ccoyle

Got my exterior colors mixed and have a little interior green left over from a previous build. I'm ready to start cutting.

That would be a finished hull model. 'Finished' for the gallery simply means it's not a place for build log photos.

You can only edit a title in the first post of the thread. Look for the three dots in the upper right corner, then click to open a drop-down menu, then select 'edit'. Use all-caps for the word 'finished' and make it the second field in the title, like so: SS Minnow by johndoe - FINISHED - scale 1:500000 - an exercise in futility Take note of the hyphens and spaces. Also create a tag that says "Finished." Cheers!

Hi, gang! Welcome to another card aircraft build! This one will feature a new release from the Polish publisher, GPM -- it will be my first crack at a GPM kit. The 2021 design by Rafał Ciesielski depicts a Grumman F6F-3 of US Navy Fighter Squadron VF-27 aboard the light carrier USS Princeton (CVL-23) at the time that ship was sunk on 24 October 1944 during the sprawling Battle of Leyte Gulf. In addition to this livery, the model can also be purchased in the livery of VF-9 aboard USS Essex (CV-9) during the 1943 Gilbert Islands campaign. I'm building this model for a special purpose -- it will be a going-away present for a friend and coworker of mine who is moving to Virginia in September (hence the need to start the build before my USS England project is finished -- I want to be sure that I have plenty of time). Dave is an Air Force veteran and former KC-135 driver who likes naval aviation. He knows I'm building something for him, but he doesn't know what it is -- it will be a surprise, so mum's the word! Here's the kit's cover. The aircraft wears the US Navy's tricolor scheme of dark blue over medium blue with light blue-gray undersides. VF-27 aircraft wore a cat's mouth design on their cowlings. The kit includes five pages of diagrams, three pages of frames on plain paper, and five pages of color parts on card stock. The print quality is good, though with minimal weathering. The kit as rated as having an intermediate level of difficulty, which looks about right to my experienced eye. Diagrams: Color parts: I will be replacing all of the kit frames with laser-cut frames. The laser-cut set is comprised of seven frets. Three contain the usual formers. I'm very pleased to see that these use tab-and-slot construction, which should eliminate some of the potential alignment issues. There are also four small frets. One includes small detail parts, one contains instrument panels, and two feature very finely etched and cut parts for the radial engine. These latter parts could prove to be real time-savers. Lastly, I went all-in and ordered a very nice set of 3D-printed wheels. These even include the tires' diamond-pattern tread. I also have the vacuformed canopy (not shown). I'm feeling very good about starting this model. I'm motivated, and the kit looks great. I'm really looking forward to seeing how well this GPM product goes together. Cheers!

Well, well -- lookit what the postman brought today! Let's see what we have . . . . . . laser-cut frames and resin wheels for Kartonowa Kolekcja's A6M2 Zero and Nieuport 11.c. The resin wheels are a new thing for me. And a new issue from GPM -- an F6F-3 Hellcat, plus vacuformed canopy and 3D-printed wheels. I will have more to say about this particular kit in the very near future. In fact, I have an announcement to make: USS England will be going on a temporary hiatus. Don't worry -- it's not burn-out in this instance. A friend and coworker of mine is moving to Virginia in September, though he will still be working remotely for the company, and I will be building the Hellcat for him as a going away gift. I will say more about that when I start the new build log. Once I get that set up, I will place a link here. I may work on England concurrently here and there, who knows, but I will definitely be coming back to her when the Hellcat is finished. See you all over in the 'non-categorized builds' section! EDIT: Here is the promised link! ccoyle's Hellcat build

Ooooh! My tracking number says my shipment went out on the 22nd as well -- hopefully something is waiting for me when I get home today!

Folks, I had to hide the last post in this thread for violating our copyright policy. Please don't share photos from pay sites like Getty images. You can share a link to the site, but sharing the image here at MSW could get us into legal hot water. Thanks!

I believe they went out of business years ago.

I could, theoretically, point out all of the clothes, furnishings, and other sundry items she has purchased without a peep from me, but I think we all know how that would go over. 😂

If it was up to just me, I would pull the trigger on this right now. But if my wife were to see the bank statement? 😲 😬😬😬💀

I found out that a 3D-printed hedgehog is available in 1/240 scale -- along with 3", 1.1", and 20mm gun mounts. 😬 Oh, heart be still!!

Very nice! Congratulations!

Personally, I wouldn't use it for those purposes. It sets too quickly for planking and isn't dilute enough for rigging.

I recently got an applicator bottle with a very narrow dispensing tube, which is handy in many situations but still tends to dispense too much glue for really tiny parts. Most of the time I use a very small brush, like a 0000 detailer, for applying glue. The type of glue plays a part as well, which is why I have grown fond of the Evergreen Canopy Glue -- it dries remarkably clear and with a matte finish.

Very interesting model! Shall we mark it as 'finished,' or are there still minor details to come?

That is an exceptional model and a real testament to your abilities. Congratulations!

So, got the float-net baskets done. Two on the forward superstructure . . . . . . and three on the aft superstructure. The 'floats' are just pieces of painted styrene rod -- if you use your imagination and don't look too closely, they do kinda look like strands of floats. I also discovered that the faux floats hid most of the basket interiors, so the printed interiors weren't really necessary, just a coat of paint. Interestingly, the aft float baskets are shown in some drawings, but not indicated on any diagrams. But there were parts for five baskets, so I hunted around until I found them in the drawings. Next up will be the hedgehog! Sadly, it only includes the spigots -- no mortar bombs. Sorry! And no, I don't plan to add them -- they would be absurdly tiny, so don't ask!

Just today I began a certain build step with three extra parts on hand. One 'ping' and one 'simply vanished' later, now I have no extra parts. 🙄

Welcome! Quite a few of us are still around from MSW 1.0 -- the survivors of the Great Crash of 2013!

Ah . . . I see that these can be purchased online as after-market details, but not in 1/250 scale. This actually gives me an idea on how to up the detail on the baskets.

Step 22: Bow Details Step 22 shifts the action to the bow, starting with a couple of bin-shaped stowage nets (I think life preservers were stored in these). Three laser-cut brackets are attached to the superstructure wall, and a bin sits inside these. As you can see, the printed part makes a solid structure, which isn't a very convincing stand-in for the real thing. Darius built the prototype bins using some kind of actual mesh, perhaps tulle. That option seemed a bit intimidating, so I hit on a compromise. I made photocopies of the original parts, then cut away an original part's solid top and used one of the copied parts to create a double-sided mesh bin. I think this mid-level of detail is acceptable. Cheers!

I hate those! Almost as infuriating as tiny parts that simply vanish when dropped. 😠

I was able to complete my order last night. The first thing that helped was finally noticing that Przelewy24 has an option for changing the language to English. Then I discovered the PayPal button at the bottom of the list of supported financial institutions. After that it was a piece of cake.

Timely narrative, as I tried to make a first-time purchase from GPM yesterday and ran into similar issues. I'm going to have to try hunting harder for the PayPal link. Part of the difficulty in ordering card models or after-market parts is that the publishers rarely ever reprint stuff, so when it's gone, it's gone. In my case, GPM has some laser-cut frames for some older Kartonowa Kolekcja kits I have, so that's who I have to order from.

Step 21: Torpedo Mount England carried 21" torpedoes in a triple mount. This sub-assembly consisted of 31 parts, 17 of which are from the laser-cut detail set. BTW, I think the mount pedestal is upside down, but the diagram didn't give any hints about which side should go up. Don't tell anyone!