Secret Santa GB 2018 - Nearing the Finish Line!!

BrandonK

 

 

Eagle90

Brandon...thank you for hosting the GB!  I really enjoy this GB every year!  Gives you that being a kid feeling again.  LOL!

 

 

I appreciate that very much. The world could use a great deal more of the being kind feeling right now. I enjoy this GB more than all the others because it carries more meaning than just building a kit, you're building a gift and that's special. I really want to thank everyone for coming along, it makes it really fun.

BK

 

Very well put sir!!!!  

Eagle90

Again...great work being done!!  Very inspiring!

Well, I'm calling it finished!  What a great kit!!!!  I can not say enough good things about it.  I liked it so much...yes, I did...I went and bought another one!!!  I couldn't help it!  It was such a fun kit and I couldn't decide if I wanted to do a long range escort or ground pounder....so I got another one to do a ground pounder version.  LOL!

The fit on everything was great!  It just came together almost on its own.  The decals were good too.  I had issues with the cowling decals (checkered decals), but that was just me.  LOL!  This is one of Tamiya's best kits I think!

I'm not sure if the drop tank load out is accurate, but I couldn't help it.  They both looked cool!  LOL!

BK....thank you for hosting the GB.  I enjoy this one more and more each year! 

P.S.  BK, your choice on completion pic.  Thanks again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glad you liked the kit!  You did a fantastic job on the Thunderbolt.  It's a real showstopper!

DiscoStu

 

 

Eagle90

Again...great work being done!!  Very inspiring!

Well, I'm calling it finished!  What a great kit!!!!  I can not say enough good things about it.  I liked it so much...yes, I did...I went and bought another one!!!  I couldn't help it!  It was such a fun kit and I couldn't decide if I wanted to do a long range escort or ground pounder....so I got another one to do a ground pounder version.  LOL!

The fit on everything was great!  It just came together almost on its own.  The decals were good too.  I had issues with the cowling decals (checkered decals), but that was just me.  LOL!  This is one of Tamiya's best kits I think!

I'm not sure if the drop tank load out is accurate, but I couldn't help it.  They both looked cool!  LOL!

BK....thank you for hosting the GB.  I enjoy this one more and more each year! 

P.S.  BK, your choice on completion pic.  Thanks again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glad you liked the kit!  You did a fantastic job on the Thunderbolt.  It's a real showstopper!

 

I did sir THANK YOU!!!  I could not have been happier with that kit!  Like I said, it went together so well, it was effortless!  Like it so much...yes, I bought another one at the last show I went to!  I did this one as an escort fighter, the  next one..a ground pounder!!!

Eagle90 those checkers and your weathering are superb. Nice job! 

keavdog

 

 

John the great thing is you can’t see “tacky” in pics. Appreciate hearing your experience as it’ll help us first timers with Alclad prep ours. Camo pattern and the color look really smooth!

Okay, almost halfway through the year and I'm officially halfway through my Secret Santa builds.  Calling it done on the Hellcat.  I still have the Me-109 on the bench, so it'll come up next.  For the Hellcat I dove into the spares box to find some left over PE, seatbelts and gun barrels.  I enjoyed the build.

Hellcat by Stu George, on Flickr

Hellcat by Stu George, on Flickr

Hellcat by Stu George, on Flickr

Untitled by Stu George, on Flickr

 Untitled by Stu George, on Flickr

Good looking Hellcat.  What color is that - black or dark blue?  Had to be a tough job being a carrier borne night fighter.

Glossy Sea Blue.  Makes it easy to paint.  EVERYTHING is that color.  Plus, from what I read it was as tough as nails so weathering was minimal. 

Can't imagine being a Naval night fighter.  Really have to trust your instruments.  No thanks!

Nicely done on the 'Cat.

Before the F6's had their own radar they tried working a TBF (equiped with radar) with a pair of F6's.  On one of the first of those tries, Butch O'Hare was lost.

Stu, that is a crazy good looking Hellcat. It looks like everything went together just like it should and the paint and weathering look great. Very nice work, Sir. I will update the front page.

BK

Nice looking ride you built there Stu! Love the smoothness of that paint for sure. Looking forward to watching the 109 come together as well.

That Hellcat looks sweet! 

Thanks all!  The Eduard Hellcat is a pretty easy build and an even nicer kit.  Grumman didn't mess around with funky angles or gimmicks in their fighters.  This translated to a very simple build.  Truthfully it should have been done months ago. 

I'm still working on the resin additions on the 109.  Haven't even glued fuselage halves yet.

My Hawkeye kit is nearly complete and will soon be off the bench and I will be all in on the 102 to get it wrapped up. I am totally looking forward to getting paint on that bad boy. I hope all is well with the rest of you guys.

BK

I'm doing great BK. Unfortunatly I get probably 15 min twice a week to sit at the bench. I am so busy with several things I need to do in the morning, working, making dinner, then usually working on our stuff in storage to get rid of all the excess, now that I can actually do the work, or spending a little time with my wife that that leaves me with very little time at the bench. Then it takes me all that 15 min to figure out where I left off 

Once we get all this done my time will ease off a little.

TheMongoose

Eagle90 those checkers and your weathering are superb. Nice job! 

 

Thank you sir!  I can not recommend this kit enough!  It is a beauty!

Man, the builds in here are awesome!  Very inspiring!  Great work everyone!

Alright, the Hawkeye is parked and the 102 is back on the bench. I should be in paint this weekend and I'll post up some pics.

BK

Ok, so I'm making progress on the 102. I decided I wanted a faded look on this one. SO, after referencing a ton of color pics for Vietnam of 102's and f4's I noticed that the triple color paint schemes where quite faded and blotchy with the greens almost blending together as if they were one color. With that I decided to use a dark tan and two greens or rather, a green and a field grey that looks green and then spray them blotchy and light to give them the sun beat look. I really liked how the greens turned out and the tan was a bit too "new" looking, so I faded it down using Tamiya Buff and blotched it up. I need to paint the nose yet and clear it before a panel wash and pastels to beat it up some more.

Overall, at this point in the painting I am pretty happy with the look. I should turn out quite nice when done. I look forward to seeing more progess pics from the other builds.

BK

Nice camo fade on the 102.

Will be getting back on the Vindicator the week of the 21st

  We had one of our guys guit at work, so now I'm finally getting some more hours.

That week is RV camping with my lady's bus driver's retiree bunch, so I should have time on my hands

Beautiful job there Brandon! That detail on the kit looks real nice!

Thanks for the kind words, gents. I am fairly pleased with the look thus far. I should have more updates in the coming few days.

BK

Since there's only 5 more months till Christmas I'd better stepp this up.

The Eurofighjter is still on the bench but wanted to get the MiG-29 done. This looks like it's going to be a quick build and started on it last night. As stated in an earler post, I bought a set of Polish decals for it.

I should be able to install the wings, fins and stabs tonight and start filling.

I love the Mig 29. It is one of my fave jets. I'm looking forward to seeing this one come together.

BK

Love the Mig 29.  You going with the camouflage version?

Thanks guys,

Chad, I'm going with the only UB on the sheet.

It kinda looks like the F-16's camo

Here's tonights work. The wing gaps are pretty large and not very stable so I applied some spru goo.

I'll work on the gaps tomorrow.

Thats a dead sexy aircraft there Steve. I like the scheme too, you won't lose you mind trying to paint it.

BK

Thanks BK, no, pretty easy scheme.

I filled the gaps and sanded and repeated. The wing joins look great dispite my misgivings. The intakes not so much. I sprayed the black primer and found the intakes still needed som work. I'll get on that tonight and hopefully the underside, gear, gear doors, weapons mounts ets will be ready tomorrow.

Awesome Steve! 

Got a little time in the paint booth today myself. Laid down the RLM 04 and RLM 65.