The ranks swell, 4 days to go, my stuff from Ultracast arrived... yup... it's all in place.

Working with those PE turnbuckles that are the size of a virus should be... interesting. They give you 80 of the little buggers.  I hope their calculations of the extras needed for the "tweezerpult factor" will leave enough to finish

Hi Mike - thanks for the greeting.  My eldest son like the series "Dogfights" and was thrilled that there was a model of Voss' crate, so I'll be doing that one.  Besides, it's all green...what could possibly go wrong...(heavy sarcasm)...

I see from the list that you're doing the E.III - have fun, it's a great kit.  Which scheme for yours?

Three days to go!

Phil - Great idea!

Wing_nut - They sure have! I'm glad the subject turned out to be a popular one.

Aaron and I are going to have a little kickoff "party" in the Ready Room on Thursday afternoon. Of course, you're all invited. We can raise a glass (I'll be at the office, so it'll be a soda for me). I also hope to give you guys a glimpse of the "surprise" Aaron and I have been working on.

Oh great, I just love surprises.....

Last one I had was a kidney stone... 

Jumping with excitement for getting started on my Gotha but won't get much done at the start. Busy trying to get ready for a model show in Hamilton on Sunday.

Gamera

Oh great, I just love surprises.....

Last one I had was a kidney stone... 

I promise, we will not give you a kidney stone. A receding hairline? Maybe. But definitely not a kidney stone.

"I promise, we will not give you a kidney stone. A receding hairline? Maybe. But definitely not a kidney stone."

Oh man...I already have one of those.  The receeding hairline, I mean...

Yeah, receding hairline here too

Here as well (the hair line thing, that is).

Chuck, I'll be building Udet's E.III. It has a little touch of color over what is otherwise a fairly drab scheme. I checked out the kit you'll be doing. Been eyeing that one for a while but haven't pulled the trigger on it yet - nice choice on building the Voss version. How do you plan on painting the streaked camo?

Tim, being on the left coast, I may be a bit late for the shindig, so if you fellas would be so kind as to save me a bit of whatever's being served, I'd be most grateful.

Hairline, what hairline?

Grass doesn't grow on a busy street!

Will Mademoiselle be serving root beer?

ruddratt

Tim, being on the left coast, I may be a bit late for the shindig, so if you fellas would be so kind as to save me a bit of whatever's being served, I'd be most grateful.

I think we can do that.

Tim Kidwell

I'm glad the subject turned out to be a popular one.

It's my absolute favorite subject, Tim. You and Aaron could not have picked a better one!  ( so yeah, I'm a little biased )

"Smaller than a virus"  Marc, I had to chuckle when I read that. Man, those things are tiny!

ruddratt

Tim Kidwell

I'm glad the subject turned out to be a popular one.

It's my absolute favorite subject, Tim. You and Aaron could not have picked a better one!  ( so yeah, I'm a little biased )

If I didn't have two partially completed string-bags on my bench right now, I'd join too.

GMorrison: "Grass doesn't grow on a busy street!" - I love that!  Do you mind if I use that?..

Mike: I "plan" to use oils over a light blue base, streaked on with a wide soft brush.  Most of my plans don't survive contact with my models, so we'll see.  How do you plan to do the metal panels on your E.III?

Only 2 days left!  I actually took Friday off - not just for this build, but...just sayin'

It's a good plan Chuck. Went the same route on this Eduard Dr.1.....

A little japan drier added to the oils made a huge difference.

For the metal on the E.III, I'm going to try using different shades of Alclad II and a liquid mask. Sounds like it has a chance, but we'll see.

WOW!  Beautiful job, Mike!  If mine is half that nice I'll be happy.  Thanks for the japan drier tip.

For my E.III I used Alclad and Chrome Silver, with texture provided by a sponge.  I don't do "random" well...

Outstanding, Mike! That is one good-looking Tripe.

Three plus 8 for some of us!   can't wait to pull out the albatross

John

Two more days and I can finally break out the sprue cutters. I've been dying to crack open a Wingnut kit since I saw the first one. Thanks to everyone for the enthusiasm to get me off my duff and do it.

Cheers, Aaron

[Looks again at D.VII kit, then at other projects, back at D.VII, then shakes head, washes a couple of 5-Hour Energies with a Red Bull, and get back to work.]

Love her Mike, she looks fantastic!!! Guynemer's Nieuport is all aluminum dope- not sure how it would weather.

Thanks fellas! That kit was a blast to build!

Man, just cannot wait until midnight tomorrow!

Chuck, I never considered the sponge method, but it really does make a lot of sense. I'd be crazy not to give it a shot. Thanks for that! When I do worn metal, I mix a little burnt umber oil paint to Testors silver to tone it down a bit. I'm gonna try dabbing a similar mix over different Alclads and see what pops.

Cliff, that's going to be a tricky one to weather. Here's a few things that come to mind - those rotary engines throw a lot of oil, so mucking up the underside with oil and dirt would be a good start. Fading out the insignias a bit would work as well, and some pre or post shading to accentuate the ribbing on the wings would add a lot of depth to the aluminum dope finish.

Thanks Mike, I'll give it a try. First time I've done a biplane in ages - this should be interesting.

Here it is gents: the final day before we're off and running! I even got a hair cut for the occasion! Strange not to have the curly locks brushing the shoulders. But, it fits better under the aviator hat.

I've started the shindig in the Ready Room. Drop by, wish each other luck, and have some laughs!

OK, now that I know nobody's in the Ready Room still, I figured I come here and post a "before" in box picture.  One is a family portrait-to-be and the other shows the - still bagged - kit, along with the upgrades I plan to use: a WnW Axial prop, a set of Master guns (hey, ya gotta...) and seatbelts from RB Productions.  It's now about 15 minutes to go time...I can hear the F.1 calling my name!  Y'all have fun...

Wow...I think it actually worked.  Amazing for a photobucket newbie of about 10 minutes.  See you guys at the bench!

Welcome to the build everyone...at least everyone in this time zone...ready?...

Set...

GO!

G'night everyone...

Hello,

I just saw this topic and I would love to jump in the boat, if its not too late, with Eduard's 1:48 Bristol Fighter.

regards,

Sasho

March 1, 1: 13 AM.  I knew someone would be chomping at the bit to get this thing kicked off

Chuck! Awesome!

No building yet (still have my baby SPADs to finish rigging) but here's the Eduard 1/48 Sopwith Baby that chose me. Its one of their earlier efforts, lots of fairly heavily-molded, low-detail & flash-ridden plastic parts, but a lavish sheet of PE and a metal engine thrown in to replace the grossly simple plastic one. And, what looks like a lovely sheet of Propagteam decals.

Should be starting all this in a day or two.