Landlubber Mike

Another thing to add to the list. Is it just Citadel White or does it have a special name? Thanks!

I got the 1.75x 14” focal length (3 diopter) and 2.5x 8” focal length (5 diopter). I generally go with the first one. I do wear glasses - I’m nearsighted. I was always fine close up but last couple of years my eyes have gotten worse from age (am mid 40s now). The optivisor helps!

Wow, very nice work, thanks for sharing. Love the belfry and other details!

Lou - I went with an Optivisor with glass lenses and the clip on LED attachment. My wife rolls her eyes, the kids think the whole set up is cool (especially when the lights are on), but I couldn't see working on tiny PE without it. Focal length is very important. I ended up getting two different visors so I didn't have to swap out lenses. The first set of lenses had too close of a focal length for my liking so I only use it occasionally. It's almost like you need a higher table (like one of those watchmaker tables) or you'll have neck and back issues.

Mark, very glad to hear that you are doing better. Take care my friend.

This is absolutely amazing. If you’re a novice, I wonder what that makes me 😳

Very cool! Love the figures.

Thank you!

Craig thanks for posting that video. So informative at only six minutes! I’ve noticed the limitations on using a smaller needle airbrush (I have a 0.35 Iwata Eclipse I believe). Any recommendations on which of the three Iwatas for painting/pruning larger models? Wasn’t sure whether to go 0.5, 0.6, or 1.0. I’ve got a few in the stash, including the 1/350 Akagi 😉

Oh goody, another RGL masterpiece to follow. Nice job so far! Is it me, or does it seem like the Italians put wonderful lines and other design elements in everything they make? Clothes, cars, warships, etc.

Very nice work David! Very creative with your build, love it!

The ports indeed are spaced different lengths from each other along the hull. However, when you look at the ship from the profile side, due to the curvature in the hull, they look equally spaced on the two-dimensional image. I guess what I meant to say is that if a kit manufacturer set up the bulkheads in such a way that a gunport would fall in the middle of the two bulkheads, it would greatly simplify measuring where the ports should lie on the hull (you would essentially just have to measure the vertical distance, which is a little easier if you can measure up from the deck). Thanks JP. Yours is the only log I've found (besides the one on the Russian site) and I check your pictures constantly. Are you still working on yours?

Not to dredge up the evils of PE, but here are some pictures of what I've been dealing with on the 1/700 side. Might make you feel better

Lou that's coming out really nicely. Those figures look amazing, this is going to be a very sweet build.

Looks fantastic OC. That's turning out really nice.

That paint job looks really sharp Craig. Very nice job! Nice to be organized. I went a slightly different route but considered a modular system like yours. All I can say is that it feels good having things organized and out of the way. Now maybe I can stop losing my 6" rulers. I think I have 4 of them, usually because 3 of them seem to go missing for long stretches.

Really nice job on this Mark. Especially nice that you could build something you had a connection to. Congratulations!

Good luck with that - looks like a great start.

No way, sorry guys. I would be too embarrassed. 🙄 It would be hard to show the true extent of the stash anyway because some of the boxes are two deep so that back ones aren't visible (in part so the Admiral doesn't realize the true extent) 😇 I rarely bought off eBay in the past, but it's a gold mine if you are looking for model kits. Lesson #2 - stay off eBay. I first started this summer by picking up the Hasegawa 1/350 Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi -- from Craig of all people -- yes, I blame him! 😁 That's like near the pinnacle of 1/350 kits, so I figured I should get experience with a few other 1/350 ship kits before tackling the Akagi. That wasn't that bad. Then I decided that I could use some practice on plastic with painting, weathering, PE, etc. so picked up a bunch of 1/700 ship kits (fairly inexpensive so not a big outlay until you buy the detail sets). Then I came across WWI and WWII planes built by people like Plasmo on youtube. Much shorter projects I convinced myself, so picked up a few of them. Then somehow I got into cars from the 1910s-1930s era. Picked up a few of those. If you start looking at cars, be careful because it might lead you into buying some of the nicer kits like Revival and Pocher. Picked up a few of those. I was telling a friend the other day that i tend to like the subjects represented by plastic models more than the wooden ones. The ability to detail them with PE these days is incredible, and all the techniques, washes, airbrushes, etc. make painting them a whole new ballgame from me painting them by hand as a kid using Testor's enamels. At the same time, I do like the flexibility of working with wood when it comes to wood models (including working with the various tools, woods, etc.) -- the kit subjects to me though are typically all the same (British warships with X amount of cannons) and tend to be less interesting to me for that reason. To do different subjects you're looking at scratch building, and I'm not sure that I'd like to do all the research, CAD work, etc. that needs to go into the front end before you cut your first plank. Good news is that I generally have picked these plastic kits up for significant discounts off of retail, so if I don't get to them, I can sell them without losing much if at all. At some point the kids will leave the house and I'll be retired with plenty of free time. The Admiral will be plenty glad that I have the stash or I will drive her crazy. So, I'm thinking ahead to marital harmony. At least that's what I tell myself. Ok, I'll be quiet now. 🤐

Really nice Alan! Not sure I've seen someone do a POB SIB build (usually they are solid hull or pieces thereof) but yours came out fantastic. Even more important, it fit through the neck of the bottle Thanks for sharing!

You're doing a really nice job on it. Great work! I'm with you on the PE. My introduction has been working on a 1/700 destroyer with a full PE detail set. Stupid me, but for some reason I thought that 1/700 would be better introduction since the kit and PE set were cheaper than a a similar 1/350 kit, but I didn't realize the pieces would be that small. Optivisor is a must as the parts are practically microscopic, and you better not sneeze! I think I'm getting the hang of it though. When I start with 1/350, the PE might look much bigger (though they probably have similarly sized extreme detail pieces).

Nicely done OC! That paint scheme is going to look really sharp. Looking forward to seeing this come together.

Making some really good progress there Mark. Very nice job!

Very cool model - love the set up against the picture. Well done!

Yes, MSW needs to add a warning label to Craig's and other build logs on here. I went from not having done a plastic kit since a kid to now having a bunch stacked up on a shelf - ships, planes, and now cars.