BiggTim

I am also impressed that you the final assembly AFTER painting. I've been thinking of trying that. How did you go about it?

I might take you up on that, Harv. That would be interesting to try....

I'll be spending some time later reading through it in detail, believe me. Very cool to see how you went about this. I was planning to pick up one of the GMF sets you made to back-date my Revell kit, like Chris is doing, but a friend has generously offered me one of the Cutting Edge sets for free, so I'm going to give that a look before I drop the cash. If it's not too bad, I might make it work. I am particularly pleased to see how you did the cockpit, as I generally prefer to scratch those myself. Awesome work, my friend! Tim

It is very useful! I just spent 20 minutes of time (at work) scanning through it, damn you.

Man, I'm glad you guys are talking about this BEFORE I start my Revell back-date!! Never been so glad I procrastinated. FWIW, I think I'd consider a mix of both 1 and 2. I think you're right about the trailing edge problem with #2, and I think you might avoid much of that if you both narrow the resin piece and widen the fuse sides. Just my .02.

Ok, a new F-4 might be enough to make me venture back to the dark side....just one more time.

Rick, Just finally saw this on the 11/7 update, don't know how I missed it! OUTSTANDING!!! I absolutely love it! I have this kit, and seeing this makes me anxious to get it out right NOW!!! Really nice job!! Tim

Good call, Jerry! I did that on the Yippee, and it was rather helpful, though a few of them are not totally accurate, of course. I wasn't too worried about that when I did it, so pretty much used them all. There are quite a few of us doing Lightnings right now, glad to see it!

Awesome, Chris! I have one of these early Revell conversions planned soon as well, along with my Trumpy L model already underway. Having done the complete re-scribe of a Revell kit some years ago for a Yippee model, I can appreciate the work you are biting off! Good luck to you! Tim

Thanks all, glad you like it, especially Derek. It was a fun project! And yes, Thomas, I agree.....it really needed to be depicted doing what it did best! Most planes do.

Wow, that is spectacular! I love that base, too, gotta try that sometime myself. Really inspiring build!

Sure, Kev!

Some closer shots:

Last Christmas, I was fortunate enough to be drawn for one of Derek Bradshaw's SG500 Jagerfaust conversion kits for the Hasegawa Me-163. I bought the kit shortly thereafter, and it's finally done!! Based on the research Derek supplied with the kit, and some I did on my own, I did my best to approximate, "Die Schwarze 13", a JG400 bird that was found destroyed at Brandis in 1945. While there is no conclusive proof that this bird was equipped was the SG500, I chose to depict it as if it were. The rest of the scheme is based on pretty solid evidence of JG400 markings, using a mix of the top notch Rocketeer Decals sheet and the excellent stencils supplied with the conversion set. I'll also put in a plug for both Derek's generosity and his skill, as this conversion set is of excellent quality! I don't even know how he made those tiny tubes with such detail. I painted them based on what info I could find on Rob DeBie's great website. I wanted to do it as an in-flight display, so I had to come up with a fitting base for this little ship, I settled on a square of 1/2" thick clear plex (like you would make a windscreen from) anchored in clearcoated wood base with black RTV. A clear acrylic rod provides the support for the plane, and actually reaches all the way to the cockpit bulkhead for rigidity (there is no engine, only the nozzle). Anyway, here it is! PS: I forgot to thank Padraic Conway for the pilot figure from a Ju87 kit!!

UGH! Me like jet!!

Peter, What type of adhesive do you use to attach the metal frames to the clear canopy? I can't see it at all.

Hmm...I cant see the pics.....

If I had the scratch, I'd sure be game to try one of these, especially that La-7.

These are so cool, and look like so much fun!!!

If new tool: P-51B/C If re-tool: F4U-4

I didn't even know this existed!

Oh HELL yeah!! Even a notoriously cheap guy like me would scratch up the cash for that!!! However, I think if Hasegawa did it first, they'd sell even more, because it would be cheaper, and probably pretty darn nice! Not Tamiya nice, but nice!

P-51B/C, P-51B/C, P-51B/C, P-51B/C, P-51B/C, P-51B/C, P-51B/C,,,,,if I say it enough times, maybe it will come true!!

I sure hope he comes back so we can see how this turned out. I've done some preliminary tinkering with my engine with a mind to displaying it with either closed or open cowls, but it's looking like it might be above my skill set so far. The engine is actually a tad too big for the cowl panels (even after thinning them) and some of the parts don't align with the intakes, so it could be a no-go for me. I will let it sit for a while and ponder it some more while I work on some other projects.

Where did you see it in Seattle, and how much was it going for?