Mike , like seeing these old kits whipped into a nice looking build! I do'nt know how humid it is were you are , but I've had that happen here with clear coats and it was always really humid out when it happened

I suppose it's a bit humid, but the temperature dropped from warm the last few days. I'm assuming temperature was the culprit.

The outdoor spray can season is over I think lol.

Of the build, I usually love detailing out these old Monogram kits with loads of scratch built greeblies, but this kit doesn't even included a cockpit to detail lol.

The later Monogram kits such as the P-40, P-51, P-61, P-38, Corsair, and such are worth dumping the extra efforts into and can be very rewarding when the effort is given.

This kit is not one of those. I'm not even going to keep the windows clear. I'm going to black them out before I'm done. With this kit, it just looks better IMHO, when it's hanging from the ceiling.

Thanks for taking a look at this one, Trey.

I think I'm at the point where I can gloss this thing up and get the decals applied. Although I probably should've left the pitot and cannon barrels off until later. I always get carried away with something. 

I built that kit as a kid in the 1970s!  The retractable landing gear was absolutely necessary in order to have dogfights with my friend’s Monogram Corsair!

Lol! The landing gear still function on this build. I did glue the small doors open just so they stayed in the correct position though. It's a hanger so it doesn't bother me for this role.

Mike, I am working on that exact kit right now. I too was surprised how few part there are. But, it is what it is and not surpising gving the age of this kit, but I'm having fun with it. That is the point, right?

Dang right it's all about fun!

In other news, I finally snapped one of the propeller blades off, so I did the logical thing and broke the rest of them off.

Then I rounded out the hub, drilled holes, counter sunk for faux blade holes, drilled the blades and inserted pins, filled the hub with Milliput, inserted the blades and made sure they were symetrical.

The instructions call for wood, so while I had the blades pinned I resprayed them in two tones of brown and then gave them few cotes of burnt sienna oil wash to give them the proper stained wood tone. I'm not sure if this is the right look, as I know they should be painted red-brown as they previously were, however they look really cool like this lol.

I'm quite happy with it lol. Looks neat! Now tomorrow I'll need to carefully pull the blades out and respray that beautiful silver I had on there before. 

Looks great!  Nice save on the prop, good trick to stow away for the future.  

Hey, thank you!

And you're welcome to add that trick to your skills, for sure! For kits like this one it's a nice trick to have in the tool box.

Hey Mike,

      I think you did a pretty good job considering the age of the kit.  It will like right proper when hanging from the ceiling.

     Now you need a kit that needs a lot of scratchbuilt greeblies.  You seem to enjoy doing that, and have done some pretty cool stuff in that department!

Thanks, Dwayne! 

Don't worry my friend, I have plenty more Monovell kits in the stash just for that purpose. You will get to see me detail the crap out of stuff again. I'm just currently playing catch up with a lot of projects.

Nice job on that Zero!  Yeah, I think it's a fun kit, too, and I don't care what today's modeler thinks of old Monogram kits.  I grew up on those.

Is that masking on the canopy, or did you paint it black from the inside?  I can't tell from your photos.  But it occurred to me that you may have painted it black-like the airliner builders do.  Why not?  As a display model, it's a good solution.

M. Brindos

...I have plenty more Monovell kits in the stash...

P-40B's, my friend, P-40B's!

Yes, sir! I still have one in the stash!

the Baron

Nice job on that Zero!  Yeah, I think it's a fun kit, too, and I don't care what today's modeler thinks of old Monogram kits.  I grew up on those.

Is that masking on the canopy, or did you paint it black from the inside?  I can't tell from your photos.  But it occurred to me that you may have painted it black-like the airliner builders do.  Why not?  As a display model, it's a good solution.

 

I basically colored in the windows with an artists fine tip marker. There are some mistakes where I drew outside the lines, but I'll clean those up later.

Monogram kits are classic. True tests of ones skill levels lol.

Instead of Vallejo silver, I switched to Chrome this time. That propeller hub looks fairly realistic in the right light angle lol.

I suppose decals should be next.

She's a beaut, Mike!  I just finished one for the Shelf of Doom GB a couple weeks ago:

Nice!! I love it!

Looking great Mike!

Thanks, Trey! Im starting to see this thing actually look pretty good. I just gave the landing legs a wash and that really made the details on them pop. So from the front it's looking kinda cool lol!

Ohhhhhhhhh, very cool!!! 

Thanks, Gam! 

Decals have gone down like paint with the Micro Sol. These things have behaved so well I'm not sure I'm in the same universe anymore lol.

Not too many decals with this kit, but they do make it colorful and I'm going to love hanging this one up with my P-36!

All the decals on and a light Cote of matte to bring down the shine - needs work (shrug).

Honestly there are just a few minor touch up spots to fix so this is pretty much completed. I hit the landing gear lower oleos with Molotow chrome which may be too much for the scale, but they shine really purdy, nuhyuk.

Time to finish it up and hang it.

It's difficult to show off the Molotow chrome on the oleos. It's shiny as all get out, but the pictures don't do it justice at all.

Beautiful stuff, this Molotow chrome!

Well thank you very much!

It actually surprises me that this kit actually turned out pretty decent for such a lackluster kit. Really wish I'd built a pit and left the glass clear. It would actually be worth some real effort lol.

She looks like a Zero!!!

Nice work, it's not the model it's the modeler!!! 

Great finish, she looks sharp!