RacerDave

It seems the big Connies are all on the back burner but I wanted to toss out there that I have the Maintenance Manual for the L-749 if any of that is useful to you guys. The landing gear and wings should be nearly identical. My future L-1649 project has even less in common with this manual but its still a really cool book to have laying around! I have several other manuals, maintenance training, flight training, engines, propeller, etc. for the entire series if you need more information on anything.

Did someone say paper? ...now where did I put that enlargement tool?

Very probably!! But I'm all for awkward pauses! lol Most things have been going very well! I'm having some trouble finding a new job but so are most people these days. I havent sat down at the bench lately but I have been bringing some small kits to work and doing airframe assembly on my breaks. Its really helped me relax between all the mind numbing paperwork and wrench turning.. I'll put some things up in the non-LSP section after the paint flies.

Hey guys, long time no see! Life has cropped up big time lately. I still walk by my workbench daily and see all the cool projects staring back pleading for me to get back to them. I really hope I can sit down and crank a few things out soon but you probably shouldn't hold your breath... I'm getting into some fairly time consuming things, like shiny jewelry and big white dresses! Oh, and a bit of 1:1 tinkering too! (unfortunately not all my toys)

Thanks for the advice Brian! Did some experimenting today, I figured out a technique for applying the foil to the airframe without getting superglue everywhere. So far its looking very promising, I think I can make this work. I also started experimenting with the radiator color, I've decided to try using gold leaf. Try as I might, brass foil is not available. After applying the gold foil I've added several washes to tone down the bright obnoxious shininess. I think I'm onto something...

Back with another random update! I've been tinkering with how to accomplish the aft fuselage radiator and I finally have something that might do the trick! I took regular kitchen foil and burnished it over the wing with a toothpick leaving a rather good impression of the radiator in the foil, then taking the foil and wrapping it around the aft fuselage I found it actually looks quite good! The trick will be cutting and attaching the foil to the aft fuselage. I am hesitant to try superglue so I'll start with white glue on a test model. I cant just glue the foil on, I need to fill in all of the detail from the backside so that when I apply the brass color and detailing I wont damage the delicate foil.

I have several pictures of the replica when it was at Oshkosh in 03. I'll have to dig a little bit to find them if you are interested.

That looks fantastic! I hope my first vac turns out half as good! Keep it up mate! I cant wait to see the next one!

Wow! One of my favorite planes as well! You definitely have some work to do but nothing you cant handle! I've found resin is just as easy to work with as styrene, just the parts tend to be thicker and you use a different glue. No big deal really! I'll definitely be following this build!! btw, I'll be following your lead in reverse! The MC72 is my first resin, next I'll tackle a vacform! cant wait!

This one has been on the back burner long enough! To be honest I've been scared that I wont be able to achieve the beautiful red finish that I have in my head. but enough is enough, I'm just going to finish this thing and hope for the best! I've got several more to build if this one should fail. So without further procrastination... BACK TO WORK!! Tonight I compared the model to all my reference pictures and got my mind back into where I left off at and what still needs to be done. I layed out the missing panel lines and started scribing them in. I also layed out the new canopy that I'll be scratchbuilding and started to form a plan of attack. The last big project will be the aft fuselage radiator ...I'm open to suggestions! I also sprayed the white float bottoms, this is the first final color on the exterior!! Excited!!

Awesome! I want one!! Who wants to go flying? Thanks for the link, now I want to build another one! lol

Peter, this one was chosen to be a ceiling queen mostly on its own merits ...the landing gear doors were already closed! (how often do you get that anymore?) I have the landing gear finished and ready to install but while talking to a friend he pointed out that the doors are already closed and it would look great on the ceiling, so thats what I did! Dont worry, I have PLENTY more kits to be done OOB with gear down and sitting proudly on my shelf. To be honest, I think most of my builds from now on will be OOB. They always seem much more fun. I have missed the fun in modelling the last few years and I desperately want it back! Kev, I certainly tried! Luckily not much dying took place ...its actually a really nice kit! Some mega-scratch-builder could go nuts on this model ...if they wanted to! lol

I call this my "Build like you used to challenge" Take out all of the research, complexity, scratch building, body filler, everything that has slowed down and killed projects in the past. Build this model like I did when I was a kid, put it together, paint it up nice, and hang it from the ceiling where its hard to see the defects! I felt this kit would be perfect for such a build. Yesterday morning I realized that I had three days straight to work on models so I dug this out and got started, by bedtime I had half the painting done and the airframe glued and drying. Today I finished the painting, added the details and clear bits. The decals were junk so everything is hand painted. Luckily Aurora had the forethought to mold in the markings! It took a total of 8hrs to build this model! Tomorrow morning I'll add the navigator's astrodome and it will be 100% finished. It looks great hanging from the ceiling, I really wish I did more models like this one, and so I shall! Hobbies are supposed to be fun right? I had a blast building this model and I fully intend to do several more like this! Turning to intercept that suspicious looking connie!

I cant find a good picture but I believe you are looking at the ignition harness.

I'll try this next time, I've been using templates, rulers, and bits of card stock as scribing guides so far. Dymo seems useful but on the two models that I've tried it on it just would not stick. Thanks guys