No More Excuses GB: Part Deux. Closed to New Entries But Finish What You Signed Up For

Thanks, Kevin. I got some work done on her yesterday. I installed the snorkel and reattached a lamp that had cracked off -- the Russian plastic is not so enthusiastic in its response to cya as others so it's a tiny but frustrating. The hull is closed and tight and the painting is underway, I did the tires and hubs and laid down a base colour on the Tamiya tracks:

My airbrush needs a service so I won't be cracking on quite as quick as I had hoped, but I should still be laying on the camo next week. It'll be very satisfying to see this one join the display shelf, it's my oldest unfinished armour piece.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Fantasic job on those 727's.  I will update the front page with your builds.

Thunderbolt, nice fix on the axle. I see you have a nice plan of attack to get this one finally completed.

Hi Everyone,

I'm calling these two 1/200 Boeing 727-200s done. The kits are by Hasegawa with the decals by Hasegawa and Hawkeye Models Australia respectively. For those not familiar with it, Ansett was a great Australian domestic and international airline that went bust about a decade ago. I used Tamiya aerosol Pure White for the finish, Micro Krystal Klear for the windows and BMF for the leading edges. They're out of the box, with no real modifications, other than one of them required some extra weight to sit on it's nose.

Cheers

Tony

Beautiful work, Tony! I must try my hand at an airliner one of these days, but I'll need to research the techniques beforehand. Gloss paints still give me all kinds if grief.

I joined the hull of the T-72 yesterday and got the paints to do the running gear today. I'll add the snorkle and some missing towing cleats, and get started on the wheels tomorrow. They were assembled long ago and I made up some holders to paint four at a time.

The lightest shade of the camo is cited in Zvezda's plans as being equivalent to FS 34227, but in the reference photos I've collected it ranges from a somewhat yellowish tan to a khaki, other than the khaki there seems no green hue to it in many pics... I'll make a call in what to use, and keep on researching.

You're right, I'm going to enjoy finally calling this one done!

Cheers, Mike

Mike - its always a great feeling to knock off those really old builds. I've killed several of them this year, and in some ways they're the most satisfying.

Here's the latest on my 727s. They're very close to done now. The undercarriage doors just don't fit in the limited space they have, so some judicious and inaccurate trimming was required. It's a nasty sting in the tail to an otherwise pleasant little kit.

Interestingly, Hasegawa provide a metal screw as a nose weight, identical in both kits. One sits correctly on it's nose, the other is a tail sitter. Go figure. It's fixable as I haven't fitted the windscreen yet.

It must be the weight of the tail decals :)

Just got the windsceen - still painting the frame, and one or two small repairs to go.

Cheers

Tony

Hi all -- finally taken a good hard look at the Zvezda (ex-Dragon) T-72B w/ ERA, and it is really very close to done. Having decided to use Tamiya tracks obviates the problem of the very brittle, unforgiving L&Ls, and today I did a small repair that's been hanging fire for a long time.

First, the obligatory box art shot:

The repair was fairly straightforward and hopefully will be strong enough. One of the axles snapped off, long ago, due to the brittleness of the plastic, so the axle and stub were drilled out with a .020" bit and sleeved with a tiny stub of brass rod, then the joint was made with slow-cure gel superglue for maximum strength. Here are the before (during!) and after shots:

It looks like I can join the hull directly, and paint before mounting the running gear, as there's plenty of room to add the wheels to the axles without the skirts being in the way. My technique will probably be to add the drives and idlers before closing the hull, then after painting roll the tracks on over the drives and draw them forward and through with a hook, join the ends and then add the roadwheels one by one from the back so the repaired axle is about the last to have stress placed on it.

I'm looking forward to having this one done after a great many years (ten or so, I think...)

Mike/TB379

SWEET! I miss the days of Ansett and TAA...

Here are the latest pics, BMF on the leading edges, Krystal Kleer for the windows, engines on. I've decalled the other one.

Cheers

Tony

Thanks Kevin.

I've finished decalling the other 727 too.

Working on BMF for the leading edges now. Photos later today.

Cheers

Tony

Thanks for the advise Stik.  I appreciate it.

Taxtp, your 727 looks really good.  I like the tail art on those Ansett jets.

Bit more progress on the 727, the decals are on.

Cheers

Tony

Thanks Mac. I appreciate the vote of confidence there. But this kit sure needs work. There are some serious fit gaps on ther lower fuselage where the front end of the lower wing mates up. I think this is only the third kit that I have rescribed. In it's favor, the plastic on this kit is softer and more receptive to scribing than my two previous attempts with Monogram kits. I think breaking the scribing down in to managable bites is the best way to tackle it. Try it on a smaller simple kit sometime and see what you think. My first attempt was an old original Monogram 1/48 P-51B and that was a good one to try it on.

You're off to a good start already Stik.  I am sure you will make this old kit look great.  Nice score on those burner cans!  

I haven't attempted to rescribe a model yet.  Seems a bit daunting to me.  

I know, I have a Hasegawa 1:72 that I set out to do the same with, got the flat bits done and discovered the round bits didn't want to play... That was a looong time ago. I'll finish it one day, but...

M/Tb379

Thanks Tbird. Just scribing the wings was a bit tedious. I am pretty sure that is why I lost interest during the initial build. What was I thinking???

Stik -- great to see this bird back on the bench!

M/TB379

Today was probably my almost final bit or rescribing- the nose camera section

Then a bit of sanding andfiling on the rear area to clean up the seam and to get the overlapping panel effect on that area...

More to follow later here

OK, I have finally decided on a kit to restart for here and began work as of last nite. Some other threads and some recent reading have me wanting to build a Vietnam era F-4 Phantom. Then I recalled my old Testors 1/48 RF-4C that I had started but never finished for another GB here...

I started it about 2 or 3 years ago and had the fuselage rescribed and the cockpit pretty much done when I lost interest.

So last night I pulled it out of the sideline shelf and began work anew. First off I completed rescribing the upper and lower wings, which I had partially began on one upper

After the scribing was complete, I glued the upper and lower halves together

I had purchased a set of resin afterburners and cans for something like $3 plus shipping off of Ebay  to replace the kit parts. So out came the motor tool to remove the heavy resin base and some final sanding to clean it all up for gluing together...

interior of the can

the afterburner petals

and both cans and petals

And that was it for last night's work...

It won't be disqualified.  Don't worry.  If you call it done, it counts.  Even if its unpainted.  It's your build sir.

The only time I strip paint of a model kit is when I mess up painting a car body.  I say when because it is inevitable.  I get a bit impatient spraying so many light coats of paint.

A little bit, I put a box lid on my lap with a couple of tools and tore the sucker down, it's sitting in a trash can of CSC as we speak. Luckily alot of pieces like the turret hatch hinges have duplicates on the leftover sprue and there was a 2nd (all be it incorrect for OIF) barrel to replace the one i broke during disassembly. Also if anyone has spares of parts B2, B42, E18, B6, and A1 and A46 I would be very grateful, PM me if interested in selling, trading, or whatever. If not it's o.k. it won't disqualify the build if it's missing pieces will it if they are legitamitly lost?

Your 727 is looking great taxtp!  The gloss white is the only thing keeping me from starting any of the airliner kits I have.  Not my favorite color to paint with.  Your paintjob turned out very very nice.  Keep up the good work.

corvettemike, a full overhaul huh? You are braver that me attempting to disassemble a built model. I hope that works out for you.  I hope your back is feeling better too.

I hope your back is improving Mike, I always reckoned it took me about three weeks to get a decent recovery.

Here are some hurried and crap progress shots of the 727.

Cheers

Tony

Having alot of time on my hands to ponder while flat on my back, I'm changing mine from shelf queen to full overhaul. I'm really disgusted with the paint/weathering so I'm going to carefully disassemble as much of it as I can and send it to the purple pond (Castrol Super Clean), get it to bare plastic and start again from scratch.

Coming along very nicely.

Current status photos

Cheers

Tony

Looks like I've finally got the gloss white coat down. Hopefully I will be able to take a photo later today.

Cheers

Tony

...and yet another prime....

Cheers

Tony

macattack80

Sorry to hear about your back issues.  I hope you have a speedy recovery.   Obviously take your time.  No rush to finish your builds.......that's why your here to begin with right?

Go easy on your back Mike, I've injured my lumbar spine a number of times although it's been good for a while now.

The 727 has been though another iteration of priming and subsequent work, and I think is ready for another prime. The seam work was great, but I must have taken some short cuts on the rescribing. Man I hate rescribing.

Anyways, think its done, If the prime is good, it will get it gloss whote coat tonight too.

Cheers

Tony