CDW

Love that plane. Your model really did justice to “the last gunfighter”.

Yes Jack. That’s the lake. I could hardly recall the name of it, much less spell it correctly. You are THE MAN. 😳

We wanted to visit the observatory atop Mount Washington but have run out of time. Will have to do it on our next visit. It’s the highest peak in the eastern USA. It’s also the site where the highest wind speed has been recorded, 231 mph. Hope I’m not there when that record gets broken. We fly out for home tomorrow.

I thought this lake in the mountains was amazing. Over 200 feet deep and more than 300 miles of coast along its banks.

Left to right is our oldest daughter, our baby daughter, then the Admiral. The baby got accepted at SNHU, by the way. She landed two scholarships and a grant.

It has a radiator on the front but could not see an engine under that front cover. In the cab, there is something that looks like a boiler. We took a six hour train ride through the mountains. It was a highlight of this trip. Lots more pics when we get home. This phone is awkward for internet.

More to see tomorrow, lots more. Have taken well over 400 pics. Train pics galore. This little engine looked interesting. In the White Mountains, not sure but guessing a logging engine of some kind? A Plymouth.

Thanks dude. I'm flying out of here in a few more hours...got my bags all packed and thinking about whether there's something I have forgotten to take. I pack light anyway. My wife and daughter are another story...they pack like...everything. It will cost me when we check in our baggage. 😵

a serious lapse of good judgement 😄 wonder what the hell he was thinking?

I would be surprised if the Infini set did not come with pieces to help replace those anchor chains. And yes, you can find replacement chain. You'll need to carefully cut away the molded on chain using an XActo chisel blade or something similar.

This is an ambitious project Mike. You've got your work cut out for you, and just remember, slow and steady wins the race. I like your selection of aftermarket items to detail the Shimy. Those three quintuplet torpedo launchers look formidable. The Japanese had devastating torpedoes. Warhead, speed and range were remarkable.

I agree 100%. Glen's boiler work and piping looks amazing.

I've never seen inside the box of the Tamiya Tirpitz. Does it include the torpedo tubes? Look on Ebay for the 1:350 Merit John F. Kennedy CV kit. It consists of a whopping 1,200 + parts count including some photo etch. A much more modern kit that the Tamiya Enterprise. You would probably only need paint and glue for that model along with your conversion parts. I've seen it as low as $199 with shipping included from Hong Kong.

You made a wise choice for a plastic warship R/C conversion. Your investment won't break the bank, and not much else looks as cool as the Tirpitz. I love that box art camo pattern.

For that price, it should come with an airplane ride and the pilot's autograph. 😎

Not a lot of progress, but something is better than nothing. Got my hands on the set of Tamiya polishing compounds with a set of their applicators. Really great stuff as usual from Tamiya. Don't know where you would find anything better for models, it comes with coarse, fine and polishing (extra fine) tubes of compounds. Really makes short work of putting a super shine on your model paint job or for polishing clear plastic. I highly recommend it. I'll be making some radiator hose next, then paint and build the remainder of the chassis assembly. Most likely won't have time to finish this project before we leave for a vacation.

You'll just have to do like all the rest of us and consider yourself a work in progress. You will learn new things, get more proficient, and better with time and practice. I never ever build a model I am totally satisfied with. I think in a way, that's a big part of what keeps me interested.

Lou said he built his models, then without painting them, went straight to flocking. That alone is going to cause issues with the color of the finished job. The surface needs to first be painted the color (or close to it) of the flocking you're going to use. Second, no matter how tempting it might be, you don't touch the flocking until it's thoroughly dry. Touching it before it dries will cause serious issues. If you use white glue as the adhesive for the flocking, you could easily wash it off with water if you didn't like the results. In my view, it's a low risk/no risk proposition.

This ship has a narrow beam compared to a US or Japanese carrier. Not sure how that might play into it's stability.

Interesting. That's exactly how i detail paint with a brush and/or an airbrush...use my non-dominant hand/wrist/arm as a guide for the dominant.

1. You can generally touch up with a brush, but you will likely get by without any touch up at all. 2. Yes, and yes. For many modelers, it's easier to grab the spray can and go. However, for finer work and control, I like the bottle primer through an airbrush. This is the same paint that's in the spray can. You need to reduce it yourself using Tamiya lacquer reducer, not their acrylic reducer. https://www.scalehobbyist.com/catagories/Paint_and_Construction/liquid-surface-primer-white/TAM00087096/product.php?kw=tamiya,primer 3. You are going to get a wide variety of opinion on this question. Your own experience is going to be the best teacher. My opinion: Tamiya is far superior to Vallejo. It just goes down much smoother, much more trouble-free than Vallejo. The down side, Tamiya has far less color selection than Vallejo and is subject to availability issues which are related to Tamiya's production and distribution practices. Tamiya does not produce and distribute paint all year 'round. Don't ask, because I don't know why, that's just the way it is. When your distributor runs of of flat white (for example), there won't be any more available until the next production run and sometimes that's months. Vallejo is notorious for causing airbrush clogging issues, often a real pain in the butt. Tamiya paints often must be mixed yourself to get the particular color you want. Paint mix ratios can be found all over the net, just search. it's not hard to do, but a lot of modelers find that to be too inconvenient. It's a personal preference. 4. Tamiya primer is a lacquer based paint. You can paint practically anything on top of it. What you don't want to do is paint a lacquer on top of an enamel. That will be a disaster. You can paint a lacquer on top of an acrylic. It just needs to be done in light coats. Heavy coats of lacquer paint can seep down through the primer and attack the plastic causing cracks and crazing of the paint. Big problems.