Cranking the rollercoaster to the top of the hill and starting all over again. Beautiful metaphor, Greg.

Well, this has been one helluva roller-coaster ride. Doing this dio is really awesome (to use that over-used word.) It shows a side of the conflict seldom heard. I hadn't heard about the incident util a year ago or so because of iModeler. I was totally unaware of this (what became a) wonderful event that shows the best of human nature even in times of brutal conflict. Your skills and modeling abilities are way up at the top of the scale and should be recognised as such.

Enough of this seriousness. I LOVE that roller coaster picture and would love to ride on it. I thought the Coke Zero 'coaster at the Blackpool park was pretty cool but all those loops - WoW!

Roller Coaster! You can have your roll and eat it. It's bad enough to be put over (through) a barrel (roll).
Might as well get all the bonking (bonkers) over with now. Then I can be more serious in critiquing the grand display; and celebrating with 'Keeper' over a plate of cheese and crackers.

This afternoon, I finished this build. But, ah, but...I sprayed it with acrylic varnish, after I’d removed the masking on the canopies. The model itself looks fine but the canopies that I’ve spent so much time getting tidy and clear just misted/fogged up. Juve mistake. When I rub them with some thinners it clears up again but just fogs up again after a few moments. Interestingly the clear acrylic stands have done exactly the same, they’ve also misted over.

If anyone has any thoughts please drop a line, it’s not like I’m booking a ride on the Coaster (see above) but Itd make me feel better. As they say, ‘old enough to care but still young enough to not give a *#@§.

Well David, the thinners may have damaged it. I did the same thing once with Perspex. The only solution then was to rub it done with methylated spirits. It took hours of rubbing with a wet soft cloth, but it worked. However, thinners may have eaten into the plastic (not sure). Try rubbing metho on the stands, keep at it for a while to see if it actually clears up over time. If not, replace stands and canopy. Replacement will then be the only option if you wish to feel okay about this fine model. Unless someone else has a miracle cure I have not heard about before.

By the way, what does a "juve mistake" mean.

It's all relative.

Personally, I would normally take up the challenge of rebuilding, just to get more hours on the journey. Now and again I tend to purposely take the road least travelled, just to get in more practice. But then again, I may simply be bonkers about this 😉

Still anticipating for the grand display my friend. I feel it will be a fabulous display indeed. The whole concept, and story, of your build has already got the two birds flying in our mind's eye. And that is what we will have in our hearts when we view it. It's the modellers curse for those that get nitpicky and lose the story.

Thanks for the encouragement, Peter. My philosophy on this issue is full ahead and damn the torpedoes. My mistake to learn from and I’ll rectify it again in time. As with my Enterprise (US Navy not Starfleet) I’ll keep evolving the build after sticking it on the ‘headlines’. For example Jeff B had the suggestion to inlay a map on the base; if I can laminate and fix an OS map of part of the Northen France coastline I think it’d look great.

So if I find the time today I’ll stick a few photos on as an article - I’m definitely of that whole growth mindset of learning of learning more from your mistakes than your successes.