CANicoll

Ahh, well, that is a bummer. I do understand the need to adhere to rules, of course, but hopefully the vast majority of pilots do adhere to the rules which keeps everyone safe (pilots, residents and aircraft). That was a LOW flight for sure. It is fun to see however. And the squeal at the end was a bonus. Apparently, looking at her twitter feed, she caught a world of crap for the posting. Seems like she has a lot of support, thankfully. Chris

Scott is too funny! Lots of great ideas there. Also: I put a white towel across my lap to catch small parts that fall or launch. Agree on the flashlight in case pieces make it to the carpet. Also a small nylon sock to fit over the end of the vacuum hose in case I REALLY need to find small part that hit the carpet. Amazing how much stuff that will pull up if you don't vacuum regularly. Chris

Hi and thanks for your comments. The yellow on the leading edge I painted, but the red over the machine gun openings are the kit decals. It was a fun (and quick) build with a terrific cockpit so highly recommended. If I ever do another one I think I would paint the nose panel and the yellow as well as the wing non-slip panels before I do the decals - and cut up the decals to make them a bit easier to apply. And find a way to open up the canopy so you can get a better view of the really nice cockpit - with better seatbelts than the kit's decals which are horrid. Best regards! Ch

Looks amazing! Great job and I've found the same thing - that these are pretty fragile aircraft. Ditto with the control horns too. UGH. Can't wait to see the next steps! Chris

What lenses do most of you use when shooting on the Mach Loop? From some of the pictures I've seen there seem to be some pretty big telephoto's out there. I have a 200-500 but if that is not appropriate I'd rather not haul it over. Thanks in advance for your suggestions! Chris

Definitely going to Chattanooga - already have my hotel reservation (the two closest hotels are already sold out). Went to their regional show in January, and likely will go again this January. Hopefully will see you in Telford.

You are SOOO deceptive!! Ha!!! OK, good to see you here. 🧐 Thanks for the notes - 3 hours is very doable, I figured I'd get to the area on Wednesday spend Thursday and Friday morning seeing what is flying, and head back to London on Friday evening or maybe Saturday even. Maybe Saturday/Sunday to Mildenhall. After Telford some of my club folks and I are heading back to Cosford. I guess I need to get my act together on this trip! "Sherlock"

Probably best for you to give them a call and they can tell you directly what they do and how much they charge. I don't know if their prices have changed or not in the past year. Good luck! Chris Service Hours 8:00am - 4:30pm Pacific Standard Time (Except when closed for holidays) Phone: 503-253-7308

Hi Gary, Thanks will do on when I'm over to see if you or anyone has any G2 on what might be happening then. Looks like, since the week days seem the most active (?), Wed-Fri Nov 14-16. I did look at that site, funny enough, and are checking out the hotels. Now just have to figure out how to get there from London! Chris

Nice quick and easy build, but an interesting subject as the same time. The camo decals are an interesting addition, but Tamiya needs to do a better job on the printing. Interior is very well detailed, but difficult to see with the only option of a closed canopy. But the decal seat belts are terrible.

Now that the Tamiya Tony is in the case, time to start on the next project which I picked up in Chattanooga in January, The Hasegawa 1/48 P-39 along with a beautiful wooden base from Bases by Bill (picture coming!) with the nametag of the Soviet P-39 ace Alexander Pokryshkin. Picked up the kit as a package with the nice wooden base and name plaque, and the Eduard PE bits for the interior, placards and flaps. I'm more used to Eduard's really nice P-39 kits which are mostly out of production now, but the Hasegawa kit has a nice level of detail and the Eduard PE just adds to the det

Gary, Thanks for that info - that is a lot more than I had before! I'm over for Scale Model World in Telford, then a conference two weeks later in London - so have a bit of 'spare' time on my hands. Was over a few months ago and brought the camera gear over for Photographer's Day at Duxford - that was well worth the pain of hauling the gear over (including the 200-500mm lens). I'll keep a weathered eye out - the good news is I have a few weeks to plan still. Best regards, Chris

Great pics, thanks for sharing! Any idea when the 'Mach Loop' is active, or is it active relatively all the time? I'm over to the UK in Nov and have a free weekend (and maybe a day or two during the week). Any hints on how to get there from Slough or London would be appreciated! Cheers, Chris

Lots of good answers above but here are what I find extremely helpful: The obligatory magnifying light. MANDATORY for my +50 year old eyes. Flush cutters from Xuron - got these at Telford last year and they cut so clean and flush there is usually very little clean up. Here is the link. I have the angled pair as well. This Photo Etch Scissor almost makes working with PE parts enjoyable. ALMOST! I have a collection of handles with various blades in them: #11 and #3 (really handy for detail work), two chisel blades one wide and one narrow. One holding a Glue Looper (

Sorry, late posting these pics, but here you go! No antennas yet, might add those yet and maybe some light exhaust staining and general weathering. Had to do some touch-up painting on the canopy with a fine point brush and then painted the black anti-slip on the wings with the same fine point brush. The yellow bands on the wings are painted, then used the red machine gun patches from the decal sheet. The Vallejo Ferrari Red seems to match the red in the decal Hinomarus pretty well. Ran a clear flat over everything except the red tail. The camo decals went down well, but if

Could be. When I spray Vallejo (which at this point is about 95% of the time) I tend to do a mist coat first, the follow up with another and then a quick 'wet' coat. This is what my gloss coat looks like - not sure if that helps or not. A few decals in place. No silvering and these were all large decals with extensive clear areas (the flaps, for example, are one decal for the three letters and the red outline). I don't think you need a very heavy gloss coat if you are doing decals or washes. Sometimes I'll add a few drops of gloss clear to my color coat

Yeah, we do the same things including the tupperware thing. COULD be a bad bottle - worth trying a new one I guess, but if you had the problem with the Model Master Acryl before I just wonder. Do you spray various different paints? Acrylics, enamels, lacquers? I just wonder if there might be some residue from previous jobs or maybe come cleaner left over? Like I said, grasping at straws here.

Lucas: Wow, that is an amazing problem - fingerprints a week later? I use Vallejo almost exclusively and for the clear, gloss I've been masking and decaling within 8-12 hours with no problems (and I'm not that far away from you, I'm near Ashburn!). If I leave it for 3-4 days it gets rock hard. I'm grasping at straws here but how much thinner are you using with the clear? I thin the clear with maybe 10% thinner and a drop of the Vallejo Flow Improver for every 8 to 10 drops of the clear. I'm spraying with an Iwata HP-CS which is a .35 needle (at 18 psi).

Making a little bit more progress - got the yellow paint onto the wings and the landing gear doors, as well as on the prop tips, and the intake screen part attached. Pretty much finished the decaling but have not put a flat coat on yet. Did get the anti-glare panel painted as well. Landing gear is dry fitted just to keep the wings up to help the paint dry. The blue decal over the intake on the side of the fuselage just did not want to conform to the shape of the intake. Have tried to mix up some paint to match the color of the stripe but no luck so far. Tail deca

Do you have a magnifying light? I use that to see smaller details and the bend was pretty clear looking through that. And I"ve seen that happen many times with that nut. Another test if the needle is far enough forward is if you press down the trigger, but don't pull back, and you see paint coming out (paper towel for example). I've had to re-seat the needle a few times after failing that test. I don't use wax but do use a blue airbrush lube that seems to work well, on the trigger as well. Yeah, can't hurt to get it checked out, right? I had mine for many years - n

Here you go. It is a little pricy at $45 but it really does the trick. I've used it on all of my needles at this point. SharpenAir

At Nationals this year I picked up a needle sharpener. I somehow got a minor bend in the tip of my spare needle that I could not straighten out. Works like a charm!

Don offers good advice, but if you have damaged the teflon seal, who knows what else has been damaged. I recently sent my HP-CS back to Iwata for them to do a 'tune up' on it - replace any worn seals, etc. Came back good as new for a fraction of the price of a new airbrush - and it usually takes a couple of weeks. Here is the link and scroll about half way down. You can call them, or fill out the form and they will contact you. How is your needle, by the way? Check the tip and the nozzle, both need to be spotless (and no bends). Hope this helps, Chris

I've been using Vallejo for a couple of years now. First - I almost always go with the manufacturer's thinners. Just makes it that much easier. I usually thin Model Air paints about 10-20% (one or two drops of thinner to 10 paint) and then a drop of Vallejo Flow Improver to every 8-10 of paint. I don't have issues with tip dry when I do this. Model Master Acryl cleaner works like a charm however. 25 psi is too strong, and is not what Vallejo recommends which is 15-20psi. I use 18psi but for really fine lines have done as low as 12 psi. Even 20 is a bit high for my taste. A

You didn't say if you have a vented paint booth? When using the lacquers and enamels you have to be aware of the fumes that are created. Some of the lacquers do give a really nice finish, but I think you can do very well with the acrylics as well. I have a paint booth that I do vent outside, but I use acrylics almost exclusively - Model Master at first, now Vallejo. Like dnl42 above, I had some issues with tip drying and clogging till I watched some Vallejo video's on YouTube and learned how to properly thin and mix the paint. No more tip trying issues (I also use Vallejo's Flo