Egilman

I will enjoy watching this come together....

Popeye, or if I may call you Denis? First, Moebius #1301 is the 2010 International Prostar Tractor, and Moebius #1302 is the 53' Great Dane smoothside trailer to match. It even has the roll-up door on the back..... They go together I suspect. There was an aftermarket resin supplier from Europe that used to do a Cascadia conversion kit, but it is no longer among his website offerings and besides, he is on temporary hiatus due to the CV-19 virus. Hopefully he comes back. You would be in the $130.00 range for both. I understand SWMBO's and marching orders The last kit combo I bought and she was suggesting that I might take a trip to the moon if I bought another . (1/72 scale Dragon Saturn V and the Apollo 10 setup) I checked the transfer yard they built at the rear of our Wally World yesterday, all Cascadia's except for one Prostar & two Lonestar's, the Cascadia is the better looking truck in my opinion. Yeah they are both Fruehauf FB's AMT has released this kit in many different livery's over the years with and without the reefer unit. It represents the cutting edge of trailer construction long about 1963-66 or so...... but it still sells although it pretty much represents nothing currently on the road. And I'm building a '77 Hobbs dry goods van, which were built by Fruehauf anyways so the details are right on the money. Of course in the train of kitbashing this, most of the locator pins have to come off, they don't line up anymore. So I'm still kind figuring a way to line them up correctly.... (probably install my own locators and reinforcements but haven't yet figured out exactly how yet) Anyway, just having fun here while in self imposed viral lockdown. EG

I'm very happy you are enjoying it, I keep practicing my plastic hacking and someday, hopefully, I'll get good at it.... EG

Tractor build is unfortunately on hiatus waiting for parts...... So we continue by starting the second half of this build, the trailer....... First off the kits..... The kit at the top is a 2019 AMT holiday Coca-Cola van, a 40' Fruehauf model FB. The kit at the bottom is a 1970 AMT Watkins reefer trailer model FB. believe it or not, except for the reefer unit in the '70 kit, they are identical. The instructions.... As the base model I'm using the newer kit and the older kit for the parts to enlarge the trailer to the proper scale size. (the older kit is a builder and not a collector grade kit) The parts..... The trailer measures 19 1/16th inches long not counting the reefer unit, this is a hair short for a 40' trailer in 1/25th scale. And I need to lengthen it to a scale 48' which should be 23 1/16th inches long so it's four inches I need to add to get to the correct scale length. Well let's examine the parts.... The parts are highly detailed, actually amazingly detailed.... Side beading and rivet details...... Looks just like the beading details on the side of the movie trailers..... The inner roof panel.... Shows the cross ribbing to support the roof.... (very glad this detail is there makes the decision on where and how to cut easy) Why does this aid the rescaling of the trailer length? Well, on the real world trailer those ribs are on 2' centers so if I need to add 8 scale feet, and the rib distances are in scale, all I have to do is cut and insert 4 sections from one roof into the other.... so are the ribs to scale? Laying the rule down next to the roof, we see that the ribs start out pretty much on 1" centers, at 1/24th scale, 1" centers are perfect, but we are working in 1/25th scale.... the centers should be gradually falling behind the inch marks on the ruler... Checking the other end, and yes they do fall a little behind the ruler graduations as they reach the length of the trailer, the ribs are in scale... I need to cut out four bays..... I don't count the first bay because it carries the door jamb for the rear doors so I take the next four bays off the old trailer roof. Next is taking the first bay off the new trailer roof..... (trusty razor saw works great here) Then cleaning the edges, mating them, and checking the length...... Ahhh!, 23 1/16th inch long and perfectly straight. but while they were seperated I used both pieces as templates to cut the sides and floor of the trailer.... (you can see the parts under the razor saw in the above picture) So, how did we do with the bead details on the sides of the trailer following this procedure? The joint line won't photograph, the older kits plastic is seriously yellowed over time compared to the newers pristine white and that is the only way to tell where the join is.... So what does a 48' trailer side look like compared to a 40' trailer side? Extending the floor panel..... And the other side..... Now, I have a trailer that is the correct length.... Next step, accurizing the trailers bullnose..... and checking for scale height......

Prayin for your speedy recovery....... We are pretty much on lockdown already we are both well over 60 and the SO is recovering from pneumonia already.... not fun and it takes a while they tell us.... Please stay in touch if possible......

Next up, Wheels and Tires..... The Truck had ten hole Alcoa aluminum wheels..... In the kit they are chromed which had to be stripped off before assembly. Chrome is applied to plastic parts the same way it is applied to car parts, Electroplating. What they do is spray the rack of parts with a conductive lacquer which allows the electrolysis process to take place. So when stripping you need to remove both the plating and the lacquer. This is not an easy proposition. back in the day the usual product used for stripping chrome was concentrated Chlorine Bleach. Good old Clorox. Pour some into an open container and allow the parts to soak til the chrome was gone, a process that usually took a couple of hours. Except this is 40 years later and the concentrated bleach isn't as concentrated as it once was. After three days, there were still large patches of chrome remaining and it wasn't touching the lacquer. Time to find a new stripping medium. I knew of all the other suggested mediums which work to some extent, (oven cleaner, brake fluid, windex and a brush, etc. etc.) I discovered a relatively new product for completely stripping chrome off plastic parts. It is called "Super Clean" I use it in a closeable jar, (1pt mason jar) and just drop the parts in. Within three hours soak, the chrome is gone, overnight the lacquer is gone. No scrubbing, no unpleasant smells, simple and easy, a clear water rinse afterwards and your good to go. And the mason jar of super clean is good for several kits before it needs changing and another plus it is biodegradable and non toxic, I mean, I wouldn't drink it after all it is a powerful oxidant chemical but it will not hurt the septic system or anything in nature... Modern chemical technology..... The stock AMT wheels consist of 20 parts. A rim and a seperate front bead. Ten vinyl soft tires mount to the rims much like the real thing. The first step is to clean the flash from all the parts. that is what I'm doing with the pin vise, drilling out all the holes..... Then we glue the individual front beads to the rims..... In the back of the pic above the frame you can see the two front wheels already done with their tires mounted. (test fit)... Wheels all glued up and cured overnight, one of the problems with AMT split rims is they do not stand up to mounting and remounting the tires, the separate front rim will split off, so this is a tricky part. and they are ready for initial painting.... Painted and Tires mounted, actually beginning to look like something here. The fronts are slipped onto the front axle temporarily and I'm getting ready to assemble the duals. and, I run into another major problem.... (two problems in fact) First, the drums mounting flat does not match the flats inside the rims they are a full eighth of an inch too large! The rims do not fit the drums out of the BOX!!! Looking inside the drums, there isn't enough material to simply turn the mating surface down to fit the rims. Major surgery here to fix this...... The second problem is with the vinyl tires, they stretch, particularly around the bead area when mounting and unmounting them which means they do not stay where they belong on the rims.... Very poor situation for such an expensive otherwise well made kit. Also no way to correct this easily with the kit parts. Now I'm sure that Round 2 will replace the bad parts, but they will be sending the same parts that do not work now. So that is kinda defeating the purpose.... So I'm stuck now I cannot continue until I resolve the Wheel/Tire issue. Probably go aftermarket and replace the entire set of rubber.... Besides the vinyl tires in these kits have a habit of not ageing well. remember the old vinyl car seats and what happened to them after a few years? all cracked and split? well the same thing happens to these vinyl tires over time, they dry out, split and fall apart..... Yeah, Aftermarket is the way to go.... Resin wheels and true rubber tires.... So the tractor build is now on hold..... awaiting suspension parts and replacement wheels and tires...... Don't know what else to do at this point...... But then again, I have an entire 48' trailer to kitbash...... Next up, kitbashing a 48' Hobbs reefer van trailer......

yep.... (online photo of the paint scheme I applied)

Paint and decals look pretty good to me also..... I built this kit a couple of decades ago.... I painted it up in it's USAAC version...... Unfortunately it met it's fate many years ago when grandson was doing touch and goes with it.... (he couldn't quite get the correct rate of descent when trying to land, he always picked short runways also) Good looking bird, the night penetrators were especially disliked by the Luftwaffe....

You wouldn't find it in the operations manual, you will find it in the maintenance manual for the IHC M-3 Halftrack Look up these tech manuals..... TM-9-707 1943 IHC Halftracks TM-9-710 1944 Basic Half-Track Vehicles -White, Autocar and Diamond T TM-9-1710 1942 Powertrain (Axles, Transmission and Propeller Shaft) for Half-Track Vehicles TM-9-1710C 1942 Chassis and Body for Half-Track Vehicles They are all available for download online in PDF format everything you could ever want to know about WWII half tracks and they specifically cover the M-14 multiple gun motor carriage. the only difference between it and the M-16 was the M-14 had two .50 cals and the M-16 had four.

The reason they changed from the Torsion Bar to Walking Beam was the problems people were having assembling it. unlike the resin aftermarket, the kits torsion bars were separated from it anchors. which meant alignment problems and small gluing areas for attachment... It was very fiddly to get correct and then if built correctly very fragile...... In researching the truck, I had an email exchange with one of the property masters that worked the film and he told me what the trucks were model wise and when I asked him if they were true W925's he said yes..... I later confirmed this with a couple of shots from the making of forum... (no longer online unfortunately) Prior to 1970 heavy trucks were designated by their axle weights and suspension types. W925 stoof for "9" series truck, "2" for tandem axel, and "5" for type of suspension... and the "5" was torsion bar... The breakdown runs like this.... K121/W921 (4x2) Single rear axle. Spring, air, or torsion bar suspension. K122/W922 (6x2) Tandem rear axles(one is a drive axle, and one is a pusher/tag axle) spring(not sure about air) K123/W923 (6x4) Tandem drive axles 45,000# GVW spring(Hendrickson Walking Beam or similar) or air K124/W924 (6x4) Tandem drive axles 55,000# GVW spring or air K125/W925 (6x4) Tandem drive axles 46,000# with torsion bar suspension A note on the K & W designations.... "K" stands for Kent, "W" for Worthington. those were the last names of the partners that created Kenworth Trucks a contraction of their two names. in the model designations the Kent Series were the cabovers the Worthington series were the conventionals.... The first number was the model number so the 9 represents the 9th design for a conventional truck the two stands for the number of axles and the last number for the type of suspension.... since the '73 in the movie was registered as a W925, it tells you everything you need to know to put the correct suspension on the truck...

He doesn't, the bogies are driven by a rear axle with differential just like any other wheeled vehicle... when you go into the turn, the differential handles the difference in inner to outer speed.... The rear return roller just freewheels....

Step 2, The Frame... 13 parts, fairly well detailed. one of the things I've noticed about these early AMT kits is the level of accurate detail. It is right up there with many of today's models in the accuracy department. There are other issues with this late '60's injection molding tech, but they didn't short the details. First step checking for rail straightness.... As we can easily see the left hand rail is not straight, (they are upside down in the pic) but I can work with it. (this was after several hours of hot water bath and gentle persuasion to bring it back straighter than it was out of the box) The cross members are in two halves believe it or not, this makes it easier to assemble. I've painted them black on the interior sides cause you will never get spray into all the nooks once it is assembled.... Note you can still see the curve to the left side rail laying flat on the table.... Now the instructions say to mount all the cross members to the left side frame first and then cap it with the right side, But doing that with a bent frame rail with result in a bent frame. We of course need this frame to be as straight as possible.... So what I'm doing here is taking the strongest cross members and mounting them first..... (you can still see the curve to the frame) Glued together and left to fully cure. the tail is square and the long sides of the crossmembers give a large contact area to pull the two sides straight..... I mounted the four remaining cross members one at a time, using the rule to set a straight edge while the glue set. this allows the curved left rail to be drawn into alignment with the right side and hold there... the end result? straight as an arrow with no warps..... At this point, I check scale, and it's right on the nose! at 1/25th scale it should be just under 12" long Next step is adding the suspension parts Standard leaf spring straight axle front end and Hendrickson Walking Beam rear end. Now I'm not mounting the rear suspension cause I will be changing it to the required Torsion Bar suspension... I'm using it to support the frame while assembling the front end..... Front suspension completed except for painting, I took the pic here so you can see the detail. once it is painted black it will disappear.... Aftermarket Torsion bar suspension, comes out of Australia.... on the right there is a second Battery box step from Round 2 models for the curbside of the truck. Laid out you get a general idea of what the torsion bar suspension actually is, they ride outside the frame rails and connect to the axles by way of linkages that twist the bar when one side or other need to travel up or down... a very smooth riding system I'm told but many truckers especially heavy haulers say it doesn't have the load carrying capacity of the walking beams. Hence they don't like it.... But this also reveals my first hitch/hickup on this build, the linkages to attach the axles to the bars are not in the package everything else if there but the four parts needed to make it work. The gentleman from australia tells me that he will make them up and get them out to me. but it may be a while. The guys who do the aftermarket in the truck modeling world manufacture to order. Which means that when you order you go on the production list behind those that ordered before you... The suspension kit took a full month to get to me... and now I have to wait another month for the linkages.... so to save the gent the shipping, I ordered a few more parts I would eventually need. another month later, they arrive in good shape. I'm sure you guessed it, no linkages... Turns out he got his orders mixed up and sent the replacement linkages to another modeler. I'm now waiting on the linkages... but I figured that I would go ahead and assemble the Walking Beam suspension so I can at least continue the build..... Thank you for looking in and following along.... Next up Wheels and Tires.......

That's the trailer from SATB II, they used a GMC General SWB to haul it around. It's a 40 footer also and it's the right height, but it has more problems than it's worth to convert it to the first movies trailer. #1 is the curbside door in the side. All of that door detail would have to be eliminated and then the beading/rivet detail replicated over the repair.... I'm sure it can be done, just more work than needed to replicate the trailer from the first movie... The 4 Trans-Am's used in the original movie were '76's with a '77 nose bolted onto it for the movie. It had a Rocket 455 (7.5L) with dual quads for an engine and not the 6.6 litre. When they finally brought the '77 to the dealers and people bought it expecting the performance the car in the movie gave, they were real disappointed. 400 cu in small block does not make the performance of a 455 cu in big block. and Pontiac dropped the 455 rocket for the '77 model year.... People still bought the car in massive quantities though if only for the look. Sheriff Justice's car in the original movie was a '76 Pontiac Commander a police version of the Lemans 4 door sedan. It had a police version of the 455 ci in it but only a single quad carb. Sheriff Justice in SATB II drove a pretty generic chevy caprice sedan that was pretty much a standard sedan, nothing special.... Of course when making SATB II they had the full cooperation of GM which gave them their pick of anything they wanted for the brand placement as long as the principle vehicles were GMC made.... (GM wanted to blatantly cash in on the Smokey & the Bandit craze) I'm not going to build any of the cars, the Trans Am, although an icon also, has been way overdone. And in all my research, no one has done a movie accurate Bandit rig...... Why am I doing this? "It's never been done before" (at least not that I can find) As far as Freightliner models? AMT does the FLC sleeper model in 1/25th, and Italeri does the Superliner in 1/24th both widely available, I haven't checked recently, but there could also be aftermarket conversion kits out there as well.... ERTL also did a 40' Great Dane dry goods van and a reefer version. but to make todays trailers you will need to kitbash two together to get the 53' length.... Moebius Models does a Great Dane 53' van trailer which is a 2-n-1 can be made as a dry goods van or a reefer. (but it has reefer doors so they would have to be corrected) That's your trailer..... EG Update: Popeye.... The Moebius - 1302 Trailer kit, (53' Great Dane smooth side with roll-up door) is perfect for current Walmart Fleet application. (around $60.00 amazon) Asking around if they do a Freightliner Cascadia aftermarket set.... (they do make an International Pro Star Tractor that will also work for a Wal Mart Rig, around $68.00 at amazon)

I'm at a loss for words..... You can find this architecture all over europe, but the cloister has a definitely northern italian feel to it.... Beautiful job.... it will be spectacular when finished....

This is the thing about stone buildings from a distance, they look pristine, up close, nothing is exact, even or square. (unless it is a church dedicated to god) even then the stones are cut to fit onsite.... Beautiful work..... miniature masonry! who woulda thunk!!!! Never seen anything like it before... Amazing!

Actually, modified conveyor belts..... They had "America" & "Detroit" flashing all over them..... Great build so far.....

I'm gonna have to get one of those to go with my corsair....... It's a beautiful kit and a gorgeous rendition.... You sir, are an artisan......

Before I start building, just a note..... I'm building a movie accurate replica, the sole source of information is the movie. (I also use pics from the making of for some details) if it isn't on the movie rig it isn't on the model. All vehicle kits for some reason start with the engine.... 31 parts not counting halves..... The kit engine represents an NTA 855 cubic inch Cummins big cam engine, I do not know the HP rating. now one of the constant debates on this truck is what engine/tranny combination it had. We know from the opening sequence that it had a Fuller 13 speed Road Ranger transmission. but there is no information on what engine it had..... There are many people who have spent a lot of time around diesel engines who listening to the sound of the opening sequence of the movie have described it as either a Caterpillar, Cummins or Detroit Diesel engine, I have it from the people who did the sound track for the movie that the sounds for the entire movie were dubbed in the editing portion of the production. The hood was never opened during the production of the movie and it doesn't appear on screen anywhere. Why can't we go back to the trucks and take a look see? certainly they still exist????? In fact, no they don't. The '73 was sold by Universal Studios at auction in 1980 back onto the road, by tracking registrations, it is known to have been converted into a day cab tractor, (removed the sleeper) some time around '95-'96, after that there is no further registration info and it has disappeared into the ether. Some people claim that it is in an Illinois field with brush growing up all over it, but no one has been able to confirm this over the last 15 years since the claim was made. The two '74's (and trailers) were held at Universal's vehicle lot in southern california and in the early '80's fell victim to a warehouse fire, both of them. Total Losses. So no, we can't just go back and take a peek under the hood. (and amazing that the model companies, with the known popularity of this movie, second highest grossing film of 1977 only behind Star Wars, did not make a model kit of this truck/trailer. It boggles the mind. They definitely had their heads up a dark place on this one) Well onwards. I'm building the kit engine out of the box, since there is no other info, that will have to suffice.... The color will be Cummins Beige and the rest of the trucks chassis will be black as that is what the movie shows for the chassis. The engine color is what a cummins engine would have been painted back then based upon cummins records but I really do not know for sure. This is an idea of what I'm aiming at..... That is pretty much representative of a line truck, built on an assembly line and shipped to a dealer, a base model, the only thing not black on the chassis is the engine.... I'm using/converting to True North's line of enamel paints and the one I chose for the engine is called USMC Sand it's not exact but close enough, it is a bit darker in real life than the pics, the camera flash really lightend the paint..... the Transmission is the kits Spicer 5 speed, it was connected to a 4 speed auxiliary transmission giving the truck 16 forward speeds and putting two sticks in the cab. I'm leaving this alone, there is no aftermarket Fuller Road Ranger and besides it would be painted black and you really won't see it.... And yes real engines from the factory were overall beige, everything including the hoses.... Next Step, assembling the Frame.....

Ok so what am I going to be using to build this flight of phantasy? The Tractor, AMT 1021-1 Kenworth Conventional W925... This is a 2019 reissue of a kit originally released way beck in the late '60's. It represents a 1970 Kenworth W925 which by 1977 would be called a W900A. It has to be updated to represent a '73 which has some detail differences. But it is the correct short wheelbase conventional. A note about the W25 designation, when the kit was originally released it had a torsion bar suspension on the duals. it was a difficult suspension to assemble being very fiddly with many small parts. About 7 years after initial release AMT re-designed the kit with a Hendrickson walking beam suspension for the tandem unit. (and released it as the "Alaskan Hauler" kit. In real world terms this makes the kit represent a W923 model kenworth truck. But alas they didn't change the artwork on the box. So we will have to replace the rear suspension to match the movie truck. Fortunately, there is aftermarket to do this conversion. The Trailer, the trailer in the movie is a 1977 48 foot Hobbs bead sided dry goods van with a dummy non-functional Thermo King reefer unit. It will take two trailer kits kitbashed together to built a movie correct trailer. Believe it or not, these kits are identical except the holiday trailer (released in 2018) does not have the reefer unit that the Watkins trailer has. the Watkins reefer is an original release from 1968. It represents a Fruehauf 40 foot bead sided reefer trailer model FB. We are in luck, Hobbs trailers back in the day was a division of Fruehauf trailers and their trailers were built to Fruehauf designs. So as far as details we are good to go. (but we will have to bash the two together to arrive at the correct scale length and height) The details on this kit are outstanding for the most part, even the interior is detailed, and it's equipment matches the movie trailer perfectly, the only thing missing is the spare tire carrier.

Oh Yeah, The TV show "Movin' On" used the same model tractor a Kenworth W900A VIT during it's run also....

Hi, my first build log, actually this has been in progress for a couple of months now but I figured for a first log I will do what I'm familiar with. Plastic..... Styrene to be exact, it brings us tangible proof that the imagination really exists.... The Iconic Kenworth Truck, pulling a 48' Hobbs Reefer van. The Tractor is a '73 and the Trailer is a '77. There are a lot of people who have built a model of this combination using the available kits in the marketplace. there are aftermarket companies that make the mural decal for the current available kits. But unfortunately there is no dedicated model of this subject, '77 Trans-Am's no sweat, there are a plethora of them from many many companies. I think all of them made a model of the darned car and said to heck with the star of the show..... And that truck is definitely the star of the show. The Model companies tried to correct their error and made a model of the GMC General and it's Fruehauf trailer from Smokey & the Bandit II but it's pretty much forgotten in the model world except in the most avid truck modeling forums, and it's hardly iconic..... I say Iconic because there are over a thousand replica rigs roaming america's highways today with some form of the mural gracing their huge billboard sides... This truck sticks in the american conscience, that makes it iconic. Well to the initial details... They used three trucks in making the movie that appear on screen, A 1973 Kenworth W900A and two 1974's. Also they used two 1977 48' Hobbs anti-sail dry goods vans for the trailer. The first truck appearing in the movie, (the opening scene where the truck starts and proceeds to the Truck Rodeo at the fairgrounds) is the '73. It was a line truck hauling the I-40 corridor for three years when it was bought for the movie. Black in color with gold trim it is also a 50 year anniversary tractor celebrating Kenworths 50 years in business. This is designated on the truck by the gold hood ornament and side lettering. Other than that it is a pretty typical american over-the-road truck. The two '74's were bought from a dealer, they were purchased cause they needed a backup to the '73 and a film rig to be towed behind the film truck for the interior shots of Jerry hacksawing the steering wheel. They were Coffee Brown in color. Well there were no black trucks available with the gold trim package. Pantone color reference to "Coffee Brown" lists Model Masters Gloss and Flat Black as the closest representation to coffee brown in the MM lineup... As close as your going to get to black without actually being black. 1973, Truck #1 below.... 1974, Truck #2 below.... Casually watching the movie you cannot tell the difference. (but there are differences) As research I have gone thru the movie taking screen caps frame by frame and identifying the differences. Truck #1 is seen in 75% of the driving road shots and Truck #2 makes up the rest of the road shots. Truck #3 was used for the interior shots. So how does one go about telling the differences? (the trailers were different also not observable casually, but under detailed inspection they were different enough to tell which is which) So the first tractor appearing on film is tractor #1, the second, tractor #2 and so on and so forth, the Trailers I did the same with for Trailer #1 and #2...... Predominantly, in the movie it is Tractor #1 hauling Trailer #2. 75% of the time this is the combination seen on film..... Tractor #2 only appears in three scenes, Picking up the beer, Motorcycle Cop sneaking in the backdoor, and Crashing the gate at the fairgrounds. Tractor #1 does all the rest..... Below is a composite pic of the tractors where many of the differences can be readily seen..... Tractor #1 on the left, #2 on the right... First thing that sticks out like a sore thumb? the exhaust stacks. They are not the same length on either truck. but more important, the short stack is on the opposite sides from each other, #1's short stack is on the curb side and #2's is on the road side.... You can spot that difference a mile away... Take a look at the mirrors, curbside #1 is a mack style oval replacement, #2 is a stock Kenworth rectangle. .... Take a look at the blind spot mirrors, #1's are painted white on the back, #2's are bare aluminium..... Bumper #1's has a center step bracket, #2's does not...... There is more but if in any doubt, try to find the lettering on the side of the hood, Gold for truck #1, Chrome for truck #2 & 3. The two Trailers..... #1 on the left #2 on the right The quickest way to tell the differences is that they had different murals on their sides... same subject, but painted different. #1 no cactus behind the Bandit's horse #2 it's readily seeable. #1 no cactus between the last horse and stage, #2 it's there plain as day, #1 cactus behind the stage in the distance, #2 no cactus behind the stage at any distance.... Tractor #1 and Trailer #2, that is the iconic Bandit Rig as it appeared in the movie.... and that is what I intend to model..... Next installment will be what I'm going to use to model this for kits since there is no ready made kit.... It is going to be a kit conversion of the tractor and a kitbash of two trailer kits... Stay Tuned....

Stunningly beautiful! An excellent tribute build.....

I like the way you did the split canopy, that was hard to do in the 1/48th monogram kit, here it looks real. One half a little bit further forward than the other.... Great build of what looks to be a great kit....

Looks like it wants to fly right now..... Absolutely stunning......

"Those were the days my friend" I have nothing to compare, I wasn't old enough and my father missed it by marrying my mother...... But then if he hadn't asked her on the ramp to Japan I would never have been here..... Thank you all for your service....