Cap'n Wannabe

SMS is acrylic lacquer. It comes airbrush-ready right out of the bottle.

G'day folks.. A question or two for the airbrush experten here.. I sprayed some SMS paint on this model. 15psi, cleaned airbrush, everything good, or so I thought. Thing is, I get this orange peel type finish in places. Other places it's quite glossy. What could be causing this, and how can I prevent it from happening again?? Note, I have rubbed certain areas back with 15000 grit..

I've got 5 of the land-based C180's by Monogram....they keep finding their way into my stash somehow! Not much to report on the XMC....started designing the decals for it - I have to go from scratch as there's nothing provided with the kit.

After another polish with 20000 grit. Still needs one or two more coats of primer..

So here's the canopy plug after 2 coats of primer, a sanding with 15000 grit, another coat of primer, and sanding with 15000 and 20000 grit. Still gonna need at least one more coat and more sanding/polishing..

Dayum! Back in 2001 I started working for the ADF as a civilian....in the drawing office. Had access to all the factory drawings for the M113, M548, and ASLAV, among other things. I even did a 3D model of the M113 and M548 for a couple of projects I was working on at the time..

I've been doing a little playing around with the kit, dry fitting odd bits and pieces, and checking parts fit. Have to say, the fit is excellent! First thing I did was check the door/fuselage fit. There's a small web in the upper corner of the door frame...I guess this was put there to assist in printing or something. Anyhow, it has to be removed. So I placed some Tamiya tape across the opening, held the door in place, and marked out the material to be removed. And she's not a tail-sitter, so no need for nose weight! Woohoo!

I was very excited to find this in kit form, simply because it's different. Maybe also because I'm the first and only numbnuts in the world to actually buy one (got it from Shapeways...it cost a small fortune!). The kit is 3D printed. Shapeways weren't even sure they could print it when I placed the order.. The windows are supplied as a plug which needs to be vac formed. So I lashed out and got myself a dental vac form machine. Now I need to find some 0.1mm clear thermoform plastic, but that's another story.. Today I primed it twice with Mr Surfacer 1000 out of a rattle can. There are some striations from the printing process still visible, but I'll be sanding it back before I add another coat.

It's a 1/72 kit I bought from Shapeways (and it cost a small fortune - may have to sell my son into slavery..).

We have a winner!

Bzzzt! Try again...

Some hints: It was built in 1971 by a well-known aircraft manufacturer. There was only one ever built. It was a demonstrator aircraft. I think the tails will at least give away the manufacturer..

Wow. Just......wow.

That looks awesome! I wonder how difficult it would be to convert one of those to a Cessna 170B...guess one would have to come up with a whole new fuselage at least..

A civil L-19....this'll be interesting!

So I got off my butt and did some more painting. I used Mr Colour Phthalo Cyanne Blue and SMS Aluminium. Masking it was a bit of a pain....took me three goes to get it right (ish). It's almost at the point where I can run around my lounge making BRRRRRRMMMMMM noises..

Just curious, but does anyone have factory drawings of the Tiger Moth? Or can point me in a direction where I might find them?

....more specifically, on Hasegawa's 1/16 Sopwith Camel. I've never painted a wood finish, and I'm looking for tips and tricks on how to accomplish this. What's a good base colour, what type of paints should I use....that kind of thing. Yes, I've been on youtube and had a bit of a look, but most videos I've seen relate to painting props, not ribs and stringers. I'm guessing these might be a bit different.. Cheers!

IIRC the interplane struts need to be shortened by about 3mm for the correct dihedral.

I'm not sure whether to try to use pieces from the remaining decals to cover the cracks or not. I ended up spraying the remnants of the sheet with Testors decal bonder, so we'll see.. Also started to close the fuselage. It was a little tricky - I had to trim one side of the IP to remove a gap in the front fuselage, and there are no locating pins. Still, so far, so good.

So, in an attempt to restore my mojo - which has been gone for a loooooong time! - I decided to bite the bullet and build one of my Williams Bros. Ford Flivvers. I have plans for the second one as a WIF, and those in Australia *might* be able to guess what I have in store for it... Anyhoo, this is my progress so far - painting and decalling the wings and horizontal stabilizer. Unfortunately some of the decals cracked while drying, but it'll never be in a competition, so I'm not *really* worried about it.

I *really* must resurrect mine one day!

OK, so nothing to update at the moment. Been too busy working my dream job! Long hours, but well worth the time it's taken me to get it. Also, I haven't really looked for a match to baby-poo brown yet..

Yeah, it does. I was very disappointed when I opened the box. Still, I have one each of the floatplane and land plane..

Well the embossing powder arrived the other day, and after watching a coupe of youtube videos, I applied it to one of the resin parts. Looks ok, I reckon.. The next thing is to make a full seat, including painting it the baby poo brown first..