Harry Joy

Cool build.

Wow! Spectacular! (And I don't throw out words like that at random! Or exclamation points!!!)

Yes sir, all the trim is gold BMF. I liked it quite a lot.

Alclad Pale Gold is what I used on the bumpers, wheels, exhausts and bits on this model (the shinier stuff is BMF):

That is a pretty strong gold color - titanium is not like that.

Thank Miksu!

Very nice! What brand paints?

Saw it for sale at my local hobby shop today.

Yeah, I've been painting the interiors first. Quart beer bottles - hmmm...... I don't have any. Guess I know what I'll be doing tonight! I'm sure my wife will understand.

I'm sure the aircraft designers of World War II would have loved to have had CAD. While thinking on that point, it occurred to me that the armorers of the Napoleonic Wars would have loved mechanical pencils and slide rules.

I have done all of the recent kits I've shared with a rig made from a coat hanger. But the Coke can with tape idea.... that would solve lots of issues the coat hanger brings. Primarily stability and rigidity. I'm going to have to try this. Thanks Snake.

Well, Slash is looking cuter than I remember her.

I love that reverse color scheme on the Daytona. Works much better than the usual.

Thanks, Ralph and Tony. Very much. After a couple of days with no reply, I was beginning to wonder what else I'd screwed up that everyone was being too polite to mention!

Most people start with a single-action. Push the button and paint comes out. If you want to go all in, go ahead and get a double action - it takes two movements to control air and paint. I picked the latter, and picked up how to do it pretty quick. My first airbrush was a Paasche, but it was gifted by a bud and not real reliable. Not much longer after, I picked up an Iwata Revolution and I love it (I have a BR and a CR now). People are funny about their choice of brands - everyone will declare that this brand or that is the bestest ever - but it really comes down to how comfortable you are with it. Go to a shop where they'll let you handle them, and maybe show you how to take them apart. See what feels good to you. The big question, and the hardest thing for me to resolve early, was what is your air source? If you already have a compressor, all good. But if you don't, you'll probably spend more time hunting down that than your airbrush. I eventually spent the coin for an Iwata Power Jet Pro and don't regret the money. Before it, I went through several other types and brands. The Iwata should last me as long as I live, and well, since I'm all for Iwata airbrushes, well.... But go to a shop and play around with what they have, or see if you have a local bud who will let you try out his gear. Feel is everything with airbrushes.

The tires and chassis did not sit flat after I installed the body. I tried to push the kit down a bit flatter last night. Unfortunately, when I did that I popped the top of the windshield and the rear window loose. And did not notice I'd done that until I took pictures so these pictures have been cleverly chosen to minimize that error. And the revised year in review:

The one pictured is 1/24th. But there is also a 1/48th, and that's the one I more commonly see stocked. The 24th I've only seen online.

I finished introducing my wife to the original Star Wars, in the expectation that we'll see the new one in a week or so. She was not put off by Ewoks in the slightest.

I am fifty now, and all my life I've considered my interests to be fairly mundane - books (history and science fiction), modeling, music, gardening. If you want to know what brands, bands, vehicles, flowers I like it is easy to figure out (especially in the Facebook age). Yet in my life, it has been extremely rare for anyone to even attempt to get me presents in my interest areas. Rare as in almost never. I love my family, but it does irk me sometimes that all I ever get are variations on the bright red shirt theme my mother always tries to foist on me. So, no kits. Almost. My best bud who works at a hobby shop handed me a kit I ordered and wrote Merry Christmas on it - I considered that pretty cool.

I use two glues. Tamiya Extra Thin, and CA glues of the gap-filling variety followed with accelerator, (On the rare occasion where needs demand a slow or tacky glue, I use Weldbond white glue.) It is very unusual that I apply glue to paint. Thin CA is one of the most unusable I've ever touched and cannot find a single case in my experience where it was better than other options. Plan your builds where gluing painted surfaces does not occur. If you find yourself in a pickle and have to do that, use slow CAs and a kicker.

Wow.

I am curious why I cannot see any pictures in this topic. I looked at some of your other topics, and it's the same thing. Lots of posts, lots of compliments, but no pics. Is it just me?

Thanks again! I don't want to jinx it - but I may get one more finished before the year is out.

Thanks guys! I really appreciate the kind words - and even more all the tips I've learned from all of you in a very short time! FYI - for the time being I will continue to bow to my wife's wishes with colors, options and trim. She's making good choices.

I once DATED pharmacist, and even she was squirrely about giving away needles to me for modeling. I now manage pharmacists and know better than to even ask. They inventory needles pretty strictly.