Wow, Jim, that's unreal.  I wish you the best as you try to navigate this emotional family mess.  Hang in there, man!!

Sounds like things just went from bad to worse Jim. When things are tough you really see the true character of people; these family members are showing theirs! Sounds as though they've abdicated all responsibilities and blame others for their own mistakes. Makes me appreciate even more my family.I wish you only the best.

jimbot58

Well, things have come to be a nightmare! I had a big row with my sister last night when I announced that the trust fund was empty and there was no longer any money to give her! Suddenly, everything is my fault! Her son can not vacate Mom's house because I never stepped forward to be a father to her illegitimate children and i didn't teach her son how to be a man and fend for himself! He is bipolar and depressed and will probably kill himself because of this (me)! She can't work (or won't) for what ever reason, and just expected Mom to help her and her son out. She continues to believe that because Mom and Dad always helped her out, somehow this should always be this way! I couldn't get her to understand that they did this because they had the means to, but I don't! My bratty niece jumped in and declared that we are no longer family! I've been so distraught, I didn't even go in to work.

Hi Jim,

I am so sorry to hear about the trouble your family is causing you.  But you have tried your best.  There is no fault on your part.  There are people in this world who will not do anything for themselves and will take advantage of others as a life style.  It sounds like your sister and her clan are this type of people.

Try not to dwell on this.  You know you have done nothing wrong.  Do not doubt yourself.  They were no longer family to you a long time ago.  They have never helped you or your mother.  And now it has come to the finale.

Ken

Finally got the pictures to post.  I think I've finally got the hang of this.  This isnt the best photo; however, it does show the progress I've made on this kit.  Only a few more things to finish and I can get the decals on her.

She looks good to me, nice work!

That's a nice smooth paint job Jelliott! Way to go!

jelliott523

Finally got the pictures to post.  I think I've finally got the hang of this.  This isnt the best photo; however, it does show the progress I've made on this kit.  Only a few more things to finish and I can get the decals on her.

That looks great Jelliott!   

Ken

Great transition between the greys on your F-16; very realistic!

Thanks guys for the kind words.  Its been a lot of fun getting back into this hobby after about 15 years off.  My wife hasnt been the most impressed with the amount of money I've been spending on kits; however, I just tell her that its cheaper than some other things out there.  I didnt dare mention the fact that this hobby is much cheaper than her taste in wine.  I may be a little hard-headed, but I aint stupid!  LOL

Nice work. The angle of your photo does make it appear very long in the nose, though the 2 seat cockpit always looked a bit 'off' to me on the Falcon. Some fighters seem to wear the second cockpit better than others. I've also got a "D" Falcon partially built in my "put aside for later" stash-It's supposed to wear some adversary markings, but sort of stalled on it.

Like to see what you have under that masking in the cockpit when you get that far.

Jim

jelliott523

Finally got the pictures to post.  I think I've finally got the hang of this.  This isnt the best photo; however, it does show the progress I've made on this kit.  Only a few more things to finish and I can get the decals on her.

Meant to add a response to your post in my previous comments but forgot to hit the "Quote" button

Finished the Type 97 Chi Ha. It is depicted hull down in a crater waiting for something to happen.

As usual, feedback and comments are welcome. Steve

modelcrazy

Finished the Type 97 Chi Ha. It is depicted hull down in a crater waiting for something to happen.

As usual, feedback and comments are welcome. Steve

Nice work! I've always wanted to try a diorama, but never got around to it. I've dabbled in model railroads, so I probably have some basic skills to do it.

I was curious about the yellow marking-what is the purpose of it? It's not intended to be some sort of camo, is it?

Jim

Jim,

From what I read in the instructions, "they produced the effects of dividing the vehicle and misleading it's direction" similar to the Navy's Measure 32 or "Dazzle" camouflage on ships.

Steve

modelcrazy

Jim,

From what I read in the instructions, "they produced the effects of dividing the vehicle and misleading it's direction" similar to the Navy's Measure 32 or "Dazzle" camouflage on ships.

Steve

Interesting. I always wonder if these methods work or not.

Today I was  surfing the net and was reading articles about the US and how it's falling behind on technology. Someone analyzed how we would do against the Ruskies in a fight and they believe the Su-27 would beat the pants off the F-22's and F-35's. Even F-15's and 16's would do badly. It was said that the F-35 is the plane that can't. Can't accelerate, can't climb, can't turn! They claimed that in a down and dirty dogfight, a 1950's Mig-21 could beat it. I'm glad we spent all that money on it!

In the meantime, I started looking at the Su-27 and before you know it, my fingers were ordering a Zvezda Su-27SM Flanker 'B' and a Eduard detail set. Shouldn't spend money, but I gotta reward myself a little with all that OT I worked! It didn't help that Sprue Bros. only had one of each left and you know how that goes- get 'em while you can! Now they are both out of stock! Besides, I have been curious about Zvezda kits anyway.

I just hope I don't have to learn to read Russian to assemble the kit.

No major advances on the kits for now. I'm kind of in that stage of fixing seams, and trial fitting parts. You know how that goes: put them together, take them apart, sand a little here, add a bit of a shim there, try it again. Tedious stuff. With the F-8 and all the components that go in between the fuselage halves, it takes some TLC to be sure it's all going to come together right before it's ready for cement.. The A-10 is taking some minor tweeking as well.

Jim

modelcrazy

Jim,

From what I read in the instructions, "they produced the effects of dividing the vehicle and misleading it's direction" similar to the Navy's Measure 32 or "Dazzle" camouflage on ships.

Steve

You know oddly I've never seen it addressed anywhere but that does make sense. I always thought they looked a little odd too. Apparently the Imperial Army started with them around '37 or so and applied this camo scheme up until '43 or so when the yellow stripes stopped being used. Though in some cases they were still being applied right up to the end of the war. Japanese armour is as pretty evident a strange field, no much is known or maybe just not translated into English. 

Jim: No idea about current US tech vrs. the Russian. Not sure the Su-27 is anywhere near that formidable, though IMHO it's the most attractive aircraft the Soviets/Russians have ever built and I really like the looks of the thing. Only kit of it I've build is the old Academy kit in 1/48th before they started charging an arm and leg for it. The plane is BIG, maybe a third bigger than a F-15. I'm sure the newer Zvesda kits are probably much more accurate and may fit better. 

jimbot58

Nice work. The angle of your photo does make it appear very long in the nose, though the 2 seat cockpit always looked a bit 'off' to me on the Falcon. Some fighters seem to wear the second cockpit better than others. I've also got a "D" Falcon partially built in my "put aside for later" stash-It's supposed to wear some adversary markings, but sort of stalled on it.

Like to see what you have under that masking in the cockpit when you get that far.

Jim

Steve, lovely looking build. really like the base as well. Nice work.

jelliot, really liking that.

Bish,

Like you told me once,"it's all a case of presentation"

I haven't forgotten that.

Hey all.

Not a lot done tonight. Somebody re-gifted me an inexpensive Android D2 tablet. I have been messing with it trying to get into my WiFi, but am having trouble getting it to authenticate. Might have to call my ISP for assistance. After I gave that up, I found it has Angry Birds-Space edition. Damn things kind of addicting! After a couple of hours, I exhausted the battery, and had to quit.

A few things I have accomplished:

Getting all those pieces fitting into place so I can cement the fuselage up eventually:

But first, I have to complete the cockpit: still a few tiny parts to go in including the handles for the face curtain:

Once the cockpit is in place, I can glue up the halves and then add yet a few more PE parts!

Not cemented yet, but planning how I'm going to get that pesky wing root to line up:

Well, more pictures will have to wait- Photobucket just went for maintenance.

Guess I'll head off to bed!

Jim

Yeah Jim , saying Angry Birds is kind of addicting is like saying cocaine's kind of addicting. I wasted too much of my life on that stupid game; at least according to my girlfriend! My response was always the same: would you prefer I spent more time at strip clubs? Anyway, the fact that you got any work done on the model is exemplary my friend. And it's looking pretty darn good! Thanks for the update.

Very nice work on the cockpit there Jim.

That's one thing I haven't played but I downloaded Star Trek Online about two weeks ago and haven't gotten much of anything done for playing it. Glad to you see you find something to take your mind off your troubles there Jim.

.......and here I was feeling all guilty about playing World of Tanks on Xbox!!!!!!

TAD

modelcrazy

Finished the Type 97 Chi Ha. It is depicted hull down in a crater waiting for something to happen.

As usual, feedback and comments are welcome. Steve

Great job there Steve! I can see the dirt caked onto the tracks which adds a lot of realism. You did  a great job on the wash as well.     

Ken

jimbot58

Hey all.

Not a lot done tonight. Somebody re-gifted me an inexpensive Android D2 tablet. I have been messing with it trying to get into my WiFi, but am having trouble getting it to authenticate. Might have to call my ISP for assistance. After I gave that up, I found it has Angry Birds-Space edition. Damn things kind of addicting! After a couple of hours, I exhausted the battery, and had to quit.

A few things I have accomplished:

Getting all those pieces fitting into place so I can cement the fuselage up eventually:

But first, I have to complete the cockpit: still a few tiny parts to go in including the handles for the face curtain:

Once the cockpit is in place, I can glue up the halves and then add yet a few more PE parts!

Not cemented yet, but planning how I'm going to get that pesky wing root to line up:

Well, more pictures will have to wait- Photobucket just went for maintenance.

Guess I'll head off to bed!

Jim

Hi Jim,

I recall playing a few nights of Angry Birds!

Great work on your F-8E Crusader!      The cockpit looks great (as always).  How you can do that at 1/72 scale I still don't understand!

Ken

mikeymize

Yeah Jim , saying Angry Birds is kind of addicting is like saying cocaine's kind of addicting. I wasted too much of my life on that stupid game; at least according to my girlfriend! My response was always the same: would you prefer I spent more time at strip clubs? Anyway, the fact that you got any work done on the model is exemplary my friend. And it's looking pretty darn good! Thanks for the update.

LMAO!   

Ken

Well, if nothing else the price on the tablet, pad, or whatever it is was right-you can't argue with free! I did find another use for it: it has Kindle installed and there was I book I wanted that was only available as a trade paperback or a download....16 bucks plus shipping or 5 for the download. I already have an Amazon account, so.......

Now I'm reading instead of hobby work!

Jim

Hey all.

Pass the cigars, another new arrival at my house!

I know, not that big of a deal, but it was kind of interesting as this is my first Russian made kit! I've had German, Chinese, Japanese, Korean to name a few, but no Ruskie!

Had to open, and found this:

A box within a box! Got to give them credit for packaging!

Inside that:

With a couple of exceptions, most of the sprues are bagged individually. They could have bagged the decals though.

I didn't really look at it too much, or open anything, but from what I saw, the molding looked fairly crisp.The manual is interesting as one page says something like, "Placement of technical data labels" instead of just decal placement.

Had to put it away though, as I don't want to do another project yet.

Jim

jimbot58

Well, if nothing else the price on the tablet, pad, or whatever it is was right-you can't argue with free! I did find another use for it: it has Kindle installed and there was I book I wanted that was only available as a trade paperback or a download....16 bucks plus shipping or 5 for the download. I already have an Amazon account, so.......

Now I'm reading instead of hobby work!

Jim

Hi Jim,

I have always wanted to get a Kindle.  Very cool.

Ken

jimbot58

Hey all.

Pass the cigars, another new arrival at my house!

I know, not that big of a deal, but it was kind of interesting as this is my first Russian made kit! I've had German, Chinese, Japanese, Korean to name a few, but no Ruskie!

Had to open, and found this:

A box within a box! Got to give them credit for packaging!

Inside that:

With a couple of exceptions, most of the sprues are bagged individually. They could have bagged the decals though.

I didn't really look at it too much, or open anything, but from what I saw, the molding looked fairly crisp.The manual is interesting as one page says something like, "Placement of technical data labels" instead of just decal placement.

Had to put it away though, as I don't want to do another project yet.

Jim

Hi Jim,

From the pictures it looks like a nice kit.  I am looking forward to seeing  you build it!

Ken