U.S. Naval Aviation GB!

Nice looking wildcat Matti can't see any wrinkles in the decals at all....

Hey Tom that dauntless is coming along nicely mateSo tell me, how much of a pain was it masking that canopy, and is that SDB one of the ones with a red and white tail......

tough break Scott... luckily my two dogs know my modeling room is guarded by the "Whistling hand of Death" as I like to call it... my hand got that name the same way the stuka got it... heading down on target (their rump) it's the noise it makes...

here's a shot from last night just before future. The canopy is gapped at the fuselage because it isn't glued on yet... just put it there for effect... as is the top node cover above where the guns will go. I put them in after the pic... the canopy is hazed a little from the pre cut masking, I haven't cleaned it up yet... I posted in another thread about this and now you can see it too.. I imagine some soap and water or some windex will get it off...

It's curing right now, just waiting on weathering... I am putting the dive flaps on after weathering because they always tend to wanna kit the nearest thing to them to knock them off

(this is my 3rd SBD and I have a special bottle of glue reserved just for wayward dive flaps on the completed ones.. (kidding, but it seems like it some times..) it happens once every 3 months or so)

QUOTE: Originally posted by j.s.harrison I havn't touched the Hellcat in a while either, and if it wasn't for the 4 week extension i would never get it done, but i will hopefully come in at the end

Does that mean we have till the end of January? I just got my Bearcat re-closed up. I'm getting pics but have'nt been able to post em. I was thinkin' I was really pressed for time.[:0]

Matt, nice F4F, I don't see anything wrong with it. I hope to have my Tamiya one done next week unless I have another paint mishap. I won't get into details, but it involved my dog, some paint thinner, and a lot of dog hair.

I had just painted the F4F, had it sitting in the shoe box on the floor, when Barney broke into my hobby room, grabbed the shoebox in his mouth (he LOVES shoe boxes, and really loves them when there are shoes in them), and flipped the just painted F4F onto his hairy back.

And he's going through a major shedding cycle right now.

Hey Tom, pass the Castrol Super Clean will ya

Hey Tho Ill be happy to send you some pics Im kinda busy around the house today I gotta finish christmas lights and then Ill get some modeling time.

Fighterguru, I would like to see your pics! you can email me from the email button in my profile and I will reply so you have my address.. . (if I post it here the spam-bots will scrub it... I hate that!)

Matt... looks good! a little bit shiny but I have seen pics of the real thing even shinier than yours! I didnt notice any wrinkling of the decals.. must've caught em all! If you're worried about the gloss you could mask off the canopy totally and hit it with some dullcote... it looks fine like it is though, to me!

I promised pics and I will deliver! Had a bit of a mishap today with the SBD, somewhere between airbrushing the cowl and laying it down to dry my finger caught it and left a fingerprint (paranoid look) can't leave any evidence!!!...

right now it is soaking in Castrol Super Clean and has a smidgen of paint left to come off... this is the first time I have used it and Simple Green seems to work better with dissolving the paint than this, but it does work.. it DID exascerbate my asthma when I sprayed it though so I recommend caution to anyone else with reactive airway disease when using this...

I will post pics no matter how far along I am tomorrow... the wife is away so I have been a bit lazy and spent some time riding around town and relaxing in the back yard since there are no "honey-do's" on my list right now... gotta get to modeling and finish this bird!!!

that is definitely good stuff matt. i have just finished the base for my tomcat dio, but i cant post pictures yet because my dad has gone overseas for business and he took the camera. so pics will come, but later.

Nice work Matt! the wrinkles are nearly impossible to see. Looks fantastic to me!

Well I think its done, more or less. Its still really shiny, I think I need to tone it down a little, but other than that Im pretty happy with it. The kit is 72nd hasegawa F4F-4. The decals sort of wrinkled up a bit in spots, I hope its not too noticeable as I was unable to fix it. theres some sloppy places where putty should have been used, oh well next time.
I tried to highlight the panels with some sludge wash, but didnt go too heavy on it. maybe needs a little more. In any case, here it is. anyone suggest whether it should be gloss or flat, or something in between?

Im just about done with the A4 Ill let everyone Know when I finish it. I can't post pics here it won't work so if youd like to see the finished Bird let me kbnow and Ill email pics out.

there's an extension??? Cool! I can actually sleep this week!!! won't have to model night and day! almost done anyway... just painting tonight, small bits and weathering tomorrow or Mon. then decals on Tues or Wed!

Then it's time to warm up for the BoB build after I get my dads model built!

I havn't touched the Hellcat in a while either, and if it wasn't for the 4 week extension i would never get it done, but i will hopefully come in at the end

Thanks Tom
I did give the gear about 10 deg slant inward. However, if I didn't do the cutting, they would go in at almost 45 deg and the gear door still rubbed on the tire. Anyway, they look scale now.
Scott

How is everone's build's going? how is everything progress?

no I didn't have any probs with my dash-5 Scott, I forget if there was anything in particular I did to get them in, but coming up on putting the gear on my dash-2 this weekend so will be able to tell if there was a trick to it then...

I remember it was a little bit tricky getting them in but they went in though... I seem to also remember them saying that the cant to the gear wasn't what you would expect... not straight up and down, angled toward the centerline if I remember right...

You guys with the AM SBDs, any problems encountered with the landing gear? I had to cut about an 1/8 inch off the bottom end of the gear door, and lower the strut about 1/16th in order to get it to look strait and level, then cut about a 1/32 off the door support to get it to fit. Kinda a funny charade to go through on such a nice kit.

Speaking of nice kits, my Tamiya F4F is ready to paint. I have built snap togethers that were harder than this kit.

Scott

I haven't even touched my Corsair since the last photos I showed you. I've been having too much fun with my FW-190 build, but I'll try to get some work done on it soon.

Iv got all major componets assembled!!!!! doing abit of touch up work then comes the tanks, gears, and all of the small stuff such as canopy, sensors and decaling. I should be wraping it up in the next couple of days.

ok, to qoute the Sex Pistols, "I'm a lazy sod" or was it sot? I can't remember... I listened to them in a past life it seems, as it is so hazy to remember it now...

I haven't got the pics posted BUT they are on the memory stick and as of this weekend I should be done with the major bits on the aircraft... all that is left is putting the cowl on, painting the body, then the geer, bombs etc... with 4 days of no wife (going to visit family on Fri night) I should get a lot done..

I can't believe this one took so long to finish.. almost 3 times as long as the dash-5 I built when I returned to the hobby.. although I suspect this forum has something to do with that..

ok getting to the exciting part... I masked the canopy on my SBD tonight and plan on painting tomorrow after doing some "honey-do's" around the house...

from there it is a short clip and I am done! I can't wait! I love this kit.. the AM SBD series... Might do one for the ANZAC build later this year in Kiwi or Aussie markings...

I've taken pics along the way just need to post them here, I will just include them all at once tomorrow...

QUOTE: Originally posted by tho9900 we should start having non-arbitrary end points on these GB's... like 12/31/04 to somewhere in 2005 end.... that's mose in style with my way of modeling... I guess you could say I am a ADD modeler... start one and can't resist opening up another box... then another!

I hear ya Tom and all i can say is it's so easy to get caught up in multiple GB's and think yeah i can finish em in time, but in reality nothing ever goes as planned......

Well fellas Eduard has just made my day, i've just noticed in the Nov issue of FSM that they have made 1/350 scale carrier figures for the Trumpeter Essex class carrier,
they're even coloured so all i have to do is chop em and place em......
Oh BTW i have CV 10 USS Yorktown......
.......Jules..........

I'm glad I am not the only one, Tom!

we should start having non-arbitrary end points on these GB's... like 12/31/04 to somewhere in 2005 end.... that's mose in style with my way of modeling...

I guess you could say I am a ADD modeler... start one and can't resist opening up another box... then another!

Thanks guys I'm looking forward to bulding all day Saturday. Hope I can get the SBD done and pictures by Monday. But then again, I said that last spring too.

Great lookin work Reggie and Matt

And Scott for yesterday mate, 6 hours eh thats unheard of here i'm lucky to get 30 min.................Jules..............

Just droppin' in to say Hi! Awesome work, guys! The Bearcat is coming along. The wing/fuselage joint looks like it might be rough, but after that it's all downhill! The P.E. turned out pretty nice. I be sure to get some pics to post ( when I figure out how to do that!)

Hey Scott

I finally got going after a 2 month break .I got more done on the A4 I should hopefully be able to start wraping it up in the next couple of days and then its on t To the pacific group build Im pretty far behind but Im determined to catch up and get some pretty good build time in.

QUOTE: Originally posted by saltydog Ray, when is the finish date? i scanned the above posts, but i didn't see it. let me know as i'm about to start a few naval aviation birds soon. later.

getting as many builds as ya can in as fast as ya can before ya move huh? haha... I dont blame ya...

I might have to hastily finish this SBD so I can get my dads Xmas present built.. a USCG Widgeon... I promised him an HH-65 but after tangling with the canopy on two separate kits, I now have him conviced the nostalgia and history of the older Widgeon will wow and amaze his CG buddies down at the port...

looking good, matt! I can't wait to sit down this weekend and get the final work done. It'll probably be more like Wed next week! What I wouldn't give for 3 days of uninterrupted bench time!