OOOOOOOK. Started yesterday at 6:00 P.M. sharp right after dinner. Not a lot of parts in this one, but the two big ones (top and bottom hull) don't particularly want to go together. That's the drawback of having two huge parts!
First, the obligatory box contents:
And what happens every time I open up a new box of plastic:
Entire first evening dedicated to assembly...as usual with a 48 hour GB, I feel that if you aren't firing some primer or a base coat by the end of the first night, you're in trouble! Filled all of the seams as well as I could. With more time, there are a couple more ejector marks and fit issues I would have addressed. Pics:
Last thing before bed was the first coat of 99 cent Walmart spray can black primer. It's cheap, it's easy, lets me pre-shade the entire build, along with letting me get out of some of the more troublesome decals (coming up).
Instead of doing 6-inch long curved striping, I decided to mask it all off. Different widths of Tamiya tape and pinstriping tape let me do this:
In prep for a loooooong spray session covering up all of that black (really the only drawback to a black primer coat):
While I was spraying that, I put some gloss black on the canopy, guns (in prep for metallics), and the stand. I wish every kit came with a stand! I may have to see if Revell will sell me some more...after peeling off the masks and slapping on the non-gray parts, that puts us here:
After this, I sprayed two small circles of future for the decals that I wasn't able to make masks for - two hexagons-in-hexagons that I might have tried to pull off with more time...but not today! Hopefully that will be dry enough shortly for me to apply them followed by a flat coat. Some detail painting to do after than, then it's on to weathering!
Hopefully I can do this again tomorrow night after completion - if not, Monday morning it is.
Good luck everyone on finishing! 