The 50 Shades of Gray Group Build!

Roster and Completed Builds

Glamdring - 1/350 Trumpter USS Freedom

tempestjohnny - 1/72 SAAB Gripen

stikpusher - 1/48 Revell Germany X-35

lewbud - 1/72 Revell/Germany F/A-18C 

lostagain - 1/350 Academy (Reuben James), as HMAS Melbourne

Bish - 1/72 Airfix Harrier GR.9A

UnwaryPaladin - Accurate Miniatures Dauntless SBD-1

modelcrazy - TBD

Tomcat -  #1. 1/72 Monogram Ef-111A

           #2.  1/72 Monogram F-15E Strike Eagle

68gt -  1/72 Fujimi F-4D 

Theuns - 1/48 Academy F-4b

Crown r n7 - 1/48 Haseawa F-16C

Hutch6390 - 1/144 scale Revell Type VII C U-Boat 

Real G - Bandai Imperial Super Star Destroyer

Plasticjuunkie - 1/32 Revell F-14A

bobbaily - AMT '51 Chevorlet Bel Air

oortiz10 - Build #1 1/48 Revell B-1

Build #2 Revell 1/48 Stearman PT-17

painklr - 1/48th Academy F-15C Eagle

TheMongoose -  1/35 Academy USMC AH-1Z

rooster513 - 1/48 Revell F-15E

tempestjohnny

I'm in. 1/72 SAAB Gripen. Also I think the end date is 3/1/21 not 20

 

Good catch!  Yes it is for 1 year, not 1 day.  That would otherwise be cruel.  

I'll add you, and welcome!

Sign me up for a 1/48 X-35.

Put me down for a 1/72 Revell/Germany F/A-18C in Canadian markings.

Shame, I was looking forward to the 24 hour challenge...

HMAS Melbourne, 1/350 Academy kit (Reuben James)

Don't have decals yet, but that's a minor detail...

I'm in. Airfix 1/72nd Harrier GR.9A.

I'm in. Accurate Miniatures Dauntless SBD-1, Ewa Field, December 6 1941

I'm in with something.

Glamdring

 

 

tempestjohnny

I'm in. 1/72 SAAB Gripen. Also I think the end date is 3/1/21 not 20

 

 

 

 

Good catch!  Yes it is for 1 year, not 1 day.  That would otherwise be cruel.  

I'll add you, and welcome!

 

Depends on the kit. A Tamiya 1/72 P-51D could definitely be started and finished within a day.

Welcome all!  

lewbud

 

 

Glamdring

 

 

tempestjohnny

I'm in. 1/72 SAAB Gripen. Also I think the end date is 3/1/21 not 20

 

 

 

 

Good catch!  Yes it is for 1 year, not 1 day.  That would otherwise be cruel.  

I'll add you, and welcome!

 

 

 

 

Depends on the kit. A Tamiya 1/72 P-51D could definitely be started and finished within a day.

 

Yes, but finding an uninterrupted day for modeling would be the real accomplishment!

I would like to join in. I have a Monogram 1/72 scale Ef-111A that I have been itching to build.

Welcome Mark!

I'm in, just have to remember which I was going to start with.

I can start with a Fujimi F-4D in 1/72 scale.  It's the 906TFG, 89 TFS 30th anniversary one.

Got you added, welcome aboard!

I'll probably start this one over the weekend so here is the unstarted kit.

That is exciting!  I love Phantoms.

And I’m in!

So I bought this kit long ago while on deployment overseas. It was on clearance at our base PX.

I have held off building it for one reason or another. But with my recent move and seeing F-35s flyover and near my new home nearly every day I have developed a great fondness for this aircraft, and the urge to build one. I researched this kit and saw that it would be a huge project to make it into the production type. But with some minor tweaks, it is easily corrected into the flight test development prototype. So I raided another kit and obtained the long flight test nose instrumentation boom. And being an old So. Cal. native with personal and family connections to the aerospace industry there, as well as multiple visits to Edwards AFB, this project took root...

So I started this build yesterday, with the added impetus of trying out my recently acquired Micro Weld glue. (shameless self plug to read my review here) I started with the basic cockpit assembly yesterday. But I think that I’m going to dress it up a bit based off what little that I can see in photos of the X-35A and X-35B prototypes. Which are actually the same airframe, but after A flight test was complete, the aircraft was sent back to the plant for modification into the B configuration.

Anyways, here are the photos of my basic cockpit construction

And basic seat, which I’m going to modify

Stay tuned for more eventual updates...

I got started on the Phantom as well and they are box stock Fujimi cockpits.  I figured whats one Phantom is Phantastic then two Phantoms should be Phantabulous!

Nice start on the F-35 and Phantoms, good to see some activity on this GB. 

I haven't started mine yet, an SBD-1 in gray. The pre-war colors are tempting, so I'm thinking about switching projects for the GB. 

joe

So today I spent a good bit of time starting improvements in the cockpit. I have found a few good reference photos, and while by no means all showing, they do reveal that the kit was bit fanciful in some details of the front office. Particularly on the IP and the ejection seat. They also left a big empty shelf on the area behind the seat which I will be filling up with stuff from my spares bins.

Basic seat

Seat (with fictitious side “horns” cut off) and IP

Beginning corrections to seat and IP

So my afternoon session at the bench yesterday was spent improving the kit ejection seat and cockpit rear shelf. I was able to track down the actual seat type used on the X-35, a variant of the SJU family, and based my updates to the seat on photos of those. I had to change the shape of the sidewalls, the head rest, and add quite a few little details.

I just need to add a harness now... I also added the prominent “black boxes” visible on the cockpit rear shelf along with some wiring...

And a test fit...

 some adjustments needed, one more item to add, then on to the IP...

Very nice guys!  Thanks for keeping up with the build.  The question is, which will get done first, you buildsor the GB badge!?!

I hope the badge!

That’s a good question Glam... it doesn’t worry me either way though...

Today’s update:

I added the last bit of detail to the cockpit rear wall that I was wanting put in, a noticeable pipe or conduit. That was made from an item in my spares bin.

Then I went to work on the IP. Now it at least resembles the real thing. I won’t claim that it replicates the IP...

And test fitting it all together

From the front

From the rear

All ready for paint now... and a harness that I am salvaging from my spares bin...

tempestjohnny

Nice use of gizmology Stik

 

Thanks! If you cant make it, fake it

Can I come play? I have a 1/48 Academy F-4b in USN scheme I started last night.

Theuns