Nice  Sabre Gamera. The NMF looks great.

Putty, sand, reputty, sand, dust, clean, prime, paint, and paint again, repeat. Tile, plaster, dry wall, trim, rip out disgusting old carpet, figuring out shotty old DYI electrical work, mouse in the freakin' basement, who glues astroturf to the front porch??? Holy crap the floor beam is split, sagging floors, floor jacks, beams, braces, more cracked plaster, hot water heater sprung a leak, doors, need new kitchen hardwear, they want HOW MUCH for freakin' drawer knob?!? Chair railing, crown mold, shoe mold, new toilet, new vainity, caulking, taping, barely sleeping always working, rolling freakin' primer on EVERYTHING in my sleep when I actually sleep, sanding some more, getting rid of overgrown shrubs, finding a hole in the yard ankle first, did I mention barely sleeping? All this to worry about and the wife thinks she has it hard trying to decide which shade of red to paint the front door. Thank God for fathers. And father-in-laws. And especially fathers who are electricians and father-in-laws who are plumbers. Sand some more. Dreams about primer. And for a reward for getting done is having to coordinate and exacute a move during the dang polor vortex.

I am so over this. Can I please go back to my safe little 1/48th world? Please??

Ohhhhhh, very nice looking cockpit there Woody, very nice progress so far.

Ajd: Yeap, I think you pretty much summed up home improvement. At least having relatives that are electricians and plumbers are a blessing.

Great progress going on here. I finally was able to work on the Cutlass finishing attaching the pe parts. I did not use all of the pe pieces cause some of the gear high stress plastic parts had to be removed to make space for the pe parts. IMO it would have weakened the gears. The sliding canopy is masked but the windshield was carefully painted free hand with a 18/0 brush. I will attach the clear parts as they will keep paint out of the pit area.

Finished up installing the upper ip

Up next will be a coat of gloss black enamel in preparation for the Alclad NMF.

I apologize for my lack of posts. I have signed up for two models but have not yet been able to start because of school (I'm a high school senior with several AP courses), hockey, shooting, and a girlfriend (that's the real timekiller). However, I should get some free time soon since college applications are coming so I'm hoping for more modeling time. Expect more posts from me soon.

Thank you Gamera, the only thing I don't really like is the decal for the seat harness. It's the first time I've used them and wanted to see how they would come out. I won't do that again. 

PJ, great looking Cutlass, can't wait to see her all done up. 

PJ: She looks great and I don't blame you for not weakling the gear there.

Derek: I know what you mean there, well real life comes first, modeling when you can fit it in.

Woody: I've tried applying seatbelt decals to a piece of paper and then gluing it to the seat, it sorta helps.

Woody, something else I've done with decal seat belts is putting them onto the foil from a wine bottle then gluing that to the seat.  That way you can kind of shape them a bit.

Woody

Thanks for your comment. About the decals belts, the only way to make them look half way decent is doing the foil trick as bob posted. I rather use pe belts.

Gamera

I saw the pe detailing on the gears a something of a problem with removing parts that add strength and stability so in the fret they stayed.

I was planning on shooting the black today and Alclad tomorrow but was delayed at the car dealership today as they messed up my wife's Crosstour. They gave me a free loaner and have to go back tomorrow after the car has been cleaned up.

Actually Bob's idea of using foil is much better than mine of the paper, forget I said anything...

PJ: Good luck with the wife's vehicle. I just took mine in to fix the issue GM has been having with the keys. Why they couldn't fix the thing while IT WAS SITTING ON THE LOT FOR SEVERAL WEEKS is totally beyond me.

BTW: I think I said I wasn't able to get more done for being on vacation but I checked out the USAF Armament Museum outside Eglin AFB in Florida yesterday.

Got photos of the awesome MOAB!

And some first hand reference for my F-86:

Those are good ideas for utilizing the belt decals. I'll give that a try. I usually just use foil and paint them, but I'm never happy with ability (or inability) to make the hardware. Never looks convincing.

Just quick update on the Swallow. Got the gun bay done up and I must say that I am impressed with level of detail and the ease of construction. So without further ado, enjoy

A bit more progress made today. As usual, all comments welcome. 

Nice start to the schwalbe.  I have to ask, what's all the shine on the fuselage?  Any fit issues?  I think I misaligned something, as I had a bit of a gap on my nose.  Eduard does a nice fabric seatbelt, a bit of work, but worth it.  Otherwise, etch always looks nice too.  The wings on this kit fit like a dream.  Which markings are you applying?   Nice work on that gun bay.

Looking good there Woody. And that fuselage does look rather shiny.

Thanks guys.  I'll be doing her up as "White 3" 9. Staffel, III/ JG7.  The kit comes with a very good painting page for this aircraft, so as far as masks and what not go, can't go wrong with that.  All of the shine is just overspray from the aluminum used on the interior surfaces.  As far as fit goes, this one was top notch.  I had no problems what so ever.  Tamiya extra thin is my go to glue, and it didn't let me down here.  There may be just one very small spot on the bottom near the rear that may take just a spot of filler, but otherwise, nooooooo problems.

I just can't say enough good things about this kit! I love it and I think I want to build only these kits forever. 

Pj the Cutlass is coming along nicely!

Woodt thats looking really sharp,nice job on the office!

Thanks Trey. Just shot the gloss black and looks like glass. I will post pictures later.

Woody

That 262 pit looks fantastic.

Looks very good to me Woody!

And looking forward to your NM PJ.

Thanks Gamera. Working on that right now

Made some more progress. I shot the gloss black enamel a couple of days back and was tied up with car problems so that's all out of the way now.

Shot the Alclad Polished Aluminum this morning, producing a beautiful polished metallic finish.

Some of parts such as the tanks, flaps, slats and gear doors I sprayed less Alclad to make the tone deeper and shinier.

The fuselage got just a tad more coverage to get a lighter colored effect. The more you let the black show the shinier and darker the Alclad appears. It has a very light metallic dust over the surfaces  and some lint that needs to be carefully brushed off so I can tape up some panels and shoot a different shade later on.

Looks very nice PJ

Thanks woody.

Wow, PJ super shiney! Had to get my shades!

Kudos!

LOL, thanks Gamera

I picked out a few panels and taped them out. I added a couple of drops of Alclad Steel to the Polihed Alum just to darken the mix a tad. I did not want  an exaggerated color variation on the panels as this tends to not look too realistic.

The color variation is very subtle as you can see in this picture.

The flash reflects off the finish giving a darker appearance.

It amazes me every time I use Alaclad as to how realistic the metallic tone is. The shine is incredible as it truly looks like polished metal.

Thanks ajd

More progress on my Cutlass. I was very happy that the Solvaset did not affect the unsealed Alclad so most of the decals are on. Still have to add the gear doors, wheels and slats and she will be completed soon.