PACIFIC CARRIER AVIATION GROUP BUILD

That's the spirit Joe.  Looking good.  Fiddly bits look good too.  Nice paint work.  Canopy looks good.  No issues like I had.  That's a good thing.  

Joe, looking good!

I have faith you'll have this looking fantastic in no time!

Thank You CMK, Steve and Bruce. I appreciate the validation of my efforts.

Umm, Steve, My canopy was not exactly issue free. You see, I did not ensure that the pre cut mask that covers the very top of the canopy was burnished down enough. This resulted in a very slight over spray to get on the canopy. I simply took an xacto blade and very lightly scrapped away as much of the paint as I dared. I then broke out the polishing sandpaper and buffed it up nice and slick. All fixed!

Hey Joe...I am smiling over here. Not at your misfortune but that no matter how careful we are, the model gremlins rear their ugly heads.  Do you remember the Twilight Zone episode when William Shatner is on an airplane and he sees a gremlin tearing at the engine?   Well...that's them.  Sometimes all you can do is laugh at them and press on.  Its better not to freak out like Shatner did. . 

Good recovey on that.  That is truly something to smile about.  Thanks for sharing that!

I hope to have a small update soon on my Avenger. Progress is being made.  Hallelujah!  That is, as long as I can keep the gremlins away. . Mumbling..

Oh Boy! do I ever remember that episode. A classic indeed.

Yes indeed, the Gremlins often seem to run rampant in my bench area. Unfortunately, they often appear in the guise of impatience, inattentiveness, distraction, over confidence, laziness and an overall lack of concentration.

Looking forward to some of them there progress pics of the Avenger.

Joe...too funny.  Well said.  I am guilty of all of those.

Nice work Joe.  The weathering of the struts looks good.

Looks like you're making good progress on skinning this cat, buddy! The gear legs and prop look very good from here.

Well, I have reached a milestone on this build.  The fuselage halves are now one.  That turret gun has really held me back from this moment and it promises to be challenge through the rest of this build.   I will have to carefully mask it so that it does not get messed up in the primer coating and color coating process.   Not to mention in all the other processes I have yet to go through.  Hopefully, I won't accidentally break the gun off too.

I will probably work on the fuselage seams next and then install the engine cowl.  After that, I will tackle the bomb bay doors.  The kit is designed to have them in an open position.  I am choosing to have them in a closed position.  So it will take some fitting, cutting and sanding to make it work. I will probably have to add some styrene as well to fill some gaps  As is, it does not fit correctly.  I will post some images when I get to that point.

Greg--you might be wondering about the tail gun.  I am adding that after painting.  I will have to shorten it some in order to get it in there, but that modification won't be seen from the outside anyway.  Also, and unlike what you did with yours, I have glued that side hatch closed.   Again, just a preference of mine since my build is as in-flight..  It sure looked cool though on your build with seeing that hatch door open.

Congratulations on reaching this point Steve. I know it has been a long time coming. It looks fantastic so far. All that patient work is definitely paying off. You've certainly got a point with masking off the turret. A challenge indeed.

Well, The "Cat has been skinned", as Clemens so eloquently put it. Overall the process went quite well. I have some touch up painting to do on the underside white where some of the magic elixir found it's way on to. I'll now do some maintenance sanding along the edges to feather the existing paint edges and then on goes the primer.

Looking better all the time, Joe.

Great looking Avenger, Steve.  Glad it's not me that has to figure out how to mask the turret.  It'll be an education seeing what you do with it.

Thanks Joe.  For my tastes, I am entering the fun part of the build. When things get buttoned up, wings attached, and it takes the form of what it is... an airplane.  Nice to see the Hellcat deskinned. Way to go Joe!

CMK.  Thanks buddy. Yeah I have some twists and turns planned for this build and I am just entering the bigger phase of it..  If it goes as planned, it should be fun.  I will share those things as I go along.  

Steve: getting the fuselage halves together really is a milestone in every build (especially with big birds such as your Avenger. She looks really nice so far!

Joe: I can't wait to see her with a new coat of paint!

Freddie: Please do post some pictures of your Hellcats! I can't include the finished one on the front page because you built it outside this GB, but the unfinished one is a go!

Joe and Steve - Nice work guys.  Lookin'  forward to more photos.

Joe: Looks like you pulled the paint removal off well man!

Bakster: I think it's starting to look like an Avenger! With all those parts I can only imagine it takes a long time to get that far.

So far everything is looking good in the repaint department. Shot the primer and dark sea blue on today. Next, the fading effect and then..gulp..the gloss coat.

Fingers crossed Joe! You'll get it man as I have complete faith in you and your ability.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Joe.

Hey dude, you've given me plenty!! lol

Way to go Joe!  

Steve

Joe, your Hellcat is looking awesome!!

Alright, Joe, think positive thoughts! 

It WILL turn out fantastic! I have faith in you! 

Looks fantastic already!

Sorry for all the exclamation points, I just finished two cups of coffee... 

Thank you Steve, Dave and Bruce.

Hey Bruce, If that's the kind of reaction I get from a couple cups of coffee then I definitely want to know what my work looks like to you after a few double espressos.

Good to see you making forward progress Joe.  Looks good.

She's looking fantastic, Joe! I'm sure the clear coat is gonna work out this time!

I think I am going to finally say Ta Da!! It is finally finished.

I did not have fun with the clear parts cement for the canopy though. The Squadron canopy was very "flexible" and did not want to stay in place, while the cement had a rather long setting time. In the end I tacked down the larger part of the canopy (which was the worst offender) with some very carefully applied small drops of CA, despite the potential to fog up the canopy. The antenna wire is EZ-line, if you have never tried this stuff I highly recommend it. The stuff is incredibly elastic but easily tacks in place with a small drop of CA.

That's two builds since coming back to the hobby. I learned a LOT on this one and want to thank all of you for the advice along the way. I am going to try to pick up the building pace having already thrown my name into two more GBs for 2015, but I look forward to Clemens announcing the start date for the next Carrier Air Build!

Rob, the devastator looks fantastic! Great job! 

Hey Rob...way to go man.  It looks awesome and it's nice work all around. The weathering and detail work look great!  Good to hear too that you could make the CA work.  Thanks for the tip about the EZ line.   I might have to pick some up.  

How did the rest of the build go for you?   For painting did you use acrylics or enamels?  

Congrats!  

Steve

Outstanding Devastator, Rob!  Looks great.

Keep it up, Joe.  You'll conquer this thing yet!