PACIFIC CARRIER AVIATION GROUP BUILD

Craig, your instrument panel looks great. Despite your issues with the PE you did a right fine job. Considering that I am building the 1/72 version of the same kit it is a challenge indeed. In order for me to see the cockpit PE parts I start with my 2.5 reading glasses, then put on my opti-visor, then peer through a stationary magnifying glass which then looks through a telescope and finally through a goldfish bowl. An issue I confront while doing this is that when all put together my arms are barely long enough to reach the model.

I'm working on the instrument panel and seat belts this evening.  Those PE parts are a nightmare.  I don't even think some of the levers and really fine stuff will be visible once the cockpit is in place.  How the hell do you guys do the fine detailing?  I'm using my reading glasses and a magnifying glass.  

Welcome to the GB Craig.

Steve

Thanks Joe.  I started on the kit today.  Removed parts from the trees and did some test fittings.  So far, smooth sailing.  I'll post pics soon.

Craig

Welcome to the GB Craig! Mighty excellent to have you join us. Nice! Another Eduard Hellcat. I'm building the 1/72 version for the GB. I also have that kit in my stash waiting to be built. From what I am able to discern both kits are quite similar. What I can tell you is that you're going to love that kit.

  Joe

I'd like to join in this GB if it's not too late.  I'm fairly new to the FSM forum and group builds.  I have a 1/48 Eduard F6F-3 Hellcat ProiPACK that I received from the Czech Republic a couple days ago.  I can't promise I'll finish it by the end of the year, but I'll give it a spirited effort.  The kit doesn't look to difficult.  If there is anyone familiar with this kit, I'd be interested in any pointers.  Thanks.

Craig

9 kits... Now there is a passionate modeler.  I'd love to see picture of that workbench.

Yeah, it's gotten a bit quiet in here lately. I can't start on my Hellcat yet because I have to get some of those damn 190s built up so I have a bit more room on my bench. my bench is fairly large, but 9 kits is pushing it...

Thanks CMK, But, in all honesty it was only a minor setback as I was able to repair it easy enough. The only grief it caused me was that while drilling out the holes I ended up slightly enlarging the the wing port holes and as such they are a bit larger than the other gun ports.

Good to hear that your still making progress on the micro planes.

Sorry to hear this, Joe.  I hate when things like that happen--just when you think you have everything going well.

Tonight I got decals on ten 1/700 Dauntlesses for Enterprise's flight deck.

Well Gentlemen, This GB has been a little too quiet for a while. Time for a bump. Obligations have certainly slowed my progress but, I have made a little nonetheless. Unfortunately my progress has been repairing a little mishap. I broke off one of the inboard resin gun barrels while handling the model. Yeah, it would have been wise to install the gun barrels at the end but I opted to mount them in order to get the mounting block inside the wing lined up properly. Unfortunately there are no 1/72 metal gun barrels available for the 1/72 Hellcat. But, I did find a metal set for the P-47 which is identical to the Hellcat. I drilled out both inboard gun barrel mounting holes and the P-47 replacements are perfect. I am only replacing the inboard barrels as I see no need to replace the other resin ones. They are fine. By the end of this week I should be alleviated of some of my obligations and should be getting some more bench time. Then I can get some paint on.

How's everyone else doing on their builds?

The Corsair's coming along nicely, Raven! I'm with Joe on the fuselage seam. She's looking really nice already. but sanding that seam down a bit more would improve her looks even more. Just a mere suggestion...

Nice work on the Corsair, Raven.

It appears that you are making good progress there Raven. Nice catch and repair on the wing.  Raven it appears in your photo that your fuselage seam could use some putty and sanding. I do hope that you do not take that as criticism but, it is merely an observation. My intent is solely to help you out. It is indeed a real bummer to find something that needs correcting after the paint has gone on. That is one of the main reasons why I put a primer coat on first. It is so I can see the areas where I may need to do some more puttying and sanding prior to the paint going on. You're doing a great job and I am certain that you will get that Corsair into fine shape. Thank you for the update pic.

I painted the Corsair yesterday using Tamiya XF-17 Sea Blue. Paint went down well, but when I looked the model over after drying, I realized that I had forgotten to fill in the two 3x4mm square holes in the wing tops that are apparently to allow the wings to fold. *sigh*  So I figured I'd post a pic of the fix; I luckily happened to have some .030" styrene strips, which are just the right thickness. I also discovered the gap behind the left wing inlet which will need to be filled. This kit continues to challenge me, but I'll come out on top eventually.

My, you were quite they busy shopper, Steve. Sounds like neat stuff.

Glad you liked the mask panel line and rivets idea. Hope it works out for you. Certainly not an original idea on my part. Probably learned it here.

Re positing hotlinks,     .......I "thought" I always did that, but by golly the other day when I posted a dead link, I think i might have done just what you said not to do. Thanks!!!

Thanks for the link Steve. I recall having come across that site before but I had since forgotten about it. Sounds to me like a productive day at the hobby shop and at the bench.

Also, Thanks for the tip on pasting links. I did not know that.

Greg...I will probably try them.  I will let you know.  BTW...I had no luck finding the BSI Gel CA locally.  So I bought a Hobby store brand that is a thicker formula. I'll give that a whirl.  

So I did some shopping today.  I picked up some small wood clamps that I can use for holding glued pieces together.  I also picked up a Tamiya scriber.  I tried it on an internal wing structure (where it won't show), and It seemed to do a really nice job.  Much better than an xacto blade, that is for sure.  I also bought some masking tape, dremel cutting wheels, CA accelerator, and CA debonder.  Time to get paint too. I will get that soon.

I did a little work today on the sink marks.  Tomorrow I will sand the filler and reapply if needed.  I used your recommendation and masked the rivets and the panel lines.  Good thinking on that, thanks. For sure I would have messed that up if I didn't mask it.

One other thing.  I remember in another post that you mentioned having trouble with links.  There is one key thing that I have learned with links that applies not only to this forum, but to email messages.  After you paste a link, you always have to hit the return key so that the curser moves to the next line. I have found that if you don't do that, the link will be dead.

Bakster

Hi Greg.  Have you ever purchased from a place called 1001 Modelkits?  They handle the Gunze line.  Mr Surfacer sells for 6.99.  I think I will try this primer as well.

www.1001modelkits.com/.../51883-sf286-mr-surfacer-on-1200--4973028519884.html

I hope this link works.

Hadn't heard of them. Looks like a good selection of Gunze stuff indeed.

Thanks, Steve

Hi Greg.  Have you ever purchased from a place called 1001 Modelkits?  They handle the Gunze line.  Mr Surfacer sells for 6.99.  I think I will try this primer as well.

www.1001modelkits.com/.../51883-sf286-mr-surfacer-on-1200--4973028519884.html

I hope this link works.

I think I bought some hard to find books a few yrs back on a certain subject now I think of it. Seller was rated ok (they were just used books from an individual, something I'd normally shudder to do). All went just fine.

I definitely hear you regarding a source for hard to find stuff. One day I may go that route.

I respect that Greg. Lord knows, there is plenty to be skeptical about on the internet. I stay vigilant when using ebay. I make sure to check all seller ratings and feedback. Through time though I have found a handful of very reliable sellers that have decent deals and hard to find items. They are like the Squadron Shops and Sprue Bros. of ebay. I guess though that I've been fortunate to have never had a bad experience

Dunno what to say, Joe. Probably goes back to ebay's early days when I was skeptical of about everything on the internet. :)

Wow, I have to say Greg I find it interesting that you, as a modeler, have yet to take advantage of ebay. I'd say that about 60-70% of my models, supplies and books have come from ebay. It used to be a lot better about finding great deals on stuff but, it's become a bit tougher anymore as  the popularity has grown. But, I almost always find some rather hard to find or OOP stuff on there with some searching. Especially cool place to find some AM stuff for a subject or a reference book that you may never known existed.

Dissolved Putty really is great!

I gotta get me some Mr.Surfacer now (all of them!) maybe some Mr.Color paint sets too and one or two of the paints that are not in the Mr.Hobby line.

That Mr.Tool cleaner sure sounds interesting, but I'm a bit worried about it not arriving here if I order some. It's already bloody hard to get hold of the Leveling Thinner and the tool cleaner seems to be a lot "hotter"...

Mornin' back atcha, Joe.

Ahh, the site is Asian. Explains some mysteries. But raises another;

US sellers won't ship this stuff overseas. I looked into shipping some overseas for a friend, ist verbottin per the US Post office. I kinda wonder how it can work the other way around. Oh well.

I share your minor frustration with the lack of English instructions on Gunze products. Thank goodness we all have each other to compare notes. I'd be totally lost otherwise.

Thanks for the additional seller/link. I've never ordered a thing from ebay or from an ebay seller, first time for everything I suppose.

Will have to try some Mr Dissolved Putty one day, thanks. Sounds good!

Mornin' Greg! It took my orders about a week to a week and a half to get here. Not bad considering it's coming from Asia. I've ordered from them quite often and have yet to encounter any problems. Also, while browsing around a bit last night I came across this seller on ebay that has a nice stock of Gunze thinners, cleaners, glue etc... I'll be ordering some Mr. Cement S from him and see how the service is.

www.ebay.com/.../m.html

What's cool about finding this seller is that they have Mr. Tool Cleaner. That is a rather challenging product to find so it's nice to find another source. You know, there is one drawback to the "Mr." line of products and that is that there is no English instructions on the bottles. So, I see some intriguing product yet I have no idea what it is for nor how to use it. This seller also carries Mr. Dissolved Putty which is a bit thicker version of Mr. Surfacer 500. I'm here to tell you this stuff is some fantastic filler putty. It's not for large gaps but, it fills some fair sized gaps and sands beautifully. Like Mr. Surfacer it shrinks as it dries so it often takes a few applications to get the gap completely filled for sanding. but it dries quickly so that's not much an issue.

Thanks for that link, Joe. Do you recall how long it took to get your order?

Sounds like we are in the same boat, indeed, re our paint inventories. If Nathan happens to be reading this, he is probably shaking his head in dismay. He (and Clemens....and now you) have been trying to sway me towards Gunze paints for a while now.

Incidentally, the other day it seems some Gunze aqueous is back in stock at Sprue Bros? I wonder what that is all about?

Thanks for that link, Joe! This website is great! They seem to have everything I can't get here in Austria, Like all the Mr.Surfacers that aren't 1200. The paints seem to be the Mr.Color line (I can only get the Mr.Hobby acrylic line) so that's great as well because I need some paints that are only available as Mr.Color paints...

I really hope they send those to Europe as well