1944 Group Build

Well Bish, I do thank you for the kind thought and recognition. Yet, after this and my 1/72 FW 190 I would really REALLY not wish to be in contention for this award again.....ever.. In all seriousness, it's not only about being stubborn and refusing to give up. But, I also go to these lengths in hopes of encouraging others not to get discouraged and give up too easily. That with some time, patience and effort you can fix nearly any mistake, whether it be of your own doing or something else. Problem solving and creativity are hallmarks of our hobby and these kinds of incidents are prime for practicing said attributes. Also, making mistakes and other mishaps only make you that much more skilled at the art of model building. Now, with that said, I do not want to do it anymore.

Joe, if nothing else, you have to get the forums award for perseverance. It is odd that the two decals are not the same, maybe an end of the print run, or a chance in the ink mix they were using. Great job cutting that decal out.

I'll say no more as don't want to jinx you now.

When last we left my Hellcat I was working on the replacement wings from the Weekend Edition I ordered. The painting has gone well and I got the gloss coat on without mishap. Whew... Then it was on to the decals which was what I also needed from the new Weekend Edition kit. Decals went on just fine and then I noticed something quite out of the ordinary. The blue on the insignia for the upper wing was way out of register. WHAT THE #@$&!!!!! How? Common wisdom would have me believe that decals from essentially identical kits would be the same right? Nope. Not in this case. Here is a pic of a comparison. The wing at the top is the original that I am replacing. The one on the bottom is the new one with the out of register decal:

After a bouncing my head off the bench a few times it was time to invest in a solution. I was not about to give up on this now. Not after what I've been through with this build. I was not about about to purchase a second kit just to get one decal. So, I broke out the original decal sheet and began to examine some possible options. Two actually jumped out at me. First, was to use the '43 insignia which has the blue border on the bars and is slightly larger. Although technically incorrect, it would at least be in register and look good. The second option was to take the even older insignia with red border and trim the red border off. This would leave me with the correct insignia in size and configuration. But, htis would require a steady hand and sharp eyesight, both of which I lack. Here is a pic of my options:

Yet, I decided to give it a go since I had the '43 insignia in case I hacked the daylights out of it. I broke out my trusty scalpel, small beauty scissors and optivisor and set to it. All the while gripped in doubt and fear. Well, I didn't do a half bad job. It's a bit rough but it might pass. I was unable to lift the old decal off with tape so I had to lay the new cut out over the top of the old one. More fear and doubt ensued! But..

Glory Be and Hallalujah! It Worked!!!

It's a tad rough around the edges but, nothing I can't fix with a little weathering. So, now I'm moving forward. I've cleared the the hurdles. nothing can go wrong now. Right?

Nice work there jay, I do like that rig as well.

Hello Everyone! I am long overdue for any commenting, updating and oohing and aahing. You know the routine, life distractions, other commitments,.. blah, blah, blah. Time to get all caught up.

Jay: It appears to me that you have done a very admirable job on your mottling. It's really well done. Sorry that I was no help in suggesting methods for mottling. It's just that I have yet to step into that arena and so I did not feel qualified. Great work!

Ken: Very nice to see some work and updates on "Strawberry B". Appears to be coming along rather nicely. By the way, did you receive your new compressor? If so, how's it working out?

Now on to a sepa.rate post on my progress

greentracker98

Jay Did you make that rig the plane is sitting on, or did you buy it?

I bought it at the nats last year.

Jay Did you make that rig the plane is sitting on, or did you buy it?

Hi

So I decided to repaint the fuselage between the red band and wings root, she is ready for decals at this point.

Like always suggestions are welcome and thanks for looking.

Jorge 

Today is 1944 B 24 day, I will try not to get sidetracked and start on something else.

Here's the latest pic Yea, I know its blurry, but you won't see the lead sinkers this evening anyway

Okay just got home from model club meeting, took the dog for a walk, put a couple of burgers on to cook. Now, I can sit and relax and eat, Then I'll get the camera out and take a few more pictures of the B 24 Strawberry B***h, I'm getting there.

Jay, that mottling doesn't look to bad to me. Sounds to me like you got the basics about right, the only thing I can suggest is practice. I have only done 4 kits with mottling and its getting better every time.

Jay I've never done mottling too, so, I'll be watching for the info. It looks great so far

I'm doing a 190 for the Aces GB

Hi guys

So I haven't been able to have any bench time for the last 5 months. I finally have time to spend some time with this hobby that I like so much.

I see great models and great talent here!

As far as my Fw190 goes here is my progress so far. Read to the end because I need some help on this one.

Pre shading done, not the finest job but good enough. 

Yellow under and red band done and ready to mask.

RLM 76 done

Here is where I need advice and help:

Does not look at all like the image in the instructions, this is the first time I am trying to do mottling and I don't think it looks right. 

I am using an Infinity airbrush with a fine needle, pressure at 10 psi and mrcolor paint at (I think) the right ratio. 

Anybody has any advice?

Like always thanks for looking.

Jorge

So am I Bish So am I

That's good news ken, really looking forward to seeing these last builds finished.

yes, very well done Joe.

To whom it may concern I should have a new air compressor in a couple of days. I bought an airbrush compressor with air brush from Harbor Freight

Thank you Doug and tj. It was just a case of getting over a nonsensical fear and just doing it.

Nice save Joe

Well done Joe! Intricate work!!!

Doug

Hi there Gents. I've managed a bit of progress on the Hellcat wing restoration. The metal gun barrels are mounted and the wing halves together. Unfortunately, I hacked up the gun openings in the wing a bit while enlarging them to accommodate the new barrels. I ended up widening the holes too large and and a couple were offset. But, fortunately, I still had the PE barrel covers that I hesitated to put on the original wings because I thought they would be a major hassle to bend correctly and that I would end up making a mess of them gluing them into place. So, I took a deep breath and set to the task. Actually came out rather nice. Certainly covers the over sized holes that were driving me nuts.

Ye, that's not good news on the compressor, hope you can get a new one soon.

Ken, I am indeed sorry to hear that the compressor is giving you fits. I hope you find a nice reliable one and that you're back at it right soon.

Arrgh - I don't know what anyone else thinks about campbell hausefeld air compressors, but they will never get any more of my money again.

I went to do the touch ups on the B 24 and its on the fritz again.

I don't know how I'll do it, but I will have a new compressor next week.

Thanks Bish. Although it has been time consuming, I'm really glad that I chose to replace the wings. I'm able to do a much cleaner job on them and approach some issues I found on the first go round.

Good to see your still plugging away Joe.

Hi Ho Compadres. Well, the unseasonably warm weather we have had that has kept me from my bench has finally given way to more winter like weather. Thus I've gotten back to getting some work done on the Hellcat recovery project. Although not much, I got the p-47 metal gun barrels cut to size and glued in to the Quick Boost resin inserts.

I have some sanding to do to get them to fit the wings properly but, I'm making some progress.

Cheers, Joe

I haven't looked in here for a while, but that's a great recovery on the Hellcat, Joe.  Excellent!

And, Ken, the props came out looking really fine.  Nice work.

Nice work ken.

Joe, your certainly having troubles with this. I would have given up long before now and just completed as is.

If the dark Side is with you that much, maybe you should try the Star wars GB.

Ken, It is good to see you making such wonderful progress on the B-24. Have to say that it is shaping up very nicely. You've done some impressive work for sure.

Good Lord, you all will have to excuse my overly distracted brain as It dawned on me that I had not posted here my lastest and greatest faux pas. Apparently my modeling kharma has decided to be balanced to a dark and unforgiving side. While applying my wash on the underside of the Hellcat I discovered that in the process of repairing the paint from the last debacle that I had laid so much paint and top coat down that it had completely filled in the panel lines. To say that I was overwhelmed with discouragement at the moment is an understatement. But, it was short lived as I quickly turned to alternatives. I could have taken a long process of running an xacto blade along them but, I opted not to on the wings as it is a lengthy process and fraught with peril. I was also not much in the mood for another paint stripping round. But, much to my joy I realized that I had not glued the wings in place. So, with that I ordered a 1/72 Eduard Weekend Edition Hellcat, which has arrived, in order to completely replace the wings and to also get a replacement decal for the wing insignia. This approach will also allow me to correct some flaws that I had on the original wings.

 Unfortunately the bottom center section of the fuselage suffered also. For this I will be carefully retracing with an xacto blade.  I also ordered a new set of QB resin gun barrels for the insert as I will be using Master Model metal gun barrels in their place. So currently I am cutting the metal gun barrels to fit the resin insert. I've also cut out the shell ejection chutes which I did a hack job on the original wings.

Needless to say I am undaunted in my endeavors to complete this here little guy. It's taking some time and frustration but i believe it will come out nicely in the end.