U.S. Naval Aviation GB!

Thanks for the advice, I think I'll see if I can pick it up this week and I'll let you know how it looks!

QUOTE: Originally posted by armorman can't wait to see those photos, tho9900 I think I have begun to drool in anticipation. Has anyone ever worked with any Accurate Miniatures Kit's? They are only an hour and a half away and I was thinking about dropping in and seeing what goes on. I also saw their B-25 at my LHS and it looks real tempting. I have heard all good stuff from some local guys...

I've built two of thier kits and LOVED them... the cockpits aren't for the faint of heart but they are good kits overall... didn't have to use a lot of putty on them, seemed to go together pretty good. The decals on the SBD's I built seemed to be a little out of scale so I researched and found the side national insignia was about 4 scale inches too big according the the reference. I just bought a pack of SuperScale WWII US Aircraft insignia and went to town!

I do recommend test fitting everything... it goes together well, but sometimes the way the instructions told me to put something together was easier another way... I do recommend also going by their steps in the build... if you read the instructions everyonce in awhile they insert a little "See, we TOLD you to do that step first... now didn't it make this step easier?" haha literally they say that... and it's true!

Let me know how that B-25 goes... I have been looking at that one too for later... if I can find it, I saw an online review of that one and some of the stuff he encountered in the build of it, which might help you.

from what i hear AC Min kits may not be for beginners, but they certainly are full of detail and are very accurate (wow, accurate minatures are accurate, surprised? )

can't wait to see those photos, tho9900 I think I have begun to drool in anticipation. Has anyone ever worked with any Accurate Miniatures Kit's? They are only an hour and a half away and I was thinking about dropping in and seeing what goes on. I also saw their B-25 at my LHS and it looks real tempting. I have heard all good stuff from some local guys...

my F4U is coming together well... test fitted the fuselage halves with the cockpit tonight and although it might be a little tight for the inner wing sections (this one has folded or unfolded wings) I think it will work... gonna build one wing folded, one out... just to illustrate to the unknowing how it all worked to get them all on a carrier etc... thinking about heating and bending the little pieces to make it look like they are in the process of folding... one a little more retracted than the other.... would leave the cockpit a little more open to view that way too... who knows... later on it might end up a diorama, get a ground crew guy directing the pilot to fold wings...

I decided to lose the Ares cockpit and use the PE for the OOB one... the only part of the OOB cockpit I didn't like was the instrument panel.. (just bezels, not dials etc..) it only had a decal for that... I actually might take Saltydogs advice and drill them out put the decal behind the IP and back it up with styrene... not sure yet, I used another technique of painting the dials white, then black on top and using a fine needle to scribe the dials in... it's ok from a distance but close up it is kinda crappy looking... the rest of the cockpit is almost as detailed, but not as crisp as the Ares kit...

The Ares would have required major surgery to get it in the fuselage... which makes me monder if it really IS for the Tamiya kit... it was kinda vague on greatmodels... but it looked the be the same Ares part number as on Squadron...

Anyway will post progress pics tomorrow... the fuselage looks like it will be a dream once glued in place... looks to be only a little sanding will be needed to get the seams out.. and very little putty if any...

im resuming work on my F-14 dio, the enzo rush build got shelved after i realised that it would be late and substandard. im getting my friend a gundam instead. anyway, the fire truck just recieved its last bit of paint, awaiting pre-decal future

tho9900 yeah i'm thinking of just adding some Luftwaffe seat belts in the Hellcat, rather than keep waiting for the US ones to come in, i'm gonna close the canopy anyway regardless of seat harness type..........Jules...........

Reggie if you want to use my URL for the GB badge go right ahead, it's not goin anywhere and neither am i.............

can i put the GB badge in my sig ?

I feel for ya Jules... I am getting impatient with my Aires set I just got in... thinking of putting it aside for another F4U build and do this one pretty much OOB....

GLEN S if you want the badge URL write this one down exactly and type it into your signature.........

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/cuttsy69er/2NAVALGB2.jpg

For some reason you can't copy and paste from the forums...........Jules..........

Progress report..........still waitin on my Eduard stuff.........

Hey guys Iv started on The A4 Iv got almost all of the big stuff painted, Id like to post pics but Im not sure how, alright I gotta get ready for work everyone have a good night.

help, can anyone email the gb patch to me please as I can not get it off the forum..
Thank you ,
Glen S.

Armorman , thanks it is a 1/72 has. I hope it turns out like I want it.
Glen S.

Hey glen that is looking good! I am working on the Super Hornet. The Has kit is a really nice build, 1/72, though I wish someone had a 1/48 super hornet. I think I like the bigger 1/48... it's easier to sup detail em.

Okay.... I have finally found (and been able to afford) a kit for this GB. It is an Academy 1/48 F-14A Tomcat. I'll start it in a few weeks, once I've finished another build.

well I am well on my way to get this P-3 done and hope that it can go as ez as my f-51. Here is what I have completed so far...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v370/gbearclaw/MVC-019S.jpg

Saltydog thanks for the advice mate iv'e never used alclad11 before but i can't put it off for much longer,I think i might practice a little on an old junker kit............

Reggie looks good so far buddy..............

Well i've made a little progress on the Hellcat, all the interior is done but i'm still waitin on those Seat harnesses from Eduard.............

Hey Chris(saltydog) how is that Iwata? I was thinking about buying a used one from a friend and using it for detail work etc.

Lucked out big time... I got a Badger 150 Pro for 38 bucks after the discount! I've already started to use it... it's nice... real nice. Back to work, I guess. Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

QUOTE: Originally posted by armorman friggin airbrush finally crapped out... on my way to michaels to use the coupon from the paper. Not bad for an 8 year old badger.

ack! I am thinking of buying a gravity feed soon... my aibrush is brand new... but want to try a gravity feed, and also want a backup... I don't want to have sit around and wait days to get another one etc.. especially if I am in the middle of a kit... and fixing it would probably take longer... questions to MikeV here, playing with this, playing with that...

So which one did you get?

friggin airbrush finally crapped out... on my way to michaels to use the coupon from the paper. Not bad for an 8 year old badger.

I've never tried that Chris. I never have used alclad either. Stil learning the force. Nice pics reg. It looks like it is coming together nicely.

i think the one we sunk was an oiler. it was cool to watch though.

Julian, a word of warning friend, it has been stated more than once not to use acrylic primer under alclad friend. i've never tried it and i'm sure Lobbie knows what he's talkin' about, but i've heard it's not a good thing. i use alclad gloss black base, which is pricey, but it goes a long ways. i've done about 4 NMF jobs with one bottle, and i still have about a 1/2 a container left. well worth the extra money IMO. good luck, later.

QUOTE: Originally posted by saltydog hey tom, that hull in your signature pic reminds me of an old ship we sunk in the carribean during training ops!! that was really cool!! we had 2 tomcats "escort" our harpoon missle all the way to empact, then, sent the film to our ship for our entertainment. the missile didn't have a warhead on it, but it knocked a hole about the size of a basket ball right at the waterline!! the hull was about 60 miles from our ship when we shot, so when we got the ship in view, the hornets and intruders were straffing it..............now that was triple bad to the bone to watch!! crap flyin' everwhere!! then, the aft part of the target lifted up out of the water and slipped to the bottom of the ocean!! that was the highlight of my 4 year stint as far as cool military stuff went!!LOL later..

YOU!!!!! You did this to my Guam????? Why I oughta....

haha no the Guam was sunk about 300 mi off North Carolina in 2001, the other that I remember was off SC in 98.. I'll have to check the others in its class... all but 3 of them were targets... hmmm maybe it was the Tripoli... no one seems to be able to account for her... serious... all the paperwork lists her as "disposition/location unknown"

my dragon 1/144 shake n bake dio is looking like a dio ! here are some pictures, hope you enjoy



the bird and the fire truck. the fire truck is half painted, the bird is ready for its final coat of primer before going for its three-gray paint scheme.



slightly different angle





the base


please give me comments ! i am still learning and making plenty of mistakes, give me feedback !

Saltydog sounds like a bloody disaster,i have no idea short of pulling the halves apart how to repaint the pit once it's in...................
BTW Lobbie advised me to use Tamiya Black enamel as a base coat for Alclad11 i havn't tried it yet but i'll definatly give it a go...........
Anyways i'm still humbled by the deatil you get in your pits,while mine arn't to bad there not as good as yours but give me time and i'll eventally get there.......Jules.........

hey tom, that hull in your signature pic reminds me of an old ship we sunk in the carribean during training ops!! that was really cool!! we had 2 tomcats "escort" our harpoon missle all the way to empact, then, sent the film to our ship for our entertainment. the missile didn't have a warhead on it, but it knocked a hole about the size of a basket ball right at the waterline!! the hull was about 60 miles from our ship when we shot, so when we got the ship in view, the hornets and intruders were straffing it..............now that was triple bad to the bone to watch!! crap flyin' everwhere!! then, the aft part of the target lifted up out of the water and slipped to the bottom of the ocean!! that was the highlight of my 4 year stint as far as cool military stuff went!!LOL later.

hey armorman........and mr. harrison.............that photo of the stang pit....................when i got to the painting stage...........................i tried to use krylon gloss black for my base under alclad...........................ended up have to strip the sucker back to bare plastic with easy off oven cleaner..........................spayed the kit down good and wet with oven cleaner, shoved it in a plastic bag and tied it in a knot and left it over night.................the canopy had slipped off in the plastic bag during moving i guess, and it melted all the paint off of the pit..............all the way back to the resin color!!..................so, now i have a beautifully crafted aires cockpit installed inside of a nearly fully assemble kit...............any ideas how to paint the detail back on the pit?...........................so..........please don't be "humbled" by my clumsy efforts!!LOL........but thanks anyway guys. later.

yeah, the monogram kit is nice. It's got a nice cockpit to play with. Goes together well.

I guess I have better get crackin. I go and get this thing rollin and then dissappear! I am still finishing up my F-4S. I was going to do a Heater-Ferris bird, but I am now whimping out applying a low vis scheme. I recently bought a F-4B/N off of E-bay to add to my efforts. I was sad to see that the kit has the raised panel lines so I guess I'll be doing some scribing. Just can't seem to get off of this Phantom kick! I have the old Monogram Intruder in my stash - I think I may do it before the F-4B. Have you guys ever built the 1/48th A-6?

Ray

QUOTE: Originally posted by armorman hey chris thats lookin great! your work humbles mine.

mine too armorman,nice pit Chris