@Steve,

I hate to say it, but, you really can't tell you had any problems with the resin on this build. Excellent job in your recovery! I really like how you weathered this plane! Great job!

@Hunter,

For your first build since being a kid, fantastic job! I can't say how glad I am that you have embraced this hobby! And I l;ook forward to your next builds!

@Freddie,

Great job on the Nick! The weathering look fantastic! Very subtle, yet very effective. Looking forward to seeing this one finished!

@40.mm,

I like your thinking on boring out the vents! I'm going to remeber this for my builds. Great touch!

Steve: Thanks! One day, one day, I'm going to have to try that.

Freddie: Looking very good! Like the paint and the decals look perfect. Don't ask me about PhotoBucket, I've been fighting it for a couple hours today.

40.mm: Vents look good, I know what you mean about assembly steps- I have a big habit of doing stuff back***wards.

Hunter: Just posted you to the front page, I think... PhotoBucket is being a butthead....

Freddie - 

It is looking awesome so far...can't wait to see it complete.

Hello Everyone,

I have been able to get paint and decals onto the "Nick".  Here are some update photographs of where I am now.  I need a few touch ups here and there, and a final gloss coat before I apply the flat finish.  Then I am onto the "fidley bits" and those dreaded landing gear!  I have a good idea of where I'm going with those, but it's going to be "fun"...

Anyhow here are the pictures, and as always, comments or questons are always welcome.

I see, the overall color of this model seems to be a dark olive or brown, it actually is a deep green.  I guess my lighting stinks!  Thanks again for reading my post, and I'll post more pictures as I go. 

Regards

Freddie from LI

PS-Can anyone tell me WTF is going on with Photobucket?  What a pain in the ass!

Gamera

Steve, if I may ask, can you elaborate a little more on how you made the waves?

Sure Gam,

The on the last layer, if you use a resin with a hardener, Add twice the amount of hardener that is suggested and pour a thin layer after you mix it thoroughly. Let it dry until it becomes mostly stiff but will move it you tip the base. At this point I used a heat gun set to cool to blow the waves into swells. This process took some time and noticed that once I had it where I wanted I had to keep working it or the resin would smooth back out. Once the resin hardened enough I set the base at an angle so the any unhardened resin would drip and build up the swells. The whitecaps and foam were created by pulling apart cotton and attaching it with Liquitex High Gloss Acrylic Varnish. I would let one layer dry and applied another until it looked right to my eye.

Hey Hunter she looks great, and fantastic for your first model since you were a youngster. When you get your paint and the front canopy painted I'll get you posted to the front page.

Gee whiz I need to get that badge done, three people already done or almost there!

Steve: Got you posted, or I think so- PhotoBucket is acting whacky again.

Hello everyone - 

Well, I finally completed this great kit. I found that the build itself was great do to the fact of a well designed and instructed kit from Tamiya. As I got to the final stages that is were I found I need to work on my approach and technique. I found that it is hard to hand paint certain things if not done right (LOL). Well, here she is so please don't hesitate to point out any defects or suggestions to better improve my skills. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LOOKING IN ON MY BUILD AND FOR ALL THE KIND WORDS, TIPS, SUGGESTIONS AND SUPPORT I HAVE RECEIVED.

I ran out of paint so I ordered a new can today so I can finish the canopy. Newbie lol 

Thank you again

Steve, if I may ask, can you elaborate a little more on how you made the waves?

And I've got a couple IJN and USN floatplanes in the stash, now I want to build one with a guy sitting on the wing with a fishing rod!

Going to update the front page now- congrads again!

Thanks guys, I really want to try this method again.

lonemoose

my eye isn't comfortable with - keeps getting snagged on - the clean shiny silver of the prop and spinner...

The prop blades face and spinner are bare aluminum while the back was painted flat black. The pictures don’t show it well, but the flat black on the back of the prop blades are chipped.

Steve

wow! Spectacular! Well done Steve - especially with the sh-- hitting the fan with Amazing Cast (gotta go buy some of that!LOL) i got nothing even close to this work of art. criticism - my eye isn't comfortable with - keeps getting snagged on - the clean shiny silver of the prop and spinner...

it is awesome brother. my favorite part is the water breaking/foaming gently on the sandy beach...

Sibonius

Steve - 

You'd the man Steve....Pure Perfection....Great looking build sir.

Dang man, that is simply killer.

BK

So it fought you all the way and you won! I've been following your build all the way and it's been an instructive journey and an inspiration. Way to go!

Outstanding build !

Looks great Steve!!! Rufe looks terrific and I love those waves!!!

OK all, I'm done messin with this and I'm calling it done.
Like I said earlier, the resin technique will work well as long as you don't use "Amazing Cast" two part resin. I used the "Clear Cast Polyester Resin" as the last pour and was happy with the results. The only thing I'm not happy with is that I had to remove the amazing cast because it didn't dry and that caused some blemishes under the top layer. I will try it again with the lessons learned under my belt.

The Tamiya Rufe was a simple nice build. I sprayed aluminum as a base and then went over that with a spray of AK Interactive Worn Effects which sprayed straight from the bottle without any problems. I finished that up with the exterior color and it was a simple matter of "washing" the exterior paint off and in some instances I used tape to pull it off.

I hope you enjoy it and as usual comments and critiques are welcome.

Steve

Paint looks very good there Hunter!

40.mm - 

Looking very nice sir....she is coming along nicely.

Wow....Finally back in after that little issue. 

As you can see I am at the finally leg of my build. Tonight I should have the decals on and be finished. This has been a great build and I look forward too many more. As always, thank you for looking in on my build.

Any and all suggestions, tips and techniques are greatly wecolmed

Nice work, you're moving right along! 

Fuselage together taped and putted with white out .

cockpit and engine bay painted

Ah ok, I just assumed you'd used tape there. Looks good and I know what you mean about very little being visible down inside the cockpit hole there. 

all they are is some old glue tube cut and painted just to have something to see if you look down in the pit. Im just doing an oob nothing fancy no heavy mod,s or scrachbuilding, something basic to get back into the swing of things .

Nice lookin' seat belts. I've been using the pre-painted PE ones from Eduard but tape lie much more like real cloth. 

40.mm - 

Very cool kit you chose to build. I will be watching you on this. Very curious to see this Japanese fighter. Enjoy the build