b757captain

Hiya fellas, I managed to finally finish the HPH Tigercat! I gotta say it looks pretty impressive sitting next to its WWII cousins. Photos and even being next to one in person doesn't do the Tigercat justice as to its size - it's a big airplane, especially siting next to a Spitfire or -109! Thoughts on the kit: There's lots in the box, tons of detail and multiple subassemblies. Not as intricate as the Helldiver I did last year but still plenty to do. Most of the cockpit detail can be seen, not as much in the main wheel wells, very little in the nose wheel well (more on that later), and most of the engine detail cannot be seen if cowled up. Parts fit is mostly good - for a resin kit - and surface detail is good throughout. Having read and followed Brian's build thread on this kit I was aware of some of the shortcomings in the main wheel wells and outer wing panel misalignment but that really didn't bother me so I pressed on . After looking at period photos of parked F7Fs I noticed that the nose gear doors are almost fully closed on the ground so most of the detail in the nose wheel well can't be seen, so I didn't spend too much time there. Just built up the subassembly as per the instructions. Main wheel wells are pretty complicated with lots of bulkheads to be added. These areas really beg for superdetailing but again I just stuck with the kit parts. Engines are gems and would look really good sitting on a stand, or with the cowls removed. The cockpit really shines, with lots of room to see all the goodies. General construction is pretty straightforward and with not too much cursing the fuselage and wings/nacelles will come together. I had read from the other build that the nose weights didn't fit well, but on mine they fit just fine. Some filler on the seams and rescribing of the lost panel lines (didn't go overboard on redoing the rivets). Note of caution here: It is a tail-sitter even with all the weight provided in the kit! I even drilled the trailing edge of the stab at the elevator joint to remove some material from the horizontal stab and it still plopped on the tail. Phooey! No need for the brass nose gear! Paint is MM Dark Sea Blue. I decided to forego any weathering aside from light exhaust staining though I did go with a semi-gloss clear coat to knock the shine down a little. Overall, I put the kit in the win column. There's a 1/32 Tigercat on the shelf, which was the goal! On to the pics: More pics to follow, Cheers, Mark

Holy, mother of . . . .!!!!! That is one tough airplane! Sorry, you said something about paint?

More pics: Cheers, Mark

Hi gents, Here's the second half of my foray into the F-101 family, the -B. I built this one alongside the RF-101C. Most of the kits are the same, with separate sprues for each of the different variants. KH did not change the intake/wing sections for the RF but they are correct for the -B (at least to my eye). Built OOB, the only AM was the Eduard cockpit set because KH only provided instrument and side panel decals for one cockpit! Little slip-up there. The Eduard set looks a little better even though their pre-printed panel color is a little light to me. Paint is a custom mix of Tamiya for FS16473 (ADC Gray) and Mr. Color for all the rest of the bits and pieces. The decals were a disappointment - I have gotten used to KH decals, wonderfully thin, maddeningly hard to work with but usually they look good in the end. On this kit the decals were thick, took forever to release from the backing paper and very hard to get to settle down. It took multiple applications of softener and in a few spots I resorted to dabs of thinner to get them to conform. After all that, I elected to play harda** crewchief where there was no way my bird was going to have a speck of dust on it so no weathering. All in all, an ok build and it looks good next to her sister on the shelf, so to me that's a win! Thanks for looking! Mark

Thanks Tony! Yep, I'd add a few more to the list too but I'm trying to not be too greedy! Thanks Albert! If you want to see a great Voodoo, check out Quang's build on BritModeler. He's doing a fantastic job on his and lots of tips to improve the kit.

Thanks Jennings!

I've seen yours on your thread over at BM. You are working on a masterpiece! I just wanted a Voodoo on the shelf

Thanks guys!

More pics: I would really really like to see the F-101 done in 1/32, along with the F-111. I could then declare life to be complete! Cheers, Mark

Hi gents, When KH came out with the F-101C I hoped they were planning the -B and RF versions (not a big fan of the -A and -Cs). I got both the -B and RF when they first came out. I've always had a soft spot for the Voodoo, partly because my very first ever model kit was a 1/72 scale Voodoo. I've finished both of them so first up is the RF-101C. The kit is pretty typical for KH, fit mostly good, instructions so-so, detail hit-or-miss on a few areas, but overall with time and patience they build up to good looking airplanes. Some of the issues (both good and bad) are common to the entire series, but for the RF it fell down mainly to the intakes. KH molded the intakes for the entire series to match the F-101B but they are shaped different for the RF (and the -A and -C). There are several really good threads on other boards on how to fix this so I won't get into the details. I think they came out ok. Otherwise it was just test fit, test fit, test fit and eventually I had it. Built OOB, the only AM is the Eduard cockpit set. Paint is Mr. Color lightened to simulate time in the SEA sun. I didn't go overboard with weathering, just light washes. Decals are from the kit, though I would not recommend using the canopy frame decals - they don't fit worth a darn so I painted mine. On to the pics: More pics to come, thanks for looking! Mark

Thanks Ron! Same for me, the -J doesn't float my boat as much as the -D. Sometimes it's nice to build one of the "old ones" - it helps to better appreciate all the improvements in the hobby. Usually after finishing a project like this one I break out a Tamiya or Hasegawa kit to reset my sanity!

Thanks guys!

Thanks guys!

Thanks! I shudder at the thought of their B-26. I remember horrible fit issues.

More pics: Thanks for looking!

Hi gents, This guy has been on and off my shelf of doom for several years so it could be subtitled "Glutton for Punishment". One fine day in the somewhat distant past I came to the realization that over the years I had built all the Monogram (and Revell) 1/48th big bombers, except one: any version of the B-24. Well, gotta fix that! I kinda sorta knew that it would not be a "shake-n-bake" kit but little did I realize just how much work it would turn out to to be! Thus the time-outs on the SOD. I gathered some AM for the kit and ended up using some of it - the wheel wells and engines are CMK, good additions and not too terrible to make up although the wheel wells are a little fiddly to build up. They do look much better than the kit wells though. I thought long and hard between the engines versus the engine/1 piece cowl set and finally decided I couldn't justify the cost difference. Please, please - learn from my mistake! The kit molds the nacelles and cowls as top and bottom halves with the wing. Lots and lots of sanding, filling and re-scribing. I think each nacelle got its own trip to the SOD!. I got the Squadron vac-formed canopy and nose but it was damaged in shipping (big dent in the nose) but after looking at the molding I thought they were not as good as the kit pieces so ended up not using them. Finally the decals are Kits World. Kind of a letdown because the US insignia on the real thing is unique but are not included with the decal set. I tried to find just the insignia with no luck and had no intention of masking and painting them so finally just used the kit insignia. Eduard interior - just the instrument panel but you cant see any of it anyway and brass gear rounded out the AM pieces. As for the rest, paint is a custom mix from True North (figured I'd give them a try since my go-to MM is becoming scarce). Jury still out on the paint. Weathering was just a wash to accent the highlights. Here we go: More to come, Cheers, Mark

Hi Quang, I've been following your build on BM while I build mine (and you're doing a much better job than me!): I just finished decaling with weathering to go before a final flat coat so the colors to me don't look quite right yet, but to my eye every paint mfg mixes all three colors to the FS base standard or close and none seem to match the fade common to the SEA birds. From all the photos and videos I've seen (plus some less accurate eyeball memories up close) the colors seem to fade at different rates - i.e., the lighter colors fade faster than the darker colors. I normally use MM but this one was painted with Mr. Color (303, 309, 310) and I mixed white in with all three colors at different ratios until it looked right. I lightened the 34079 the least, 34102 more and 30219 the most. Maybe the color experts can chime in here, but it seems to me that colors closer to the infrared end of the light spectrum fade faster - colors with red, yellow, etc. in the mix. I'm probably wrong on that but I'm sticking to my theory for now Cheers, Mark

Just a follow-up on the FS16473 mix: I tried most all the suggestions from everyone but finally came up with this: It's a mix of Tamiya XF-23 Light Blue, 1 part: XF-66 Light Grey, 2 parts: and XF-1 White, 14 parts. The mix I found from the IPMS site said 23:1, 66:2, and 1:7 but Tamiya's idea of Light Grey isn't very light. This ratio looked way too dark for me so I kept adding white until it looked right. A better mix would be only 1 part XF-66 to 7 parts white. To my eye it looks right and now that I've got decals on it looks even better. Stay tuned, I'll post the completed model in the Non LSP Works section as soon as I get the last bits put on. Thanks for all the suggestions! Mark

I think we've got a chicken/egg thing here - I'd blame the paint manufacturers first, they are the ones creating color names, we're just using them! Mark

Gloss coat. I almost exclusively paint the base coat flat then gloss to taste. Works great. Most modern automotive two stage and three stage finishes are like this also, the color coat is flat and dries to a coverable or repairable state in minutes, then clear coat.

I'll take a look at the Mr Color 73. I did see a reference for Tamiya which was XF-23:1, XF-66:2 and XF-2:7. Looks like I'll be doing some experimenting over the next few days! Thanks guys!

I don't have access to my trusty stash of MM ADC Gray here in Japan. I'm currently set up for Mr. Color and Tamiya paints (the regulars ones, not the goofy Acrysion, etc.). Neither has a color listing for FS 16473 which I need for the topcoat on the KH F-101B I'm working on. Anybody have a quick solution besides switching to Vallejo or another paint brand? I'd prefer to stick with what I'm using for now at least. I'm not against mixing up a brew of Tamiya since I have access to the full line here. Mr. Color also but sometimes it takes trips to several stores to find the more obscure colors. Thanks! Mark san

Thanks John! Thanks Ron! It was an enjoyable build!

Thanks guys!

Thanks guys!