PACIFIC CARRIER AVIATION GROUP BUILD

Good progress Joe. No worries there. Once you apply some sound painting and detailing techniques you'll have that cockpit looking top notch.

For todays update: Man this kit needs ALOT of clean up to get not only to fit right but to get rid of as many seams as possible and to remove all of the flash. For those of you who don't know already, these sprue molds have been around for a long while:

Here we are with a fresh coat of zinc chromate with nothing added in the way of washes or detail painting (although there aint much!)

The seat belts should be here today or tomorrow and I'll finish up the cockpit.

We'll be here when you get back Craig.

Have a grand time Craig. Although, you will be sorely missed.

Hey gang, I'm gonna step away from the workbench and probably computer for a week or so.  Gonna spend a little time with the wife touring vineyards and breweries.  My other hobby.  May use my wife's Kindle to see what's going on around here.  Keep up the great work.

Craig

Well I'm should be getting my seat belts around Saturday or so. Until then I'm turning my attention to the fuselage halves. Good grief! There's a ton of flash and misalignment issues to work out.  I think I built this kit as a kid and don't remember all of this but then again......it probably didn't matter then. lol

Joe: I'm just really glad to help you in any. Keep the requests coming. That goes for all of you out there, anything I can do to assist you please ask.

Craig: I'm working on my landing gear also. The only difference, I believe, is that I picked up the Eduard PE exterior detail set for my Hellcat and it includes quite a bit of pieces for the landing gear. Trust me, I'm being challenged with these small PE parts. I'll get some pics of my efforts prior to priming the landing gear.

Thanks for the Kudos guys.  Gonna tackle the landing gear next.

Joe Rix:Thanks Joe. I'm on a budget with this build and don't want to spend any more than around 40 dollars total on it otherwise I would have sprung for an interior detail kit. I model kit itself cost me 16 or so. I just had to get some seat belts for it today for 11 bucks and that leaves me just enough for canopy/ wheel masks. I saw that Academy mask you mentioned today. I wish ed there was a mask for the Revell F4U -4 but I guess I'll have to make do with an alternate offering. Thanks for all your help so far buddy.

Craig: Everything seems to be coming together for you quite well. It all looks really nice. I'm ready to see some paint on there.

Joe: Way to make that IP pop. Nicely done.

Hey Flyerduke, your engine work looks great; sorry to see so much of the detail getting lost as you put on the cowling and prop.......top notch!

TAD

Thanks. Use a white pencil for the dial and silver lead pencil for the gauge rings.

Sweet.  How do you paint the gauges?

Man that engine really looks the part there flyerduke!! Wow! (That extra bench time is nice aint it.)

Small update on mine here. I got the IP painted and detailed but need to touch up a couple of items. You gotta love pics, they show everything and are unbiased.

I got a little more done today than I thought I would. Having the day off really helps.  I installed the engine and cowling.  I didn't put a lot of effort into detailing the engine compartment since it would be hidden.  The photos I took show that.  Oh well, it was fun working on the engine.  The prop is in place to show how little the engine shows.  If I can keep this pace, I should be done by the end of Oct.

Craig

Your engine looks very good, flyerduke.  Nicely achieved appearance to it.  

Thanks for the advice.  I'll hit the engine with a quick shot of flat.

Craig: Your engine looks great. You did a really nice job on it. As far as the color of the ignition wires go I'd at least hit it with a flat coat to knock some of the shine out of it. Sort of along the lines of what Joe is suggesting there.

Joe: Yeah. It appears your going to have to break out a jar of elbow grease for extensive puttying and sanding. But, if there is a man for the job that would be you Joe. You got this!

The only thing I do when I paint the wires that color is to dinge 'em up a little with a light dry brushing of brown pastel ground up to flatten the finish out a tad. Again, that motor looks awesome!!

Thanks.  Funny thing about the PE wiring harness.  It came off a gold color fret and the instructions said to paint it black.  So I painted it black before installation.  It got kinda lost with the rest of the engine.  After seeing JR's and Drew's engines, I thought it would be best to paint the wires gold.  I didn't have any copper.

That engine looks really good Craig! Looks like the PE set it off.

It's two in the morning and I can't sleep.  So I thought I'd do a little something with the Hellcat.  First, off I'd like to say what a great job JR and Joe are doing.  Actually, everything I've seen in this GB is awesome.  Really good stuff!  I'd also like to thank everyone for their words of encouragement.  I really appreciate it.  I get derailed fairly easy, so your compliments help keep me on track.  Thanks.

After seeing JR's 1/72 R2800, I thought I should try to make mine look almost as good as his since my R2800 is in 1/48.  The gold wiring really makes the engine pop.  So I went back and painted the wires gold.  I also added another coat of wash which helped bring out the cylinders.  I guess I'm happy with it.  I test fitted it in position on the plane and with the cowling in place.  Looks like a good bit of the detail is lost.  Oh well.  

Sorry about the pics.  I'm not a good photographer and the camera isn't the best.  This GB has been a learning experience all the way around.

Craig

I just took a peek at what's coming down the pipeline here. Yeesh! This things got bigger seams than a pair of Wrangler blue jeans!

Thanks for the comments Drew.

Thank you avipond.

Looking good Craig and Joe(s)!  

That 1/72 engine is spectacular!

Thanks Joe and Checkmatking. I'll be seein what I can do about harnesses.

Thanks CMK. I really appreciate your compliment.

Sharp looking cockpit, mustang!  All those little dials and knobs show up very well.

Outstandingly realistic engine, Joe.  Nice work!