Secret Santa 2020/2021 GB

Here's a pic of my entry into this year's build.

I built this for our local club's chapter build for the Nationals when this kit first came out.  I made some mistakes along the way then and I always wanted another shot at doing it better.  Thanks to my secret Santa, I get that shot.  Off to visit the boys and girls at Sprue Brothers for some canopy masks and photoetch.

Careful Mach1, Tiger Meet schemes are infectious.  I probably have 10-15 kits that are Tiger Meet specific and probably another 15-20 in decal sets.  One of those sets is an earlier 11 Staffel F-18.

Found this under my radiator:

I have been wanting to build one of these 1/48's for a while and have something interesting planned for it.

Looks like a fun Group Build. I should have joined  earler and participated. Oh well, there's always next year.

Lots of great Secret Santa gifts, too.  

Okay, there are some crazy nice kits this year. Way to go all the SS's here. Sorry I am not here more often but with expanding my company into two more states and looking to buy a new home and move across the state soon I am just way to occupied to give you all the attention you deserve. My head Santa is killin' this year with his work and we all need to take our hats off to Steve's efforst here. Steve, I appreicate you help so much, thank you!!

Now off to the list here:

Chris, that Panter is super cool. I added it to my stash earlier this year. Can't wait to see it built.

Michael, the Eduard F-6 should be a very nice kit as that is what they are known for. Can't wait to see it.

Bobby, The Babs is very cool. I've never seen that before. I have a soft spot for mid to late 30's AC. This is very cool.

Steve, the USS Freedon looks very nice. Is that a fairly modern design?

John, That A380 is very cool with the animals on the side. Although I don't envy you in putting on those decals.

Matt, I love the F/A-18 and I have had no issues with past Italeri kits so you should crush this one.

Chad, that 251 is such an iconic vehicle. I love the crewman painting on the squiggle camo. That would make a neat dio like that. I know from personal experience that ABing those squiggles on a kit is a HUGE PITA. It looks so good when done though, can't wait to see it.

Robert, the M109A6 is the sickest looking Howitzer ever made. I have one in the stash and I can't wait to see this one built.

Buddy, that Tiger meet A-7H looks amazing. Those decals look scary though. I'm looking forward to seeing this one.

Jonathan, The Jagdpanther is super cool. I have this one in the stash and I will be very excited to see you put it together. Nice score.

Great haul everyone, you all did super good on the gifts this year. I know some are still waiting on their kits to arrive. They will soon, I promise. Now let's get to building.

BK

Thanks to my Secret Santa for the P-61.  I built this model years ago when I got back into modeling and it was destroyed when I moved from my apt to my home.  I now have a second chance to rebuild and make it better than the first one.

Secret Santa - P61 Black Widow by Francisco Pena, on Flickr

Got  back from our mini-vacation, and unwrapped a box from the North Pole.  Santa made a trip across the pond to get me my first Soviet a/c.

The Eduard 1/48 MIG-21 PFM Profi-pack.   Has markings for 4 different ownerships, one of which is a North Vietnamese airframe supposedly flown by the leading ace from the conflict.  That is the box art aircraft which I'll be doing.  Going to be a challenge for sure with the camo.

Have to order out a paint set for it, and will get started as soon as that arrives.

Thank you Santa, this will be interesting as it is the first ProfiPack as well!

BrandonK

 

Steve, the USS Freedon looks very nice. Is that a fairly modern design?

  

The USS Freedom is one of the new Littoral Combat Ships, built in Wisconsin at the Marinette Shipyards and commissioned in Milwaukee in the late 2000s.   

I had this kit in my stash for a while and am building/butchering it in the 50 Shades of Gray GB.  

It's a fun little kit, as long as one enjoys PE.

painklr I remember building that one as a kid. Looking forward to whatnyou do with it having experienced it once. Should be purty!

Goldhammer there's nothing like a gift that keeps on giving! You know you're excited when you go out and get all the little extras needed to knock it outta da park. Those Profipaks are nice kits.

BK, The LCS (Littoral Combat Ship) were laid in 08, at least the Freedom was. They were designed for close to shore (littoral) combat.

Buddy, that's sweet, right up your alley and glad you get a second chance at it.

SD, how cool is that! I love the Jagdpanther and Jagdtiger. I have the Jagdpanther in 1/72 but isn't going to be as nice as a Tamiya.

Painklr, I also remember building that. I think the Widow is one of the coolest looking planes! I was thinking about adding it to the stash just a few weeks back.

GH, that's another I've wanted. I need an early MiG, and that's one of those "must haves"

Looks like a nice clean mold, virtually no flash.

Just ordered the paint from Hobbylinc... Vallejo MIG 21 set.  Won't get here till mid January.

BK,

The decals aren't that bad, in fact they went on pretty easy as I recall and they are extremely tough.  IIRC in my last build, due to sleep deprivation I tore the left side decals where the Greek flag is.  I used probably half a bottle of Solvaset, but I was able to stretch the decals enough to where they covered everything.  There were only two things wrong with the kit that I recall.  One was the decals.  The Greek flag as printed is too dark a blue, but when you hit it with a flash, in the pic it's the correct color.  The only other problem I encountered was that if you want to close up the avionics bay, the door fits like crap.  You can make it look somewhat presentable, but it is best left open.  I think there was a fit problem with the main gear bay, but I can't recall for certain.  Will cross that bridge when I get to it.

Buddy - What is the "Tiger Meet"? Do all aircraft get painted with stripes?

Francisco, nice kit. I have a spare resin cockpit upgrade for this kit from Lone Star Models. I don't need it, I just have to dig it out. If you want it, it's yours free. Just PM me you details and I'll shoot it your way.

BK

Art, that kit is on my wishlist. This is gonna be great watching it come together, especially the paint work. 

BK

Chad,

The Tiger Meet is basically NATO's version of the USAF's Red Flag.  It allows squadrons from various NATO countries to train together in the various forms of aerial combat.  The only squadrons invited to participate are those that have tigers as their mascot.  While the US was one of the founders, there are no US squadrons that are permanent members but eight are honorary members.  Not all aircraft that attend are painted up, but there are usually one or two from each squadron.  Fighters aren't the only planes that get dressed for this, trainers, helos, tankers all get the treatment.  I have markings for several US aircraft, but they are quite bland compared to their European bretheren.  Here's a couple of links.

https://www.natotigers.org/

NATO Tiger Association - Wikipedia

TheMongoose

Goldhammer there's nothing like a gift that keeps on giving! You know you're excited when you go out and get all the little extras needed to knock it outta da park. Those Profipaks are nice kits.

 

Yessir...go figure, I have at least 10 gallons of paint in those little jars, and not one Russian color in the building.

lewbud

Careful Mach1, Tiger Meet schemes are infectious. I probably have 10-15 kits that are Tiger Meet specific and probably another 15-20 in decal sets. One of those sets is an earlier 11 Staffel F-18.

It may be too late, I think I'm already infected. This'll be the second one built for the display shelf.

Yours looks like a really fun build, can't wait to see it come together!

Edit: This will be the second Tiger Meet scheme I've done. The other was a Tornado. Just realized I didn't word things as clearly as I should have.

Sorry for the late response, all.  We spent Christmas unplugged at our cabin.  Santa came through for me in a big way with one of my favorite kits, and the one version I haven't built yet!  Nicely done:

Untitled by Stu George, on Flickr

DiscoStu

Sorry for the late response, all.  We spent Christmas unplugged at our cabin.  Santa came through for me in a big way with one of my favorite kits, and the one version I haven't built yet!  Nicely done:

Untitled by Stu George, on Flickr

 

 

 

BK

The Eduard kits are my personal favorites.  I think they're terrifically engineered and highly detailed. 

Excellent Stu. I haven't had a chance to build one either 

Ya-hoo, Sanda delivered today. Unusual aircraft for me, Polish Air Force, details here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZL_P.7

A nice surprise. Haven't buiit 1/72 for very, very long time so it is back to the old times

These were included in the envelope. Any ideas what are they for?

Thank you Santa, whoever you are . See you at the GB

Nice one!

Those are pippettes, used for transfering liquids.

It looks like everyone except Mawright and BBorBust has received their gifts. BB's is coming, Mawright did you get yours?

German Armour

Nice one!

Those are pippettes, used for transfering liquids.

 

Something for mixing paints, then?

castelnuovo

 

 

German Armour

Nice one!

Those are pippettes, used for transfering liquids.

 

 

 

 

Something for mixing paints, then?

 

yep. I use them a bunch to measure out thinner for paints as well As just taking paint out of the bottle so I don't tip the bottle and get paint all over the threads or dump too much paint out...or spill half the bottle lol

TheMongoose

castelnuovo 

German Armour

Nice one!

Those are pippettes, used for transfering liquids.

Something for mixing paints, then?

yep. I use them a bunch to measure out thinner for paints as well As just taking paint out of the bottle so I don't tip the bottle and get paint all over the threads or dump too much paint out...or spill half the bottle lol

I use two sizes. The large one, the ones you have, I use to transfer lacqure thinner to the help cleaning my airbrush. the smaller ons I use to transfer paint from the bottel to the airbruch cup. I also use them to mix the paint with thinner in the air brush cup buy squeezing, drawing the mix in and squeezing it back out multiple times.

Gee..... New uses for stuff all the time.

I use them to pickup the last of the flour gold when panning out really fine gold/blacksand 

She's ready for paint.  I have some aftermarket links coming in from AFV Club.  Once those arrive I'll start painting.

Half the work is cleaning the parts!