cipher74

Thanks for the kind words guys, I appreciate it! David66- I'll probably just do the standard green/gray scheme for the Swiss version as that's what I've got for decals. I gave the rest of 'em away. Kev------Thanks for the fix. I wasn't really sure how to combine them...I'm pretty 'puter illiterate. I'll give it a go next post...see what happens. blackbetty--That joint isn't half as bad as it was before I put my tabs in. The fuse halves were all warped and didn't even come close to lining up. All better now! Dug \m/

Hey all Got some work done on my Hunter. Not much but, progress is progress. So without further ado... The pit in place. Also, all the weight that's gonna be crammed in the nose. I used something like 25-30 grams to keep the nose grounded. Before I zipped up the nose halves, I made a shelf for the large lead slug and all the lead pellets out of thick card stock. I attached the shelf with a ton of CA glue. Then, I mixed up a batch of 5 minute epoxy and started shoveling the epoxy in with the slug and the lead pellets and, voila! I didn't like the mounting tabs on the kit so I got rid of 'em and added my own. Not only are they stronger, they help to align the fuselage halves. The attachment points. Minimal sanding and shaping needed to clean up the joins. All zipped up! Thanks for lookin'. Dug \m/

Thanks for the kind words guys. I really appreciate it! Dug

Hey all. I was finally able to some work on the Hunter. Just a few shots. I've primed the gear bays for the metallizer, still doing scribing work, will be priming and cleaning up the gear soon and a host of other things. Sorry about the quality of the pix. Not entirely sure why the ambient light shifted from normal to that orange tint. I didn't make any adjustments or anything. Oh well, you guys get the idea anyway. Used Tamiya NATO black for the pit. Dry brushed silver and used a white colored pencil for all the gauges and control panel details. Picked out stuff with red and yellow here and there. Filled in the gauges with Future for the shiny glass look. Electrical wire for the ejection handles and a guitar string for the green oxygen hose sittin' on the seat. Mixed the blue and the khaki colors for the harnesses. Close as I could get. Used some spare decal pcs. on the sides of the headrest. Looks pretty close...no? Don't know if you see it or not but my intake assembly is all warped. After I assembled it and did a dry fit in the fuselage it was bunk. Huge gaps between the splitter plates and the bottom of the intakes. Oh well, guess I'll have to make intake plugs for 'em. Looked like hell when fitted. Thanks for lookin'. D

I found a some kits in the new Squadron catalog from 'A Model' going for between $415-$626!! Granted, they have some carbon fiber parts but, damn!!

Tenax 7R and Amroid Pro Weld also works nicely. I used both and CA glue as well. D

Hey all Now that I'm building again, I figured I'd post an update on what I've been up to... These are shots of the gun bay. I drilled out the gun ports and cut up some small brass tubing and attached them for gun barrels. I goobered and ended up having to make the barrels protrude a bit. Nose gear bay with some stuff added...I know, it's probably not that accurate but it works... And the main gear wells...again, probably not real accurate but it works... Starboard well... Port well... Also rescribed the wings and have been working on cleaning up the SAC metal gear legs...nasty lookin' things. still not sure if I'm going to use 'em or not. Anyway, that's where I'm at. Thanks for lookin. Comments always welcome! Later Doug

ron, as requested... The top tool is a Squadron product. This one is just plowing the plastic, leaving ridges on either side of the panel lines. The bottom one is a tool I ordered from Micro Mark. It worked great for several years with no problems. One end just needs to be honed while the other end needs to be reshaped as it's a little too wide.

Hey all Anyone here know the best way to hone a scribing tool? Both of mine are in need of some TLC and I can't afford to take them to a shop to have them done. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks Doug

Heads up Kev, inbound pm! D

YOWZA!! niiiiiiiiice

BoB era? What's BoB?

Hey there Sounds like good news and bad news. Good the moulds have been picked up, and the bad(potentially)as Kevin pointed out...in my opinion, the prices will go up and something tells me that the decals will either be replaced or omitted. I've known of other companies not supplying swastika decals in there kits for the very reason that there were swastikas. I'm actually shocked wally world carried them. Granted the swastikas were a 2 piece affair but still. My prediction is the kits will go up to $20, give or take a dollar or two,imho. dug

Hey all Thanks for the info Phil. I guess I'll figure out what the markings will be after I'm finished decaling it Blackbetty...yeah I scoped your build and a couple 's slipped from my vocal chords. Guess we'll find out! dug

Thanks for all the input guys! Great ideas! As far as the oleo's are concerned I was planning on using my Bare Metal Foil. I use it on my 1/48th builds, the stuff looks great and I haven't noticed any changes in sheen or appearance on any of my other builds. Thanks again and happy building! dug