Landlubber Mike

Wow, incredible work! Really nice job!

Wow Gary, looks like the real deal, amazing job! Your paint and decal work is flawless.

Wow Yves, what a cool project! Great job so far!

Wow Dan, incredible build!! Thanks for sharing your tips, etc. along the way. Really appreciate it!

Really great work Jolle! I ended up buying the Trumpeter kit and all the Points upgrades from a member here a couple of years ago - and supplemented it with guns, etc. from Veteran Models. I sure hope it doesn't take me 2.5 years to build!

Looks great Mark! Nice job!

Amazing start and backstory Peter! Looking forward to watching this one come along.

Amazing job Rob!! I've always been a sucker for redheads too 😉

Wow that came out fantastic Glen!!! So creative and cool, great job!

Cool build Yves, I'm enjoying following along!

Nice build there OC!

Looking forward to this one Chris. Love the look of the Italian planes!

Another great build Kevin!

Looks fantastic!! Love the sails!

Nicely done! Not easy to do all that framing in PE, but you make it look easy. Great job!

Nice project Kevin! Do you ever rest?? Your building prowess is really impressive.

This is a really cool project KD - very interesting and you're doing a wonderful job! By the way, did you sneak into my basement and take a picture of my stash?? I recognize a lot of those models

Just catching up with your log Rob - wow, you're really outdoing yourself again, and that is a high bar! Looks spectacular! The rivet decals make for a very nice touch.

Happy belated birthday Denis! Glad to hear you're doing well

Love it OC!! Nice job!

Nice to see you back Mugje. I hear you on losing interest in models and wanting to jump to something else. I've got a lot of models on the shelf. To keep myself building, I'll pick up a new one or go back to one I had started earlier when the mood and motivation hit me. For me, it's always been about the building, not finishing a model. By the way, that kit looks fantastic! The way the framing locks in like that is amazing. A lot different from older kits for sure. Looks like the fit of the parts is very precise.

I'd probably stick with paints made for airbrushing, unless you pre-test and the paints airbrush to your satisfaction. I airbrush with Vallejo, Tamiya, Mr. Color and other airbrush paints all the time, and never have a problem. Specifically, I've never had any of the problems airbrushing water-based acrylics from Vallejo that Bob has mentioned - the paints are specially designed to be airbrushed and are already pre-mixed/thinned so you just put it in your airbrush and go to town (I usually add a drop of Vallejo Thinner and sometimes Flow Improver, but that's it). I will note that while Vallejo says that Vallejo Model Colors (the non-airbrush line) can be used in an airbrush after adding their thinner, they do note that certain colors may not airbrush very well, so I typically stick with their Model Air and Game Air line for airbrush work. Unless Model Expo paint has changed, I found it to be very thick (and frankly, not very good) and wouldn't bother trying to make it work in an airbrush. You can get Vallejo and other brand airbrush paints for a relatively low cost and they offer tons of colors. Regarding cost - not to appear insensitive to expenses, but sure you can get a big jug of craft paint for a relatively low cost, but how much paint do you really need? My guess is that eventually one will throw out most of the bottle after it dries out since you don't need much paint when painting models (as opposed to doing canvas paintings or other larger scale painting projects). The small Vallejo dropper bottles for example cost about $3, and have excellent coverage per drop of paint. I don't think I've finished a bottle yet after a few years of airbrushing. You can't beat the convenience.

Amazing paint job Dan. Thanks for showing your step by step photos - good learning experience for me too.

Wow, nice job OC! I love it!

Oooh, me likey Rob!