Thanks guys. I do what I can, I guess.

A bit more work on the gear: Cemented in place. You can see my exhaust tube for the air conditioning. Took hours to sand and file a piece of brass tubing down thin enough to look closer to scale. Several of my attempts collapsed on me, before I got it done.

A temporary jig with paint bottles and a jar lid to check the alignment of the gear. I also took out the piece of foam I used to protect the inner white portion of  the intake trunk. I read that the intake of the "D" was painted the exterior color further back as the white was too visible.

Pitot tubes will go on last so I don't break them.

Here is a bit of fun with the "High-contrast Monochrome" setting on the camera. We used to call that.... oh, yes! Black-and White!

And also, I assembled the Aim-9's. The opposing fins have to be cemented in, and HobbyBoss was able to mold in quite a bit of detail for this scale this way.

I can see I missed scraping a seem there on the upper missile! This camera does has its uses!

I seem to be making better progress than I first thought. Maybe I'll come closer to finishing it for the close of the build after all.

Jim

Yeah Jim:

if it looks right from 10 feet away, it is right.

Great attention to detail on that landing gear.

I always loved that front assembly on the Crusaders/Corsairs.

We are all perfectionists here, most times we don't admit it.

When a guy shows up with a build or detail just a little more 'perfect,'

we obligingly tip our hats to a job, well done, Jim

Dom

mikeymize

Hey Jim, I think you may be your own worst critic cause it looks out of sight to me!

Sign of a perfectionist is a person who is most critical of themselves, I guess.

Hey Jim, I think you may be your own worst critic cause it looks out of sight to me!

"Evidence Removed"

lol

"Did you charge this resignator, son? Where is the paper work?"

Gamera

Russ: Yeah those were really good I may end up using one or two of those in my sig lines in the future if it's ok with you?

Help yourself, bud. They're not mine so I can't say yea or nay .

Jim: She's coming along nicely, ick I always tend to want to burn out at doing all these little things to finish off the kit.

Russ: Yeah those were really good I may end up using one or two of those in my sig lines in the future if it's ok with you?

jimbot58

Hi gang!

Been trying to finish the bottom of the A-7.

Here I upgraded the front gear by trimming off the landing lights, painted the flat surface silver, and then adding a drop of epoxy for a clear lens. The rest of the gear looks rougher than it is, this camera really seems to make things look worse than they are. (Therefore, I will never take my own picture with it!)

I also have touched it up a bit since I took this. I nicked the paint a few times while I carved off those molded in lenses.

Also chipping away at those struts and doors.

And painting wheels

And doors.

Like I said, up this close, some of the wash looks sort of sloppy, but step back to normal view of a 1/72 scale kit, and it looks fine, at least to my eyes anyway. Of course the real thing isn't all that pristine, is it?

Well off to do a little work for a bit before beddy-bye!

Jim

Nice work once again Jim!  Yes, I know exactly what you mean about the camera really showing the imperfections!  I have gotten used to it myself.  Comes from having a good camera!

Ken

Hi gang!

Been trying to finish the bottom of the A-7.

Here I upgraded the front gear by trimming off the landing lights, painted the flat surface silver, and then adding a drop of epoxy for a clear lens. The rest of the gear looks rougher than it is, this camera really seems to make things look worse than they are. (Therefore, I will never take my own picture with it!)

I also have touched it up a bit since I took this. I nicked the paint a few times while I carved off those molded in lenses.

Also chipping away at those struts and doors.

And painting wheels

And doors.

Like I said, up this close, some of the wash looks sort of sloppy, but step back to normal view of a 1/72 scale kit, and it looks fine, at least to my eyes anyway. Of course the real thing isn't all that pristine, is it?

Well off to do a little work for a bit before beddy-bye!

Jim

Ken,

You are welcome, bud .  Good luck on fitting that tub.

Russ

Hi Everyone!

I spent the evening doing some more sanding, filing, test fitting, and repeat!  It is a slow tedious process.  I found that if you hold the resin up to a bright light you can tell when you are getting close to sanding through by seeing how much light comes through.  I don't dare sand anymore on the avionics bay piece.  I have more room I can sand on the cockpit base.  I also need to do more sanding on the inside of the fuselage.

Ken

Striker8241

The lighter side of aircraft maintenance...

Here is a link to some actual Navy aircraft write-ups and the responses by the maintenance crews. We had a few of these too : 

http://www.sense.net/~blaine/funstuff/maintenance.html

 Cheers,

Russ

Russ!  I about busted a gut laughing at those!  They are too funny!!  Thank you for sharing!

Ken

Dogfish_7

Fantastic detail work on the *** pit!

Thank you Dogfish_7!

Ken

Fantastic detail work on the *** pit!

The lighter side of aircraft maintenance...

Here is a link to some actual Navy aircraft write-ups and the responses by the maintenance crews. We had a few of these too : 

http://www.sense.net/~blaine/funstuff/maintenance.html

 Cheers,

Russ

jimbot58

 

That's a lot of work, Ken! Seems it might be easier to build a real one!

Yes, it will be nice once I get the fuselage button up.

Ken

Striker8241

Wow! That is really looking good, Ken! Makes me want to start on my F-4!  Ahh, but F-111 first...

Great job!

Russ

Thank you Russ!  I know what you mean, I want to start on my B-52!   

Ken

Son Of Medicine Man

Hi Everyone!

I am still plugging away at shoehorning the cockpit, avionics bay, and front wheel bay into the fuselage.  The main problem is that the Aires cockpit instructions are quite lacking in what needs to be done to make it fit!  They make great cockpits but they sure could make better instructions!

Today I discovered that the ledge built into the fuselage that is behind the rear seat needs to be removed shown here:

Here it is removed:

 

At this point I could finally get everything stuck into the fuselage and rubberband it together to get an idea how it was going to fit.  Here are a few shots:

 

 As you might suspect, it is a bit crowded in there!  But I am surprised that it almost fits together.  I am pretty sure I will be able to make it all fit.  It is going to take some careful work.

The biggest thing is the avionics bay is wanting the same space as the cockpit.  Here is a picture peeking inside and you can see them against each other:

 This next picture shows where I have marked off the area that needs to be filed down to make room:

I have been spending most of the evening filing, sanding, test fitting, repeat.  I have been also sanding on the inside of the fuselage.  It is getting pretty close but I am ready to call it a night.

Ken 

That's a lot of work, Ken! Seems it might be easier to build a real one!

Son Of Medicine Man

Hi Everyone!

I am still plugging away at shoehorning the cockpit, avionics bay, and front wheel bay into the fuselage.  The main problem is that the Aires cockpit instructions are quite lacking in what needs to be done to make it fit!  They make great cockpits but they sure could make better instructions!

~

I have been spending most of the evening filing, sanding, test fitting, repeat.  I have been also sanding on the inside of the fuselage.  It is getting pretty close but I am ready to call it a night.

Ken 

Wow! That is really looking good, Ken! Makes me want to start on my F-4!  Ahh, but F-111 first...

Great job!

Russ

Gamera

Hey Ken, looks good! I hate to grind down detail parts like that to get them to fit, I'm scared I'll go a little too far!

I know what you mean Cliff.  I have been taking care and going slow.

One thing I noticed is that all this resin has added a lot of weight to the front of this Phantom.  I don't know if I will need to worry about it sitting on it's tail!  Of course I will be adding resin exhaust so maybe I will have to worry about it.

Ken

Hey Ken, looks good! I hate to grind down detail parts like that to get them to fit, I'm scared I'll go a little too far!

Hi Everyone!

I am still plugging away at shoehorning the cockpit, avionics bay, and front wheel bay into the fuselage.  The main problem is that the Aires cockpit instructions are quite lacking in what needs to be done to make it fit!  They make great cockpits but they sure could make better instructions!

Today I discovered that the ledge built into the fuselage that is behind the rear seat needs to be removed shown here:

Here it is removed:

At this point I could finally get everything stuck into the fuselage and rubberband it together to get an idea how it was going to fit.  Here are a few shots:

 As you might suspect, it is a bit crowded in there!  But I am surprised that it almost fits together.  I am pretty sure I will be able to make it all fit.  It is going to take some careful work.

The biggest thing is the avionics bay is wanting the same space as the cockpit.  Here is a picture peeking inside and you can see them against each other:

 This next picture shows where I have marked off the area that needs to be filed down to make room:

I have been spending most of the evening filing, sanding, test fitting, repeat.  I have been also sanding on the inside of the fuselage.  It is getting pretty close but I am ready to call it a night.

Ken 

Russ; Thanks! I figured I'd just play around with it, I know it's way too old to add any of the cool new mods. I went ahead and ordered 1946, The Complete Series of older games, and Cliffs of Dover- heck they were only nine bucks a piece...

Jim: Lol, I carefully weighted the thing out and then added about a 1/3 more weight than I needed. I'm still not sure what happened here!  

Gamera

Hey thanks guys, I was very happy with how the paint turned out, not so happy to have a tail-sitter. Next time I'm going to load the @#$% thing up with about five times the necessary weight...

I hate when they turn out to be tail draggers. One of my first builds was an SR-71 (Revell, I think?) that was so barely balanced, that normally it sits nose down, but even the breeze and vibration when you walk past causes it to tip back onto it's tail.

You hate to overdo the weights, in case the gear won't hold up.

Gamera

Russ: Cool, I've got to root out my copy of IL2 (think it's a much older edition though) and my flightstick. I remember flying the heck out of 'Aces Over The Pacific' and 'Aces Over Europe' on my first PC- a 485DX66. Dang game mechanics were crazy - with flaps all the way down a P-47 or P-38 could turn inside a Bf-109 or FW-190!

Hey thanks guys, I was very happy with how the paint turned out, not so happy to have a tail-sitter. Next time I'm going to load the @#$% thing up with about five times the necessary weight...

Ken: Um, if you can wait I'll try to get some more photos up next weekend. I don't think the light inside is as good and it was warmer but crazy windy outside today so I didn't even try for more photos.

Jim: I can understand where you're coming from there. Certain things just bring back memories- funny how our brains are wired that two things can be linked together so closely.

Russ: Cool, I've got to root out my copy of IL2 (think it's a much older edition though) and my flightstick. I remember flying the heck out of 'Aces Over The Pacific' and 'Aces Over Europe' on my first PC- a 485DX66. Dang game mechanics were crazy - with flaps all the way down a P-47 or P-38 could turn inside a Bf-109 or FW-190!

jimbot58

Son Of Medicine Man

mikeymize

  I know what you mean; it didn't hit me completely until I received my dad's death certificate 3 weeks ago. It makes it all so final and I don't know why but it  was difficult for me as well. It does get better, that I know; not easier, just better.....

Yes, it is coming up on three years since my Dad's death.  I still miss him terribly.  I just don't think about it as much as I used to until I get reminded of it by little things.  Like icy driveways.  He slipped and fell on the ice and broke his hip which started his downward spiral.  I think of it as more like getting used to it.

Ken

If you can believe this: I still find it hard to shop at Walmart! Mom was an avid Walmart shopper, and used to make trips all the time to the store, and often I would go with her. Even when she began to decline, I did most of her shopping for her there. After she passed, my first couple of trips in there had me abandoning my cart and leaving the store as I would break down.

I guess we all have our "triggers"; life goes on but our memories remain.....

On another note, I love the A-20 as it's nowhere near as common a  model as say a P-51 or Bf-109 and that makes it all the better when one's done as well as that one. Great Job!

Gamera

On good news I did snap a few photos of the A-20 so I guess she's done. I need to glue the nose wheel to the strut it looks like. And I carefully weighted her out and then added a little extra weight and she's STILL a tailsitter... grrrrrrrrrrrr... I started to snow on me so I'll try to get some more photos later.

Beautiful job, Cliff! The A20 is my favorite WWII twin-engine bomber. I fly it in IL2 and it's a blast! (NPI ).

Russ

Son Of Medicine Man

mikeymize

  I know what you mean; it didn't hit me completely until I received my dad's death certificate 3 weeks ago. It makes it all so final and I don't know why but it  was difficult for me as well. It does get better, that I know; not easier, just better.....

Yes, it is coming up on three years since my Dad's death.  I still miss him terribly.  I just don't think about it as much as I used to until I get reminded of it by little things.  Like icy driveways.  He slipped and fell on the ice and broke his hip which started his downward spiral.  I think of it as more like getting used to it.

Ken

If you can believe this: I still find it hard to shop at Walmart! Mom was an avid Walmart shopper, and used to make trips all the time to the store, and often I would go with her. Even when she began to decline, I did most of her shopping for her there. After she passed, my first couple of trips in there had me abandoning my cart and leaving the store as I would break down.

mikeymize

  I know what you mean; it didn't hit me completely until I received my dad's death certificate 3 weeks ago. It makes it all so final and I don't know why but it  was difficult for me as well. It does get better, that I know; not easier, just better.....

Yes, it is coming up on three years since my Dad's death.  I still miss him terribly.  I just don't think about it as much as I used to until I get reminded of it by little things.  Like icy driveways.  He slipped and fell on the ice and broke his hip which started his downward spiral.  I think of it as more like getting used to it.

Ken