Jack: Whoa! That is outstanding.

Tony: Glad to have you join us. That will be a sweet subject. Those Hasegawa 1/72 190's are nice kits. I finished one of their F-8's not to long ago.

It sure is ok Tony, got you added to the roster. And of course you don't have to stress to much by finishing at the end of the month just to rush it.

Hi Bish,

I'm hoping I can sneak into this GB late with this thing

It's from Berna Decals sheet 72-45 German Aircraft in French Service. I reckon I can just about get her done by 31st December, in line with the GB finish date. I'll use the Hasegawa 1/72 190A-5 for it.

Hope it's ok.

Cheers

Tony

Quick update, just sprayed a satin finsih overall, so tomorrow can add a little weathering to the hull.  With the photo close up, can see some dust requires knocking down too.

Still need to add the flag, but have to print my own as the supplied decal has the red out of register.

regards,

Jack

Right, we are all updated, thanks guys.

I've got a couple weeks with almost zero to do. Going to try to get one more in. I was thinking an IL2 but can't rush something like that. Instead we're going to try a Bego Kubelwagen. Nope, not from the Ukraine. Bego was/is Japanese - became Tasca a few years back, and now is Asuka. Anyway, it looks like a really sweet kit. As you can see, it's already got dark primer on it.

Eric

WOW, i go to bed for one night an dthis is what i wake up to, 3 really nice completed builds.

Dan, i love the finish you have got with both os those. Great dust effect on the Sherman and the hetzer looks nice a gruby but really not over done, awsome builds.

Check, i am still amazed at your work on these ships in this scale, some amazing detail, and thanks for labelling all those antenna's.

Brilliant work guys, and thanks for sharing them all with us. I'll get some pics up later. 

Dan, thanks, and those are some great finished armour builds you have presented here.    Although the Hezter scheme is more interesting, I'm unable to pick a favourite as they are both equally well done.

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Check, congrats on the completetion, and nice tribute to your friend and the ship itself.   Great job too on updating her to her final layout of the war, really admire how committed you were to this.

regards,
Jack

Dan: Your Sherman and Hetzer are fantastic. The weathering you have done is really exceptional and definitely captures the realism of heavy use in the field. The extra gear is nicely done on the Sherman. Thank you for sharing your armor skills with us.

Check: Simply outstanding. Although, like Eric pointed out, the measure 21 is not the most eye catching scheme, you have done a stellar job of capturing the look of Shangi-La. You sure don't give yourself enough credit for your ship building skills as they are first rate. Your PE work on the antennas and radar sure paid off in spades. Stunning carrier indeed. I want to thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and techniques. I sure hope I'm able to translate a fraction of what you've taught me into my boat. Sure looking forward to seeing this in the future with a "busy" flight deck.

Congratulations to you both for your GB completions!

You're right, Gary.  But I'm waiting until they make one that looks like John Wayne.

I see you live in Longview.  Wife and I lived in Tyler for a year, back in the '80's.  We'd drive over to Longview every now and then.  Y'all had a better mall.

EBergerud

Very nice indeed. Good job with Measure 21 which is not loveable - but definitely closer to gray than blue. But no airplanes perfectly weathered and mounting decals? Are you sane or something.

Eric

He's waiting for the photo-etch assembled crewmen figures like in the photo before he places the aircraft!  Isn't that right, CMK02? 

Thanks, Eric.  Planes in the future; the ones in the kit were shabby.

Very nice indeed. Good job with Measure 21 which is not loveable - but definitely closer to gray than blue. But no airplanes perfectly weathered and mounting decals? Are you sane or something.

Eric

Everything's done and finished now with Shangri-la, including the photos.

First up is a photo of the island, both sides, with the types of radar indicated, as far as I can tell.  I couldn't find any information for the ones marked with "?"--so I don't know what they did.  

And, as for the "coffee can on a pole," I'm at a loss.  But so was some of the Navy, it looks like.

Next, the ship itself.

Thanks to you, Bish and stikpusher, for hosting the group build.  It was terrifically enjoyable being part of it, and I sure got a lot of learning out of it.  I will enjoy looking in on everyone's progress while it continues.

I'd like to dedicate the model to Ivan P., a 17-year-old who enlisted in the US Navy in '43 or '44, and served aboard CV-38 from her commissioning through the end of the war.  He was an electrician on board, till he managed to raid the captain's liquor stash.  From then on, he found himself in the boiler room for the duration.  Ivan has been a friend for over twenty years, and celebrated his 89th birthday on 27 November this year.

For the front page, I think the last photo above would be good.  I wanted to capture the same angle as the picture of the real ship.  A year after the war, she hadn't changed very much.

Thanks again, everyone!

Nice work, Dan.  Very realistic dusty and worn look to both vehicles.  Looks like they've been around the block a few times.

Thanks Checkmateking: Looks like your making some good progress on your carrier, I would have trouble with those tiny parts.

Thanks Jgeratic: Great job on your little ship, those are some tiny details.

Thanks Joe Rix: Nice work on the P-47, looks good. Getting to the prep stage for painting is always exciting.

Rob S: Great work on your Typhoon, nice detail in the machine gun compartment.

Think I'm calling my two builds done, I'll add the figures at a later day. With the Sherman I added spare tracks to the front, two crates, three spare wheels & four fuel cans. Had to glue the .50 cal to the mounting pole. After I glued on the extra's, I airbrushed Tamiya XF-57 Buff in a mist. The spare wheels came from a Dragon M4 kit. With the Hetzer I dried brushed on Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black, along with XF-52 Flat Earth, and XF-56 Metallic Grey for the tracks. Then airbrushed XF-57 Buff in a mist. Yesterday I sprayed on Testors Dullcote and let both sit over night to dry. Building Tamiya's reboxing of Tasca's M4A3E8 “Easy Eight” was very enjoyable, and the kit goes together perfectly.

Thanks guys...Jack, you'd be pleased with the Airfix Tiffie...desperately small cockpit opening, though, but, that was the design. NOT much going on in there and I wouldn't really want to 'overdress' it as the opening is extremely small and you can't see a thing inside, really.

Check, she is looking really sweet, can't wait to see the finished product.

I was going to ask they were in the photo, but jack provide that.I never actually watch that programme.

Thanks, Joe and Jack! Actually, it's taken me six months to finish the thing. I started it back in May, then got interrupted a couple of times with vacation and two cataract surgeries, so much of it was partially completed before I could resume work in September. I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull this off, since there was so much scratch-building, and I haven't done very much scratch-building ever.

As for the airgroup, yes, I'd eventually like to do some planes, but the kit planes are pretty horrible--large sink marks in the sides of the fuselage; little pegs instead of wheels; solid-molded, so no clear canopies. The Gold Medal PE set came with propellers, which I've got painted up, but I think I'm going to need to get some Trumpeter planes. Plus, I need to do enough research to determine what kind. I know CV-38 had Helldivers, and I think Corsairs. What else, I'm not sure. The kit came with Corsairs, Helldivers, Avengers and Hellcats.

Thanks for your comments!

Joe and Rob, good progress on your respective aircraft builds.  Been decades since I've built the flying jug, and I've yet to get a Tiffie on the shelf.  The Airfix new tool is what I have my eye on.
Check - ditto as Joe praised, and I too would like to see a few aircraft on deck.

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Thank you Bish, Rob and Check.
No doubt the Gilligan crew wouldn't have minded having an R-boat dropping by.  The  Bundesmarine were actually still using a few dozen of these up until the late 1960's.   For it's size though, not a very fast boat, reaching a top speed of less than 24 knots.  One interesting tidbit is about a third of these were constructed with unconventional propulsion.  No rudders, and the propellers were set horizontally, allowing for some very dexterous movement in the water. 

Voith Schneider Propeller

regards,

Jack

Rob: Glad to see you making good progress on the Typhoon. That's definitely a nice approach to the guns/gun bays. That's a bugger about the wing fit. I'm sure you'll have that dressed up real nice though.

Check: From your one photo it looks fantastic. The flight deck is really nicely done. What did you do there. Any aircraft planned? I am definitely looking forward to seeing the rest of the finished pics. P.S. I'm greatly impressed/jealous with how quickly you were able to knock that out.

EBergerud

Looking forward to seeing the Typhoon - lethal looking brute. I've never used big clamps on wings but know others do. What's the advantage? Eric