Tom ... Doing this kit as a warm up to Mars Attacks. Hopefully Mars attacks has better fitting pieces. Going to be a fair bit of work to get rid of all the holes and seams.

However.... "Double Action. Twice the Terror". Buhahahaha!

Going to be leaving the lights on at the bench...

JD Spooky!

Gareth Burge Looking forward to this...

Tom ... Have given up on trying to remove seams and joints. The fittings are terrible and as this is really a throwaway project I'm not too worried. This build is more about painting.

Oh and the jailer's axe "action" works really well. I'm impressed.

Bill Newcomer It appears the "Jailer" is well fed.

Chaz Gordon Polar Lights are releasing some really interesting subjects, reminds me of the weird Revell stuff from the 80s

Tom ... Primed everything so will start painting soon.

Bill Newcomer Hey! Be careful with that! You'll poke someone's eye out! LOL

Tom ... hehe

Tom ... Thx, guys.

Treehugger, from most of what I have read, and the instructions for this kit, the typical method is to plank from the bottom and the top and meet in the middle. It's a little more involved than that as each plank has to be tapered depending on the curve/length of each bulkhead/frame. I'll be documenting this in the next set of updates, assuming I don't totally cock it up. However, the two top planks are not tapered and form the "sheer" for the hull, which is the slight curve from bow to stern.

Ben M watching

Chaz Gordon Nice going Tom, so far you seem to be keeping your head above water and not floundering at all.

Chaz Gordon Seriously, you can't take me anywhere.

Ben M You're dripping with humor today.

Christian W Interessting.

JD Yeah I've got many irons in the fire... Why not use this extra time to learn another skill, like Shipbuilding?

Tom ... Yay, got one plank down tonight. Only took best part of 3 hours.... This is like doing a puzzle, only you have to make the pieces yourself.

Half of my time was figuring out the planking plan. Used blue tape to get the length of a bulkhead and then divide it into 9 intervals, i.e. 9 planks. Luckily most of the bulkheads/frames are the same effective length so I think I can get away with very little tapering except at the bow and the "middle" plank.

The bottom plank I just installed is called the "garboard strake" and it's was really a bit of work to shape it right. I think it worked out well except for the bow end. There is too much of a curve into the keel. Man this is a learning curve too. I might have bitten off more than I can chew.

Off now to have a mug of grog... I mean beer.

Olivier All clear now.

Tom ... Friend gave me this to build. I think though that I'll need to practice first on some other tank as I've not built one in like 40 something years.

Tom ... Image #10: It's been five months since I was last at the LHS so I guess it's okay!

Chris Greathouse Nice buy! I've been eyeing that Land Rover myself, it looks sweet.

Tom ... Me too, Chris. I also like that my LHS is starting to stock more esoteric kits, like Polar Lights. Hope they get enough sales to keep them coming. I'm a sucker for the not-so-run-of-the-mill.

Tom ... I went a little crazy and purchased some mini woodworking tools: scroll saw, table saw and sander. The scroll saw arrived on Father's Day so it was meant to be, I guess. My reasoning for the purchases is that I would like to be able to fabricate more things on my own... In my mind I have visions of me being as creative as others on this site and scratch building parts and dioramas and such... only time will tell though... Hobbies seem to be more about collecting things me thinks.

Martin Oostrom We share the same visions. Luckily I don't have the room you have

Chaz Gordon That's a nice little saw Tom, I don't think you need help at all, you should be able to manage a whole sheet of plascard in that on your own.

Torsten Wendt I like the driver so much

Tom ... Torsten, I can't claim credit for the driver. Came like that with the kit. I guess I could weather him a bit but I'm over this build.

Bill, it's nothing terrible. In fact it's pretty decent. I think I'm just getting more fussy. It does have lots of seams and I don't like how the chassis connects to the body. Makes it hard to have proper alignment and the radiator doesn't seem to fix into its space. Make sure to dry fit the cockpit and chassis before glueing the cockpit/tub in place. The hood/bonnet assembly requires some carving to make it open and close well and there is a lot of fiddling about to get the hood assembly positioned so it works. I love the body (apart from having to remove the outrageous seams) but I do wish the roll bar had a better "seat" for glueing on but then the kit allows you to build different configurations, i.e. without a roll bar, so I guess there's no getting around that.

Oh and DON'T glue in the steering wheel if you are going to be putting Ken in the driver's seat or there will be no room for him to fit. Put him in and then jam the steering wheel into its hole.

Oh and theTires! Dry fit the hubs in to the tires before you paint them. I had to carve out a good amount of the inside of the tires to get the hubs to fit.

I think what I mean by a better kit is one that is more detailed and advanced. This is one car I'm willing to spend a bit of money on. I don't care too much for modern race cars but there's something about this Cobra and its ilk that I really love.

Bill Newcomer Thanks for the tips Tom.

Chaz Gordon A proper roll bar on a cobra should pass through a hole on the body and bolt to the chassis, there is a gap to allow flexing without rubbing, so accuracy would demand a hole larger than the hoop tube, but then you'd need to extend the tube.

Spanjaard beautiful blue color

Christian W Now I watched your built long enough without showing you my Cobra. Two months ago I restored it. Funny thing: the color. First I wanted to paint it steal grey that it fits to my Viper QP. Then I changed my mind:
[img1]
[img2]
*lol*
Yes, the little windows at the sides are missing. I've had the Cobra for more than twenty years. It wasn't painted and during the long running other builds I grab one and restore it.

To your Cobra. Under the body it is definitely better than mine Very good. Like it.
Then I saw the driver and the first person which came into my mind: Jacky Ickx. He looks so familiar. A pair of gloves where cool. Those with the free nuckles

Tom ... Nice one, Christian! It looks sharp and clean! The dashboard and steering wheel are perfect too.

Christian W Thank you. I'll do a gallery hopefully this week.

Tom ... Going ahead with the build phase...

Greg Baker Oh, man... sign me UP~!

JD "Don't run! We are your friends!" – Martian Translation Device

Ben M ACK! ACK ACK! ACK!

JD Youtube Video

JD Only the Dems...

JD Yeah, we think alike in that regard. I'm dying to get to my Ma.K stuff, but my skills aren't there yet to do them justice, so I practice and learn on other things, sometimes on toys I find at the $ store. I had an epic failure learning salt chipping on a toy robot, but it was all good! But I digress...

Peter Hardy Yep, love it.

Chris Greathouse Very cool!

Peter Hardy Must be airsick, looking a bit green around the gills!
Fun build Tom, I have enjoyed it more than you, please get the Mars Attacks thing happening soon. I can't wait!

Chaz Gordon I checked the kit page and looked at the instructions. Thought there were missing pages. Then i realized it's just the one step. But then how many parts does a saucer need?.

Tom ... Thx, guys. I think that I will pre-assemble Mars Attacks, and maybe even prime it, but hold off on painting till I have more confidence. I hear it requires a bit of filling work. Also have a wooden long boat kit I want to get started on. Probably biting off more than I can chew. Still have the wheels on the Cobra to finish.

JD No! Tom..you must do Mars Attacks! Give your fans what they want to see, then you can go back to doing cars or aircraft or whatever...

Dominik Weitzer Looks good! Well done!

Tom ... Thanks, guys. Next up is the Linberg flying saucer (from 1952 https://fantastic-plastic.com/lindberg_flying_saucer.html) that Polar Lights have released as Plan 9 from Outer Space: Plan 9 - WIP | Album by Cohort (No)

Bob Hall I was Just watching those old Ed Wood Movies the other day ! This is gonna be good ! *pulls up seat with popcorn* I'm in !

Tom ... yeah, it's so strange that these kits were actually used in the movie. The box says "a bizarrely authentic scale mode... All 61 rivets are accounted for and placed in exactly the same spots..."

Bill Newcomer Definitely a build to be proud of.

Chris Greathouse Hope there's another fire truck on standby because your truck is LIT!... I really like the color of the coats.

Alec K Excellent work. I love the figs, and the red paint is just gorgeous

Chris Greathouse Thanks for your spoon table! I'll going to use that 1st spoon on all the chrome pieces on my Aussie truck, my chassis, and other details. The Cab will be dark green with details.

Christian W V e r y n i c e! The figures Looking good and the Ford good too

Peter Hardy Stop it Danny! You're scaring me!

Tom ... I haven't been able to get to the bench at all the last few weeks. Great to see others are making progress. haven't even had time to comment. Life (other than corona) is sucking up all my free time. All I can do right now is lurk every few days! Take care guys and stay safe! Talk soon.

Martin Oostrom Same for me Tom

Bozzer Updated my album

Tom ... Ugh, I'm so far behind. I have 170 unread notifications! Just slammed with work and family life right now. No energy to do any hobbies. Oh and the weather is gorgeous.. the porch is calling...

Peter Hardy So Tom, lurking eh? Just an occasional peep? A peeping Tom?

Tom ... Going to put this monster on hold for now. Been jonesing to get back to some kind of modeling. Will start my USRRC 427 Cobra as that seems like a straight forward build for the amount of time I currently have available. It's depressing see all the amazing work everyone is doing here. Very jealous. I look at my stash and just want to cry...

Peter Hardy Did the same myself Tom, got frustrated as hell and started an OOB one day build that has stretched to three days so far!

Neuling Top job on vehicle and firemen. An early type first responder. Beautiful!

Treehugger Are the tires supposed to be white?

Danny Meer Very nice build and Treehugger yes in the early beginning of using rubber from trees it was the white latex that was used. Ford's own rubber plantation didn't last long

Valters Orlovskis Very nice! Brass is looking really great! Well done!

Tom ... Thanks, guys. I'm happy with how it turned out.

Bob Hall Now all ya need is a "Chicago Fire" backdrop and Mrs O'Leary's Cow snickering walking off into the back ground ! LOL !!!!!!!

Tom ... I do need to get into doing dio's.... some day...

Tom ... A little fun decor for my office!