I finally finished my Typhoon, thanks in large part to my club's annual theme, "Shelf of Doom". I stalled with this build over a year ago, with the model assembled and primed. I think I let masking and airbrushing an RAF camo pattern intimidate me. In any case, back in February, I added this build to my SoD list, behind another Monogram kit, the P-47D bubbletop and the HobbyBoss F4F-3. I got the camo applied, and any issues were of my own making. For example, I tried to free-hand the dark green, with no masking, but there was too much overspray. So, I had to go back and mask the green and then re-apply the dark sea grey. Here are some photos of the now-finished Tiffy:
This was a bagged kit, bought off eBay, without directions or decals. I eventually bought both of those, also off eBay. The kit is simple enough that you can build it without instructions, but I wanted the painting guide, and also, I had trouble finding a good set of aftermarket decals.
The decals are original Monogram, from the 90s. They settled down nice and thin, though there was some cracking in places. I was able to touch up the broken areas with paint.
I chose not to apply a gloss coat, I knew it was a bad idea, but I did it, anyway, and so, I accept the silvering that occurred. However, I was able to touch some of that up, too, with thin coats of paint applied over the silvered carrier film.
I enjoyed building this kit; it's one of the kits that I did not build when I was a kid. There isn't much I would do to improve on it, if I built another one. Maybe add the canopy track--there is no visible detail to indicate that the canopy opens--and address the poor fit of the canopy pieces, and add some fine steel tubing inside the cannon fairings.
As for my other entry, the Helldiver, I'm still working on it. The kit I had started for this group build was actually Nichimo's copy of Monogram's old SB2C, and that copy is a horrible kit. The fit is very bad, but what stopped me dead in my tracks is that the outer wings do not match the inner wing in their chord-they're about half as thick as the inner wings, so when the wings are deployed, the edges don't line up. I have a real Monogram SB2C for this build, and the Nichimo kit remains as a test-bed for painting techniques. I expect to finish the Helldiver in the summer.
Comments/criticisms are welcome, as always, and thanks for looking!
Best regards,
Brad