Secret Santa GB 2016 !!!

MC-  Another WOW factor build you have created, and in that scale.  Looking at her in the pics you would swear it was 1/350. 

Theuns- The spit came out great , not many done in that camo and U.S. markings.

Steve, the Hornet is looking great!

I will get some photos taken, hopefully tonight, of the Mig-23 from last years Secret Santa Build. I've got the paint done and some of the decals, working on the stencils currently and there are a lot. She's looking good IMO. Again, not the original plan I had intended for this kit, but it will do.

Thanks BK

Steve, very nice progress on the flattop. I love you work.

GH, nice to see you're making great progress.

My kit is still in the box, waiting for the weather to improve and the F4 to be off the bench. Things are starting to move along finally.

BK

Got all the antennas on the BUFF, and the horizontal stabs on.  Wings are together and pylons are on.  Engines and tip tanks are done and ready for paint.  Once the wings and main gear doors are on, the old girl goes off for paint.  Not much time to work on it except for w/e's right now, and will be gone for four days this next week.

Will put up some pics when I get the wings on.

A small update on the Hornet.

I'm finishing the water base and need to apply several more coats of thin gel to give some depth.

The B-25's are coming along and need to attach the wheels, props and add some weathering to the ship and bombers (the plane was just placed there for looks).

The deck looks brown but is weathered blue in reality.

modelcrazy

Welcome back Jeremey, yeah it’s been a little rough getting out of the subdivisions around here.

Did some more work on the base and Hornet. After I painted a few coats of varying colors on the base, I dry brushed to add the whitecaps. I’m going to use Poly-fil for the wake and bow wave.

The deck needs some touchup and then weathering.

 

Steve, I would love to catch up with you sometime and take a look at the dios that you've created. They are simply amazing! I would love to learn more about this process. I'm excited to see the finished product. I could only hope to create something as beautiful as this.

Yeah, the roads around here are terrible! Glad to see the main streets clearing up, lets see what the rest of the week holds in store for us though!

BrandonK

 

 

jelliott523

Greetings all, and a late Happy New Year! I made it back from Australia safe and sound. Here is what was awaiting me when I returned. Thank you to my Secret Santa, cant wait to get it started. Sorry for the rotation on the picture, I couldnt get it to adjust when I brought it over from PB.

 

Glad to see you back. Nice camo on the Mig and the F-84 is a cool bird. I built one last year for SS. I like it alot.

 

BK

 

Thanks BK! I'm looking forward to the F-84, had been eyeing that one for awhile as I also have the Tamiya Thunderbird F-84 in my stash, I think they'll look great sitting next to each other!

Yeah, I know the feeling about the weather! Not sure what you're getting in Oregon, but we had record snow here in the SW corner of Idaho. Definately a shock from the sun and warm weather of Australia, wish I could have brought it back!

Looking forward to seeing the BUFF when its completed!

Thanks about the Mig paintwork, not entirely what I was going for, as I had to custom mix the colors to get them "close". I think it will look fine after its decaled and weathered a bit.

jelliott523

Greetings all, and a late Happy New Year! I made it back from Australia safe and sound. Here is what was awaiting me when I returned. Thank you to my Secret Santa, cant wait to get it started. Sorry for the rotation on the picture, I couldnt get it to adjust when I brought it over from PB.

 

BK

Welcome back from summer down under......with what we have been getting the past 3 weeks you should have stayed longer.

I like the save on the MIG, nice paint work.

The little BUFF is starting to come together.  Fuselage is all filled and sanded, same with the wings and engine pylons.  Will get the wings and tail on today and she will start to look more like a flying machine.  Going to attach the engines and tip tanks after paint, since the pylons and upper half of the pods and tanks are camo'ed in the SEA scheme.  Will put up new pics in a few days.

Greetings all, and a late Happy New Year! I made it back from Australia safe and sound. Here is what was awaiting me when I returned. Thank you to my Secret Santa, cant wait to get it started. Sorry for the rotation on the picture, I couldnt get it to adjust when I brought it over from PB.

Here is the progress on last year's Mig-23. As you may remember, I had some issues with the black and red flame scheme and went to the camo version instead. I should have it gloss coated tonight or tomorrow and then I'll get to adding decals and the small bits.

That is really looking quite good there Steve. I really need to make the time to fiqure out this whole water crafting you do.

BK

Opps my bad. Hornet. One of those pesky bugs.

Looks good, coming right along.  You guys are making me look like a piker...

A sting by any other name is still a sting by a nasty flying object.  Wasp was still on the other side of the world at that time.  She got to the Pacific after Midway.

modelcrazy

An update on the Wasp. I sprayed the lower hull camo and added acrylic gel followed by a coat of artist acrylics to the base. I will be sanding the base and painting another thinned coat of blue which will be slightly lighter in color. This will add some contrast to the water and give the impression of below surface turbulence. I also ordered some 1/700 crew.

 

 

Impressive! I have to admit, you sure do make it seam easy. 

Wow, you guys are really making some nice progress. I can't wait to get started on mine when the weather finally lets me.

BK

My moment of truth came with the Fw 190.  After a ton of test fitting I very slowly completed the wings to fuselage portion of the build which apparently is the most fiddly part of the Eduard assembly.  With a ton of patience (And the fact that the football game on in the background was so dull I was able to stay focused!) and only a few, gentle swipes with a sanding stick,  I got the lower wings/upper wings, and fuselage all mated.  I am very happy to say that the internet tips did their job and everything eventually clicked into place.  So much so that there are no seams to fill!  Things should really start moving now.  The only real daunting task left is the placing the exhaust pipes into the engine.  Each pipe must be added individually.  Eduard was kind enough to provide a jig for this step, but it's still going to be tedious. 

Got the fuselage buttoned up on the BUFF, and prelim seam sanding done.  Just a little filler in a couple of spots.  Glued up the wings, and as can be seen, need to fill and scribe from the flaps out. Port wing worse than the starboard.  At least they are on the bottom with this kit.  Will install flaps and engine pylons after I get that chore taken care of.

I've made a lot of  progess on the Fw 190.  In doing some online research one of the tips that was recommended was to ignore the instructions and add the engine mount to the firewall prior to installation.  If you follow Eduard's steps they would have you wait until after the firewall has been installed and the fuselage halves closed before putting in the engine mounts.  The engine mount consists of three tubing parts plus the engine mount ring.  Doing this per the instructions would require tweezers and a lot of patience to get the alignment right.  I had visions of it being similar to a ship in a bottle, so I was happy to get this out of the way now.  Some white glue for testing ensured alignment, and when everything was set I locked it down with Tamiya liquid cement.  *Whew*

The other potential bugaboo with this kit appears to be the alignment of the wing spar.  If this is off by even a bit not only will the landing gear have a funny angle, but the spar will prevent the lower wings from mating with the fuselage correctly.  The tubing in the center of the spar has to fit exactly between and behind the spent casing chute from the firewall.  I spent two nights carefully test fitting the spar to the fuselage and when I was comfortable I locked the spar down.  Hopefully doing this now will help me avoid a ton of sanding and big-boy words down the road.

I also went ahead and assembled the engine.  Given that very little can be seen once it is closed up I elected not to try to wire it up.  

So far I think I am ready to move ahead with the major assemblies and am optimistic about the rest of the build.

A quick note, pics were taken with my iPhone, so I apologize for the poor quality.

Wow Mike, that is a really cool looking kit. I'm looking forward to seeing it come to life.

I have added the badge to the front page. I can't wait to start on my kit.

BK

Hello everyone and happy New-Year! 

        I am so sorry this post is so late!  Between visiting family for the holidays and work I've been swamped. 

     Thank you Santa for bringing me a Eduard  1/48 Avia B-534 ProFi pack!  I am ashamed to admit I have never heard of the B-534! I have seen it time to time, but never truly knew about it.  I spent a few hours Christmas night reading about it.  Now that I'm 100% more knowledgeable in B-534s I'm all set to build!   As we speak the parts are soaking in some soapy water.  The PE rigging turn buckles are a sweet touch from Eduard!     

 Here is a picture for your viewing pleasure!

I got pretty far with the Hornet, just a few fiddely bits to add to the hull then on to the island. The paint and water willtake the longest on this build.

I hear ya.....due for a cold snap this week, down to mid teens.  For us in the banana belt west of the Cascades, that is just plain COLD. With my blood circulation now, I just can't take the cold like I used to.  Doing my builds over at the shop at work for now til spring gets here and can work on some of the others at home.