Shawn M Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Wo hoo! Its finally time to start this project and with a year to do it I can take my own sweet a55 time to do it, lol. The 110 and its variants have been a fascination of mine for some time now, only to be eclipsed by my obsession with the PBM Mariner. Books, GB's of data etc have been amassed over the years: When John released his G4 conversion, I was one of the first in line shouting "take my money!". He did, I got a set and then waited for the right time to tackle the beast. Now is that time. I had the bits, books and bobs to make it happen, I needed to man up and just do it. Padraic Conway, BradG, Alain Gadbois and 11 others 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn M Posted January 2, 2019 Author Share Posted January 2, 2019 Having followed closely along while other (more brave then I) jumped in and completed their conversions, I knew I needed to start at the wings/nacelles and get that tricky bit done first. This area uses the most resin bits in one area to make the change from early airframe to F/G. After studying the instructions for both the kit and the conversion, I started cutting out plastic and resin. There were also some small details that needed to be addressed before I got to far into the conversion. I drilled out and added a lightening hole in the gear bays, seen here with the AIMS Radiator housing. I had to scratch build the weapons "hump" found on the later G4's, although a simple enough shape this took hours to complete. By taking my time and thinking ahead, I started freeing the resin bits and offering them up to the kit parts, leaving the fine lip on the parts allowed me to fine tune the fit without resorting to a butt joint I got the rest of the parts free'd up and started to test fit them as well, this puzzle will be a challenge BradG, mozart, Alain Gadbois and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn M Posted January 2, 2019 Author Share Posted January 2, 2019 not pictured yet: rudders run amok! Exhaust panels making a stink elevators getting a lift (other bad jokes and pictures to come) Phartycr0c and Rick Griewski 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn M Posted January 2, 2019 Author Share Posted January 2, 2019 oh yeah, this is the end goal: although NO SPINNER SPIRALS (we hates them precious) instead it will have blue spinner tips per my other ref's Rick Griewski, Uncarina, mozart and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Nice! As with you, Ive seen some amazing looking Gs coming out lately, and with Johns conversion in my stash as well, Ill be paying attention to this one for sure! Shawn M 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloorwestSiR Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Another one to follow along with. I've got this in the stash too. I've decided to ease into it by building a 110 OOB first to get a feel for the base kit before I try my hand at this one. Carl Bill_S and Shawn M 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffH Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 I don't have the display real estate to build 2 but I'm like others; have a C7 and John's box of goodies in the stash. Looking forward to this BloorwestSiR and Shawn M 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozart Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Well done Shawn, glad to see you've bitten the bullet and made a start. You've hit the nail on the head with the major key factor......time!! John's conversion, whilst very good, is not easy to understand in places so having plenty of time to study, assess and decide what needs to be done is essential. Good luck with your build, after your Uhu I'm sure it will be magnificent! Rick Griewski, BloorwestSiR and Shawn M 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn M Posted January 2, 2019 Author Share Posted January 2, 2019 thanks guys! Carl, should be a nice build OOB, the sprue attachment points are like logs in places but so far the fit has been pretty darn nice. Jeff, its a big un for sure! With a 219 and two 110's im gonna need a bigger room. Thanks Max! The exhaust area is really abstract to assemble and I will need to mod mine for the later style exhaust to boot! BloorwestSiR, JeffH and mozart 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel460 Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Great start Shawn! Popcorns a poppin... Dan Shawn M and BloorwestSiR 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monthebiff Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Hi Shawn, great project and nice to see another WIP of the AIMS G-4 conversion on the bench. Enjoy as it's a lot of fun!. Regards.Andy mozart and Shawn M 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn M Posted January 3, 2019 Author Share Posted January 3, 2019 thanks Andy I spent a little time last night washing all the parts I'd worked so far and started to saw out the elevators Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn M Posted January 5, 2019 Author Share Posted January 5, 2019 I dont track my hours at the bench and for good reason. I know I have hours and hours into this already and feel like I've barely done anything! So much cutting, test fitting, sanding, tweaking and repeating..... But I LOVE every damn minute of it :p After working and fitting my first batch of conversion parts and kit parts, I gave them a bath and sat down the next day to start gluing some bits together and cutting more off! While not as near as big as Toms Sunderland, you do need some room for a project this size. I cant imagine you guys with your '24's, 17's and so on! Got both gear bays built out also fitted the kit radiators, no need to chain drill then I fitted the resin magneto covers to the kit wings, fit like a glove I tell ya! Glued on the ventral weapons bulge started building out the new resin lower cowls, I know I will need to mod the exhaust panels for the late style exhaust Im going to use working on the tail feathers while glues dried started to test fit the nose got the spinners and backing plates freed from the pour stubs and cleaned up Daniel460, Out2gtcha, LSP_Kevin and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel460 Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Your knocking her together pretty quick! Looking great so far! Dan BloorwestSiR and Shawn M 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloorwestSiR Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Dan's right Shawn, you're making great progress on this kit. Carl Shawn M 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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