Eye in the Sky GB

Wow, Brandon. You nailed that kit. The look, color and weathering are spot on. I am totally jelly of that kit. Very nice.

BK

Looking really good John!  Can't wait to see some paint on her.

Thanks for the kind words Clint, I'm in the process of seeing if a potential donor is a match.  Fingers are crossed...

Brandon, great finish, I love the colors!  Especially since you don't usually see a Cuban bird.  I got the front page updated.  Thanks for participating!

Let's use the first pic for the front. It seems the most accurate color-wise.

-BD-

Well, guys, this one has been done for a while, but I was trying to take some better photos. That hasn't happened, so I'll post these before I forget entirely.

To recap, this is the 1/48 Eduard MiG-21R in Cuban markings. Paints are Mr. Paint SU-27 blue and Tamiya RAF dark green on top, and some gray on the bottom. I want to say Tamiya light gray, but it might be Mr. Paint or Tamiya royal gray. You get the gist.

Lenses for the recce pod and the Atoll missile seeker heads are from Bondic, which I'd never used before, but which I think is perfect for this sort of thing.

Want to know what's annoying? When you buy two MiG-21s and then think it's perfect and buy two aftermarket bang seats for them, but you put the package of seats in one box, then build the other kit and forget about them, so you use the kit seat, which is fine, but not nearly as nice.

So maybe I need another MiG-21 now?

Anyway, this kit is one of Eduard's best. The only hiccup was in the 0.5mm gap running perpendicular to the fuselage where the wings piece isn't long enough. I'm told this is ONLY a factor on the MiG-21R, which has different wings than the other kits. Anyway, it was an easy enough fix with sheet styrene.

Thanks for having me, and sorry it took so long to get this thing posted!

-BD-

Thanks Bish - looking forward to doing the camo - 4 colors.  And hoping I put enough weight in the nose.

John, thats an impressive looking aircraft there. Nice work.

EC-121 cleaned up, black based and ready for camo

Man, it is a ton of work rescribing a kit, but it looks so good when done.

BK

I have completed 1/2 the scribing on this Shack, still need to do the whole fuse.

Theuns

BrandonK

 

Brandon that IP is looking smart! I have a set of paint pens that I really haven't taken advantage of. THis motivates me to break them out and give it a thorough try instead of just using them for an occasional highlight or two.

Some very nice work there guys.

Mopar Madness

Some quiet bench time can be pretty therapeutic in times likes these.  She’s looking great.

 

BK

Some quiet bench time can be pretty therapeutic in times likes these.  She’s looking great.

Can't wait to see what you do with it Theuns.

That pit looks pretty good Brandon!  Hopefully you'll be able to wrestle the fuselage into the right shape.

I can't believe it's been two months since I've posted any progress.  The last couple months have been kind of tough.  I found out that my kidney function is dropping again so now they're looking at a transplant.  I went through the whole evaluation process and they determined I'd be a good recipient, and a few people have come forward that are willing to donate.  Between being tired all the time and appointments, I hadn't had much time for the bench.  Then at the end of last month my mother in law passed away kind of suddenly and we've been driving half-way across the state a lot lately. 

Anways, she's starting to look like an airplane now.  Still have some filling and sanding to do.  I also found some bits to use for the cameras in the nose, I just need to figure out how to get them attached.

I haven't been making too much progress on the Hawkeye as I have been busy with other things in life. I did complete the cockpit and I can live with it. I decided, after carefully examining the kit, to not pimp out the cockpit as you won't be able to see it hardly at all once completed. The windows on the pit are small and similar to a B-17 so all that hard work and detail would be lost inside. 

I used a Sharpie marker to paint the panels and instruments and I have to say I am very pleased with the speed I was able to do it and the outcome is pretty decent. They do make PE set for the cockpit on this kit and if you want to doll your's up I would go that route. I just didn't want to spend the extra money and not be able to see it anyway.

This kit is VERY tail heavy and I will be adding 100 grams of weight to the nose to keep it from tail sitting. I will take some photos of the fuselage as I close it up because it has one of the worst alignments I have ever dealt with. The panel lines will all line up, but the shape is all over the place and not one section allows alignment with another. I will have to align and glue one section at a time and let it dry overnight before moving to the next section to make it align well, and I'll still have seem work to do. It's a shame it is this poor on such a nicely detailed kit. I will post plenty of shots of this for you.

As far as size of AC this is, just to give you some reference on its scale, it is nearly as long, tall and wide as a 1/48 B-17, just skinnier. It's not a small kit.

BK

Here is the fuselage with the old detail.

IMG_20181123_143842 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

I have sanded the one side smooth and will do other side soon ,then I need to mark out and scribe the new detail.

Theuns

The scribing and sanding on the wings is complete, I however need to make a few parts as they are not in the bag in the box :-(

1 front spinner and the 1/2 upper section of the #4 necell /cowl broke off and is MIA.

The fuselage has been wrangled into place, it was warped like mad and I had to do small sections at a time by wraping it with tine and cementing.

Now I recall why I dont build  these old kits LOL

Theuns

Very nicely done there Theuns.

I use a standard tamya scriber, for the straight edge I use a thin strip og litho plate that shapes well around corners.

I actually need another new blade for my scriber as the one I now have is getting dull, when it is new it really gives exelent sharp fine detail, a must have tool together with my trumpeter rivet tool....I cant go without them :)

Theuns

I know I can speak for many others when I say we've been pulling for Steve, and the same can be said for you SB. We are all pulling for you.

BK

I've got to agree with the others Theuns, that looks really nice.  Night and day difference.

modelcrazy

Bob, hang in there, I'm 7 months out of a double lung transplant and am doing great. You'll do fine. I'm sorry about your moter in law.

 

Thanks Steve, I'm really glad you're doing well.  I had my appointment with the transplant team on Tuesday and they think I'll be a good candidate for transplant, but I'll find out for sure next week.  It's been rough on the family losing her, but I think we're doing as good as we can.

I agree with BK that looks really good Theuns. Do you mind sharing what your prefered tool for getting these results is? I have never tried this for fear of butchering it - pun intended..

Nice work for sure!

Theuns, that is a big improvement. I can see why you wanted to go through the trouble. Your version is much better.

BK

Here is the result sofar

IMG_20181106_161037 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Theuns

I have started on my Shackleton and this is an ancient kit with raised rivet and pannel detal but almost no cockpit or wheelwell detail.

As an experiment I lightly sanded the detail on the surface to see if I can tone it down however to get a nice equal look doesnt work for me so I will re'scribe some of the detail and sand smooth.

Theuns

Bob, hang in there, I'm 7 months out of a double lung transplant and am doing great. You'll do fine. I'm sorry about your moter in law.

Sorry I've been so absent lately.  I'm starting the process for a kidney transplant and my mother in law passed away on Wednesday.  Lots of things keeping me away from the bench and the forums.  

Brandon, I'm really excited to see how that comes together.  That kit is on my wishlist so I'd love to see how you bring it together.

Caveman, we'd be more than happy for you to join us if you decide to.  Just let me know