AIR RACER GROUP BUILD BECAUSE WE FEEL THE NEED FOR SPEED

Hey Randy, Shes a bute! I havent had time to get on the computer or model at that lately. You said you might have some pictures of stregas interior? I would like to see some of those pictures and see if they help. Until next time lads...Semper Fi!

Brett

Those are some great shots Howard!!!! Emma will be going solo soon by the sound of it!!!! The custom touch to a T-6 racer is the right stuff, love the colored leads and crankcase!!! Glad to hear it is only a MINOR setback/annoyance on Tantrum. Really looking forward to having some color!!!!!

Here's some update pics on 'Miss Magic. Emma and I have the wings and elevators attached plus some other work done. She's actually getting the hang of using the liquid cement, just a little fine motor control help to put the brush right where it needs to go. She even remembers to touch the the side of the bottle to wick off excess cement from the brush. Some great memories for both of us, and especially for her to carry the rest of her life. She loves Mommy but definately a Daddy's girl.

 BTW- Discovered a neat way of taking candid shots like these. Just set up the digital camcorder on the tripod ,then capture photos from the video.

 Current stage of progress. Assembled wings and tail fins attached. Still need to clean up seams though. Also notice base coat of chrome silver on exhaust manifold. I'm going to weather with washes of blue, purple, yellow and maybe a little rust. Similar to the weathering I did with my Witchcraft turbos,though not as extreme. Magic and Tantrum are highly maintained race/show planes and would not show much in the way of wear or dirt and grime. I've noticed everyone else is also keeping weathering to a minimum on thier racers.

Check out the cool color coordinated engine daddy built for his girl. Got the idea looking at a pic of the engine on Two of Hearts. I painted the gearbox and crankcase Blue Angel blue. Then I got to thinking of the race and show cars I've seen with colored ignition wires. Why not on an airplane too.

 Used white polyestor thread dipped in Testors neon blue then the excess wiped off on a paper towel. Took a second coat to get the color right but I love it . If one were to give a Texan a custom look, colored ignition wires are a way to go.

Just couldnt resist a mock up/test fit with the motor and cowling.

 A detail pic of the exhaust stack with its base chrome silver. I'm glad I opened it up . I also noticed a subtle depression in the cowl where the 'machine gun' used in training would fire. Filled and will sand smooth.

 Had a little set back with Tantrum. Ran out of the Duplicolor gray primer I'd been using and the store was out of stock too. Tried the Rustoleum brand. It went on too heavy , cracked and checked. Had to go back to a coarser grade of sandpaper and remove the offending layer of paint.

 Found more Duplicolor primer in a dark grey , atomises better and smoother .Turned out to be just a minor setback with a little spot fill in a couple places. . Was next to spraying white and then applying  color, now have to go back to the prime , sand smooth ,prime again stage , although not as much .

 That's all for now.

God bless,

Howard

Howard, Little Miss Magic is coming along nicely!!!!! Love the shots of Emma helping out on her plane!!! The colors are going to look right IMHO!!!!

Daddy1 First off I have to tell you how much I envy you building with your Daughter. Little Miss Magic is coming along nicely and the detail is really popping. Love the work done on the cockpits

Also Howard thanks for the complement on Miss America. I also love the golden age racers and have the Gee Bee R1 in the wings too waiting to be built.

Randy- Very nice Miss America. Looking forward to more of the Mystery Ship. Love those Golden Age birds.

 Now for some update pics on Little Miss Magic. Getting it figured out how to let her use the tools with my help guiding the work.

Emma and I are having lots of fun building the Texan. One of Monograms nicely detailed kits. It's almost falling together after all the scratch building I've been up to the past year.

Kinda' nice for a change.

First pics are of work on the cockpit and fuselage.

Gluing the carb air scoop on.

Drilled out the exhaust, which left a big hole to which I cut the end of the long exhaust pipe from the kit and attached inside the opening.Still need to smooth the inside of the exhaust.

The opened air intake. Added small scrap of plastic to form bottom lip of scoop. Also note the exhaust pipe on the inside of fuselage.

Painted firewall flat black for contrast when details are painted. The engine cylinders will be drybrushed with steel . Learned that trick reading FSM. I think it looks better than a wash to add depth to radial cylinders.

Drybrushing followed by the the results.

Current stage of constuction Emma helps with removing parts from trees, parts cleanup, painting whole parts, gluing, and some of the less precise detail painting.

She really likes having a hand in this. Her plane.

Base color for both racers, it is a race team after all. Daddy 1 Racing LOL.

Going to do some kind of classic scallops ( maybe a modified Gee Bee scallop) in Blue Frost pearl with Dusty Rose pearl out line.

Got some new sheets of blank decal paper . Now to put together a set of sponser logos,etc.. to go on both racers ,then print them up.

 Tantrum is coming along, waiting for coat of primer to cure couple days before another sanding. Getting into the fine grades of sand paper to smooth it out.

 TTFN, Howard

Jmabx thank you sir, I am glad you all like her.

Now for a bit of decompression with a fun little build, the Travel Air Mystery ship. I dont think I will do anything too fancy with this one other than the paint. Anyway here she is WIP picutres it the Testers 1/48.

Cute lil thang isnt it

    Wow... nice work Randy! She's one to be proud of!  

Yup, I'd say you done her justice!!!!     MANtastic!!!!!

I too, can't wait to see "Tantrum" in all her glory!!!!!

Jeaton01, Simpilot, and Daddy1 wow complements like this coming for builders of your caliber is huge to me, I humbly thank you for your encouragement and kind words.

Daddy1 oh but she is looking good the primer really does give a good look at the scoops and spinners an........ That paint job sounds wild like her name I just cant wait.

Well the time has come I have finished Miss America. Here are her pictures I can only hope I have done a great racer justice.

I think this is the best paint job I have done yet and am quite proud of her.

simpilot34

Stunning paintwork Randy!!!!! Really looking good now!!!!!!!!!

 Got a good coat of primer on Tantrum . Here are some pics after a light sanding.

 The scoops show up much better now, along with a couple spots that need a little more work around the inlet ramps as well as a few places that need a spot fill. For the most part I'm at the stage of prime , sand ,prime again, sand again. Till it's nice and smooth. The norm' for custom body work.

 Along the way , I'll drill mounting holes for the prop blades. Have a little template made to make sure I get a nice 5 point pattern. Just need to drill the holes straight

 Haven't drawn up a sketch yet ,but I'm cooking up a hot paint scheme idea ..Deep,rich blue base color. I plan on some long ghost flames in white, yellow, and red, coming back from the exhausts , with a tapered swoop of yet undetermined color, coming up from under the chin(s). The swoop will taper to a point near the tail while being centered in the flames. Incorperated into the swoop, will be the name Tantrum ,positioned under the exhaust stacks. Have some other little detail graphics I may work into the scheme, but that's the main pattern . Should be interesting.

Howard

Stunning paintwork Randy!!!!! Really looking good now!!!!!!!!!

Miss America is looking great, nice work.

Daddy1 I have trouble scratch building single items LOL you have 2 scoops that have to match. I can NOT wait for this F-82R' s pictures each week

Johnny Roscoe for someone on active duty the least I can do is extend the build for as long as you need, and am honored to do just that. I will look for the pictures they are in a box out in the garage I hope. You might also try and contact the owner of Strega Bill ( Tiger) Destifini. I met him once and I am sure he would be more than happy to help you out.

Thanks guys for the kind words. I am becoming quite proud of this build considering it is such a lousy kit, had a bunch of trouble with it. This is also one of the trickiest paint jobs I have attempted on a model. And my daughter reminded me we saw Miss America race in Reno the year I took here there with me. Anyway I just couldn't wait to show her off. WIP pictures she has the final clear coat on after the decals were added. I should be able to finish her up tomorrow.

This kit is from 1990 so is 20 years old and the decals showed it. I tried doing one of the large stars I didnt need to see what the decals would do, well it literally  exploded when I tried to slide it off the backing paper. Sometime back I bought some of Microscales Liquid Decal Film, so I dug it out and painted it on the decal sheet thinking I didnt have anything to lose at this point. Well I am a believer now !!! The stuff worked great  as you can see.

Randy- Miss America looks stunning. I love the pait job its really bringing her to life! A little more time would be nice since Im going to lose a lot of time to work on Stregathis summer...Yes I think I'm going to work on her a bit more again, as I will be gone for about a month for Active duty. If you can find those pictures that would help me out a bunch. I emailed Steve Hinton for some pictures but Im not sure if he will get back to me on the email. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!! My email is slick_willieo3@yahoo.com

Randy- Miss America is looking beautiful. One of my long time favorite Mustangs for sure. 

 I've only used about a third of the bottle of Future I purchased a few years ago. Thankfully, the stuff goes a long way. But I'll probably get a back up bottle just in case.

 I noticed the flare on one of the inlet ramps is a little longer than the other so, I'll have to do a little extra shaving than planned to bring the short one in line with the other. The carb scoops were much easier . Just filed a little trough in the kit plastic.

The belly scoops on the other hand , I have to build the trough for the ramps too. It's throwing a bit of a variable at me . I'll get it sorted out . All part of  carving and sculpting.

 I probably won't mount the 'LCD' screens for now . Lots of handling going on with all the work on the belly scoops and where I plan on mounting them, they'd just get knocked off.

Nice work Howard! Your scratch built scoops look great. Putty and sand and repeat... that looks like the name if the game.

Randy - Paint job looks awesome! She's turning into a real "looker" for sure.

Randy, Howard the Stangs are looking SUHHHWEEEET!!!! Howard, glad you like my idea of the LCD screens!!!

Daddy1 Thanks for the info on the Future I have been looking for more of it but haven't found any here yet so I will take a look at Home Depot.

Man that F-82 keeps looking faster and faster. I think you did a good job of keeping the lines of the twin Mustangs intact, the scoops are looking great. Oh and I cant wait to see your newest addition the instrument cluster.

I went and goofed up last night finally got the masking all finished and .....................got some color on MIss America. Here are a few pictures.

I didn't use masking tape on this build I used frisket paper. I am very happy with the way it came out, I only wish I had done a bit more masking instead of resorting to the decal sheet. I traced over the decal sheet to make the star masks and over the side view to make the stripe mask. I was frankly worried about how the paper would work but found it easier than using masking tape for the most part. However small pieces don't want to bend around curves and stick like masking tape will. and I don't think it will work very well for canopys. For larger areas though it is great stuff and has been added to my tape box.

Anyway the clear coat ( Future ) went on this evening and decals will go on tomorrow.

First of all, especilly for simpilot34,  Have decided to make these little LCD screens to help moniter the engines. I'll paint the frames flat black, the screens a black blue with a couple drops pf Future , plus a couple tiny dabs of gloss black on the frames to look like switches. Then I'll nount them on the edge of the cockpit coming just below the pilots line of sight

BTW Anyone looking for Johnsons Future Floor Polish. I found some at Home Depot in the cleaning supplies next to the furniture polish. Thought they quit making  it? HD had it on the shelf like regular stock.

Another series of pics showing the scoops after the first rough sanding/shaping. Really taking shape now. Very slender, yet still retains the lines of a Mustang, I think.

Randy- I've seen some very trick paint on model cars with nail polish. I've never used it before, but have used auto touch up paint before. I understand it's pretty much the same. Use a good automotive primer, and thin with laquer thinner to airbrush. Only deal is , most nail polish is somewhat translucent. Basecoat over white ,but doing grapics over the base color could be tricky. I may be able to use that to my advantage.

I have taken some video of work on 'Magic with the daughter. I'll capture some stills for the build. That way, I can get the best sceens. Almost ready to assemble the cockpit on the Texan.

 Well , it's late and tomorrows still an early work day even though it is Friday. Friday doesn't count til' the eagle has pooped and they say it's Miller time.

 God bless,

 Howard

Johnny Roscoe now thats a bummer ! Life can be a PITA I know. Hate to lose you and Strega as she was coming along so nicely. I think I may have some cockpit pictures of Strega from a visit I was lucky enough to have had to her hanger in Bakersfield. If you want I will hunt for them and scan them for you. If you are worried about time we can probably do something about that for ya.

Daddy1 your plastic manipulation skills are amazing, those NACA scoops are going to look mean and trick.  You are going to use nail polish for paint ???? hummmmm an interesting idea there buddy.

I had Miss America all masked up and ready for paint yesterday . Then I tore it all, off and started over again as things just didnt look right, I now think the stars were just a little off. Anyway hope to get some paint on her this week sometime.

Jonny- Sorry to hear of your troubles. Have been having some around this camp lately that often slows or halts any build time.

 I was fortunate to come from a fair sized SAC family from the 50s thru the 70s.My older brother (11 yrs) is the oldest . What  teenage boy of the 60s didn't build model cars of some kind back then. That's where I got my greatest  modeling influence followed by my dad. So, Mom knew about those things.

 I say , build the Strega anyway . Even if you don't finish in time, we'd still like to see it .Besides, it's therapeutic.

 Tantrum is going on a day to day basis at the moment.

  In building up the belly scoops ,  a process where you can be a little heavier with the cement to soften and form the plastic . I used a little more than I needed and the area around the inlets is  still a little soft. 

 I was able to give it a first sanding/shaping with 100-150 grit . What I have by building up the belly areas is a nice , roughly shaped carving medium , and coarse sand paper makes a great carving tool. I will eventually work up through the numbers , spot filling and priming along the way. Ending up with a super smooth airplane.

 Asked my daughter to draw me a couple pics of what she felt like when she  had a tantrum, also told her I wanted  fast looking . She more than came through. Had to tell her to stop drawing, I had plenty. Lots of red , orange , yellow, flames, lightning , swirly lines. Some great inspiration for graphics on Tantrum. Have some great ideas.  

 Worked a bit with her on Miss Magic  tonight . A little detail painting on  the cockpit . Good time with my next of kin. Will post pics of both in the next couple days.

God Bless,

Howard

Ohhhhhh Johnny that's terrible!!!! Parents that don't build just don't understand. Hope to see something else from you come to the starting line!!!!

It's been a loooong time since I been on here it seems. Everyones model lookings amazing. Howard, the twin mustang is coming along beautifully!! That thing looks stunning to say the least. Well everyones does!

I've been in the process of moving to another place and problems in life are starting to come into play a lot more now so I havent had the time to work on niether of the models. I do bring good and bad news to the board...while I was moving I was told to take everything I had that I wanted to keep at my moms out of the house. As we all know it doesnt take one day to move a bunch of crap. I come back 2 days later to find out that my mom through out my F*****g Spirit of Texas model I was working so hard on. It was nearly finished, all it needed was the paint job and decals and a little weathering and it would be complete...buuuut nooooo she had to throw the damn thing in the garbage. She told me when I asked her about it and she replied with, "well I didn't know that you wanted that, you left it behind." :O wtf? "ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!?" I asked her. She knows that, that damn thing was pricless to me...I put a lot of blood sweat and tears building this damn model. Oh well what can I do? guess I have to wait this one out. Strega, the other model I was working on, is in the hanger waiting to be touched again. I'm not to sure if I want to start on her since I need more shots of the interior. So I guess Im out of the races gents. Good luck to all and cant wait to see the finished models.

Semper Fi,

Bret

simpilot34

Howard, Tantrum is looking better and better every time you post pics!!!! REALLLLLLLY looking forward to more pics!!!!!!

One time when you can go a little heavy on the glue and filler. Basically creating a sculping base to file/sand to shape. Pretty rough ,right now, but you can already see the NACA scoops and streamlined hot air exhaust taking shape.

 Have to give time for everything to cure up, then it's time to go at it with the coarse sand paper and file.

Starting to look at paint colors and found a great line of hot rod colors . It's a nail polish called 'Sinful Colors' , at Walgreens. Can't wait to get to painting this thing.

 Howard

Howard, Tantrum is looking better and better every time you post pics!!!! REALLLLLLLY looking forward to more pics!!!!!!

Daddy1 I cant wait to see more !!!

I got my mitts on some frisket paper to use for masking, the decals in this kit are shot so I am going to have to some tricky masking and painting. If I get lucky I will be adding some color to race 11 tomorrow afternoon. Hope my idea works.

A few update pics on the radiator/undersides.

 Glued an extension to the intake ramps and cut to length I want. These will form the bottom of the NACA scoops.

 Other pics show where I cut out the underside of model to accomodate the radiator assemblies, and a couple test fits with a side profile of scoop.

 I  like having some profile of a scoop when viewed from the side. Still very slender.

 After I get this area pretty well filled and shaped , I'll build up the radiator exhaust doors and ductwork, again aiming to enhance the sexy lines of this bird.

 Back to the desk. TTFN!

Howard

BTW Anyone notice the misprint on the Texan instuction sheet. Does that look like "engine assembly" to you? LOL

Howard the builds are looking fantastic!! To have a lil girl that loves planes as much as Emma, you are a very lucky man!!!! Looking forward to more pics of you two building together!!!!