Thanks Bish.

Thanks Gamera: I'll have to look in to getting some of the Perfect Plastic Putty.

Thanks Joe Rix.

The canopy’s have fifty shapes in total to mask, took roughly four hours in total. Some square shapes are the same width so I cut a long strip of Tamiya to to with five or six centimeters, then just cut the length. Yeah I've used quite a bit of putty on this one.

The top section of the nose would not fit with the 20mm canons mounted to the center piece, so I glued them to the openings where they stick out in the front. The nose would not go onto the main fuselage flush, so it took some sanding and a little grinding with squadron sanding sticks.

Excellent progress Dan. I'm with Bish, I've never seen or built such an ill fitting Eduard kit. Really has me scratching my head. Kudos on the masking. I, too, will avoid any complex canopy unless I can get my hands on a mask set. I pride myself on my patience but, that right there stretches it a bit too much.

Hey Dan, nice work there- she's coming right along.

For seams like that I've been using lots of Perfect Plastic Putty. You can dab it on, wait five-ten mins so it's semi-set and then rub it with ah moist cotton swab. The swab will slowly wear it away till you get it where you want it.

And my hats off to you on the masking. I hate it even the pre-cut ones. I'm embaressed to say I even sorta avoid planes with complex canopies like that.

mustang1989

Man Joe that sure looks like a smooth coat of primer. Rattle can Tamiya? I may have to invest in one of those pens you're talking about. There's a guy in the automotive modeling realm that's put out a video or two on painting smooth automotive finishes by the name of Donn Yost. He uses MM Metalizer rattle can paints for a primer coat for the same reason you use that silver pen and delivers fantastic results in regards to smooth finishes.

 

I would definatly recomend that pen. I struggled with seams for years, but since Joe sent me one, they are 100 times better.

Thanks Dan. Not much progress to report from my end. have been plugging away at the base, but it took me two days to paint the mortar in the brickwork. I do now have the rest of the road and pavment added and have started fitting out the house, so will post a short update in a day or so.

The 110 is coming on nicley, but thats more filer than i would have expected in an Eduard kit, though my experiance is rather limited. Hell of a masking job as well.

Thanks Gamera.

Thanks Joe Rix: You have some nice smooth seems on that Corsair. Looking forward to the first coat of paint.

Thanks Lostagain: I've found that you can mix up either, X-10 with X-9 or XF-56 with XF-10. Or you can use XF-64 instead of X-9 or XF-10. Start off with a one to one ratio, then add more metal or more brown if need be. Some excellent detail work on your cockpit.

Thanks Bish: The jagdpanther is lookin' great, those beefy exhaust really fit the size of the vehicle. The three tone camouflage came out great. My StuG III figures have a simpler camouflage pattern. Great job.

Thanks Tony: Nice pre-shading on the Spitfire. Nice camouflage pattern. Tried my hand at freehanding on 1/72 spitfire a few months ago, the small scale is harder to do than 1/48. Yeah those old decals can be tricky to work with.

Thanks Mustang1989: The Arado cockpit is coming along great, think I'm going to try my hand at making seat belts for the Bf-110.

Thanks Blkhwkmatt: Great detail work on your cockpit, those fabric seatbelts look great.

Thanks Hogfanfs.

The Bf-110 is slowly coming together, both wings are on & rear twin tail. Even built a stand out of balsa wood, for the aircraft to sit on either right side up or up side down.

Have run into some small fit issues. The round piece that goes on over the rear of the cockpit area does not fit flush with the surrounding airframe. Behind the pilot seat there is a part that spans the top of the cockpit, it's a little short so I used a styrene strip to fill the gap, and I'm using CA glue to fill the little gaps on both sides of the styrene strip.

I was going to airbrush the main colors on first then assembly the main landing gear, but to save time I decided to install it. There's about six parts per landing gear.

For this model I wanted to airbrush the clear parts separate from the main aircraft, all masks where cut by hand, Tamiya 18mm and 6mm tape was used for masking.

Thank You Bish, Joe and Gam. I really appreciate it.

Bish: Glad to hear it came in handy for you. Always happy to keep you supplied with anything you need from across the pond.

Joe: No, it's not Tamiya. It is Mr. Surfacer 1200 from a can. It is really nearly sixes between Tamiya and 1200 but, I find the 1200 to give you a bit more smoother finish.

That does look beautifully smooth and even Joe. 

Man Joe that sure looks like a smooth coat of primer. Rattle can Tamiya? I may have to invest in one of those pens you're talking about. There's a guy in the automotive modeling realm that's put out a video or two on painting smooth automotive finishes by the name of Donn Yost. He uses MM Metalizer rattle can paints for a primer coat for the same reason you use that silver pen and delivers fantastic results in regards to smooth finishes.

Looking good Joe.

I really like it, i have been useing it on all my aircrfat, has really helped improved my seams. I have found that Tamiya does them as well which i can get over here, so i will get on of those when this one runs out.

So thanks again for that, i owe ur.

The primer is on. I am quite thrilled that all seams and panel lines look clean. Wow, I don't get to pull that off very often. I attribute much of that success to using the Testors silver paint pen to check all seams first and make all corrections prior to applying the primer. 

By the way Bish, how has the pen working out for you?

Thank You Joe & Johnny.

Movin' right along I see there Joe.

Thanks Johnny. It seems the camo has worked better than i expected

Great looking weathering Bish.  The camo on the figures just might be too good I can't see their heads

Bish

Joe, just tell the wife unit (that still makes me chuckle) thats its for the good of mankind that you can build more. She will be doing her bit for humanity

I'm afraid that would create the reverse effect as it's mighty difficult to build models when one is laid up in the ER at the hospital.

Joe, just tell the wife unit (that still makes me chuckle) thats its for the good of mankind that you can build more. She will be doing her bit for humanity

Corsair is looking good.

Gamera

Looks good Joe! For some reason I was thinking this was the 1/48th kit, nice to see the 1/72nd one is just as good. 

Have fun at the show. I've judged a few times but don't like it. I hate having to judge one model as better than others when they're all better than the ones I build... 

 

Looks good Joe! For some reason I was thinking this was the 1/48th kit, nice to see the 1/72nd one is just as good. 

Have fun at the show. I've judged a few times but don't like it. I hate having to judge one model as better than others when they're all better than the ones I build... 

Here's some pics of the masking work. Done with Tamiya tape, dense packing foam and silly putty (over the head rest).

Thanks Gam & Bish. I've got it masked off and hope to shoot some primer today.

I'm headed over to WestFest 2016 model contest in Grand Junction, Co. this weekend. Obviously, I will not have the little Corsair ready in time. I'm going to help judge there and I'm a bit apprehensive as it will be my first time truly judging. I helped out a bit at their last contest 3 yrs ago so that will help me feel more comfortable. Next weekend is the IPMS contest in Salt Lake City and I'm hoping I can make it up for that one also but, that trip is still a bit up in the air.

Sure is a testament to the rate at which I build. It's been 3 yrs since the last contest and I only have 2 available entries that I have built in that time frame. I really need the wife unit to take a 3rd job so I can free up some bench time. Yeah, that would go over like a turd in a punch bowl. 

Hey Colin, I thought I'd responded to your post before but guess I didn't. Nice work there and wow I'm green with envy. Haven't been off the ground since we flew down to Orlando Florida as a kid. I need to buy a flight or three while I'm still young enough to climb into the cockpit. 

Joe: Looks great, one of my favorite all time kits. 

Nice to see it together Joe, look forward to seeing some paint going on.

Glad to say that I've got some progress to share with you all. The wings and tail planes are glued on and I've started the masking prior to prime/paint. I had to use some putty on the wing root area. Otherwise evrything has fit nicely.

Colin: You've made some right nice progress on your 234. Stay the course. you're doing great. Must say I am righteously jealous of your opportunity to get a ride of a lifetime. I do thank you very much for the excellent photos. They're great. That's a beauty of plane your father has. What a treat.  Your photos brought back some wonderful memories of when I'd go flying with my dad in his Cessna 172 & 182. Spent many hours flying scenic flights and raft trip shuttles with him. Thank You.

Got ur, didn't realise you were in Canada.

Thanks :)
Southern Ontario, just about 1/2 way between lake Erie and lake Ontario, 40min north of Buffallo, 3 hours from Detroit.
I'm hoping to get some good autum shots from the air, that's when it really looks amazing.

Coming on nicely Colin.

But wow, we have an inside tour of a B-29 and a flight in a B-17. Theres some real lucky guys on here. Some lovcely scenery there as well Colin. What part of the US is that.