Chris Greathouse Sign me up for this one when it going from Idea to project. Very interesting shape.

Dave Burgess I've got to acquire the model first. I e-mailed Sharkit, and this one's out of production.

Chris Greathouse Good luck!

Chris Greathouse Interesting shape, I'm on for the ride.

Dave Burgess I decided to do the prototype version of the X-4 early in the program, when it was painted International Orange with black stripes and still sported US Air Force markings (before NACA). A much more interesting paint scheme than the boring white, but I couldn't find any pics of it painted this way on the internet. I relied on the reference drawings and description provided by Airmodel.

Dave Burgess Given the complexity of the stripe pattern, I chose to mask and paint it in 7 stages: wing stripes; upper body stripes; lower body stripes; vertical stab stripes; intake stripe; nose scallop; and anti-glare panel. That allowed me to do a minimum of finicky masking, and just cover the rest of the a/c with a quick paper mask. Photo album details the progress. For the nose scallop, I taped some yellow Tamiya tape on a piece of thin styrene sheet, and ran it through a 3-hole punch a few times. I took the tape off 4 of the punched out circles and formed the mask for the scallop.

Nathan Dempsey Interesting subject. I like the choice of the orange coloring.

Dave Burgess My first model from the newly opened BC Shaver Shop. Store re-opened on Mon, June 24; model completed June 30.

Chris Greathouse That turned out well! I have a ZZ on my shelf that wants to be built at some point. and I'm glad your shop reopened... Someone else was worried about it, new owers I believe right? Did it stay the same or get totally redone?

Dave Burgess New owners. The previous owner (a good friend of mine) retired. The new owners re-located from downtown on Fort St. into the Hillside Mall. About the only thing they took from the old shop were the paint racks. Virtually everything else is new stock. I purchased all of the vacuform & resin kits from the previous store before it closed.

Chris Greathouse Is it the same kind of hobby shop? or did they change their hobby interests and product focus?

Dave Burgess No, it's pretty much the same. They sell and repair shavers, plastic models (aircraft, ships, tanks & military vehicles, cars, science fiction); they have a large selection of Gundam (doesn't interest me), and still have their RC cars & aircraft. Maybe a little less in the model trains (didn't look for them). Plus, a good selection of tools, paint & paint brushes, plastic and balsa stock. The shelves aren't nearly as full as the downtown store, but in fairness, they're still receiving inventory, and I suspect they'll gradually increase their inventory as they earn profits from current sales. Garnet's shop took YEARS to get to the level of inventory he had when he retired!

Dave Burgess Also, they retained most of the staff from the downtown store when it closed.

Chris Greathouse Well, I'm glad they didn't just uproot the theme and become yet another one of those generic hobby shops... Cheers mate!

Glenn . Great project will take a while!

Holger Kranich Dave, you wanna build the whole Tower? Ambitious Project!!!

Dave Burgess Already been working on it for 5+ years (interspersed between other projects...)

Sybar Watching

Chris Greathouse I like the color scheme of pink and blues.

Dave Burgess I picked the decals up as part of a job lot from the local hobby shop, which is closing down. I got a total of 350 items, including 120 vacuform kits 50-60 decal sheets, and a whole bunch of resin and PE aftermarket parts. I paid $250; the retail value was over $2700, so well worth the money. However, I saw this decal sheet, plus the Greek Mirage F.1C decal sheet and I HAD to build them, so I've ordered up the kits (+ cockpit PE) from Hannants. Can hardly wait to get started! If just these two kits turn out, it will be well worth my investment.

Chris Greathouse What a steal! Too bad your hobby shop is closing though.

Dave Burgess Owner retired after 40+ years. He sold the shop to another buyer, who's opening a shop in one of the local malls. Just hoping the new place will be as good as the old one. I've been shopping there since the early 1960's when his dad ran it.

Chris Greathouse Oh, an old school hobby shop. Those are the best places to find goodies. I hope the new owners keep it a legit hobby shop. Years ago one of my hobby shops sold out, the owners turned it into a card and board game hobby shop but all the old knick-knacks were gone... The only cool thing about that place is it had a wall of games you could rent and play in-house on their 8 tournament sized tables. There was also a lot of tournaments for Magic the gathering, Pokemon card game, and Dungeons and dragons, so that was a cool plus. But the shop that I shopped for RC and rocket supplies faded into the past...

Dave Burgess For me the shop (BC Shaver Shop - Victoria, BC Canada) represented the LAST (model) hobby shop in town. We have a Michaels in town, but unlike the States, Michaels up here has virtually nothing in the way of models and modelling supplies. If the new venture fails, I'll have to travel 90 miles to find the nearest hobby shop on Vancouver Island, or pay $150 to BC Ferries to go to the hobby shops in Vancouver. If the new store fails, it will mean online shopping most of the time, meaning a LOT more time planning projects to ensure I have the right paint colours, supplies etc. before I start; that or BIG delays in construction while I wait for supplies to arrive!

Chris Greathouse I hear ya! I've started studying the next model I want to do next while I'm halfway/finishing the current model. That gives me time to order any supplies needed and have them shipped before I need them. *fingers crossed for your new shop*

Donald Dickson II I have this decal set as well. What made you go with dark blue vs purple?

Dave Burgess That's not my model - I haven't built it yet. I just downloaded the image off the internet. I think the pic is one of the cheap die-cast metal models.My kit is on order and I'll be doing it in pink, purple, and light blue. Then I'll replace the current image with one of my completed model.

Donald Dickson II Aha! That explains it! LOL Well, I look forward to seeing your work.

Maciej Bellos Following!