Egilman

I've tried them all..... But, the anyconv.com is one I haven't seen just yet.... For an example this is one of the drawings I want to convert..... None of the converters have worked this is a standard two color jpg 30x42 E1 sized paper.... it is the lightning mast from the top of a Saturn V LUT 300dpi..... If a converter can't handle this simple drawing then it won't work... I've also tried it on drawings that I've cleaned up from US Navy Booklets of General Plans, they don't work there either There is a process for doing this in cad..... I believe it is posted right here in the site..... Lemme check... Yes by Rex Boocock.... https://thenrg.org/articles/creating-new-ship-drawings (downloadable as a PDF as well) Then there is this by Wayne Kempson.... https://thenrg.org/resources/Documents/articles/DraftingShipPlansInCAD.pdf Excellent treatises on how to do it.... That's the methods I use... EG

Very correct, in production auto coachworks of the day, usually 5-7+ coats hand rubbed which produced not only a very reflective shine but a deep color depth which looked like you could "see" into the paint, the color was solid but has this almost surface transparent effect, it can't be duplicated with clear coats.... This is the reason that custom shops doing lacquer finishes will usually do 20+ coats hand rubbing between each coat to produce the very smooth and rich finish that custom car owners cherish and will pay big bucks for.... Bonus is the lacquer dries so hard you seldom need a protective coating for them.... The closest they have come with enamels is the 2k or 4k diamond finish products, but in my opinion, they are not the quality finish of hand rubbed lacquer..... Basically the point of the diamond finishes are to produce the shine of lacquer without putting in the work prep needed for a good lacquer finish...... They will never reproduce the depth of color a properly applied lacquer finish will produce though.....

A good job on a very difficult model my friend..... If anyone else is interested in taking a shot at this, they are available as they are still being produced by Heller.... In September of 2016, Airfix Model World published a build article on this kit, by Matt Bacon, pages 78-86. It does mention the difficulties with what they call the "front wings" (meaning the front fenders) He also says it's not for the beginner, but AMW lists it as an intermediate skill model.... It is a classic car, and a classic Heller kit.... 1938 Delahaye 135M Coupe Sport..... Want one in real life? save your pennies, about a billion and a half's worth... {chuckle}

Having studied steel naval warships for many decades, (mostly US Navy) I've yet to see an image of an in-service warship allowed to get that rusty.... (but I have seen it in mothballed/reserve fleet ships) THERE! it's been said..... Now that it's been said my friend, I'm gonna tell you what matters most...... YOU! and how you view it.... It is going to sit on your shelf and represents your vision of how it should look.... so it should be a display of your talents.... and this is an expose of talent in prodigious quantity and ability.... Don't worry about it my friend, people who bring it up either haven't researched one nor walked a deck... I would say that they haven't even built a model before so they do not understand what they are seeing.... I'll admit that I'm not a fan of heavy rust on anything, (even my tanks look clean) but what I'm seeing here is modelers art at a level that few can match.... Very, very well done...... EG

That is stunningly beautiful my friend, a brilliant execution of a powerful animal in action.... Understated but elegant as well...... Your getting very good at figures brother....

Wow! nice work..... That fender and hood assembly is going to be a nightmare, doesn't appear to me to be any clear mounting points except the fender points on the body, the front fender seem to just float with no clear connection point.... (according to the instructions) So my suggestion would be to follow the cowl/hood line, they have to match as they set the body lines-hood position, the rear fender points set the fender location, and devising a place/way to securely connect the front grille... A nightmare in reality.... An issue would be the tips of the fenders molded to the body, that joint has to be clean, almost perfect, and will still be the weak point..... I would make sure their mating surfaces are square and clean on both the body and fender.... the two bumper mount holes in the fender part should line up with the ends of the frame rails if it is accurate.... This will locate the part vertically on the front end... with the bumper supports going thru should be a good locator for the fenders... But checking that the hood lines up with the cowl is where any inaccuracies will show.... A beautiful kit, a real challenge in assembly.... I found a build log from 2015 that shows this problem on this exact kit..... (don't know if it is permissible to post such here, if it isn't please delete it) https://skidsplace.forumotion.com/t2468-1935-delahaye-135-heller-1-24 Hope it helps Craig... EG

There is no way to directly and automatically convert a JPG file, (raster based) to a Corel file or any vector based file for that matter..... The best option is to load the jpg file into corel as a background and trace it into a seperate vector file then export it to a format the laser cutter can read.... There are two advantages to this, it will be straight and accurate and you can scale it....

Yep, Bong was a young fighter jock, pulled several stunts during his career, like looping the Golden Gate bridge with three other pilots on June 12th '42, buzzing market street in San Francisco at a reported height of 50 ft, and a civilian complaint of flying so low over a neighborhood that his prop wash blew a lady's laundry off her clothesline.... He was grounded for those incidents and several others when his unit shipped out to Europe..... (got a royal chewing from none other than Gen Kenney himself for it) He was eventually assigned to a unit going to Australia and the SWPA..... soon flying out of Port Moresby, they didn't have any Lightnings at that point, (early in the SWPA P-38's were very scarce) so he was assigned temporarily to another unit flying P-40's so he could get some combat experience... This is when he got his first two victories, a Zeke and an Oscar I believe, he was awarded the Silver Star for it..... He was one heck of a pilot....

I think that is the safest approach brother.... She is going to be a beauty....

Craig, I believe that those are the lower hood side panels, I would approach it by cementing them to the lower edge of the hood sides then adjusting them to fit the frame.... Front and rear location would be set by the streamlined grille which they abut in the front.... I would temporarily affix the grill to the hood using tape, using tube cement spot glue the panel parts to the hood sides, then test fit to the frame..... All you would have to adjust, if needed would be the side heights to make sure the hood is level, again if needed.... Once fitted, remove the grille.... if they are part of the hood, permanently glue them to the hood, if they are part of the frame/body, permanently glue them to the frame then separate the hood.... From what I see, that would be my approach... yes the instructions are a bit less than completely clear.... Check your reference photos.... EG Edit: I found a reference.... I've got two shots... You see the hood, grille and the lower panel, that sets the point of mating.... (all that left is to determine if they are body parts or hood parts.... Next pic... The lower body panel of the pic is the part your looking at, so they are body panels and need to be glued to the frame.... Knowing this, I would change my approach and use tape for all temp attachments and use the hood and grille as the locator for these parts, removing the grille before permanently gluing them to the frame..... I hope this helps... EG

Yes, I had some left over from KGV Thanks Greg, They are gorgeous aren't they.... Personally I think they (Infini) offer the best looking 1/350th scale small caliber AA weapons even beating out the resin guys.... I have their water cooled .50 cal set and they look every bit as good as those 20mm's.... (and they give you enough of them) Believe it or not, those pedestal bases and barrels are turned brass, not PE.... amazing quality, and looks way better than PE ever could....

The maneuver was called the "Lockheed Stomp", it also involved dropping the flap on the side of the retarded engine, you could almost rotate the plane in the air.... (the p-38 had individually actuated flaps which could be used as airbrakes) They would also use the individual flaps to increase roll rate for sharper/faster turns..... The P-38 was an amazing aircraft, way ahead of it's time..... Dick Bong almost became a Bombardier, he had a problem in air to air gunnery and almost failed it in advanced flight school..... he could not get the idea of converging bullet streams and a ring reticle lead computing gunsight.... A great pilot, he barely passed gunnery training...... (by his own words he was a bad shot) The P-38 solved his problem.... The army wanted to ship both him and MaGuire back home after 38 victories feeling that the risk was too great at losing them for their propaganda value, Bong refused and threatened to resign, but agreed to stop flying combat.... (he became a gunnery instructor of all things) But he would take up aircraft on his own from time to time... and there was two sets of gun camera films that showed that he got two more making his total 40 and the brass (Gen. Kenny) had enough and ordered him home...... I would say not bad for a guy who claimed he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in a fighter aircraft...... A great pilot, it's a shame we lost him the way we did....

That is one heck of a vision my friend.... And excellent execution of such.... An artist at work..... Well done, I'll bet the finished item it going to be even more spectacular....

Now that is very sharp!!!! Another beautiful lady getting ready for an evening on the boulevard!!!! Well done sir....

Ah, Suggestion.... Your SK2 & SG radars, (that square bedspring looking thing on the top of the mast and the small oval curved dish on the short mast behind it) should be pointed in the other direction.... The supporting frame of the SK is on the rear of the radar, the flat surface of the SK should face the bow of the ship as well as the curved inner surface of the SG antenna..... Just a minor quibble, the rest looks on the money.... Not that it would never be seen in that position, (it rotated at 5 rpm when in operation) usually facing forward or at a slight angle to forward is the photogenic position for radars.... EG

That kit is probably one of the better ones to start with if your an experienced modeler that hasn't done 1/350 ships before, like you said, a modern molding so the parts are well fitting and the included PE isn't that involved.... Certainly better than starting with a Yamato.... It's big enough to be interesting, yet not so complicated with details that it becomes a long drawn out build.... Nice PE skills as well..... I hope you don't mind if I sit in?.....

My pleasure brother, I've always believed that being able to see how it was really done helps with making display judgments given the level of details being added to model kits today.... so much detail that it's hard to show it all in real life situations... This is why the modeler takes a bit of artistic license when setting up a display.... My last Corsair had one wing folded and one down & locked, and I've done a TBF that way as well and as you can see that in real life, the TBF's wing fold was hydraulic and simultaneous.... My personal opinion on US navy folded wings? they look best when you have several aircraft packed together on the deck.... but that's just my opinion and I'll build them with one wing folded again..... EG I'm only sure of one thing, whatever way you decide to finish & display her, she will be gorgeous....

Mike, I found this video on youtube, it consists of landing and respotting of an escort carrier flight deck around early '43... Wildcats and Avengers..... Probably in the Atlantic somewhere... It's a training film explaining basic Flight Deck procedures.... Note how the wings are folded with the wildcats and where the Ammo is installed, the ammo is installed from underneath the wing while they are folded as soon as they can install it... The belts are loaded into the guns with the wings horizontal from the top of the wing.... Note the wing holdback cords and stick/control surface lock cord.... You can actually see the tell-tale that pops up when the wings are unlocked and how fast it all happens... A really neat film... One of the better videos showing standard practice... EG

In standard practice, the panels would be off only on the Hanger Deck, which means that predominantly the wings would be folded, even for the life raft compartment... All maintenance was done on the hanger deck...

So, in essence, you didn't stop modeling, you just chose a different scale.... Nice work by the way..... gonna be sharp when you polish that body......

Mike, it would make a wonderful display, but it would be more like a one side shows one situation and the other side shows another.... Here's two shots of Wildcats on the deck of the USS Wasp off Africa....... Arming.... Usually done on the flight deck while they were working up for a mission..... And another shot off the same ship earlier, (still has the yellow ringed national insignias) showing gun accurization and testing.... Essentially, they never worked on the guns on the hangar deck and when they were on the hanger deck the wings were folded.... It was this way on all carriers during this period of time, arming guns, bombs and torpedoes was handled on the flight decks.... Way to dangerous to do it on the hanger deck..... And as you can see in the first pics where they are arming the machine guns, when lined up to be armed, they are on the flight deck with wings folded waiting their turn, wings are unfolded for arming, and once armed, they are spotted for flight operations.... This was always the preflight prep procedure throughout WWII..... I believe through today as well....

Are those Infini 20mms?

Another classic, finished to work of art standard....... Impressive execution of an impressive model.... Very well done......

You haven't missed it my friend, I try to share what I've investigated and leaned when preparing a build, and in this case, there is a lot of history to be shared.... They don't want to teach this history, my opinion is they don't want the young'uns knowing what our history actually is, what it means to be an american, it's easier to manipulate them that way.... The way I build my stuff is in essence (I hope) of giving the establishment social brainwashers the middle finger.... True stories that need to be told.... I'm very thankful for my brothers that share their experiences and stories.... The more we build, the more we teach.... The more the memories/wisdom lives on.....

I originally thought she had some 20mm aboard as well until Rick Davis clued me into all four ships AA fit during the Doolittle raid...... They were in the process of installing 20mm's in the fleet in early '42 and they were in very short supply, BB's and CA's had priority over destroyers so they got the preponderance of them when they became available.... The destroyers got the .50's taken off the BB's & Cruisers, as many as they could fit given the weight handicap these ships functioned under..... Her "ultimate" fit as decided by the Bureau of Ships was 9 20mm's, but she didn't get them till after her post raid refit at Pearl.... the Meredith, Greyson and Monssen had a few but none had their full complement till after the raid at least... They all had a mixed bag of AA guns, 20mm's and .50's until late '42 when they started getting bofors twins at which point all the .50's were removed...... They were in constant flux on installed AA fit during their lifetimes so pinning them down to a specific timeline or point in their service life they could be very different.... The final armament fit of the Greyson during the war was 4 5"/38's, no torpedo tubes, a pair of quad bofors, a pair of twin bofors and 4 twin 20mm's, (known as the "kamikaze" update, during the raid she had 8 .50's and 4 20mm's)....... They were constantly being updated every time they hit a yard....