Monogram Mafia III

Yeah, those things happen cb. Thanks for looking in on my Tiffy.

Looking good Don Stick.

I got a few hours in at the bench this morning before the kids woke up.. Continued with the scribing project. Naturally, my sewing needle decided to go astray in the worst possible spot.. Right through a row of rivets/screw heads at the base of the vertical stabilizer. Drat! I was planning on keeping those details! Now I have to sand them away... on well...

MV, I'm working on it 

Here are my evening updates... painting has begun

a coat of Model Master Sea Grey Medium on the lower surfaces

and on the lower surface parts to be added later

now you may notice a slightly different tone on a portion of the rear fuselage- Iused Humbrol Medium Sea Grey there to represent 1944 ID markings that had been overpainted in early 1945 as specified by 2 ATAF directives on 3 January. The Humbrol version of the color is not so bluish

then I went to work with Flat Black...
the propellor

and the cockpit top decking

you can also better see the PE canopy hood slide track railing here

I'll be back to work on this tomorrow...

Keep it comin' guys!

Looking real nice there ajd! Once the markings go on, you can start to truly visualize the finished build!

today's photo update of the work I did on this kit in the mornings before my job during the work week...

Yellow airbrushed on for the wing leading edge ID markings

final fiddly bits off the sprues, mold seams cleaned up and attached to toothpicks for painting...

clear parts dipped in Future and dried overnite in a dust free place

final details added to the cockpit area: a PE gunsight, some PE and strip styrene canopy hood slide tracks

and a shot with the prop in place to show how beefy this beast will look... 

Oh, yes, a third exciting build!  I forgot your P-51!

AJD & Stick. Your builds are coming along nicely indeed. Cant wait to see the completed models.

I have not gotten much done lately on my end.  I had to give the spinner one more treatment of filler but I think it is where it needs to be finally. I scribed the wings and most of the fuselage and am doing some dry fitting.  Next big task is to blend the windscreen into the fuselage. Yikes

ajd----Nice Jug!!!!! You did a great job on the wing seams and your aluminum finish looks good!  I have my razorback primed and ready for top coat and I am going to try to use foil on the bubbletop.  Haven't touched em for a couple of weeks and now my camera died, my phone won't take any more pics and my daughter decided to take her camera back to college.

 All these builds are certainly inspiring!

Ok, I was mistaken... I was able to get some paint on today before work, but no time for photos. I airbrushed on some yellow to the wing leading edges for ID markings...

You're zipping right along there ajd! I won't have time to get paint on before tomorrow afternoon at the soonest... dang jobs... LOL!

Good work, y'all!

Agreed.  Two very exciting builds going on here!

Nice, Stik!

Oh nice and bright! Remember, by the time P-47s were in NMF, they were usually operating from rough forward airfields in Europe during some adverse weather for much of the year. They were hardly pristine and polished like museum aircraft or warbirds on the airshow circuit.

Well here are today's photo updates. Nothing too exciting.

Stabilizers on and seams sanded up a bit- I really am pleasantly impressed with the fit of this kit. aside from one bit on the lip of the chin intake, I have not had to use any filler...

and the Ultracast bomb racks added. They come with resin shackles/sway braces as well, But I am gonna replace those with some wire instead.

she is now officially a "bombphoon"

Thanks for looking, more to come in a few days....

Sounds good! Get some photos taken and posted!!! ;)

I could swear that they have re popped it a few times since the "Hi tech" boxing. a re issue in the original Gabby blue box art work and in "The Turtle" comes to mind...

Nothing new to show, just sanding the seams, taking.more care than usual, since the bottom half will be NMF.

On a side note, one would think the Bubbletop P-47 would be in high enough demand that Revell would re-release it, wouldn't you think? The last boxing was the Hi-tech one, and that was 20 years ago.. What old Monogram kits would ya'll like to see re-released? I for one would also love to see the 1/48 A-1H, and the B-25H back on store shelves sometime soon.

Today's update...
first thing at the bench today, I added the seat...

then it was time to glue the fuselage halves together

after that I glued the cockpit bottom portion in place. I Had to do a bit of adjusting due to the PE additions I made to the IP and rudder pedals, etc.

and looking down thru the top with the wing in place...

after I sanded the fuselage seam and scribed in some lines to replace lost ones, I glued the wings on

then a couple views of the back side of the oil cooler that I scratched up... much better than the open space that was there

and finally a test fitting of the stabilizers- once I filed away the mold seam lines where they mate up with the fuselage they fit nice and tight!

I have reached my stopping point for today while the glue dries. After I get the lower wing/fuselage seam sanded I can get the stabilizers glued on and then it will be just about ready for paint!

DD, ground attack birds usually have a purposeful menacing look to them, while the air superiority types often have more sleek menacing look of their own. At least to my eye- apples vs oranges...

SB, thank you.

Simply awesome Stik

Impressive, Stik, impressive. You ever notice that the planes that excelled at ground attack were always the best-lookin' aircraft (my opinion, of course): Typhoon, Corsair, Thunderbolt, Wart Hog, etc?

I try Dawg 

And now for today's progress report... last night before bed I added drops of Testors Clear Parts cement over the instruments to represent their lenses

Then today in the afternoon I added some Eduard pre painted PE seat belts to the seat. What you see here is about two hours worth of work... with a few curse words and hand cramps thrown in... note to self, do not do tiny precision work after a long hard bike ride, the body needs more time to recover...

Now as you can see from this photo, there was some light framework around the dust filter...

so I spent the later afternoon with wire and superglue making up that stuff for mine

I think that it looks the part....

and as my last bit of progress for today I glued the IP in place

and oil cooler assembly

more to come tomorrow...

stikpusher

cbaltrin

stikpusher

cb, nah, the kit guns do not make me ill at all. But that is some truly beautiful work that you did to replace them! Simply outstanding!

Stik, I think you've been in 'the business' too long. When I open that box top and see those half hearted blobs of plastic that are supposed to represent the business end of this fighter plane, It feels a bit like waking up in the morning, throwing the sheets off and finding a horses head in bed with me.... :-)

Nah, I look at it in the context of time. let's face it, many of these kits are several decades old. The P-51D kit dates back to the mid to late 70s or so, so nearly 35-40 years old. What was cutting edge mold technology then (which it was) is not today. That is depending upon the age of the kit itself. Obviously the older boxings such as a original white box like I saw at a kit swap meet last weekend will have more crisp moldings, than a current re issue. And simple techniques such as some swipes with needle files to clean up the seams and hollowing out the bores with a pin vise will improve the "blobs" as you call them. Let's face it, Ann Margaret is still a beautiful woman, but comparing her looks today to those of, oh lets say 1975, will let you know that time marches on. I says again, very nice work, but remember the reason for this family in the first place... it's an appreciation and respect for bloodline... ;-)

Never, ever in my modeling avocation did I think that I would see/read Ann Margaret used as a comparison item for an analogy on plastic modeling. Good use of mental visuals, Stik!!

ajd3530

Starting to look like an airplane. Now, there is no need to adjust your TV sets, the wings ARE OD. Turns out, the fit of the kit wings left alot to be desired.

Thanks Stik, I've looked at so many different ways to do it and I think you're right about finding what works best for me