Hamster Volant

Beautiful. Very beautiful. Especially based on the old Hasegawa/Frog kit. Great job!

They had (and still have in fact) huge problems with their house - the ground dried because of the heat and moved, the walls cracked rendering the house unsafe. Needless to say insurance and banks were not exactly responsive... I met Sylvain and his wife in August at the Mons model show, they are starting to see the end of the tunnel but there's still a lot to do before they're back to normal...

Ordered the sheet and received it very quickly - great service. The sheet and instructions are top - now I need to decide which kit I exhume from the stash...

In order to better understand how the mac valve worked, I closed it fully and then experimented by opening it a bit at a time, spraying and checking the result. Combining that with the back-travel limiter (to adjust the paint flow) I have been able to spray very fine lines and luftwaffe-style mottles as well as covering large surfaces (mac valve fully opened). For reference I'm building in 72nd scale.

Interesting - I have the P270 and I'm loving the mac valve - it can be finely adjusted compared to what can be bought separately, and I've never touched again the pressure control of the compressor since I started using it. The P270 even relegated my H&S Infinity 2-in-1 to the back seat... As for cleaning, I have never removed the nozzle over the past 2 years (since I bought it in fact) - I simply spray several cups of cleaner until it comes clear; I also remove the needle to make sure it has no residue left that may impair its movement (true that I'm diluting the paint often 70%

Interesting - on mine the fit of the intake ring was perfect - I never had so few troubles with a F-86 intake. On the other hand, when positioned correctly (ie the front gear well aligned with the opening in the fuselage halves) the intake duct did not join perfectly with the ring, there was a small gap to be taken care of (a bit of perfect putty did the trick). And a careful alignment of the fuselage halves led to almost zero filler to be used/ I found the wing trailing edges a bit thick... I wonder if there is consistency in the successive batches of mouldings as some other

How come I didn't think to these simple solutions??? I have a bottle of Liquid Decal Film right in front of my eyes when I'm at my modelling desk... And couloured stripe decals of course... these should be in all good modeller's box (and I will look for some right away!)

Wow Paul, that is an absolute gem! How did you coax those decals in place without them self-destroying? I'm still not over it, it's quite vexing not having been able to properly apply those after more than 40 years of modelling...

I'd recommend Air Force Legends 212 - North American F-86H Sabre Hog - there's a nice 72nd scale plan in it. In 72nd scale Special Hobby has issued 2 boxings, one for USAF and one for ANG versions. The kit is not bad, very thin recessed lines. The wing trailing edge will appreciate some thinning to be more razor sharp. Although there are no locating pins, with some care it's possible to assemble it with almost no filler - even the intake ring fits nicely. The cockpit interior -especially the seat- would merit a bit of attention; for that the photos in the Air Fo

The backseater has his nose in the paper bag? 🙂

Absolutely stunning!

Don't know about Russia but I confirm it's the case in many places in China - from what I've been told it's because the drains are too easily clogged when throwing the paper in...

Heller/Joustra's gone into receivership a few weeks ago, and then they have been bought by MAPED, a French manufacturer of school/office stuff. However, 15 out of the 45 employees have been laid off, most of them the experienced ones in the kit injection business. MAPED has kept the previous CEO in place (the one that lead the company successfully to receivership...), and rumours are they are more interested in the Joustra part than the Heller part. Must say some of their recent choices of kits were a bit mixed -nice to have French classics like the Citroen HY or the 4L, also some rally car

Mirage 2000C (1/72): Italeri wing is closer to a Mirage IIIC, nose shape ok Heller wing is correct but nose shape slightly off Mirage 2000D (1/72): Italeri, lots of missing characteristic details if I remember the critics correctly. Mirage F-1 (1/72): Esci cockpit shape completely off - gives a very different look to that beauty of a plane.

And most importantly, the front landing gear does not retract in the same direction... Oops! Sorry... That's F-104G vs two seaters... I shall learn to read...