1to1scale

sorry, no updates. I have been playing with a new airbrush, I have a cheap master G22, which works ok, but does not do close up detail very well, and tends to spatter a bit. I ordered an Iwata NEO to play with, so far I am not impressed. I don't think it performed any better than my G22. So I spent an after playing with setting for both, I noticed whenever I cleaned the tip on the neo with a cotton swab, fibers would get snagged. When I removed the needle, it seemed sort of rough. My Master is better than that. I spent some time with a polishing sponge and polished the needle, I also did the master too. I plan to load up some more paint and test again. If I dont get spectacular results, I will send it back and possibly order a Harder & Steinbeck. Unfortunately, I cant spend over $200 on a nice Iwata right now.

My mind is blown, that engine is incredible,

Awesome, understated chipping, not too much.

Make it a floatplane...no more wheel wells!

I would definitely have ordered them if I knew. If I build another as an AVG, ill order them and build a new cockpit floor too.

While I was priming the P-40, I also did a base coat of dark gray on the cockpit, hopefully I can get this done in the next couple of days and close up the fuselage. I did use a lighter gray than I should have, but I will weather it with a black wash, so it will darken up a bit.

Had a few minutes yesterday and was able to do a little masking and throw down a coat of black base primer. This is the second project I used the Stynylrez primer on, and it works great! Even if you put it down way too thick in one area, it levels out nice. Also covers great, dries fast, and dries very hard. So far I have used the white and black primers and I like them.

I was actually planning to do a RAAF spitfire myself. I know the MK VIII kit comes with RAAF decals, but I know I have seen aftermarket decals out there somewhere.

Check eBay, there is a seller that sells individual sprues, and I checked my kit, the tug is all on one sprue.

What about SAC white metal gear? I saw they had OV-10 gear

You will like it. The fit is really very good so far. I did have to do a bit of sanding with a coarse sanding stick on the framework under the cowl panels, while the fit is not terrible, a little sanding really help line everything up well. It seems to be an easy kit so far, it has some weird panel joins in odd places. I suppose they are like that so that filling and sanding is easier, you would not have to re-scribe any panel lines. This kit has no rivet detail to speak of, so it would be an excellent kit to try rivet tools the first time, which I may do.

Sorry to hear about your business, I never want to hear about anyone going out of business. I have really wanted to get a Glass Nose B-25 for a while, but had a hard time justifying the price for a model I have no room to display. So, I sent you payment for the B25J already. Now I have to find a new house with more room.

I started working on a new quick build project tonight, while I'm waiting for a whole day I can paint the P-40, I am putting together my 109. This will be an out of the box project with only one aftermarket upgrade, I used a set resin barrels I picked up cheap at the last show. The kit parts were just too horrible to leave in. I will be painting on all the markings except the stencils. I assembled a bunch of sub assemblies in preperation for painting and dry fit and sanded the fuselage and cowl panels. I'm pretty happy how it all fit so far. Next step is to paint and assemble the cockpit so I can close up the fuselage.

looks beautiful, makes me want to build my MK II. I might just do it now, I have been wanting to do a couple OOB quickbuilds.

Nice paint, I have been planning a winter camo FW-190 and a Stuka, but I have a lot of kits to build, my two 190's are way back on that list.

Watching your build. I just bought the MK VIII and the MK IX this weekend. I picked up the VIII for $99 shipped, then found a deal on the IX for $78 shipped the next day. Also found a Mossie for $169 locally. I hope to pick up a few tips from your build.

I buy direct from Flory in UK, they ship anywhere as far as I know. I personally use mostly water based washes now, I tried using acrylic, but not overly impressed with them, they even dry a little sticky. Nice thing about water wash, if you really screw up, rinse them off with water. I even tried streaking with them and a wet brush.

WOW, learned something new today! I would think a good glue is JB WELD, it has some good weight to it, and if you load it with lead, it should work good.

I believe TS13 is a lacquer, I believe that the panel line wash is thinned with mineral spirits. They should not affect each other, you should be able to clean up the wash without eating into the clear.

Almost ready for primer, I still need to do a little edge sanding on the cowl, mask the canopy, clean up some of the seams. Now I need about two hours get that done. Luckily I have Montex masks for the canopy, so that should shave a few hours off the normal canopy masking sessions.

They are far from 100%, but I originally was going to not expose the engine at all, so only the tips of the exhaust would be seen. I painted the whole assembly black, but then thought that I might as well practice weathering and painting large engines. All I had done before was 1/72 radial engines, so this was a testbed with different paints, washes, and techniques. I am actually pleased how the engine came out as I had no idea if any of it would work. I have now decided to leave the top panel removable, but will probably leave it sitting on the model in the display cabinet. So far, each model I have built this year is some kind of learning experience with a new skill or technique. I really make it a point to try something new on each model. The goal is to build a show winner one day. This one won't be it, but I have a few kits stashed for when I feel I am ready to try and build one. As for this kit, it will be a first for a few things... 1. First 1/32 kit, my eyes can't take another 1/72 scale photoetch throttle lever. 2. First weathered engine, more than just black wash. 3. First all painted on markings, other than stencils, no decals. I plan on doing a Trumpy F6F5 Hellcat next, and trying to wire that engine.

I believe I goofed up, I cut slots in the trailing wing roots for the upper flaps. But I came to realize, while looking at pictures today, the P-40 does not have one piece flaps, the lower part of the wing drops separate from the upper, which I assume is stationary. I guess I need to fill those now. I found these pictures which confirm my thoughts: https://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/p-40/images/dsj_p-40b_07.jpg https://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/p-40/images/dux_p-40b_03.jpg

I tried to gap everything by sanding before any glue. This weird little wing root area required the only filler so far.

Ok, I think I figured it out...It don't work from an iPad app! I had to log into the website. I spent three nights fitting, sanding, and clamping the exhaust stacks until they actually sort of fit together. Well....actually the second night I spent an hour trying to find resin replacements, but no luck, so I went on with it. When they dried I sanded the edges until smooth, carved out the ends, and I used shims to align them perfectly to the fuselage halves. This was the only part of the kit so far that had fit issues, it was like each top and bottom half were intentionally designed not to fit. I painted them black, then a coat of Vallejo Metal jet exhaust, then dusted with rust pigment. Then brushed a little aluminum on the edges of the stacks. I would like to say it was skill, experience, and forethought. In reality, I threw a bunch of crap at it, and it sort of worked out. I may throw a little darker rust pigment at the stacks when it's done. I had planned to wipe off excess wash when dry, but the effect was perfect when dry. I just used a wet brush to streak it down the insides of the fuselage. I was trying to keep weathering to a minimum and reflect how a fairly new P-40 would have looked on Dec 6, 1941. I managed to fit the wings by sanding until I had zero gap, so far I have only needed a little filler at the forward wing roots. I also made $1 seat belts by using paper from a dollar bill with the Trumpeter photoetch.

Ok, now that I have this figured out... This is the cockpit I used a custom Vallejo mix for, I toned down the chromate green with black and gray and used NATO black the panel. I used flory washes and Tamiya weathering powders.