Moments of Zen

[TheChronicOne]

Your ol' lady gon' whoop your arse if you keep this up.   

[DogfighterZen]

Your ol' lady gon' whoop your arse if you keep this up.   

That's what she said when she saw that... Seriously, i'm a very lucky guy, she's one in a million! 
She helped me assemble the cabinet and when it was ready, she brought out the cleaning materials and left all the glass sparkling. What more could i ask for?
So, finally i have a cabinet full of models!!



Tomorrow i'm going to use the shelves of one of the other 3 cabinets and put them in between the original shelves. That way, i'll have more than twice as much space for the rest of my models. I'll have to have some more shelves made for the other cabinets and one of the side walls that i managed to break when i was disassembling them back at the estate to carry home... As they're made of tempered glass, they won't be cheap but i won't be needing all four assembled for a while cause i don't have enough models to fill up a second cabinet so no need to hurry with that.

Man, this is boosting my mojo sky high and i have a bunch of projects in sight to fill up that second cabinet. Beginning with the stalled builds of the real world Spitfire and the F-16 pair, i'm also going to pick the whif Banshee i put back in the box because of the canopy issues, start the whif PJ Mirage III, a real world Revell F/A-18E, and a whif AH-1... That'll keep me busy at least till the end of 2020 ...

[TheChronicOne]

Looks great!!! Will cut down on cleaning, looks magnificent, and cuts down on risk of breaking something.

[DogfighterZen]

Looks great!!! Will cut down on cleaning, looks magnificent, and cuts down on risk of breaking something.

Will look even better with twice as many shelves tomorrow. I've looked up mods people do to these cabinets and i have all i need to do it. All it takes are 16 small cable clamps that will be tightened around the inner metal structure between each shelf and it's done.
The dust will get in anyway because the door doesn't insulate the interior, there are small gaps on each side but obviously, it will protect the models much better than if they were sitting on uncovered shelves.

So, now that i've chosen my next builds, it's time to get to work.

[TheChronicOne]

Yeah buddy....  ain't winter time grand?     Here in a few months, you'll be like, "Damn, I wish I had more time for builds!" 

[DogfighterZen]

Yeah buddy....  ain't winter time grand?     Here in a few months, you'll be like, "Damn, I wish I had more time for builds!" 

So true... i've had 3 days off this past week and i was needing them, gardening in the summer is harsh as you very well know and winter time is a blessing when there's rain. I'll be taking some more days off in January so, i plan to get a lot done on all the models i have on the list.
And when the heat returns, i'll be wishing i was like them migrating birds but chasing the cold instead of the heat.

[kerick]

Your cabinet looks great! The black came out well.
When I remodeled our kitchen I built my own kitchen cabinets and included an end section with a glass door to display a few models. I occasionally switch them out with the ones in the cabinet in my basement work space.
For extra shelves plexaglass works well. Models are lightweight so it doesn't bend and its cheaper than glass.

[DogfighterZen]

Your cabinet looks great! The black came out well.
When I remodeled our kitchen I built my own kitchen cabinets and included an end section with a glass door to display a few models. I occasionally switch them out with the ones in the cabinet in my basement work space.
For extra shelves plexaglass works well. Models are lightweight so it doesn't bend and its cheaper than glass.

Thanks, Ken! 
I was going to put the extra shelves on today but i don't have all the cable clamps i need so i'll have to buy some tomorrow. No need to hurry, though, i only wanted to put all the older models in there too and they're not enough to fill all 3 extra shelves so i have to get to work to finish more models. 
With that said, i'm going to get the 1/48 Spitfire ready for paint right now...

[DogfighterZen]

So, into the new year and new builds are on the bench! I still haven't put the shelves i want to in the cabinet cause i've been lazy, already have the cable clamps but i've been spending my time on the bench... Besides the Spitfire, i've chosen to throw the Banshee and the RW PoAF F-16 pair back into the stash cause i'm not really in the mood for real world builds and working on a model that has killed my mojo before so, i won't be dealing with it now.
Instead, there's the PoAF Mirage, the Super Hornet and the AH-1... Not sure what designation it will have but that's a minor issue. Also not sure about the SH, maybe a whif but i'm still deciding what to do with it.

Regarding the AH-1, it's funny that today i saw Dizzyfugu's Tiger with the same mod i want to do on the Cobra... I'd bought the 1/72 Italeri kit and also a Revell EC135 to see if the tail could fit the Cobra but i think it's way too small regarding size and weight of that helicopter compared to the EC135, which is much smaller and lighter. I had a Revell Dauphin on order but something went wrong and now i'm asking for my money back as the kit hasn't been delivered yet. It was marked as sent on ebay on December 9th so it should be here by now.
Also had an issue with the free prize draw kit that i won on the ISM live show, not here yet and it was sent before xmas so, guess that Royal mail is really busy...

Anyway, back to the AH-1, as i don't have the parts i need, i just said "Screw it!" and got to scratchbuilding what's needed, which is a fenestron tail rotor.
First was to find a plastic cylinder with a slightly bigger diameter that the EC135's fenestrom. Found that on an ice tea box's lid interior...
Then i decided to draw as an aid to getting things in the right angle and shape so out came the evergreen strips and sheet styrene and the fun began...



After this, it was just a matter of cutting and gluing the necessary bit to give it the shape of the drawn template.



and now i have this...



Was a bit worried about the weight that would be added to the tail because this bird really needs a lot of weight in the nose and there's very little room for that there but it all seems to be within reasonable limits when set on the skids.
The afternoon's been cleared of visiting relatives and friends, shopping duties and everything else that could keep me off the bench so, sand to shape is the task ahead.

Another project i've had in mind for a long time now is the 2nd coming of my F-16W. This time the configuration will be more like the first build instead of the Delta/canard F/A-16W variant.
Smaller wings, smaller fins but most of the F-16W variant features will be present. Already made a start on the wings...



I'm on vacation for the next two weeks so i should be able to get something done. 

[DogfighterZen]

Ok, i guess that the hard part is done, i'm just waiting on the sprue goo to dry up so i can repair the areas where i got distracted and sanded off more than i should...



Tomorrow i'll try to finish the sanding and get the rotor blades and spinner done.

[zenrat]

Looking good there.

[NARSES2]

Looking good there.

It is indeed 

[DogfighterZen]

Looking good there.

It is indeed 

Thanks, guys! 
It has been giving me more work than i expected but i think i'll get it done... had to go back and apply a new layer of sheet styrene on it because there were small gaps that were still visible after i finished sanding. Still, i'm a stubborn fuzzy bunny so it won't get the best of me.
Funny fact i that the Revell/Matchbox Dauphin was delivered today... a few days short of a month after it was sent...
I blame it on the Royal mail for this, the tracking number never worked on their system. So, does that mean that i had all the work on the fenestron for nothing? No way, it will be finished and used cause that way i have a full Dauphin II in the stash and no chopped up kits.

[NARSES2]

Funny fact i that the Revell/Matchbox Dauphin was delivered today... a few days short of a month after it was sent...
I blame it on the Royal mail for this, the tracking number never worked on their system.

In defence of Royal Mail quite often the postal option the trader chooses will only track the package as far as the main UK sorting office, postage rates for overseas full tracking are expensive. I've also had a couple of cases lately where the seller has supplied me with tracking number that doesn't actually exist. A guy I know in our local sorting office confirmed that for me. So I've no idea what was going on there, I can guess, but ?

However at least you got it, so all's well as they say 

[DogfighterZen]

In defence of Royal Mail quite often the postal option the trader chooses will only track the package as far as the main UK sorting office, postage rates for overseas full tracking are expensive. I've also had a couple of cases lately where the seller has supplied me with tracking number that doesn't actually exist. A guy I know in our local sorting office confirmed that for me. So I've no idea what was going on there, I can guess, but ?

However at least you got it, so all's well as they say 

Well, all i can say is that the number the seller gave me never worked so, i think that probably the number never existed, hence why the seller didn't answer my email regarding that issue.
That sucks, if they say that there will be a tracking number, then it should be a real one. I'll be on the lookout for more of these sellers from now on. Still, i can't complain too much, like you said, i got the kit in perfect condition(brand new other than a bit tattered box) and the shipping was 6£ so, within normal standard shipping costs so, i'm satisfied now.

So, back to modelling... At first i wanted to have the Dauphin's tail but while researching i found OH-1 Ninja and that seemed to have the right diameter for a chopper like the Cobra, considering that they're both very similar designs regarding weight and size so i'm going with a mix of the two.
Chopped up a few bits of old sprue and built the transmission and rotor hub...



Then i drilled a hole in the hub to slide in what i believe is a strengthening bar, which was an oleo strut from an Italeri SU-27's landing gear...





So now, on to the blades...