Hi Everyone,

I made a little progress on my Zero.  I masked off the photo etch seat belts to prepare for painting.

Now I have to spray the paint.

Ken 

modelcrazy

I had a slight mishap last night. I was working on the Indy's superstructure with all the associated PE on my usual TV tray workbench and my dog got tangled in the lamps extension cord. Well he started to panic and the TV tray, with everything on it, goes flying halfway across the room. My wife and I got down with a a flashlight and started looking for all the pieces. I was convinced that all the rails and radars I had so painstakingly built last night and the night before were destroyed. After locating all but one small piece of railing (which can be replaced from my generic USN railing PE set), I was able to repair the one piece that broke off. Who says CA is too brittle to hold?

Well needless to say, after repairing the broken assembly, I put the whole thing away for the night.

Steve

Hi Steve,

What a heart stopping moment!  I can only imagine the emotions you were feeling when that happened.  Holy cow.  I know you have been spending a lot of time putting all of that together.

I am really happy for you though that it was not as bad as it could have been.

Ken

Yeah, cats and dogs have that 7th sense that they are on the verge of dying and make haste at mach 4 to leave the area.

Glad it wasn't any worse.

Duke Maddog

Man, what a heart stopper!

Yeah, I just sat there and starred at the carnage and didn't say anything. My dog, stood there and looked at his devastation, and seeming to sense something had just gone horribly wrong, took off for the bedroom. My wife asked what happened, and all I could say way "all that work has just been destroyed" All I could see was the TV tray about 4 feet from me, lamp, which detached itself from its clamp during the table's journey, with it's bulb now nonfunctional, and the parts strewn all along the path of destruction. The plastic cutting board upon which I cut the PE pieces off was lying on top of my recent work. I had no words.

Man, what a heart stopper! Glad everything turned out well. I'm always pleased when I actually build something that is able to survive something like this. The fact that you had only one thing to fix is a testament to your skills and abilities.

Gee, you had me scared there Steve. Sorry about the accident but glad it turned out as only a minor disaster.

Sorry to hear about the potential disaster, glad to know that it turned out for the better!

I had a slight mishap last night. I was working on the Indy's superstructure with all the associated PE on my usual TV tray workbench and my dog got tangled in the lamps extension cord. Well he started to panic and the TV tray, with everything on it, goes flying halfway across the room. My wife and I got down with a a flashlight and started looking for all the pieces. I was convinced that all the rails and radars I had so painstakingly built last night and the night before were destroyed. After locating all but one small piece of railing (which can be replaced from my generic USN railing PE set), I was able to repair the one piece that broke off. Who says CA is too brittle to hold?

Well needless to say, after repairing the broken assembly, I put the whole thing away for the night.

Steve

Hey thanks guys!

Jim, nice work there on all those tiny decals, they must be teeny in 1/72nd and the wash looks really good.

jimbot58

Hello all! I haven't had a lot of progress to show lately, as it's been hard to find time. The weather changed to spring suddenly forcing an early clean up of the yard and patio.Also dealing with the witch has also taken its toll.

I have managed to pick a bit at the A-10, finishing decals, pin washes, and mounting pylons underneath. These also got small decals and some wash in panel lines.

That's all...

Jim

Hi Jim,

It is trying to warm up here.  But winter will not let go.  Today is supposed to be really cold.  It is only 29 degrees now with the expected high for today only reaching 33 degrees.  Then tonight it is supposed to get down to 16 degrees.  Tomorrow is not much better with a high of only 36 degrees.  But next week is supposed to get warmer with a high of 60 degrees starting on Tuesday.

Your A-10 is looking great!  The detail is really popping!  Excellent work as always Jim!     

Ken

Hello all! I haven't had a lot of progress to show lately, as it's been hard to find time. The weather changed to spring suddenly forcing an early clean up of the yard and patio.Also dealing with the witch has also taken its toll.

I have managed to pick a bit at the A-10, finishing decals, pin washes, and mounting pylons underneath. These also got small decals and some wash in panel lines.

That's all...

Jim

Gamera

Well, I've gotten about two-thirds of the decals applied to the F6F and she's starting to look like a Hellcat. Still haven't found the missing decals for the Wildcat, if I don't find them by the time I'm finished decaling the Hellcat I'm just going to improvise. 

Hi Cliff,

Your Hellcat looks great!      The decals do make it come alive.

Ken

Son Of Medicine Man

modelcrazy

Ya'll ready for this? The forward mast, radars, and various radio antennas. A tidy nights work if I say so myself.

By the way, It's lying on tissue paper.

Holy cow Steve!  That is amazing!      Another thing I am impressed with is your ability to understand the instructions well enough to assemble this.  I know every photo etch set I have gotten has nothing but pictures.  No actual explanation of how to assemble it.

Ken

I agree! That looks amazing!

Often I find instructions on these sets to be a bit vague at times. Couple that with the fact that I seem to have 10 fat, meaty German sausages attached to the ends of my hands where fingers should go! They always seem to be in the way! Not to mention the effect of aging on my vision!

It is worth the aggravation though!

Jim

Looking sharp Gamera! Way to go!

Well, I've gotten about two-thirds of the decals applied to the F6F and she's starting to look like a Hellcat. Still haven't found the missing decals for the Wildcat, if I don't find them by the time I'm finished decaling the Hellcat I'm just going to improvise. 

modelcrazy

Ya'll ready for this? The forward mast, radars, and various radio antennas. A tidy nights work if I say so myself.

By the way, It's lying on tissue paper.

Holy cow Steve!  That is amazing!      Another thing I am impressed with is your ability to understand the instructions well enough to assemble this.  I know every photo etch set I have gotten has nothing but pictures.  No actual explanation of how to assemble it.

Ken

I thought I was intimidated by PE before I started. Now I'm pretty sure I can tackle most anything. I'm a little intimidated at the prospect of painting this thing. I typically try to paint ships as I go.

That is absolutely amazing work Steve!!  I'm in awe of what you are doing with all that PE.  I am still intimidated by the little bit that came with my resin cockpit upgrade for my F-4G, I think I should quit complaining!  LOL

That's just WOW...

I can do PE to some extent but never tried anything like that before.

Ya'll ready for this? The forward mast, radars, and various radio antennas. A tidy nights work if I say so myself.

By the way, It's lying on tissue paper.

Wow, again that's some crazy fine detail work.

modelcrazy

Here's tonight's progress,

The stacks are done, and it may not look like much but this equates to 2 nights work. The second set of pictures show the PE instructions along with the kits instructions. The 2 small boxes in the upper left are the kits instructions on the left for the mast and gunnery radar, and the 1 1/2  pages on the right are the PE instructions for the same steps.

 

Nice work once again Steve!  You are moving full steam ahead on this!  (excuse my pun!)     

Ken

Here's tonight's progress,

The stacks are done, and it may not look like much but this equates to 2 nights work. The second set of pictures show the PE instructions along with the kits instructions. The 2 small boxes in the upper left are the kits instructions on the left for the mast and gunnery radar, and the 1 1/2  pages on the right are the PE instructions for the same steps.

Boy, I can see why the PE sets for ships cost so much now. It's not so much the manufacturing and materials, it's the time it took to measure and engineer ALL those wee little parts. I was working on the smoke stacks this weekend (I did't get much time between a grandson's birthday, showing the house and family issues) and the grate along the top of the stacks have 13 triangular braces. I could barely see them through my optivisor, let alone pick them up with my tweezers and just dip the edge onto a drop of glue. I don't know if anyone will ever notice all the tiny work I'm putting into this thing, but it should add to the the overall look. I will post pics of those insane smoke stacks when I complete them. Maybe tonight before bed.

In the end, my wife, you guys on the forum and I will know the extent to which I'm going. Ya'll just don't have to hear my string of curses like my wife does.

I also looked, in vane, for a base that would be suitable for the ocean scene. I could't find any long enough to do the "water" justice. Oh well, I will have to make one myself, which shouldn't be too hard. It will just be heaver than I would like. Some plywood and molding for the sides, and I think I have it. I'll start working on that soon and take some pics of that progress as well.

Hi Everyone,

A little more progress on my Zero.  First, here is the seat the way it looked before I started to remove the molded on seat belts:

To remove the molded on seat belts, I thought I would try the new tool I recently bought:

I used the medium grade.  Here it is mounted in my Dremel:

Here is how the seat looked when I finished using the Dremel:

I smoothed it out using some sanding sticks:

Notice how the photo etch seat belts are still attached after all the abusive handling!  They are held on by Gator's Grip Hobby Glue.

Next step is to repaint the seat.

Ken 

Hey Ken thanks, I started decaling her for Lt. Alex Vraciu's fighter yesterday.

I think his name is pronounced Vrack-chew from an episode of the History Channel's Dogfights but am not totally sure.  

modelcrazy

OK, here's some superstructure work. I'm planning on working the bridge and masts this weekend. Looks like I'm starting to make a dent in the PE sheets. 

Great work once again Steve!  All that work really pays off!     

Ken

Gamera

Doug: Very nice work! I think I said before I really like the figures, I think tanks look kinda drab without a figure or two to give it some 'life'. 

Steve: Ok, well six isn't too bad I suppose. Still sure you're glad they're done and curious here as to what part of her you're building next. 

Btw: I finished painting the Hellcat, or at least she's to the point of decaling. The colour demarcation line should be a soft edge but I've read in 1/48th the line would look hard so that's what I went with. I had some issues with the edge on the wing leading edge but I decided to quit while I was ahead before I messed something else up repainting. 

Great work there Cliff!  The pre-shading looks just right.     

Ken

modelcrazy

Great job on Paula Doug.  Looks like it's ready to beat it out with a Sherman.

I finished all 6 Quad Bofors tonight. I have several duel and single to make still. I think I'm going to take a break from guns for a little bit and work on some superstructure tomorrow night. There's plenty of PE for that as well.

I know all the barrels don't look perfect, however some of the muzzles were broken off when removing them from the tree. I found out the hard way, they are very brittle and very hard to reattach. If anyone builds this kit in the future, be aware of this.

Hi Steve,

Great job on those Bofors!  They look awesome!   

Ken

Oh, man---After the PE on the Betty, I'd be a blubbering, drooling, crying boob in less that an hour with that kind of PE. Nicely done.  And I have pretty much the full suite donated for the RF4C that is next up.