Wow, now that looks awesome!!! 

I did get started on the Corsair. 

This did confuse the heck outta me. I thought these were the same kit. Both MiniCraft and they are simular. But one has raised panel lines and one recessed. And the parts are in different spots on the sprues. So did MiniCraft re-engineer the kit??? I dunno, anyway I'm going with the kit with recessed panel lines. 

The radiator intakes on the wings had open areas. So I blanked them off with some sheet plastic. 

First big issue. I went to spray down the engine with Alclad steel and it ended up going down in weird spiderweb silly string like strands. Don't know what happened. It's happened to me before with laquer paint but never Alclad. Not sure if the paint was old. I did leave it in the brush for over ten minuates so maybe that was it. Anyway I'm stripping it and starting over... 

Looks great Joe.

Cliff I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with that kit. Glad to see you in here man. 

Thanks Cliff and Rob!! 

Ok guys. It's "Take II" time on the steering wheel.  I had a cheater template for marking the rivet holes from a dollhouse clock. After I cut it to fit inside the steering wheel ring I was able to mark the rivet hole position holes really easy. FYI...if anybody wants free (and cool) print off stuff for 1/25 scale builds....here ya go: https://www.printmini.com/printables/ph.html

and then with the holes drilled for rivets later on....

Now to add some paint and some chrome trim to the spokes and then we're off to installing the rivets in the holes.

[quote user="Gamera"]

I did get started on the Corsair. 

This did confuse the heck outta me. I thought these were the same kit. Both MiniCraft and they are simular. But one has raised panel lines and one recessed. And the parts are in different spots on the sprues. So did MiniCraft re-engineer the kit??? I dunno, anyway I'm going with the kit with recessed panel lines. 

Looks like one is a Hasegawa rebox and the other is an academy rebox.  That would explain the differences.

Joe: Very fine steering wheel. Your continued efforts until your satisfied always pays off.

Cliff: Good to see you off to solid start. Bugger about the Alclad. First I've seen that happening.

JOE RIX

Joe: Very fine steering wheel. Your continued efforts until your satisfied always pays off.

Great idea with that steering wheel Joe 

I painted the Puma last night. Next comes the decals. Pics after.

   Well Steve it is....orange...nice job so far.

   Mustang, that is an awesome custom steering wheel. Very cool idea with the doll house clock.

   Gamera great start on the Corsair, interesting conundrum with the 2 kits.

Thanks Steve and Perry!!!

Steve: That Puma is looking swell so far bro.

As far as the steering wheel goes. Ya know....if I've tried my best on something then I can sit back and be content with it but when I look at something I've done and see what I view as substandard and I know I can do better then I'll usually figure a method out on how to acheive the results I want. I've let stuff go in the past and always end up regretting it so I try to handle it when I see it now.

Any how..... I knew this was going to be alot of work so I stayed up late last night laying the groundwork for the steering column and wheel completion today. I woke up this morning and managed to get this to a point to where I'm going to be okay with it. 

I used some scale PE rivets that I have from the Model Car Garage that I inserted into each one of the cavities once I had everything painted up.

To compare. My first attempt:

and Take II. I am MUCH happier with this:

[quote user="goldhammer88"]

Gamera

I did get started on the Corsair. 

This did confuse the heck outta me. I thought these were the same kit. Both MiniCraft and they are simular. But one has raised panel lines and one recessed. And the parts are in different spots on the sprues. So did MiniCraft re-engineer the kit??? I dunno, anyway I'm going with the kit with recessed panel lines. 

Looks like one is a Hasegawa rebox and the other is an academy rebox.  That would explain the differences.

 

Could be. I wonder if the Academy kit was a copy of the Hasegawa one. I mean other than the panel lines and the different sprues the parts are exactly the same. There are a few differences in how the wings are made but you could subsitute parts from one kit for the other in most cases! 

That's amazing Joe, I'd have been happy with either wheel! Superb work! 

Steve: Now I have a strange craving for an orange Dreamsickle. All joking aside fantastic work there- I hate friggin' orange. It never wants to cover but you made it look easy! 

Joe: What can I say??????? I'm going upstairs tomorrow and I'm going to chuck all my kits in the bin. Then I'll take up knitting....

Gamera: You have a challenge on your hands mate, but I have no doubt that you'll get there.

Steve: Man that's a gutsy colour.

Wow, Joe. Your work on that Mustang is nuts. 

BK

Thanks fellas! Moving on to the center console next.

Doug/ Rigidrider used to get so frustrated sometimes when he'd attempt to build auto subjects. I think his biggest obstacle was mastering the high gloss paint jobs but he ended up getting that down with some patience.

Steve: Your orange paint looks excellent. I'm excited to see that all decaled up.

Joe: Now that is some remarkable attention to detail not to mention the execution. It has a very real look to it. Beautifully done.

Thanks guys, yes, it's orange. Here the Puma is with the decals on. There's still a few more things that need to be completed to call this thing done. The black on the canopy was added using paint to continue the decals

   You have the patience of a saint Modelcrazy, WOW that is cool.

You people are sure honoring those that have gone before. Great builds.

As to mine, the IP in the Italeri kit is different from the Hase one that the PE is for.  Found a Hase "E" and asked the seller if it had both IP's.  Was told still in bag, but instructions showed unused parts.  Made offer, was accepted, should be here this week.  Maybe can get back to it

And right on cue Steve, you come out and knock my socks off. You have done a right admirable job with those decals. It is eye popping for sure. Good show!

Steve, I don't know what would have made my left eye twitch more, painting those tiger stripes or putting on decals instead.  Well done.

BK

Decals, paint, whatever you used those stripes are the cat's meow Steve!

Thanks guys. The kudos go to Revell. There wasn't I had to do to get them to couture to the curves. 

modelcrazy

Thanks guys, yes, it's orange. Here the Puma is with the decals on. There's still a few more things that need to be completed to call this thing done. The black on the canopy was added using paint to continue the decals

 

Fantastic work by all!  That Puma is incredible, and that dashboard?

ive gotten a bit more done with my Tamiya F4U Corsair, and I will try to get new pics up this evening.....

Justin

Sounds cool Justin- looking forward to the photos!

Awsome work on the Puma Steve.

finally hadtime to get on here and put my update up for all to enjoy!

I started with spraying some Vallejo Aluminum over the airframe, followed by a couple coats of hairspray for future chipping:

then did a little old fashioned preshading.  I was disappointed with the shade of sea blue from Vallejo, it being way too desaturated and just grey...

so i attempted to boost the saturation by spraying a mix of blue acrylic inks.  btw, you can remove said inks using undiluted Simple Green:

That didn't work, so I mixed up a custom mix of the sea blue that suited it much better:

I applied the decals from Eaglecals in the markings of Captain Dean Hartley Jr. of VMF-225.  Decals were applied right over the paint with no gloss coat.

after each step, the Corsair was put in a repurposed food dehydrator for a week (I only get time to work on the weekends...

I built up the landing gear, adding some extra wiring and then painting and weathering

Did some slight sponge chipping on the prop, and dull coated it.  It awaits some dust and fading effects:

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