Eye In The Sky GB - January 2010 - October 2010

Vance, you Storch is coming along beautifully. Looks like your cat likes it too!

Well today I dug out my RF-4 and resumed work on it. I finished painting the inner surfaces of the intakes white. Then I was struck by a bit of a masochistic urge. Don't ask why. I began to rescribe the raised panel lines that the kit comes with. I have one half of the fuselage almost done and will take care of the other half tomorrow. Pics to come soon.

Stikpusher, you just couldn't resist could you?! A serious case of re-scribe-itis. I'm afraid there is no cure!

I've made some more progress from the last pics but haven't started airbrushing anything yet. (Darn work is interfering, but I guess that pays for the addiction, er, hobby...) I should be going at it by the weekend.

Vance

Looks like you're making good progress, Vance.  Looking forward to seeing your Storch.  And yes, work does often get in the way of this addiction, er, hobby .... explaining why I have done absolutely nothing modeling-related since I jettisoned the Lysander.  Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to start up again but at this point it's not looking good for a modeling opportunity.

I have a Testors 1/48 Rf-4 (kit 582) that I would like to build as soon as I near the end of the F-4G for the Phantom Group Build.  Mayb I'll build it as a RF-4E in  the Norm 72 camo.

Stikpusher - Your a madman rescribing the panel lines! I've only tried it twice and it can be a pain but the effort pays off in the end. I would love to see some progress pics.

Vance - The Storch looks great. That sure is a nice kit.

Steven - Hope you get to do some building soon... don't want to see ya having withdrawal symptoms.   What was your backup build now that the Lysander didn't make it?

I've been kinda lazy myself. I've managed to do almost mothing to the Taifun. Got the canopy on and the underside painted. Stupid me painted the canopy the wrong color for the inside color. I don't know what I was thinking but I sprayed it RLM 66 instead of RLM 02. Oh well... guess we'll call it a two-tone interior.

I'm not too impressed with the Eduard masks. They are a great idea but they don't seem to stick very well. I keep pushing them down and they keep popping back up. Maybe I got a bad batch? I hope no paint got under them.

Jeremy is that a Taifun? Wahtever it is, it sure looks like it's comng along great. And here you go fo rsome pics. Yes you are correct I am somewhat mad to rescribe this kit. But actually the plastic on this kit is more conducive than my last two attempts. So I am happy so far with my initial results.

Here are a few shots of the fuselage areas I have rescribed. I have not yet hit teh tail areas on this half of the fuselage. After I get offline tonite I will scribe the other fuselage half.

And few shots of the cockpit area I had done before this GB started. I replaced the kit seats with a set from True Details. The face curtain pull handles are scratched from wire.

Stikpusher nice work on the scribing I know its not an easy thing to do having tried it my self. Didnt work out very well I gotta admit. The office looks great too, keep up the good work wanna see this one finished.

PS how do you guys paint the black and yellow ejection handle stripes geeze.

Thanks Vette, I will keep posting the updates as they happen. As far as the handles go, I paint the whole ring yellow, and then paint the black stripes with a small pointed brush, #1 or smaller.

Stikpusher thanks I was afraid you would tell me they were painted. I need lots more practice painting with such small brushes and a vise to put my hands in while I do it.

For small stuff like that I will often have the sides of both hands on my paint table to steady them. The fingers of my left hold the part,and the fingers on my right manipulate the brush. With both hands steadied like this it reduces (not eliminates ) errors from my hand movements.

Sorry for the delay in updating my progress on the E-1B Tracer

The two fuselage halves went together okay .

The fit of the canopy halves was the biggest challenge and it has taken me quite a while to finally get the canopy in place .

I had previoysly painted the front edge of the radome black but when I bothered to check the box art , which doubles as the painting guide I realized the front edge is white , so I sanded off the black .

Anyway she is ready for masking and then painting and hopefully by the weekend ready for decaling .

                                                       John .

Helo, you are one hard charging optimist! That certainly looks like that kit is not for the fainthearted. Keep the updates coming!

stikpusher

Helo, you are one hard charging optimist!

Hahaha! I agree... it looks rough but you're handling it well.

BTW Stik (can I call you that?) the rescribe is looking great so far. I can't wait to see how she looks in the end.

What was your backup build now that the Lysander didn't make it?

Italeri's new Arado Ar196A-3 is now in the group build.  I'm going with a definite national socialist tilt for this group build, including the Storch.

68GT, I've added your Phantom to the group build.  Welcome!

Aggieman

Italeri's new Arado Ar196A-3 is now in the group build.  I'm going with a definite national socialist tilt for this group build, including the Storch.

Nice choice! I've always wanted to build that plane. Is the Italeri kit a new tooling or a repop of the HiPM kit?

I managed to get a topside color on the Taifun. The kit came with decal options for a plane with desert camo and one in splinter. I never was a fan of the Luftwaffe desert camo so she's getting the plain-jane splinter scheme.  RLM 71 on so far and hopefully I'll get her masked for the RLM 70 tomorrow.

One cool thing about the bird I chose to build is the fact that the canopy framing is a bare metal. I can't wait to see how that turns out.  

Is the Italeri kit a new tooling or a repop of the HiPM kit?

Per Italeri it is a new tooling, but I have no way of knowing since I've never built this subject and am not familiar with the HiPM kit.  It looks like a fair kit (the Italeri, that is) but it appears that it could use some aftermarket parts especially in the cockpit.  From my first inspection, the IP looks fairly basic.  But I'm looking forward to putting this little guy together.

Jeremy, Stik, looking good fellers!!!!

I usually build 1/72, but when I saw the 1/48 Ar-196, I said I think I might have to start 1/48 again!

Thank you sir. As for my RF-4, I have completed the fuselage scribing. Not as hard to do on this kit as on my two previous attempts. I am somewhat encouraged, even though this is a time consuming process. The plastic on the Testors kit is much nice to work with for this than my previous attempts with Monogram kits. Now I just need to do a little more paint in the nose camera bay and I will have the fuselage glued together.

Hey gang, after a work-imposed break from modeling, I sat down at the bench again last night. Got a little work done on several projects - most important here though is a primer coat on the Storch after masking/protecting the open cabin door and the exposed engine. Yes, I'm using only the upper cowling so I can display the lower engine detail. They had to service these things at some point rigth?!

Primer question though... Tamiya "metal & plastic primer" from a rattle-can... Am I going to have any issues using acrylics over that stuff? Now I'm not sure if they're compatible. I've still got a good stash of MM enamels, I'm just trying to avoid using them in the airbrush due to the cleanup factor!

Vance

Vance-just be sure to let the Tamiya primer cure before applying anything else.  I use Tamiya spray can primer and either MM Acryl or Tamiya acrylics with no problems.  I try to let the primer cure at least 24 hours.  And the primer eliminates any lifting issues from masking....at least it has for me.

Thanks for the info Bob. I sprayed last night, I'll leave it alone until Saturday anyway - then look out, I'm flying!!

Jmabx - your build is looking great. I've taken about a year & a half hiatus from building any kits, but the Eduard Taifun was the last kit that I had built. It's a great little kit.

Ok, now my question to the rest of you guys. The shipping gods blessed my doorstep today with Roden's 1/48 Fairchild AU-23A Peacemaker. It looks like a great kit, but I haven't tried to fit any pieces parts yet.

I'd like to build the kit as the gunship version and still enter it in your group build. Would that be alright with y'all? I have Tamiya's Storch in my stash but I'd like to get back into the building grove before I try tackling it. I've got butter fingers & bad eyes (getting my alibis ready ).

 One other warning, my photo skills are pretty shabby, but we'll see what happens, I guess.

EDIT:  Somebody had asked if the Taifun was the aircraft used in "The Great Escape". It was a Bücker Bü 181.

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Art

Great GB! Just catching up with it… would like to join with the old Revell 1:48 P-38, recon configuration of course!

Lewbud, Darren – nice predators – good WIPs to keep in mind, it is an interesting craft.

Aggieman – Well, the pics may be huge, but looks good and in focus. Good attention to detail, I like what I see. Bummer about the kit’s fit; scratch that kit of my “to get” list!  Oh, congrats on the son’s scholarship! We hope to have similar news in a few weeks (college scholarship)..or you will see some of my kits in ebay lol. Oh, and Aggie, I drive 800 miles where I live and cross 8 states lol.

Stenscience – Look forward to your build.. when I was a hobby “returnee” I also started with an old revel kit out of nostalgia. Did give me fits, but also learned a lot of basic techniques I forgot (or never used!).  Cant really give you that much input being a newbie myself.  But maybe hit the pilot with some flat/dullcote… looks a tad too shiny? But you are doing a good job persevering and making the model look good.

Subrev – I love the vigilante, look forward to your build.

Vance – good looking storch! Ditto on the making a good job out of a hard kit. Too many angles for me!

Jmabx – bird looking great, and yes, great engine! But where is it now?? This is what happens when you don’t read a GB for a month lol

Helo 53 – nice start on the tracer; are the seams that bad? Looks like fit issues? I have my eye on that kit…

Aggieman & Stenscience, I got to thinking, I built the same Lysander kit a few years ago. I pulled it out and took a look at it. It looks like everything went great until I got to the canopy. I had major issues with it. Misery loves company I guess.

Aggieman, I'm looking forward to see how your Arado comes out. I've always had a love for that aircraft. Growing up, we had a seaplane base about 3 blocks from the house. One of my buddies dad was the manager, so we were always hanging out there. I like just about anything with floats, but the 196 is a favorite.

Aggie, I have one more question, and you may know the answer being that you're in the Houston area. Would you know when the Lake Charles club has it's show? If I remember correctly, it's around this time of the year, I think.

Art

Jmart, thanks.  Been watching you guys from email land and there's a lot of good work going on here.  Art, just checked the IPMS website and the New Orleans show is 27 March.

It looks like everything went great until I got to the canopy

As for the Lake Charles show, I don't know unfortunately.  I reside in Katy, which is on the far west side of Houston (or as I like to say, East San Antonio).

I have begun work on my Arado as well as a FW200C Condor I'm building for another group build.  With that monster Kondor, I found out that I didn't have enough RLM02 Gray to do a thorough job painting all that interior space.  But I did lay down a pretty fair coat on the much smaller area inside the Arado.  I'll try to post some pictures when I can get my pictures downloaded.

Nice little Taifun Art!  That was the other option for my kit. I have another kit but it has a different box top. I don't recall if it has markings for the same two planes or not as I plan on building it as a civilian job.

Jmart - She's been sitting on my bench the whole time. I have four kits in progress including the little 108 so I bounce back and forth. So... here's some progress just for you.

A little masking tape...

A little RLM70 paint on top and we have a nice splinter camo.

Once the paint dries real good, I'll get started on painting the canopy framing a bare netal color. Aluminum I'm guessing.

Art thats another lil masterpiece, well done!!!

Jeremy, she's looking great mate!!!! The splinters are top notch!!!

Jeremy, your Taifun is looking fantastic!

Pics of my Arado ... not much to see here yet.

It does not have a large parts count, so if I get some bench time I can probably get this one done pretty quickly.