Brett M

Sacrificial canopy removed and ejection seats installed.  In retrospect I should have spent the time to wire the back of the weapons officer's IP - you really can see it around the pilot's seat.  I will do this for sure when I build my Tamiya Phantom...
 

 

 

 
I hate close-up photos because they reveal all of the flaws in my lousy paintjob.  Model looks much better from two feet away with my failing mid-50s eyesight...

 
Anyway it's close now - add canopies, prop rod, and park it on the shelf.  Maybe should get the DSLR out and try to do some proper RFI shots first.

Afternoon/evening everyone! Hopefully, everyone enjoyed the New Year. Here is my finished build of Trumpeter's 1/32 SBD-5 Dauntless. I've modeled this after the planes the RZNAF used in World War 2 for a 3 months by 25 Squadron before being returned the US, and switching to F4U Corsairs (thanks Alan!). 
 
After starting the 1/32nd world with Tamiya's Corsair, this was a bit of a change! Thankfully, even if it's not super crisp like Tamiya, it still built up quite nicely. 
 
Aftermarket includes the following: 
 
Archer Fine Transfers complete resin raised rivet set Archer Fine Transfers SBD stencils Synthetic Ordinance Works landing gear Master Casters SBD weighted wheels/tires Montex Masks Master .30 caliber barrels Ventura Publication decals Airscale placards Eduard canopy masks MRP, Tamiya and Alclad paints I think that's all......
 
A huge thank you to Woody @Archer Fine Transfers for letting me test out his rivet skins, they worked perfectly! For those of you considering them in the future, I HIGHLY recommend them to replace the recessed rivets on this kit. Everyone that provided information on the Dauntless and the RZNAF during the build, a big thanks to you too. 
 
Build thread is below. 
Feel free to critique, offer suggestions, point out anything I may have done wrong. It's just learning to me! 
 
Thanks for looking!
 
Click on any picture to view it at Flickr and full resolution

 

Landing gear, drop tanks, ordnance installed.  I'm not sure that the HAF ever actually loaded one of these birds out for a full-on air-to-air engagement, so maybe this is a bit of a fantasy exercise.  Nevertheless it looks cool, and the kit has some obviously unrealistic gaps left in the underside of the fuselage if you don't at least mount the Sparrows...

 

 
I feel like I need to spray some more flat on some of this, like the drop tanks.  Or just hit it with a good layer of gray pastel on a wide, soft brush to kill the shine...
 
Standing on it's own (three) feet:

 
Hopefully I can squeeze in time between work meetings tomorrow to deal with the cockpit and canopies.

Today I have mostly been doing some surface prep and sanding on the fuselage - followed by a coat of grey primer.
 
It's highlighted a few surface cracks - all easily sorted - but I'm quite pleased with the result at this stage.
 
Remember the front fuselage is still a number of separate sections - and the tail feathers are just placed in their slots for now...
 

 
Oh - and 'meet' Tim, the frog - the very firstest thing I printed! 
 
This little fella is named after the evil Doctor Tim (aka @wunwinglowof this parish), who's well and truly led me astray with this 3D print nonsense.
 
You have to watch him, he's very persuasive...
 

 
Apologies for inflicting this on you lot - and I look really miserable to boot - but gives an idea of the size we're dealing with here:
 

 
More when there's more...
 
Blue skies,
 
Iain

Nose under a coat of automotive primer:
 

 
And filled inside with lead shot - sold as packing material for diving weights - added in layers and bonded with Cyano glue:
 

 
This will be topped off with a thin layer of polyurethane resin.
 
Have been asked how good a surface finish I get from the FDM printer using HIPS as a printing material - Facebook in particular seems to have a lot of modellers that believe that resin printers are the only ones suitable for scale models.
 
As we've said before - both have their place - and there's no way I'd print an airframe the size of a 737 using a resin printer! The HIPS is also really easy to prep and bond.
 
Thought I'd grab a few photos of last nights' cowling parts - now in primer - as a quick demonstration...
 
These parts were printed with a layer height of 0.1mm - and only needed a few minutes to remove the printing 'brim' and give the surface a quick smooth with some sanding sticks and a sanding sponge - I've spent about a minute on each part to prep for primer!
 

 
Primer of choice is my usual automotive primer (from Halfords here in the UK). I've used the 'Plastic Primer' version here, because that's what I had to hand - but the standard primer is just as good:
 

 
One coat of primer later - ready for some neatening - but, hopefully, you can see the surfaces are pretty good!
 

 

 
That's about it for now folks - but will try and post some more updates over next week, or so...
 
Blue Skies!
 
Iain

Summer is on the way here, which means time at the modelling table is getting limited. This update includes the completion of the sub-frame and its attachments and the finishing of the bonnet. The first couple of photos show the overall chassis, including the fire extinguisher fitted and plumbed in place.
 
Mason's car was adorned with a replacement plastic rear view mirror to replace the less sturdy and less functional, but much prettier, factory example. I decided to stay with the factory one, just for the looks. I couldn't get a decent photo of the reflective surface, but it is very effective. Apparently the sun visors were lifted from a wrecked Austin Metro, so these were scratch built after googling what they look like.
 

 

 

 
PistonHeads UK has one of the few WIPs of this MFH kit. The following photos show the bonnet stay shamelessly copied from that site. The stay was formed from 0.45mm brass rod with a couple of washers drilled and punched out of some whisky bottle foil. The mounting stay and clip were cut from fine brass sheet. The boot lid has a similar one. I have also filched a way of doing the chrome trims around the headlight fairings and front/rear windows, which I will show once I've got them done.
 

 

 
The next two photos show the finished inner wheel arches. The weathering is the same general level as the rest of the chassis. Unfortunately the rear shock struts bent slightly when the rear frame was finished, but at this stage there is not a lot I can do about it. It won't be noticeable on the finished model, unless I take the wheels off. I also see that the top hose has popped off the front oil cooler, so it will need re-attaching.
 

 

 
This car was used as security for a bank loan to finance the Pink Floyd Pulse tour in the 1980s. Nick Mason was obviously very sure of the ability of the band to produce the goods and he retained ownership of the car - and no doubt made a healthy profit as well. Anyway, I always like to add something a bit personal to my models, and in this case the Pulse CD has been tossed onto the shelf behind the seats. It's always been a favourite, although annoyingly I missed the actual concert back in the day.
 

 
Lastly a moody couple of photos taken through the door openings, with the car keys sitting behind the gear lever. And a photo of the model as it is now, although I haven't yet screwed the body into place.
 

 

 

 
All photos courtesy of my iPhone now  - thanks Jeff!
 
Any comments welcome.
 
Cheers,
 
Mike
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Spent a bunch of time this weekend on the aft end of the plane.  Had a few brief setbacks (like a spot of paint that just peeled back - all the way to bare plastic - and had to be repaired), but nothing too bad.  Here are some views of where I got to.

 

 

 

 

 

 
There are things about it that aren't quite right, but I'm leery of over-working things.  Plus I'm coming up on my self-imposed deadline to FINISH this and pack my modeling stuff away until post-move.  There are a few tiny touchups to do, but this week I should basically be able to do LG, ordnance, and then hopefully have *zero* trouble un-tacking that closed canopy and getting the proper, raised ones on there.  Fingers crossed.

Hey All-
This photo is the result of three weeks of thought, experimentation, trial and error, and dumb luck.
The current block of Killer Eggs have received new, dark tinted overhead sections of the windscreen. Replicating it proved to be a bit of a challenge. I tried tinted Future, Tamiya X-19 Smoke through the airbrush (with several different thinners), ink, resin tint, and super thinned enamels.
 

 
what finally worked you ask? Tamiya smoke from the rattle can, warmed up in a coffee mug filled with hot water. I misted it on the inside only with light, rapid passes over the course of about 45 minutes.
Now that this is done, I can fit the windscreen and get on with it-
 
cheers
Pete

Thanks very much!  yes trickier than first thought, and welcome to LSP!
 
Thanks buddy, I think so too!
 
Yes pretty pleased to get that kit in 32nd, I will keep you posted on when I go.
 
Well 2 updates in one day...whatever next??
 
So the final major area of the shape that I wanted to sort is the nose, especially the lower profile.  Notice on short nose Phantoms how pronounced the lower line of the radome and area forward of the NLG bay sweeps down

 

 

 
Now, see the Tamiya kit....see how much flatter it appears.  If this is your model, I am sorry and will remove it asap, I am just wanting to illustrate something and I had saved this cropped image some time ago.

 
This is the kit part, although it dosent look too bad, maybe I am overthinking it?  But when I put it up to the upper fuse it just looks too flat along the bottom even to my eye

 
I put a cut down vertically in front of the NLG bay and inserted a piece of 10 Thou plastic card in the top to 'tweak' the lower line down a bit.  I shimmed the upper edges to fill the gap when I filed it down to the panel line

 

 
The result

 
Not convinced I even got it right myself I overlayed another image to see. 
I am pretty happy with the final result and think it will look much better than the kit shape in my opinion. I can still fine tune down the track if I need to and the nosecone will need to be modified too.

 
I know it's not very scientific, but to my eyeball it now looks right.
 
Cheers and thanks for tuning in as always
Anthony
 
 
 
 

Anthony.  You are totally crazy, but in a good way!  All these tiny differences between the Brit and US made Phantoms are not really noticeable to most observers, but when you point them out, like the above nose cone, they are quite significant.  Go Anthony go!  I know this project is taking forever, but it sure looks like it's going to be worth it.
 
Cheers,
Chuck

I quickly snapped this.  I think she will accurately portray the 'droopy bum' back end due to those stonking big engines fitted!
 

 

Shouldn't be long now

October 27/21


 
I finally got the other wing assembled and glued together, which as I’ve mentioned a few times, can be a real struggle.  The key is to take your time with trimming and dry fitting, or you’ll regret it later when you commit to glue.  The left wing is attached in the middle to the right wing and central fuselage holding the landing gear well.  As shown before, the outside edges are the outside of the cockpit floor, so they should be painted interior green, although this isn’t mentioned in the instructions.  This floor area was trimmed back on either side to fit, as were the two round and two rectangular slots.  Ordinary Tamiya glue was then liberally applied to the central area as shown.


 



 
Make sure you put the approach light into the wing before closing it up, which comes in two parts.  For the rear part R5, I painted it silver from behind and added a small black dot to the central bulb so that it would show up for a bit of interest.  After gluing the wing together, I then glued in the front lens (R6) after squaring off the opening with CA glue, with Micro Krystal Klear, which dries clear and won’t harm the silver paint.  It also seals the sides from subsequent coats of paint leaking in later.


 



 
Although my attempts to get the fuselage to fit the wing assembly tight is much better than before, there is still a slight gap on the port side and as you will see below, that little gap at the back should be filled.  Tamiya Extra Thin Cement (TETC) was used on all mating surfaces, to secure the join and also help close these gaps a bit.


 



 
The starboard side was a bit tighter.


 



 
The bottom, however, was nice and tight as is.  Make sure you get that long tab on the fuselage below the wing than underneath it.


 



 
To see what the wing root should look like on the real deal, I have a few pics of a replica of “Minsi III” that I took in 2014 at the Nellis AFB near Vegas.  Had I known that I would one day be building a Hellcat, I would have taken a lot more, but these pics are still helpful nonetheless.


 



 
A close-up of the above pic reveals that the wing root is an L-shaped bracket that is irregular and also continuous to the area at the rear flap, which is in the up position.  This is why those small gaps on the fuselage to wing join should be filled.


 



 
So I filled small gap with CA glue and sanded it smooth, following by the age old trick of masking off the wing root on either side, applying Tamiya putty, then wiping it smooth with a Q-tip dipped in Tamiya Lacquer Thinner.  It’s best to use a new tube of putty, because older thicker putty doesn’t work very well, while thinned putty shrinks too much and leaves air holes after drying.


 



 
With the tape removed immediately after the application of putty, I let the putty dry for a few hours, then lightly sanded it down.  Gaps are now gone.


 



 
Same on the other side.


 



 
With the wings attached to the fuselage, now is a good time to assemble the rear flaps, which fit tightly onto the wings without the need for glue.  The ailerons do need glue however, but that can be done later.  These parts are quite thick at the rear with a noticeable seam line, which I filled with CA glue and sanded thinner in a struggle to get the parts as thin as possible, while still retaining fastener detail which is quite good.


 



 
Dry fit onto the wings, you get a sense of just how big this monster is!  It has completely filled my small photo-booth with 21 ½” wings, so I will try to find something a bit bigger for future build photographs.


 



 
One small and annoying thing on this kit, is why did they mold the tail antenna onto one of the fuselage halves?  It makes no sense and I’m always catching it on things, so I added a paint brush protector to make it a bit less prone to damage.  This part should be an add-on, like the main antenna mask and other small parts.


 



 
Next steps will be tail assembly and I think I’m going to do the landing gear first to get this bird off the ground, before tackling the super detailed engine.  Thanks for checking in.


 
Cheers,

Chuck

Really nice looking weathering. Looking forward to gear on and canopies up!

Oil paint and pastel weathering.

 

 
I *think* this is done, but I'm going to wait and look at it again tomorrow just to be sure before I spray a final flat coat to lock it all down.  In retrospect I should have started the aux fuel tanks with an aluminum layer so that I could chip some paint off of them, but too late for that now.  At least they look roughly as oily/filthy/beat as the real ones in photos do....
 
So probably going to kick off the bare metal phase tomorrow.  I'm giving myself two weeks to finish and then I've got to start breaking down and packing my woodworking shop for the move to the new house.  Given everything I'll need to do over there, it may be quite a while before I start another airplane model.  Nevertheless I seem to have managed to catch the Phantom bug - on my shelf I now have the 1:48 Tamiya F-4B kit with Quinta cockpit details and HGW wet transfer stencils....  So the next project might ALSO be a Phantom...

Still trying to cure my current carrier deck diorama addiction, I initially wanted to have a wing folded Hawkeye waiting behind raised JBD of the F-14 on the CAT2.
But that idea got scrapped the moment I stumbled upon this picture:

 
The feathered engine, the compressed oleo and deflected rudders sold me instantly.
 
The kinetic E-2C isn't the best kit around but it's the only Hawkeye in 1/48. It was built with Eduard photoetch, SAC gears, MasterCaster wheels and homemade decals and masks for VAW-115 Liberty 601. A 4mm brushless engine was added in the right nacelle to further emphasize the left feathered prop.
The right oleo was extended to give that specific angle of the wings and the double rudders (only 3 of the vertical surface have rudders, but double hinged) were deflected accordingly.
 
The carrier deck was done in the same way as the previous one, cut from my real size 1/48 carrier deck photoshop template to display the Hawkeye just before snatching the arresting wire. Wings and Rotodome are not glued they slide in place to ease up transport and storage.
 
The WIP is on my blog
 
 

 

 

 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 

 

 
 
Thanks for looking
 

Hi Guys,
 
I finished this morning my Su-57. Not perfect but I actually really like the result. I should have done a better job at preping the plastic on the top (the plastic is a little bit grainy and I don't know if it is intended or not). That being said it is hardly noticeable IRL. The fit of the kit was great, low part count but still decent details and so it builds quickly. I used paint masks for the digital scheme and they worked great. The decals supplied are very good (I suspect they are made by Begemot but not sure) and work very well with the microsol-set solutions. The pit is Quinta and is a must for this kit. On to the pictures:
  









And with its nemesis:


 
Cheers,
 
David
 
 

Here's the pit. OOB it is very simple as all the console details are provided through standard decals.
The bare plastic, some of the details on the seat have not been glued or cut off as per Quinta's instructions

Now painted in MRP Sukhoi blue-grey and MRP Nato black. Sorry about the picture, I made a mistake cropping the picture but you get the idea

Now the good part, the cockpit completed with all the Quinta 3d decals glued on with Mig Ultra Glue. I am debatting applying a future coat and then a wash but I may leave it like that. Not bad for 30 minutes of work. The 3d decals come out of the backing sheet after twenty seconds in warm water. It is good to dry the part on a towel before applying PVA glue, the parts are flexible and conform well to curved surface. The fit of the panels in the cockpit and relative to each other was perfect. I have no yet used Quinta 1/32 sets (I have the Mig-29 SMT for a future build), but if this set is any indication, the quality is very good and it looks awesome.


 
Cheers,
 
David
 

First round of weathering - oil paint streaking on the underside.  The one photo from below of the plane I'm doing (posted a couple pages back) seems to show a significant break in the amount of staining between the forward, un-panel-lined part of the wing undersides and the rear part that contains the LG bay doors and lots of other small panels under the fuselage.  That's a poor description, so I'll repost the photo:
 
 
And my attempt to recreate that:

 
Photos of top and bottom show additional (presumably lubricant or hydraulic fluid) staining on the flaps, so I've tried to do that as well.

In this next case with paint on the main airframe, it was 3 steps forward and 1/2 step back. I had nicely painted the background for the #1 Du Me Mi text, and even let it cure and started on the red text itself. 
It was an unmitigated disaster. I applied the text mask, and although the cutter seemed to do ok with it, the text was so small in parts that the color really didn't lay down well from the jump. 
I ended up trying to sand off the red text, then the white started chipping off, not sanding and filled with some Tamiya fine white. I touched that too soon by taking the masks off too early and pealed some of it up. Then while sanding had the rest of the primer flake off. 
I just rough sanded the WHOLE upper port side engine housing, then fine sanded it again, and then primed with black and then painted with black............again.........just to get back to where I was before the white background. 
After an experiment with the ICM decals, I've decided I'm just going to use the full OOB #1 Du Me Mi decal with no white paint background. Tests seem to confirm the decals are actually opaque enough to do this successfully. 
 
 
This next part was honestly the part that scared me a bit. The shark mouth is notoriously tricky, and even more so as a decal. I'm honestly not sure how anyone might have successfully applied the OOB shark mouth decal to this model. I guess maybe easier for some than others, but I have dire difficulties with two things in modeling; decals and clear parts, neither of which I'm overly fond of dealing with but both seem inevitable.
 
Just prior to masking the full shark mouth, I got the rear tail 4th Cav pendant and tail Ident numbers masked and painted as well. I have over masked them here, prior to shooting the red for the tail/shark mouth.
The red I'm using for both the shark mouth and the rear horizontal tail fins is MRP-299 Insignia red. In this case I got exactly what I was looking for, in that its the same red on the shark mouth and tail fins, but they look completely different because the base for the shark mouth is white, and the base for the fins was left black.
The shark mouth mask was a process, but having done this a few times and REALLY messed things up, I found out what not to do......and what to do. 
Fortunately, this method means more adhesion for the masks themselves because you are leaving the inside or positive portion of the mask here as apposed to the outside or negative part. I will eventually go back over all this with black as needed before the OD.
 
It was a complex mask, but turned out rather well and ended up spaying the same.The MRP-299 sprayed heavenly.
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
We have red! 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
I feel like I'm on a roll with this model, so Im going to chase that addictive feeling when things are going well and turning out as youd hoped.
 
Cheers! 

Again, heavy combat weathering but not over the top IMHO
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
I also got a start on the pilot and gunners SPH-4 helmets from ReedOak. These have some polishing to go on the outside, and have to fully paint the interior as well as weather them, but I think they will add a lot to the build. Hard little buggers to photograph!
 
Have a nice day! 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
Still more........................Next up!!
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks for the nice comments guys.
I did in fact take the masking off for the text background and the division stripe, as I need to color sand any paint ridges off before masking anything else.
As you can see, there are some edge issues to be fixed, but no real bleeding of any kind and it could have been much worse.
Should be some easy fixes to this round of white, but it was like Christmas morn:
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
The curved underside stripe on the nose came out better than I anticipated however:
 

 
 
 
Back on the Cobra tonight with more masking and painting!
 
Cheers
 

Black is down!
This is, MRPs "Black" MPR-005 (their basic black), its not their Super Gloss Black at all, but boy did it sure turn out glossy anyway! I did not intend or need it to be this glossy, but it sure did bring out any flaws, which I subsequently fixed, filled and re-shot.
 
Only the areas on the fuselage and around the cockpit that will be black in the end was shot with MPR-005, the rest was left in black primer. All the previous surface prep was worth it. With very little color/finish sanding the surface should be gtg.
I must say, the MRP-005 shot like an absolute DREAM and dried to a super stout finish. However, you really need to have your "S" together before you shoot it, cause it shows EVERYTHING. This surface is still far from perfect, but will look 20 times better once color sanded and with some flat over it.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
Only the rear most underside panel with the tail skid slot in it, and one flat panel behind the skids are painted black on the underside
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ive got the main rotor blades and tail rotor in the paint booth atm, so while this hardens off, I will work on those. 
 
Cheers and thanks for stopping in on me. 
 

I had a HELL of a time with that @#$%&!ing lower tail boom seam!   Even after I drenched it in Tamiya thin it still came apart. I think the previous paint did not allow the quick drying cement to hold. 
I opened up the seam one last time and thins time had it clean and used some extra thin CA.
 

 
 
 
 
I also got really tired of sanding around the two lower boom sets of antenna or whatever they were, proud of the surface. VERY hard to sand around since they have both square and round detail on top of the panels themselves as well. 
I just sanded them right off the face of the earth..............right after I had made replacements from some evergreen stock, then shaped them on an exacto handle:
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
They are definitely a bit over-scale, so I have done my best to sand them down a tad,  but honestly they don't look too bad now that they are under some primer. 
 
Back to work! (on the Cobra that is)
 
Cheers 
 
 
 

Finally an update on my Intruder. Lots of work to get here but nothing special to highlight. Although one thing I can point out is that the shape of the main gear doors (the front ones) are incorrect, I have increased the angle from the kit's 90 degrees to about 120 degrees. Super easy fix and impacts the look of the model imo. I'll detail this in a separate post.
 

 

 
O the below shot, note what looks like a crack in the windscreen is actually an electrical wire running across the instrument coaming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Cheers,
Marcel