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ccoyle

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Everything posted by ccoyle

  1. I assume you mean the Card Army Wildcat kit? It is indeed an awesome kit, but the high price sorta defeats the purpose of doing card models, which are normally substantially less pricey than their wood or plastic cousins. And the Wildcat, while an awesome airplane, is not on my short list of must-have models. Now, if Marcin publishes a Corsair, either through Card Army or Halinski, I will be all over that kit like a tornado on a trailer park.
  2. Welcome, Steve! Those are all good kits, but a bit dated in terms of design. Chris Watton, who designed Lady Nelson and Sherbourne, now runs his own company, Vanguard Models, and has released some excellent designs that are geared toward beginning modelers. You can check out his kit offerings here. Chris also carries kits from Master Korabel, which are also great kits, well engineered and including pre-spiled (i.e. shaped) planking, but in a smaller scale (1/72) that beginners may have trouble with. Lots of other good choices out there as well. Cutters, like the kits you listed, make for good first models.
  3. Welcome, Melissa! It sounds like you are taking a wise approach to the hobby. I have no reason to doubt you will be successful. I had an 8" reflector on a Dobson mount not too many years ago. It was great when I used to live in the sticks near Yosemite NP, but now I live in suburbia, and there is way too much light pollution. Cheers! P.S. Some of my ancestors were early residents of New Amsterdam.
  4. So, I have discovered that GPM, from whom I've never ordered, carries the Card Army line, but so far they only have the first issue, a Yak-7B, in stock. That model can be purchased, along with the frames, canopy, and wheels, for $46.53. For comparison, a similar package for the Yak-1 can be had from Halinski for $31.89 -- and remember, Halinski are some of the most expensive kits out there.
  5. Well, for me, it would certainly take a long time. Answer is also offering the kit as a package deal along with a canopy, laser-cut parts, and resin wheels, all for $66.00. It's nice of them to quote us a price in $US -- now all they need to do is actually ship stuff here.
  6. Just for fun . . . Whilst browsing around on the ol' internet, I found this new release by a new company called Card Army. The kit is designed by Marcin Dworzecki, whose other models have been published by Halinski, a.k.a. Kartonowy Arsenal. Halinski models are recognized as the most detailed and difficult card models out there, but this new kit is like a Halinski kit on steroids. You can see for yourself by flipping through the sample diagram pages at the link I provided above. Yikes! Unhappily, the level of detail in this kit is matched by its price -- $42.67 is the MSRP for the kit alone, though it is currently on sale for "only" $33.00. Equally unhappily, the kit appears to be available only from Answer, and they don't ship to the U.S, so my bank account is safe -- for now. 😮 BTW, I have the old Halinski Wildcat kit, published back in 1998. It's not a bad kit, but it pales in comparison, especially since Halinski kits didn't achieve their current levels of sophistication until about 2003.
  7. Yes, one way or another. 😆 By this time I have built plenty of card radial engines, and I have learned several lessons: Error creep is a real possibility when so many parts are involved. One needs to make sure that the finished cylinders are not too tall and will fit inside the cowling when that time comes. It is not always necessary to use all of the included parts. Thanks to the strange oil cooler on this aircraft, this engine will be even less than the usual visible, so I doubt that perfection will be needed. BTW, I have cut out 98 parts so far. 😁
  8. Don't do that. We're a big, international family; sometimes we have disagreements, which is only natural, and sometimes things get lost in the confusion of English as a second language.
  9. This next bit is the engine firewall, engine block, and annular oil cooler. I haven't entirely glued them all together yet, as I still need to build and attach the cylinders to the block first. Each cylinder consist of 15 parts ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Pardon me -- for a second there I was losing my grip on my sanity, but I think I'm okay now. Yes, 14 cylinders at 15 parts each makes 210 parts in total. Fun. 🥴
  10. I used to build 1/700 back in the pre-PE days. Nowadays, I could never afford all of the extra goodies, and my eyesight ain't what it used to be.
  11. Okay, the canopy and gun sight are now done. I had to cut the frames apart and fiddle around with them a bit to get them to fit, and the canopy is not a 100% fit either, as I mentioned earlier, but it will do.
  12. I'm glad to see you building this. I've often wondered what sort of challenge this kit would present.
  13. Yep, these paper hulls can be tricky. I'll let you know when I've gotten one "just right" -- but don't stay up waiting. There's an after-market 3-D printed hull available for HMV's USS England -- it ain't cheap at $64, but that's what Christmas lists are made for.
  14. A great way to look for potential first builds is to search build log titles using the keywords "finished first build." Those parameters returned 95 results, which you can peruse here. Enjoy!
  15. I built this kit way back when I was a kid, but back then the destroyer was said to be HMS Ashanti. Just to make sure, I looked up the F75 pennant number, which is indeed that of Eskimo. Interestingly, I can't confirm that either of those ships was present when Ark Royal was sunk on 13 Nov 1941. The original Revell box art appears to based on wartime images of either HMS Legion (G74) or HMS Lightning (G55) taking survivors off of Ark Royal; both of those ships were L-class destroyers.
  16. Generally speaking, they are kit-specific, though I have on at least one occasion made a canopy for one kit work for another. But my luck ran out -- this canopy was produced for a Halinski kit, and the canopy for that kit was obviously a slightly different design.
  17. Well, I have hit an unpleasant snag. I started work on the canopy, using the vacu-formed canopy I ordered along with the kit. I am using double-sided tape on the canopy framing, and have cut the frames into smaller sections than are printed in the kit, just to make handling the spindly frame pieces easier to deal with. The problem is: the vacu-formed canopy is not the right size and shape. I suspected this as soon as I applied the first piece of framing, and additional framing has only made the problem more apparent. So, that kind of sapped my modeling mojo for the day. I will report again once I have sorted things out.
  18. Elevators complete. And since there was so much recent interest in the cans on my desk, I've made sure that they feature prominently in this shot. 😜
  19. Very nice work! Build log titles can only be edited from post #1. I've got this one covered for you. Cheers!
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