I have been sick at home all week, mainly so I don't spread bugs at work but have been feeling a bit poorly so I have been working remotely (technology can be such a marvelous thing at times) and having early nights and long sleeps...
Felt a bit chirpier today (I work a Tuesday-Saturday week so, no, not an attack of wellness brought on by the onset of the weekend, thank you!!) and progressed a few projects...
Not much change here from the last pic but have filled the remaining sinkhole where previous filler had shrunk: think I've got them all now so will be able to sand it all once it's cured.
This is the Sword Northrop N9M in 1/48...I bought it as one of the many many NKR Models discount deals around 2003 (Earl NKR and Bill @ Hobby HQ, both in OZ were two of the most evil influences on my stash!!). I started it as soon as it arrived, as was my habit back then, and then it sat in the stash til today.
I used a trick I picked up from the FSM 1987 review of the Revell 1/72 Advanced Tactical Bomber and joined the 6 piece wing pieces horizontally before attempting to join them vertically: the theory is that, this way, you only have to worry about cleaning up the seam along the leading and trailing edges. It worked great on the ATB but I rushed it here or put it away before it was fully cured and there are some small steps between pieces. It should clean up OK but will need more care that should have been necessary. Tonight I added the wing air intakes for the engines and the nose gear bay.
Even though the actual colour scheme for this plane is quite colourful and distinctive, I've always envisaged it as an operational platform and I intend to complete it as a whiffer Korean War night-fighter used to counter the North Korean Bed-check Charlie nuisance bombers...all-over black with walk ways, 50cal or 20mm armament and possibly a wing-mounted radar pod a la the F4U night-fighter variant...
This is the Trumpeter Pak 43 128mm anti-tank gun that I picked up in the US on my April trip...it is another in the Trumpeter big gun series but unlike the B-4 203mm cannon which almost fell together on its own, it is quite a bit of work to build: the instructions are not very clear in many places, some parts are handed but that is not clear, and there are mandatory PE parts to be used in the construction. The actual fit of parts is brilliant, which only adds to the problem as parts not intended to go together often fit really well together!!
This pic (camera setting must be screwed up somewhere as it is quite fuzzy but have already packed up for the night) show the main assemblies to date roughly assembled to give an idea of the size of this beastie (the shiny thing in the foreground is a 6" measure). I think it will look quite spectacular when complete especially when displayed alongside the much smaller 88mm AA and AT versions...
Scale Models Expo 2011 is less than two months away and I will need to pull finger to have something to put on the table this time...my very sincere intention is to do a little modelling each day until pops out completed...
