John1

I’ll hold off until I see some decals I’m interested in (not sure the market is there for Caracal or anyone else to release decals for this kit) and see the canopy built up. Still not convinced separate external frames will look ok. Hopefully I’m wrong on both counts because I’d love to build an A-1E!

Sweeeeet!

Working on the undersides. Added some brake lines to the main landing gear and a few fuel lines inside the MLG bays. The radial engines from this time period leaked oil like sieves. The saying was that if a radial wasn't leaking oil, you better check it because it probably is empty. I used black washes and AK motor oil for the weathering. The grunge coated the underside and also the lower main landing covers (from my reference pics posted above). Not wholly satisfied with the weathering, I'll circle back and make some touchups. The landing gear was a pretty fiddly assembly. Lot of small parts, not the greatest fit and crappy instructions. I so miss working on Tamiya kits! After all that was done, added landing light lenses, the oil cooler exhaust door, lower anti-collision beacon and the airbrake (in the extended position). I've seen posts that this was never left down when the aircraft was parked but if you check out the pics posted above, you'll see an example in just that configuration. That's it for now, I'm gradually staggering to the finish line! She's finally standing on her landing gear!

In general use, the B is such a horribly compromised airframe (both from payload, range and extra weight). Has the RAF received its full complement of B's? Wonder if it's not too late to swap some of those out for A models?

I was fine with the condescending aspect, I'm a big boy, takes more than that to get me spun up. What really pissed me off about good old Jens was when he got miffed over some slight here on LSP (real or imagined) and demanded that all of his content be removed. That included a large number of threads that others had contributed to with some very unique pictures and very valuable information. Life's way too short for that silliness.

Back when dear departed Jennings was around, I was building a 1-D and had the same question. Jennings made a good case for using a non-spec light grey, same for the undercarriage. Say what one wants about Jennings but he had some pretty decent research.

Good luck trying to replicate that feature, I’ve never been able to.

The Ju-87 is about as streamlined as a cinderblock. I doubt putting the framing inside the canopy would have done very little to make that thing go faster.

And Kill MiGs was the first book I read as a kid that really got me hooked on military aviation, that one and Low Level Hell (which is probably responsible for me joining the army).

Wow… I haven’t been paying close attention to the thread or the kit. From the way you were posting, thought you had some connection to this kit. But yeah, I guess it’s just a race thing… smh

I was going off the post above but that said, the sheet included doesn’t have any subject that interests me. Not a slag on your product, just my own preference. Any pics out there showing the assembled canopy? Really curious how that looks built up.

Just makes me even more obsessed with building an A-1E! Thanks for posting.

How are the clear parts? I've always wanted an A-1E but for me, the total lack of decals is probably a deal breaker. Any USAF SEA A-1E I would want to build can't be cobbled together from scrap decals.

“Dark Sea Green” undersides? You sure about that?

Thanks guys! Tonight's focus was on adding oil and grime stains, mostly around the cowling and cockpit area. Also added some vertical rain streaks to the exhaust soot, per the real thing, using a brush dipped in clear thinner, wiped off until it's pretty dry and then just some random vertical stripes. I'll go back tomorrow and lightly spray some additional exhaust color on them to blend them in a bit. For the staining, I used a flat black wash and AK's Used Motor Oil (pretty good stuff BTW). I've noted that most radial engine aircraft leak copious amounts of engine oil, which tends to get everywhere. Again, I'll end up going back and toning things down a bit but given how nasty the Boomer's kept their aircraft, I don't think I'll need to dial it down by much. Right now, I think I'm about 3/4ths done on weathering. Some pictures: Not happy with the stains added to the outer wings, I'll tone those down later... The area under the cockpit sills was pretty grungy on most of the birds I have pictures of. . That's it for tonight's update, thanks for checking in!