Collin

What variant?? J/L...or the earlier E/F/G/H?? Cheers Collin

Kinetic 1/48 EA-6B dressed up in VX-23 garb circa 1991-ish. You can dig around the in progress section to see the build in-progress...needless to say I am glad it's done and I'm ready for a beer. Cheers Collin

Yes...now that is going to make one awesome in-flight model. Cheers Collin

Excellent OOB build there. Are those the kit decals? Cheers Collin

1/24 is too large. We need a new Hellcat in 1/32, and later versions of Corsair types as well. Don’t get me wrong, the 1/24 Hellcat is impressive. Just too large for this builder. My my two cents for any developers out there listening. Cheers Collin

“No chance Paddles, take it around on the starboard side.” You said the above when you F’d up a carrier approach so bad you just cried uncle and spun out to try again. I mean grossly bad. This movie invokes this saying....”no chance”. FOD//

Anyone else's work area look like a construction site? Tried my hand at some filters (really not good at that), and some oil weathering today (and finally flat coated). Test birds at Pax are kept clean (even if the paint is touched up)...so it's not as dirty as a carrier based aircraft would be after a 6-month cruise. I will have to save that for another build. Off to run around with the Navy for the next few weeks, so this build will have to wait for …...antennas to be done, landing gear, cockpit clean up, HARM's/drop tanks on the wings....and finally adding the folding wings. Those things will probably take me another 6 months at this rate. Cheers All....Collin

A huge shout out to David W. Aungst, who I happened to see creating F-14 tail decals for a project of his. One of his F-14's carried the earlier Strike Test airplane-swoosh marking. I asked for a few and he printed them up since this Prowler carried the same marking around the same timeframe. We have been exchanging emails on how best to put them down since they are delicate and printed on white backing. Following his directions they went down tonight with little fuss. A light brushed on coat of Future and they look terrific. One curled up a little bit (I was warned), one of the hotter decal setting solutions melted the port marking a tad, but not enough for me to cry about. The results below....Thanks again David!! Cheers Collin

Brilliant. On my list to eventually build in 1/48.....not brave enough to do it in 1/32. Cheers Collin

I'm crying "UNCLE" for today....time for a beer. Masked off and painted the grey receivers on both sides of the tail. That pulled off some of the high vis red...so more masking to retouch those areas. Then I was planning on using Steel Beach masks to paint the grey numbers, well that reverse masking would have driven me nuts (remember the high vis red underneath is going to pull up). So I decided to spray paint and lay down the numbers and "SD". I think it looks pretty darn good for a model that is going to sit in a display case in Pax River and not win on a contest table. Time for a Dunkel. Cheers Collin

Masking....and masking....and masking.....painting....and more masking, and masking...and painting. That's been my build for the last few weeks when I find time to hit the man-cave. Able to mask and paint the leading edge yellow/tan high speed LE tape, then spent a few days masking for the orange/red high-vis markings. Came out OK. Now it's time for a beer break as I decide how to spray the tail ECM receivers and to the modex/SD markings. The last photos gives you an idea what she will look like at the end (hopefully). Cheers Collin

Finally got some MOJO and hit the model room recently. Trial and error getting the canopy tinted and the rest of the bird ready for paint. What I have found out is there are about a thousand way to do TPS paint schemes....I aimed for center mass and hoped for the best. I'm doing a heavily weathered/faded aircraft from ~1991 onboard NAS Patuxent River....so lets get on with it. First...major pre-shade in the areas that are heavily weathered. My observation is any black base is going to make any TPS grey you put on take on a darker tone (so beware) Next comes a series of lighter grey pre-shading and basing...along with some brown. We have seen this type of modulation over the past few years....seemed a decent way to go: Now comes very very highly thinned TPS grey's. Using Mr. Levelling Thinner....I just sprayed on thin coast to start to cover the base work Now with the base TPS down....it's time to start beating her up. You can see some references in the background, that's my target. Used a lighter color of camo grey for the touch ups. Finally, with the painting down for now....time for the non-skid. Simple Mr. Surfacer dabbed on and stippled. Darkened it up based on some reference photos: Next is back to planning my attack....mask the areas where traditional grey warning and caution markings go then shoot the Orange. Of note....other ref pics I have shows this aircraft still had white lower wings (just the section outboard the wing fold) with orange markings (except the speed break...which was white). Cheers Collin

Any update? Cheers Collin

That would be the nose cone of a P-38. Now that is just a HUGE tease. Collin

Watching with interest. The two-seat F-104 is like a itch I can never scratch. Something about that aircraft just screams "build me". Looking forward to how the rest of the kit goes together. Cheers Collin