"Century series Jets" GB 2014-2015 * CLOSED *

Looks great Rob. I did mine here http://picasion.com/   Pretty easy too.

Plastic...I thought I'd have to get some some high end software, but, was happy to find the GIF tool on the Googles.

Yes Rob, it's pretty simple to set up and works really well.

I'm still waiting for a detail set from Eduard for my -102.

Has anyone ordered from them direct? I was wondering how long it takes

for shipping from the Czech Republic?

They sent me a tracking number but it does not give any info after it left

The Czech postal system and has no estimated delivery date.

Thanks

Mark

Are you in the US?

Yes, I guess I should have said that.

Would have been faster and probably cheaper using Sprue Bros or Scale Hobbyst, I know SB ships things out VERY fast.

Thanks, I looked at Squadron and Mega hobby and they were out of stock.

I figured to go to the source.

I haven't built an airplane kit in about 20 years so I'm out of touch with were to buy

aftermarket stuff.

As long as it gets here by the 1st week of August it will be ok, I have vacation and

wanted to work on the kit then.

I think it should reach you by then. If you want something really quick, try Sprue Bros. Scale Hobbyist is a bit slower than SB but their prices are the best I have seen.

Thanks,

I checked Sprue Bros and they are out of stock. But it would have saved me some $$.

Speaking of getting 'stuff' I am heading into the largest Hobby retailer in, I'm gonna say Canada, but, probably North America (this place is truly overwhelming to see....takes several trips just to take it all in). Udisco Hobbies in Montreal. I think they have a Trumpeter 105, so, I may get that today if i don't see anything else.

UHH! I have heard of that place Rob. It's supposed to be hobby heaven!

Finally completed and assembled the cockpit

As I started to clean and fit the fuselage sides I discovered a small warp on the top. This being a NM finish requires as little filler as possible. Everything shows up under Alclad so I'm keeping putty out of this build. Notice the small step that would require substantial filler and feathering if the warp is not corrected.

I used a hair dryer to carefully heat the warped area and using my thumb, I was able to take out most of the warp. A Quick Grip Mini Bar Clamp was used to strategically add pressure to equalize the halve join in small sections using Tenax applied with a Touch N Flow applicator glued from the inside.

That took care of the warp.

The rest of the fuselage was glued with Tenax in sections to get an even join line requiring no filler and hopefully little sanding to get rid of the seam.

A preliminary fit of the cockpit looked good except for a small gap behind the radar screen.

So I broke out my Micro Mark punch set and matched the diameter of the part with the punch.

Punched out a disc from a junk mail plastic card we all get. I save those for scratch building.

And glued it with Tenax. Sanded it a bit to clean the sides.

I did a preliminary fit of the cockpit and the disc took care of the void. I'm letting everything dry and cure before I attach the cockpit and continue to work on the fuselage.

Beautiful work!

Very nice work!

Great going Plastic...what is Tenax? Cheers...

Thanks for the nice comments guys..

Rob

Tenax is a liquid plastic welder, sort of like thin super glue but provides a much stronger bond because it melts the plastic to create a solid bond. I also use Plast I Weld which is similar. I apply both with a Touch N Flow applicator for excellent control.

This stuff works only on plastic. You still need super glue for attaching pe parts.

Ok, thanks for that.

Well Here is my progress so far. I first started with the F-104 from ESCI. What a terrible kit, the plastic is almost like rubber. Every time I tried to scribe a panel line in, the plastic would self-heal and my scribbing would dissappear. This was a very frustrating kit that I almost tossed away. With the f-106 still left to build I am going to try to redeem myself with it.  

Here is the intake seams that that were the biggest gap in the kit. It was like this on both sides.

Seams filled and sanded. Since I ended up sanding some of the surface detail off, this was where I attempted to re-scribe and found out the plastic was rubber like.

The orignal plan was to go with a NMF here is the black base boat. After realizing that I did not have enough alclad to do the job I decided to go with a Vietnam era F-104 with the SEA camo.

I used silly putty for the masking patterns.

Well disaster struck ! as I was applying future to glosscoat in prep for decals, the future started to react with the paint and started stripping it off. This was after I let the paint dry for 2 days. I was using tamiya acrylics for the paint. I have never had this happen to me before, so as you can imagine I started to get really angry and had to strip the entire model back down and start over. I wish I woud have taken pics but that was last on my mind sorry guys.

I scrounged up some decals from my leftover bag of scrap decals and ended up with this.

after numorous re-paints and alot of frustration I am calling this one done.

For a model that kept fighting back, i'd say you can be happy with the results. I'm looking forward to that 106

B1...wow, what a drama!! You have WAY more modelling will power than me, LOL!!  I lost my mind on my crappy 106 and tossed it at a way earlier point than you and you muscled through it. So, you are the first finisher, congrats!! First recipient of the badge...I'll post your completed 104 on the Wall of Fame this evening. Well done!!

B1...which pic do you want up on the front page?

Great recovery effort B-1 and good job on that 104. I wonder why the Future reacted that way?

Made some progress with the Voodoo so here's where I'm at for now.

Took a lot of careful sanding and blending with a little thick CA to get rid of certain low spots along the top seam.

The wing parts went on. Molded detail is super.

I read somewhere that this kit was the first on the market featuring trunking.

B_one fixer,

Way to make lemonade out of a pig!

Your -104 looks very nice.

Plasticjunkie, That's some nice work, all the more impresive

that there is no putty used!

Thanks Rob, I came really really close to tossing it out of the window to see if it could fly, but I stuck with it and took my mind off of it with other builds I have going on. The last pic in my post will be the one to use on the wall.

Plastic,

The 101 is looking great! I The detail on that kit is extraordinary for a box kit.

Ygmodeler,

The 106 is going to be a much better build being that the quality of the kit is a  kazzillion times better than the 104. The progress on your 106 is outstanding !

Mach71,

Thanks the kit was indeed a pig

Goodday ALL, B one Fixer is the official FIRST up with his excellent F-104!! The Wall of Fame is now active...let's get some more going on there!! Because I'm an impatient builder, I'll be late 

The postman just dropped off a package from the Czech republic!

I now have everything I need to start!

But I'm off to work for the next few days. I hope to start on this next week.

Holy wow AM parts!! Very cool.

They are outstanding!

The only problem is I love detailing a cockpit by hand,

But being as this is the first airplane model I've built in

almost 20 years, I figured I could use the help.

Sure...go for it!