Thanks Greg,I used to think the same about airplanes having mainly built Motorcycles know better now do'nt we !

I finished making the seat belts and glued the fuse halves together

Cleaned up and rescribed the vac parts

TREYZX10R : Your build is coming along nicely.  The D0 217 you are building appears to be a prototype according to some of my reference material.

Here are some scans of photos for this particular plane:

ALSO, The little bubble dome on top of the canopy is NOT a window blister.  It is a directional radio antenna housing that replaced the hoop antenna on the earlier versions.

I also have a lot of other references on these.  Drop me a line if there is anything you need.

Heavens Eagle, thanks for taking the time to post that up I had no idea it was a prototype! Great info on the paint and details its really a big help in clearing up some things I was fuzzy about with the build thanks again!

Yet another GB i would love to have been able to take part in. So many GB's, so little time. I haven't been keeping up with this one, think i better have a look through the builds.

That pit is looking very nice TREY. What paint scheme will this be in.

Bish

Yet another GB i would love to have been able to take part in. So many GB's, so little time. I haven't been keeping up with this one, think i better have a look through the builds.

That pit is looking very nice TREY. What paint scheme will this be in.

Bish,

Check out page 1 Greg has done a great job of putting up pictures of all the completed builds and references to the page the completed builds are on.

TREY, is that the ProModeler kit you've started with? I had spotted it at a local shop, passed on it because I was unfamiliar with the kit & a/c... you're making me regret my decision to leave her behind!! Beautiful work on the interior.

Awesome work trey

The seats and finished cockpit look perfect and the on-going work on the vacu-form parts is excellent .

Well done Sir

                      John .

Thanks Herc, i'll check that out.

Bish thanks, I'm building the PE+AW version so the scheme will be the same as pictured above

Vancecrozier its the Revell E-4 kit and thanks for the compliment!

John thanks for the kind words

Not too much to report still waiting on some a/m parts to arrive. I did do some further cleaning up and fitting on the props and nacelles

Problem #2 the lower gondola was a poser but heres what I did to fix it. I started with a block of balsa

then fixed some self adhesive 80 grit to the lower fuselage are to be covered

this allowed me to get the inside plug of balsa flush with the fuselage

after that I cut the plug down with a razor saw and shaved it into a basic shape with a small wood plane

next I covered the fuselage with 2 layers of 3m 2" tape to protect it from sanding

test fit after sanding to shape with the tape removed showed that some fine sanding was still needed

the plug is ready for a coat of epoxy

I had to make 2 small filler panels out of styrene to close up the small gap at the front of the plug on each side due to the shape of the fuselage, then after painting the underside of the plug I ca glued it in place.

Ready for a fine bead of filler to blend it and then some primer should do it.

Now carpentry?  Wow Trey, you can tackle pretty much anything this kit can throw at you!  I know I am not up to that kind of challenge.  Plus, the earlier detail shots are fantastic.  Your cockpit is so realistic.  You are a master of cockpit detail.

I apologize for a lack of wip shots from me.  I have a promotional exam next Wednesday, and studying for it has been taking up little bit of leisure time I have. 

Cheers,

Greg

Good Luck with the promotional exam Greg , I'm sure you will do well .

I am in absolute awe at Trey's workmanship and skills ; I'm a Carpenter/Shopfitter by trade and I have to tell you all that Trey's effort is just inspiring ...

                        John .

Wow Trey...getting creative with it I see. Great use of multiple materials!

Greg thanks,I must confess to having built a lot of balsa rc kits so it was just an acquired skill by necessity. Thanks also for the compliments on the office,really appreciate the kind words. Hope all goes well on your exam!

John thanks also for the great compliment

Hercmech yea having to get it done by whatever I have at hand ,must admit its been challenging but fun.Thanks

The Plug for the lower gondola is now in primer and I think it will work out,not exact to scale but close enough for my satisfaction.

The fuselage and wings are now glued together. I had trouble getting them to align correctly ,really weird the way the fuse and wings go together on this kit so there are some filling issues to contend with. Mainly at the wing roots and the top halves of the wing joints. I also went ahead and attached the nose, lots of filling and sanding is going to be needed here

Trey,

Can't even tell it's not plastic

Thanks TREY, i will deffinatly keep a closer eye on this GB. And must agree with Herc, you wouldn't know that not part of the kit.

Hercmech, Bish thanks!

I finally got the nacelles fitted. I'm left wondering after all the hassle with the vac parts if a donor kit with the DB603 series engines would be an easier route? Although that would be a waste of a kit just for 2 engine nacelles after what the Koster conversion set me back it might just even out.

Good progress this weekend, I scratched ,the 'schrage music' ports out of some sprue

also fitted the canopy and diopole support tubes and blended in the nacelles . I have to go over some panel lines but its real close to being ready for primer

Looking very nice, and good work on the gun ports.

Bish thanks, those gun ports were harder to get to look right than I thought they would be !

I finally got it in primer and it needed some serious tweaking, I wet sanded the trouble areas around the canopy ,nose,naceeles ,upper wing joints and lower fuse plug with 600grit then went back over the whole thing with 1000 grit. I'm going to let it set up and dry real good, in the mean time work on the landing gear should keep me busy.

Fantastic work Trey!  You make it look easy!  I feel like a heel though.  I have barely made any progress on my little Matchbox Meteor.  It has just been too darn hot to paint here.  If I got up before dawn to do it, my family would probably choke me!

Regardless, you are inspiring!  Especially since I know that it isn't much cooler in Orlando.

Cheers,

Greg

Gregbbear

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

Thanks Greg,

BTW, I started a diorama tonight, oops i mean last night. it's 2 am right now lol I'll get some more pics aas I go along.

Oh BTW again. my handle i greentracker ""98"" minus the """ of course my Tracker is a Chevy. OK, its a geo with chevy markings. lol That was the year GM bought Geo. After that, they redesigned it.

Thanks again,

Ken

Trey: Great stuff! She's really coming together.

I've missed a bit here since I've been sorta avoiding the thread to guilt about not getting anything done on my Widow. Really I will get back to her after finishing off a few other things- promise!!!

Greg thanks really appreciate the props! I must confess that my work area has a/c its too hot and humid without cold blow here and I'm getting wimpy in my old age.

Gamera thanks looking forward to seeing the widow get build'n already;)

I did some preshading and got the first color on ,starting to come together!

Looks great Trey!  I better get that ace badge done too!

I've gotten some done on the Meteor.  It is just so small that my camera wouldn't be able to capture the detail.  It is a cool little plane, nontheless.

Cheers,

Greg

Awesome work Trey and the WIP pic's are really great as well .

I would hesitate to guess how many hours you have put into the build so far ???

I'm in the same boat as cliff and greg , as my B-57G Canberra is still sitting in the spraybooth with a base coat of tan on her , I need to get cracking and finish off the camouflage scheme and get onto the Candle trio (C-123K , B-57B and 0-2)

John .

Trey.. looking sweet !!

ps.. is the Flo in the background ?? 

That's a sweet looking plane dude.  :)

Greg thanks,looking forward to seeing what you come up with for the ace badge ! How did you do on your exam?

John waaaay too many hours to even venture a geuss and thanks for the kind words

p38j thanks and yea thats Flo the caveman is back there too

NFN thanks!

I used silly putty for the first time and it worked well

aside for some clean up and fine tuning with the details it came out okay I think

Nice paint job, like the cammo pattern. I haven't tried silly putty yet, hard to get hold of over here. But deffinatly right for that pattern.