Landrotten Highlander

Riveting is completed.   I've got nothing but good things to say about those Archer decals.   I applied them to unpainted plastic, flat painted surfaces, whatever.   They stuck perfectly and after a quick dab of Micro Sol, the carrier film disappeared.    Very resistant to handling as well.   These things are great.   I added a few solder balls to areas that were impractical for decals.   In retrospect though, I should have done the entire fuselage in decals.  would have been much quicker.   Oh well, maybe on the next kit (NOT!). 
 
Note also that I modified the aft trailing edge to represent the later style shape with the Common Missile Warning System (CMWS) sensors added.   These were introduced in the 2006-2007 time frame after Blackhawks began taking losses to MANPADS in Iraq. 

 
After that, a quick paint job on the vertical stab.   I also very lightly hit the "United States Army" markings with a dusting of green OD to tone down the starkness of the black.   I really wish decal manufactures would go with a very dark grey color for these markings, straight black just doesn't look realistic.   After that, I applied the tail markings.    Werner's Wings got the serial number wrong.   On the real thing, it's Gunship Grey, not white.   Not much I can do about it.   They also left off the subdued 101st Airborne division patch on the nose.   Thankfully a kind ex-Blackhawk crew chief over on FB send me the marking, which was contained on the Academy UH-60L decal sheet.    I'm really impressed by the support I'm getting over on FB.  
 

 

 

 
Note the overpainted United States Army marking isn't quite as stark compared to the picture above and the newly applied markins on the tail.   I'll get the tail markings overpainted next.   

 
Next up will be to add some last details to the cockpit and get the windshield and crew chief's windows installed.   

Decalling
I used Kits Worlds decals. National insignias are from an old CAM decals set.
 

Thank you Dennis and Mike!
 
The cockpit side panels was glued in place.
 

 
As with everything else on this kit, it's a very tight fit.
 
The wing roots was glued in place.
 

 
The cockpit was glued to the fuselage and then the fuselage halves were glued together.
The stabilizer was glued in place. The sight was assembled and painted.
Then the front cover with the sight was glued in place as well as the engine covers on both sides.
 

 
The wings was glued in place. The fit was very nice.
 

 
I also assembled the propeller and spinner.
 

 
Update coming soon!
 
Håkan
 

With the rear deck now thoroughly affixed, glass fit is perfect. Yay!!!
 

 
Waiting until the head armor was painted, may have been an error, as some sources say this area is the same interior green as used in the ‘pit.
 

It also finally dawned on me (Duh) to use a dark grey wash to highlight the panel lines to help align them for any needed re-scribing, as well as adding the removed rivets.
 

In a few of my photos, the deck behind the pilot armor was just sitting there. Now that I’ve touched-up the armor plate (I accidentally bumped it with a Q-tip dipped in alcohol), this item is finally secured in place. Tape gives a snug fit with the bottom, assuring that the rear glass won’t ride high, which it otherwise surely would. I realize this is a rather pathetic update, but I’m quite happy to have gotten this far. I've also noticed a couple of errant scribed lines which will also need to be fixed.
 

It just occurred to me that renaming this topic might give Bob some more mileage.  So renamed it is....

Hello,
 
here is the CAS Viper finally with the decals applied and a nice, truly matte finish.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
All the black stencils come from the Uprise decal sheet printed with FFA technology.... simply fantastic and very easy to use... saved me so much time, without needs to apply layers of glossy and matt clear varnish and no danger of silvering because no clear film remains on the model.
The only "legacy" decals are the codes & numbers on the vertical tail that cames from a Two Bobs's decal sheet and the red outline around the ventral jet exhaust outlets.
 
Now it's time to work on the undercarriage legs.
 
CIAO!
Piero

Red stars...
It's not Star Wars, but it's not far off!
First of all, the masks: too big, too small, the ICM decals weren't much help because they're too big.
Then draw pencil markers horizontally and vertically to ensure perfect positioning...
Take into account the position of the camouflage, the quantum density of my glass of Redbreast and the age of the captain...
In short, it took me over 2 hours to position these death masks!
A shot of white, a shot of red (I love Chablis and Cote du Rhône...), undiluted of course, we go for a 30-minute walk and remove all the masks:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
The stars are in their right position, they are not crooked, the colours are the right ones and do not drool, no overspray, the old paint underneath has not torn away…
A flawless, an Eagle at the golf or it’s as if Jack on the Titanic had survived with on the wooden board with Rose: a real little miracle!

Sooo...cockpit is almost ready, engine os only primered.







 

Brown B-2 joined the rest of the collection, so I took a group photo of my 1/32 scale racers on this occasion :-)
 

Some progress
 





 

More work.
 

 
I used the Aires landing gear bay resin pieces that I purchased. I'm not really sure how old the resin parts are and I wonder if there was some shrinkage. If you look closer, the hole in the wing leading edge on the left side of the photo doesn't line up well with the location for installing the gun barrel. I will definitely not look correctly lined up. 
 
Also, I forgot about these items in the Black Dog set before I closed up the wing. 
 

 
So, I've got some sanding and filling to do, then a primer coat.
 

 
Onward!
 

So it's been a while but suddenly decided the 188 needed working on again. I decided to ease myself in gently and work on the engines. I'm not using the AIMS supplied resin parts but instead a couple of Revell Fw-190 engines instead as these although not 100% accurate allow a lot more surface detail when painted 
 

 

 
and propellers will be from Eduard
 

 
The Eduard prop set is so good, I've used one before on my F-8 build and is super nice to work with.
 
I've several issues to deal with on the wings but felt getting the engines completed was a good starting point.
 
Regards. Andy 

Thank you John, Paul and Phil!
 
More painting done on the interior and wings.
 

 
Adding decals to the IP was a bit of a pain in the butt. I lost a few of the small ones.
 

 
Then the side panels also got their decals.
 

 
The instruments got a bit of kristal klear, but i barely shows.
 

 
Then I started assemble the cockpit.
 

 
I tried my hands at rigging the cockpit with wire.
 

 

 
That kind of wire perhaps wasn't the best thing to use, but I didn't have anything else.
 
While that was drying, I glued the wing parts.
 

 
And the radiators.
 

 
Back to the interior which got a bit of black wash.
 

 
Next will be some cockpit assembly.
 
Håkan
 

Good evening to all

Sorry for my continued absence !
In fact, I've been working on our house and the garden, so I don't have much time to devote to models and, alas, to LSP too.
I'm sorry !!!

Nevertheless, I'm making slow progress on the G6 ( 3 pictures ) , and I'll be showing you some more pictures soon.

 
 

 

 

 
In the meantime, I'd like to wish you all the best of success with your superb assemblies.
 
See you soon !

Best regards
Gilles
 
 

My modelling mojo now is lower than Mariana Trench and I know only one way to "cure" it. Few years ago my wife observed that when making a chopper model somehow I can "reset" myself. And because one of my bunnys chose AH-1W to be build...

 
...then...well...I'll give it a shot. I'll choose AH-1W with serial number #162542 or #162545 so with "25"  I hope this will suffice
 
I'll use gun from Master, lenses to Hellfires from AMMO, seatbelts and masks from Eduard. I want to open cockpit, engine and front avionics bay. 
 




 
 

 
 

Time to get this airframe assembled.
 
There are some 'hard to get to' areas associated with the intake that are probably best painted before assembly, like behind the splitter plates. I sense a tricky bit of masking coming up.
 

 
Having cut out the auxiliary slots, it will look better if they have a dark background. The same applies to the boundary layer duct openings above and below the wing.
 

 
Thanks to Tony alerting me to the Reskit exhaust, I took a good look at how it is assembled (to allow for painting), as well as how small the thermocouples actually are. My first attempt was a bit overstated, so I redid them. A good shot of Alclad 'Jet Exhaust' helps to tone it down and darken the interior.
 

 
I stuck a ruler down the fuselage, with the intakes in place, to figure out just how long the exhaust actually is. Remember the tail cone is approximately another 3cm to add to this. It's a long plane! 
 
 
 
Before glueing the tail-section in place, I had a look at the airbrake. Initially I felt that it should be closed, but many photos show it slightly open on the ground (as the hydraulic pressure drops, it droops). The inside of the airbrake itself is actually rather nicely done, probably by the 'Chaps from Flaps'. That being said, the hydraulic actuator was clearly made by the 'Intakes and Instructions' crew - very much a 1:72nd scale approach to things! 
 

 
So, I chopped an opening into the fuselage and made a long actuator body that can be glued into the opening. Much better for 1:32 scale...
 

 

 
The horizontal stabs got a bit of refining, sanding the 'roundness' out of the elevator (which many kitmakers employ to get a fake sharp trailing edge), and lightly riveting them.
 

 
At last, it is starting to look like a Hawker Hunter! Even without the wings in place, it has beautiful lines - a real thoroughbred.
 

 
Thinking of Max embarking on the last bit of work on his Hunter, I thought of how many times the placement of gear doors and their fiddly little connecting arms has flummoxed me! I am hoping this solution will help avoid the typical outcome of that step, when I end up looking like a kindergarten kid, full of glue, and not one ice cream stick attached to the toilet roll.  I've reversed the 'paddle pops' from the instructions, drilled holes in the paddles, and inserted pegs on the gear legs for these to fit onto. The lengths are still a bit of an unknown, but at least one side of the linkage won't need glue. Let's see how that goes.
 

 
Nearly time to attach the wings, but I thought I'd finish the wheel wells and flap interiors first, while they are still easy to handle. You'll notice that this is going to be a well used fighter!
 
 
 

 
Cheers,
 
Sean

I have updates.  My plan the last few weeks has been to finish up the "blue noser" painting, out of fear that the paint would degrade over time, and it will take a long amount of time to finish the fuselage to a point where the paint would ordinarily be applied.  To do that, I wanted to finish up the windshield surround and instrument panel assembly prior to painting, in order to minimize handling the (fragile) painted surface. 
 
Last we visited the IP and windshield surround was Feb 1, where I posted this picture:
 
   
 
Now, I have this:
 

 
Added is a bunch of stuff below the IP:
 
Armament switch panel
Pilot's center switch box
Fuel shutoff bracket and handle
Fuel selector panel and handle
Hydraulic pressure gauge and bracket
Landing gear door emergency release handle
 
A close-up:
 

 
 
My stuff is never perfect, like some modelers on this site somehow accomplish, but this is the best I have done so far.  I'm good with it.  All these items should be familiar to the P-51 enthusiast.  All parts (with just a couple of minor exceptions) were 3D printed from the drawings, like usual.  The switch covers, turn knobs, handles and such were done separately and then bonded onto the panels, brackets, and boxes.  And, I will say again because it deserves repeating - Peter Castle is reponsible for the outstanding decals.  It must have taken him months to work it all out and have them printed.
 
Also, there were a couple of items added to the RH windshield frame:
 

 
They are:
 
Type C-5 fluorescent lamp
Recognition light switch box
 
Also 3D printed.  Very difficult and delicate installations with small parts.  I might add - this is the first of my 1/18 scale models where I have decent thumb switches.  Up til this point I have cut off bits of wire to do them, which is OK until you look closely.  Then not so much.  These however are 3D printed.  And as long as I am careful not to break them, they are fine.  MUCH better.  I will also add that upon studying for the upcoming Malcolm hood drive mechanism, I found that part of the field mod was to relocate the recognition light switch box further forward - the very same part that I worked so hard installing!  Grrr.  Wish I had noticed that earlier.  The reason - the box interferes with the opening/closing hand crank for the hood.  This:
 

 
I will have to follow suit and break off and relocate the switch box. 
 
And then, it was time for the blue paint.  Assemble the forward fuselage with engine cowl onto the jig, and mask the critical paint boundary:
 
  
 
Here she is:
 

 

 
The masks for the white crosses are from Thunnus - provided to me quite a while back.  Thanks John!
 
Here is what it is all going to look like:
 
   
 

 

 
I might add a semigloss coat to the new paint.  I think that's what I did with the engine cowl, and it should better the match.  BTW - the paint showed zero signs of degradation.  I guess I didn't have to go out of sequence, but I also would have fretted about it.  Now I don't have to. 
 
Lastly for this update - the Shapeways rear windows came in the mail:
 

 
  "Diamonds in the rough".  And a bit pricey.  They will polish up very nicely I guarantee.  Recall the ones I printed off myself didn't fit very well; these fit perfectly:
 

 
It is going to be a while before you see that crown part of the fuselage in action.  First will be the lower radio floor and fuselage tank, and then the upper radio rack and the SCR-522 radio equipment and the battery.  All in future installments.  
 
I believe the next step should be the Malcolm hood drive mechanism.  It will be all guesswork - whatever I can glean from the photographs I have.  I'm excited about it. And hope to have a great update in a couple weeks.  Take care all, and thanks for tuning in.   
 
 
 
 
  
 

I thought that Special Hobby chosed new direction and kits quality will be now something different, I was wrong. Ok some parts are well detailed, surface riveted, but fuselage and wing halves not cooperate with interiors. Lots of dry-fitting, sanding needed. 
Scheme is from British occupation zone in Germany sometime about 1945-1946.
Work In Progress
 



 

 

 

This is Alclad aluminum over the metal portions of the Corsair, the areas that are still blue plastic will soon be painted with an off-white linen color.  Soon I'll start to apply the tri-tone scheme with very thin layers.