Egilman

Thanks Mike, taking my time, investing a lot more than I initially intended on this one... it's worth it I think, especially with the memories it brings back for some of the brothers... Well worth it...

Now you see back in the day when I was young I started out on the wrong foot, it seems modelers start as photographers first, and I never got into that... (couldn't afford it, chuckle) so as a late bloomer, and as usual, doing things backwards from what seems to be the normal way of doing things, you all have a neophyte photographer here... Please be gentle.... {chuckle} If I knew the sheer mountain of experience here I would have started a lot earlier.... Thanks my friends, this place is a gold mine of information and experience far more than ship model building... Incredibly more...

Thank you Jack, when I get some good weather for pics I'll be taking advantage of your very kind offer... The manual on this camera is two things thick and very technical... I invested in a for Dummies book on this model and it's 5/8ths of an inch thick as well...

The Mk V*, (only one left in the world) in the Patton Museum is in BAG as it was delivered to them... Yes, late war they were taking them as they got them. The pattern you are using is a copy of a French two color pattern, Brown over BAG with black border stripes... the Brown would usually be streaked as it was applied in the field... In my opinion it doesn't matter for late WWI, by the time they were doing extensive finished camouflages, the war was decided, it was just waiting for the Germans to understand that they had lost... Seems like a great plan brother... It's gonna be a stunner my friend.... a very nice subject...

Yeah, resistance is futile... {chuckle} WE understand.... The last time I was near a hobby shop an HK B-17F just happened to fall into my cart, on top of the 1/48 PT-109, A Takom M-46, and an HK B-25J glass nose.... Resistance is definitely futile brother....

It happens to the best of us brother...

The base color for most British hardware was British Army Green which such equipment was specified to be in when delivered by the manufacturer... but as with all such rules, they eventually took them in whatever color they were delivered in... But mostly they were in BAG.... BAG is a forest green, not bright, but definitely not olive nor drab in reflectance, more a dull semigloss....

Well done brother... Sure looks good from here...

I don't think epoxy would work as it is a solid which relies on surface adhesion/penetration for it's hold, Epoxy when cured is very hard and completely solid.... My suggestion would be HH-66 Vinyl Cement, the stuff used to glue/weld automotive pvc vinyls, it is also sold for the PVC vinyl pools as the glue for patching leaks.... Powerful stuff, it is a blend of MEK, Acetone and Toluene solvents so be sure to use it in a well ventilated area and away from open flames... Working time is 2-4 minutes but it says it creates a solid weld while the plastic remains flexible... This is what I would go to for bonding this stuff as my first guess... it should be available at any decent big box store as well as automotive supply houses.... It is NOT the same as PCV pipe glue from the plumbing section which is almost pure jellied MEK... Check out the pool shops they should know what glues PVC Vinyl and remains flexible....

The website for this kit says it is soft flexible PVC plastic, made to snap together as a schoolroom educational piece... (can't be having children around any real plastics or glues can we) So, the problem is it has a flexible nonstick surface, CA will not work neither will solvents... What you need is a flexible adhesive that sticks to that formulation of PVC... Something that works on vinyl is my thoughts... As far as using screws to affix the skull with the jaw? I would be afraid of stripping them out on the soft vinyl plastic... (pre-drilling would be a must) I would try metal pins into drilled holes, vinyl has a habit of expanding when drilled so make the holes a drag fit over the pins and cut them short enough to be buried in the pieces but long enough so friction holds them in place... The manufacturer says it is supposed to just snap together, but users report that it doesn't stay together after a small bit of usage.... (the pvc wears quickly) I have one coming, when it gets here I'll be able to discern more on how to fix the parts together... Interesting problem brother... Nice challenge...

As long as it is styrene plastic yes........

I use telephone extension cord wire for this (after stripping it down as I did on my M-8 HST build) it's just as thin and the sheathing makes excellent scale ferrules... A simple technique and another way to do it.... Excellent my friend!!!! If there is a will there's a way... Gonna be spectacular

I'm here as well... Wouldn't miss it...

Good, mostly fair, (a bit biased to the British viewpoint) could have used a bit more research... Particularly on the Browning A/N-M2/M3 .50 cal... (aircraft gun) the basic A/N-M2 .50 (pdf) had an adjustable rate of fire, nominally the gun as designed fired at 750- 850 rpm.... In infantry use (M-2HB or Ma Duece as it was called) was derated to 550 rpm... (controllability was the issue for the infantry) as a flexible mounted gun in aircraft it fired at 750 rpm, in fixed mounts, (wings and turrets) it fired at 850... (1200 rpm in the M3 version) (depending on the aircraft, Yes, they replaced a LOT of barrels, sometimes every day) This is why there are dozens and dozens of pic all over the net showing wing gun maintenance.... I can understand the ideal some 80 years after the fact justifying the decisions made at the start/during WWII, but one must remember, most of this is speculation hiding within a plethora of disparate facts linked together to make an argument, not an explanation as to why, more as a justification.... The simple answer, they used what they had.... there were attempts to install .50 cals into British aircraft, it wasn't the weight, rate of fire or quantity of ammo that caused the decision to not go with the .50... If those were the main reasons like the commentator claims, why go to the 20mm, which all British aircraft eventually did, prior to the wars end, 4 times heavier, half the rate of fire and 1/4ths the ammo???? The British decided to pursue the benefits of the 20mm over the .50 cal the main reason was damage capability, the 20 fired armor piercing exploding rounds, the .50, although capable of penetrating most A/C armor, was still a solid slug punching holes hoping to break something... (or the incendiaries catching something on fire) That was the main reason the British didn't adopt the Browning .50 cal... The USAAF position was that it was more than adequate as they had decided on in 1936... (and saw no reason to change even though they knew that the 20mm was the superior weapon) 1st proof? the Luftwaffe adding 20mm guns to it's aircraft armament in 1936... 2nd proof? the Japanese adding them to their aircraft in 1938... 3rd proof? the Russians adding them in 1940 over their own very reliable 12.7mm dhsk... (russian .50 cal) 4th proof of this pudding? eventually the USAF had to adopt the 20mm... As aircraft became more powerful and faster the .50 cal became less and less effective in an air to air role... Took to '53 for the USAF to come to the conclusion the RAF came to in '41 the Luftwaffe came to in '36.... The ideal was combat tested in Korea on the F-86F gunval project.... (replacing 6 .50's for 4 20mm cannons, it was very effective except for reliability which was eventually fixed) Just the simple facts.... I generally don't use podcasts or youtube videos in investigating why they did something, too untrustworthy especially 8 decades after the fact... The commentator is avoiding the real issue and claiming that the RAF leaders who made such decisions were being shortsighted or just plain stupid to the point of incompetency... Same kind of argument they use when calling the M4 Sherman tank a deathtrap on the battlefield... exploring the actual history tells a much different tale fortunately...

Absolutely Gorgeous AJ... Stunningly beautiful work.... (on both)

Nice work Alan, that camo looks spot on....

Yep, Starting in late '43, the US army began issuing captured 88's to US units as foreign equipment... (even issued a service TM on it) they had problems converting our 90mm into an anti tank gun, (production issues) and they had thousands of captured examples with tons of ammo and all the technical advise they needed... (captured german crews were more than willing to teach everything about it to our engineers) they adapted it to our radar tracking for the AA role, and extensively used it on the southern France front... (the M1 90mm anti aircraft gun was slightly better as an AA gun, but was a leap forward better an an antitank gun... It's why the ground forces were clamoring for such a gun in combat... It was the same gun in the M-26 Pershing which could destroy any tank made in the world at that time with a single shot... (including the vaunted Tiger at almost any range) The only other gun that could come close to them was the 17lber in British service (Sherman Fireflys) If you were staring down the barrel of a "88" at the start of the war your goose was cooked and served, and you knew it... At the end of the war it was the American "90" taking the role as the king of the battlefield...

Nice kit... I'll follow this.... (anywhere any time) Seems like there are lot of Phantom II nuts out there.....

There is a service that claims to track any mail service worldwide.... The guy who wrote is calls it "Parcels" And it works.... Linkage... I like it... it accurate, and has never failed me yet, (8 months) I've tracked Australia, China, (both chinas) Japan, Italy, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Germany Brazil & South Africa with is as a sample... Check it out... I understand it can track eBay purchases as well... Much better than the government services, when USPS is down Parcels can still track... EG

I didn't know any of these were still around.... Very COOL!! I'm in....

Repetition Brother, the more you do it the better it gets... for a first time it's not too bad.... (you should have seen mine)

+1 seconded, best stuff for doing rocks and rock faces...

Nope it's the venerable Revell corsair, builds into a great model, but it's still the old Revell corsair.... (just reboxed to Revell of Germany)

Infantry support tank, they were tough, very tough, designed to take a direct hit from a 155mm artillery round and keep on going... About the only gun that could take one out with one shot was the vaunted "88".... There was only one tank tougher, the Matilda, even the "88" had trouble taking those out...

Oh I have faith, Craig is too experienced a modeler, it's the medium that's the issue, how to get done what needs to be done within the limitations of paper... His work shows that he's got this...