US CARRIER AVIATION GROUP BUILD 2013

I'm calling her DONE!  Remember, these are my first builds in a very long time. 

The weathering on the wings didn't turn out as nice as I would like, but hey.  And yes, yet another cheesy attempt at backgrounds.  If I had a better camera (or should I say at least had a camera!), I'm using my phone, they might turn out a little better.  Thanks for checking her out!

Eagle90

That's sounds reasonable, Greg.  Thanks for the insight.  I'll try that next time.

checkmateking02

It wasn't too hard to touch up again, but it got me thinking--do you paint first, then install; or do you install first, then paint?

Whenever possible--particularly with belts & harnesses--I try to bend the parts to shape first, then remove and paint, then install. Doesn't always work, but most times it's do-able.

jbell...wow!  Great work!  She is one sweet build!

Eagle90

gregbale

Eagle - the SBD is looking first-class. I'm with everyone else, the drilling of the dive-brakes is exceptional, and no small accomplishment (no pun intended) in "braille scale." Looking forward to seeing it with the canopy on.

Jbell - Nice 'pit action on the Vigie. Can't beat those Eduard sets!

Marty - Nice Vigie of your own, and your work on the ingress/egress tunnel on the Whale is both inspiring and sobering. That kind of emergency exit was dicey enough back in the B-17 days; it's insane to think that any designer would contemplate it as a viable option for a service jet.

Thanks Gregbale!  She turned out to be a pretty little thing.  The canopy was the worst fitting I have ever seen!  I filled the gaps with white glue and painted over it.  Hope to get to her tonight.  Thanks again!

Eagle90

Excellent work, jbell and MA.  Very appealing to the eye.

Regarding PE cockpit details, I just tried some PE seat belts for the first time, but I was wondering about installation.  I painted them first, but of course when I bent them to install them, some of the paint chipped off.

It wasn't too hard to touch up again, but it got me thinking--do you paint first, then install; or do you install first, then paint?

Clemens, GregB and Stik,

Thanks for the comments. The Vigi was the model that pushed me over the "My skills aren't up to par" line. That paint is Humbrol enamel I bought in the 80's for my Tamiya Tomcat bought at the same time. I've been afraid to build iit out of fear I wouldn't be able to master it and it would be an embarassment. Superscale decals, and the reason I picked that livery is there is a little yellow circle down below the cockpit with a Chinese Junk and the wording "Gulf of Tonkin Yacht Club".  I will shoot some 'real' photos when I get back home and post them up so you all can see some detail.

And I agree, exiting an aircraft via that slide on the Whale would be about the most terrifying thing you could do. I recently found a link of some video of them testing it with a dummy. When it hits the airstream you can't believe how violent it is.  

Oh nice! TWO Vigies here! I love the lines of that bird!

Greg and gregbale thanks for the compliment.....Greg it took me about a year to get the hang of the pe in general, but once you get the hang of it you can't stop using it.  It makes your cockpits pop!

Eagle - the SBD is looking first-class. I'm with everyone else, the drilling of the dive-brakes is exceptional, and no small accomplishment (no pun intended) in "braille scale." Looking forward to seeing it with the canopy on.

Jbell - Nice 'pit action on the Vigie. Can't beat those Eduard sets!

Marty - Nice Vigie of your own, and your work on the ingress/egress tunnel on the Whale is both inspiring and sobering. That kind of emergency exit was dicey enough back in the B-17 days; it's insane to think that any designer would contemplate it as a viable option for a service jet.

jbell, that cockpit looks fantastic!

I am hoping to learn how to come close in 1/48th scale to what you have done here someday. For now, the techniques are apparently over my head.

That's one good looking model, Marty!

Dre, Thank you. I need to go back in the thread to catch up on your build.  You might be done now for all I know.  I think the Steel Beach stuff is 1/48, but I did see that somebody just released a 1/72 wing fold resin set, and it might have been them.  I was tempted, but i'm going to have all the hatches open so it seems a bit of a stretch to have the wings folded. One nice thing in that mod is the slats are extended, and that is going to be another head scratcher for me. I've been thinking about how that will come together.

jbell, Welcome and what a great aircraft to bring to the GB. I will be watching witth interest as I just finished the Trumpy 1/72 and I've had my eye on a 1/48, NAA bird and all.  

Here is a pic of my build finished earlier this winter:

Looking really nice!

Here is my progress so far....I was on such a roll that I forgot to take pics of the pit before I joined the fuselage.

Hey Marty- good looking work you're doing in there.  Have a look at Steel Beach accessories line-up- I think they may have some resin bits in development that could be of interest to you.

It's never too late! You are on the list!

If its not to late I would like to join with Trumpeters 1/48th RA-5C Vigilante

Greg

Sorry that didn't work out, Eagle.

Thanks Greg.  No worries thou.  It doesn't look too terrible and for the most part the decals turned out well.  Could just be the old decals. 

Eagle90

Sorry that didn't work out, Eagle.

MAgather

Eagle, I don't think the solutions will work through a top coat. Did you use acrylic?if  so, Maybe you could shoot windex to cut through that shouldn't hurt your decals. If enamel or lacquer it might be dicier.

Guys, any thoughts?

Hey Magather,

I didn't think it would work.  I used Testors Dullcote.  Oh well, lesson learned.  Thanks for the help!

Eagle90

You have plenty of time left. And if it isn't enough, just carry that project over to round 2...

Thanks guys! As I said, I'm not the fastest but I have fun.

Eagle, I don't think the solutions will work through a top coat. Did you use acrylic?if  so, Maybe you could shoot windex to cut through that shouldn't hurt your decals. If enamel or lacquer it might be dicier.

Guys, any thoughts?

Marty, all that scratch building is way over my head, and in fact has me scratching my head. :) Looking good and also good to see you back at it!

Stunning work, Marty!

I didn't notice that we are at page 71 already... Thanks to all of yoo for participating!

MAgather

You guys always get first dibs on the pics, just because you are my support group.  That, and I can just dump pics on you all without all the needed detail for the WIP thread.

I may have posted this before, if so I apologize.  You will note that at this point the egress compartment is still sealed up, and I haven't primed the EW panel yet.

All of the components are about where they are supposed to be, floor, bulkheads, and EW panel. Note the gap btw the panel and ceiling.  our next shot will show how that get's filled.

You can see here how the upper panel (white) fills the space above the lower panel up to the roof. Note the instruments aren't in this photo. They will be glued to a bottom structure (thin white strip to extreme right) and the upper panel will be glued to it.

And here is the ingress/egress tunnel mounted in place with the flight deck and kit bulkhead. My bulkhead isn't quite fitting right, but I just need to trim up the kit parts.

Best, Marty

Very nice work there Marty!  Great build you got going!

Eagle90

MAgather

Eagle,

Great looking Dauntless. I don't know that Micro Set and Sol have age issues, leastwise mine seems to still work after all these years (15+) so just go slow and reapply the Sol if you need them to snuggle down some more.

Clemens, what a testament this GB is to you!  I'm somewhere around P 25, so I'll need to do some fast reading and non linear commenting from this point forward for a bit.

Greg and GB, thanks for the support. This one is definitely kicking my ***, but a step at a time is the key.

Thank you!  I had already put a coat of Testors Dull on the Dauntless before I noticed the decals.  I don't think the Micro Sol will work now will it?  I'd sure be willing to try to see if they settle a little bit more.  Your thoughts?

Eagle90

Greg

Major stuff since your last update, Eagle. Looking gooo-ood. (think Andy Griffith here).

The detail work both draws attention to your custom drilled airbrakes, and makes them not steal the whole show at the same time. Neat the way that worked out.

If it's any consolation, I totally messed up a more than a couple of decals on mine.Sort of didn't call attention to them with the way I photographed. Far be it for me to be offering advice, but I wonder if a bit of Solvaset (carefully) might settle them down if you haven't sealed anything yet? Also, I believe it is ok to re-apply a bit more Microset if things didn't settle the first time or if acquiring Solvaset is inconvenient for you. Anyone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Thank you Greg!  Yeah, the air brakes I think are my highlight for this kit.  They turned out a lot better than I thought.  As for the decals, this was one of the estate sale kits I had, so you never know how they stored them.  It could have been sitting out in a garage somewhere.  I have put a coat of Testors Dull on there THEN noticed the decals.  Oh well, it's "weathering", yeah weathering!  

Eagle90

You guys always get first dibs on the pics, just because you are my support group.  That, and I can just dump pics on you all without all the needed detail for the WIP thread.

I may have posted this before, if so I apologize.  You will note that at this point the egress compartment is still sealed up, and I haven't primed the EW panel yet.

All of the components are about where they are supposed to be, floor, bulkheads, and EW panel. Note the gap btw the panel and ceiling.  our next shot will show how that get's filled.

You can see here how the upper panel (white) fills the space above the lower panel up to the roof. Note the instruments aren't in this photo. They will be glued to a bottom structure (thin white strip to extreme right) and the upper panel will be glued to it.

And here is the ingress/egress tunnel mounted in place with the flight deck and kit bulkhead. My bulkhead isn't quite fitting right, but I just need to trim up the kit parts.