Gamera, your progress so far looks great! And no worries about speed here. Can't be going slower than I am right now...I'll have more free time when summer comes 'round though. 

Welcome to the build, crown! Apologies to you and all for my sluggish replies. I'll get you on the roster finally. What do you have in mind to build?

John 3:16 KJV

Hey, fotofrank! Welcome to the build! A Florida Hellcat, eh? Is it air national guard, or piloted by a Floridian? :)

 

NAS Daytona, John.

This is the first Otaki F6F-3 that I built several years ago when I returned to the hobby. I didn't want a typical Hellcat build so I went for a drone. At the time of the build I read the story about The Battle of Palmdale, when the Air Force was summoned to destroy a rogue drone over southern California. After several F-89 Scorpions tried to intercept and destroy the drone, the drone escaped unscathed and crashed in the desert. I would say that the drone was the victor in the battle.

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This is the canopy for my current Otaki Hellcat build. In both builds, the canopy did not fit well. Too big and too small at the same time. A lot of plastic putty was needed to fill the gaps and help the canopy fit. I was surprised to actually find a canopy mask for this specific kit, whoda thought. I'm still waiting for it to arrive so I can proceed with the build.

I'm in.  I'm building a F14 for the lounge at NAS Pax River, Maryland later this year.  Might as well post pics here.  The Tomacat arrived at Pax River for testing in April 72.  

Very nice, fotofrank; and, yes, the drone got the better of 'em! Looks to me like you did pretty well making that canopy fit. Keep up the good work!

Welcome to the build, wpwar11! I'll get you up on the roster as well!

Born and live in North Carolina

I'll build at least 2 for this GB

1/700 Trumpeter USS North Carolina in 1943 Ms 12modified paint 

1/72 George Preddy P-40E from Greenville NC (He is mainly associated with P-51's so I think is something a wee bit different.  Shoot, I may make all 3 of his planes !  LOL   P-51C, P-51D & this P-40)

Very cool Art! I'm right next door to you! 

I've got a set of cool decals for a F-16 in a commerative Preddy scheme. 

I'll sign up (haven't participated in a GB in a while).  Representing my home state of Missouri, I'll build  a McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18A Hornet (Monogram kit, 1/48 scale).  The Hornet was built in St. Louis at the McDonnell-Douglas plant (now Boeing).

Gamera

Very cool Art! I'm right next door to you! 

 

I've got a set of cool decals for a F-16 in a commerative Preddy scheme. 

 

That sounds cool.  I've never seen that paint scheme before.

Welcome to the build, Art! It'll be great to have you! How do you paint warships with the vertical vs horizontal surface paint schemes? It sounds difficult. :)

AA, welcome to the build, as well! Nice fun fact about those Hornets! 

Finally received the Montex canopy mask for this build. Now I can get serious about attaching the wings and getting ready for paint. I like to do the canopy mask before the wings go on. It's just easier that way for me.

Frank: Nice work. As I've said before masking and painting canopies is my most hated part of building aircraft... 

Art: I looked around for the decal sheet of the Preddy tribute F-16 over the weekend but didn't find it. I did find a photo of the sheet on line though- the Cripe's A' Mighty F-16:

I got a little more work done on the Bill Overstreet P-51B. I painted the underside and then and only then noticed the plane has invasion stripes painted over the fuselage. So I had to mask that off and paint it. It would have worked better if I'd did the stripes before painting the undersides....  Anyway she's a pile of masking tape right now, will snap some photos when she's decent... 

Anyway here's a few in progress shots of the P-51B. Not sure the white on the sides of the fuselage really shows up. I'm still figuring if I want to try to mask and paint the black stripes or just paint the upper surfaces and use decals for them.

Nice masks there, fotofrank. It's gotta be easier with them. I never use aftermarket masks, and it's all elbow grease and/or hand-eye coordination.

Looking good there, Gamera. If it were me building it, the painted stripes would probably be the better option- though harder- because I'm terrible with decals sometimes. But that's just me. You're probably far better at 'em. By the way, how do you paint the stripes in the right scale with regards to their width? Or do you eyeball it? 

John 3:16 KJV

Looking good there, Gamera. If it were me building it, the painted stripes would probably be the better option- though harder- because I'm terrible with decals sometimes. But that's just me. You're probably far better at 'em. By the way, how do you paint the stripes in the right scale with regards to their width? Or do you eyeball it? 

 

I'm going off the decal sheet. I ended up working the weekend and still haven't had the time to get to it. I'm hoping one of the rolls of thin tape I have is either the right width or at least close enough to work. 

At least the invasion stripes are only on the fuselage. There are black stripes on the wings and stabs but no white. 

More progress on the NAS Daytona F6F-3. The airplane has been primered with Tamiya Royal Light Gray. Preshaded with Tamiya Flat White and Tamiya Neutral Gray. The Midnight Blue goes on tomorrow.

Looks great Frank! Can't wait to see her in blue! 

Got the invasion stripes on my P-51B but they were crooked. Had to go back and remask and spray the port side. Need to clean up some overspray and hopefully I'll have something to post.

Gamera, remember, back in '44, those stripes were painted on with a four inch brush, nothing neat about it.

Very true Frank! But I guess I'm just anal enough that I want them a little neater than I had them painted... 

More on the NAS Daytona Hellcat. The tail tip has been painted Tamiya Flat Red with a 1mm white stripe. Yesterday I painted the plane overall blue, a 50/50 mix of Tamiya Flat Blue and Tamiya NATO Black. I like the color. I was going to paint the airplane with Mr. Color Midnight Blue but the color is almost black, so I'll save that paint for another build. The painted surface was pretty rough, so I buffed the entire model with a cotton pad to smooth the surface and then applied Tamiya X-22 for the next step. Today, I will cut stencils with my Silhouette Portrait Vinyl Cutter and begin painting insignia and other markings on the airplane. Stay tuned.

So, this is how I spent my day. Cutting masks and placing them on the model. Yeah, it took all day but when it's done -- no decals!

And it's completed. F6F-3 Hellcat, NAS Daytona, 1945. This Otaki Hellcat is a nice kit. A quick easy build. The overall blue is a 50/50 mix of Tamiya Flat Blue and NATO Black. The tail tip and propeller hgub are Tamiya Flat Red. These Hellcats typically had only one gun in each wing rather than a full compliment of six guns. The guns are represented with aluminum tube in the wing. The idea was that even though these Hellcats were trainers, if they were out over the Atlantic and spotted a U-boat, the pilots could shoot at the sub. The light blue bombs are practice bombs. D=NAS Daytona, F=Fighter/Trainer. Aircraft # 213.

Frank she looks fantastic!!! 

I'm still hacking away with my P-51, personally I hate masks. Mine always bleed underneath somehow. Yours look perfect! 

Ok, the side stripes are done. After repainting them about five or six times.

Now for the wing and stab stripes. And I've seen two types, I'm guessing the fighter was repainted. 

A single white stripe seems to be right. At least this is what it shows on the instructions for the decals. 

The complete stripes - well either this was another paint scheme probably earlier or else an inaccurate restoration. I'm having some issues finding actual vintage photos...

fotofrank

And it's completed. F6F-3 Hellcat, NAS Daytona, 1945. This Otaki Hellcat is a nice kit. A quick easy build. The overall blue is a 50/50 mix of Tamiya Flat Blue and NATO Black. The tail tip and propeller hgub are Tamiya Flat Red. These Hellcats typically had only one gun in each wing rather than a full compliment of six guns. The guns are represented with aluminum tube in the wing. The idea was that even though these Hellcats were trainers, if they were out over the Atlantic and spotted a U-boat, the pilots could shoot at the sub. The light blue bombs are practice bombs. D=NAS Daytona, F=Fighter/Trainer. Aircraft # 213.

 

 

That is a great job you did there! Do you have a photo preference for the front page? Sorry it took me so long to get to you. 

Gamera

Ok, the side stripes are done. After repainting them about five or six times.

 

Now for the wing and stab stripes. And I've seen two types, I'm guessing the fighter was repainted. 

A single white stripe seems to be right. At least this is what it shows on the instructions for the decals. 

The complete stripes - well either this was another paint scheme probably earlier or else an inaccurate restoration. I'm having some issues finding actual vintage photos...

 

Gamera, love your work! Good effort, too, with so many tries!