b757captain

Thanks for the kind reviews! Jack, rotor diameter is 19.5", it's 24" overall length rotor tip to tail rotor tip. Kev, publish away! Maru, thanks, but my first "flawless" build hasn't happened yet!! Cheers, Mark

Trumpeter's Mi-24 Hind for inspection. Built OOB cuz I know next to nothing about helicopters and I was way too lazy to do much research! Just wanted some fun. The only snags were the lousy seat belt setup provided (I hate having to cut the belts, thread the buckles on, etc.) so I left them off, and I gave up on trying to mask everything for painting so I brush painted this one (first time probably since I was a kid - I think it came out pretty good). The decals silvered in a few places, but that's my fault - humidity got to them over the years. Thanx for looking, Mark

Hi Jack, I had several problems with the decals, but I should preface my tale by describing the surface prep first. I did gloss-cote the entire model prior to decaling, and the finish was pretty darn good. I have also used just about every manufacturer's decals and quite a few aftermarket sets too, like Zotz, Cuting Edge, SuperScale, etc., so I think I can say that if I did something wrong it wasn't for lack of trying. The deal woes started with initial application. I found that with the larger decals (which is most of them) if I didn't use Microset before applying them they would stick wherever you initially laid them. Any attempt to move them into position met with disaster. Trying to pull them back up just tore them. Water or Microset on top did no good. I finally dunked the entire model in a big pot of water to refloat the decal. OK, lesson learned, be sure to use Microset. However, on all the subsequent decals, after using Microset I found that they didn't adhere well. Any attempt to soak up the excess water, or using a towel to press them in place would shift them, so I would have to place one then walk away until it decided it was ready to stay. Next, after they were dry, lots of wrinkles, mostly on the red nose and blue lower fuselage pieces and the wing and stabilizer tips. Microsol was only partially effective. Didn't seem to matter whether applying Microsol when the decal was still moist or dry. On almost all of the decals I found that a second coat of Microsol was needed but if I put on a second coat the decal surface became "pebbly" after drying. You can see that in one of the pics - the blue tail feathers aft of the main gear doors. Dealing with the wrinkles by slicing with a razor blade was a disaster. They simply shattered. I finally just accepted that, cut out all the wrinkles and either spot painted or covered those areas with pieces from the spare strips. Next, I had problems with the decals lifting in random spots after they were dry, I finally resorted to wearing rubber gloves any time I came near the model until I could get a clear coat over the decal. I had to do that in several applications as I worked around the airplane. Finally, the decals just don't fit very well. The stabilizer decals are all too big, which would be ok but the edges wouldn't lay down even with Microsol and when I tried to trim them, I could never get an even cut, they would fracture or shatter. This happened even if the decal was still wet. The wingtip decals same. And the red nose scallop didn't fit well. This might be due to the Zacto nose having a slightly different shape, but it still required a lot of cleanup to look right. Now, hear are my theories: The instructions with the decals say to use a towel soaked in hot water pressed against the decal to get it to conform better, but these very instructions say that only applies to the silkscreened decals, the flag and Thuderbirds emblem, not the whole set, so I didn't try that with the others. Maybe I should have, but if that was the case why say only to do that with the two silkscreened ones? Plus I never needed to do that to any of the other aftermarket decals I have used, so if the whole set needed that treatment I think that should have been clarified. Next I think the decals didn't react well to Microset. It's almost like Microset caused the underlying decal film to lose adhesion and tensile strength. I did have a brand new bottle of Microset (which is almost gone now, btw!) so I doubt it was bad or old. I had greater success with the decals I did not use Microset on, so maybe that had something to do with it. I will have to say that as a comparison, the Tamiya F-16 I did was literally night and day compared to this. Their decals fit, stuck, comformed. These - well, not so much. Looking back, I should have used masks and painted the majority of markings. Hope that helps you, maybe you will have better luck with them than I did. Mark

Thanks guys for all the kind words!

Thanks guys for all the kind words! I wouldn't do it if it wasn't fun! Well, mostly fun - some trials and tribulations along the way to be sure. My favorite would be the F-105 for several reasons. I have always liked the SEA camo, and believe it or not, of all the planes this one went together with the least trouble. Plus one of my first flight instructors (years and years and years ago!) flew Thuds in Vietnam. I heard stories that made your hair stand on end! I self inflicted the pain on some of the others for various reasons, mostly having to do with photo-ech or resin add-ons - in the end mostly all worth it even if I'm the only one who will ever see the difference in detail level. I did learn that I should better protect decal sheets from humidity - I had to search high and low for replacement decals on more than a few of them! Mark

I had a lot of time on my hands this year, so in between refitting and refurbishing the sailboat I built a few models. In no particular order: Tamiya F-15E Revell JU-88 Hasegawa Fi-156 Storch Trumpeter P-38 Revell P-38 Droop Snoot Hasegawa Ki-61 Hasegawa TA-4J Skyhawk Trumpeter P-40B Trumpeter F-105G Revell Me-110C Trumpeter F-100D Trumpeter TBM Avenger All 1/32 except in the middle a 1/48 F7F Tigercat I think I wore out both my airbrushes and definitely wore out the air compressor! Now about the rest of the stash... Mark

Finally finished! With the clearcoat still a wee bit tacky but on 2013 completed list nonetheless, here's the Trumpeter F-100D decked out in the 1967 Thunderbirds scheme. Finished with MM enamels (I haven't yet mastered NMF), CamPro decals, Aires cockpit and wheelwells and the Zacto nose and intake cover. Gotta give a thumbs-up to the Aires cockpit and Zacto nose, not completely convinced that the wheel wells were worth all the effort, though they do look good, and a thumbs-down to the decals. I had nothing but trouble with them but I will hold final judgement on CamPro Until I try another one of their sets, maybe an A-7 sheet. I've done the F-16 and now the F-100 in the Thunderbirds scheme in 1/32, just a few more to go for a full set . I've got an F-84G and an F-105 (need to find a B conversion set for it) but someone needs to hurry up and release a T-38 and an F-84F! Oh, and the Rhino! Thanks for looking Mark

Tom, Vandy, Kev, Maru, Barry, Boris, thanks for the kind words! Craig, I forgot to add up the total added weight! What I did on the Trumpy was first to minimize the weight aft of the main gear by eliminating as much unnecessary pieces as possible. I left off the metal hinges and glued the control surfaces in place, I did not assemble the flaps, just glued the bottom halves in place and left off the rop halves and hinges, made sure the (necessary) re-inforcing rods for the wings and center section were forward of the CG. These are steel and pretty heavy, though weight here hurts more than helps. Then I filled the engines with lead fishing weights as they were assembled (should have epoxied these - the plane rattles now!). Then, since I was not going to pose the gun bay doors open, I glued the gun barrels in place but cut out most of gun bodies and the structure inside and added weight 'til it sat on the nose. Sounds like a lot of weight bit I bet not more than 2 1/2 or 3 ounces. Maybe 4 ounces. or 5 The Revell was a little trickier cuz the nose compartment has windows! There I added weight to the nose close to the instrument panel where it wouldn't be seen, eliminated the single engine assembly, and left off the engine covers until final assembly. Then just dropped weight (epoxied this time!) in the nacelles. It's a little heavier! I tried the shelf paper in the inkjet first. It printed really nice but the ink never dried! Literally let it sit overnight and still wet the next day! I have an old HP P1006 laser printer that, had the shelf paper caused prolems, has a combined toner/fuser cartridge that can all be replaced without damaging the rest of the printer. Plus the toner cartridge is already almost toast so had it not gone well, no harm, needed a new cartridge anyway! I learned all about running weird papers through laser printers when I had my r/c business, but then I was experimenting on new tech, very expensive machines! I spent several afternoons learning that acetone will eventually clean fuser rollers and drums! I will say that this dual build was fun but the fit on both kits was horrible. The Revell because it's old, the Trumpy because they made some terrible engineering choices, multiple moving parts notwithstanding. That said, dry fitting, planning the assembly out of sequence to allow for better fit worked pretty well for both kits. Another thing I learned is that if you're planning on letting a kit sit in the stash for a while, pick up any aftermarket parts when they're available, because I found that most of what was made to improve these kits is no longer available. Probably the same for most of what's in my stash. Sigh. Mark

Next I had to order a few extra bottles of "vermillion" to come up with this: Of course no decals exist, so my local art supply store graciously turned me on to a low cost alternative to frisket paper - adhesive shelf paper at the nearest dollar store, a roll literally for a dollar, cut to size and run through the laser printer, a few frustrating hours cutting out masks, and hear she is! Hope you guys like them! Mark

I finally decided that one of the stash reduction projects would be the Trumpy P-38. However, after browsing E-bay one fine day I stumbled across the venerable old Revell P-38 Droop Snoot. I remember salivating over the Droop Snoot as a kid but never got one for Christmas. So, the rusty gears in my feeble mind start thinking, Kitbash!! Graft the nose of the Revell to the Trumpy, open up and super-detail the bombadier's compartment, have a field day. Two problems, though - I wanted an OD paint scheme and that version wasn't available, and I don't like doing NMF. Not surprisingly, there are no aftermarket decal sets for the Droop Snoot in 1:32. Drat! Then, in my research I happened across a cool scheme for the standard gun nose. Now what? Obviously build both! So first the Droop Snoot, built OOB (cuz there isn't much aftemarket 'cept for wheels that will fit) and closed up because the cockpit fit is - well, lacking! I did swap props (another item no longer available) to put the better shaped props on the Trumpy. Next up, the Trumpy Mark

I haven't gotten much done over the last week other than some sub-assemblies - the slats, the empennage, and getting the avionics cover on. That took some shimming and choice words but it's on. I'll get back to work tomorrow after finishing some issues with the sailboat/home. For tonite though, I have been informed by my assistant, rather emphatically, that I'm not to do any modeling - I must attend to more important matters! Mark

Hi guys, Sorry for the late reply, been out of town for the last few days. The Zacto nose fits very well externally, but not well at all matching the kit ducting, mostly the upper area. The kit pieces are the problem but I'm just not up to it either. Intake cover it is thanks Jim. I put on the 3x magnifiers AND looked through the desk magnifying lens to try to see and replicate as much of the detail as I could. That and some really good reference pics I found on the net! Thanks for the pics! I've found several sources that indicate the color should be FS34151, Interior Green, which I just happen to have! Better and closer than ZCG ( that's Zinc Chromate Green for the previous question ) Mark

Hi guys, Sorry for the late reply, I was out of pocket for a few days. Old dog, Maru, Brian, Joe, Peter, Dennis - thanks for the kind words! I have one more day of madness tomorrow (getting the sailboat surveyed) then I can work up some revised pics for you. Thanks John! I'm currently living on the sailboat in beautiful, lush, green coastal SC, so finding a suitable outdoor setting for a desert camo bird might prove a bit hard! I'll try though It's the venerable Hasegawa kit - been in the stash for over ten years. The good news was that it's one of the few that the decals survived the humidity! Mark

Here's another from the stash - Paint in MM enamels and kit decals from the Rommel release. the only AM is the interior from Eduard. I continue with my love-hate relationship with PE! Even with STRONG magnifiers looking through a magnifying light, some of these small parts are maddening! And I left off some of the smaller pieces. The panel and belts do more to dress up the interior than anything else anyway. Hope you like it, Mark

Cockpit done and installed (haven't started the seat yet, I'll hold on that for a while cuz I need to let my eyeballs rest! The fuselage is buttoned up and Xactomodels nose mounted. I'm going to use the supplied intake cover so I'm not going through the pain and heartache of fixing the seams: done for the night! Mark

Nose and main gear wells fitted to the fuselage. I looked and looked for a reference as to which speedbrake the T-birds used, and of course I installed the wrong one before finding a reliable source. Not gonna sweat it . Turns out that the T-bird aircraft guns were removed too, so I'll be slicing off the barrels before buttoning things up. Worked on the cockpit tonite, will post pics when done. Mark

Main gear wells are in - lots of fit, cut, fit, cut, fit sand, fit, sand. Then repeat. My old philosophy of measure once, cut twice definitely not the case here. Much improvement over the kit wells though! Mark

I'm not really following the instructions too much yet, just bouncing around while I cut and fit the wheel wells. Worked on the engine today. After looking, little if any of the compressor face is visible in the intake so I'm going to use the wildly inaccurate Trumpeter piece. I added only the PE blades provided to fill the opening, plus the turbine section. To duplicate the exhaust pattern in the burner can and turbine outlet I first sprayed MM Exhaust: Next came a light spotted dusting of tan with aluminum added, then streaks of white expanding towards the outlet: I passed on the Aires exhaust and won't attempt to fix the seams and ejector pin marks. I'm not looking at contest quality, just having fun! Mark

Hi guys, Having spent my early formative aviation years in eastern New Mexico living on base surrounded by F-100s, then later when seemingly every town square had an F-100 on display (when the -111s replaced them) I have a soft spot for the Hun. So here goes: Trumpeter F-100, Cam Pro Thunderbirds decal set, Aires cockpit set, Aires wheel wells, and (just ordered and not yet arrived) Zactomodels corrected intake. After compiling as much photo documentation as I can, there are still a few questions if anybody can chime in: Wheel wells: I have lots of photos of a restored T-bird that show a ZCG wheel well, though it doesn't match the shade I have (I use MM enamels mainly), it's darker. Any clues? I also found a nice T-bird done on another site that has white wells, inner gear doors and gear legs. All the pics of the actual aircraft show silver legs and inner doors so I'm inclined to believe ZCG wells. I can't find any pics of the smoke system: The restored Hun doesn't have it, plus they didn't do up the burner can like the actual aircraft, so far no luck there. Off to start fitting some wheel wells! Mark

Unicorn or cyclops? The decals are great, Eli! I did use the wrong color blue for the nose and fuselage band. Too late now, I'm just glad to finally get it finished! I'm not sure but the Skyhawk might be my third oldest in the stash. Mark

Hi Kev, Publish away! Do you need any more info from me? The canopy that came with the kit was unusable - and I destroyed it by trying to fix it! Since the kit has been OOP for a while I couldn't find a replacement unless I bought another kit, so it got shelved. Then it sat some more, then I got a wild hair and built the model thinking I could find a canopy. Then it sat some more even deeper on the shelf. So long that the humidity got to the decals, so when the Zotz decal sheet came out I just had to try again. Some help from this board and - voila! Mark

Thanks to the help of a fellow member here I was able to rescue the Skyhawk from the shelf of doom! It has the BB cockpit and the new Zotz decals for the Scooter, otherwise OOB. How you like it! Mark

Paul, you are a lifesaver! I'm in the US at the moment, in South Carolina and definitely need a canopy! PM me on how I can take it off your hands. Many thanks, Mark

Hi guys, My venerable old Hasegawa TA-4J has been sitting on the shelf of doom for a few years now because of the canopy. it was warped and unusable until I attempted to "fix" it, now it's - well, I pretty much destroyed it My question is, how to get a replacement. Hasegawa's US website directs one looking for spare parts to Hobbico, but since the kit is oop, no help there. I have resigned myself to just buying another full kit on E-bay, but since I have an aversion to just tossing a perfectly good kit away (plus my current one has a really nice BB cockpit already installed with fuselage buttoned up) if I do that I will have to build both! Thus I will have to copy the canopy in the new kit, assuming it's in good enough shape to do that. i do remember the kit canopy being really thin and brittle so just smash-molding a new one might destroy the second good one. Then I'd have to buy a third, etc., etc. Alternatively I could carve a new one for a mold, but with the cockpit already installed it's making things difficult. Any other ideas? Or does anyone have a spare canopy laying around? Many thanks, Mark

These are the kit decals, pretty good actually, went down well, they react well to Micro Set and Sol too. I know it's too "clean", but I'm essentially trapped geographically (modeling-wise) and am limited to one source for supplies. Thus paints., finishes, etc., are extremely limited. I can only use LuckyModel in Hong Kong and the limiting factor is what they stock. They have most Tamiya paints back-ordered for months at a time and only about half the Mr. Color line. For the last few months no clear finishes of any kind, so any weathering done tends to leave a very soft final finish. Even without using Leveling Thinner the paint airbrushed really nice. I'm using a Tamiya airbrush and their (battery powered) compressor. The setup works well and is better than the Aztec i was using before. Mark