Monogram Mafia III

Modelcrazy, that Hind looks great, and the Starfighter is looking good, too. Great work!

Hey Tal, I haven't started that Jeep. I have inspected it and it's pretty basic. A lot of flash on the parts and it's been awhile since I seen a model molded in white. Shouldn't be too tough

Hey Duke,

Great work on those two classics!  Always liked the look of the yellow winged Navy bipes.  And the Bearcat just looks like raw, awesome business!  Well done, sir!

TAD

Some great looking builds Duke! I love them!

and Modelcrazy that's an excellent...and mean...looking Hind!

Dog gone it!

I sprayed the nose cone light grey on my F104, and since I had some extra in my color cup, I went ahead a sprayed some seams to see how they looked. Well to my exasperation, the seams to  my intakes and rear tail section look treble, It seems I sanded them a little too much with my sanding stick (first time to use sticks) and made slight dips at the seams. Now I have to apply more putty and try again. This time I'll do the old fashioned wet sanding with paper.

Rats!

Thanks guys for the compliments! I appreciate them all. I really did have a blast building those two aircraft! I think I may even have another Monogram F-105 I may start later.  

MC, you'll get it. Looking forward to seeing more progress. And I compliment you on your Hind. I've always loved that bird; there's just something about it's raw brutishness that appeals to me. You did an outstanding job on it. Way to go!

Got some sanding done and getting the fuselage ready for that funky bright green this scheme takes. The nose is yellow and is taped up.

A good match is Testors Beret Green in the small bottle so need to get me that one to shoot the fuselage then will be able to apply the lozenge on the top of the lower wing and the rest of the under wing lozenge decals.

OH MY GOSH!!  Speaking about missing parts! I'm working on a commission and the canopy is in 3 parts and had them on my work bench. One part is missing but the other two are there. I have been looking from about 2pm to 10pm yesterday. It just vanished! The search will continue cause it has to be in this darn room!  

Ok guys, I'd like your opinions. For 2nd build, I am torn between doing the 1/48 P-38, the 1/48 P-51B, or maybe the 1/48 Bubble top P-47. How well does the P-38 go together? And How sparse is the P-51B? I've heard it only has a parts count of around 30.

I built the P-38 years ago and it wound up in the trash. As I recall it had really bad fit requiring lots of putty. It's been a long time but not too good as I recall. The bubbletop P47 just falls together OOB. A very nice kit.

ajd3530

Ok guys, I'd like your opinions. For 2nd build, I am torn between doing the 1/48 P-38, the 1/48 P-51B, or maybe the 1/48 Bubble top P-47. How well does the P-38 go together? And How sparse is the P-51B? I've heard it only has a parts count of around 30.

I don't think the Lightning is as bad as all that, but it can be tricky, especially since it's engineered to be built in so many different versions.

The Mustang is a simple kit, it looks good when finished.  I'd advise some extra care fitting the canopy and side windows to the fuselage, though.  There tend to be gaps around the side windows.

Both the razorback and bubbletop P-47Ds are fun kits to build.

Duke, glad to see you didn't give up on finding the parts, and you finished the Boeing.  It came out shiny!

I was thinking maybe the P-38 since I've been threatening to build it for years, plus last night I realized I had THREE seperate Superscale P-38 sheets just waiting to be used. And the P-51B, I'm going to pick one or two of those up regardless. Reason being, I noticed a few weeks ago on Revells website that they have stopped production of the B. So once everyone has sold out, you probably won't see another one fresh off the shelf for a while. I'd imagine at least 15 years. Micheal's has a 50% off coupon today and tomorrow, so I'm going to make a point to try and swing by and pick one up while I can.

Aj, good luck on your next build. I'm looking forward to seeing it.

Baron, thanks! It's amazing how they ended up right where they did because I never took them out of the original box. I had left them in there just to avoid the kind of heartache I went through trying to find them. I swear there's a wormhole in that room that sucks parts away and deposits them in that tool tray!

Ajd, I tried the P-38 several years ago and I don't think I even finished it. Lots of warpage and the fit was horrible. Granted, my skills have improved since then but in my mind I don't think I will ever try it again. Just sayin

I built the most recent boxing of the P-38 a few years ago.  I didn't think it was too bad, I didn't do too good of a job on it as it was the first kit I built when I came back to the hobby.  I have another one in the stash that I'll do a better job on (whenever it is I get around to building it) now that my skills are improved.

Does anyone know if the newest boxing of the P-51B is just a rebox of the ProModeler kit from the 90's? For the PM kit, I know they reworked the molds, scribed in the panel lines and added cockpit side panels. If it is a rebox, thats a heck of a kit for 15 bucks.. Well I do have a trick up my sleeve that works on most warped parts, so maybe I can work past that on the P-38.

ADJ,

With a little patience they all build up well.  The P-38 is a pretty big kit and because it can be built into multiple types, the fit isn't that great.  But with a little work, it builds up great.  The P-51B is a good solid kit with a low parts count, but what is there is very good.  The P-47 builds up well with minimal effort and is a solid kt that doesn't need a bunch of nose weight like the P-38 to keep it on it's landing gear.  As a big fan of all things Monogram, I like them all!!

TAD

ajd3530

Ok guys, I'd like your opinions. For 2nd build, I am torn between doing the 1/48 P-38, the 1/48 P-51B, or maybe the 1/48 Bubble top P-47. How well does the P-38 go together? And How sparse is the P-51B? I've heard it only has a parts count of around 30.

I dig your enthusiasm Tal. Makes me wanna try again

Now that I have Dark Sea Blue, I've made some good progress on my Hellcat.  I'm finding the plastic to be very hard and brittle.  I ran over one of the rockets with my chair and broke the fins off.  I foresaw turning the fins 45 degrees as being a real PITA, so I've decided to replace them with the rockets from my P-38.  I've drilled out the motors (something I've started doing in the past year) and plan to cut the mounting posts off the kit rockets and use them.  I'll get pictures up soon.

I enjoyed my P-38.  The fit was tricky, though.I think I filled the nose behind the gun magazines and engine nacelles to keep it off it's tail.  If you do the P-38, keep in mind that the kit is actually a P-38L, not a J.  J's didn't have rocket racks or the landing light on the wing.

I also really enjoyed the P-47 Razorback I did.  The only fit issue I found was the seam line through the landing gear bays.

$9.30 for a new kit....that's what I'm talkin' about!

Hi guys!

I started my 2nd Monogram build:  The A-37 Dragonfly.  So far it is going together great and there have been no surprises.  Actually, if I had one gripe, it's that the dials on the instrument panel are almost TOO delicate.  When I did my usual dry brushing, it was almost ineffective because the relief of the details is very fine.

You don't have much room in the nose to add weight but fortunately I have some itsy bitsy little lead BBs that I was able to glue to the sides of the nose gear well.  I'm sorry I forgot to take pictures of this. If this isn't enough to keep it off its tail, then I'm going to have to glue some lead inside the noses of the fuel tanks I guess.

As you can see in the pictures below, it's coming together just fine.  There are a couple of mild seams under the fuselage by the leading and trailing edges of the wings.  It looks like nothing a little Tamiya putty and five minutes of sanding can't take care of.  

Thanks for watching!

Eric

How cute! A Tweety bird with claws....look out Sylvester!

LOL!  It doesn't look like much at the moment I will admit.  I can't wait to get some camo on her and then some nice ordinance under the wings.  By the way, camo jobs have always intimidated me.  That's why I never do them.  I can't wait to see how this one turns out.  I hope it turns out well in spite of myself.

Eric

Lookin good Echo

Thanks Woody.  I'm going to be sad when I end up sanding away some of that great detail underneath.

Eric

Yeah that's one of the sad things about Mono kits, you gotta sand away some of the beautiful detail they put in them. And unfortunately, I'm not real good at putting it back as pretty as the original.

Eric the dragonfly is looking good so far. I remember as a kid my dad gave me one of his aircraft recognition books and that was in there. It was my favorite one...just a sleek looking plane and it had all the pylons filled on the silhouettes in the book...I picked one up at the nationals last month that I plan on building eventually so I'll be watching your build closely.