Official Alley Cat GB Sept2010-Sept2011

I dont mean any offence by this, but its going to look like a giant penis lol. Preshading looks good though.

As for the little fiddly buggers. theres a reason theyre called little fiddly buggers. I just use a small wet brush to guide them into place, let them air dry for a few seconds then very carefully touch any water with a dry tissue to pull excess water away. Once im sure theyre not gonna move on me i then push on them with a tissue to press out any bubbles and try them properly.

haha il try to make the purple NOT look like veins

if i use a wet brush they just bloody stick to that instead i do almost identical to you from then on though

The Tomcat's looking slick, eatthis! Those little stencil decals can be a nightmare. One of the nice things about WWII birds...not quite as bad in that regard.

Regarding the preshading, personally, I prefer seeing it airbrushed. Just my opinion, but I feel like the feathered edge really helps with blending so it looks less like a line of black paint under the base coat.

Kudos on the pink!

Still waitin to see more of your cats doogs, This GB is goin alot slower than i had anticipated. Oh well. its not a race

No to worry Mikey I am only 2 months or so away from starting my build for this group. I have a MiG-3, an F-5, and an AT-6 on the bench now all close to finished. Then I have a FW190 and SH-60B to build then I can start my Cat build

Scorpiomikey

Still waitin to see more of your cats doogs, This GB is goin alot slower than i had anticipated. Oh well. its not a race

Yeah, rain, parts delays and paint problems have snagged things up a bit on my end. The way the 10-day looks, the weather will probably continue to be an issue through the weekend.

That said...progress! The wings went and got all yellow last night.

Also got some minor dusting. Grr. Hopefully a polish will knock it back. 

coming along now :)

Looking good guys, i like the yellow wings. Which of the jolly rogers sqn is that? ive got a 72nd from VF-103.

Incidentally, does anyone know of any 48 scale racing bearcat decals?

Hey guys, thought you might like to see this as some inspiration for battle damage.

Full story here. http://www.gallagher.com/ejection_seat/log_lincoln_91.htm#mishaps and here http://www.topedge.com/panels/aircraft/sites/mats/f14-photo-vf213-06.htm

I would like to join this group build with the 1/72, Hasegawa F6F-5 finished as one of the original Blue Angels aircraft.  I started it about two weeks ago and have the cockpit and engine pretty much finished up.

Darwin, O.F. 

awesome, all signed up.

Scorpiomikey

 This GB is goin alot slower than i had anticipated. Oh well. its not a race

 I'm with vetteman, just have to finish up Tantrum for the Air Race GB, an AM P-400 OOB for an online build contest at Uber Hobby. That deadline is Nov. 25 ,but won't take nearly that long on that build . Next up will be my ARII F6F-3 for this GB.

Along the way I'll also start building the two Williams Bro.s kits for Air Race GB round 2 and somewhere squeeze in a tail turret / fiddly bits for my B-24 Witchcraft to finish it off.

 Jeeeeezzz, do any of us really ever clear our work bench? That's if we stay out of the kit aisles of our LHS. Always seem to buy them quicker than we can build them.

 Howard

I know the feeling Howard. Ive got 5 hobby shops within a 15 minute drive from me. i really am spoilt for choice.  As a result my stash has grown from a measly 3 kits, to about 8 or 9, for every kit a finish, im buying 3. my issue is i have a very demanding partner, i pay all the bills, and im on a relatively low wage. Also i dont drive which helps lol.

Like i said before, theres no rush, weve got a year.

Scorpiomikey

Incidentally, does anyone know of any 48 scale racing bearcat decals?

www.redpegasusdecals.com should take care of it.

daddy1

Jeeeeezzz, do any of us really ever clear our work bench? That's if we stay out of the kit aisles of our LHS. Always seem to buy them quicker than we can build them.

 Howard

Well, it takes (me at least) about 4-6 weeks to build a model. And 4-6 seconds to buy one. That, and with the internet, there's always that sense of justifying the shipping. I mean, you can't just buy two paints and then pay $10 shipping. But two paints, a kit, a sheet of decals, and some resin?

Got the yellow wings done for good last night (note to self: the Paasche H is much better than the Iwata at uniform coverage over large areas), and attached the engines and cowls. 

Hey, Scorpio. I got a 1/144th Dragon tomcat and the only work I've done on it is modify the wings somewhat for easier assembly. I'm wondering if I could get in on this GB? I have the "memorial Flight" set from dragon that has the superbug in it. I'm building that for the Hornet's nest GB, I figured I'd need motivation to build the tomcat as it is so rough in the box. I plan on scratching a new cockpit and somehow muting the panel lines a bit. Would that be ok?OTherwise the poor thing will probably turn into fire-cracker fodder or a test bed for German 3-color camo schemes...

woohoo iv finished my 2nd ever plane :)

here it is clean

and here it is tooled up!

bloody tape lol (now removed)

and some with my other completed model a tsr 2 in the same scale the tsr2 had a better power to weight ratio!

this is entered in 2 groupbuilds is it cheeky to take both badges with 1 model?? (i do intend to do other planes in the same groupbuilds)

the tomcat feels very delicate especially around the gearbay doors and incredibly annoyingly theres a prece of tape thats found its way INSIDE the canopy!!!!  overall im reasonably happy with it again theres mistkes but i corrected most and got away with some others

anyway what do you all reckon?

Ill sort that out for you bobba.

She looks pretty good eatthis, is it airbrushed or hand painted? I dont have a problem with you have 2 GB badges from one kit, i plan to do the same with my bearcat lol. Given its going in 2 GB's that im hosting lol.

the white is out of a rattlecan almost everything else is airbrushed iv gone for a bit heavier weathering this time i quite like it :)

eatthis - Fantastic job considering it's only your second completed kit! 

My one suggestion you may want to consider on future builds - the white control surfaces and undersides look somewhat stark. Mixing in just a touch of gray (or even overspraying with highly thinned gray) would help kill some of that contrast. 

I'll be facing the same conundrum when I do my tri-color Corsair and Hellcat here at some point...

It does look good, This is 32nd scale isnt it?

DoogsATX

eatthis - Fantastic job considering it's only your second completed kit! 

My one suggestion you may want to consider on future builds - the white control surfaces and undersides look somewhat stark. Mixing in just a touch of gray (or even overspraying with highly thinned gray) would help kill some of that contrast. 

I'll be facing the same conundrum when I do my tri-color Corsair and Hellcat here at some point...

the camera flash highlights the colour difference more than normal daylight i need to play with the camera settings :) the whiter areas seem to have soaked more of the weash into them so they actually look pretty dirty

the tomcat and the tsr 2 are both 1/48 scale :)

eatthis

the camera flash highlights the colour difference more than normal daylight i need to play with the camera settings :) the whiter areas seem to have soaked more of the weash into them so they actually look pretty dirty

the tomcat and the tsr 2 are both 1/48 scale :)

Ah, that'll do it. Flashes tend to wash the detail out of highlights.

First recommendation - turn off the flash and get a cheap worklight or two. Add daylight bulbs, and shoot with them off to either side. Not the side-side, but flanking the model so they mostly kill the other's shadows. Then make sure the white balance is dialed in and shoot away! You won't need the flash anymore, and the offset lighting will help avoid hotspots and blown details in the highlight areas.

thats a nice tip il write that down thanks mate :)

i guess you mean 45 deg either side of the camera?

Eatthis,

Great job on your tomcat!. Looks great and paint job is very good. Really like the markings you chose for her too

Taking good modelling pictures is somewhat of an artform in itself but like Doogs so eloquently pointed out lighting is everything

I had this website with great pointers and tips on the subject but couldn't find it back. What i did find is this website on railroad modelling photography. Not quite the same but the basics are in essence the same. Hope you can find a good tip or two on there:

http://s145079212.onlinehome.us/rr/howto/photography/index.html

Richard

thanks again iv bookmarked that atm iv got some of the gear and little idea lol

Glad to help I am a bit of a photography noob myself but since i tried to apply some of the lighting tips like avoiding flash and using multiple lights all around the quality of my pictures improved considerably.

Richard

Regarding this GB, and my entrants, I'm sad to say that have to bow out, fellers...

Those of you who read my "Ain't Dead, Just Damp" thread in the Odds & Ends hooch know that I lost a bunch of kits in the burglary, among many other, more valuable things.  On the list of kits that came up missing, all my Cats were taken or destroyed.  While I've been able to start "re-stashing" due to some you wonderful guys, I don't have any of Cats right now.

I DO have an Ebay bid in on a 1/48th AMT  F7F-3N Tigercat though, so keep you fingers crossed... The price is starting creep up on me, getting uncomfortably close to my personal limit for kit costs..  Hopefully, I'll aquire one before time's up, but for now, I'll just drop out and if I get ust the right Cat, I'll ask to be re-instated, time permitting...  Heh.. Be a good excuse to go pick up a Monogram Wildcat today though...

 Hmmm... Honey? Are you readin' here? I gotta go get somethi.....

kermit

Glad to help I am a bit of a photography noob myself but since i tried to apply some of the lighting tips like avoiding flash and using multiple lights all around the quality of my pictures improved considerably.

Richard

I'm a bit more than a noob...advanced amateur is probably the best descriptor. I don't typically like to hand down advice since different people have different styles, but the one I always pass along without hesitation is turning off the onboard flash. Even on better cameras, the direct light is harsh and tends to wash out details and make subjects look flat. The only time I'd make an exception is in bright sunlight where the subject is backlit.

Offset lighting is probably the quickest way anyone can elevate their photography...the difference is just staggering. And it doesn't take elaborate studio gear, either.

Personally, I don't have room for the lightbox setup I'd prefer, but my worklights solution gets me 9/10 of the way there. At some point I'd like to set up diffuser panels to soften the light a touch, but for progress pics, this setup is remarkably easy to set up and take down in a hurry...