ccoyle

I'm currently building a 12' lapstrake canoe from a kit. I think I will be pleased if it simply floats. Your kayak looks spectacular!

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Well, since turning down your white metal barrels to the correct size is probably not an option, your best bet is to source some replacement guns, such as these from Vanguard Models. They're fairly inexpensive, too.

In my admittedly limited experience, I have always bent sails to yards before installing them. I imagine the job would be a bit of a nightmare to do afterwards.

Hard to tell for sure from your photos, but it looks like you may need some additional bulkhead beveling at the bow and stern.

I had the pleasure of seeing one of these at an air show a number of years ago, where it was definitely the show-stopper among the piston-engined aircraft -- amazingly fast and nimble.

Superb work as usual, BE! Congratulations!

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Depends on how you define "small." 1/96 scale is considered small for wooden ships, and there are plenty of kits in that scale. But if you're talking about a full-size ship built to the size of a 1/64 scale ship's boat, then you're talking about miniatures, and miniatures are nearly always scratch-built. There are exceptions, such as the Mini Mamoli kits, but those are simplified kits that lack a lot of detail.

Yes, this was the JAAF's primary fighter at the time of Pearl Harbor. Most of the JAAF's leading aces scored some or all of their kills in the Ki-43.

This has been known to happen on my models. 🤫

Well, you have a bit of a dilemma there. First of all, missing parts are a nuisance, to be sure, but middlemen retailers are not obligated to replace missing parts (though one, Model Expo, will, if you purchase the kit from them). Replacing missing parts is a form of customer service, and some companies are more responsive on this issue than others. You do more or less need to contact each company on a case-by-case basis. And we do have their contact info here. But not all companies monitor the activity here; sometimes it's an issue of language barrier. So, when you buy a kit, you take your chances. If the manufacturer doesn't respond to your inquiries, remember: Once bit, twice shy.

Die cutting is ancient technology by today's standards. Hope the rest of your build goes well!

Ethalion is such a beautiful model -- your Stefano kit should feel very fortunate to have found its way into the hands of such a skilled builder!

I have always liked this kit subject and am really looking forward to seeing how this goes together. But do finish your other build first! 😉

Nope -- just going with what is shown in the diagrams. Here is the finished cockpit for Spanish Nationalist (SN). And together with White Tail (WT), which already has her inner cockpit skin attached. And that's all until after Christmas. Happy holidays to all!

Wood glue is not absolutely necessary, but some modelers don't trust the durability of CA glue bonds. CA doesn't resist shear stress well, making its bonds somewhat brittle. This isn't a problem if you avoid sudden shocks to your model. But, on the other hand, I once saw a CA-bonded model fall off a table and literally shatter into all of its component parts once it hit the floor. Know the risks and advantages in advance, and then choose whichever glue suits your fancy.

Stunning result -- congratulations!

Back when I taught school in Upland, California, a teacher friend of mine who taught in Oceanside sent me a text that his school had hired a new chemistry teacher -- named Chris Coyle. I thought he was pulling my leg and told him as much, so he sent me the link to the guy's bio on the school's website. Sure enough, that was the guy's name. Small world. Anyways, back to the PWS-10. Here's a couple of shots of the cockpit on "White Tail." First, without the forward bulkhead and instrument panel -- this gives a better view of the framing and other details. The most challenging aspect to this point has been the chipboard. Like I said, it cuts like stone, but afterwards it is very bendy and rather delicate. I'm using the chipboard parts for "White Tail" because WT is a repaint, so I can't guarantee that its parts are a perfect 1-to-1 match for the parts sizes of the original kit, the Spanish Nationalist version, so WT gets the cheaper material. With the forward bulkhead and instrument panel in place, you can already notice that a lot of the fine detail will be difficult to see once the cockpit is skinned. C'est la vie. Now, you might be wondering where the other kit is. Well, there are so many parts in this cockpit build (59 by my count, give or take a few), that I decided to hustle through with this one cockpit first before moving on to the other. That one probably won't be finished soon, because I am heading out to California for Christmas. An unforeseen benefit of this decision (the cockpit, not the California trip) is that I discovered some pitfalls to the build sequence that I will know about in advance for build #2. Until then!

Wood or plastic?

Milestone: Yesterday I finished sanding all of the interior fillets and assorted oopsies. I also cleaned up the puzzle joints. Ridding the hull of all the fine dust posed an interesting problem, because I do not have a suitable vacuum for the task. However, I hit upon a nifty solution. After using a whisk to get most of the dust out, I took the canoe outside and blew the remainder out with my leaf blower. It worked a treat, too! Now, unless I missed something in the instructions (I will double-check, of course), we should be all set for interior fiberglassing.

Hello, Michael. I would assume that the kit is plank-on-bulkhead unless otherwise stated. Plank-on-frame would be a big selling point and would surely be mentioned if such were the case. Cheers!

Doh! I forgot about the plastic kits.

Welcome! Some people would probably say the same for me.

Sadly, these beautiful steel-hulled ships are rarely offered in kit form (they are large models, even in 1/96 scale). There are a few kits available of some of the extant tallships such as the one of Belem manufactured by the French company, Soclaine. Billing Boats has one for Danmark, Woody Joe makes one for Nippon Maru, and there are probably a couple of others that fail my mind at the moment.