3RD ANNUAL SECRET SANTA GROUP BUILD FOR AIRCRAFT

Progress update on the F-105D.  I managed to score some OOP Albatross decals for the, um, "adult" themed nose art from e-bay.  Cockpit tub has been painted, sidewalls too.  Working on the seat and IP now.  Still trying to decide if I'm going to *Gasp* rescribe this.  Guess I'll see how assembly goes first.

Now thats some great work! Thanks for posting, the wildcats always looked like a goofy yet tough plane. Which one to you was a better pleasure to build?

Ok guys, I'm calling the wildcats done.  As you may or may not remember, Max (whose P-47 looks great by the way) got me a Tamiya F4F-4 for Christmas '08.  Finally it has been completed.  He also threw in a moto-tug for the kit that is in the process of being completed, however, I haven't been documenting that.  I must say that this kit is great.  Detail is excellent.  Fit is Tamiya.  It's awesome.  thinking that I didn't have enough on my plate I decided that I would do a side-by-side build with the Hobby Boss F4F-4.  Another good kit.  Each kit gave me a little trouble along the way, but I think that the outcome is desirable.  Without further ado...

Tamiya is 28, Hobby Boss is 2

Mike, very nice progress and the cats are looking good.

Max, very nice finish on the Jug. That has to be on of the wildest paint schemes ever on a 47. Came out great.

I havent seen Az in a very long time anywhere on the forums

Steve

Has anyone herd from Azgaron? I sent him the Mitusbishi T2 kit and ive not seen any progress here.

Very nice Max.  Superb painting and detail work.  Please don't stick that fork in it !

Chris

RadMax8

I'm working on mine, I think I'll finish the wash tonight (I hope!) and if everything goes ok, I'll be able to finish by this weekend!

Aha!! A deadline I can finally meet! Well, a personal deadline anyway! The P-47M is finally done!

Stick a fork in it!

Kit was the 1/48th Tamiya offering with Superscale decals, a Quickboost gunsight (delightful, btw!), and a wired-up engine. I made the aerial with invisible thread and a tiny spring I made with an individual wire out of a small gauge wire.This was one of my better builds, however the paint job fought me pretty hard. I'd like to say thanks to Leaadas for sending this kit to me!

Everyone, your builds look great! I like the JU-88, I've got one of my own, but without all the PE goodies.

Mike, Glad to see you're making progress on the Wildcat! Looks like you've done a great job! Now you just need to paint the pilot and moto-tug I gave you!

I'm working on mine, I think I'll finish the wash tonight (I hope!) and if everything goes ok, I'll be able to finish by this weekend!

Steve, looks great!  I would like to say that I haven't forgotten about my Wildcat from Max, I'm still plugging away at it, slowly and surely.  Even slower since I'm building another cat to go with it.  This very well could end up being transformed into a diorama sometime down the line.  Anyway, painting is pretty much done.  I've applied decals and just shot the overlying coat of future to seal them in.  Here's how they look right now.

Tamiya Cat

HobbyBoss Cat

In a couple days I'll figure out some more to do with them.

Mike

Thanks guys. Enjoyed the build a lot but one skill I havent mastered yet is the prop weathering. That big silver streak was a mistake of dry brushing and has been corrected. Still havent figured out when is too much or too little. Anyone got their favourite method of doing this they would like to share

Steve

Great Job Steve.   Love the weathering.

Nice work, Steve.  The canopy looks great., as does the overall paint and weathering.  I would not think the props would have the kind of wear you show, instead more along the leading edge toward the tip. 

Wow,  that's very impressive.  Great detail work and great job on the painting / weathering.  I can't imagine that much was lost with the unused PE.  That's really fine work Steve.

Chris

Well guys Im calling this one done. I chickened out on the balloon cutter as the PE was way to fiddly and couldent keep its form. I may play with it at a later date when I have more time and patients. In recap, gift was from Warhammer, thank you very much. Its the dragon edition of the 1/48 JU-88 A6. Kit came with an extensive PE sets for everything and it made for a slow build. I didnt use all of them and a lot flung off never to be seen again. Still it was an enjoyable build and happy how it turned out. Model master enamels used and a wash and pastels for weathering. Antenna is fishing line

Once again this was a great GB and its my favourate yearly build. Thanks all for looking and now its on to this years kit.

Steve

Thanks Zip - and good to hear from you man. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours as well.  Christmas was great for us with our eldest home from college and everyone healthy while visiting extended family.  It's been a good break.

Good Luck with the Intruder - and be sure to post pics !

Chris 

Chris, another amazing job friend! Funny thing is I got this kit for Christmas. Higher powers must be trying to tell me something. I love seeing your builds. You do a wonderful job on all of them. Hope you had a great Christmas and hoping the New Year finds you and yours happy and healthy.

God Bless

Zip

I finished it up last nite by adding the wires and touch up paint. Too late to photo it and I have to go out of town for new years so I will probably post pics fri or sat. The interior looks good and a lot of the detail is visable but not all the work that went into it

Steve

P.S. Happy New Years to all

Thanks Steve,

Looking forward to seeing the Ju-88 finished.  the build pics have been very impressive.  The detail on the interior is especially nice.  Is it very visible when all closed up ? 

Chris

Chris, very nice work indeed and she turned out great. I agree with the new wing walk area, much better than what the decals looked like and well worth the effort.

On my front the JU-88 is done also and all I have to do is put the antena wire on it tonight and then get some photo time to post some pics. Should have them soon

Steve

Here she is - all wrapped up.   The walk areas were overpainted in a dark grey.  I think it looks better than the green decals.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year All !

Chris

Merry Christmas backatcha Mike - and to all the rest of the yuletide crew !

And a special Merry Christmas to the generous rogue Secret Santa - Zipmeister.

There's only a little more to do on the Intruder.  3 external fuel tanks, glue the canopy down, and I can call her finished.  I'll post some pics later in the week - cuz I'm headed off to a family gathering.

Blessings to all in the new year - It's been a pleasure building with you.

Chris

You know, just because this build is coming to a close and there is a 4th SS GB, I just wanted to come in here and say Merry Christmas to all of you.  It's been a great year.

Mike

Amazing progress, everyone!

I haven't even started my Black Hawk yet ...

Another update for you guys. This is as of 5 days ago, just now getting around to posting the pics. Finally got the splinter work done and then a few days later the decals except for the swastikas. OOOPPPSSS forgot them, try to get them on tonight.

Now for some weathering and see if I can assemble the balloon cutter thingy. It looks awfull fidgity and it all in PE.

Steve

Another quick Wildcat update..  Color!  After preshading a bit, I splashed a bit of blue-gray onto the surface of each cat.

I need to say here that I do not like the way the new image insert is...but that's just me. 

Almost done guys!  Keep it up!

Mike

Hey Chris, the tone down ooks spot on to me, well done. On the wing walks they do lok a little on the green side. I was stationed with a few A-6s and EA-6B squadrons in the Corps and from memory they do start off looking on the dark side but they fade rapidly with time and crews walking all over them. You would be surprised how many different shades they become in time. It dosent look too off but maybe a little drybrushing with different shades would blend it in a bit.

Hey Troy, good to see ya old buddie. was wondering where youve been these days. By the way great looking CR42 you did over at the Reggie GB. So no speed build on this years GB eh.

On my front, I have the underside done and just finished the RLM 71 on the top. The underside felt a little tacky when I masked it so I hope some paint dosent lift when I take the tape off.

I like the way the pre shading came out, cant see it too much in the pics though.

Still wet after the paint session

Mike - The cats are looking nice. 

Steve - From here it looks like you won the canopy battle - I guess you'll find out after you remove the masking - there's sure alot of it !

The tone-down effort worked.  I can still see the weathering, but it doesn't look so stark.  Thanks for the tip Max - I thinned the gull gray down quite a bit and it felt like I could control it quite well.  It got a little more opaque after drying - but it still looks OK to my eyes.

Here's an overall above shot

I put on the main decals you see - none of the small stuff yet.  The only decals that I had problems with were the whoppers on either side of the tail.  They're one solid circle of decal film.  I had to slice them in a few spots near the really high bumps.  The part of the black circle around 2:00 was lost - no saving it.  I think I'll be able to paint it in using guidelines from a compass or an appropriate sized disk.  A smaller section was lost on the other side of the tail.

A closer detailed shot of the wing surface

Do those decals for the walk areas look right to you guys ?  They really are that grey/green color.  The photos show the color accurately.  I don't know if that's right or not (?)  Any walk area I can remember seeing in photos is either grey or black.

And here's a shot of the underside again - I didn't do anything to tone down the weathering there. 

That's all for now.  Maybe more decaling tonight if I can get to it.

Chris

Mike and Steve, great looking work!

I missed out on this years SSGB. I had been gone for a while and when I came in for a visit I find that the date to enter the GB had past already, about two weeks after it was announced. Poo on me for missing it, as I've made every one up till this year. Oh well. I still hold the record for the fastest SSGB completion in history. LMAO!!

Chris, the Intruder is looking great, how is the tone down job going.

Mike, nice wor on the Wildcats. Looks like you will be ready for paint soon.

Who knows we might just make it by the deadline. I have just finished doing the underside colour after a long battle with the canopies. Heres a few pics of the pre paint stage

Tred a bit of pre shading on this one

If all goes to plan I hope to get the RLM 71 put down either tomorrow or Sunday. Keep the good work up boys and cant wait to see them finished

Steve