The 50 Shades of Gray Group Build!

Very nice, I like it!  It is amazing the decals held up after 3 decades.  I once had a 15 or 20 year NASCAR kit that had most of the decals shatter as soon as they touched water.

Even though the decals were on the old side, they weren't in too bad a shape. The problem with them is they were so darn thick. Setting solution just made them wrinkle up. Fortunately, all the decals went on flat surfaces except for the two wingtip yellows. I just painted those on instead. The decal sheet was folded in half at one time. The crease split all of the stars/bars insignia decals. I put a coat of microsacle liquid decal film over those to try and keep them togther. However, all of them split apart, right down the middle. Luckily, I could butt them together into a single piece.

So after removing the cockpit canopy mask, I noticed the inside surface had some "frosting" on them. Not to mention my clumsy removal technique chipped away some of the paint ugh! 

After cleaning and polishing, the frosting was definately on the inside. So what do I do now? Touch up the paint and live with it? Or, do I remove the canopy to clean up the inside, all while risking damaging or breaking it?

What the heck, I am going to go for broke and will try to remove the canopy and fix it. I'm going to roll the dice and see what happens.

What did you use to attach the canopy? Some glues are much easier to deal with in removing than others.

A gambler....I love it.  

Good luck with the canopy!

I like the way that is looking Theuns!  Exhaust area looks great.

stikpusher

What did you use to attach the canopy? Some glues are much easier to deal with in removing than others.

 

Tamiya thin cement.

In retrospect I probably shouldn't have used the phrase "going for broke " when trying to remove cemented parts.  But, I was able to remove the canopy only breaking off a tiny corner.

Not a big deal really as I can clean the glass and repaint the canopy. After reattaching it, I can blend in the tiny break. I am Almost done with this. I should be posting some pictures tomorrow.

Sounds like a nice save Mark, looking forward to seeing it.

Took some time today for reviewing the build, and even though I have 3 other builds going right now I need to finish, did a little work on the Freedom.

Not looking foward to all these PE railings!

I've gotten the canopy fixed, the landing gear installed and she's ready to fly. Here is the cleaned up canopy. Well at it's as good as its going to get...

and now here she is all done...

After a few bumps along the way, I think it turned out OK, certainly not perfect but I'm OK with it. Thanks for looking and thanks for a fun group build.

Very impressive, Mark.  Congrats on a great build, and thanks for participating.  Any preferance on a picture for the roster?

How about the third or fourth from the bottom? I would also like to do another. How about a Monogram 1/72 F-15E Strike Eagle?

Sure, go for it!  Roster has been updated.

I did a little on the Freedom, just enough to realize I have no  paint on hand for the modern US Navy.  So I had to order deck gray and haze gray from a local hobby supplier.

The bridge is complete, not too much to it, and I do not feel a need to add much more or clean up the sink marks, considering it is only seen through a line of small windows.   

And a subsection of the superstructure:

To be continued...

Formal start on the Gripen. Ordnance 

Don't want to leave anybody out so I will say fantastic work on all entries. TC great looking F-111. 

I finally started on this gargantuan beast comission that will be OOB (I hope). Here's where I'm at:

Got the wings and tanks together. Lots of sanding and glue used here.

Tires, seats and pit parts ready for paint. The molded detail is actually pretty good and will look better once paint goes on.

Forward fuselage is quite large

Is this big or what?

tempestjohnny

Geez Ernie your gonna need to stock up on paint.

 

You are so right TJ but I think I have the solution for this HUGE thing. I happen to have a large bottle of Mission Models light gull gray that will be perfect for this project. It covers very well cause it is very opaque.

Well when putting the fuselage together. The area behind the cockpit was short shot on one side. Quick fix with some plastic card tamiya putty and surfacer 500

PJ: That Tomcat is a big mother, that's for sure!

Johnny: Can't wait to see more of the Grippen.  That jet always looks like a hot rod to me.

Finally restocked on CA at the LHS so I could commence with the PE.  

This is just the beginning, maybe 1/6 of all the parts.  I decided to call it a night after I affixed one if the grills on the side of the ship backwards.  No way to remedy that, since it is now filled in with CA.   D'oh!

Have also been waiting for my paint order still, been going one two weeks and the order is still pending.  I sent an email yesterday to the owner, hopefully he responds tomorrow.  Heck, the guy lives 15 minutes from my house, I may offer to drive over and pick it up if he'd like, as long as he reimburses the shipping fee....

My F4 had not been toutched for the last few weeks, I had to put it in the box to keep the dust off it. I am ready to shade and start painting however I got some small contracts to do now and after nearly 4 months of no income work now takes preference over any play time LOL

Theuns

No worries, Theuns.  Making ends meet should always come first!

I think there is an all around modeling slowdown for everyone this time of year, even with the current limitations on societal activity.

Tomcat, your Raven/Sparkvark came out great!

TJ, the Gripen is coming long great. Such a good looking design!

PJ, that is gonna be one big kitty! 

As for me, over the weekend I pulled this one off of the sidelines and resumed work with painting in the cockpit.

Some seriously nice builds here!
Stik love the wiring detail in your pit.

pj's F-14 will be interesting to watch as I've got one in the stash.

crown's F-16 FL ANG was beautiful. I took note of a few unique colors in that black basing pattern.

tomcat's F-111 is a rarely seen bird , did that kit justice.

Those Monogram kits still come out great if you show them a little love. Here is a EF-111 and a pair of Strike Eagles I did in 1/72 scale a while back.

I got the grey on, wanted a faded warn look. Still need to do the grey on the intakes

IMG_20200901_160645 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Theuns

Looks like a real gem there!

My paint order finally arrived earlier this week, so I did some priming after all the PE panels were affixed and initial painting of the decks.  

The superstructure assemblies have not been glued yet, I just mocked up for the photo.  Still a ways to go, but she's getting there!

Great job on the builds gents! I have the basic colors on the ip’s and the rest of the pit and seats.

Will let the silver paint dry on the ip screens so the Tamiya clear green paint can then be applied over it. This produces a great effect. Still a ton of details to be painted specially on the seats. 

Updated work on the IP’s and pit.

Wow!  Those screens do have a nice effect.  Great detailing on all the panels.

Glamdring

Wow!  Those screens do have a nice effect.  Great detailing on all the panels.