Hello again , guys. Got a little Cessna 172 rolling down the production line and is in the final stages as of today. This kit is being built up to represent one of the many 172's I have flown - I chose this one because I have some particularly fond memories of flying this with a buddy of mine on a few occasions. One of which, we ended up sleeping in the plane overnight after getting stuck in Bakersfield, CA. He folded up into the back seat, and I laid across the front seats with me legs hanging out the door. Needeless to say we didn't sleep too well ;) But what a great memory - so I wanted to make a replica of her.
Video of me flying with the above-mentioned buddy filming me:
I looked everywhere, and I really could have sworn that I took photos of the interior before assembly - but I guess either I didn't or they are hiding in a place where I will find them as soon as I finish this post 
So here's the earliest shot I have of her, assembly done and ready for paint. As some of you may know (especially you, Don!) this bird is definitely a tail sitter - I chose to fill up the engine bay with weight (don't remember what I used at this point... I think it was fishing weights) and blanked off the cowling intakes and the nose gear hole/space with tape to be painted black. Not the best solution but it will have to do.
Propeller spinner done up in some Alclad...
Masking off the green trim. Used Testors Green Metallic Flake. Aircraft was painted with Testors white - same as my Staggerwing. Windows masked with Bare Metal Foil.
Lots of bleed along the panel lines - definitely should've sealed everything up with a coat of white or clear first! But other than that, it turned out quite nicely. Starting to peel off window masks here too. Unfortunately, while unmasking the aircraft, the left wing strut decided to make it's escape... and escape it did because I cannot find it anywhere!! Trying to get ahold of Minicraft for a replacement but their email doesnt work and they arent answering the phone - not sure what I am going to do at this point but I am pressing on, as that will not be difficult to add after the build is complete. I may attempt scratch-building one - I just dont really have a lot of experience with that so I am not sure how to do that.
Masked and shooting the gold, using Model Masters Gold enamel. Used super-thinly cut masking tape for the "stripes" at the ends of the gold trim and the wingtips. I also did the green on top of the cowling after shooting the gold and realizing that I had completely missed that while I was working with the green. After this, I did some extensive touching up of all the green-trim bleeds as well as all the other touchups needed around the plane and did the detail painting (gear touched up with white and detailed with black and various metal colors, cowling intake blanks done in black).
And thats how she stands as of right now. What's left?
- N-numbers applied, along with the very few other decals ("Cessna" on the wingtips, and thats about it lol)
- Prop blades completed (it still looks like the above picture) and then installed
- Wingtip/Beacon lights scratch-made, installed, and painted.
- Wash & weathering. Planning on having a light gray wash to pop out all of the rivet and panel details (which, by the way, are absolutely beautiful on this little kit!), along with some light staining from certain points like fuel caps and whatnot, very similar to how I did my Staggerwing. Belly will be getting some grime and grease as well.
- Window Polishing
- Antenna Installation - will be using two kit antennas as well as adding two scratch-made antennas on the tail. Might add a GPS antenna as well but probably won't bother with it.
- Final seal with a few coats of gloss.
- Someday, do something about that missing strut!