Thanks Hercmech, I appreciate it.

Trey, I better get cracking.  That looks like an interesting project.  I have thought about using vacu-form conversions before, but have chickened out.  I am interested to see how that goes.  Any pointers you can send our way will be greatly appreciated. 

While I wait for the parts from Hannant's (actually, permission from the wife to place an order), I am going to start on what should be a simpler project, a Meteor NF 13 in 1/72.  The old Matchbox one, with the Airwaves pe set.

Cheers,

Greg

Greg, congratulations on finishing the P-70. You've got a good-looking build out of what sounded like a bit of a tough kit. I really like the way the weathering came out also.

Greg congrats the P-70 is finally complete, and it was worth the wait it looks awesome!

Excellent work on the P-70 Greg

I look forward to seeing the NF-13 Meteor come together , especially seeing how I have 6 of them in the stash .

I was looking around Fanatasy Printshop decals again and came across some markings for a C-123K Provider ...

I don't know how I missed seeing earlier in the week when I was first looking on their site , anyway there are some nice markings for a black/dark gray AH-6 , MH-47E Chinook and MH-60L Blackhawk helicopters as well .

Also a MC-130H with a "Bat" insignia .....very cool

I'm quite happy about finding official C-123K 'Lamp Lighters' markings and I have kits in the stash to build using the other markings provided on the Wolf Pack Sheet 72-022

Again , nice work on the P-70 .

                                       John .

John, Trey, and Stage Left, thanks for the compliments.  Especially coming from such great modelers as yourselves!

John, that is another cool sheet.  That is one that Wolfpak is out of.  That is great that you sourced some from Fantasy.  I saw on Wolfpak's site, that they released of couple of new sheets.  Nothing up my alley, but really cool nonetheless.  I like the bat insignia.  The VMFA 242's F/A-18D on the Cripes/Marines sheet has a cool bat logo too.  I have the decals to do an A-6A from the "Bats", and a Fuj Intruder to put them on, well, some day anyways.

As for the Meteor, I washed it and left it to dry when I went to work a couple of days ago.  I am working a double shift, so I haven't been home to start it.  Unfortunately, it is supposed to go back into the 100's here again.  I need to air condition my garage, so I can paint whatever the weather.....

Keep up the great stuff guys!

Cheers,

Greg

ps- I am working on a couple of ideas for the NF "Ace" badge.  Hopefully, a couple of proposals for your review in a couple of days.

Greg looking forward to seeing the badge and the Meteor. I got a neat little window rattler at a garage sale for my man cave and although it does'nt get really 'cold' it knocks the nasty down enough to paint. Go 220 if you can the 110 units will run your bill up.

I started the Do 217 with as usual the office. The replacement nose is of course vac formed so some care and a fresh blade were a must

Test fitting and retest fitting sanding here and there to get a good fit

The Koster kit requires cutting a part of the fuse away,seems to me it could've been left the other way around but  that would have left off the spent shell ejector ports in the vacum formed part so I do get why they did it that way.

The Koster conversion would have you glue the nose halves on to the fuselage at this point ,however I prefer joining the nose halves then adding the assembly later to assure better alignment of the panel line details. I also added tabs for a better glue joint

The Port side office detail is completely replaced by the Koster kit ,the only trouble here was getting the vac formed part to fit the contour of the interior. I used lots of clamps and ca and was able to coax it into place

both interior halves ready for paint,nose cones are just taped in place

Hi everyone,

I finished the PBY Black Cat

Hope you all like it. I bought Hasagawa's Jeep to go with it. Maybe I'll continue and build a diorama for them.

At first i thought the jeep looked too tiny along side the PBY, (they are the same scale 1-48) but then I stopped to think about the size of the PBY. It's wingspan is 104 feet x a length of  63 ft 10 7/16 in.

I think these look better.

blurry pix!

Green tracker from what I can see in the blurry pics it looks nice ,try backing away from the subject a tad.

The office is painted and except for the seats ready to go,still waiting for some a/m seatbelts to arrive so I'm going to skip ahead and tackle the much dreaded engine nacelles

Greg, looking very nice !!

love to see the PBY not blurry..

Hi,

I took new pics of the Black Cat PBY and added a Navy Jeep. hope you all like it.

I replaced the pics, read up ^

Ken

Ken  pics are better,the Cat came out great and nice touch with the jeep. Would love to see more pics from different angles!

Still waiting on some a/m interior parts so I started the engine nacelles. Again a sharp fresh blade is a must.

I left the halves connected for a better chance of getting a uniform level surface while block sanding,180 grit cut it nicely.

Then they were seperated and glue tabs added

Next the front of the nacelle was cut free and very carefully sanded level,also trimmed and cleaned up the intake openings

Glue tabs were added to the front along with some toothpick ends to help alignment

There is going to be a lot of tedious fine sanding and filling to get them right but here they are so far

nice kitty !!!

Trey.. looking cool.. !

Green Tracker,

Nice looking cat you have there!

Trey,

Coming along nicely buddy!

Thanks Everyone for the kind words.

I'm too critical of my work, but even I think its pretty good.

I'll post more pics as I do the diorama.

Ken

Thanks all,well the first of 4 problems has come up. #1The conversion fails to delete the lower gondola gun position

going to have to make a plug and scratch a fix for this

#2 This is a big problem ,the top turret needs to go as well ,however the conversion supplied canopy is a vac form duplicate off the original. Not sure how to get around this may just have to leave the turret on any suggestions? Take into consideration I have no vac form equipment or the inclination to obtain any.

#3 Decals supplied in the conversion are'nt the correct letters and I'm not finding any a/m ones online for PE+AW as I've no printer or skills in decal making any help here would be huge.

#4 The 'Schrage Musak' cannons are not supplied in the conversion,this should'nt be too difficult to scratch tho

I did a dry test fit of the major parts and looks like a pretty solid fit

Dang Trey!  That is one of the reasons I am scared to try a conversion like that.  Is the PE+AW using standard letters?  If so, I can look through my 1/48 Luft stuff and see if I have those letters.

As for the hole in the canopy, I did something similar to fix a broken canopy.  It is a pita, but if it is a relatively flat spot this works.  File the hole out to the nearest frame edges.  Make a template of the hole, and use it cut out a piece of clear stock.  File to exact shape and glue in place.  I am no master modeller, so somebody will probably have a better solution, but it worked for me.

By the way, your interior pieces look like real a/c parts!  You build to a quality that I can only hope to attain someday.   You have made this GB really pop.  Thanks.

Greentracker, the Cat looks good!  The jeep really does put into perspective how big they are!  Thanks for posting the new pictures.  You are on the front page now.

As for my Meteor...  The little Matchbox kit has seen better days.  I have had to repair some cracked parts right off the bat.  Those stupid end opening boxes the European manufacturers insist on, allow more damaged, and lost parts than even my butterfingers do!  That aside, I have mainly sorted the pieces needed for my version, and started test fitting of the pieces and photo etch.  It appears to be a really cool little kit.  The new release by Xtrakit is very reasonably priced, and I would recommend that, to sourcing an original Matchbox.  This way, you will have single color plastic, and much better decals for about the same as a used Matchbox.  I also recommend the Airwaves pe set.  The seats don't look accurate, so I am modifying them.  I will try and take some pictures when I am home tomorrow.  I have no guarantees on that though.  The parts are so small, I'm not sure my camera is up to the challenge. 

Helo (John), I haven't got to look at my Mk20 Canberra yet.  It is in my locker at work, and I have been working at every station but mine lately.  I did pick up Osprey's Canberra Units of the Vietnam War finally.  That is a hot seller at my LHS.  Your Vietnam builds fill a gap here.  So far, we have some modern, but mostly WWII.  Caspar's Sea Venom I think is the only completed post war build.

Sorry to be so long winded, I am working at a station without my modeling stuff!

Cheers,

Greg

Trey , I certainly agree with Greg about the cockpit interior of the Do-217 , it's awesome

I've only done a couple of conversions using vacu-form plastic , two 1/72 RF-8 Crusaders and a abandoned C-1 Trader and C-2 Greyhound . I found it very difficult working with such thin plastic , however Trey , you seem to master the conversion quite well .

I'll have to bite the bullet again shortly as I have the P2V-5 Vacu-form conversion for the Hasegawa P2V-7 kit to back date the Neptune for a Korean War bird , so I will be watching with great interest how your Do-217 comes together .

                              John .

Trey,  I'll be taking more pics as the diorama comes together 

I'm gonna try a scene on a South Pacific island for it. I just can't buy everything for it at once as I am on Social Security Disability. I'm sure you all know how that is.

Thanks Everyone

Ken

Greg yes they are standard luftwaffe letters appreciate ya taking the time to look. Thats a great idea using the clear stock,theres not much of a bend in that area so it might just work! I'm flattered by your compliments this has been a great G/B with great input from a great bunch of builders and I'm glad to be able to contibiute to it.

John thanks for the kind words !

Ken looking forward to seeing the pics

I'm getting closer with the nacelles ,cut off the radials with a razor saw

I then trimmed them closer to the panel line and sanded it flush. I had to be careful not to go too far as the main gear attachments are on the engine bulkhead

Dry test fit shows there is going to be some real intricate filling and sanding at the mating areas

Looking Great Trey

It looks like your conversion set is depicting this aircraft.

Its still a DO-217N but still has the turrets. Maybe the aircraft you want to predict is a later version.

As for the canopy turrets, you could cut that section out at replace it with some sheet styrene to create an armoured panel type scenario.

Greg: Dang how did I miss your P-70!?! Great looking model, congrads!!!

Ken: Love the cat! Always thought it was a graceful and attractive a/c and yours came out great!

Trey: Dang man, another great model! I never had much luck with vac formed parts but the Do-217 looks like she's coming right along.

Update- the Widow was given a base coat of dark grey the other night to look for flaws. I'm trying to get some other stuff done first so I'm afraid it might be awhile before I get any more photos posted.

Thanks Gamera, I am glad to finally finish something for a change!

Trey, your DO is looking museum quality as always!  Tomorrow I go back to work at my regular station, and that is where most of my 1/48 Luftwaffe stuff is.  I have I think 3 -88's, and at least 3 110's in my locker, among other stuff.  Somehow, there has got to be a PE+AW!  I hope I can find the right stuff, for selfish reasons.  This way I can say I had a hand in a masterpiece!

As for the Meteor...  for anybody wanting to build one, sort the parts for your version, and mark off the parts of the instrcutions that don't pertain to you.  Other than a picture of Classic Airframes 48th scale resin pieces, I don't have much to go on for the interior.  That is okay though, with the Airwaves set, and a visit to imagination land, well, and the interior being black, I am sure it will look the part.  I added some plastic card, and some sanding to make the seats look like a/c, and not kitchen table seats.   I just need a good image or three of how the canopy is hinged.  I would like to pose it with it open.  Oh yea, in the release I have, the nose is incorrect for NF 11/13.  I am modifying for the right length using profile shots from John (Helo34).

As always, my photos suck.  Maybe I should buy a few less models and invest in a camera?  Naa! too much sense.

Cheers,

Greg

Thanks Gamera.

and to all, I found a tripod for my camera at wally world tonight. I think its just the ticket i needed.

Hooray, no more blurry pictures,,,, I hope

Nice work on the Meteor seats Greg ;

Here's some scans of the canopy from my Meteor books ...

Suprisingly there doesn't seem to be any nice close-up pic's in either Meteor books of the two seat cockpit ....

Very disappointed...

HTH ,

                    John .

John, thanks for the pictures.  The diagram will be very helpful.  I now know how the canopy is supposed to be attached.  I hope I get a chance to work on it tomorrow.  I didn't bring it with me to work today.  I spent 8+ hours studying for an upcoming promotion exam today.   I am going to do a little work on the F-4's I have here.  As a change of pace, I might start another Phantom in the near future.  The F-4D "Terrible Tyke" would be a good candidate for this GB.  I didn't realize that the USAF had a dedicated Phantom night squadron.  It looks pretty cool with black undersides.  I have an A.M. (monogram) F-4D (72nd) that would fit that bill nicely with the Wolfpak decals.

Trey, I could find A's and E's, but now P's or W's.  I will keep looking though.

Cheers,

Greg

Mike,yes you're correct that is the N1 that the parts are for . I did'nt realize until after I commited to doing the N2 variant . I think it can still be done or at least I'm going to try.thanks

Gamera thanks appreciate the kind words!

Greg I think I've got the decal problem handled thanks for looking tho! The Meteor is off to a good start!

The canopy was the major problem to fix ,good thing Koster supplied a vac one the factory canopy was a partial mold

I cut the recessed area in the mold for the turret away and reglued it flush with the top

after masking to avoid scracthing up the rest of the canopy I sanded the excess glue away

then I used 2 different colors of primer so it would be easier to see the shape needed

although its not exactly perfect I'm happy with the fix and think it will look the part once painted

Awesome fix on the canopy Trey!  Intentional or not, model company oversights force us to be major problem solvers!   I am okay with that here and there, but I get discouraged when that is the focus of a whole project.  I thought it would be easier building planes.  I was always a car builder, and I would get frustrated with all the modifications needed to make my projects (Mainly sports prototypes, and sports racers) resemble the real article.  Other than no carbon fiber decals, and perfect paint jobs, I was mistaken thinking airplanes would be easier! 

Cheers,

Greg

Looking good !