modelingbob

If I had a nickel for every Priority 2 day shipping package that did not make it in the specified time frame, I'd be rich and could retire. Oh wait, I am retired!!!

Mine also arrived that way. Fortunately the US vendor I bought from (Tower Hobbies) shipped me out a replacement kit (yes, they sent an entire kit for free!), and that canopy survived without damage. <<<The canopy and clear parts sprue should have been in a smaller box to protect them. One of mine arrived split right down the middle.>>>

I pre-ordered my P-51 via Tower Hobbies and just got delivery. In the USA, there is very little availability of this model and if you want it you may have to go the pre-order route. Overseas, there appears to be adequate stock but not in the USA. Unfortunately, the overseas route is more than 2X more expensive. I got two of them from Tower for $48.89 including shipping (use their sale codes).

Thanks for the info. When I was last a member of Ebay, back in AUG 2017, "4368" was his sellers account, and it was still active, along with his "redtail" account, which was his buyers account. Since then, for some reason unknown to me (maybe because I'm no longer an Ebay member?), apparently I can't access ANYONE'S Ebay feedback/seller/buyer history/profile, ETC (which is strange).

carlosfolch4368 is the Ebay account that he sells his stuff under. Redtailvc8 is his buyers account. He has much more activity as a seller than a buyer. It would be interesting to see if the stuff he filed non-delivery claims for from his buyers account ended up getting posted for sale on his sellers account. I'm wondering if I'm "banned" from Ebay (no longer a registered user), but when I tried to get carlosfolch4368 ebay feedback details, I am unable to do so. Does that mean his sellers account has been shut down?

My can of ELO works a heck of a lot better than brake fluid, and IMNSHO worth the cost.

Yes, many differences depending on brand. For example the MSDS indicate: Tamiya Extra Thin contains 50% acetone and 50% butyl acetate. Plastruct Plastic Weld Cement contains 80-90% methylene chloride and 5-15% MEK. Bondene contains 30-60% methylene chloride and 30-45% methyl acetate. Weldene contains Dipentene Turpene Hydrocarbon.

Nicely done!!!

This, more than anything else, is the #1 reason why I'm so P/O at Ebay right now. They have a record of what he is doing. They know how many claims he has filed, and they know what the "averages" are for this kind of behavior. I'm so glad I quit Ebay and they will never again get a dime of my business. I agree, shame on Ebay, they know what's going on and choose to ignore it. <<<eBay knows how often this guy has filed claims, they have a record of every refund. Shame on eBay.>>>

Quite interesting that in our small forum community, three of us have had issues with this guy. Pretty sad indictment of Ebay policing themselves. Also quite interesting that he has 100% positive feedback. I know he has at least one negative feedback over the last 12 months, because I gave it to him! So much for the Ebay stated policy of never changing/deleting any buyers feedback!!! What a load of crock!!!!

Yep, I accept the fact that there are bad apples everywhere (including Ebay), but I refuse to do business with any company that does not follow their own policies and procedures to get rid of those bad apples. And Ebay really pissed me off on that so I cancelled my account. I do not remember his reseller name (and I can't get to my Purchase History since my account is cancelled) but I will never forget his name and it's Carlos Folch from Puerto Rico. He screwed me pretty good and even when I cited the Ebay policy that he did not follow, to both Ebay & PayPal, they both ignored my claim an

As you found out this guy is a crook. I have also had bad dealings with him. In fact, he is the reason I cancelled my Ebay and PayPal accounts because they refused to do anything about him. Buyer and seller beware when dealing with this guy. He is also a reseller in addition to a "low ball" buyer. As you also found out, Ebay does not adhere strictly to their stated policies. That's another reason why I cancelled my Ebay account. Ebay sucks!!!!

He is incorrect. A second chance offer does not invalidate his bid that won. Until the buyer pays whatever they bid, or you both mutually agree to cancel the transaction, the buyer is on the hook to pay whatever he bid. Now, to be honest, a non-paying bidder "strike" means nothing in the Ebay world, so there is no downside for him not to pay. And remember you are on the hook to pay all the Ebay fee's on his winning bid unless the transaction is mutually cancelled or you file a non-payment dispute if he doesn't pay.

If the Ebay auction is currently active, the bidder can cancel their bid through Ebay due to error, and you can also cancel their bid if you so desire. If it's already closed/ended both you and the bidder have the option of cancelling the entire transaction and then you can relist. This stuff happens to me all the time, I get someone claiming they made a "mistake" and if both parties agree to it there is no problem cancelling the transaction.

That little gizmo perplexed me also!!! It's actually an internal dispensing tube for the paint, so when you tip the bottle over into your paint cup it will carefully allow single paint drops to fall into the cup. No steady stream of paint gushing out creating a mess and you can control the drops and count them to create precise mixing ratios should you desire that. At first glance I didn't like it, now that I've used it a bunch I really do like it! The only downsides are you can't stir the paint, and it makes putting paint/thinner back into the bottle a pain because you can't add more than a d

I completed around 100 kits before I turned "pro". And I still make mistakes to this very day after nearly 20 years as a "pro"! Modeling is a very unforgiving hobby where one little mistake late in the game can erase hours and hours of work. BTW, most of the errors you listed will be learned through experience and failures (they are pretty basic mistakes that we all worked through) and you likely won't be repeating them again. Advice on modelling forums/articles can be good, bad, or ugly, and my experience has shown that advice posted on forums can be wrong about as often as it's right. As a "

I am thankful that there are persons like Haneto & Gabor who are trying to help make better models by working with modeling companies. Sometimes they don't get to control every aspect of the production and I accept that limitation. I get to make the final decision on purchase or not, and if the final product doesn't meet my desires I won't purchase it, but I'm not going to blame Haneto & Gabor for the kits shortcomings.

Jeffrey, thanks for posting those pics. That's the reason why I generally do not do pre-orders and I prefer to wait until the plastic is out to the public before spending my valuable money. If that's the norm, I'm probably gonna pass on this kit. Hopefully, it's not the norm and you just got some bad QC.

Thanks for the kind words. I used a variety of Alclad and Mr Color Super Metallic paints on the build. And lots of masking tape!!!

I've had that exact same issue with Academy decals in the past. It has nothing to do with the Solvaset, the decals simply do not have enough adhesion to hold them to the surface. My solution was aftermarket decals. If you insist on using the Academy decals (not recommended), try placing them over a small dab of Future as previously suggested, and then place a small dab of Future atop to help seal them down.

The label on Akan lacquers do indeed say thin by 10-15%. That is still way too thick for airbrush work for me. I start thinning at 1:1 and keep adding thinner until I get the consistency I want. On some bottles I have way more thinner than paint! That makes the skimpy 10 ml bottles go a long ways, and I build a lot of LSP's and don't need more than a single bottle of coverage. BTW, Mr Color Levelling Thinner works wonderfully with Akan lacquers.

Mr Color Levelling Thinner is a fantastic thinner for Tamiya X-22. Beautiful results and no issues for me.

I use Ebay a lot. Papalady is one Ebay vendor that has great prices and service. Sealmodels is a good online vendor. For some reason, for small air packets, shipping from China/Taiwan/Hong Kong is quite cheap to the USA. So, that's where the majority of my Mr Color and Tamiya enamels come from. http://www.sealmodel.com/products.php?category_id=158