Moments of Zen

[DogfighterZen]

I'm just finishing my lunch break wondering if there's any Spitfire scheme with a sharkmouth... Off to Google to see if I can find any pics...

A few, including a well known RAAF Mk VIII. There's a few transfer sheets for it.

"Grey Nurse" & Eduard do at least 2 versions of it (1/72 & 1/48).

Yup, that was the one i found. Looks very good indeed. 

I'm just...wondering if there's any Spitfire scheme with a sharkmouth...

This is whiffworld, there are as many as you want there to be...

Exactly why i was thinking of a Portuguese Mk.22 with grey/green camo and a set of teeth...

[Old Wombat]

That's pretty much "Grey Nurse" in a nut shell, so just swap out the Aussie markings for Portugese & you're on a winner!

[DogfighterZen]

That's pretty much "Grey Nurse" in a nut shell, so just swap out the Aussie markings for Portugese & you're on a winner!

Yes, sir! I'm thinking of buying the Grey Nurse sheet and do just that on my 72nd Airfix kit.
The Aussie markings look very good too so they'll be used on something else... Maybe on an early Mustang to replace P-39s in 1943?

[DogfighterZen]

Well, i've been working...



So, only 2 weeks for the show and i'm not sure if i'll be able to finish this in time with the diorama like i had in mind but i'll take it there anyway...

[Old Wombat]

Oo-ooh! Lookin' nice!

[DogfighterZen]

Thank you, Mr Wombat! 
I decided to put the sharkmouth on and I'm glad I did, it looks very good on this plane. 

Ok, after the whif PoAF pair, I have to get back to the Monogram Spitfire, the PoAF F-16 pair and the whif Airfix F2H-2 Banshee...  3 real world projects and only one whif so, I have to take a look in the stash... 

After I finish these two, i have to buy thinner, varnish of the 3 types and masking tape...

[DogfighterZen]

Ok, time for an update here. I've been away from the forum but things have been happening on my bench... But first, i should mention that i just got back from Modelcult 2019, the first show held by my regional modelling club and i can say that it went better than we expected. Lots of visitors, lots of kids, both modellers and people that had nothing to do with it or had a friend who told them about it, people that saw the posts on facebook and on the Portuguese forum. Some were people who'd done it when they were younger and haven't done it for a few years, others came to meet other modellers but the most important thing was that there was a good vibe going on, people where enjoying the models and themselves.
I'm proud and very happy that i'm a part of this and i wanna help turn this show into an important date on every Portuguese modeller's calendar.

I had a great time and i'm just sorry that i live a bit too far from the show's location to be present on both days so i only got to be there today. I did try to make up as most as i could by speaking to as many modellers as i could. Most are guys to whom i've been talking to on the Portuguese forum so it was good to finally meet them and have a chat.

Lots of good work was show there, we even had a few from modellers from the north of the country who drove over 300km to be there and give their contribute as this was the first show held by the youngest modelling club in our country, and it was very much appreciated. Got to meet a few good people today. 

The only thing that didn't go so well was the fact that the only Portuguese vendor who was supposed to go, cancelled at the lat moment and that also left us without a couple of workshops that were to be done by the shop's owner...
But we did have a couple of people showing how to do some assembly, painting and weathering techniques so it wasn't all that bad.
There was a Spanish vendor from Madrid present and he had a very good variety of products and very good prices so, he was busy most of the time and it paid off for him... and yes, i did give him some of my euros...
I'll have a few pics for you guys later on, i didn't get any of my own cause there was one of our guys taking proper pics of every model and the event itself so those will be worth looking at.
That's a wrap for this year, let's make it better for next year's ModelCult!

Back to my bench, i haven't finished anything yet, i did try to finish both the F-4 and 5 but i wasn't going to rush things and not be pleased with the outcome so i decided i should just take what's ready and took some of my older models. 8 in total and 6 are what-if and it seems that most modellers enjoyed the ideas of the PoAF whif birds, which surprised me a bit, tbh. Guess minds are opening up a bit more around here...

This is how far i got with both builds...



Now, it's relaxing time so, i can get back to work... 

[TheChronicOne]

Magnificent news! Glad to hear everything went ~mostly~ well. Here's to next year being twice as good!!  Sounds like y'all are onto something here. 

[DogfighterZen]

Magnificent news! Glad to hear everything went ~mostly~ well. Here's to next year being twice as good!!  Sounds like y'all are onto something here. 

Thanks, brotha! Everyone had a smile on their face at the end of the day and that's what it's all about so we'll be trying to make even better next year for sure!

[Old Wombat]

Magnificent news! Glad to hear everything went ~mostly~ well. Here's to next year being twice as good!!  Sounds like y'all are onto something here. 

+1 from the Great Southern Land!


Love how the -4 & -5 are coming along ... & I'm jealous of your painting skills ... & your building skills ... & your photography skills ... & ... well, you get the picture.

[NARSES2]

Fantastic news re the show. Very well done to all of you 

[DogfighterZen]

Magnificent news! Glad to hear everything went ~mostly~ well. Here's to next year being twice as good!!  Sounds like y'all are onto something here. 

+1 from the Great Southern Land!

Thank you, Mr. Wombat, Sir!
Yes, we will be trying to make the next show at least twice as good as this year's, and the next one is only 6 months away cause we're going to change the date of the show to the beginning of the summer so we'll have a better weather which is more inviting for folks to attend.

Love how the -4 & -5 are coming along ... & I'm jealous of your painting skills ... & your building skills ... & your photography skills ... & ... well, you get the picture.

You're too kind, my friend... I admit that i have been getting a bit better at it but that's because i'm inspired be everyone's work on here. I feel that my skills are nothing special and the truth is that the pics i've shown of both models are hiding a bunch of flaws.   The panel lines that i engraved on the F-5 are way too deep and wide, some are a bit crooked too so, don't look too close... Anyway, your words are very much appreciated, mate! 

Today i took the day off cause i'm still dealing with the flu i've had for 3 weeks... that has been one of the reasons why i've been away from the forum and didn't finish the F-4 and -5 in time, it's been hard to go to work like this and when i get home at the end of the day, i'm wasted. Still, today i have to finish the 1/1 scale bed for my bedroom. Received a new mattress for it today so, assembly will take place shortly. Also going to replace the mailbox as the one left by the previous owners is made of plastic and is disintegrating from being under the summer sun for a few years now.
There's also a couple of shelves to be put up on the garage's wall for the laundry detergents and if i manage to get it all done today, i might get something done on the bench. Tomorrow i'll try to begin painting the parts of my 3 IKEA Detolf display cabinets.

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/detolf-glass-door-cabinet-black-brown-10119206/

I'm also thinking of adding more shelves but i'll have to find a place where i can buy the glass of the correct size. I have a 4th cabinet which is missing one of the side wall glass parts, which i'll have to buy later on but i guess that these will have room for a good number of models.

Oh, and here are some pics of the show:

To welcome visitors we had Willy...


Model railway layout... (Yup, it went around the whole stage...)


The three display isles...


And the area of the vendor and the tables for the workshops... the door you see on the far end is the door to the bar...


I can say we have all the conditions necessary to hold a great event so, it's up to us to get it up and running.

Fantastic news re the show. Very well done to all of you 

Thank you, Chris!!  You guys don't know it but you've all contributed for this, you gave me the motivation to go talk to the right folks and get modelling going in the Algarve again after so many years so, this is your victory too!!

[Old Wombat]

For a first effort that looks very, very good!

[Rheged]

Your problem next time is going to be attempting to match or surpass such an excellent initial offering!!!

[DogfighterZen]

For a first effort that looks very, very good!

Your problem next time is going to be attempting to match or surpass such an excellent initial offering!!!

Thanks, guys! It will be a challenge to up the ante but we wanna turn this into a "must go to" event for Portuguese Modellers and it will be difficult, no doubt but i believe that with the experience gained and contacts made on this one, the next one will be easier on some aspects. Still, we know what went wrong and right so, lessons learned and on with the next one!!