Official Natural Metal Finish Group Build

vetteman42 It was to late to change the control panel, that was attempt # 2 as first one made a mess adhearing the plastic control detail backer to the PE outter pannel. THEN seen post reg. the bezzels not having cool white outlines. Next pit' will be more accurate as P-51 is another learning curve. Besides who can resiste white rimmed gauges?

Nicefit Glad to see you are back and feeling better there guy. We do need a few more 51's ya know just cant get enough of them, so model on cant wait to see WIP pictures.

B17pilot I know the feeling the 104 is soooo close and its way too cold and damp in the garage to do any work on it today. Weather channel says I will have to wait for the weekend

Supressionfire now thats a slick idea for a mini lathe. The shells are looking good and will be worth the time and effort me thinks. I really like your pit too, the real wood floors are a great touch I will have to remember that for my next P-51 build as I have 5 of them in the closet waiting for me.

Raptordriver what can I say my friend another fine build. I always have trouble painting the color red and your paint job is flawless. Maybe one day you can teach me to paint that color. I have always admired the MiG-15's they are so menicing to look at, they just look fast and downright mean to me. PM inbound Andrew and thank you for joining the group.

Looking really good Supression Fire.

Alright I just barely finished the Revell Mig. It was a challenge. But it really stands out.

I wonder why the decal had that strange black dot?

Don't be fooled! it was finished today not 1/05/2008

Thank you Vetteman for this awsome Group Build. This was a huge success.

Well the best I could come up with for my limited resources is to spin the brass rod in Dremel to make the rim after its sharpened. The 'jig' is set .3 mm from the cutter's edge. The rim is light pressure on the side cutters without going through while spinning in the Dremel. The length I used hobby cutters cutting slightly longer than the rim, sand to lengh and for getting the end square. I know a lot of work and it chews up brass rod. Keep them short in Dremel (about 1.5" so just 1/2' is sticking out at any one time.

*wear eye protection when useing Dremel*

A lot of work x 1600! Well may settle for near empty trays. Above right is rod thats to short to use for this. Upper center is progressivly shorter rounds untill overall length is 3.4 mm. Shown lined up in the center.

After a few hours with the .50 cal. assembly line I played around with the cockpit some. The grey holes are where some modified parts will go. Stuck with the theme the control panel had that I built a few months back.  

Hey Vetteman,

I've been away from my build (1/48 Revell P-51D) for a while. I had some tasks to get done during the holidays and then I got sick. It's been a full two months since I last touched this build. Anyway, I'm back at it. Yea! The cockpit is finished and I am ready to join the fuselage halves and then the wings. After that comes the filling, sanding and polishing. I understand that painted NMFs easily show imperfections so my filling, sanding and polishing must be top notch. Wish me luck!

I just need it to quit raining and warm up, then I can add the exhaust stains, seal it with a semi gloss coat and add all the little bit parts.  According to the weather report, I going to have a wait another week, nuts!

raptordriver The red finish in the Mig is smooth! Can't wait for completion photographs.

vetteman42 Extension? I know im the worst for being a slow builder, I hope by the end of the month I can complete my P-51. Once work and spring arrive probally won't have much time for building

Fermis I sure do remember your Starfighter, a sweet build it was and a 2 time show winner to boot. Congradulations my friend. And let me say your build had something to do with taking my Testers build to the point it is at now. Thank you for your kind words and the inspiration to build to a higher level.

Raptordriver I am really happy to see your fine work here in this group and look forward to seeing your completed build. The Mig 21 is coming along nicely. I gotta tell ya that your touch up work is nill compaired to what I have to do on my builds.

Supressionfire I am working on a collection of scratch building bits an pieces, got a couple of for sale signs (plasticard stock) from the local hardware store and a bunch of differant size beading wire from the local craft store. And even stole the foil off my folgers coffee cans worked great for the intakes on the F-104, got that idea from Hans von Hammer.

Jmart Am looking forward to your P-51's cant have enough of those ya know. I also wanted to let you know a few have asked to extend the group deadline so if there is enough interest I will be more than happy to do that. Maybe another 5 or 6 months ?? Let me know guys.

Got more done on my Starfighter today, brake lines are on the main gear and the nose gear doors are on. Tomorrow I want to paint the brake lines black where they were flexable, and start trying to scratch build the parts I made in my machine shop for the nose gear. Those would be the nose gear door cams, lets see if I can make them in miniture this time LOL. 

Alright, just got home from school, here are the mig progress pics.

As you can see, there are still some touch ups I need to do. More progress pics soon.

. Kind of a scary thing but I am starting to like scratch building, must be sumpthin wrong with me I guess.

Scratch building is very addictive! Not a gateway skill but close, best to stock up on styrene shapes and sheets.

My chuck on the 3/8" drill won't close enough to turn 1/32 scale .50 ammo. Will chuck  brass rod in Dremel and set up some sort of cutter jig so they can be produced with speed. Hope to point them and represent rim at the base of .50 shell. Messed around dry fitting and changeing the tail wheel so it can be installed at the end and turned. Hopefully by weeks end the fuselage haves will be together and attached to the wings. Ill get some WIP's up tomorow.

Ok, have to retype/repost my comment, which was sanded away who knows why.....

--

I am finally back on the boards and catching up with this GB… man, looks of GREAT stuff! Truly inspirational builds… and also proof of one my favorite modeling mottos “No such thing as too many Mustangs! ;)   I will re-start mine soon, now that life/health/work issues are slowly resolving.

B17Pilot – I have the same problem, have to wait for weather to warm up a bit before I AB in my (unheated) attached garage!

vetteman42 – Try hunting for old FSM copies at shows… I picked a few dozen old mags couple years ago, one buck a pop at the East AMPS show in CT.

I am still ‘inline” to complete my Revell P51s, NMF technique will be MM metallizers, work well for me (well, only used them once before lol). Maybe next NMF GB I will try my hand at my recently acquired 1:72 scale RB-36H Peacemaker ;)

Looking forward to more shiny wingies! Cheers.

Randy, great work. From here it looks like a Hasegawa kit.

Fermis, holy cow, do you go to a model contest every other week? I swear every other post you have just been at a contest.

I cannot get the pics to download, the internet is not working very well.

I will just have to tell you my progress for now. I built this kit super fast but it needs touch ups for later. I will post WIP asap.

 Looks really good Randy. Great job with that poopy kit!!!

 I almost used the same markings on mine, (but really liked the big red tail). Which, BTW, took another silver!!!

Thunderbolt Thank you for your complement on my scratch building, coming from a builder of your caliber is  huge and means a lot to me. I did check out your Wasp build that is some fantastic work and I have been thinking of doing a Freedom fighter so might be building another Testers kit in the future.

Supressionfire Cant say I am sorry to hear you dont like the kit ammo belts because I will be watching how you scratch them. Kind of a scary thing but I am starting to like scratch building, must be sumpthin wrong with me I guess.

Ok guys here are a couple of WIP pictures, finally got the decals on and have her sitting on the gear. I think I am going to be happy with this build.

Still have to add the gear doors and brake lines, maybe a few other details like gear door actuators.

vetteman42 Ya im not happy with the ammo belts and probally will scratch build them completly. Brass rod and some styrene stock should make up something better than whats pictured. The one belt pictured was a attempt to free the ammo from the tray with a scriber tool. Ill do better thinking out of the box and will post some WIP's monday sometime. Eager to get the fuselage halves together and dare to attach the wings! Soon hopefully

Hi VM42 -- I find myself thinking back to my experience building the Testor (Hawk) F-5A about a year ago, your excellent scratchbuilding on the Starfighter really reminds me of that job. I scratchbuilt a cockpit, created custom instrument decals, installed a resin seat and a Hasegawa pilot, and made the stick from scratch too. The canopy was crystal clear and yes, there were some fit issues (aren't there always?) That job was an SF scratch/conversion, you can see a write-up on my blog (address below), use the menu to go back to May last year and look for "WASP Arrowhead."

Cheers, Mike/TB379

raptordriver

 Great work Vetteman. How are you likeing the Testors kit? The afterburner area looks great.

I have started my Mig-21 WIP soon.

Sorry Andrew it took so long to answer this question. To be honest I am quite happy with this Testers kit for what it is, basically its just the shell of an F-104 with no internal detail at all. But the fits were very good and as you can see from the pictures the canopy couldnt be clearer with no distortion at all. The only fit troubles I did have was the canopy and that seems to be a problem with even the Tamiya kits I have built. Had I built it with an open canopy there would have been no problems at all. There were small gaps between the canopy sections that I filled with crystal clear, and I had to do a bit of sanding and dry fitting to get it to sit right.  I used very little filler as can be seen from WIP pictures. The decals went on beautifully with a little microset. I have done a huge amount of scratch building on this kit, learned a bunch and have been having fun doing it. So if you want to do some scratch building from the cockpit all the way to the wheel wells this is the kit to practice on it is cheap and in  1/48 scale is large enough that its easy to learn with.

Cant wait to see your WIP pictures of the MiG Andrew

Supressionfire Your 50s are looking good so far but I do see a bunch of work to be done especially on those amo belts.

Bish I look forward to your WIP pictures when you get back.

Kermit I think I am going to cut up a few strips of stainless burn them and see what works, I am really worried I will ruin the effect I have now, and will let you know what I come up with. I would really like to see what some of the better builders here could do with this effect.

Sure is nice to see builds going on here still

Not got any photos this week. Couldn't get my modelling mojo going and only got the tail and completed, so didn't seem worth taking pics for so little progress. Got a week off work so no modelling. Hopefully by the time i get back to camp i will be rearing to go and get some paint on it.

'Bainted the interior halves of the cockpit and was plagued by fuzzy contaminants? Will wet sand them off and touch it up next session.'

should read 'brush painted' Doh! sorry for tripple posting

'Back in the saddle' ~ well back up on the buckin' bronc that is my NMF Mustang. Spent way to long getting the firewall dry fit so bolt hole detail for the removed engine panels can be modeled. Bainted the interior halves of the cockpit and was plagued by fuzzy contaminants? Will wet sand them off and touch it up next session.

Added detail thats more assumption than accuracy to the .50's One will be in 'open' position for re-loading. It gets special barrel with brass band and tiny bolt with spring for internal parts. Probally will just scratch the ammo trays and make .50 shells out of brass rod. Anyhow more WIP's this weekend.

vetteman42 Ahh yes.. it will all sort out in the wash, er flat clear coat. That should tame the flame stain. Perhapse a different brand of flat clear? It should just remove the shine and not turn opique white. Try Testor's enamel flat clear straight out of the can. Avoid arcylic washes over it thinned with isoprople as that sometimes stains and tints colors...back to the 'stang to earn this GB badge. 

Randy, Looking great there buddy! Really like the clear canopy you managed to put on; makes your pit stand out nicely;) Already told you that the exhaust looks very lifelike too

Maybe you could future it, let it dry overnight and then apply a very thin black wash to "age" the shiny metal look a bit?

Richard

Thanks Raptordriver and Supressionfire for your compliments. The after burner is real stainless steel foil that I burned with a micro torch. It is a bit on the bright side and I am trying to figure out how to tone it down a bit. I did try on a sample piece, some clear flat and semigloss both turned an opique white, the semigloss less so than the flat. So at this point I am at a bit of a loss as to what to do to tone it down some, any ideas ?

 Great work Vetteman. How are you likeing the Testors kit? The afterburner area looks great.

I have started my Mig-21 WIP soon.

vetteman42 Excellent work on the Starfighter! The heat discoloration on the exaust looks like real stainless steel thats been heated. Always liked the sleek streamlined look of that jet fighter. All engine and cockpit, kind of like the P-38 on steroids 20 years later. Can't wait for decals and finished pictures!

Oh now OCC & mini Me are finished I can devote my time on the Mustang I started long ago in a land far away... WIP's to follow.

Finally got back to the F-104 today and got it ready for decals and some final work to finish it up. I am still trying to decide if I want to detail the main gear legs or not, I do have to admit I am leaning toward going ahead and doing a bit of work on them as the legs do look rather plain as they are. Anyway here are a few pictures for ya, hope you like it.

Feels good to be modeling again I must admit.

B17pilot oh I like seeing this build progress. The flaps came out very well, I think it adds a bunch to the look and feel of your B-17. She is looking really good.

Well finally got to sit down and get some work done on the Starfighter, got the wingtip tanks glued on filled and sanded then finished up the foil work. Got the foil burnished with 0000 steelwool and even got a coat of future on it. Tomorrow I hope to get most of the painting done and post a few pictures. Now for the decission do I go ahead and detail the landing gear legs or just finish it up I dunno. This Testers kit is killin me LOL

I got some painting in when the weather decided to play nice.  I was able to get the flaps on and the other doors painted.

Here's pics of the flaps installed:

Bish hey bud you got more done in 2 days than I have gotten done in a month Lookin good there buddy.

As you can see, wasn't able to get that much done this week. Most of it was spent spent filling and sanding. Next stage is to get the rear section finished. Hopefully i can get some paint on by the end of the week.