Chuck1945

They are matched to actual color, if you want ‘scale effect’ you need to do that yourself

I’ve been using these “Thinny Strips” for a couple years. Narrow at one end, wider at the other end, foam core

Retirement is supposedly the time when you can relax a little and do some (or more) of the things you put off while working. But, as in your case, health issues can be a real stumbling block. Sounds like you need to do some serious planning to manage retirement sooner rather than later. And yes, medical cost can be significantly higher if you retire before age 65 and Medicare. Our medical was through my wife’s employer, and she retired short of 65. While we now have to pay the Part B premiums, the cost of that (based on prior year AGI) plus the reduced cost of our additional coverage is still

I’m 76, my wife is 67, we retired fully three years ago, and have received great advice from our financial advisors over the years. Model-wise the question I ask myself isn’t so much whether I can afford it, but instead it is “will I actually build it or do I just want it just because it is ‘cool’?” Seriously, as SERNAK said, if you enjoy your work, is there really a rush to retire? On the other hand, if work is no longer any fun, it is time to be making some serious plans. Even with Medicare, the supplemental medical insurance costs are more than we really anticipated (and neither

For compressors in your price range, look at the California Air Tool models, not super quiet, but won’t wake the dead either. https://www.californiaairtools.com/ultra-quiet-series-of-air-compressor-contractor-grade/ I have a late 1990s model HP-C, it s sprays nice but was always a bugger to clear. Now I use the H&S Infinity brush, costs more than your price range, but highly recommended. I also have the GSI- Creos PS770. One of the appeals of the H&S brushes is the range of needle/tip and paint cup options that can easily be switched around. I typically use the smaller c

I use Mr Color Leveling Thinner with Tamiya’s new lacquer line and it will work with X-series of Tamiya paints, never used Tamiya spray cans so don’t know for sure, but don’t see why not. I would avoid generic lacquer thinners for thinning Tamiya (or most other paints), it is great for cleanup though.

You don’t mention scale, in 1/72 some of their older kits I-16 for example are over engineered and can cause trouble during assembly. Their Bf 19E is a clone of Tamiya’s kit (with a slightly lengthened fuselage) but the Tamiya kits fit much better. Their newer ones (Do 17Z, Do 215) offer more variants, are crisply molded, and fit better but are still over engineered, - why have one part if you can break it down into 3 or 4 parts.

MRP justifies the higher per bottle price saying it is a 30ml bottle compared with Hataka and Mr Color’s 10ml bottles but that really isn’t a valid comparison since MRP is already thinned for spraying. I’m a 72nd scale builder and don’t do modern jets, one bottle MRP WWII USAAF desert pink was enough for a 1/72 B-24 with not much left over. Again given the extremely fine grain and thinning with MRP, multiple passes are generally needed for a fully opaque covering. I like their color selection, AFAIK their colors are good. That said, I’ve settled into mostly using Hataka and Mr Color with MRP c

Tamiya lacquer yellow in a bottle may match the aerosol, but Mr Color is not Tamiya and it would be quite a coincidence if Mr Color yellow was a color match for Tamiya yellow

I bought a bag of those type bottles on Amazon last year and have Mr Color mixes using them with no problems.

The Akan I have is water based acrylic, and pretty well dried solid in their plastic bottles. Akan does have a line of acrylic lacquers that are presumably similar to Hataka and Mr Color although I haven’t ever bought any. I think they are available in the US through Linden Hill https://www.lindenhillimports.com/store/c71/Rus_Lacquers_–_6_packs.html#/

I’ve used the Hataka Orange line (acrylic lacquers), they have their own thinner but I’ve used Mr Color Levelling Thinner without any problems. I’ve used their RAF, USN, and some of the WWII era VVS colors. Depending on how accurate you want your paints, the Hataka range is at least in the ballpark. IMO the RAF Dark Earth and Dark Green arent quite right but close. For your question, I’ve used the mid-late war Soviet colors on a Yak-1b, both AMT-11 and 12 are lighter than the Akan acrylic version from several years ago but, again IMO, they do have the tonal contrast most B&W photos show. T

Once so far…, earlier this year, Rey securely glued a cockpit rear bulkhead to the cockpit floor upside down and had it glued into the fuselage before I realized the error. First time in 56 years of building I’ve had to trash a kit due to “builder error”. I’ve trashed other kits for various reasons over the years, but this was the first time an assembly error wasn’t fixable

Have you tried just airbrushing more Future over the sparkly future?. Not sure it would work, but if it doesn’t you aren’t any worse off than you are now 😛

For the actual building process, it is the decals. For me that is when the kit starts becoming real. Overall I think I think it is the process of researching the kit subject to determine the specific aircraft and it’s appropriate markings although ironically I’m not a stickler for 100% paint pattern accuracy.