Ok folks, I'm gonna call this one done.  This was a great model.  A real pleasure to build.  I had absolutely no problems with any part of this kit, other than my own short commings.  So without further delay, here she is.

Thanks for looking and as usual any and all comments and critiques welcome.

Three coats- sounds about right! I'm still stuck on those stupid yellow stripes on my Sabre, I'm trying go with a bunch of light coats but I'm still getting runs. Thankfully I'm using acrylic paint for them so I can clean them up without harming the Alclad finish.  

Thanks...I know what you mean about yellow, I think the wing tips and fuel tanks got at least three coats of paint before I was happy

Woody: Nice work, the mottling looks fine to me from your photo.

Bob: Looks good, never had much luck with silver paint myself but yours turned out really well. Plus the yellow wingtips and tanks, I... hate... painting... anything... yellow... 

Looks good Woody!  I finally finished masking and painting my F-80.  I just have a few touch-ups to do and the major parts of the painting will be done.  I haven't built many NMF planes, and I tried spraying Testor's silver over gloss black.  I think the paint is a little too thick, but it polished up nice using an old t-shirt.  Next time, I think I'll just use the silver.  Now onto the wheel wells and then decals.

Looking really nice, there, Woody!

Ok!  It's been awhile,but, after a month 1/2 of nothing but rain and high humidity I've finally been able to get back to work on my 262. Please excuse my horrible attempt at mottling, but it's a skill I'm still developing. Here's a couple pics of where I'm at. Thanks for looking.

Sorry, I had another pic but the copy and past function on my iPad takes about 20 mins per pic. I need a better way. Ugh!

It has it's up's and down's, but no standing duty, no cold winter patrols in the Bearing, and no politics, at least at my level.

We're assigned to a ship for about 2 years at a time, then rotate through to a different vessel, working a month on and a month off.  We build up vacation time as well, so I'm taking my three months straight off now.  Sounds like you made a smart move, there, and I'm sure HP pays better than the government.

That's great, are you assigned to ships or cutters at times like we are?

I'ts been a while since I was in, I got out in 1997. I had a chance at better pay at HP, plus I lived on the west coast, was just married, and my next station was to be a cutter out of New York City  . I took the HP job.

Lookin' good there, Bob.

I asked, Steve, as I'm an Engineer with the Canadian Guard.

Andrew,

Sorry for getting back so late.

Yes, 14 years. I got out as an E6 Electronics Technician.

Great finish Andrew!

We've had a lot of snow here the past few days, and I haven't had to go into school so I managed to squeeze in some bench time.  Main assembly is done, now I have to start the paint job.  I decided not to show the engine.  I didn't like how the rear fuselage fit over it, and it would have been a significant amount of work to get it to look right.  I ended up just gluing it on.

Thanks very much, Steve.  I wanted to ask, the US Coast Guard logo, do you serve?

Wow Andrew, That is a fantastic looking build. 

Amazing detail.

Steve

Thanks very much GT.

Well, I've done what I can with the canopy.  I won't say I'm pleased with it, it's still a little foggy in some spots, but I know next time to be much more careful with the kicker and superglue.  The canopy and antenna wires are 3 lb fishing line touched up with a bit of silver paint.  I think I'll collect the badge and call this done.  Overall, I'm happy with it, I wish I'd been smarter / more patient with the canopy.  I'd like to thank everyone for the comments, the chance to work alongside all of you, and most of all, good work everyone.  There's some great looking builds there.

Ajd, thank you very much for hosting this.  If you're doing cover page photos, I'd like to showcase my third photo down. 

Nice 262 Andrew.

Thanks very much, Trey.  It's one of those things that can be so daunting, like cutting off a piece of a kit to see if the resin will fit right.  I'll have some finished pics up today or tomorrow.  I'm trying to fix a bit of craze on the canopy from kicking superglue on the antennae wire.

I agree that mottling is spot on ,no pun intended ;)

Thanks, Bob

Your 262 looks fantastic! I love all the detail and the mottling

Thanks, Gamera.

Very nice Andrew- I swear the mottling looks better every time I look at her. And the detail in the gun bay and engine really 'pops'.

That's a very nice start at it, Bob.

Over the last week or so, I've got a layer of Alclad gloss down, a pin wash with Flory's mixtures, and decals laid on.  Yesterday I worked in some staining with oil paints and an acrylic flat varnish.  I tried to rum my varnish a little lighter in spots, to get a wind polished finish in a few areas.  I got my Jumo hung under the port wing.  At the moment, I'm leaving most of the cowls aside.  I may chose to paint them later, but I think in the end I might just build a base that looks like a museum floor for it, and forgo the cowls and radio cover.  The only things I have left to do now are the gun cowl, a little bit of etch around the canopy, the canopy wire and attachment, and finally the radio wire.  By next weekend I should be able to put a fork in it and call it done.

Thanks Cliff! I'm pretty happy with the detail of the cockpit, I heard the current decals with the kit for Lid-Do-Bee are pretty much useless so I got some Microscale decals for it. I'll be sure to let you know about any other problems I come across

Bob: That's odd about the missing cannon there. Still, nice work on the cockpit, I've had one of those kits forever and am looking forward to you actually making some progress on yours.

Finally got a start on my F-80.  I have the cockpit assembled and I'm working on the gun bay as well.  I've put a few fishing sinkers into it to keep it from being a tail-sitter, and I'll probably need to put a few more in just to be sure.  I test-fit the cockpit into the fuselage, and I'm pretty sure the instrument panel is way too far forward, but I don't feel like doing too much surgery on the kit so I'll leave it as it is.  I also drilled out the gun barrels.  It's kind of weird that the F-80 had six guns, but the kit only gave me four barrels plus the gun that's in the gun bay.  Not a big deal to scratch build another one though.

Ah ok, see what you mean. I think I have some spares I'd offer  but they're all 1/48th though.

when I find some good looking ones I do plan on hanging them on but until then the Matchbox supplied pencils just don't look good.

68GT: Very nice work there! She looks great!

I have to ask though, you're leaving the rockets off?