Secret Santa GB 2018 - Nearing the Finish Line!!

That Hellcat looks sweet! 

Nice looking ride you built there Stu! Love the smoothness of that paint for sure. Looking forward to watching the 109 come together as well.

Stu, that is a crazy good looking Hellcat. It looks like everything went together just like it should and the paint and weathering look great. Very nice work, Sir. I will update the front page.

BK

Nicely done on the 'Cat.

Before the F6's had their own radar they tried working a TBF (equiped with radar) with a pair of F6's.  On one of the first of those tries, Butch O'Hare was lost.

Glossy Sea Blue.  Makes it easy to paint.  EVERYTHING is that color.  Plus, from what I read it was as tough as nails so weathering was minimal. 

Can't imagine being a Naval night fighter.  Really have to trust your instruments.  No thanks!

Good looking Hellcat.  What color is that - black or dark blue?  Had to be a tough job being a carrier borne night fighter.

Okay, almost halfway through the year and I'm officially halfway through my Secret Santa builds.  Calling it done on the Hellcat.  I still have the Me-109 on the bench, so it'll come up next.  For the Hellcat I dove into the spares box to find some left over PE, seatbelts and gun barrels.  I enjoyed the build.

Hellcat by Stu George, on Flickr

Hellcat by Stu George, on Flickr

Hellcat by Stu George, on Flickr

Untitled by Stu George, on Flickr

 Untitled by Stu George, on Flickr

keavdog

 

 

John the great thing is you can’t see “tacky” in pics. Appreciate hearing your experience as it’ll help us first timers with Alclad prep ours. Camo pattern and the color look really smooth!

Eagle90 those checkers and your weathering are superb. Nice job! 

DiscoStu

 

 

Eagle90

Again...great work being done!!  Very inspiring!

Well, I'm calling it finished!  What a great kit!!!!  I can not say enough good things about it.  I liked it so much...yes, I did...I went and bought another one!!!  I couldn't help it!  It was such a fun kit and I couldn't decide if I wanted to do a long range escort or ground pounder....so I got another one to do a ground pounder version.  LOL!

The fit on everything was great!  It just came together almost on its own.  The decals were good too.  I had issues with the cowling decals (checkered decals), but that was just me.  LOL!  This is one of Tamiya's best kits I think!

I'm not sure if the drop tank load out is accurate, but I couldn't help it.  They both looked cool!  LOL!

BK....thank you for hosting the GB.  I enjoy this one more and more each year! 

P.S.  BK, your choice on completion pic.  Thanks again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glad you liked the kit!  You did a fantastic job on the Thunderbolt.  It's a real showstopper!

 

I did sir THANK YOU!!!  I could not have been happier with that kit!  Like I said, it went together so well, it was effortless!  Like it so much...yes, I bought another one at the last show I went to!  I did this one as an escort fighter, the  next one..a ground pounder!!!

Eagle90

Again...great work being done!!  Very inspiring!

Well, I'm calling it finished!  What a great kit!!!!  I can not say enough good things about it.  I liked it so much...yes, I did...I went and bought another one!!!  I couldn't help it!  It was such a fun kit and I couldn't decide if I wanted to do a long range escort or ground pounder....so I got another one to do a ground pounder version.  LOL!

The fit on everything was great!  It just came together almost on its own.  The decals were good too.  I had issues with the cowling decals (checkered decals), but that was just me.  LOL!  This is one of Tamiya's best kits I think!

I'm not sure if the drop tank load out is accurate, but I couldn't help it.  They both looked cool!  LOL!

BK....thank you for hosting the GB.  I enjoy this one more and more each year! 

P.S.  BK, your choice on completion pic.  Thanks again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glad you liked the kit!  You did a fantastic job on the Thunderbolt.  It's a real showstopper!

BrandonK

 

 

Eagle90

Brandon...thank you for hosting the GB!  I really enjoy this GB every year!  Gives you that being a kid feeling again.  LOL!

 

 

I appreciate that very much. The world could use a great deal more of the being kind feeling right now. I enjoy this GB more than all the others because it carries more meaning than just building a kit, you're building a gift and that's special. I really want to thank everyone for coming along, it makes it really fun.

BK

 

Very well put sir!!!!  

Eagle90

Brandon...thank you for hosting the GB!  I really enjoy this GB every year!  Gives you that being a kid feeling again.  LOL!

I appreciate that very much. The world could use a great deal more of the being kind feeling right now. I enjoy this GB more than all the others because it carries more meaning than just building a kit, you're building a gift and that's special. I really want to thank everyone for coming along, it makes it really fun.

BK

[quote user="BrandonK"]

Eagle, great work. What a gorgeous looking AC. You totally nailed the kit and the GB theme with your eagerness and thankfulness. Excellent work all around and thanks for participating. Front page is updated.

Brandon...thank you for hosting the GB!  I really enjoy this GB every year!  Gives you that being a kid feeling again.  LOL!

Thank you Brandon!!!

That is a very nasty looking Hind. I would never attempt to apply decals over all those complex surfaces, it would wrinkle everywhere. But it is very cool.

BK

Lewbud - nope, didnt think about that.  Just a secret Santa build.  Super fun experience and thanks to my secret Santa and BK for running the GB.  

Modelcrazy, glad to see you're back in the digs.  My brother was stationed at Mt Home AFB for years and later worked for Zilog.  Visited the great state of Idaho a few times.  And that is one wicked looking Hind.

Hey guys,

Made it back home to Idaho and started working on the hobbyroom floor. It should take me a few days, then I have several other things to around the house like the yard . At least redoing the floor will also allow me to reorganize the room. The organization was getting pretty bad.

I'm also looking for another job. There are several, just not many in electronics for the pay I need or any who will bother to give me the time of day. Something will come up.

Buddy, as per our talk about Hinds, I found this. Chad looked but couldn't find any decals for it 

Eagle,

Nice job on the T-bolt! I need to find one of those in 1/72.

John,

Good job on the Buffalo! Was this a crossover with Bish's Commonwealth build?

I need to get back to the bench, just haven't been motivated recently.

Thank you, the color callouts seem to go that route.  Noticed I have to clean up the raft straps though.

Lot of fiddly, fragile parts for the pit buildup as well.  Little less hair than before.

GH, that is building up nice. I've always heard good things about these old AM kits and it appears they are right. I never noticed or knew that the pits were bare metal or painted silver. That's a nice change from the standard green we always see. It gives the pit more of a bare minimun look than when they are painted green. I love the look and your details look very crips, almost made of metal. Very nice.

BK

Plodding along, finally took pics from camera and loaded them.  Pits done and ready to go into fuselage.

Can't remember if I ever put up a pic of the box or not....

Eagle, great work. What a gorgeous looking AC. You totally nailed the kit and the GB theme with your eagerness and thankfulness. Excellent work all around and thanks for participating. Front page is updated.

John, the Buffalo looks great. I too understand the bits that find their way into the final finish, very frustrating. But, hey, non of the real planes look as good as we make them. Yours is fantastic and a real inspiration for me to gather up some new decals and maybe a cockpit set and get mine going. Thanks for taking us along on this wonderful ride. Great finsh on this great bird.

BK

Good looking Buffalo John. I know what you mean about stuff in the finish 

Thats a great p47 kit - I built the exact same one/same markings a bit ago.  Nice job!

Calling this Buffalo done.  I got a TON of junk in the paint- I can only assume it's due to the drying time of the alclad gloss and alclad flat (and my not covering the model).  Anyhow - here she is in New Zeland markings.  To my secret santa - thankyou for the gift.  It was an enjoyable build (until it became a dust/fiber magnet :/ )

modelcrazy

Excellent job on the big ole gal Bobby 

 

Thank you sir!  I would highly recommend this kit to everyone!!

Excellent job on the big ole gal Bobby 

Again...great work being done!!  Very inspiring!

Well, I'm calling it finished!  What a great kit!!!!  I can not say enough good things about it.  I liked it so much...yes, I did...I went and bought another one!!!  I couldn't help it!  It was such a fun kit and I couldn't decide if I wanted to do a long range escort or ground pounder....so I got another one to do a ground pounder version.  LOL!

The fit on everything was great!  It just came together almost on its own.  The decals were good too.  I had issues with the cowling decals (checkered decals), but that was just me.  LOL!  This is one of Tamiya's best kits I think!

I'm not sure if the drop tank load out is accurate, but I couldn't help it.  They both looked cool!  LOL!

BK....thank you for hosting the GB.  I enjoy this one more and more each year! 

P.S.  BK, your choice on completion pic.  Thanks again!

Well John, that looks super good. I need to get mine going. I really like the buffalo and you have nailed the look on this one. Very nice.

BK

That Jug looks good.  Progress on the Buffalo - first time using alclad gloss and it covered really well but took 5 or 6 days before it wasn't tacky.   Got the gear on and decals - they are still setting in the pic but I think I may wrap this one up in the next couple days.

BrandonK

Make sure you shake that carpet out good and make a new kit from the parts that fall out.

I should be able to gleen enough for my Steampunk/kitbash GB next year.