Mad Steve

Afternoon Everyone I've always been a fan of Matchbox 76th scale AFV's, and when the Challenger MBT was released back in '88 I was first in the queue and I bought a couple. It was pretty basic, but it was a Modern British Tank and I loved it. Shoot forward about 10 years and wallah, walk into a shop and there is a Revell Challenger. Knowing the company's liking for reboxing the old matchbox stuff, I gleefully grabbed a couple and took them home. Well, the Matchbox Challenger it aren't In fact its way better than the Matchbox one. It's actually sad that this kit, along with its twin, has sat in my stash since 1999! I quite like the quality of the moulding, I'll be building this straight from the box without any AM stuff. I might try and redo the turret baskets, as they are solid cast items, but we'll see how it goes. Right, off to the spray booth for some undercoat

Excellento Mark, Excellento

Seems to be a thing with Merlin Models

Was about to start a new (well old kit) this afternoon and it reminded me of something... Got me to thinking about the following... just a bit of fun. Do you remember your first... (I've added mine as I go along to start us off) - Photo Etch Parts The very first time I saw Photo Etch parts was a Tamiya Lotus 7. The grille was PE, one small bit. Fitted it, meh whats the big deal. First real set was for a Tamiya bike, I think it was a Suzuki, I changed my mind real quick Then I stupidly thought building an M3 halftrack where 85% of the kit is replaced with PE was ' just way cool' - Individual track links Matchbox 1/72 scale Challenger, (yes, Matchbox). At the time I thought they were just so cool, yeah, stupid me - Resin parts Were add on's for a rally car, seats, bonnets and a couple of other things. I think I spent more time trying to stick the resin down than building the kit. - Full Resin Kit Baxmodels 1/35 scale Ratel 90... It took me months to finish and about 2 tubes of filler - Aftermarket Decals HB Suzuki decals from Studio 27 I think - Short run kit Merlin Models Salmson S2a. Like trying to stick 2 bananas together and I think it was coated in Brilcreme... I built it for a friend, It is my benchmark for giving up on a kit. If it wasn't for someone else I would have put it in the coffee grinder

Coolo, duly noted

Afternoon Everyone Well I must say, reading Gorby's thread about scratchbuilding a WW1 tank gave my mojo a kick up the arse and we have actually made some progress.... I started last night with... the rigging Not the first set of rigging I've done, the Airfix HP 0/400 being the first, but certainly the first rigging I've done where it is supposed to look like rigging. I boned up on some articles in the Airfix magazine, and some online and then eventually decided to jump straight in. An hour later and wallah I'm using fine EZ line, and its black and I don't care if its supposed to be another colour, I did it Another hour and a bit this morning and wallah deux The piece that actually took the longest was the three strands between the under carriage. But anyway, I was not looking forward to the rigging, I gave it a go and have gained a bit more knowledge and confidence for when I start on..... So while we were on a roll, I asked my assistant if we should do some decals as well... Not quite sure what the look meant, but I's assuming its a yes So made a start with the decals. As I have heard and seen before, Eduard's decals were very good and well behaved, a bit shiny but that can be sorted. And that is where we have come to a stop for today. Oh I forgot to mention that the wires to the control arms will be done with stretched sprue instead of EZ Line. I realise that most of you will say I shouldn't have done the rigging now, but I'm a car modeller remember and we are all an uncultured bunch that do everything frack to bunch. but there is actually very little construction left to do, just the machine guns and thing on top of the wings and the wheels. So the end is in site now Happiness

Oh is THAT what it is in your profile pic..... We had a pool going and top of the table was Baby Albino Wookie

You know what, you've actually cheered me right up man I'm moaning like a little girl because my bits of plastic keep disobeying my commands, and here you are building your own model out of nowt but a few shiny bits and sticky back paper - damn good show Actually I think you're mad, but that's what you would expect from me isn't it I am however, quite interested in marketing your Bolt Cutter Thingy down here in Africa's bottom, I'm just waiting for details of an inheritance from my long lost uncle who lived in Nigeria (who knew) and I shall be rolling in it Is that the pre Brexit price, or should I assume that it will dramatically increase in price after the end of this month? But seriously Mark, damn good show...

Yeah yeah, I know Gorbs I loved the old Airfix one, and wanted this to be a precursor to building the WNW one.... Some of the bits are a bit hoochy on this, but the majority of problems have all been my own doing in some form or another, so that's why I wont give in on this. Its nothing like trying to stick two banana's together like on the Merlin kit and to hazard a guess, this is probably only the 8 or 9th aircraft I've actually built in 40 odd years of building kits... (Yes, I've never built a Spitfire(don't really like them), Have built a Hurricane though... In Lotus F1 colours ) My wife, the font of sanity that she is in my life said, "why didn't you just build the Airfix one, or build a tank, and those WW1 trucks you bought?...." Ok moaning over and moving on. I could moan all day but there are things to be thankful for (like I don't live in Coventry )

Morning Everyone Sorry I haven't been posting any updates of late, but I suppose you could say the Roland has been having a bit of a bad day The undercarriage gave way again after being pinned, so that has led to yet another rebuild with the necessary clean up and respraying bits. Then I realised two problems at the same time, Which I believe is a first for me... I have fine EZ Line, which I hope will be correct for a 1/48th scale kit. Whilst checking it out on one of the wings,(which now I'm not so sure) I realised that I had added the control horns to the flappy up and down bits and not taking heed that the decals need to go on first... So... control horns were all removed, and those bits sanded back down and yet another bit of spraying done and we are basically back to square one again, with undercarriage on, sans control horns and ready for decals. I am going to finish this kit... I don't know whether I will rig it yet, but I will finish this kit Its actually kind of funny. I don't have the love affair with aircraft that I do with vehicles. I am busy restoring a 30 year old bike kit that I got for free and appears to have been painted with house paint. Its in a terrible state and its not a very good kit to begin with, but the time i spend cleaning the bits, and getting everything to look tickety boo again is very relaxing and for me, very rewarding. The Roland, I'm getting to the point now. I want to see if it really will fly Anyhoo, onwards and upwards and still wondering why I didn't build a bloody tank

Gorbs Dont know if this might help, but dressmaking pins, cut a few mm from the end of the top and wallah, a rivet

One of the nicest aspects of our model car club and our nationals over here is the judging. Gone are the days of the little huddle of people ripping into models but rather we have peer judging. Everyone registered gets a clipboard and they choose the one they like in each catagory and the votes are tallied. What i have found is it actually gives you more of a sense of accomplishment if you win something, because everyone liked your model instead of points or percentages given to it

Me too RW.... I've been using a (insert proper name here) compass with two pointy bits for years and there is the simplest of solutions staring you in the face duh!.

Hats off to you sir for trying something new and i like the way you tackled the tracks. Excellento

Ha, yeah, cant do that, there's too many people watching It hasn't reached my benchmark yet Andy. A few years ago I was asked if I would build a kit for someone, because it was a short run kit.... It was a Merlin Models Salmson S2. This was to be just a normal OOB kit, just as he makes them. My friend loves WW1 planes and he's quite happy with how he builds. What should have taken about 3 weeks took just over 4 months and the majority of that was spent trying to bend pieces back into shape and a lot of swearing. I spent almost 2 months just getting the fuselage into one piece. So the Salmson is my benchmark, if it gets to that point, it goes in the box, and will either be given away or will stay in the cupboard forever. After that build I sold all the Merlin kits I had. Life is just too short for that crap