Squizzy

I remember building two of these kits as a boy, but they never looked anywhere near as good as this, what a great paint scheme, and the execution is fantastic, great looking model!

I've done a phantom without the seamless intakes and it took a tube of tamiya putty! The work you've done here is very impressive, and it's good to see modelling skills at work. The aftermarket option is the way to go, but if you don't have that option, revert back to the modelling skills!

Amazing work as always Marcel, I've just gone back through the whole build thread, and now I'm inspired to do an aggressor viper, I've got the older style makings from afterburner. But the paint job and detailing you've done is top notch, I'm really looking forward to seeing more.

Looks Awesome, I hope that the real B2 bombers look as good. Great job!

I wish Peter Jackson would have got involved in the new topgun 2 movie, then there might be a new range of perfectly fitting modern jets on the market!

Great job, black can be one of the hardest finishes to get right, and this looks great.

It's been difficult to get a lot of time at the desk lately with family and work commitments, but finally I've managed to get the lower hull done. There isn't much info on the docking keels, but with the little info I found, and looking at other on line builds, I've taken a guess at how they were, and although it may not be 100% accurate, it's better than nothing. I also took a crack at the bilge keels, I think trumpeters version was a bit like a smiley face. With the lower hull done, except the rudder, it was time to join the two halfs, and now I'll be starting work on the details such as the straps on the torpedo belts, the port side fuel line, and the water ways on the deck. In short, still plenty of work to be done before paint, and I there's also the join between the two halfs! Thanks for looking.

All it needs is a bit of paint and weathering, and the effect will be very convincing, great job!

An update on the hull, for the past 10 days or so I've been working on the prop shaft struts. The Trumpeter version must have been designed with R/C in mind, mine aren't 100% accurate, but looking at all of my references, are a lot closer, and I'm happy with the way they've come up. Thanks for looking!

Looks Awesome, it just puts a well made plane in the right setting! Great job!

Hubert, I've got a 1/200 mighty mo in the stash, and I'm wanting to see if they can produce a deck for that! These decks really do look so realistic.

Just a quick one. There hasn't been any work done on the Arizona, as I've just gotten back from escaping the Melbourne winter with a family holiday to Fiji. But when I got back, I had 3 little presents waiting for me upon my return. The first is a book that was sent to me from a member here,' Sassgrunt'. He offered me a book which is about the 1/96 scale Arizona model which is located at the Pearl Harbour visitor centre, and he wouldn't even accept any payment for shipping! A very big thank you, the book is awesome! The other book is the Paul Stillwell book on the USS Arizona, another awesome reference. The other present is the timber deck from scaledecks.com. WOW, if anyone's thinking of building a Arizona, spend that little bit more, and these are a must have. I've had all of the timber decks, Ka, artworks, and not that pontos does a deck for the Arizona, but I have there decks for other kits, and there all very good. But this is another level again! It doesn't have the self adhesive back, you use glue, and tips on doing it are provided, it is at least a quarter of the thickness of the others, and the detail is something else, I can't wait to use them. I've tried to show the detail with a close up, but I can only use the camera on my iPad, but you can see the difference in timber planks colours, very realistic!

There's nothing to not like here, a big dirty phantom, great job! The paint, the weathering, the weapons load love it.

For my first update, I was hoping to have a bit more done, but I'm trying to get it right, so it'll take as long as it does. With the top half of the hull, I've done all I'm going to until the two hull sections are joined, which was styrene strips ran through the hull, as you can't see through the drilled out portholes. The lower hull is what's been keeping me busy. I'm not up will all of the correct terminology, but the section on the hull where the prop shafts come out, are very 'toyish', and I was happy with them, so out with the dremal. After the clean up, and repair of the resulting holes in the hull, I discovered several different ways to not scratch build the prop shift outlets. I ended up using my battery drill and creating even larger holes in the hull than what I started with, and using styrene tubes, I managed to build the section and pieces required, and the use of perfect plastic putty, I'm happy with the results. Theres still plenty of work required in this area, shaping around the rudder, and then I'll be onto the docking keels. Thanks for looking.

Amazing work Eric, I know it's a long way off yet, but I hope you bring this one to the next model expo in Melbourne, it looks great in your photos, but I'd love to see up close. Top job!