Secret Santa GB back for 2015-16

Mopar Madness

 It'll be my first Hobby Boss kit

Well, Sir, after having built that F6F MKII from Hobby Boss I can say they can really make a super nice kit that practically falls together. I WILL be buying more HB kits in the future as I am totally in love with their quality.

BK

By golly I'm moving this thread back to the top!  I'm on the final stages of my current project, Tamiya Fw 190 A-3, then I'm rolling straight on to my Ta 152!  It sits on my shelf, mocking me, calling to me.  I've washed the sprues and done my research.  It'll be my first Hobby Boss kit and I'm more than impressed with what I've seen so far!

Well thanks Stu...err Santa,

You must have channeled the plastic gods because your choice was perfect. I'm glad I was able to take your purchase and trust and make something out of it.

Glad to see what you were able to do with it.  I am a wingnut so when I was instructed to pick out a sub I panicked a bit.  Fortunately this one made several top 10-lists.  Fantastic work.  Gives me inspiration to try these floating things.  

Wow! That is simply awesome!

Steve, your ability to do this just blows me away. You took a plastic kit and made it look like it's real and actually moving. When you look at those photos I see the waves rolling and the sub pushing forward. Simply stunning work.

BK

Fantastic diorama!  The paint and finish on the kit and the waves are outstanding.  Well done!

Great job, very impressive work on the dio.

Man, how cool.  I read that last week and planned on doing that with my 1/72 He 177 True Details vac canopy!!  Great tip.

Lovin' the colors of  the water; very convincing!

BrandonK

 

 

SubarooMike

I have to share my excitment with you guys.  I went to the closest hobby store today (an hour away!) to pick up the February copy of FMS.   It's always been a goal of mine to be in a magazine and now I can finally cross it off my list   My name is Michael Montefusco -- the tip about vacuum formed canopies. It's not much, but it's not a bad start to the new year

 

 

 

 

 

 

AH SHAP !!! I liked that tip !!, gonna use it too.

 

BK

 

I hope it works out well for you

SubarooMike

I have to share my excitment with you guys.  I went to the closest hobby store today (an hour away!) to pick up the February copy of FMS.   It's always been a goal of mine to be in a magazine and now I can finally cross it off my list   My name is Michael Montefusco -- the tip about vacuum formed canopies. It's not much, but it's not a bad start to the new year

 

 

 

BK

I have to share my excitment with you guys.  I went to the closest hobby store today (an hour away!) to pick up the February copy of FMS.   It's always been a goal of mine to be in a magazine and now I can finally cross it off my list   My name is Michael Montefusco -- the tip about vacuum formed canopies. It's not much, but it's not a bad start to the new year

BK, Those are some wee little belts.

More to come tomorrow after this has dried.

Steve

I've been pounding away on seven kits at once; doing kind of an assembly line technique to knock them out. The F-84G is moving along swimmingly with no fit issues to problems to report. It's a nice kit.

I pulled the cockpit and painted it and assembled it today. I also made those seat belts from Tamiya tape and PE buckles that were included in the kit.  That was fun. I also dry brushed the pit cuz there were no decals for instruments but the kit's detail is quite nice and the gauges came out good. I added some clear drops to the gauges to give them some effect of glass.

I just added some pennies to the nose so it doesn't sit on its tail and I'll close up the fuselage today. I also went ahead and painted the zinc chromate in the speed well and front gear bay while they were off: it just seemed easier now rather than later.

BK

Steve, that looks fantastic! You've definitely shown your magnificent skills again! Hats off to you sir! I havent even taken the plunge into creating a diorama yet!

Mopar Madness

Are those paper strips just good ol’ plain computer paper that you cut to size, crumpled up, then laid out for the application of the acrylic pouring medium?

Wow that’s looking fantastic.  I’m going to charge right in a fire off a dumb question.  Earlier you mentioned paper strips.  Are those paper strips just good ol’ plain computer paper that you cut to size, crumpled up, then laid out for the application of the acrylic pouring medium?

That water is really taking shape, Toshi -- I mean Steve! I'm still amazing how fast you're comming a long

   I don't have any pictures to post but I did break ground last night on the Rufe!  I did not do anything that would make for an interesting picture though.  I clean up all the parts for the beaching dolly, cleaned up the engine, cockpit parts, glued the cowl together, glued the wing floats together, added 20 grams of nose weight to the inside of the main float (as per the instructions) and glued it together.    So as of now the cockpit, engine, etc are ready for paint. That will get done maybe today, but it not -- definitly tomorrow.  I have to mix up some aotake  for the inside of the cowling.

   The tooling of this kit dates back to 1973-75 (somewhere around there -- I forget exactly) but you would hardly know it; it has aged fantastically!

I purchased some Golden regeular (medium) gloss gel today to complete the water effects. I bought Golden because it was what Michaels had in stock and I had a 40% coupon. Liquitex works just as well. I spread it on, filling any gaps and working it to make peaks and ripples. The trick is to work it so you dont leave brush strokes. When this dries I will paint the water blueish grey.

Steve

Wow, that water effect looks stunning. Looking forward to seeing the finished result.

BK,

90% of doing this is just doing it. You have to be willing to screw it up, but you will be amazed when you don't. My first "water" was a test run on a cheap 1/72 Testers Grumman Duck. That gave me the opportunity to try out the idea and experiment with acrylic gel and cotton.

Steve

Steve, that already looks amazing. I need to learn how to do this. Too cool.

BK

LOL Mike, I'm channeling Toshi.

Well this is as far as I'm getting until I can get some medium acrylic gel. To get to this point I used acrylic pouring medium and paper strips to form the swells. Once I get some medium gel I'll shape the chop on the swells and paint the water.

modelcrazy

That is too cool Mike!  Are you going to crossover with the Floats and Boats GB with that?

PS, totaly love your ornaments!

 

I MIGHT, i'm not sure yet.   I can't wait to start on her, but the last few nights (and days for that matter) ive had this headache I can't seem to shake.  I did manage to wash all the parts though! LOL      Thanks!  That is just a small portion of the airplane ornaments 

OH. And by the way Steve -- you NEED to slow down --I have not even started and you are almost finished!  Fantastic work!

I started finishing the water after installing the rigging. I added the shavings from the trough cut outs to the crests and applied some heavy acrilic gel. I will allow this to dry and then add strips of paper for texture.
I know it looks bad now, but after the paper and gel has been added to the base it will look better.

BK, unfortunatly your right about the color match. They are a pain to spray as well.

I completed the weathering. next will be rigging and the water.

Steve, I've been using Valejo black/grey for my tires as a test and I found that it is very delicate paint and comes of very very easy. Too bad to, because the color is spot on. I won't be using them again, too much trouble.

BK