that I had built more Corsairs than I remembered. That drew my attention to other "multiples" I'd built. So the question is: What types have you built the most, and is any one of them actually your favorite? Do you build them a lot because of a favorite TYPE, or becuase of a favorite KIT? Mine break down as follows...(all 1/48, by the way) P-51 Mustang- 7 of all sub-types F4U Corsair- 6 P-47 Thunderbolt- 6 F-86 Saber/FJ Fury- 6 A-4 Skyhawk- 6 P-38 Lightning- 4 F-100 Supersaber- 4 F-4 Phantom- 3 P-40 Warhawk- 3 I've built more of some of the above types, but they were lost to moves and breakage (I had 5 BF-109s, but lost 3 when a shelf collapsed last year!). The rest of my collection seems to be onesies and twoesies (for now). Out of the list above, I'd list the P-40 as my favorite. It should feel at home....outnumbered on the shelf just as during the war! Cheers! GIL

Don't feel too glum, I'd be proud to set that one on my shelf! The old Tamiya Buffalo was WAY ahead of its time. You did it justice! Welcome back and thanks for sharing! GIL

I'll "second" the silver undercoat recommendation. Good way to cover any base coat and brighten up white, yellow, and international orange. GIL