MONOGRAM MAFIA II GB

Ok boss, my build #3 has begun. The classic 1970s vintage 1/48 TBD-1

I will be using some, but not a major amount of AM. Mostly in the cockpit. Today I built the basic cockpit parts and added some PE seat belts.

and I added PE seat belts and an elevating gun skate rail to the gunners "turret"...

and I cleaned up and built the engine

more to follow...

Stik, just don't go and blow it with those butt ugly canary wings.

Nope, not a Yellow Winged bird... gonna be in early 1942 warpaint

Today's progress pics. I spent the afternoon building parts that I could that need no painting at this time.

I started with the outer wings

and then  I moved to the inner wing, I built and attached the air scoop, and the torpedo cradle to the lower surface

and the wingfold ribs to the inner lower wing surface

next I added the bomb aiming doors to the fuselage in the closed position

and finally I built the torpedo and the main wheels

once the torpedo was dry I sanded the seam smooth and drilled out the bull nose at the tip

I picked up AirFixes 1/72, more for nostalgia than anything else, but of course HAD to have reference and also got Steve Ginter's Douglas TBD-1 Devastator. Awesome book for the TBD! I may be forced to get a couple more TBDs just build several of the many color options.

Here is a nice cockpit shot that I just found... not too far off from the kit

Almost done with number three.  I did some more decaling and weathering.

Back to seven-day workweeks.... I snuck home today for a few hours, but I'm headed back to work in about three hours... THIS time, I packed my kits and a toolbox fulla modeling supplies & tools..

Sounds like a plan Hammer!

Been working on the Skyraider and F-82.

Greetings, fellow mafiosos!  Been following everyone's progress from afar, longing to get back into the fray.  

Been an ungodly year for me; several deaths in the family, home renovation (new flooring, tile work in wet areas, and painted walls.  Looks pretty good, and the boss lady is pleased with it (for now......)  Back surgery last Friday (around 20 years as an army grunt and another 16 years as a beat cop......I'm feeling it now!!

So, it is my mission in life to complete this build; after some covert shopping on evilbay, I have scored several more classics, actually made in THE USA, and not by the Chi-coms........I sure hope we see the day when the best kits in the world are made in the best country in the world,  IMHO.........

Will finally finish up the A-4 Skyhawk by Monogram, and will begin work on the Dragonfly, (still looking for replacement decals......), also scored a Monogram A-1H Skyraider and will finish that up as a Navy bird from Intrepid and the Esci AD-6 as a South Vietnamese bird........Wanna be a bigger player in the familia!!!

Stick, you are leading the way, loved the MASH copter, and the Hun.  (Which of course encouraged me to hunt down a few of them on evilbay!!!)

Looking forward to the other great builds in the works and those soon to be started!!

Cheers, Gang!!,

Dave

On the Bench (actually, the dining room table):

Next up:  Esci A4 E/F Skyhawk (coming along), Revell F-4J and MiG 21 "Vietnam Aces" twin kit, and  Monogram A37 Dragonfly (Oldies but goodies all but still a true blue Monogram fan!!!)

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Can I join in?  

I got one of the Monogram 1/48 F-20 Tigersharks.  I plan to do a whif scheme on it using some F-16 aggressor markings.  My goal is to have it done by November.

Fly-n-hi

Can I join in?  

I got one of the Monogram 1/48 F-20 Tigersharks.  I plan to do a whif scheme on it using some F-16 aggressor markings.  My goal is to have it done by November.

68GT, nice Able Dog I am looking forward to the F-82.

TADave, welcome back here. Thanks for the kind words. I hear ya loud and clear about the effects of Uncle Sam and being a street cop have on the body. I am a few years shy of 50 and feeling it more every day. Although thankfully I have not yet had to have any surgeries (knock on wood here)

Well my #3 build is coming along nicely this morning. I was able to get a primer coat over the PE in the cockpit and everything else that will be interior green. I used Tamiya Surface Primer thinned with generic lacquer thinner... great stuff for that purpose.

And I airbrushed on a base coat of MM Acrylic Steel on the engine

I plan on airbrushing the interior green and other cockpit colors tomorrow... more pics after that is done 

troublemaker66

Can`t see why not...welcome aboard!

Anyhoo, here's the kit:

I'll get the pics that are on my camera to my computer, then to Photobucket, then here pretty soon.

The first thing I noticed that I didn't like were the rails on the wingtips.  They are molded on and are totally plain and boring.  So I cut them off and decided to use a spare set from a Tamiya F-16.  I'll attach them after I'm done with all the filling/sanding so that I don't bust them off.

The bottom fuselage part has the wheel well openings molded to it.  They look like mini wings.  These "wings" settle too deeply into the main wings on the upper fuselage part.  So I cut the thinnest styrene I had and made some spacers:

Now they settle in just right.

Oh I do like the F-20. Such a beautiful design. It truly is a shame that no country bought them...

Today's progress on my TBD: Interior Green... lots of it...

interior fuselage components that will be visible thru the cockpit/canopy

and engine areas that will be visible on the finished kit

next up are washes and detail painting for these areas...

Yeah, it is a shame.  I've always liked the look of the F-20.  I think General Dynamics had more "friends" in Washington, D.C., though.

Got a little more done.

The wings were warped pretty good.  They had something like a 6 degree dihedral or so:

So I boiled up a pot of water, stuck the part in for a few seconds and bent the wings down:

The TBD is looking good so far Stik.

I got a little more done on the F-20.  I painted the exhaust, flame holder and burner can.  I painted the interior of the can Alclad II Jet Exhaust and the outside is Alclad II Steel.  I weathered it with the Tamiya weathering powders.

The flame holder is also painted using Alclad II Jet Exhaust.  I painted the ring silver and weathered it with the Tamiya weathering powders:

The inside of the exhaust is Mr. Color 316 white with some thinned out black streaks:

Finally finished my Monogram Sprint car.

I know I am late finishing it but well decided to post it anyway.

Nice sprint car vettman.  

Got the F-20's canopy and windshield polished.  This is just a micromesh polish followed by the Novus #2 and #3 compound polishes.  No Future:

...and masked:

I am still lurking about. I took Labor Day weekend off to focus on college football, and be durned if the boss don't show up. I have been down with some kinda flu like junk for the past few weeks. I did get the final coat on the Dark Earth on the P-40 done. I should be able to get the camo finished next weekend. I also hope I feel better enough to get caught up next weekend as there has been some great stuff posted recently.

Sprint car came out great!

Here's more of the F-20 progress.  I painted the cockpit and dry brushed the IP.  Its actually a pretty decent IP.  I painted it based on some pics I found when I Googled "F-20."

The tail section fit onto the lower fuselage pretty well except for the very aft portion of it.  There is a pretty noticeable gap right behind the horizontal stabs.  So I added some styrene strips to fill in the gap.  I also finished the fuel tank which had a big gap near the back that needed to be filled:

I glued the tail section to the upper fuselage half and then two fuselage halves together.  The fit was surprisingly good.  I used Testors liquid cement and the welded seams were very easy to get rid of.

I used Aves Apoxie Sculpt to fill in the spaces where welding cement wouldn't work.  This was sooo easy to do.  You just make little Apoxie snakes, mash them into the gaps, use an Xacto knife to cut away the excess Apoxie to make the joint flush and wipe it down with a Q-Tip dipped in alcohol to smooth it out.  

In the pic below you can see where I used this technique at the base of the vertical stabilizer where it meets the fairing and where the fuel tank fins meet the body of the tank.  I also did this in the intakes after I attached the splitter plates:

I should mention that I tried to scribe the panel lines with a UMM scribing tool.  It was going well for the most part until I noticed that the lines on the fuselage weren't quite symmetrical.  In fact, some of the molded detail wasn't symmetrical.  So I filled in the lines and sanded off the detail that was suspect.  I'll replace some of the detail but I don't think I'll try to rescribe it.

Here's another look at it:

Vetteman, I LIKE that buggy!

Fly, your Tigershark is looking real sweet so far. Your sculpting putty technique sounds like a great idea, especially for intakes and other difficult to sand areas.

Thanks Stik.

Here's an F-20 update.  Got the intakes with the LEXs instaled.  The LEX on the left side needed to be dipped in boiling water and bent a little to get it flush:

I had to add these styrene strips where the splitter plate joined the intake part.  There was a step there so I glued the styrene into place, covered it with Apoxie and then sanded it flush:

Also, since this will be an "WIF Aggressor" F-20 she won't be using the pylons so I filled them in with Apoxie and sanded them smooth:

So the Skyraider is done and a little more progress was made with the F-82.

Wow. First time I ever saw one of those built before! :) I think you made it look as good as possible!

Nice Skyraider!

Here's the F-20 with the wingtip rails attached:

68, nice Able Dog! That kit brings back some memories. So does the F-82 you're working on. What markings will that one be in?

Fly, excellent progress on your F-20! I hope the one that I have in my stash does not require so much clean up and filler. I am torn between doing a WIF based upon one I read in a book or the BMW Gray Demonstrator when I do get around to building mine.

Well today I was able to do detail painting, washes, and drybrush highlights on the engine and interior green areas

The engine

nose access areas

fuselage sidewalls

front cockpit

rear cockpit

detail of the floorboard in the gunner's area

gunner's "turret"

and the last green bits for the cockpit and nose

Colors are based off interpreting B&W photos of a TBD cockpit and known things like seat belts and such.

Just about ready to glue the fuselage together now.