Many thanks on the additional compliments. My contact at the EAA museum was hoping I could make it up for Airventure this year to have the model on display with the original. While this would be a DREAM, it would be a VERY long trip right after FFEast and additional expense that I just do not have. I was truly humbled by the offer and consider it one of my finest moments of this model's moments. It has never been my experience to have someone from a museum to give one of my models such high praise.
I took more family time last night rather than do prop testing. Well worth it and the family seemed to appreciate the time. I know that I've missed time with my kids for brief moments while building this model so I'm trying to pay it back to them. They have been so understanding about meeting deadlines and trying to troubleshoot so many issues. The lighting was pretty good last night so I got the wife out to snap a few more pictures to capture this moment more for me. This was my favorite shot.
For sure she is prettier than the Sikorsky. I did not put in nearly the time and effort for detailing. I burnt myself out really badly on the main portion of the build. For comparison... the Sikorsky was a <100 hour build. The Bugatti is about 400 hours. That is nearly a week of straight building. I confess that I did lose track of hours put in after about 150 but I've gone back through this thread to estimate the hours.