K2Pete

Jesu Christmas ... this Spitfire is ... gorgeous! I've missed the last 6 pages over the past few weeks and just restarted reading this thread, and stopped at page 5. The weathering at the wing root is SPEK-TAK-YOO-LAR! The difference between your Museum image and your model is too close to tell the diff. My Uncle Bill Marshall, F/O Wm. Marshall, flew a Mark IX and I've got an old, old Airfix 1/24 Spitfire, in light blue plastic, to build, but have postponed it for 10 years because I want build it like yours. But Chuck, I'd like to buy yours instead ...let's see, I've got a Loonie, a Twonie ... a Purple bill and an Green bill, that's about $33 CDN ... and can you ship it too??? All kidding aside, my Uncle generally flew AU-H and his daughter, my cousin, gave me his flight logs. Plus, Bob Bracken was in our modelling club, here near Niagara Fall Ontario, and to see him slowly fail, broke our hearts. ( ... and Uncle Bill has a short blurb in Spitfire II just opposite the Contents page. ) I'll be referring to this build of yours Chuck, as it's ... well ... pretty good! Thanx so much for this build and lovely photos too! Pete

Vincent, ralf and 11bee, Thanks very much for your words of encouragement Gents, but, this is just life's sense of humour. We all have these types of challenges and we just have to deal with them. Really, it could be worse! The AMU was detailed and painted and the detailing was limited because it'll just get tucked into the aft Adapter section ... The interior walls need some decorating ... The Ejection Seats need some seat belts. They are made from First Aid tape and the buckles are styrene channel. And because this model will portray a weightless environment, the seat belts need to look weightless too. The First Aid tape was wet down with CA glue and held in place overnight. I need to see if the Ejections Seat are tight with the interior fitted out ... I added just a little more detailing to this hatch. This one will be open, so it needs to have some items on it. The centre console also got a storage bag made from Aluminum foil and attached with CA. The 'blob' on the hatch is Milliput and represents a storage bag. It may need some paint and final assembly of the crew cabin can happen ... Thanx for looking in, Gents Pete

Gentlemen, thanks very much for your kind words regarding my vision issues ... but, it's just another challenge ... in the short term, it'll get dealt with, in the long term ... it'll still get dealt with. airmechaja, many thanx! Captain Obvious, Thank You! Kurt H. ... all these little details will be almost unnoticeable when it's all closed in, but 'what the heck' eh? It was all pretty close work and ... I could do it, so I'm quite encouraged! The AMU, Astronaut Maneuvering Unit is detailed and painted. And because it'll get tucked into the aft end of the Adapter, the detailing is very limited. The details, switch panels and storage pouches need to be attached The Seat Belts need to be attached. They are First Aid tape and styrene channel Remembering that this model will be portraying a weightless environment, the belts should look weightless too. The First Aid tape was just wet down with CA glue, twisted a bit and held in place overnight. Now I have to see if the Ejection Seats, which were tight before, will still fit with the interior fitted out ... The Hatch was detailed a little more and the centre console has a storage pouch added ... made from Aluminum foil and CA'd. The 'blob' on the Hatch is Milliput and represents a storage bag. It looks like Paint may be next ... then final assembly of the crew cabin. Thanx for taking a peek Gents! Pete

Fozzy ... pleas forgive my language, but this build of yours is re-FRIKKIN-markable! Pete

Many Thanks for your good words Bill!! This is however, just one more of life's challenges that we all must face, and deal with, and work with or around! Pete

Bill, I went to the NASA site and if you put KU BAND ANTENNA in the left side field ) Keywords or Item Number) ... and on the right side, SPACE SHUTTLE then choose DISCOVERY you'll get about 12 nice pix of the antenna and the dish's horn ... https://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/#/Home/ Hope this helps Pete

Thanx Vern ... but this is life ... eh? Thanx cj ... and Manfred, this is a complication due directly to Diabetes ... in theory, I was expecting this, but not this soon ... maybe when I'm 85 years old! And after reading about Scott's book on your thread, I bought it as well ... it was a good read! I found my 'punch list' ... man, there's a lot left to do on this build! Back in October, I gave the Adapter section a few coats of White Primer ... still some touch ups to take care of. Getting ready to add some details to the crew cabin, I scribed some lines to represent the quilting on the side walls Added some styrene backing to the PE for some support Drilling a lot of holes for the switches. I was not looking forward to this time-consuming task, but it only took an hour or so. And almost done. I'll trim and sand later to an even length Thanx Gents for taking a peek! Pete

Thanx Gents! Thanx RCAFFAN ... A little more progress on this build ... I sprayed some White Primer on this back in October ... there's a few touch ups to do yet Glued the PE to some styrene for support ... it'll get trimmed later I've been dreading doing this task, drilling out all the holes for the switches ... but it took just an hour or so. Now, the instructions call for 0.3mm drill bits and supplied the piano wire, but snipping the wire created a static charge in all these tiny pieces and it was more frustration than I was willing to tolerate. So I went with 0.5mm styrene for the switches ... it should look okay. Almost done installing, then sand and trim to an even length ... This is my 'punch list' ... there's still a LOT to do-o-o! Thanx for taking a peek Pete

My goodness ... this ... is ...GORGEOUS!! you did a beautiful job on this Ricardo!!!

It's been awhile eh? I haven't even visited ARC in 2 months let alone work on this build ... and the "Life gets in the way" bit is this. In mid October my centre of vision went blank in my Left Eye. I couldn't read words, my depth of field was poor, judging car distances was uncomfortable and modelling? I couldn't see what I was doing. Seeing details was ... just ... not ... possible. After 3 weeks of assuming it would go away ... but didn't, I called my Ophthalmologist and he took a 3D cross section image and my Macula's pocket shape in the Retina was ... gone. It was a mountain instead of a divot. Hey Doc, will anything help? Yes, says he, a Needle in the Eyeball! Actually a series of Needles in the Eyeball. Can you guess my initial reaction to this 'treatment'? I was Gobsmacked! So I started with that 'treatment' last Monday. The long shot is that he thinks my eyesight, in BOTH eyes, will go bye-bye by this time next year. Needless to say, my mind hasn't been on modelling ... but, here I am, I'm gonna try to complete this build, for the Group Build at the end of December, and two others on my bench, and I'm getting comfortable using one good eye and hoping to see some improvement in the Left one. Am I worried? I sure was, but now after a few weeks of wallowing in my own puddle of self pity, I figure, "let's get on with it. Deal with it Big Guy!" Okay, let me show what I've been up to in the just the last 2 days ... But before the build, back in mid-October, an Astronaut from Apollo 16 came to speak in Niagara Falls Canada and I just HAD to go try to meet him ... here's Brig Gen Charlie Duke and me holding my Apollo 16 diorama ... you guys can NOT imagine the treat this was! I truly felt like a little kid, excited? You bet! Okay, enough of this stuff ... i've only been at the bench for the last 2 days and feel like I'm getting back in the groove. I made the Oxygen Hoses ... ... and dry fit the install ... I'm also trying to figure out a way to make the Helmet's visor ... I tried a little Milliput which I'll have to carve and shape and a fuel Tank half, but these don't work well ... I'll have to give it some more thought. I may try to just fill the Astro's face with Milliput and sand away all the excess ... we shall see ... I'm gonna try to complete this build for the GB but I just have a lot of details to do, but I should be able to handle it ... till next posting Pete

It's been awhile eh? I haven't even visited ARC in 2 months let alone work on this build ... and the "Life gets in the way" bit is this. In mid October my centre of vision went blank in my Left Eye. I couldn't read words, my depth of field was poor, judging car distances was uncomfortable and modelling? I couldn't see what I was doing. After 3 weeks of assuming it would go away ... but didn't, I called my Ophthalmologist and he took a 3D cross section image and my Macula's pocket shape in the Retina was ... gone. It was a mountain instead. Hey Doc, will anything help? Yes, says he, a Needle in the Eyeball! Actually a series of Needles in the Eyeball. After my initial response of "You have GOT to be kidding me!!" ... I accepted his suggestion ... So I started with that 'treatment' last Monday. The long shot is that he thinks my eyesight will go bye-bye by this time next year. Needless to say, my mind hasn't been on modelling ... but, here I am, I'm gonna try to complete this build and two others that are on my bench, and I'm getting comfortable using one good eye and hoping to see some improvement in the Left one. Am I worried? I sure was, but now after a few weeks of wallowing in my own puddle of self pity, I figure, "let's get on with it. Deal with it Big Guy!" Okay, let me show y'all what I've been up to in the just the last 2 days ... But before the build, back in mid-October an Astronaut from Apollo 16 came to town and I had to go meet him ... Me and Charlie Duke, Apollo 16 Moonwalker ... this was a treat like you can NOT imagine! I also brought my own Apollo 16 build ... man I felt like a little kid! ... 😊 Alright ... here we go ... This is where I left off, nothing has even been touched in 2 or 3 months ... now, where the heck was I? I made a pair of Oxygen hoses ... ... and dry fit the install ... I need to figure out a way to make the Helmet's Visor and tried Milliput and fuel tank halves which were cut and fitted, but these aren't too viable ... but I'm thinking of just fill the Astro's face with Milliput and sand away all the excess ... I'm gonna try to complete this entire build in the next 3 weeks ... fingers crossed! Oh, and it's nice to be back here on ARC! Now I need to get re-acquainted with the passwords, the various builds I was following and how to post pix! Till next time. Pete

Thanx Gary! I've got 3 models on the go, this one, a 1/100 Tamiya Shuttle with LDEF and a 1/24 Gemini ... unfortunately for me, my eyes aren't working too well as a result of complications from Diabetes ( I've had it for almost 30 years ) and with various treatments hope to be able to use both eyes for the close work needed in the hobby. All these builds are staring at me every time I go down to the hobby room, and I really hope to be able to get 'em all done ... real soon! Pete

Just FYI, I tried the link to your templates on 'dropbox' and I can't see 'em. It seems I need to sign up first ... Man-oh-man this is looking so-o-o good! I'm gonna go over to see Gary's build to see how it looks installed ... keep up the great work! Pete

Are those actual patches Pete or Stickers? Either way ... nice find!

Fabulous progress Fozzy! ... and your photos are most excellent! The lighting, the multi-views makes it so-o-o easy to see what you've done ... and it's remarkable! Thanx a lot! Take your time, we'll still be here! Pete