eharrold44

41 aircraft kits, with a few odds and ends. A NASCAR kit, a couple of sci-fi kits, etc. That's a lot for me, since I'm a pretty slow builder. It would take me forever to get through them all.

This is the last time I'll bump the thread. After next Sunday, if no one has called dibs on any of these kits, they'll no longer be up for sale.

Common complaint with the Trumpy rivet tool. One solution I came up with is to line up a small piece of styrene rod with the rivet wheel and glue it to the front of the tool with CA. You still can't see exactly where the wheel is, but it takes the guesswork out of trying to line up the rivets with a panel line. Filling in any excess rivets is pretty simple, though. Great work so far, BTW!

I'm sure that's what the deal is. Environmental concerns (and maybe metal prices, as well) have made recycling military hardware financially unfeasible in a lot of cases. It's why so many ships are probably going to end up serving extended artificial reef duty.

If you're adventurous, or if you simply can't find Future/Pledge with Future Shine at a local retailer, other brands might do the trick. I've tried out Holloway House Quick Shine on a few practice projects, and it seems to be pretty much the same thing as Future. If it's a clear acrylic floor wax, I would think it should work just fine (though I'll stand corrected if anyone has any disaster stories!). Try it out on spare parts first, see what happens.

Once you get the proportions of thinner/paint down, Tamiya sprays like a dream. Great stuff. As has been said, I wish they had a wider range of available colors, though. I'm about to order some Lifecolour and give it a shot, for that very reason. Can't beat their color selection.

The intake/engine bulge is way out of proportion, and the leading edges are much too thick. Any missing panel line detail will have to be scribed- an easy chore, given the mostly smooth outer surface. Also, the paint schemes are somewhat inaccurate, based on the few reference photos available (the pink bird may have been one of the early prototypes, though- I think I remember hearing about that one, but I never saw any solid info regarding the FSxxxxx designation for the color). Any word on decal options? If the kit markings aren't up to snuff (I suspect they won't be, based on the subpar

Superb paint job! The weathering looks great, and I like the chipping in the cockpit area. It looks like a real Tomcat that's been around the block a few times. I also like the paint job on the interior of the nozzles; it really adds to the realistic feel. They look like they've spit out real fire. My only nitpick is the canopy. As someone else mentioned, it has some scratches. I've had the same problem in the past, and it's nothing that can't be cured with some fine-grain abrasives and some polish. ARC has a nice tutorial for polishing canopies: Polishing Canopies Different people

Yeah, I love the ProfiPack-style approach. You usually get a lot of bang for the buck, even if the price is a bit higher. Cleaning up the joint around the wing corrogations will be a little delicate, but I'll be more than happy to take that on if it means I won't have to rescribe the panel lines, scratchbuild or kitbash significant portions of the interior, and use an aftermarket Mk 13 to replace the kit's (somewhat crude) fish. The Monogram is a good starting point, I like the kit for what it is (it was great for its time), but most of the work I've put into the one I'm working on would be

More great work! You're doing those Polish birds justice, sir.

Looks great so far, superb work on the cockpit.

The location of the engraved panel lines seems to be accurate, though I haven't done a line-by-line comparison between the kit parts and reference pictures. I do think they're too heavy; the Devastator appears to have a very smooth outer surface in most of the pictures I've seen, with very tight gaps between the panels. There's also the old recessed vs. raised rivet complaint, but I think that's to be expected with most of the newer kits. My main complaint, though? I started a Monogram TBD just before I found out about this kit, and now I'm going to have a hard time finishing it. So muc

Both Sea Hawks have been sold!

Finally had a nice score at Hobby Lobby. Went in to spend a gift card I got for Christmas, walked out with an Academy 1/48 F-16 for $9. I have too many kits as it is, but I couldn't bring myself to pass up a $9 Viper.

Thanks for the tips, I may try it one of these days. SPECTACULAR work, BTW!