Charlie's Chop Shop

[Charlie_c67]

There are different types of sidewinder?
 

My advice is don't stress the identification, just ensure all those on the same airframe match each other.

Oh yes, starts with the -9B through to the -9X, though not all of them reached active service and (of course) they split development early on because the USAF and USN couldn't agree on development thereby muddying the waters even more. Add to that the various surface launched variants (not an issue for me personally) the ones that were used for anti-radar (AiM-9C that became the ARM-122 Sidearm), those developed to be anti-armour and the reversed engineered ones that became the AA-2 "Atoll" family.

Head spinning doesn't cover it, though on the plus side at least you can differentiate them a lot more easily than the AiM-7 Sparrow family 

So far today I've spent time reading a little too much into the above subject as well as sorting them into their respective drawers (fnarr fnarr) as well as finishing off some -9L/M's and Penguins from a Hasegawa set. All was going well until the fuel tank dropped off the Thunderjet FB.1 pictured at the top of the first page. Thankfully it wasn't an undercarriage problem  which was damaged in the move last year and was the reason it was back on the work table. Once cleared I have a Sea harrier for the far east that needs some attention...

[Charlie_c67]

Well, my mojo was in need of a little gentle breaking in so I decided to make a start on a simple 1:100 Tamiya Fiat G.91. Having never built a Tamiya kit I figured this would be an easy build as I've often read that they are good close fitting kits. This isn't.

Raised lines, gaps and ill fitting parts make me wonder if this is a reboxing of another companies kit with rather looser tolerances than Tamiya are known for. Never mind, onwards and upwards as they say and I've decided to model it in flight as a navalised fighter. Thankfully the low part count has meant the majority is done already, I just need to work on some suitable decals and decide on a colour scheme. Hopefully I can at least start on the latter tomorrow.

[Old Wombat]

Tamiya do re-box some Italeri stuff, & vice-versa. Don't know if they re-box anyone else's stuff.

Raised panel lines sounds like a very old non-Tamiya kit, though.

[scooter]

Well, my mojo was in need of a little gentle breaking in so I decided to make a start on a simple 1:100 Tamiya Fiat G.91. Having never built a Tamiya kit I figured this would be an easy build as I've often read that they are good close fitting kits. This isn't.

Raised lines, gaps and ill fitting parts make me wonder if this is a reboxing of another companies kit with rather looser tolerances than Tamiya are known for. Never mind, onwards and upwards as they say and I've decided to model it in flight as a navalised fighter. Thankfully the low part count has meant the majority is done already, I just need to work on some suitable decals and decide on a colour scheme. Hopefully I can at least start on the latter tomorrow.

Should have gotten one of their Skyrays.  A nice, pleasant almost shake n bake type kit.

[PR19_Kit]

Their whole 1/100 range was their own mouldings, but they're VERY ancient, going back to the 70s, so the raised panel lines were 'normal' then. They did do quite a comprehensive range though, and amazingly very 'British' in character too.

[Charlie_c67]

Should have gotten one of their Skyrays.  A nice, pleasant almost shake n bake type kit.

Ah fear not! I have two of those (somewhere!) in the stash destined for a more northerly nation

So I sat down to do a little filing and sanding on the above...only to find my sanding pads and files are deep in the pile somewhere next to my table    Not to be deterred I did what I could and have started to do a little tidying and consolidating (how do I have FIVE citadel clippers?  ) whilst looking for the relevant tools. Having been made redundant about a month ago, I do have a lot more time on my hands at present so hopefully I can crack on with all those little jobs you put off to another day at the same time.

Incidentally, does anyone know if you can recycle the plastic runners anywhere?