MarioS

Hey Brian,
 
Nice setup you got there at Smugmug, I clicked on your link a few hours ago and it took me to your front page but have you done anything to it since then? because I've just tried to click on it again and now it's telling me Page Not Found
 
I've been using Imgur for the last 6 months and one thing I don't like about it is you can't do albums within an album so I was wondering can you with Smugmug or Imageshack as you can with PB

Can't wait till this great looking aircraft comes out; I've put one on order at Hannants some time ago when they first listed it. There are so many great looking schemes out there that I may need (want) to buy two, as Zero77 said.
 
Looking forward to having a look at (and buy) this new Caracal Models 1/32 MiG-29 sheet.
 
But what I wouldn't mind is the opportunity also to do it in a Slovak Air Force scheme. I would have to say this is one of the best looking MiG's out there.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think there's a 1/32 scale decals sheet for these markings. What a great opportunity for a decal company maybe Caracal Models to tackle it (Yes?), a decal sheet for the digital camo plus the tiger's head and with alternative option to do a Peel Away Stencil sheet for the camo if you choose to want to paint it on, I'll buy one! (or two).
 
 
 

 

Great Execution on the gun barrel, Chuck
 
 
Looking Good!

Here is the opening of my next project: An F-16 Aggressor double-build. Here are the subjects I will create
 
F-16A NSAWC in blue/gray camo
 
 

 
(Image labelled for noncommercial reuse)
 
I will be building a pretty current-state version of "55".
 
F-16C Alaska Aggressor in gray/black splinter camo
 

 
(Image labelled for noncommercial reuse)
 
Kits and AM stuff to me used:
 
 
· Tamiya F-16C Block 32 (the Thunderbirds kit)
· Tamiya F-16C Block 50 intake sprue
· Aires GE Exhaust
· Avionix Block 30 cockpit (the Aires cockpit is badly wrong)
· Crossdelta stiffener plates
· Two Bobs Alaska Aggressors decal sheet
My strategy is to build both kits in parallel from tip through exhaust, including cockpit, but stop the parallel action before assembling wings and vertical tail. At that point I may focus on the one airframe, all the while doing bits and pieces for the other where it makes sense (e.g. I will build all ACMI pods together).
 
Hope to have you along for the ride!
Marcel

She is done! Must say I am pleased with the result, it's one of the better models in my display cabinet.
 
I snapped a few pics this afternoon, will take some better pics in the next few days.
 

 

 
Yeah, I really do like how those rockets turned out...
 

 

 
I haven't shown a whole lot of detail work. I did that in my last Phantom build (Chico over on ARC), plus there are some great detail threads out there already, Like Chuck's F-4E on ARC. But I did add quite a few bits and pieces, here is the helmet-mounted cueing system.
 

 
There's the map. You can also see the cueing system through the front canopy glass.
 

 

 
Note that small pipe on the intake sidewall.
 

 

 
Last action of the build was to affix the small blade antenna on the spine (scratched from plastic card).
 

 
Rear-end details...
 

 
Tank fins fixed to those fold-out thingies...
 

 
More to follow.
 
Cheers,
 
Marcel

"I have no more parts"
 
It was about six year ago that I read this sentence. Times fly. That day, browsing ARC Forums, I found your Hornet. I was very impressed by your skills. But in my over thirty years of love for our hobby I never thought of ending a build with these words.
 
How many of us can say the same?
 
Since that moment, checking your in-progress work has become one of the sweetest moment of my evenings.
 
Of all your build, the one I like the best is your Phantom. There was a special kind of magic. Something ever un-matched by any other in-progress work in any other forum. Maybe it was so because a Phantom is always a Phantom. Maybe it was so because of the interaction with Scott Wilson.
 
The build that I like the less is your Thunderbolt. It has been an amazing effort. I learned a lot. But, at the same time, it was an exercise in willpower. No joy. Often I thougth you would lose your enthusiasm and leave the hobby.
 
And then the Eagle. Well, for me, your Eagle build is another fabulous journey. Once again, nobody shares our hobby like you do. Your pictures, and your posts are always very well written.
 
So, please keep us posted. Does not matter if you not have a big update. At this point your are family. It will always a pleasure to take a look at your work (and at your travels). It is always a pleasure to read your posts.
 
(Apologies for my English)

I spent quite a bit of time redoing the windscreen and canopy framing... not sure how realistic to this particular F-4 that really is but with the Tamiya clear parts being glued onto the framing without consideration of the cleanup and glue, I have had to do this on both my Chico and now this build. The seats are also in (already built these back when I did my Chico build).
 
 
 
Under magnification:
 

 
View from top:
 

 

 
Overall view:
 

 
Happy Friday guys!
 
Marcel

Yes I agree great looking plane and nice build as well that you've got there, and I like that paint scheme you've picked plus that map; centre of attention when you look in the cockpit... Love It!

Thanks guys! Hardly getting any modelling time in, life is just too busy. 
 
Have made some progress though, the most noteworthy of which is getting the J-79s in. A pretty nerve-wracking procedure imo, the exhausts need to be placed perfectly without scratching the nice Alclad finish and most importantly, with the constant risk of the nozzles breaking from the afterburner sections as they are prodded to fit. And of course there should be (virtually) no gaps at the exhaust/airframe interface. Fortunately, these Sierra Hotel resin beauties are perfectly made, the fit is just spot-on.
 

 
And symmetrical too...
 

 
Note heat-discoloration of probe...
 

 

 
If you are wondering what that thing is to the upper left of the above pic, here is a close-up:
 

 
I really don't like the way my rear IP turned out so I am fiddling around with strategically placing a map.
 
Cheers,
 
Marcel

I'll second that, amazing and INCREDIBLE work you're doing there chuck your OCD is definitely getting worse on every build you do 
 
 
In another words the models are getting better and better

April 28/17
 
Continuing with my OCD attention to the detail of the vertical stabs  , I have finally finished them.  I am REALLY glad that I did this earlier than normal, because the sanding and modifications required me to flip the model over and over and if the front fuselage and other stuff was attached already as per the instructions, it would have been a real struggle and I likely would have broken something.
 
Adding to the pics of the real deal I have already shown above, here are a few more details that may be missed.
 
There is a reinforcement strap on the tail booms of almost every F-15C I can find.  Curiously, my jet doesn't have it (yet) in the pics I took years ago, but since most do and I find it interesting, I want to add them.
 
 

 
 
Here is the biggest flaw with the kit vertical stabs.  The seam line is set way too low and the real panel line above it is very subtle.  VERY few builds of this kit have corrected this error, because I can't find one that did.
 
 

 
 
A close-up of the rear reveals a tab on the rear panel that has 2 rows of rivets at the bottom of the tab.
 
 

 
 
The inside of the stab to fuselage join, shows a definite panel line.  After all, this is the area where the titanium panels are.  Within the titanium panels at the rear, a small panel is almost always painted, like this pic of my jet.  Another detail often missed....
 
 

 
 
Here is where I left off several days ago.
 
 

 
 
Today, after a TON of work and sanding!  Again, all filler is clear CA glue, so the join can still be seen before painting.
 
 

 
 
Note the Archer resin rivets are not spaced evenly, because the real deal aren't either.  Likely a model contest deduction? 
 
 

 
 
Every square inch of this model is sanded smooth with 1,000 grit sandpaper.  Kit plastic often looks smooth enough, but it is rarely smooth enough for a flawless paint job later, especially if you're spraying Alclad.
 
 

 
 
After sanding, the plastic should shine like it was already sprayed with something.
 
 

 
 
One very important thing that I forgot to mention earlier, is to sand the trailing edges of the wings, ailerons, stabilators, vertical stabs and rudders to a very thin edge.  It's hard to get them thin enough to look like the real deal, because the plastic would be too fragile, but you can get them pretty close.
 
 

 
 
That's it for now boys.  Next up will be the attachment of the front fuselage, so the end of this build is finally within sight!
 
Cheers,
Chuck
 

Go on then - ask what "Swished" is.  

I've decided to start another big Hornet from Academy which is a quality kit which you can have faith in.  No open panels or bays, just armed to the teeth.  
 

 
I've built several Hornets over the years and every time you open the box you can't help but feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of parts - the sprues just keep going on and on.  I work by removing all the parts that I can and store them either in the main box or plastic craft boxes.  Some parts I leave on the sprue so I can identify the number; some of the landing gear parts definitely need to be kept like this until assembly. 
 
 

 
When you work like this you are left with just the parts that you actually need and the build seems far less daunting.  There are several large sprues containing unused weapons which have been stored for spares.
 
 

 
The only after-market parts that will be used are the Eduard exterior fret, canopy mask, Eagle Strike decals and an Aires resin SJU-5/6 seat as this Hornet will be an early block "C".
 

That's looking good Jim,
 
How appropriate you got your flags down just in time for Anzac day tomorrow I must say 10 out of 10 this Aussie Hornet is really going to look good when you've finished it!

And so the touch up process begins. I am now through 5-6 or my 9 masks on each side ... with probably another 4-5 touch up sessions to go on each tail.
 
First, a couple of sets of blue touch ups ...
 

 
Then touching up the red:
 

 
And this morning, the first touch up on the white. I have only done it on the one you can see on the right, and only on the words ... much more to go. But, starting to look like it should ... in another month I reckon I'll be there!
 

 
Thanks for following.
 
Jim
 
PS does it make me crazy that I think this is better than decals? I do have decals in the stash for this bird ...

Great thread Dale and also great bunch of planes/photos here; one of my favourites is the B-17.
 
Here's my contribution some old, some new, some painted and some mine.
 
Another old favourite is the F-14 one of the photos that I've put up here, there are so many photos on the net but I think this one says it all just Can't Stop Looking At It
 

 
 
Thanks,

Hi Buddy,
 
Most sewing needles are admittedly too narrow and sharp, but if you go to a sewing store (my wife is a big time quilter), you can find almost any type of needle you want. I use a fat needle with a shallow taper, which creates the initial perforation and then I can control the width of the rivet detail based upon the depth of the needle penetration. I hope this makes sense.
 
Cheers,
Chuck

Thanks Guys!
 
 
 
All I use is a few Hasegawa "Trytool" metal rulars with notches in them at varying widths and a needle in a pin vice.  I have not had much luck with the riveting wheels, because its hard to find a long straight panel line that needs rivets and it's even harder to keep it in a straight line.  Besides, most of the rivet patterns are curved anyway
 
Here's a distant pic of what they look like from an earlier post.
 

 
 
 
 
Thank you Wolf, but I will never get as good as you at modeling.  Never!  You make me try, however, even though it's a lost cause for all time.
 
 
OK boys a small update.  Before I do much more work to the front of the model, the rear vertical stabilizers need plenty of modifications to get them looking reasonably accurate.  Like most of this kit, the panel lines and rivet detail are about 70% correct and 30% wrong.  With some work, I can correct about 20% of them, but there will always be some small errors here and there that I'll just have to live with as you will see.
 
First, here's a pic of the unmodified stabs.  Besides an almost total lack of rivet detail, they have the famous huge rudder bulges that need to be sanded down a LOT!  Note that I have cut off the 4 little hooks on the bottom of the stabs, since they are just in the way and I suspect they only exist for those who might store their model with the stabs removed.
 
 

 
 
Before I do any more, let's take a look at the real deal.  Here are the 3 reference pics I used the most with strong shadows, that show the bulge is still present, but subtle.
 
 

 

 
 
I took this one at Nellis last November for just this step of the build.  There's lots going on that is not present on the kit parts and the kit parts have a few things not present on the real deal.  The lower rivet and panel line detail shows up fairly well on this jet, but the rudder bulge is almost non-existent.
 
 

 
 
Here is Step #1, which is self-explanatory.
 
 

 
 
Step #2, which has extensive rivet detail added, including more raised Archer resin decal rivets.
 
 

 
 
Here's the stab dry-fitted to the fuselage, showing how miss-aligned some of the panel lines are, which is why some of them have been filled in with CA glue and will be rescribed later.  The main join does not exist, while the panel line I scribed above it does, so this join should be filled in and sanded smooth.
 
 

 
 
The inside is much the same story, although the join is easier to fill since it sits flush.  That diagonal panel line, however, is just not worth all the effort to modify, since about 6 things will have to be changed to do so.  Time to punt!
 
 

 
 
The port side stab has a very wimpy AN/ALQ-135 Tactical Electronic Warfare System (TEWS) pod, so thankfully the GT resin screen and grill kit has a replacement that I glued on.
 
 

 
 
 
For my next update I hope to have these vertical stabilizers glued in, filled and rescribed so that they look like part of the fuselage, rather than just stuck on.  Happy Modeling!
 
Cheers,
Chuck

Yes very nice looking plane, too many schemes to choose from. As mentioned above those decals are available but if you are in favour of the Tiger head but don't like the digital camo scheme you can always wait for Trumpeter to bring out the MiG-29US and use the scheme below.
 
I hope to eventually buy two Trumpeter MiG-29 A's and maybe make one as a Polish Air Force and the other one as Slovak Air Force One. Only problem there is no 32 scale sheet for it!  hopefully some decal company might come to the rescue and design one for both the MiG-29AS & the MiG-29UBS in 32 scale…
 
 
But if that doesn't happen I'm quite happy to give it a shot myself, what have I got to lose (a week on the computer) I mean it's not that hard I'm more at ease trying to scratch design a decal sheet then scratch build and an entire 32 scale plane, so far I've collected roughly 90 photos of the MiG-29AS 0921 as reference as far as the camo goes I can cut it out on my old Roland plotter and with the images (tiger head), well hopefully  if someone could please steer me in the right direction to some reputable company that does one off decal prints…
 

Yes very nice looking plane, too many schemes to choose from. As mentioned above those decals are available but if you are in favour of the Tiger head but don't like the digital camo scheme you can always wait for Trumpeter to bring out the MiG-29US and use the scheme below.
 
I hope to eventually buy two Trumpeter MiG-29 A's and maybe make one as a Polish Air Force and the other one as Slovak Air Force One. Only problem there is no 32 scale sheet for it!  hopefully some decal company might come to the rescue and design one for both the MiG-29AS & the MiG-29UBS in 32 scale…
 
 
But if that doesn't happen I'm quite happy to give it a shot myself, what have I got to lose (a week on the computer) I mean it's not that hard I'm more at ease trying to scratch design a decal sheet then scratch build and an entire 32 scale plane, so far I've collected roughly 90 photos of the MiG-29AS 0921 as reference as far as the camo goes I can cut it out on my old Roland plotter and with the images (tiger head), well hopefully  if someone could please steer me in the right direction to some reputable company that does one off decal prints…
 

Can't wait till this great looking aircraft comes out; I've put one on order at Hannants some time ago when they first listed it. There are so many great looking schemes out there that I may need (want) to buy two, as Zero77 said.
 
Looking forward to having a look at (and buy) this new Caracal Models 1/32 MiG-29 sheet.
 
But what I wouldn't mind is the opportunity also to do it in a Slovak Air Force scheme. I would have to say this is one of the best looking MiG's out there.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think there's a 1/32 scale decals sheet for these markings. What a great opportunity for a decal company maybe Caracal Models to tackle it (Yes?), a decal sheet for the digital camo plus the tiger's head and with alternative option to do a Peel Away Stencil sheet for the camo if you choose to want to paint it on, I'll buy one! (or two).
 
 
 

 

Can't wait till this great looking aircraft comes out; I've put one on order at Hannants some time ago when they first listed it. There are so many great looking schemes out there that I may need (want) to buy two, as Zero77 said.
 
Looking forward to having a look at (and buy) this new Caracal Models 1/32 MiG-29 sheet.
 
But what I wouldn't mind is the opportunity also to do it in a Slovak Air Force scheme. I would have to say this is one of the best looking MiG's out there.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think there's a 1/32 scale decals sheet for these markings. What a great opportunity for a decal company maybe Caracal Models to tackle it (Yes?), a decal sheet for the digital camo plus the tiger's head and with alternative option to do a Peel Away Stencil sheet for the camo if you choose to want to paint it on, I'll buy one! (or two).
 
 
 

 

Can't wait till this great looking aircraft comes out; I've put one on order at Hannants some time ago when they first listed it. There are so many great looking schemes out there that I may need (want) to buy two, as Zero77 said.
 
Looking forward to having a look at (and buy) this new Caracal Models 1/32 MiG-29 sheet.
 
But what I wouldn't mind is the opportunity also to do it in a Slovak Air Force scheme. I would have to say this is one of the best looking MiG's out there.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think there's a 1/32 scale decals sheet for these markings. What a great opportunity for a decal company maybe Caracal Models to tackle it (Yes?), a decal sheet for the digital camo plus the tiger's head and with alternative option to do a Peel Away Stencil sheet for the camo if you choose to want to paint it on, I'll buy one! (or two).
 
 
 

 

Really superb images of the kit Mario - much appreciated!
 
We should find out what Tamiya is up to (if anything LSP) next month, at the Shizuoka toy fair.
 
Tony

Just saw this F-35 thread for the first time.
 
I received my 1/32 F-35A roughly 3 weeks ago, and back then I took some photos of it; if anyone's interested I've posted some of them on imgur if U would like to have a look at them you can find them here… https://imgur.com/a/cNPgR
 
The photos are 3200 pixels across, half of the original size
 
 
I also posted some photos of the real thing that I took at the Avalon Air Show and as well the F-35 seat that was on display. There's some good reference photos… https://imgur.com/a/vE8cO  
 
 
I'd like to eventually make mine as an Australian version, and if or when they do bring out the C version in 1/32 I wounded mind try and do a diorama as a US Navy one just hovering off a carrier deck as though it was just about to land.
 
PS. I read here somewhere that Tamiya is making one, is that true?