DesTROYer

After a month of being distracted by a now Ex-girlfriend, I finally stopped feeling sorry for myself (mostly), stopped procrastinating on what I was going to build next and got started on my next 1/32 Jet build. Italeri's Mirage III E/R with mods to make it a III O. I'm still working out which changes I'll need to make to the base model to do the conversion, and Eric's build thread on LSP will be of great assistance there, but If anyone else has any pointers, I'd appreciate the help. The first thing I knew I'd need to fix was the wiring and hose work in front of the IP. To my eye the IP looks close enough for me, but behind it, the kit detail was way too light. A few hours of work while looking at reference photos from multiple sources, and I came up with this. When the glue had hardened, I cleaned up the excess CA glue and put down a coat of black primer to see how it all looked. Not too bad and will look pretty great when all painted up and fitted behind the windscreen I think. As I said the IP looks pretty good as per the photos in Darren Mottram and Paul Masons Mirage III O book, but it will decently benefit from some detail painting and dial decals. Then I started assembling and priming the rest of the cockpit interior. I need to source a new seat as the kits seems to be a mix and match of types. Any recommendations? Thats all for today. I'm going to be doing the "On the Bench" podcast Tuesday night and need to do a bit of research on the topic for the night. Back into it tomorrow.

Sounds like a more than reasonable reason to start on my 1/32 Tamiya Tomcat.

I love it. Happy new year Simon.

Thanks gang. Here is a close up of the nose art.

Getting back from my Christmas trip yesterday evening, this morning I managed to fire up my digital camera and after playing with lighting for a while, was finally ready to take some glamour shots of my finished Chinook. Its final resting place will be in a perspex display case with these patches I received from LSP member and Brahmans Chinook crew member in Afganistan, Craig Hartnett. Craig was an invaluable help on this build, providing photos and advice throughout. Without further adieu, CH-47D A15-104 Crux Australis "Dusty Blonde" Kit: Trumpeter 1/35 CH-47D Aftermarket: Eduard's Big ED set for the CH-47D Paint: Model Master and Tamiya Custom: Scratchbuilt CSAR hoist and NavSat Comms antenna.

Thanks, Craig and thanks for all your help. It's certainly on the trip wish list.

Though I still do need to take some better photos and do a RFI post. I present my Trumpeter 1/35 CH-47D, Chinook A15-104 'Crux Australis'. As you can see, under different lighting, the paint colour changes quite dramatically. I am pretty happy with how it has come out, though of course there are a few things I would like to have done different and better, the fitting of the nose to the body for one thing. The piece ended up being wider than the body and there is a step on the crew entry door side. I need to get new batteries for my SLR and am waiting on a special patch that has been gifted to me for this project. Glamour shots to follow soon. Kit: Trumpeter 1/35 CH-47D Paint: Model Master Decals: Ronin Graphics and Werners Wings. Aftermarket: Big Ed Photo etch and masks. Scratch built items: CSAR hoist, Ramp internal details, Avionics bay curtains, First Aid Kits and Satcom X antenna. Special thanks: Craig "Brahman104" Hartnett 'Australian Army 5th Aviation Regiment', Paul "Padubon" Dubon 'US Army Reserve CH-47 Pilot, Rod C and Bruce and Ben O'Dowd.

Thanks John. The space taken to display the chook alone is huge due to the rotors. I have no plans to add to that realestate by adding a diorama at this time as much as I would like too.

Brilliant work as usual, mate.

Good afternoon. I've spent the day making, painting and fitting additional parts onto the Chook and then finished up by spraying the sealing clear coat. Starting with sorting through my spare parts bin, I found suitable parts to make the hook for the CSAR hoist. A bit of glue and paint, and it was ready to fit. While there I finally got around to fitting the upper door inside the cabin. Then it was onto painting and fitting the heavy lifting hooks and I all so used some more spare parts to make up the rails for the lower door. One of the parts that I still have to make up is the X comms antenna. I've had a play with a couple of ideas so far, but I don't have any good photos of it and no measurements, so this one, though it looks alright, could be massively oversized. If anyone can help out here with photos and or measurements, please post them or let me know. With that all done and the last of the decals applied, it was time to head back out to the garage and spray the next clear coat to seal the decals. This has gotten rid of the film lines for the most part, but it has revealed some ting spots of silvering where air must be trapped behind the film. They'll need to be pricked, but I'm worried that if I apply any more decal setting solution now that the lastest clear coat has been applied, I might get a bad reaction. What's everyone's thoughts on that? Today's warmth made the paint dry nice and quick.

Decaling began Saturday afternoon. After half a day of bench time, by nightfall had the first side done. The Ronin decals, as always went down perfectly and looked great. Steves research and eye for detail brought to light a few errors on the kit. I did stuff up one decal though, through a stupid rookie mistake. The tail serial number went down great, but after I applied the setting solution as I was getting ready to pack up for the night, I noticed a couple of air bubbles under it. Instead of waiting for the decal to settle and dry, I took my hobby knife and put small little cuts on the bubbles, then even more stupidly applied even more setting solution, and of course, the decal warped. You would think that I would have learned and set it aside until the morning, but no, I cracked the shits and tried to remove the decal, and with it, removed some paint. Idiot. I applied some paint to touch up the stuff up and set it aside until morning. While watching a movie later that night, I jumped on my Silhouette Studio programme and using a photo of the remaining decal, made up replacement serial numbers to be sprayed on later. The lighter colour where the touch up has been applied will darken once the clear coat is applied. After 6 days straight of 5 AM wake-ups, Sunday definitely called for a sleep in, and this morning I got one and after a breakfast of a muffin with honey and a mug of Earl Grey Tea, it was back into it. Determined to make no more stuff ups, I forced myself to take my time on the second side. After turning nearly a whole decal sheet into confetti, I was done for the weekend. There are still a few decals left to apply to the underside, but really not as many as what is left on the decal sheet, So that does have me a bit confused. What is not shown on the decal instructions? Time for the end of weekend progress shots. There is still a lot to do. I have to scratch build two new antennas for the top spine of the chopper, make up a hoof for the CSAR hoist, make up some arms/brackets to hold the bottom hatch open n the right spot, fit the three undersling hooks, fit the crew door inside the cabin, seal the paint, weather, matt coat and last but not least, remove the masks and pray there is no bleed through on the clear bits.

A late start today, but once I got started, I didn't want to stop. Started off paintings more more details and making some corrections. The colour charts say these rear lights are yellow. They may have yellow lamps in them, but they don't look right to me and the photos I have show them as a crazed white. I may have to fix them somehow, but I'm not sure how I'll do it yet. With all that done, it was time to head out into the garage and put down the gloss coat. Pretty straight forward, but by the time I was done and it was dry enough to handle, it was cold and wet outside, so these photos are a lot, lot darker than it really looks. It's my brothers birthday tomorrow, so I'll be out much of the day with family, still I hope to get in and start on the decals later in the afternoon.

Acrylic

Painting day. Being the first time (sort of) that I have used Model Master paints, today started with a small false start, but after finding a suitable thinner in my stock (Vallejo thinner did the trick), I got stuck into painting the Chinook. The paint went down real nice, gives a nice coverage, and when thinned down still allowed for the pre-shading to come through where I wanted it to. Then it was detail painting time. Taking my time and constantly looking through my references I've noticed that a lot of details have changed over the years. From colours of antennas to the configuration of sensors, there is a lot to take in, and my primary reference photos don't answer a lot of them, so what I have decided to do is go with what I think looks the best from each era. There are still a few things to figure out, but I'm in no rush. At the end of the day as the sun was getting down close to the horizon, so once more I slipped out the front to take some pics in the dying light. I need to go through my spare parts box and find a suitable hook for the CSAR hoist, but next up it's time to apply the clear coat and get stuck into the decals.

As I've said elsewhere, outstanding. You make it all look so easy.