MONOGRAM MAFIA II GB

Nice work on the pit & engine Stik.

The only area that needed a bunch of filling on the F-20 were the back of the intakes.  All the other stuff went together fairly well.

One thing that really sucks it the HUD.  Its just some molded detail on the IP with a clear part that doesn't look convincing at all.  So I filed it off and scratched my own.  I just used some thin styrene sheet and used a PE HUD from an F/A-18E as a template.  This type of HUD probably is not something they would have put on an F-20 but I think it looks good:

And here it is painted:

Its hard to see it in the pics but I drilled out the hole where the projector goes and used Testor's clear parts cement to create a lens. It turned out pretty good.  I have the clear parts cut out I just haven't installed them yet.

I have the Starfighter Decals 2nd Fighter Squadron/All Weather from Mitchell Field.

Very nice scratch built HUD there Fly 

Yes, that kit dates from the Mid 80 to Early 90s in Monograms line up.

Lots of progress today and just about ready to begin gluing again.

First up, based on some B&W photos I have seen of TBDs and doing a bit of color interpretation I can see no color contrast between the rear cockpit decking and the adjacent Blue Gray fuselage. Other period aircraft recovered had this painted in Blue Gray, so I am guesstimating that some TBDs did as well. So I opted to paint the rear cockpit decking and the roll over brace in Blue Gray. And since masking off the little side windows in the forward fuselage would be something of a bear, I painted the fuselage sides Blue Gray before I installed the side windows. I had tacked the forward fuselage access panels in place the nite before. And since I mixed up more paint than I needed for the areas intended, I went ahead and painted the whole fuselage on both sides where needed.

After the Blue Gray had dried it was time to install the side windows, so after a dip in Future and time to dry I glued them in place

Then it was time for seam clean up on the wings. The corrugations made that the most challenging clean up that I have even done. Thank goodness for needle files...

Then I glued the engine into the cowl

and finally, using some good reference photos, I used some ProModeller instrument decals on the front and rear instrument panels

great work guys, youre gonna make my little OOB build look bad!!

Here is my Revell 72nd Thunderbolt. Popped in 1999!

Im building this one straight OOB, and its going together rather well. I forgot to get pix of the office, but its just the kit included details. It was only a few hours before I had this:

The next day I finished the main assemblies and masked. I used Testors rattle can silver metallic to the NMF. It went down well, but I found some areas that needed more sanding. After I retouched the paint, here is what I got:

And detail painting. Once cured, the rattle can paint holds up well under masking

up next, gloss coat and decals!

I was thinking of picking one off these up also.  The 47 is looking good Owl and I'm going to have to get a few of these.

68GT

I was thinking of picking one off these up also.  The 47 is looking good Owl and I'm going to have to get a few of these.

you wont be disappointed. There was a fair bit of flash on my sprues, but the detail is great, especially for so cheap a kit. The engine builds up very well too.

Stik, lookin' good with some paint on her.  Sanding between those ridges looks like alot of fun.

Owl, nice work on the P-47.

Got the F-20 primed.  As expected I found some areas that will need to be touched up.  Nothing too bad but it will add a bit of time.  Oh well, that's how it goes.

Deleted.  I posted some pics here then realized that I already posted them.

Sorry

Oh wow Fly! Looking at the primer she would be one mean looking Bird in a Ghost Grays or Ferris scheme... After all any scheme beyond the prototypes and demonstrators is gonna be a what if...

Yes the wings werea beast to file.... gonna be even more fun doing the inner wing portion becuase the folding out part will be attached and movable...

But I did get the fuselage glued together a couple days back. Looking at it now, in my mind I keep hearing Ensign Gay's theme from Midway I will get pics up soon. Seam clean up is about to commence here...

I'm gonna use the F-16 "Lizard" scheme.  Right now I've got some spare Nellis aggressor decals but I'm not 100% sure I'll use them or not.

Sounds pretty good to me Fly!

I always loved this scheme that was on one of the prototype F-16s...

That looks like a good idea for a Kinetic F-16A kit!

Never been a jet-jockey but have always thought the pick of the fighter litter was the Falcon.  Clean, simple and efficent.

Yup, the early F-16 was a hot rod fighter like the early Mig-21. Yes both got bulkier and more capable, but lost some of their aesthetic appeal in the process, much like the Spitfire did.

Now for some before and after pics...

the upper and lower fuselage as they looked when I finally took to my bench a couple hours ago

Now for the seam clean up I decided to try something new. The real TBD had overlapping skin panels (and oodles of raised rivets but with the time limit on this build I am not going there), not butt joined ones. And since this kit has raised panel lines that would be sanded off during the seam clean up, I wanted to try something besides just scribing a new recessed line to replace the lost raised line like I usually do.  Here is my new different technique: first up I took a needle file and ran it along the trailing edge of all the cross fuselage spine panel lines to create an overlapping look. Fortunately there were not too many. Then on the remaining panel skin areas, I cleaned up the seams in the traditional manner with my sanding sticks. The finished result looks pretty decent and under a coat of paint may look even better. I also cleaned up the panel lines for the doors that cover the stowed .30 Cal.MG.

Now the nose are forward of the cockpit had no such lines, so I all I did was scribe in the filler cap that would be lost and then clean up the seam

then I cleaned up the seam on the vertical stabilizer and rudder in the usual way... and here is how it looks overall now...

Maybe I will do some more work later in the evening, but it is too hot in my work area right now... summer is staying late this year

stikpusher

Yup, the early F-16 was a hot rod fighter like the early Mig-21. Yes both got bulkier and more capable, but lost some of their aesthetic appeal in the process, much like the Spitfire did.

Fly-n-hi

troublemaker66

Can`t see why not...welcome aboard!

In that case I'm gonna assume that its cool to join.  And If Hans doesn't want me too well then tough #@*%.  Just kidding...mostly.

Pretty #@*%in' cocky....

Kiddin'..

I've been gone so long almost I feel like I gotta ask permission to join back up...

I said "Almost"...

That said, I'm back home in my War Room and ready to do some work... Taking a kit with me was a bust, I was working twelve-hour days without a day off until about a week ago.. I'm done for the year, now..

So, back to the bench for me!

I must say though... It's all still outstanding work I'm seeing here... Gonna make the "Kitpickers" out there think twice about not building these Classics!

It's about time you got back in charge here boss... youse didnt leave your 5 point contingency plan before taking off .

Welcome back Don Hammer

hey, boss. 'Bout time you showed back up!

I've picked up a P-39 to finish off a p38/39/40 hat trick.

Wait a minute...you skip out on us without so much as a "kiss my ***" and think you can just waltz right back in here and act like nuttin`s wrong.......

...`bout time ya showed up slacker.....

Here's the morning session progress on my TBD. Nothing major. I scratch built the "orange crate" wood box  around the fins for the torpedo. Just some .20" sheet styrene that I cut to size and textured on the outer surface for wood grain with  razor saw. Ya know, I bought this Evergreen variety size sheets pack some 20 years ago for $3 and I still got plenty left. Money well spent!

The box is not glued on yet. I won't do that until both the "Torp" and box are painted at the end of construction.

Don Hammer will this one fit in for a second build ?

stikpusher

I love those marks on my Monogram builds. I usually leave them there just for me. But where this one is located means that it will probably be removed during seam sanding.

Tonite's update:

Instrument Panel all ready for installation

The lower inner wing glued in place

And then the IP glued into the front cockpit