Moments of Zen

[DogfighterZen]

I'm traveling at the moment, right now in Tangier and Will be travelling around the north of Morocco for the next couple of days but i'm hoping to have at least one day at home for some bench time.

 

Enjoy 

Work or vacation?

Vacation! Just a couple to added to the weekend. 

Well, back home now and i can say it was fun, although there were things i don't like very much but it is what is.
First time going on a bus with a group of people of whom i know nothing about for a trip of this kind... I knew what i was getting into but my Lady wanted to do it so, i had to give in...   I'm not a believer and Morocco is a very religion based country so it's normal that i don't agree with some stuff but i respect everyone's beliefs and as long as they respect me, i have no problem with it.
The worst part for me was that our Moroccan guide was not very professional and was more concerned with making sure we made it to the places from which he got the biggest commission and tried to rush the group from place to place, not allowing us to look at stuff for more than a minute or so... but he definitely ruined the atmosphere when we were visiting Shafshawan and he said he didn't have to wait for anyone, including the obese lady that was having a hard time keeping up with the group while going up and downhill through the narrow and quite crowded streets of the town.
We knew there was a schedule to follow but what's worst? Having to skip visiting a small part of the scheduled spots or having one of the group go to the hospital with a heart attack?
Anyway, that was the bad but the good mostly made up for all that. Beautiful country, be it the coast or the interior.
Now, back to modelling... the Mustang's almost ready for paint, i just have to rescribe a couple of panel lines and that's it.
The real world Alouette III is stalled at the moment... i have to get back into the real world mindset to finish it...

 

[DogfighterZen]

So, after a week of being home with a cracked bone on my right wrist, i've been helping the healing process with some modelling...  
The Mustang Mk.XX has seen some progress, i'm finishing the cannons at the moment and the propeller will be next.
The canopy took more work than expected. Couldn't sand off more of the Instrument panel coaming and the underside of the windshield so there was step from the clear part to the fuselage at the front. Had to sand that flush but the first try failed because i sanded a bit too much on one area and after some filling with sprue goo, the canopy's front panel and fuselage are now flush.

Haven't touched the real world PoAF Alouette III lately so maybe i should get something done on that one... Starting to get the urge to begin another build but i also wanna get something finished...  

[Old Wombat]

Sorry about the cracked wrist, Rui, but any modelling time is good modelling time!    

Starting to get the urge to begin another build but i also wanna get something finished...  

We've all been there. 

How well you deal with it is evidenced by how much your Shelf/Cupboard/Box/Etc. of Doom has grown over the last 12 months. 

[DogfighterZen]

Sorry about the cracked wrist, Rui, but any modelling time is good modelling time!    

Starting to get the urge to begin another build but i also wanna get something finished...  

We've all been there. 

How well you deal with it is evidenced by how much your Shelf/Cupboard/Box/Etc. of Doom has grown over the last 12 months. 

Yep, and it's curious that i got back to this hobby when i was recovering from my broken left wrist back in 2013/4 and almost 11 years later i'm back in a similar situation where i have time to make models due to an injury...
I don't have a shelf of doom at the moment, just a box of my own older builds that i botched and were later sacrificed for spare parts, and the lot of old builds i got from a local who wanted to get rid of the stuff he had to make space for his main hobby which is photography and old and rare cameras collection.
The only two models on my bench at the moment, are the only ones i have unfinished.
There are a few others that went back into their boxes for different reasons, the most recent was the Kinetic 1/48 F-16A MLU old tooling kit because of it's cracked canopy... maybe someday i'll have a canopy to finish it.
There also the Airfix 1/72 P-40B that i could finish but it's not what i'm interested in at the moment... I'll probably build the Pegasus P-40Q before i finish that kit...
A pair of Revell 1/72 F-16s, an A and a B for PoAF builds... but i've already built a bunch of Vipers so not at the moment... i'd rather build the Meng G.91R or the Hobbyboss A-7P... but these will all be real world so, regarding what-ifs, i still have the ASF-X Shinden II in the box of the "Next in line" beside my bench...

[Old Wombat]

Sorry about the cracked wrist, Rui, but any modelling time is good modelling time!    

Starting to get the urge to begin another build but i also wanna get something finished...  

We've all been there. 

How well you deal with it is evidenced by how much your Shelf/Cupboard/Box/Etc. of Doom has grown over the last 12 months. 

Yep, and it's curious that i got back to this hobby when i was recovering from my broken left wrist back in 2013/4 and almost 11 years later i'm back in a similar situation where i have time to make models due to an injury...
I don't have a shelf of doom at the moment, just a box of my own older builds that i botched and were later sacrificed for spare parts, and the lot of old builds i got from a local who wanted to get rid of the stuff he had to make space for his main hobby which is photography and old and rare cameras collection.
The only two models on my bench at the moment, are the only ones i have unfinished.
There are a few others that went back into their boxes for different reasons, the most recent was the Kinetic 1/48 F-16A MLU old tooling kit because of it's cracked canopy... maybe someday i'll have a canopy to finish it.
There also the Airfix 1/72 P-40B that i could finish but it's not what i'm interested in at the moment... I'll probably build the Pegasus P-40Q before i finish that kit...
A pair of Revell 1/72 F-16s, an A and a B for PoAF builds... but i've already built a bunch of Vipers so not at the moment... i'd rather build the Meng G.91R or the Hobbyboss A-7P... but these will all be real world so, regarding what-ifs, i still have the ASF-X Shinden II in the box of the "Next in line" beside my bench...

Which shows evidence of a man with excellent impulse control! 

[Wardukw]

Sorry to hear about ya wrist Rui mate.
Luckily it didn't get broken...trust me on that ..my left wrist still gives me trouble and that accident happened when I was 13 
Happy your still building tho 

[DogfighterZen]

Sorry about the cracked wrist, Rui, but any modelling time is good modelling time!    

Starting to get the urge to begin another build but i also wanna get something finished...  

We've all been there. 

How well you deal with it is evidenced by how much your Shelf/Cupboard/Box/Etc. of Doom has grown over the last 12 months. 

Yep, and it's curious that i got back to this hobby when i was recovering from my broken left wrist back in 2013/4 and almost 11 years later i'm back in a similar situation where i have time to make models due to an injury...
I don't have a shelf of doom at the moment, just a box of my own older builds that i botched and were later sacrificed for spare parts, and the lot of old builds i got from a local who wanted to get rid of the stuff he had to make space for his main hobby which is photography and old and rare cameras collection.
The only two models on my bench at the moment, are the only ones i have unfinished.
There are a few others that went back into their boxes for different reasons, the most recent was the Kinetic 1/48 F-16A MLU old tooling kit because of it's cracked canopy... maybe someday i'll have a canopy to finish it.
There also the Airfix 1/72 P-40B that i could finish but it's not what i'm interested in at the moment... I'll probably build the Pegasus P-40Q before i finish that kit...
A pair of Revell 1/72 F-16s, an A and a B for PoAF builds... but i've already built a bunch of Vipers so not at the moment... i'd rather build the Meng G.91R or the Hobbyboss A-7P... but these will all be real world so, regarding what-ifs, i still have the ASF-X Shinden II in the box of the "Next in line" beside my bench...

Which shows evidence of a man with excellent impulse control! 

You give me too much credit, Guy... i've been resisting, true... but that's only because i'm well aware that if i give in to these urges, i'll soon have no room to build on my bench...  
But i admit it's been hard to resist the Shinden II... it's a beautiful thing and one i've been itching to build for a long time...

At first i wanted to build a U.S.M.C. bird but i've recently seen one very similar to what i had in mind... so i'll go for my second option for an OOB build of this bird, the RNFAA.
This fighter would've been the result of an international program created after the early demise of the JSF program in 2003.
The program was started in 2005 by 5 countries, the UK, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Spain, pretty much the same as the Eurofighter group. These countries wanted to keep their aviation industries working on the cutting edge of military aircraft technology and the death of the JSF program meant these countries urgently needed an alternative for a 5th gen fighter program.
The sixth country to join the program was Japan, who'd been trying to convince U.S. officials to sell their 5th gen F-22 Raptor for years with no success and was also disappointed with the final outcome of the bilateral FS-X program that resulted in the Mitsubishi F-2.
The initial intentions of the Japanese were to make their own aircraft independently but in the end chose to make the deal with the U.S. and Lockheed Martin for cooperation but the fact that each F-2 airframe ended up costing roughly 4 times as much as a new F-16C Block 50/52 with notable but insufficient advantages would make the Japanese want to loosen the grip of U.S. influence on their military industry.
The failure of the JSF program would be the perfect excuse to do so, although not being able to totally fund a 5th gen fighter program on their own. This would lead the Japanese officials to look at European countries with the Eurofighter program as an example of a more successful partnership and ask to join the

This is the main idea for the backstory, now i just have to build the kit... 

Sorry to hear about ya wrist Rui mate.
Luckily it didn't get broken...trust me on that ..my left wrist still gives me trouble and that accident happened when I was 13 
Happy your still building tho 

Thanks, Phill!
It's not bad, i just have to take it easy for a few weeks but, my job isn't easy on the body so i have to stay home. And trust me, with my bmx and work backgound, i've broken enough bones to know very well what's bad and what's not. 

[DogfighterZen]

So, i finished a model... the second this year... not sure if i should be celebrating or banging my head on the wall... at this rate, i'm won't even make it through half my stash until i'm old enough to retire... if i get there, that is...

Anyway, time to finish the Mustang Mk.XX or P-51N. I'm including the later because i imagine this bird being the inspiration for a production N variant.

[NARSES2]

So, i finished a model... the second this year... not sure if i should be celebrating or banging my head on the wall... at this rate, i'm won't even make it through half my stash until i'm old enough to retire... if i get there, that is...

Obviously the optimist   

[DogfighterZen]

So, i finished a model... the second this year... not sure if i should be celebrating or banging my head on the wall... at this rate, i'm won't even make it through half my stash until i'm old enough to retire... if i get there, that is...

Obviously the optimist   

   All i can say is that i'm grateful for each day...

So, finished a model, still have another two on the bench.
The real world Heller Alouette III was waiting for some parts for the crew figures, helmets to be precise, which i received today.
The Mustang Mk.XX/P-51N needs some sanding of the area in front of the windshield and some panel lines have to be rescribed.
Regarding the scheme, some of you may know that i'm a sucker for a nice set of teeth on almost any aircraft out there and i've been looking for a way to justify a sharkmouth on this Mustang's nose... i may just use Kit's rule #2...

[NARSES2]

Regarding the scheme, some of you may know that i'm a sucker for a nice set of teeth on almost any aircraft out there and i've been looking for a way to justify a sharkmouth on this Mustang's nose... i may just use Kit's rule #2...

How about 112 Squadron in NW Italy in 1945/46 ? They swapped their P-40's for Mustangs.

[DogfighterZen]

Looks like you can read minds, Chris...   
I've had two decal sheets for RAF Mustangs on my watchlist on the Polish Super hobby site for a while.
One is the Draw decal "Shark" G-SHWN sheet, very expensive for a small sheet for one build only but there's a much more interesting option from DK decals with markings for 17 different aircraft from RAF, RAAF and SAAF WWII squadrons over Italy and i believe you get enough decals for two complete builds and even more if you have another source for the RAF top wing roundels.
I guess the backstory could go something like the development of the Mustang Mk.XX had been done earlier or sped up, or if there were prospects of a longer war in both Europe and the Pacific...
And the camo scheme is appropriate for this build because i won't be able to get a very polished surface on this kit so the camo will do nicely.

[NARSES2]

Looks like you can read minds, Chris...   
I've had two decal sheets for RAF Mustangs on my watchlist on the Polish Super hobby site for a while.
One is the Draw decal "Shark" G-SHWN sheet, very expensive for a small sheet for one build only but there's a much more interesting option from DK decals with markings for 17 different aircraft from RAF, RAAF and SAAF WWII squadrons over Italy and i believe you get enough decals for two complete builds and even more if you have another source for the RAF top wing roundels.
I guess the backstory could go something like the development of the Mustang Mk.XX had been done earlier or sped up, or if there were prospects of a longer war in both Europe and the Pacific...
And the camo scheme is appropriate for this build because i won't be able to get a very polished surface on this kit so the camo will do nicely.

  

I've that Draw Decal set in the stash I think ?

Mind you the DK Decal sheet looks good value   

Mustang Mk XX development sped  up ? Certainly, for both European and Far East theatres 

[DogfighterZen]

Looks like you can read minds, Chris...   
I've had two decal sheets for RAF Mustangs on my watchlist on the Polish Super hobby site for a while.
One is the Draw decal "Shark" G-SHWN sheet, very expensive for a small sheet for one build only but there's a much more interesting option from DK decals with markings for 17 different aircraft from RAF, RAAF and SAAF WWII squadrons over Italy and i believe you get enough decals for two complete builds and even more if you have another source for the RAF top wing roundels.
I guess the backstory could go something like the development of the Mustang Mk.XX had been done earlier or sped up, or if there were prospects of a longer war in both Europe and the Pacific...
And the camo scheme is appropriate for this build because i won't be able to get a very polished surface on this kit so the camo will do nicely.

  

I've that Draw Decal set in the stash I think ?

Mind you the DK Decal sheet looks good value   

Mustang Mk XX development sped  up ? Certainly, for both European and Far East theatres 

Yep, the DK decal sheet seems to be a good buy but , yesterday when i mentioned the sheets here, there were, at least, a couple in stock... Lo and behold, just a few hours later, they were gone...   now i have to wait another 2 to 8 weeks, according to the store.
Not a big deal but, annoying... anyway, i'm putting them on backorder and maybe i'm lucky and they won't take too long to be back in stock.