The Recent Diversions

[Trackpad]

Hi, Everyone,

I've not been too noticeable on the Forum for the past while, as I had a bit of an alternate project on the go: three subjects (land, sea and air) to be built, one each for three twinned clubs in Canada, England and Australia, and each model representing the countries involvement in the Mediterranean Theatre, 1941-44. Each of the models goes into competition in Ottawa, Canada on September 26th. Here they are:



They are: the 1/35th scale Stuart V turretless tank (Land, Canada); the  1/48th Spitfire Mk. VIII (Air, England. My uncle, although an RCAF pilot, flew with 601 Squadron, RAF, in Italy, and scored a victory over a FW 190 in this aircraft); and the 1/700th scale HMAS Sydney (Sea, Australia). HMAS Sydney was the real challenge as I had not built a resin ship model in this scale before I started the build.

I'm now finishing up a 1/72nd scale Hercules that my son crewed in Afghanistan a few years ago. I expect to get back to WW1 modelling soon. Hope all Forumites are well, and I hope to be back as soon as possible. Best Wishes to all!

[Des]

Great to see your name back on the forum Gary, all three builds are superb. Hope you have a good time with the other boys from the forum this coming weekend at the show.

Des.

[Ernie]

Beautiful models, Gary!  I particularly like HMAS Sydney...
they should all be a hit in Ottawa, my friend.

Cheers,
Ernie

[Trackpad]

Ernie and Des, thanks for visiting, and for your very kind comments. Yes, it should be a great weekend: a regional competition and six Forumites spreading mayhem, chaos and confusion throughout!  The members of the Canadian Mafia (thanks again, Rowan!) have never met face-to-face before, so that just adds to the fun.

I plan to be back on the Forum with a build thread once the Hercules is done. Might be a hard choice of subjects to make, with eight 1/32nd scale subjects in the cache, seven them Wingnut offerings. But I'm sure that I'll bear up under the strain and challenge! Interestingly for a Canuckian builder, I'm tending toward the WNW Fokker E1, built as the aircraft flown by both Boelke and Immelmann. This subject had a real impact on air fighting given the two named pilots and would fit in nicely with my Fokker DVII and Triplane. But we'll see which of the eight gets the nod as time progresses.

Best to All!

[RAGIII]

Gary,
All 3 models are excellent! It must be a great feeling to model an aircraft which you have a family connection to. You have done a magnificent job on all!
RAGIII

[lcarroll]

Gary,
    It's been fun following your progress on this triple build project, and I'm looking forward to seeing them in the flesh at CapCon in less then five days! Nicely done, all. Hopefully the "mayhem, chaos, and confusion" index will remain manageable however, given the varied backgrounds in the group's composition and the close proximity of six Type A personalities for two days Ottawa may never be quite the same!
    As for your next project, we can all help you with that choice; the chances of consensus given the foregoing factors are nearly zero, but it'll be fun trying to work it out! I'll be the little old guy in a ball cap sitting alone in the corner of the Lounge with a flat warm beer when you arrive at the Ramada.........
Cheers,
Lance

[Trackpad]

RAGIII and Lance, Thanks for your comments! RAG, yes, with my uncle's Spitfire and my son's Hercules in the case, I will feel quite satisfied with the "family connections." I'll eventually have a couple of my "connections" there as well: an M113 APC and an AVGP Cougar, both in the cache right now. I'm looking forward to those builds as well! 

Lance: NAI 001 - "Lounge, Little Old Guy in a ball cap, with beer (flat, warm)". OK, got it. The recce dets will be advised...! 

Cheers, Both!

[Epeeman]

Hello, Gary -

Good to see you back, mate!

All your builds are excellent but the ship model really is truly impressive.

Regards

Dave

[Trackpad]

Hello, Again, Dave!

Good to hear from you, and thanks for visiting. I certainly appreciate your comments on HMAS Sydney. That build took longer than I thought it would because about 35% of my build time was actually reading up on, and learning, several new (to me) methods and techniques. Like, for example, "How do you model water??" Beat the H*ll out of me until I got a book that explains a method...in five stages! 

Got it sort of done, though, so we'll see what happens on Saturday! 

[dr 1 ace]

Hello Gary,

Great work on all 3, family connection makes them all the better.

Look forward to your next builds.

Ed

[Trackpad]

Hello, Ed,

Good to hear from you again. I hope that all is well with you and yours. Thanks for visiting, and for your comments. It will be fun to get back to fabric and wire!