Revell 1/48 Scale F-105D Thunderchief

Today I glued the fuel tanks using the method from Eaglecash867. It worked great, the alignment and adhesion was better than the bombs. Thanks Eaglecash867!  They still need some mild scraping and sanding, but it's far better than it would've been. I'm going to let it dry overnight, then start the final surface prep. On my last Thud build 35 years ago, I glued the tanks in 5 minutes. Today it took almost an hour.

After surface prep I'll apply a coat of primer. I have never primed my models before, but I had to do it for my alclad P-38.  This Thud is molded in a very dark olive brown, so I feel a coat of light gray primer would help the main paint go on with fewer coats. It seemed to work ok for the bombs. I have a bunch of rattle can primer left over, so why not? It's not that much work, even for my lazy ass.

burrito king

Today I glued the fuel tanks using the method from Eaglecash867. It worked great, the alignment and adhesion was better than the bombs. Thanks Eaglecash867!  They still need some mild scraping and sanding, but it's far better than it would've been. I'm going to let it dry overnight, then start the final surface prep. On my last Thud build 35 years ago, I glued the tanks in 5 minutes. Today it took almost an hour.

Glad it worked well for you, Burrito King!  It definitely takes longer up front, but it saves you so much time later on since you're not having to fix as much.  I learned that method from some guys in Singapore who have a YouTube channel...I think the channel is called Spruecutters.  Give that CA and black Sharpie thing a try too when you're filling seams.  You'll love it...it changed everything for me.  Contrary to the conventional wisdom on that, its only slightly more difficult to sand than putty, and that's the good thing about it...it stays where you want it to stay, and it doesn't crack the first time you accidentally drop your model onto your benchtop.  The Sharpie leveling indicator keeps you from taking off too much and sanding into the plastic.

Your ordnance looks great!

Hi Eaglecash867, I am definitely learning that extra time up front usually results in less time and effort in the long run. Today the tanks just required a small amount of scraping. Also the 400 grit sanding sticks recommended by Gary arrived and they were perfect for final shaping after the scraping. Overall it was way easier and faster than the bombs. Tomorrow I will use your method of ca and sharpie followed by sanding. Then I will prime.

Speaking of the bombs, thanks for the compliment. My Mig Ammo SEA acrylics still haven't arrived, so I used my stash of MM enamel for the bombs. My recent results with MM enamel have been pretty bad.  Maybe it was the primer, maybe it was improved skill, but I am happy with the finish this time. I still have to do the weathering.

Also, as I look at them all together, I don't like how each one has mismatched bomb and tailfin shades. It reminds of the scene in Silence of the Lambs where Hannibal tells Clarice, "Doesn't this random scattering of sites seem desperately random?" In real life, I'm sure some or most of the bombs and tailfins actually matched. So imma repaint a couple so they match.

Did the alignment and gluing according to Eaglecash867's tips and then used ca and putty to fill seams and gaps.  It could be my imagination, but the Revell fit and alignment seemed inferior to Tamiya or Hasegawa.  So even with the good seam and gap filling techniques, I still needed to do a fair amount of scraping and 400 grit sand stick work to get the halves to blend.  But it would have been far more work without the tips, so thanks again Eaglecash867 and Gary!

It is far below the level of the master builders in this forum, but I am happy with it.  I feel like I am making progress.  Like they say, when you're at the bottom the only direction to go is up.  I still have to do some wet sanding on the primer and apply the main coats when the Mig Ammo acrylics arrive.  Next I will start building the plane itself.

The bottom seam is still visible, but it is far better than my previous work.

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Glad the 400 grit sticks worked out for you.  Me, I use something even rougher (180) and polish with higher grit.  Whatever works!

Gary

Hi Gary, idk what grit it is, but I "borrowed" a sanding stick from my wife's fingernail kit. It is probably about 180 grit and it works well for initial material removal. But lately I've been using the scraping technique with a xacto knife. Like you said, whatever works!

Now proceeding to fuselage and wings. Just a basic build, probably nothing of interest to post. Hoping to have the plane glued, surface prepped, and primed by Chistmas. Also hoping to receive the Mig Ammo acrylics in a week or two. My next post will probably be about using the Mig Ammo acrylics for the SEA camo scheme, and how they compare to MM enamels. Until then, have a great holiday, and hopefully you find plenty of models, airbrushes, paints, and other good stuff under your trees!

burrito king

 

Also, as I look at them all together, I don't like how each one has mismatched bomb and tailfin shades. It reminds of the scene in Silence of the Lambs where Hannibal tells Clarice, "Doesn't this random scattering of sites seem desperately random?" In real life, I'm sure some or most of the bombs and tailfins actually matched. So imma repaint a couple so they match.

 

Actually in real life, the fin assembly and the bomb itself usually did not match in shades of OD with the tail fins being more pristine. The bombs were kept in bomb dumps away from the aircraft flight line, exposed to weathering from the elements. The fins were kept in a seperate area protected because damage to them would affect their ballistics when dropped. The fins would be added by armorers shortly before being installed on the aircraft.

Hi stikpusher, I was working from actual photos and they did show different shades for the bombs and the tailfins, exactly like you said.  It was just that my bombs seemed to be trying too hard to look random, if that makes sense.  But based on your information, I will leave them as is and focus on weathering.  Looking at the photos, it seems to me that the bombs are steel and the fins might be aluminum.  Also, the weathering on the bombs in the bottom photo seems different from normal airframe weathering.  Like you said, the bombs are stored away from the planes and subjected to harsher conditions.  It looks like the bombs on the bottom photo may have been rolled around on the dirt or concrete.

I looked at a lot of bomb photos over the past weeks, and they range from almost brand new to heavily worn.  I am going for something in the middle.  I am going to try different weathering to try to simulate this.  Maybe some dry brushing with graphite acrylic, then rust acrylic, with some rusty raw umber washes, topped off with Taniya rust and dirt makeup.  The fins might get some light gray oxidation and dirt.  It might just be my imagination, but bombs on Navy carriers seem to have the more normal grease and oil stains like you would see on an airframe.  Maybe because they are stored differently.

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OK, so I wanted to put the yellow words on the bombs.  You can get ready made decals for about $15 for a sheet that will do maybe 10 bombs.  So I tried inkjet waterslide decal paper.  Long story short, I tried various sealing techniques but couldn't stop the ink from running when I applied them.  So I tried some laserjet waterslide decal paper.  It was better, but not what I was hoping for.  Maybe I'll give it some time, and try to apply some decal solution or some flat clear coat.  But I think I will accept defeat for now.

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Looks like you have a bit of silvering under the decal. If you gloss coat the bombs before adding the decals that could reduce or remove the chance of decal silvering. Perhaps you may want to check and see if there are any dry transfer bomb stencils available in 1/48.

It all looks like its coming together nicely, Burrito King.  I feel your pain on the frustration with printing decals.  I tried inkjet to begin with and the whole sealing process was a major PITA.  Once I finally got enough sealant on mine to keep the ink from running, the decals were incredibly thick, and then I tried using setting solution to get them settled down.  Not only did the setting solution not do much to the decal film (due to the sealant), but it started removing the sealant, turning it into a slimy mess that got stuck all over the model...and then the freakin' ink started to run because the sealant was gone.  LOL.  I got a color laser printer, just because I was tired of spending 100 bucks every 6 months to get the 10 pages I print in that amount of time printed.  The rest of the ink always just dried up from inactivity.  The first go with laser decal paper was with "the good stuff" from Micromark, and for some strange reason, that still needed to be sealed.  That didn't make any sense, since toner is more like a wax that gets melted and smashed into the paper...so that garbage went in the circular file.  Then I tried some stuff I found on Amazon made by Sunnyscopa...their clear paper.  It turned out to be the magic bullet, except for the fact that the opacity of even laser toner leaves a lot to be desired, but it didn't need sealant of any kind, and it tolerated setting agents really well without removal of the color.  For what I was trying to accomplish though, their white decal paper did it all.  Good opacity of the colors with the white background, and the decals I was making were all meant to completely cover where they were applied, with none of the underlying surface needing to show through.

As Stik already said, putting on a gloss coat before applying the decals helps significantly with getting the decal film to blend in.  Since we had talked about MRP paint before, that is one of the built-in advantages of that paint.  Even their "flat" FS colors are all actually semi-gloss, and the reason they do that is because they know you're going to put on a gloss coat anyway before decaling.  They figured there's no point in making a flat paint...so that eliminates a step.  Decals snuggle down quite nicely on bare MRP paints.  My setting solution routine usually consists of about 3 applications of MicroSol, followed by another 2 or 3 applications of Walthers Solvaset.  A lot of guys are successful using just the Solvaset, but I found it too easy to unintentionally "burn" decals with those.  The color would literally lift up and slowly ooze out of where it was meant to be.  Starting with MicroSol made it so that was no longer a risk...I no longer had to stress about using exactly the right technique.  If you get them to snuggle down, the opacity of the yellow might still leave a lot to be desired though.  Dry transfers like Stik mentioned might be a good way to deal with that issue as well on future builds.

Here's the Sunnyscopa paper if you ever wanted to give it a try some time:

https://www.amazon.com/Sunnyscopa-Urethane-Transfer-Transparent-sheets/dp/B076VFHV1F/ref=dp_prsubs_sccl_2/146-3171785-5280415?pd_rd_w=nM2wR&content-id=amzn1.sym.1179ac71-bcd0-4ec5-9c37-37cc097a57e2&pf_rd_p=1179ac71-bcd0-4ec5-9c37-37cc097a57e2&pf_rd_r=7D2074EZB1YAQRSVDT0H&pd_rd_wg=qcnvx&pd_rd_r=501844e6-434b-4786-87ed-711d3dd0082f&pd_rd_i=B076VFHV1F&th=1

Hi stikpusher, Eaglecash867, thank you so much for the advice and encouragement!  I have learned so much from this forum.  This is one of those things that seems so obvious in hindsight, I feel like a complete idiot for not thinking of it.  But I am sure gloss coat and decal solution will make a huge improvement.  I also believe soaking the decal longer might help.  Even though it was laser printed, I was so afraid of the ink running that I barely let it soak for 15 seconds.

So, I have a decision to make.  Invest more time and effort to improve the bomb decals, or regroup and fight another day.  Tbh I am reluctant to put so muich effort into bombs, I will probably get on with the rest of the build.  However, I think my next build will be the P-47D flown by Major Glenn Eagleston in France 1944.  I don't think I will find a kit with those markings, Furball has a decal set with markings for 4 or 5 different P-47's including Eagleston's.  But it is around $20 plus shipping.  So I will try the laserjet decals with the tips you provided.  Hopefully the smoother NMF finish will help.

As far as the bombs go, my main issue is opacity, the words came out too faint.  The photo was taken with a flash and zoomed in, so the words are readable.  But to the naked eye the words are barely visible.  Imo there is not much point in making the words unless you can read them.  I sized the letters to be about .028" tall, which at full scale would be 1.34".  These are way too big compared to actual photos.  If I make the size even close to accurate, they would be way too faint and small to read.  Plus, the moderate weathering I am planning will further obliterate the words.  I think I will use the remaining decals I have already printed to practice the tips on a test A-10 I have laying around.

Your experience with the inkjet is pretty similar to mine.  Also, last week I had the Amazon Sunnyscopa in my cart and was in checkout when I saw the shipping was $5.99.  So I emptied my cart and bought Koala with free shipping from Walmart.  I saved about $5, but maybe got an inferior product.  Hopefully it will work better with the tips.

It has been around 3 weeks since I ordered the Mig Ammo acrylic SEA camo set.  I cannot get results with the tracking link, so idk where it is.  If it doesn't arrive in a couple weeks, I might order MRP from Spraygunner or Sprue Bros.  Even if I end up receiving the Mig Ammo, I plan on building other SEA camo planes, so it won't go to waste.

No problem Burrito King.  I forgot to mention it yesterday...not sure how you're soaking your decals.  I'm thinking you're doing it the way I used to, which is to dip each decal in water for 20-30 seconds (or 15 as you mentioned).  Something that I started doing that saves me a bunch of time on decaling is to take a shallow Gladware container (their 25 ouce square container), put a sponge in it, and get the sponge soaking wet.  Then you can take all of the decals you plan to put on in a sitting, cut them out...or leave them together in a larger patch if all of the adjacent decals on the sheet are ones you'll be using right then...and place them, decal-side up, on the wet sponge.  You'll see the water slowly being absorbed by the backing paper and it won't take long at all before they slide off the paper easily.  This method tends to help the decal retain more of its adhesive, since its not being dissolved and washed away in a glass of water.  You can lay multiple decals on the sponge and work at your leisure.  The other cool thing about doing it this way is if something comes up, or you just plain get burned out for the day, you can put a lid on that container and set it aside for another time...or even another day.  The decals will still be ready to go and won't be damaged by that.

Just a comment since you mentioned Furball Aero decals.  They are definitely well worth the money if you can swing it.  Their resolution and registration is unrivaled, and they're also extremely thin, strong, and flexible.  They lay down very nicely and most of them don't even have a perceptible edge once applied.  Can't say enough good things about them.  I used a couple of Furball Aero decal sets on my Marine Corps F-4B project (both their squadron markings decals and their placards/stencils decals).  That was quite a decaling project on an F-4.  I think it was well over 300 decals, with every panel placard and stencil being faithfully reproduced (heh...I even checked them against the NAVAIR for that aircraft that specifies placards and stencils).  The afforementioned sponge technique for soaking decals turned that into far less of a daunting task than it would have been.

Here's a link to a WIP I did for that build so you can get an idea of how Furball decals look.:

https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/190981.aspx

Hi Eaglecash 867, thanks again for the advice!  I was soaking the decals, I thought that was the only way.  I would've never thought of the sponge method in a hundred years.  But I will definitely try it with these decals at my earliest opportunity.

I will probably try the DIY decals with my next build.  But I will keep the Furball decals in mind as plan B.  So far I spent around $20 on waterslide decal sheets and $8 on rattle can clear coat.  I can probably use the clear coat for other stuff so it's not a total waste.  If I can't get the Koala laserjet paper to work, I will try the Sunnyscopa.  If that doesn't work, then I'll go for the Furball.

I was able to open the tracking for the Mig Ammo SEA camo set, it says still in international transit.  It doesn't give a delivery date so I am just waiting.  I just started the cockpit and fuselage.  With all the other distractions in my life, I probably won't even prime it until after New Years.

Your F4 build is beautiful.  I have the Monogram 1/48 F4 Mig Ace on the shelf, and when I build it I will use yours as a reference.

Received the Mig Ammo Tac Air 60's-70's SEA camo acrylics kit today.  I ordered it on 11/22, so the cheapest shipping option took one month.  Not bad imo.  I already glued the fuselage using the tips provided earlier, and I think it came out good.  I still did around 2 hours of scraping, sanding sticks, and sanding, with maybe 2 more hours to go.  But it could have been way worse.  Then I will glue on the wings and horiz stabilizers, then maybe do some wing root putty and sanding, then rattle can priming.  Then I will spray the Mig Ammo acrylic with no mixing or thinning, which sounds just right for me.  My quest is to find the easiest, laziest methods that will give decent results.

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I hope everyone had a great Christmas.  Thud is taking shape.  I followed the advice of the experineced model builders and took my time sanding and fitting the nose gear doors.  I think it was worth it, the extra time and effort here will save more time later, by reducing the putty and sanding.  After that, just need to glue the wing landing gear doors and do some light sanding on the wing roots.  I think I will be able to apply a light coat of rattle can primer by this weekend.

Then I will practice applying the Mig Ammo acrylic on some plastic spoons.  All the videos and forums say to apply it in several very light coats.  I am getting better at applying light coats, but sometimes I just can't stop myself, and try to get coverage in one coat.  So I will practice before I spray the model.  I will also apply Quick Shine to the practice coats to make sure it doesn't affect the acrylic.

The model has a pretty cool wing spar that supports the wings.  It feels pretty strong and solid, but there were pretty big gaps at the wing roots.  I think I filled them pretty good with the Vallejo putty, I'll see how they look after priming.  There was a 3/32" gap between the horiz stabilizers and the fuselage.  From photos I see the stablizers are all moving, but the gaps still looked too big.  SInce they are all moving it doesn't make sense to fill the gap with putty.  So I had to do some filing and sandning to get the gaps around 1/32".  It looks a lot better to me.  However, the right stabilizer has a slightly larger gap that I didn't notice til after I glued it.  I think I can live with it. so I left it as is.

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Thinking about the wing roots, I think the gaps were caused by the model being too anhedral. The downward droop of the wings may be the cause of the upper wing root gaps. I could have added some shims or sprue goo at the outboard ends of the spar. That might have corrected the geometry and reduced the upper wing root gaps. The lower wing roots gaps may have gotten larger, but those are less noticeable and could have been just as easily filled.

As best as I can tell from photos and diagrams, the real wing geometry was either dead straight, or very slightly anhedral. Pretty sure the model is too anhedral. Either way, it's too late now. I'm absolutely too lazy to take it apart, try to add the correct amount of material to the wing spars, and reglue the wings. Just gonna have to live with it.

Finished the surface prep and the landing gear doors, then applied a coat of rattle can primer.  My overall surface prep is getting better, but still needs work.  Idk how it is for everyone else, but for me it is definitely something that will require lots and lots of practice.  Ditto for the landing gear doors, I am getting better but still need to work at it.  The hints I got on previous posts definitely helped, but at the end of the day the execution is on me.  It doesn't help that the kits are designed to be built with gear down, and fitting the doors for gear up requires a lot of filing and sanding.  For this I even had to use my dremel tool in some spots to avoid hours of filing and sanding.  It was really stressful because one slip could really cause some damage, but I managed to pull it off without any disastorous mishaps.

I am also getting better at applying the rattle can primer.  As with most spray painting, the trick seems to be applying it in thin coats, maintaining the proper distance at all times, and not getting impatient.  I think it is better to err in the direction of keeping the spray can too far, rather than too close.  If you apply too little, the following mist coats will blend in.  Once you apply too much, you are screwed.  Mist coats may have a dusty finish, but a light sanding with 3000 grit or even a good buffing with an old t-shirt will take care of that.

I see some spots that will need some additional putty and sanding.  Then I will practice applying the Mig Ammo acrylic.  I hope to apply the camo base coats in a couple weeks.

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Did some test spraying with the Mig Ammo acrylic on a plastic knife since I couldn't find a spoon.  At first I used it straight from the bottle, but I couldn't get good flow.  So I thinned it a little with some distilled water and got nice flow at 20 psi.  I applied it in thin mist coats and I think I got the hang of it pretty quickly.  I got smooth and even coverage with little effort.  Afterwards I disassembled the airbrush and cleaned out some dried paint in the passage at the bottom of the cup leading to the nozzle.  It looked like some dried green MM enamel from the Me-262 I built last spring. So maybe next time I will get better flow.

I let the acrylic dry for 24 hours then applied some Quick Shine with a brush.  I didn't see any signs of it affecting the base coat.  On the other side of the knife I applied some rattle can clear coat I had left over from my unsuccessful inkjet decal sealing experiments.  That also went on without any problems.  So I think I am ready to apply the main base coats and clear coats on the Thud.

I know spraying plastic utensils is different from spraying the actual model, but so far I feel good about the Mig Ammo acrylic.  It was easy to use, the results looked good, and cleanup was easy.  Just shoot distilled water until it comes out clean, then some IPA.  My big challenge is to find a time slot when I can apply the base coat with no interruptions or distractions.  I think I will have to break it up so I shoot one color per day.  Hopefully I can show the results in a couple weeks.

An update on the clear coat test, a few hours after application I went back to do some work on the centerline bomb rack.  I checked the knife sample and the rattle can Rustoleum Crystal Clear Enamel caused a frosty, grainy appearance on the Mig Ammo acrylic.  So that doesn't seem like a good combo.  The Quick Shine still looks good.

What work would I possibly be doing on the bomb rack at this stage of the build?  Two things.  The locating holes in the fuselage are not drilled.  About 10 steps after the instructions say to glue the fuselage together, the instructions say to cut the holes in the bomb bay doors for the bomb rack locating pins.  The diagram gives a rough idea where, but it's hard to be sure.  I think there might be divots on the inner surface of the bomb bay doors, but of course they are no longer visible.  It would have been much easier to do this before gluing the fuselage together.  My bad for not reviewing the instructions beforehand, and for not noticing the bomb rack holes were not drilled.  So now I am using photos and drawings to try locating the bomb rack correctly.

The second thing is the mating surface of the bomb rack had a step, which would cause the rack to lean to one side when placed against the bomb bay doors even with the pins in the locating holes.  So I had to do some scraping, filing, and sand sticking to get it squared.  Once I drill the holes, I will know where the bomb rack goes and do a mock fitup so I can drill the hole to locate the tube that will eventually be part of the homemade stand I will use to support the model.  Then I can apply the light gray base coat to the underside.

Looks like its coming along nicely, BurritoKing.  Hanging ordnance was always a pain for me as well.  I also found that by the time the instructions have you hanging ordnance that its often too late to drill holes or implement other things that would have made it easier.  So, these days, that's among the first things to plan for.  I've gotten to the point where I'm trying to use the little built-in plastic pegs that the kit comes with as little as possible.  These days I'm cutting those pegs off, drilling holes the same diameter as the pegs, and gluing in little copper rods for the pylon or ordnance attachment.  If the space inside the wing/fuselage allows, I'm epoxying in some little brass bearings of the appropriate diameter.  When I do that, I can install and remove the ordnance at will until I'm ready for everything to go together permanenty, and I don't have to worry about messing up the paint job by desperately trying to get things to stick.

Also, just a trick I stumbled on recently for masking the cockpit area for painting.  If you mask the clear parts of your canopy and windscreen, you can temporarily attach those to the model before you paint.  You'll want to run a little strip of tape on the inside of the canopy at the place where it meets the windscreen to keep paint from getting in there.  For temporarily attaching the canopy and windscreen to the fuselage, I have actually found ordinary toothpaste to be awesome for that.  You apply it fairly liberally along the edges, push the canopy onto the fuselage, and the toothpaste that oozes out the sides can be easily cleaned up with a damp q-tip.  Let that sit for an hour or two and it not only acts as a temporary adhesive, but as a caulk to keep paint from getting in underneath it.  When you're done painting, clearcoating, decaling, weathering, and clearcoating again, you can pull the clear parts back off and clean the toothpaste residue away with another damp q-tip.  That will give you nice clean, sharply defined edges between the canopy sill color and the fuselage color.  It won't peel paint away like white glue would if you used that as a temporary adhesive.  Its a good way to kill two birds with one stone, since you want to paint the canopy anyway...and carefully masking all of the stuff in the cockpit is kind of a PITA.  This makes it much easier.  You can also use toothpaste to cover decals in those instances where you have to make a spot repair to your paintjob and have to put mask something where a decal or two might be.  Just put the toothpaste on the decals, let it dry, then mask.  It'll keep the masking tape from pulling your decals off.  Just use a damp sponge or q-tip to wipe the toothpaste off after you're done.

Hi Eaglecash867, thanks for the complments and tips.  I am going to try the tip with replacing the plastic pegs on the bomb racks and fuel tank pylons.  I think I will use 1/16" dia bronze rod, it is about $2.42 for three ft at McMaster-Carr.  For the bearings I think I will use 1/8" aluminum tubing with .066" ID, around $2.30/ft at McMaster-Carr.  My main challenge is to drill the holes for the 1/16" rods.  My hand drilling skills are the worst in human history, I have a house full of crooked picture frames, wall mirrors, curtain rods, and drywall anchors to prove it.  I was wondering how I would drill tiny holes in small plastic pieces without f-ing up  Then I remembered reading about pin vises in one of the model forums.  I never used one before, but I guess I'll give it a try.  This weekend I'll go to Harbor Freight or Michaels and pick up a pin vise and bits for around $10.

I already did the canopy and windscreen masking with Parafilm-M.  So it will be easy for me to use the toothpaste tip when the time comes, probably after I apply the light gray base coat on the underside.

Thanks for the tip Eaglecash867!  It was an adventure, but I managed to pull it off for the centerline pylon.  This morning I picked up the rod and tubing from McMaster, and also the pin vise from Michaels.  The pin vise came with 10 drill bits and was $6 after applying the 40% off coupon for buying online.  Total cost for everything was $12.  Then I got to work.

1. The pin vise was easy to use and driled holes quickly and with little effort.
2. I cut the rod and tubing with my Dremel (actually the $25 Walmart version called HyperTough).  Then used a file to square and deburr the ends.
3. Rookie mistake #1.  While I was gluing the rods into the pylon, I broke the little cable assemblies.  Luckily, I noticed before I completely oblitereated them, and was able to repair them with tweezers and CA.
4. I looked at a lot of photos but could not pinpoint the exact location of the pylon.  Finally I looked at the photo of the completed model on the box and saw that the fuse extender on the forward bombs comes about even with the square thing sticking from the bottom of the fuselage.  So I used that as a reference to locate the holes.
5. Rookie mistake #2.  While drilling the holes in the fuselage, the drill got stuck and while trying to free it I got sideways and spilt the fuselage seam forward of the bomb bay.  Luckily I was able to reglue it with Tamiya extra thin cement with minimal loss of alignment.  I did some sandsticking and sanding and I think it's as good as before.
6. Rookie mistake #3.  While inserting the aluminum tubes into the fuselage, I stuck them in too far and they went into the fuselage.  Luckily, after a couple minutes of shaking, I got them to fall out of the wing root intakes and was able to proceed.

It took around 3 bours, but the final results were good.  The pylon goes on and off smoothly, and when the time comes for final gluing, I think it'll be solid.

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Are you going to be displaying this on some sort of "in flight" stand?

Hi sitkpusher!  Since I build most of my planes with landing gear up, it has been a challenge to display them.  In my childhood and young adulthood I just hung them from the ceiling with fishing line.  But now, I prefer to display them on a shelf.  I looked for cheap stands on the internet, but I coulcn't find any.  I found a youtube video that described how to make an affordable homemade stand.  It uses 1/4" plastic tubing with 1/16" wall to fit 1/8" steel rod.  One piece of tubing is embedded in a plaster base.  The other piece of tubing is glued to the bottom of the fuselage.  I found the best way to do this is to drill a 1/4" hole in the bottom of the fuselage instead of gluing the tubing directly to the bottom of the fuselage, due to the curvature of the fuselage.  Below is the stand I made for my Me-262.  It is defintely cheap looking, but it does the job.

Actually, I don't drill the 1/4" hole in the fuselage.  I am scared the drill bit in an electric drill will cause too much vibration or grab an edge, and split the fuselage.  So I carefully grind a hole with my HyperTough dremel at the lowest speed.

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Thats an interesting dispaly concept. I do like the in flight profile. I have seen some guys use clear acrylic rod in the exhaust nozzle(s) on jets for a climbing pose.

Glad it went relatively well for you BurritoKing! With a little repetition, you'll have that technique down to a science.  For drilling holes in plastic I use my Tamiya scribe as a center-punch and then start with the smallest drill bit in my sets of drill bits, and progress through each size to gradually open the hole to the desired diameter...keeps you from cracking things or getting rough edges due to the plastic tearing.

I found a really cool place to get all kinds of small diameter metal tubing and rods.  They're called Component Supply Company, and they actually provide the raw materials to the medical industry for making hypodermic needles and so forth.  Just another option available to you.  Relatively low cost and they provide excellent service, even if you're just the guy buying one or two pieces like I usually am.  In the last couple of weeks, I used some of their stainless steel rod and tube material to make a pretty convincing 1/25 scale car antenna that telescopes.  Got even smaller diameter rod and tube material to make lock levers and bushings for the same 1/25 scale car.  Really cool stuff you can get from them for modeling. 

Nice

Hey guys, thanks for the encouragement and compliments. The acrylic rod sounds like a more aesthetic choice than the steel rods. I'm sure McMaster Carr has several affordable options. My next build will probably be a F4, I will try to figure out how to mount acrylic in the exhaust nozzles.

I am definitely getting better at using the pin vise and brass rod. I was doing some vigorous buffing of the primer before the base coat, and had a lame ass moment where the cloth got tangled with the right horiz stabilizer and snapped it right off. I drilled it out and put in a brass pin, drilled a hole in the fuselage, and everything lined up nicely. I checked the website for Component Supply Co and it does have a great selection of interesting materials.

I completed the stabilizer repair and been ready for the base coats. But I need a couple hours of uninterrupted time to do this. Not easy for me during the week. Also southern California is in a cold spell this week. By the time I get home from work and get ready to paint, the temperature in my outdoor work area is in the low 50's. That's too cold for me lol. I could try to gut it out, but I like to comfortable and focused when I'm airbrushing. Imma wait for Saturday and try do it in the early afternoon.