CANicoll

July 20/20
 
I was home for a few days and a few more days of modeling.  Step #19 has you put the front engine halves E7 & E12 together, along with exhaust backings E5 & E6 and Step #20 has part D2 inserted at the top of the front intake.
 
 

 

 
 
Since I’m using the Barracuda resin replacement set (BR 32334) instead, these exact steps are eliminated.  The first task is to carefully cut off the large casting block at the front of the one-piece nose, which like most resin blocks, is tricky to do cleanly when they are so large.  It turns out that I have two of these noses, because I purchased one of the first sets when they came out a few years ago on the right, which was replaced later by Barracuda with the one on the left I’m using.  Apparently the first ones were flawed somehow, but for the life of me I can’t tell the difference between the two, so maybe I didn’t get a flawed one after all?  No matter, cutting the block off with a large razor saw did the trick, with detailed instructions supplied by Barracuda that can be found on-line here:
 
 
Barracuda Instructions in PDF
 
 

 
 
The kit parts have lots of panel line and rivet detail, but they are rough, so filling the top seam and sanding everything down smoothly won’t be easy if you use them.
 
 

 
 
While the quality of the resin is excellent as usual from Barracuda, I was surprised to find that the front did not fit the spinner very well, leaving gaps on the sides and top, while the bottom fit was flush.
 
 

 

 
 
Getting the parts to fit is easy with a little sanding, but you lose a lot of the detail that must be replaced.
 
 

 
 
Later, I will be installing the CMK Resin Exhausts that are an upgrade to the kit and recommended in the kit instructions in Step 46 on Page 11.  I also highly recommend them, because the detail is amazing as you will see much later in this build.  In any case, I will need the resin exhaust backings to replace the kit parts E5 & E6 fairly soon.
 
 

 
 
Like most resin replacements, the Barracuda nose piece utilizes the kit parts for the panel line and rivet detail when it was cast, but the detail is much weaker than the kit parts and, in some cases, you can barely see it at all, even with a dark wash.  Soooo, like the rest of the fuselage, I re-scribed every panel line and re-punched every rivet, which took me about 12 hours in total!  Yes, I can be a bit obsessed, but that’s nothing new.  Here are the results that I’m glad is over with…..
 
 

 
 
You may notice that some of the rivets are a little off alignment, but that’s because the kit part detail is a little off where they came from, which I used as a guide to replace the ones that were faint or missing.
 
 

 
 

 
 
The fit to the fuselage wasn’t quite plug and play, but after some careful trimming, sanding and even immersing the part in hot water to widen it slightly, the fit is generally excellent.  After gluing these parts together, I will sand everything smooth to eliminate any abrupt steps in the fit.  Now I know that some of you might be thinking that all this rivet detail is overkill, but after paint and weathering, it will become much more subtle, but still very much there in close-up pics which I always like to do.
 
 

 
 
I was initially a little bugged that the horizontal panel line at the top of the exhaust stack didn’t align with the fuselage panel line behind it, but after checking references, it’s not supposed to!  Whew!
 
 

 
 
Here’s a pic of the main differences between the kit parts and the Barracuda replacement.  The front of the kit fuselage nose isn’t tapered very much and the spinner is too big, as is the mouth of the intake.  The Barracuda part looks so much better- and all the internal detail is excellent as well.
 
 

 
 
The “British Brute” as Peter Castle called it, is starting to look the part!
 
 

 
 
Thanks for your continued interest in this very slow project.  As mentioned before I only model every few weeks or so and like most of us, I feel so lucky to have this stay-at-home hobby to help me weather this brutal pandemic that has been so hard on so many.  I am truly one of the lucky ones.
 
 
Cheers,
Chuck

Here's a pic with the panel removed, F-4K/M

Yep it's covers the BLC Air Duct at the wing fold.
 
Looks like this:

 
Barry

This was posted on FB, and when I went back and looked, Scott is exactly right.  It's there on every hard wing F-4 that I can find a photo of where you can see this area...
 

 

And some final shots with the umbrella. The umbrella turned out well, but it sort of spoils the pretty (IMHO) lines of the aircraft a bit:
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
Thanks to one and all who followed along and gave encouragement and support along with way. This one was way fun, Im now on to faster and more pointy things!
One of my favorite pics that came out for one last final glamour shot............
 

 
 
 
Cheers all! 

Thanks all!
I've got to go out and change out the front pads on the disks of my Jeep, but the big Fraulein is complete:
 

 
I'll post the glamor shots when the brakes are done on the Jeep.
 
Cheers to all for the encouragement along the way!

Back from my first trip since Feb to visit family, and while back up on work, took a few minutes this evening to check out those amazing Model Monkey exhausts and get the AMUR resin flaps attached (AGAIN).  I keep grabbing the wing, and the flaps, and they are not exactly attached THAT strongly...
 
Those exhausts are amazing - just look at the bolt detail on the exhausts.  These may be a little dusty in the photos.  I've already test fitted the exhausts through the shrouds.  I'm wondering how much paint I'm going to scrape off getting the exhausts through the shrouds.
 



 
Hopefully the flaps will stay attached this time, but the detail in the AMUR flaps captures the tin canning of the flaps perfectly.  
 


 
Ok, that's it for now!
 
Chris

I have a decal set for "Slick Chick", and I can sort of see why the judge may have reacted as he did, but as others have said, the "clear intent" in sub-para 4 is not there.  Anyway, when I do my P-47 it's going nowhere near a competition, so I'll carry on.
 
Meanwhile, back on topic, "Passion Wagon" looks to be coming along nicely Chris. 

Back from my first trip since Feb to visit family, and while back up on work, took a few minutes this evening to check out those amazing Model Monkey exhausts and get the AMUR resin flaps attached (AGAIN).  I keep grabbing the wing, and the flaps, and they are not exactly attached THAT strongly...
 
Those exhausts are amazing - just look at the bolt detail on the exhausts.  These may be a little dusty in the photos.  I've already test fitted the exhausts through the shrouds.  I'm wondering how much paint I'm going to scrape off getting the exhausts through the shrouds.
 



 
Hopefully the flaps will stay attached this time, but the detail in the AMUR flaps captures the tin canning of the flaps perfectly.  
 


 
Ok, that's it for now!
 
Chris

Back from my first trip since Feb to visit family, and while back up on work, took a few minutes this evening to check out those amazing Model Monkey exhausts and get the AMUR resin flaps attached (AGAIN).  I keep grabbing the wing, and the flaps, and they are not exactly attached THAT strongly...
 
Those exhausts are amazing - just look at the bolt detail on the exhausts.  These may be a little dusty in the photos.  I've already test fitted the exhausts through the shrouds.  I'm wondering how much paint I'm going to scrape off getting the exhausts through the shrouds.
 



 
Hopefully the flaps will stay attached this time, but the detail in the AMUR flaps captures the tin canning of the flaps perfectly.  
 


 
Ok, that's it for now!
 
Chris

Back from my first trip since Feb to visit family, and while back up on work, took a few minutes this evening to check out those amazing Model Monkey exhausts and get the AMUR resin flaps attached (AGAIN).  I keep grabbing the wing, and the flaps, and they are not exactly attached THAT strongly...
 
Those exhausts are amazing - just look at the bolt detail on the exhausts.  These may be a little dusty in the photos.  I've already test fitted the exhausts through the shrouds.  I'm wondering how much paint I'm going to scrape off getting the exhausts through the shrouds.
 



 
Hopefully the flaps will stay attached this time, but the detail in the AMUR flaps captures the tin canning of the flaps perfectly.  
 


 
Ok, that's it for now!
 
Chris

Back from my first trip since Feb to visit family, and while back up on work, took a few minutes this evening to check out those amazing Model Monkey exhausts and get the AMUR resin flaps attached (AGAIN).  I keep grabbing the wing, and the flaps, and they are not exactly attached THAT strongly...
 
Those exhausts are amazing - just look at the bolt detail on the exhausts.  These may be a little dusty in the photos.  I've already test fitted the exhausts through the shrouds.  I'm wondering how much paint I'm going to scrape off getting the exhausts through the shrouds.
 



 
Hopefully the flaps will stay attached this time, but the detail in the AMUR flaps captures the tin canning of the flaps perfectly.  
 


 
Ok, that's it for now!
 
Chris

Back from my first trip since Feb to visit family, and while back up on work, took a few minutes this evening to check out those amazing Model Monkey exhausts and get the AMUR resin flaps attached (AGAIN).  I keep grabbing the wing, and the flaps, and they are not exactly attached THAT strongly...
 
Those exhausts are amazing - just look at the bolt detail on the exhausts.  These may be a little dusty in the photos.  I've already test fitted the exhausts through the shrouds.  I'm wondering how much paint I'm going to scrape off getting the exhausts through the shrouds.
 



 
Hopefully the flaps will stay attached this time, but the detail in the AMUR flaps captures the tin canning of the flaps perfectly.  
 


 
Ok, that's it for now!
 
Chris

Back from my first trip since Feb to visit family, and while back up on work, took a few minutes this evening to check out those amazing Model Monkey exhausts and get the AMUR resin flaps attached (AGAIN).  I keep grabbing the wing, and the flaps, and they are not exactly attached THAT strongly...
 
Those exhausts are amazing - just look at the bolt detail on the exhausts.  These may be a little dusty in the photos.  I've already test fitted the exhausts through the shrouds.  I'm wondering how much paint I'm going to scrape off getting the exhausts through the shrouds.
 



 
Hopefully the flaps will stay attached this time, but the detail in the AMUR flaps captures the tin canning of the flaps perfectly.  
 


 
Ok, that's it for now!
 
Chris

Awesome work Chris no doubt!

Back from my first trip since Feb to visit family, and while back up on work, took a few minutes this evening to check out those amazing Model Monkey exhausts and get the AMUR resin flaps attached (AGAIN).  I keep grabbing the wing, and the flaps, and they are not exactly attached THAT strongly...
 
Those exhausts are amazing - just look at the bolt detail on the exhausts.  These may be a little dusty in the photos.  I've already test fitted the exhausts through the shrouds.  I'm wondering how much paint I'm going to scrape off getting the exhausts through the shrouds.
 



 
Hopefully the flaps will stay attached this time, but the detail in the AMUR flaps captures the tin canning of the flaps perfectly.  
 


 
Ok, that's it for now!
 
Chris

Back from my first trip since Feb to visit family, and while back up on work, took a few minutes this evening to check out those amazing Model Monkey exhausts and get the AMUR resin flaps attached (AGAIN).  I keep grabbing the wing, and the flaps, and they are not exactly attached THAT strongly...
 
Those exhausts are amazing - just look at the bolt detail on the exhausts.  These may be a little dusty in the photos.  I've already test fitted the exhausts through the shrouds.  I'm wondering how much paint I'm going to scrape off getting the exhausts through the shrouds.
 



 
Hopefully the flaps will stay attached this time, but the detail in the AMUR flaps captures the tin canning of the flaps perfectly.  
 


 
Ok, that's it for now!
 
Chris

Hope everyone is having a good (holiday in the US) weekend.  REALLY looking forward to the three day weekend!  Got a bit more done today , closing up the cockpit sidewalls.  Looking at the IP and the sidewalls realized I needed to add about 12 more decals and I know there are a few more I can still add. Right now I have bits from Tamiya, Revell, Barracuda and Airscale adorning the cockpit.  I keep forgetting how busy the cockpits really were.
 
But first - the radiator intakes.  View from the opening, but we all know hardly any of this will be visible.  But wanted to show a dirty exit so here is what it really looks like from above too.

The streaks were done by putting a spot where the radiator is, and blowing towards the exit.  Imperfect, but it won't really be visible anyway.

 
Almost forgot to put the side supports on the seat but here they are.  The darker shade of green shows up better in the cockpit rather than having a monochrome green and in the cockpit don't show up as that much of a difference.  The supports came out of the Tamiya P-51D kit.  They are actually silver rather than brass as the other PE pieces are, and hard to see here, but I rubbed off some of the green paint on the wear points, revealing the silver/aluminum underneath.  Eduard color PE for the fuselage tank gauge.  The picture is a bit over exposed as silver is showing up as white.  Also, some more dirty wash on the floor board.

 
Did a bit more work on the sidewalls as well. Most of the markings are from the Barracuda Cockpit placards pack.

And the other side.  Added a decal over the Eduard Color PE on the throttle as the printing on the PE was too faint to really see.  Also added the brass 'chain'.  The Barracuda resin sidewall pieces have places to actually put in maps and mission report forms.  Here they are represented just by paint.

And closed up, dry fitted here:

As much as I really liked the Barracuda canopy rails, I just could not bring myself to cut these off and attach a PE set.  Painted aluminum with a black wash.

 
Closer look at the IP - final version... Added a few more placards as well as well as realizing I had missed the entire mid-section decal

 
Been watching some of the history channel shows on WWII lately as well.  VERY interesting and timely!  Have a safe holiday everyone.
 
Chris
 
 

Craziness there too be honest.  These planes and their nose art actually existed and it's far from porn or anything of that nature.  
 
 

The problem is the ODO judge only looked at the first part of #4, and not the second part: where the clear intent of the same is to portray a sexual scene.  Nudity itself is not explicitly banned.  For Model Classic (and IPMS Nationals judging as well) we've had really good discussions about this rule and especially its application to historical nose art. 
 
The ODO judge would have bounced 'Passion Wagon' as well, but improperly. 
 
I did run into a judge at Nats who tried to disqualify aircraft with nude nose art by nitpicking on anything else he could find.  Took the other two of us judges a while to figure out what he was doing and why he was being so critical of THOSE specific aircraft.  We got him removed as a judge but we had to go back and rejudge an entire category. The thing is, he explicitly volunteered for THAT category, so it was like his mission to disqualify those specific entries.  Very disappointing.  That is the only other direct case I know of regarding nose art and judging that caused problems.
 
Our monthly meeting last month had nose art as the special category - no complaints from anyone.

So, working out of order, as I usually do I sometimes mess up and forget to install part 2 before part 3, etc.  We've all been there, right??  SOOO, having finally painted the canopy I removed the masks from the windscreen (revealing the aforementioned problem) and the canopy.
 
First the good - the Aerocraft canopy fits beautifully.  I used the HGW masks for the Tamiya canopy and the only big adjustment I had to make was cutting the inside rear canopy mask in half to make it fit.  Otherwise, the inside and outside masks fit perfectly.  Pictures show the canopy frame is darker than the fuselage so I painted the frame with a black primer, and then the British Dark Green over that.  The primer also helps seal the clear plastic from light shining through.  Now have to touch up the fuselage cockpit opening.  Notice what is missing??

 
Where is the IP shade??

 
Took a bit of fitting, but was able to retrofit the sunshade with a fit of cutting and sanding...

 
Had to cut the back off the shade, then significantly thin down where it was cut.  The good news is the fix is very quick and easy.  Now just some touch up paint and attaching the gunsight, which I usually leave off until just about the end to make sure I don't knock it off...


 
There we go!

Made progress on the markings.  Huge difference between the Revell kit decals (kind of thick, inconsistent with setting solution) and the Kitsworld decals - thin, respond very well to setting solution.  Found a problem with that lovely Eduard Brassin spinner set. Crap.
 
Have not put the top clear coat on yet.  Why didn't anyone tell me that when you get a cat, especially a short haired tabby, the hair is EVERYWHERE.

 
Reference photos show both the black information panel with white lettering, as well as the black stencil with the nose are feet painted over the top.  The black stencil decal is one I liberated from a different aircraft, cutting off the top part that had the serial number.

 
Best as I can tell, there are not a lot of stencils on Passion Wagon so I've only applied the ones that I've been able to see.

 
I've seen some pictures of the tape over the gun ports so took some decal and applied it to the gun muzzles.  The taping is usually not consistent, hence the kind of random application.

 
Have also seen the canvas cover over the tail-wheel but can't remember the last time I saw it on a model, so thought I'd give that a go to see how it might look.  This is not exactly perfect - the actual canvas has the zipper up the middle, but with the aircraft on a base, this won't be seen anyway.  Valleo sand painted on one layer of a facial tissue, then white glued into place.

 
Testing fitting the Eduard spinner base onto the fuselage showed a problem.  Here is the Eduard Brassin spinner base painted red, sitting on the Revell spinner base and it is easy to see the Brassin base is noticeably smaller than the Revell kit piece.  Unfortunately, on the aircraft, the Brassin spinner base shows a 'step' down from the fuselage.  I've sent a message to Eduard to ask if they've released an update to their Brassin piece.  The Eduard prop does not come close to fitting onto the Revell spinner base, unfortunately.  Each part of the Eduard spinner and prop looks to be about 2mm too narrow.  Sigh...

The problem is the ODO judge only looked at the first part of #4, and not the second part: where the clear intent of the same is to portray a sexual scene.  Nudity itself is not explicitly banned.  For Model Classic (and IPMS Nationals judging as well) we've had really good discussions about this rule and especially its application to historical nose art. 
 
The ODO judge would have bounced 'Passion Wagon' as well, but improperly. 
 
I did run into a judge at Nats who tried to disqualify aircraft with nude nose art by nitpicking on anything else he could find.  Took the other two of us judges a while to figure out what he was doing and why he was being so critical of THOSE specific aircraft.  We got him removed as a judge but we had to go back and rejudge an entire category. The thing is, he explicitly volunteered for THAT category, so it was like his mission to disqualify those specific entries.  Very disappointing.  That is the only other direct case I know of regarding nose art and judging that caused problems.
 
Our monthly meeting last month had nose art as the special category - no complaints from anyone.

Eduard Update!  I received this message from Eduard Customer Support this morning for all you Revell Builders:
 
 
Thank you Chris, I have a message now that this particular part (CN:  Eduard Brassin P-51D Propeller for Revell, 632117) was really redesigned in the past. So we will sent the new bigger part.
The shipment will leave to your address within 7-10 days. Have a nice day and enjoy your build.
Have a nice day.
Petra Solcova
Eduard M.A.  customer support
 
I also received a message last night from Steve (Model Monkey) about his new resin exhausts since I have the old ones.  Guess what is also coming in the mail? Thank you Steve!!!
 
I'm glad to see companies like Eduard, Model Monkey and Spruebrothers, staying in business and having terrific customer support.  I don't know if Scale Model World in Telford will be a go this year or not, but I look forward to catching up with these companies to tell them how much I appreciate their support.

Eduard Update!  I received this message from Eduard Customer Support this morning for all you Revell Builders:
 
 
Thank you Chris, I have a message now that this particular part (CN:  Eduard Brassin P-51D Propeller for Revell, 632117) was really redesigned in the past. So we will sent the new bigger part.
The shipment will leave to your address within 7-10 days. Have a nice day and enjoy your build.
Have a nice day.
Petra Solcova
Eduard M.A.  customer support
 
I also received a message last night from Steve (Model Monkey) about his new resin exhausts since I have the old ones.  Guess what is also coming in the mail? Thank you Steve!!!
 
I'm glad to see companies like Eduard, Model Monkey and Spruebrothers, staying in business and having terrific customer support.  I don't know if Scale Model World in Telford will be a go this year or not, but I look forward to catching up with these companies to tell them how much I appreciate their support.