Jeff T

The nondescript topic header "Well, hmmm..." set a slightly negative mood starting point.
 
I've said it before and I'll repeat myself: if Border start making accurate 1/35 kits of Vietnam era jets I'll buy — lots. 
 
The Val and Kate might appeal as rainy holiday OOB builds to stick on Shelf B until this scale gathers more momentum — in the jets arena to which it's ideally suited. A lot of the time, 1/48 is just unsatisfyingly dinky and 1/32 just a tad too cumbersome.
 
A Vietnam era F-105D/F, RF-101C and F-102A would be so thoroughly satisfying, as would some LTV A-7s, an RA-5C and... well, I'm allowed to dream aren't I?!
 
Tony

Old news.   The market has been demanding a new-tool P-51K for ages.   The sheer amount of pent-up demand for this subject is simply staggering. 

Within a month or so Archer will be operating again under new management, and there's a little twist that might just interest you, but don't tell anybody, it's a secret. 
The website is back for training purposes, and you can order from it same as always.
ARCHER LINK

I have photographed the interior of F-84F 0-19522 at the Evergreen Aviation Museum. It is a Thunderstreak rather than the -E Thunderjet, but I don't think the seatbelts would be among the differences in the variants. However, bear in mind that this is an aircraft on display in a museum so no guarantees on authentic equipment.
 
The first two shots are from my first visit to the museum... and on a later visit I saw that they placed a paper "Do Not Enter Cockpit" sign over the buckles (no doubt because some jackass had climbed in at some point)
 

-

 
 
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
...three years later
 

-

 
 
Hope these are of some use for your project.
 
 
If you need exterior shots for reference (or inspiration) I have taken pics of 15 different F-84s (5 Thunderjets, 8 Thunderstreaks and a pair of Thunderflash)
 
 

No problem. I'm working on the 1:32 kit right now myself.

Thanks a lot Kevin!
 
Cheer's,
Jeff.

From this Detail & Scale volume.
 

Thanks guys!  Appreciate the comments as always!
 
Moving on to the big nose art decal finally. The Barracuda version of Eileen + animated Wasp is comprised of multiple parts.  Kinda overkill but ok.

 
 
I also have another version that came with the Montex mask set. I decided to go with the Barracuda version.

 
 
As with the other decals, Microset went on under the decals followed up with several applications of Solvaset.

 
 
I carefully went over the decal with a needle and x-acto blade to try and make sure the decals settled into all of the recessed details.

 
 
The red lettering highlights went on next.

 
 
Followed by the yellow lettering.

 
 
Finally the yellow antenna and the smoke effects in front of gun, cut from the Montex decal.

 
 
During the decal softening process, the top part of the "E" in Eileen drifted out of position.  It was carefully removed with a toothpick.

 
 
I cut that portion from the Montex decal... good thing I had a spare.

 
 
Once that settles and dries, I'm going to do some micro-touchups on the Eileen where white is showing through.

Thanks Jeff, appreciate you taking the time to comment. There’s two static kits, the first one had a styrene lower hull, the second one an aluminium one. None of the Tamiya kits have an accurate lower hull geometry, sadly. 
 
As the kit represents a Bundeswehr tank, it’s moulded with recesses & holes for the pioneer tools down each hull side.
 

 
Australian AS1 didn’t have these tools fitted so the hull had to have those filled in. Also had to lay out the location holes for the sponson bins I drew & printed up. 
 

 
Here are the location pegs, fitted from behind. 
 

 
All other holes fitted & sanded, bins test fitted, & hull side primed with Mr Surfacer 1500.
 

 
Thanks for looking in. 

Wow - that is a stunning Apache. You have really set the bar high for the rest of us who will have a go at this kit.
 
/Niels

just finished the excellent model, best helicopter a have ever built, in fitting and details
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had the RC version of this back in the day, loved that kit!...didn't know they brought it out as a Static model.
 
Looking forward to seeing what you do with this one after watching your M113 build!
 
Cheer's,
Jeff.

Thanks for the kind words - tanks aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, of course. I used the PSM 1A5 turret as a basis for a C2 MEXAS model back in the day. Hopefully there’ll be one in injection-moulded plastic. 
 

Thanks Tom, appreciated. 
 
Despite the best efforts of real life, I’ve managed some progress. I find combining a kit with parts of my own design far harder than a 100% scratch design & print. 
 
To that end, it’s time well spent to design jigs, fittings, & fixtures to modify the kit parts to accept the AS1-specific parts. 
 
First, I tracked down a 19mm rod, 600mm/2’/24” long to extend the working height of my drill press. Then it was time to build the engine deck jig to fit in the vice. 
 

 
Test fit on the kit upper hull. 
 

 
Other side. 
 

 
Mounted in the press, ready for milling. 
 

 
Afterwards, with a test print of my radiator. 

 
Next is the jig for the location holes for the sponson bins, one on the LHS, two on the RHS, each requiring three holes perpendicular to the surface of the hull side, itself angled at 40 degrees. 
 
Test fit in the vice on the press:
 

 
With the hull test fitted. 
 

 
Thanks for looking in. 

Welcome back, my friends!
   I've been working on the two main structures of this vessel all week...   when I wasn't doing my day job, anyway...   and there are only six pieces of plastic to go.  So I'm feeling really close to the end.  ...Except for the big photo-etch hump barring my way.
    One of the things I consider odd is the lack of photos and film footage from the Jutland Battle.  Despite all of those great advancements made since the days of Matthew Brady, we only have a few stills from the battle.  One shot that purports being from the battle is this one:

This is definitely taken from the crow's nest of a König Class battleship during a major action.  It was captioned as being from Großer Kurfürst during the Jutland battle.  And for me, that's great...    because it was my intent all along to portray this ship at Jutland.
This photo has a ton of information for those willing to look.  Even though it is a unremarkable photo in many ways, it tells us many things about how dreadnought battleships went to war.

At Jutland, the Kaiserliche Marine ships had their after funnels painted red for identification purposes.
Another problem for admirals of the day was the way their ships were constructed.  Many had wing turrets and amidships turrets that were usually surrounded by cranes and the ship's boats.  The muzzle blast from the wing and amidships turrets would quickly turn the boats into matchwood.  So, when a big fleet action was expected, they all unloaded their boats.  And this photo gives us a rare glimpse onto the top of one of the boat carriages.  And this was one change I had to make.  I left the boats off, and constructed enough structure to hold wooden strips that cradled the boats on their carriages.  Fortunately, I hadn't thrown away the Artwox deck leftovers away.
Another thing that was removed were many of the railings.  The ones in danger were removed, and the ones not in danger were left in place like those at the base of the cranes and the searchlight batteries.
Großer Kurfürst's large cranes were lowered and partially disassembled to protect them from muzzle blast.  The booms would have laid on the deck, I imagine.
What follows are my photos as of this afternoon.  Happy modelling!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Quote

If they are like Tamiya, major PITA there!

just read on Britmodeller this will most likely be the last IM kit, too few staff, complex to deliver, too much other work and not enough sales of their current IM kits. Unless we buy what people produce they won't continue in the market, there are so many people that knock these kits, personally I'd much rather have them with flaws than not have the opportunity to build them.  Such a shame if true.
neil

That IP looks superb KJ!
 
Jeff.

Well, the IP decals are on and detail painting about done.   Next step a semi-gloss clear coat, some weathering, and gloss coating the dial faces.  I shall call it progress.  
 
KJ
 

 

Thanks guys!

I've tinkered together the radiator/oil cooling intake.  The leading edges have been thinned.




 
 
To match the rest of the aircraft, I'm going to apply rivets to this assembly.  Here's the before pic...

 
 
Based on my reference drawings, I'm adding a panel line to the rectangular housing.

 
 
Here's the area after the panel line addition and rivets.

 
 
Mulling over how to thin the trailing edges... it might be do-able with some careful sculpting.

 

I have not posted for a bit over two weeks.  On 07 April my father passed away unexpectedly and I was in the USA for the funeral and to take care of his estate with my brother and sister.  Normally, I would not have posted the above as I try to keep my posts here related to building models - mostly LSPs.  However, due to a confluence of events I have decided to focus my modelling in a different area for the next several months and I thought I should explain why that is.
 
My father, and his father as well, were both highly skilled modellers; their subject area being sailing ships.  They mostly built wooden ships and fabricated a fair amount of the wooden parts, mostly masts and spars, themselves (they were both cabinetmakers by trade); however, they also built all the big Revell ships.  I got my passion for scale modelling from them and my first serious build was helping my father construct Revell's 1/96 scale USS Constitution when I was 10 years old.  We spent many months on that build and the time spent next to my dad on that project provides some of my fondest memories. I learned a great deal from him about how to plan and build a kit, and I consider that timeframe to be the real start of my journey as a modeller. 
 
A few days before my father passed I happened to purchase a 1/96 scale USS Constitution from one of the members here (thank you Tim!).  I am not a susperstitious person but the fact that I bought the same kit that I built with my father so many years ago just a couple of days before he passed resonates pretty deeply with me.  I can't think of a better way to honor him then by building the same kit we spent so many great hours working on together.  So, I have decided to focus my modelling energy for the immediate future building the USS Constitution.  I am going to use all the skill I have honed over the years to try and make something my dad would be proud of; and that means I'll probably be working on the kit for a good many months. 
 
I won't be abandoning the forum; in fact I am going to start I thread in the appropriate sub-forum in which I post regular progress reports.  I won't be doing a full up build log as this really is not the forum for sailing ship build logs, but I will post photos of my progress with some comments.  Why here and not on one of the several very good forums dedicated to building such ships.  The answer is simple - my friends are here.
 
I look forward to exchanging thoughts with any of you who decide to drop by the USS Constitution thread when I start it (in a few days), and I hope this post is not overly dramatic.
 
Sincerely,
Ernest  

Wow!...that is gorgeous!
 
Flawless work there, beautifully done.
 
Cheer's,
Jeff.

Man, that is absolutely brilliant!
 
What a stunning piece of work that is, well done.
 
Cheer's,
Jeff. 

Seems thar at border they do not have any quality check when releasing something  Messerschmitt Fw 190 in instructions 9:50 
 

Hi All
 
This is an F-16A from the Royal Danish Airforce painted in special markings to commemorate the disbandment of ESK 726 in 2005.
 
Denmark originally operated 4 F-16 squadrons based at different locations. In the early 2000´s it was decided to gather all aircraft at one location at FSN Skrydstrup into what became Fighter Wing Skrydstrup. ESK 726 (726 Squadron) operating out of FSN Aalborg was as a result disbanded. E-195 from ESK 726 was painted with this very special tail to commemorate the proud heritage of the squadron flying F-84, F-86, F-104 and ultimately F-16´s. The callsign of the squadron is Phantom.
Being a pure Fighter Squadron the load out below was quite often standard and it was not until the Saab Drakens and F-100 Super Sabre´s were phased out that the F-16 fleet started to focus on "Mud-Moving" in earnest as well 
 
The model is based on the Tamiya Thunderbirds kit with a few modifications. The airframe was undergoing MLU updates at the time but had still not had its stabilators updated so I used the Quickboost set to backdate. The UHF antenna and air data probe were also still in the old locations and were modified. The tail was converted using the PWMP set and I added a searchlight just below the port side RWR. (They are present on all single seat F-16´s in the RDAF). Danish F-16´s are painted in lighter shades of grey than the standard USAF versions which is very noticeable when viewed next to each other. The stabilators are also painted in light grey on both sides making them quite unique. 
 
I love the simplicity of these special markings and I personally think its one of the best looking F-16´s ever. It was a true pleasure trying to replicate it and do it justice in 1/32 scale
 











 
Thanks for looking
 
/Niels

my latest built ,