CZPetrP Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 It's great that you can cope, Chuck. Bravo. chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davral64 Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 That's a shame about the canopy! Kittyhawk has some great subjects but they always seem to mess up in critical areas. I quit buying them which makes me a bit sad given the efforts they put in. chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davral64 Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 You did a great job problem solving the canopy btw. I think it looks great! Is that Flight Chops? chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwoHands Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 Bravo on the canopy solution! I always tell myself when things are just right- nobody will look as close as I am right now! chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Buddee Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 Excellent job and problem solving on the canopies Chuck. No matter how you position them they look to be.a real PITA! Nicely done Chuck! Cheers, Wolf chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 Very nice work Chuck! Your solution to the canopy is very neat and well executed, especially this far into the build to be able to seamlessly blend that channel in. I would like to do this kit one day so thank you for the heads up. Remarkable work as always Sir. And if my canopies came out a quarter as good as yours I'd be stoked, but I know you have exceptionally high standards! Cheers, Craig chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted April 11, 2020 Author Share Posted April 11, 2020 (edited) Thanks a lot guys for the encouragement and after a few days of thinking about it, my canopy painting really isn't that bad- I'm just very picky I guess. It's not great either, but like every model, the final model is the sum of every part and assembly, which hopefully will draw your eye away from it. I have just finished the landing gear and propeller which I'm very happy with as shown below, to help in that effort. I did another thing that was traumatic for me in this build, but now that I've fixed it, it's pretty funny in hindsight. After decals I sealed them in using Tamiya X-22, my new go-to clear gloss coat before and after decals. After spraying X-22 you will inevitably pick up dust and other crap, because gloss finish really attracts contaminants due to static electricity, especially here in our very dry climate of Calgary. After the X-22 has dried for about an hour or two, I gently sand out out this debris with 2000# grit sandpaper, blow off the dust, then spray a "flash coat" of Tamiya lacquer thinner that melts the X-22 and levels everything out, creating a very smooth finish. I used to do the very same thing with Windex when I used Future/Pledge a few years ago. Anyways, I was spraying this flash coat and all was going quite well, when suddenly my airbrush belched out several splatters of black paint all over my nice smooth yellow finish. NOOOOOO!!! (yes, I said something much, much stronger) No matter where you live in this world, you might have heard me scream! Apparently I still had some black paint stuck in my airbrush that decided now was the time to come flying out, as it was loosened with the lacquer thinner. This black paint wasn't just on the surface like most paint would be, it was embedded in a thick coat of gloss coat. I had no choice but to let everything dry, sand out what I could, then repaint, followed by more X-22. This has take an entire week of iterative steps, but I can now say as of tonight, all is well. Thank goodness! The kit prop is way too long (below), so thankfully there is an excellent replacement from Harold's excellent AMS resin line. I also added a brass hexagonal part to the tip of the prop to add some missing detail that is real. The prop was painted gloss grey on the front and gloss black on the black as per references and here's a "tip". For the yellow tips, I use the kit decals as a backdrop to avoid paint build-up, then paint them yellow, since they were closer to brown to begin with. After the prop decals have dried, I spray with X-22, let dry, then Tamiya semi-gloss lacquer to create a seamless and ridge-free finish. This should take your eye away from the canopy! Unfortunately, most of the engine will be covered with the cowling. Leave it off later?.... For the tire/wheels, I used the Barracuda P-51D diamond tread set like Max (Mozart), since the kit ones are really bad. I did a lot of checking for tire and wheel sizes and these are the closest replacement set on the market. The hubcaps, which are typical on Harvards, are from the kit. The kit landing gear was cleaned up and small holes were drilled for fastener detail. As with most things on this aircraft, almost everything is yellow. I then added brake line detail as per references, using spare PE brass as bracket fasteners, along with chrome foil for the oleos. It was sad to cover up those nice resin wheels with a boring hubcap. Like much of this aircraft, the routing of the brake line is very simplistic. The brass fasteners are made from Dzus receptacles from my Spitfire build. Recall that I added a pin to the rear wheel, to provide clearance for the wheel housing I created earlier. As I always say at this stage of a build, "I'm running out of parts!". The end must be soon, but I have many tiny bits to add first. On 4/9/2020 at 9:13 AM, dsahling1 said: Out of curiosity, any thoughts on the next jet project or not quite at that point? Good question, that I've been thinking about a lot lately as this build nears completion. I was going to build an F-104 Starfighter, mostly because I always do a jet after a prop and I've never built one of these before, but I have no kit or aftermarket stuff. With the pandemic going on, I don't want to order anything, so I'm stuck with two kits that I have everything, from aftermarket to decals: 1) 1/32 Academy F/A-18C which I've built twice before, but this time as a Navy Adversary. I have lots of aftermarket resin for this one. 2) 1/32 Special Hobby Tempest Mk V and I have all the Barracuda add-ons and corrections. I'm torn. Another Hornet seems a bit boring, while the Tempest sure looks a lot like my Spitfire and even has the same paint scheme. We'll see what calls me when it's time to start another project. Cheers, Chuck Edited April 11, 2020 by chuck540z3 Bil, Madmax, Rocat and 16 others 19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdthoresen Posted April 11, 2020 Share Posted April 11, 2020 Looks great Chuck, nice work. Looking forward to the next installment. I would vote for the Tempest, next, in high-speed silver! THOR scvrobeson 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kagemusha Posted April 11, 2020 Share Posted April 11, 2020 3 hours ago, bdthoresen said: Looks great Chuck, nice work. Looking forward to the next installment. I would vote for the Tempest, next, in high-speed silver! THOR Couldn't agree more, on all counts. chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spyrosjzmichos Posted April 11, 2020 Share Posted April 11, 2020 Excellent progress Chuck! I'll vote for the Tempest, too! chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted April 11, 2020 Author Share Posted April 11, 2020 Done! I need to build something new anyway and this aircraft is beautiful, even if it's two prop builds in a row. No D-Day invasion stripes though, even though this aircraft was most famously from that era, because I dislike how they break up the natural lines of the aircraft, they are a PITA to do and if done properly, they should be a bit crude, which I'll never do. Cheers, Chuck Rocat, Anthony in NZ, zaxos345 and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CZPetrP Posted April 11, 2020 Share Posted April 11, 2020 Tempest in Your Submission ... chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted April 11, 2020 Share Posted April 11, 2020 cough... beautiful Harvard by the way Chuck stunning, as usual Peter Madmax, chuck540z3 and Anthony in NZ 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozart Posted April 11, 2020 Share Posted April 11, 2020 42 minutes ago, airscale said: cough... beautiful Harvard by the way Chuck stunning, as usual Peter That's a travesty Peter, a beautiful aircraft like the Tempest as a target-tug? Kagemusha and chuck540z3 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdthoresen Posted April 11, 2020 Share Posted April 11, 2020 45 minutes ago, airscale said: cough... beautiful Harvard by the way Chuck stunning, as usual Peter That’s the scheme I would love to do! What a machine!!!!!! THOR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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