Ayovan

Added some sway braces to the hard points. They look they part close enough for me.

 

 

Pictures, or it didn't happen...
Happy to say the X-22 top coat fixed the issue of the Alclad clear not fully curing, and I was able to mask off the anti glare  on the nose with zero lifting. I painted the bombs OD green, and stuck them under the wings just see how they looked. Still too dark IMO.  I also painted the dielectric nose panel and the top of the vertical stab. The kit hard points for the bombs don't have any sway braces for the bombs, and have zero detail. Basically just a flat piece of plastic, so I'm going to try to do some scribing and add some sway braces from the spares box. I found some from (I believe) an F-100 that look like they will fit the bill. Forward progress anyway.

Humph........I tried to use the resin 1000lb bombs that came in the kit,  but the PE bomb fins don't even come close to fitting. The IM bombs don't look too good either. I have a set of ZM U.S. aircraft weapons that has some good looking 1000 lb'ers I'll use instead.
 

 
 

Shot Alclad polished aluminum on the underside today. I think it came out ok. I hope the topside turns out as well.
Edit: And yes those are my legs, and no I'm not riding a chicken.
 

Finished spraying the black tonight. I'll let it sit for a few days to cure, then I'll hit it with micro mesh 8000 and 12000 to knock off a few dust particles.
Edit: USPS just showed up with a package I have been waiting for. A Fisher F-9-F Panther (that I paid way too much for ) This thing is bad ass though.
I can't wait to get into this one. 

Got a chance to start my second attempt at applying gloss black. First attempt she went down in flames, which resulted in a trip to the SOD. This time around it's coming out...not bad. I'm masking and painting sections with MRP super gloss black, and then spraying a full coat of Mr. leveling thinner instead of trying to paint the entire bird all at once. I still got some dust particles in it, but I think a quick wipe down with micro mesh after it's all done will hopefully take care of that.
 

 

 

Primer is on, and getting sanded. I have been picking Alex's brain a little before I shoot the black base coat. I hope to start the black this weekend. Until then, sand, wipe down, repeat...
 

 
 

I'm done with rivets and panel lines. It aint perfect, but as good as I can get it. Time to start some paint...Going with Alclad on this one.
 
Happy Father's day.
 

 

 

Getting the wings fitted today
 

 
I had to do some grinding on the main wheel wells and the intake tunnels where they were making contact and not letting the wing seat to the fuselage properly.
 
 

 
 

 
The front wing/fuselage joint will need a fair amount of filling and sanding. 

 
The rear joint isn't bad, but the raised fillet panel lines don't line up. I suck at scribing and re-riveting, but I'll give it my best shot. At least it on the bottom of the plane, and not on top for all to see.

 
The wing roots don't look bad. In fact they look pretty decent. They will probably only need some Mr. Surfacer 1000 applied with a brush to fill what little gap there is.

 

I decided it was pretty sound advice to glue the outer part of the intake to the fuselage first. Made it a lot easier to clamp in place to dry. I'll leave that till tomorrow, then do the other side. I'll know for sure when I take the clamps off, but it doesn't look like it will need much filling if any at all.
 

I closed up the fuselage today. The seams along the top of the fuselage look decent, and won't need much filling and sanding along with the outer intake/fuselage joint, but the seam at the lower aft fuselage will need a bit of work.
 
 

 

 

 
The cockpit looks a little better after some touch-up, a dark/grime colored wash, and a coat of matt clear. A lot of it gets hidden by the small cockpit opening in the fuselage. I'm not sure why the matt clear ended up more like semi-gloss ?
 

 

Painted the landing gear bays, and got a splash of red on the nose tonight. Next is to mask off the intakes and paint them red as well, then I think it will be ready for decals.
 

Well that sux. Hope you get get over it quickly.
Andy

Sometimes, but it’s not like we’ve never conducted ops like this before.  By now, crews should be seasoned and well beyond anything like blue on blue that close to the boat.  Coming aboard in the middle of a moonless night is hard enough without having to worry about getting a Standard Missile enema in the process.   This was a wrong thing on so many levels.

Split second decisions are what separate aviators from wannabes, especially in Naval Aviation.

Busted out some of the HPH set. They provide a resin piece to reshape the cockpit opening to accept the internal armored windscreen. Got that fit and CA'd into place.
 

 

 

I've been working on this off and on. 
 






 

Nothing spectacular, but I have a couple of recently finished projects, and thought I would try and post some pictures. The Revell P-51D NA-5. The other is the Trumpeter P-40E.  I know...a little too pristine, but I haven't really  gotten into the black arts of weathering yet. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Been a really, really, really long time since posting anything, but I have been building.  I just finished this after starting it prob 10-12+ years ago (when did the Zacto intake first become available??) by trying to do the surgery and faring in the intake gradually and getting the filling/sanding/painting cycle of the intake done.  I finally bit the bullet and properly started the kit.  Lots of minor corrections like the stance, making the rear stabs pivot, etc.  Far from perfect and the disclaimer is that the cockpit pics were taken in progress, so excuse the construction dust.  After market was some resin wheels that i can't remember the manufacturer (Master Details maybe?...it was one of the few out there when I started the kit...the Reskit or B&B ones would prob have been better and easier), Aires cockpit and exhaust, ZM bombs, Cutting Edge decals (that thankfully worked well despite their age), and Reskit big fuel tanks.  The tanks were the only newer bit of aftermarket.  I had the Aires gear bays and they'd have added a lot to the look, but the more I messed with them, the bigger hassle it looked like it'd be to get the main bays in and fitted, so I decided the juice wasn't worth the squeeze if I ever wanted to finish it.  AK 3rd Gen acrylic paint for the SEA camo, altho both greens in the set were about identical, so I scrounged a dark green from the US Helo set and it looks ok enough.  The hot area was 1/2 a dozen shades of Aclad, then the AK was gradually removed with their thinner and Windex with stiff makeup cotton swabs.  Other than that, just the fun of dry fitting and filler typical of most Trumpeter big scale jets.  Lots of test fitting and sanding helped keep putty work to a reasonable level. 
 

Hello modeling friends,
first of all I have to praise the forum, the members of the forum are the world's best forum for 1/32 model building freaks :-) there are great models to see almost every day and that is really mega.
I am happy to deliver my first rollout in these holy halls.
I'm almost 50 years old from Austria and I've been modeling for 15 years, thanks to my 3 children, twins girls and a straggler... I have only had a massive passion for collecting for the last 10 years..... 
You know how it is when you just open a box and in your mind they are all built.
Since I wanted to build something nice and finished again after a very long time, I decided to build a Trumpeter MIG-15 in royal scale as a practice model :-)
The building time took months anyway and the decal version was not what I had originally planned, the white fuselage lettering number 4115 was simply missing.
Yes, what can I say before I throw it in the bin......3 hours before completion - yes, sometimes you have to give in to your original ideas and just have fun building.
So long enough patter. Kit is made out of the box with Alcad and Tamiya Colors.I am curious what you say feedback positive and critical allowed and desired, have fun with it
 
















 
best Regards
Rainer
 

Very nicely done, looking forward to building mine at some point!
 
Regards. Andy

Patiently waiting for Ali's A-7 parts. I have a some F-4 canopies of his that are outstanding. Anything he produces for the A-7, I'm sure will be too. 

Carried quite a whopping load too. I saw one at a museum on the coast of Oregon. Man that thing was yoooooj !!!
Don't know where it went but it's not there now.