KUROK

Great job! do u pre shade or post shade?

So...you guys are wondering if I'm ever going to finish this darn thing. Yes, I know... Well my luck is bad sometimes. But good luck has been there too. Read on: I had recently overcoated my decal with Future. It was foolish of me to assume the tough Future coat would totally protect the decals. Today I was taping a straight stick just below the exhausts. My plan was to use the stick to align the exhausts. While aligning the stick with painters tape I learned a hard lesson. Another view after some cleanup. So...there was cussing.... But just like my bad luck there was hope... LOPE'S HOPE!!! Turns out I had another decal sheet in my stash! It was a partial sheet I must have gotten at eBay or a model show. It had more decals I needed! So a repair was possible and done in minutes: It is not going to be a winner at the nationals but so what! You can see that my Future was tinted to provide some sun fading. I will have to see if I can replicate that on my new decal piece here or just weather the whole panel again. Plus I'm going to have exhaust stains I could just extend high...

Your patience is an example to us all! I see how you get the rivets flush with the burnishing. How do you do the larger fasteners with the flat head screws?

We need an accurate 1/32 P-40F (sarcasm)

Slow but sure progress. I practiced spraying Future until I was satisfied. Now I have an overcoat of Future on top of the decals. This will protect everything from oil based weathering to come next. Sorry for the messy workbench! Don't we always end up working in an 8 inch square? LOL

Is it true those hobbycraft early mustang kits were scaled up copies of the excellent 1/48 accurate miniatures kit?

Rainy days, Mondays, and Shark Mouth Decals always get me down.... I dreaded this for so long. Actually this is before Solvaset Decal solvent which works miracles with repeat application. No doubt I see red, black, and white paint as well as an art brush in my future too. Just wish I still had those young eyes!

Looks awesome! tone variation of the dark green is perfect! Was that airbrush or oil paint?

Something no one would guess... kite string!

Boy do I get tired of masking... I had a 35 year old bottle of Model Master Medium Green but did not trust it. I used Vallejo US Dark Green instead thus staying acrylic. The strange thing is it seems to match my old medium green so I wonder about Vallejo just a little.. Check it out:

Another reason why this thing drags on... Mauve had inadequate cooling gills. So I used theirs to make a perch for some new ones I made myself. They are not too hard...just need a razor blade and a ruler. The harder part was to curl them... just a little. Also, note the Master brass machine guns are now permanent. They too were fiddly here at the end. One thing is that using them allowed me to sand the leading edge of the wing to my satisfaction of smoothness. I'm sure all of you know the pain of trying to clean up a seam right around the guns. Here is the sliding hood I made with scrap plastic and a candle. Actually I made a spare one too. The Eduard masks are in place and are a time saver but take several tries to fit right... Here is my spare sliding canopy and I'm sacrificing it to mask the cockpit. It actually fits like the real thing against the Griffon metal canopy rails! It's a bit satisfying as I nearly went blind and crazy installing those f%$#g things. PRIMER!!! I told myself that if I didn't get the primer on this weekend that there is no way it will be done on time. You get a look at my messy workbench. It's like I work in a 6 inch space! There is still a lot of painting and such to go... This is Tamiya Fine Surface Primer White sprayed with my airbrush. It is really stinky to use; but is such a nice, tough product. As it finishes curing, it should "snuggle" down and reveal my rivets I spent so much time doing (I hope)...

OK, gents, soon...it will be soon... I promise These photoetched canopy rails nearly drove me to drink. I had to add some styrene strip to get them to not sit too proud of the fuselage side. Fortunately, what I had on hand was a great fit! The results: (just need to weather and scratch up paint) I don't trust my ability to freehand airbrush the medium green "dapples". Creating masks of my own. Here they are stored on wax paper until needed. Accurized upper and lower intakes. Ready to primer. I do like this kit for many reasons but my AMS and OCD has made it a drag of time. I think I will do a shake 'n bake Tamiya kit or any other modern kit that does not need so much rework...

True model making art here!!! Question: How did you do the "T" extrusions for the ceiling of the wells? I see some well defined rivet heads and I think you said that was photoetch?

Woo Hoo! Looking forward to a nice kit of this subject in 1:32

Gorgeous work! Museum quality!