202 articles · 13.6K karma · 36 friends · active 3 days, 10 hours ago

Retired US Navy Senior Chief working as a production supervisor in Seattle.

Rocktober Fest! Academy Phantom update

Ninkasi brewery in Eugene Oregon brews a very nice Oktoberfest, and that is this updates beer. Very much like the beers I drank when I visited Germany many years ago. The Academy Phantoms have been bashed many times for the fit of some [...]

Intake and exhaust

It's FALL! Ok, pumpkin ales are not everyones cup of tea, but this is a good one from a local brewery here in Seattle. Moving along with the Academy kit. The kit has intake trunks that use a "forced perspective" to get their [...]

Seats gentlemen…..

Here are my hybrid Eduard Brassin/Wolfpack Mk5 seats. I think they ended up far better than any Mk5 seats on the market as the Eduard Mk7 seats are little kits in themselves, and adding the Mk5 parachute housing to them makes them an [...]

Pits, seats and Fall brews

Started plugging away at the Academy Phantom. I am using the Eduard self adhesive PE interior set, and a combination of Brassin and Wolfpack seats. The Eduard set is very nice, and speeds up the process of correcting some of the areas [...]

Box it up...I'll take it...or a modeler's rant...

Ok, first the RFM Panther is a great kit. Some disappointments yep, but really wow! Second, I WANT TO THROW IT AT THE WALL! So it's time to take a break, as I really want to do the kit justice, but daayyyyuuuum. So my conundrum? I [...]

RFM Panther continues. Plastic modeling , or oragami?

I must admit that I just about scrapped the idea of the interior during this latest phase. First the torsion bars are much more fiddly than Dragons, getting everything to line up was a bit of a bear. I used toothpicks, which worked well. [...]

Treasures in the corner….

So I went to Skyway Models today looking for Panzer Crew for my Panther, no luck there. In the corner under some other kits I did however find a treasure from 1977, the Monogram B-29, complete with diorama sheet! I really need to [...]

RFM Panther update

I have been steadily plugging away at the kit, and still am impressed with many facets of it. One thing though that amazes me is small "misses". For example on the engine deck there are two covers towards the rear. On Late [...]

And ye shall seek the grail…….

Well, we all know I have an affection for old Monogram kits, and seek out original issues wherever I can and build them! I have been seeking an affordable B-25H for a few years, not doggedly, but "keeping y eyes open". Well [...]

A hard fought battle

Ok, the story so far, the RFM Panther G, is in a word Amazing, in three words hard to build. Now that is with a caveat, you just really need to pay attention to the flow of the directions and read several steps ahead so you don't screw [...]