AIR RACER GROUP BUILD BECAUSE WE FEEL THE NEED FOR SPEED

Thanks Jeaton01 and Daddy1 I can tell ya it sure feels good to have the painting finished, got the decals on and the final coat of future on her tonight. I think I will let it cure for a couple of days then tackle the rigging.

Howard I havent really decided what I am going to use for the rigging, I have .015 and .008 dia silver wire ans fishing line, I dont really think that will work well. So I guess I will have to do some searching around and play with it a bit.

Daddy1 your racer and your daughters racer are looking fantastic ! I saw a bottle of the Aluma Yellow Pearl at the LHS and picked it up just because I like the color. All I can say is the camera doesnt do the color justice, your paint jobs, me thinks will be mind blowing. Your decal sheet looks very good, too love the markings you have come up with. You are right about printing decals being a blast and not to mention it opens up a whole new world for you in modeling, if you dont have one make it, or, no one else has one but I do.

Nice flashy colors Howard! The striping on the T-6 is really going to stand out. Just the way racers should look!

Guys finally got the rigging finished on the Travel Air.

However

While putting the engine cowl on, tragedy struck big time I dropped the model on the floor. Yes I did give my big clumsy fingers a severe time out, coined a few new blue words too. Fortunately the paint wasn't hurt nor was the model its self, but I will have to re rig it.  I think I will set it aside for a few days then finish it up next week..

Oh Randy I feel your pain!!!! I know that any concientious modeller that hears someone say that just cringes. Like the many pics you see of skatboarders riding rails and they land squarely between their legs on the rail. Glad to hear it wasn't too bad though, I'd need a drink after that LOL!!!

Well guys it wasnt in me it seems to set the Travel Air aside so I stayed up late last night and got most of the rework done. Got up this morning and finished it, was very very careful not to get numb thumbs again. I tried using fishing line for rigging, didn't like it, then tried elastic thread, no good, to heavy looking. I had gotten my hands on a spool of .015 dia. beading wire a while back that I used on the Laird Solution but that looked a bit heavy also. The instructions called for .008 dia music wire, so with that in mind I decided to see if I could stretch the wire. I was able to get it down to .010 dia. I tried stretching it more but at .009 dia it broke, so I settled for .010 dia. As I have said earlier for me frisket paper is the way to go for a paint job like this one. I hope you all like the way it came out, I am pleased with it.

Had to take a B&W picture ya know

And one of my small herd of golden age racers.

Thanks for looking guys, this build was both fun and frustrating but worth it to me.

Great job on the Mystery Ship, it really came together.  The pictures are well done too.

Randy she's a stunner mate!!! Beautiful job, well done!!!!!

simpilot34

Randy she's a stunner mate!!! Beautiful job, well done!!!!!

  Awesome work!!!

Thanks guys, means a lot coming from you. Now its on to the F-5 ultimate unlimited racer . But first I am chomping at the bit big time to see the  Daddy1 and DaddyDaughter team racers

vetteman42

 But first I am chomping at the bit big time to see the  Daddy1 and DaddyDaughter team racers

In the words of Daffy Duck-"You ain't just whistlin' Dixie brother!"

Hey guys,

Now i can see why i have to look in this corner more LOL. I just peeked around a bit and i must say it is very very inspiring to see all the fast paintjobs

Vetteman emailed me yesterday with the question if i wanted to let you guys know his computer died. He will be back in a couple of days when his new computers arrives.

Richard

Sorry for the delay in reply, fellas. Been having too much fun playing with the Windows paint program on my computer. A very usefull tool for printing decals.

Randy- The Travel Air looks sweeet. Great recovery on the mishap and I think the B/W pics are a nice touch.

Had a similar unsuccessful test flight with 'Magic when she was at the primer stage.

Fortunately ,the wing broke off at the join seam , so it was just a matter of reattaching and a little light sanding along the seam. The tail wheel also broke off , but again , that will be a simple repair when adding the the last fiddly bits.

 I have Little Miss Magic painted and sponsored up.

 I came up with a way of printing text in white and other light colors ,then printing on white decal paper, without having to trim out every tiny letter.

I scanned a sample of background color. Then ,using the paint program, typed in the text with my color of choice.

Next , I pasted the background sample onto the page and using color edit , came up with a close match to the background color. Then drew a box around the text and color filled the box.

 A little touch up around the appied decal to blend and topcoat clear. The technique could use some refinement ,but is quite effective .

Here are the pics. First up is close up before top coat of Future.

After topcoat and removal of masks. One of my favorite steps in a build. Like opening a present and seeing how the paint and interior details will look together.

Need to clean up/touch up the canopy frame in a few spots, as well as a couple other little touch ups.

Generally, all that's left is the landing gear, flaps, and antenna or two and Little Miss Magic is ready to race. Then, it's full bore on getting Tantrum complete.

 TTFN , Howard

WOW Howard she looks stunning already!!! Nice work on the decals and painting!!! Looking soooooo forward to seeing Tantrum painted up!!!

Daddy1 Little Miss Magic is looking too good for words, really racy she is. Beautiful paint and the decals are stunning, I can see why you had so much fun making them. Cant wait to see her finished

That's awesome Howard!!! Nice work!

                                              Little Miss Magic - Finished-

 Yes Randy, it is fun printing up ones own decals. Actually, part of the fun with decals on my "what if?" racers was also a difficult choice. What sponsers,fonts, and other variables ? Decisions, decisions.

 Decided , why not appropriate modeling logos of kit manufacture, tools, paint, etc? Notice the FSM header I scanned from an issue . Plus some other full size , real world logos.

 Emma had an illness  as a newborn and we almost lost her before she was 24 hrs old. Research funded by March of Dimes developed alot of neonatal intensive care technology that pretty much saved her life. Thus the logo on the fwd fuselage. We still are involved in the annual walk for babies.

 Another marking of note is the Blue Morpho butterfly on the bottom corner of the rudder. It's Emma's favorite butterfly , so I felt it would make a nice little detail for her racer.

 Enough of my rambling ,lets get to the pics one of the prettiest T-6 Texans you'll see.

 BTW- Howard's Hanger is basically my workdesk and collection. Just a fun name for it.

As far as Daddy 1 Racing ? Hey Randy, you said we should have fun with this build. I am!

Howard she looks stunning!!!! The plane too!!! Little Miss Magic is an AWESOME piece of work mate!!! WELL DONE!!!!

simpilot34

Howard she looks stunning!!!! The plane too!!! Little Miss Magic is an AWESOME piece of work mate!!! WELL DONE!!!!

   That has to be one of the all around coolest builds I've ever seen!!!   The fact that you had fun doing this really shows too!

Excellent work Howard!  Hope Emma keeps her for a very long time.

jmabx

 

simpilot34:

 

Howard she looks stunning!!!! The plane too!!! Little Miss Magic is an AWESOME piece of work mate!!! WELL DONE!!!!

 

 

   That has to be one of the all around coolest builds I've ever seen!!!   The fact that you had fun doing this really shows too!

Daddy1, Howard I am at a loss for words here, Little Miss Magic is no less than STUNNING !!! The inspiration and fun you had with this build is there for all to see. Love the decals, they really put the build over the top man, beautiful paint job, everything about this build is over the top.

Now for the difficult task of deciding which picture to post on the front page. They are all great pictures, each and every one.

Thanks to all for thier kind words. I'm very happy with the way Little Miss Magic turned out . The colors (even the pink outlines ) really came together . It also helped that the old Monogram kit was at the peak of thier 1/48 scale kits .

Randy- May I suggest the second or third pics for the front page? I like the pic with my "Love Bug" in it , but the next two pics show the model better. BTW, I asked Emma if she wanted one the pet names I call her on the plane. That's the one she picked. She is very excited her racer is finished and displayed with her collection.

 I want to thank you Randy for leaving open the 'what if' option in this build. We so often pick a subject with specific markings and so on. But, what ifs can really open up the imagination. Especially on something like a racer or custom. Some modelers don't care much for them, but, it's important to stretch and exercise the imagination from time to time. It's where creativity comes from.

 Now to get Tantrum wrapped up. I thought the only tough challenge left on it is the prop blades. But, I'm trying to outline the yellow scallops with red and seem to be a little jinxed with painting nice straight lines. The hands arn't quite as steady as much as they used to be ,I guess. I shot a coat of Future over the blue/yellow scheme so any crooked stripes wipe off with a little mineral spirits. I'll get them straightened out, pun intended. Currently trying out cutting narrow strips of red decal. I'll see how that works.

Should have some fresh pics of Tantrum in a few days. Until then, Go fast, Turn left, Don't break anything!

TTFN Howard

Daddy1 Little Miss Magic is posted on the front page, hope you like the ones I chose.

Howard I am honored you and Emma chose this group for your Daddy Daughter build, it is no less than spectacular. Actually I think she and race #03 would look great on the pages of FSM, in the readers gallery or maybe even a nice write up. Truely a special build And for little Emma well done little one.

Ok time for Doc Fermis to get some competition, not much of a race with only one fast mover ya know 

This is the Testors F-5 Freedom Fighter kit, I have been working on it a bit at time for a while now so I didn't figure pictures were really needed until now. Not much detail in these kits as you know, I did however add seat harness, and the instrument panel. Other than that its pretty much OOB, hopefully the paint job and decals will make up for other shortcomings. I haven't really made up my mind if I want to use Race #13 or my old racing number 23, we will see what happens there I guess. 

Quite a few gaps to fill and sand but not too bad as the Testors kits go.

Wing things are on

Gaps all filled and sanded, almost ready for some paint

Why cant some of the better kits have canopys as clear as these are ?

Looking good Randy!!!!! Looking forward to the paint!!!! As I am partial to the Eagle, ummmmmmm well you get the picture for the race odds lol

Thanks Simpilot but as far as racing the Eagle this F-5 is a race plane and does have the super secret Acme Race engines in it. They even keep the model number of the motor a secret. Oh and I do have a special pilot and ground crew too, however I cant reviel who they are just yet,  might give Doc Fermis the advantage if I do.

Randy it's ok, I already know who the ground crew and pilot are.

teehee

Impostors Simpilot ! they are IMPOSTORS ! The dog swore he didn't blab.

Randy, the F-5 looks great and should make for a heck-of-a pylon burner. I remember when I was with the 18th TFW on Okinawa in the 70's. The aggressors would come up from Clark AB and turn circles around our Phantoms. We could always count on a few over-g inspections on our F-4s when they were in town with thier F-5s and even an occasional T-33 in aggressor camo.

 Another thing about the F-5. You won't have to clip the wings . Northrup already did that.

 To those getting anxious for more of Tantrum, please be patient.

 I wasn't quite satisfied with how the paint turned out on her . Had some minor orange peel and pinholes in a few spots . Plus not quite as smooth as I would have prefered. Since I have plans on entering Tantrum in a contest or two ,I have no choice but to sand down, and repaint. It will be worth the effort. Currently have her sanded down awaiting a light coat of primer to fill scratches. Then I'll recoat with white and lay on color. The colors will be the same ,but, the scheme will be a bit different.

 The repaint  requred a trip to my local Hobbytown for more True Blue pearl. While I was there I discovered these gems.

Reverse side of box

Reverse side of box

It's great to see the Williams Bro.s label again. There also was a Gee Bee R-1/R-2 kit. I would like to build an R-2 someday to go with my R-1 but for now , these two will make great accompaning pieces for my current Gee Bees.

 The kits are reissues of thier old 1/32 scale line with a little fine tuning in the decals. Some minor flash to deal with ,but nothing too major. Detail is nice and both will build into very nice models OOB , but would also be wonderfull starting points for super detailing. I like the larger scale as the golden age racers were small planes with big engines, so the overall dimensions aren't overwhelming on the shelf, but large enough for some presence. Same reason I like 1/48 scale warbirds.

 While probably too late to complete either before the end of this group build and not really sure when I will build them ( part of me is ready for some OD and neutral gray), but I will post build threads for both when I do. The Wedell-Williams I most likely will build as the Gilmore Special. I like the markings and the personality of the pilot.

 Back to work bench ,TTFN.

Howard

Howard that's a nice lil score you have their!!! Did you remember the paint??? Looking forward to seeing Tantrum in the new scheme!!!! Will be looking forward to seeing those Williams Bros. beauties come together when you get to them as well!!

Yes ,I did remember the paint. Also scored Acadamy's 1/48 Glacier Girl P-38F, and Revells Reissue of the 1/28 scale Fokker Dr1 Triplane in Red Baron colors. The Hobbytown in Lakeland ,FL is having a buy three get one free sale. The racers were an easy choice. On my wish list for a long time . Harder was deciding what the third and free one of "equal value" were going to be .

 Have to resist urge to go back and spend the national debt on model kits.

Howard