easixpedro

Thanks Pig! Forgot to mention it if people want to attempt--I watched some Swede's water tutorial on YouTube. It's actually toilet paper (?!) covered with elmers glue and painted. After it was painted, I just slathered on about 5 coats of Liquitex Gloss Gel. I finally got the hang of it after several builds. Go slow and layer it. You can make some cool waves, or the water spouts like I did (look at the concentric circles, just like throwing stones in a pond...) That is cool! I have a couple of recordings of actual CSARs done by HC-7. It's crazy to listen to and hear the door guns firing over the radio chatter.

Thought I'd share this as it's been a long 2+ year slog, but I finally cleared it off my shelf of doom. No real in progress shots as I lost quite a few when I destroyed my phone. But I can tell you that the PBR is scratch built after scaling down plans to 1/48th. Kind of a fun thing to build. The helo on the other hand is why this project almost got scrapped. It's the archaic Monogram Huey Hog. It's got some nice details, but is not correct for either a UH-1B or UH-1C. HAL-3 flew predominately B models, though they were updated along the ways. Hueys are confusing... Enter the Kitty Hawk UH-1D. I bought a perfectly good kit just to cut it up and improve the Monogram dog. I have a screw loose. Gutted the interior and replaced it and then used the entire KH section forward of the overhead windows. Didn't help that the Huey Hog kit was so warped that getting things to align sapped my will to live. Then I went back and recovered the KH bits with Archer Rivets to blend it with the Monogram pieces. Used the KH rotor pieces and trimmed the blades to B model standard. Rocket pods are from Shapeways, and saved me a lot of heartache. Anyway, on to the pics... With this project finally complete, I can start thinking about my 1/32 EA-6B. -Peter

Dude. That's a LOT of work. But it's going to look amazing under a coat of paint with your painting skills!

Love the 49th Bomb Wing colors--they pop with those rivets! Can you imagine an entire raid with shiny/colorful airplanes like this? Did you make custom masks? You've convinced me to buy one and do an airplane from the 461st BG. Thanks for sharing! -Peter

Yep, and in fact I tossed it last week! Currently searching for deals on the Trumpy A-6E to make the conversion happen and scaling up drawings in preparation for cutting plastic. Have one more project to clear off the workbench and I'll start. After a career spent moving every 2 years, I always kept my "stash" to 5 kits or less and only bought something that I could build immediately. With that in mind, I'm holding off purchasing until I'm ready. Looking forward to this build though, and it's already starting to distract me from the current one! More soon! -Peter

Go Pig GO! I feel your pain right now. I just started re-adding rivets to the classic Monogram Huey Hog. I've done one stab and am cross-eyed. Archer rivets are the bees knees though and are helping restore some lovely detail. Pro tip: If the wing travels faster than the fuselage, it's probably not safe. -Peter

Looks great! We're always our own worst critics btw, and I think they'll look the part once everything is buttoned up. As for belts, I may be wrong, but if memory serves the bomber seats only had lap belts. Over to you if that juice is worth the squeeze and if it'd even be visible. Also, when I do any of the straps, I used foil. In the good old days it was the lead foil around champagne bottles. It's no longer lead, but just as malleable. Makes it easy to drape over contours etc. A lot easier than dealing w/ PE in my humble opinion. Just my .02 worth and thanks for sharing! -Peter

It's really a split second snapshot in time. The standard carrier approach has a 600-700 foot per minute rate of descent, so I've depicted it in the millisecond where the hook hits right before the main mounts. The cross deck pendant (what the arresting gear wire is called), has a pretty violent reaction as it's yanked and the hydraulic battery starts to slow it down. Also the reason why they're replaced after every 100 traps. If it ever parts, things get ugly on the flight deck really quick. HTH Peter

That IS fascinating! Cool pics, thanks for sharing!

Gray. Black was used later on.

That turret looks amazing! The one I'm wanting to build has the A3 'High Hat' turret. Kit doesn't have that and I'm not sure there's an aftermarket one available. So I'd have to fix that and the other turrets as well. I'll do it, just need to clear off the SOD some more. -Peter

That is good. I unfortunately went through this and learned the hard way with my first classic car. Had a 62 Falcon that my father and I purchased for $50, so we could tinker together. Some 20 years later, I set about restoring it. Had orders to a new duty station and had what I thought was a reputable shop, that I contracted to do the paint work while I was stationed overseas. Finally came home to find out that the owner was actually a VERY unscrupulous character and was murdered in a drug deal /debts gone bad in Idaho. The govt seized everything and sold it off while and I had no clue. Came home to find all this out and realize that not only was my car likely crushed, but I was out about 4 grand. Tough lesson to learn, but do the research prior to doing any work/selling a classic. On my mustang I was able to find a guy in Leavenworth KS, who worked for pennies on the dollar compared to bigger shops, and to this day I've never seen anyone match his metal work. (to the point of doing lead instead of Bondo). He had about 10 different cars on the cover of Hot Rods and Classic Cars etc. He kept log books of the work and recorded his work by video and camera, so there was never a doubt as to the work or quality you were being charged for. Glad it's going to work out well for you! -Peter

That’s pretty slick, and super fortunate that they’re close!

Don't have many. Started this build 15 years ago and finally finished around 2009, and I didn't take too many pics while building. It's now on display in the Tailhook Association's HQ. A friend from San Diego took these pics in their library a few years back, and these are all I have.

Thanks gents! I had tentatively reached that conclusion in my head last night, but was totally second guessing myself as I went through the builds here and over on Z5. It's a lot of work. Crappy work if I do say so myself (we're our own worst critics right?). Ben you are exactly right in that I'm the only one who can answer that question (even my wife and kids are telling me to keep it!) After watching all the stellar work being done around here, I think I can redo it and do it much better. I'm 99% certain I'll do the Trumpeter conversion as it'll be much easier than building everything myself. 1/32 might also be more manageable than 1/24--this thing is HUGE. Probably weighs close to 10 lbs already, which definitely doesn't help with the crumbling plastic. And just cause I'm bonkers, I'll have to decide whether to do an inflight display, or go big and attempt a scene where it's making the carrier landing and suspended by the tailhook. I figure it can't be any harder than doing it with the Tamiya Phantom (converted to a B because I'm a sadist). More to follow regardless! -Peter