U.S. Naval Aviation GB!

hey, nice to see you're back Ray!! while i have your attention, with current events sapping most of my building time, i would like to request that the Hornet be scratched off the list of my builds for the GB please. i have the corsair and SBD about 40% finished, and i think i'll be able to swing them, but i have too many birds started right now to consider popping the top on another one!!LOL i guess my intentions were larger than my abilities!! later.

QUOTE: Originally posted by saltydog hey, nice to see you're back Ray!! while i have your attention, with current events sapping most of my building time, i would like to request that the Hornet be scratched off the list of my builds for the GB please. i have the corsair and SBD about 40% finished, and i think i'll be able to swing them, but i have too many birds started right now to consider popping the top on another one!!LOL i guess my intentions were larger than my abilities!! later.

you've had your own fish to fry Chris... it's understandable... me now it's a different story... until a day or two ago I lost the will to live er... model... I'd sit on my rear, playing Leisure Suit Larry, Magna Cum Laude on the PC... (it was worth it haha) thinking about how much I wanted to model.. when I got there I just didn't have the urge...

That was just sheer laziness on my part... now I got the old urge back tho! so look out! and with that 50% off at HL this weekend I am going to town!!!!

LOL, you sound exactly like me Tom!! i sit and "fly" the birds i like to build on Micorsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3, and all the while i'm yearning to get over to the bench and do something, then, when i do kick my butt on over to the bench, i just sit for a minute and go away. sad isn't it?!! oh well, never do today what you can put off til' tomorrow, thats always been my philosophy!!LOL later.

Okay fellas-
Thanks to pingtang I am able to post these images(many thanks!!) These are progress photos of the Hasegawa 1/72 Super Bug I am doing for the GB. They are two weeks old and I have gotten the wings, horizontal stabilizers, intakes, and a nice primer coat to look for filling errors since these were taken. As soon as sweetie brings the camera home I'll update them again to show current. Let me know what you think!!! As you can see the forward fuselage required a bit of putty and it's been especially difficult since my putty knife has walked off on it's own power. The finger is not as mighty as that wonderful tool.
So far I am pleased with it's construction except for that area around the forward fusleage. It had a couple of nasty gaps (unusual for a Hasegawa). The intakes went on as if they were assembled by a jeweler (great fit here=no filler). Cockpit detail was dissapointing. Ejection Seat detail is minimal, so I built some of my own stuff. The two kits on the shelf above the bench are in progress... I love the Monogram F-15 and the Tamiya 1/48 Bubbletop P-47. Both are going together superbly. I gotta say this Monogram kit could give ANYONE a run for their money. The P-47 has got an Eduard PE set that has lots of little pieces and is taking time. So if anyone has recommendations on the Hornet I am definitely listening! Later boys!

Please, nobody feel bad about dropping out or dropping kits from thier line-up! I have not even started my GB kits yet. If I'm lucky, I may crank one or even two kits. Before the end of December. The closing date on my house is Nov, 12th so I will be hard at work ignoring the world.

On a brighter note, unlike Florida, Arkansas has Hobby Lobbies! So tonight I will make the 1.5 hr drive up to Little Rock and clean up on a few AM kits.

Ray

Armorman, what markings are you gonna put your Rhino in? Just wondering, since not long ago VFA-27 came back from the States with their -E's.
BTW-got my Bearcat cockpit ready for Eduard's zoom set.

Actually-lodni_k- I am not sure.. I am thinking about checking out TwoBobs. I might just stick with the kits.

QUOTE: Originally posted by tho9900 QUOTE: Originally posted by j.s.harrison LoL Tom if i lived a little closer eh, hey it's only the Pacific ocean in the way you know you mean no one told ya about the shortcut Jules? I hope to be finished sooner than that... I think I got too ambitious and have too many models on the deck at once, compared to what is going on in my non-modelling life... been fairly busy at work so come home too tired to model some nights... Let me know when ya get that spit done and I'll hop on over to the Aussie build and check it out!

A short cut eh, coolnot as far to swim..................
I have the same prob Tom too many models on the go at once, so i've decided to do one at a time and if i finish in time thats good, and if not i'll blame it on life.......
BTW the Aussie Spit8 is done if you want to check it out it's on page 21...Jules...

I'm new to this forum, you can see this is my first post. I have to finish up a Delta 777 for a retired Captain, then a P-51 for a friend. When I'm done, I'm in with a 1/48 Hasewaga F-8E my pops flew.
I saw the conversion kit for the refueling probe, engine duct bay, gun doors, and exhaust nozzle....Anyone know where I can get them?
Thanks!

great Jules! I'll check it out! yeah it was getting me down and I feel a lot better now with just one on the table... of course I keep looking longingly at those 50% to 80% finished kits and want to get back into them...

Warfel, squadron.com or greatmodels.com should have what you need. just do a search for F8-E and you should bring it up on either of them!

okay fellas- I have most of the hornet done except for painting and decaling, whick I will wait a month to do. As soon as my girl brings home the blasted camera I'll put out some updated pics. Those were almost four weeks old and I've got the primer coat drying now. To the shelf she'll go for a little while...
Thanks to the fellas who posted a heads up on the Hobby Lobby sale I am the proud owner of a Tamiya 1/35 M1A2 Abrams that I am going to dig into. I have missed the tanks and I am going to use this one for a dio that I will enter in Atlanta 2005. Brings me to a question... Anyone going to enter anything? This will be my first and I hope I am not aiming too high.

Hey everyone, very excited about this GB, one of my favorite subjects! I would officially like to join this build with one I'm currently working on. In progress is Monograms 1/72nd scale F-4J kit using "Showtime 100" decals from Yellowhammer. I've been itching to add this famous aircraft to 1/72nd scale collection of Modern Military aircraft. I have kept a photo journal of the build while in-progress and I'd like to share them with everyone if interested. Eager to see what other come up with!

Way to go on the photo journal, Greg! I had thought before of having a model journal with all the kits I start &/or get AM decals and P.E. for. Last night I finally took the plunge into the world of P.E. (My very first time, really!) Wow, what a nerve-wracking experience! I just hope I get more used to it, faster & better as I get more practice. Maybe I should have painted some of those little suckers before sticking them to the cockpit, But they sure look Great! I still notice some tiny extra stuff from the "tree" that I didn't think I had any hopes of filing off. And I think I might need some smaller twezzers & a Big magnafing glass w/light! I got some pics, but still can't figure out how to get 'em into the forums! I'm gonna try something new tonite, also. I got a Aztek airbrush w/ a little Testors compressor that I'm dying to try out! - Calvin

congrats Calvin! on the new AB and the PE too! yeah PE can be frustrating, and most of the time I don't use near the whole set.. just enough to bring out some detail... and yeah... painting it first helps out, but you've figured that out!

I've also thought of starting the same type photo album (outside the photobucket pics I have) even maybe a run down of what I thought of the kit and problems I might have come across... who knows, it might help someone else if they build it! Kind of a "Mediocre modelers handbook" so to speak haha...

oh yeah, I got me one of those magnifying visors and it works wonder for PE and painting cockpits... that way both hands are free, and the magnification goes where your head goes... (versus the stationary lighted magnifier I have on a stand) for about 10 dollars online they cant be beat! I think harborfreight.com has them for that... lighted and all..

Just be careful and dont walk out of the room with it on, if you have dogs... mine almost attacked me... then when he realized it was me, he sat there and whined and nuzzling me for 15 minutes by my modelling desk worried something had attached itself to my face...

---edit---

here they are, and I like these better than mine, I might order a pair for myself...

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=38896 and only $4.95!!!

ok got a last minute change to my build, waiting on the parts from Tamiya to come in for the corsair (somehow lost the landing lights and a few other pieces like the rear tail gear) so I am building an AM SBD-2 for this... it's what I needed anyway.. something to get me back in the spirit, something detailed enough to keep me from starting umpteen other builds at the same time...

Got the fuselage interior painted and doing the detail paint now.. will have pics tomorrow... I knew I was back in the groove when I look at my watch and it was 5:30pm... a "few minutes" later I looked at my watch and it was 7:43.... lost track of time... I LOVE IT!!!

I have just had a slight mishap on the corsair. Well a rather large one in reality.

My corsair was sitting there minding its own business when suddenly a rather large 12V electrical plug pack landed right on top of it. Now, normally, this wouldn't have been too large a problem, but this plug pack seems to be attracted to the most sensitive area of my model, the cockpit. And I was really proud of how pit had turned out too. Now the PE instrument panel has fallen off, half the PE knobs and control wheels have fallen off, the seat and its' rather flimsy supports are bent at a strange angle and the seam forward of the cockpit has been opened right up again.

I seem to be having a lot of bad luck with my models lately. Last week a light fell on my P-47 while I was photographing it and broke off a landing gear leg and bombs. Now this. I've heard of other people having mishaps like this, but I never thought it would happen to me. Nothing I can do about it though, except whinge to you lot about it.

Thanks for letting me share my problems with you. Now I know how other people feel when it happens to them.

Daniel, sounds like some pretty bad mojo from the plastic gods I feel for you.

Well, for some good news, I got the SBD finally painted last night in its 3 tone blues, only problem was a few dog hairs in it from my "assistants". I uncovered the Wildcat from under the pile of clutter on the bench and laid it out and hope to finish the interior painting on it tonight.

Now for some more bad news, my hour of modeling bliss was just interupted by a phone call from the police, my wife was in a car accident. She is fine, a bit sore and bruised (head on collision), and so was the other driver, but both cars will never see the open road again. Thank goodness for seatbelts and airbags. The back of the engine is in the glovebox.

Scott

Hey Scott Im glad she's alright. thank god for seatbelts and airbags.

jeez, scott- I'm glad she's ok! I'll echo the others words- thank goodness for seat belts and airbags.
Daniel! You know that plastic gods strike in threes- It has happened to me three times in one day. All three involved the wife trying to clean up my desk... I think it was the only time she saw me cry.

Calvin,
Good choice on the airbrush and venture with the PE. I love to use PE and yeah, you're right it is a bit tricky to work with, for sure! I used an Aztek for 10 years and got excellent results from mine back in the day. Todays offerings from Testors seem to be more refined, as I'm sure yours is. Today I use the Iwata HP-CR(Revolution) for general work and the HP-C for camo, weathering and all things detail

Hey scott, glad to here the wife's OK. On the corsair front, all seems to be alright. The only problem now is that the conrol column and rudder pedals are loose in the cockpit. I'm back on track.

I hope this finds everyone & everything all right!! I wasn't able to finish up the cockpit like I wanted but did get the rest of the parts cleaned up & the wing done:) I gotta get to that photobucket thingy & post some pics soon! - Calvin

glad to hear she's ok scott!

My wife got in a wreck monday before last in a storm... I was sitting here in the AM getting ready for work procrastinating... when the wife called and she was crying... she said she had hydroplaned through a red light and hit a school bus, and her door was crushed in and she couldn't get out.. what a fright! ends up she meant it was dented so wouldnt open all the way and she had to crawl out the passenger side... it was like my worst fear come true! Sometimes her south american/english grammar (she grew up in a dual language house, mom from Louisiana, dad from Colombia, so sometimes she mixes it up into BOTH languages) gets the best of me and causes me grey hairs .. no one was hurt and she didn't get a ticket but I am paying out the nose for a rental car till it gets fixed... (when we bought her new car the insurance people didn't transfer over the rental insurance as well)

Talk about a bad two weeks I've had!

On top of that I am getting sick and the very thought of paint fumes makes my head throb!

Geez Tom you have had a couple of bad weeks, it'll all work out though my little girl was in hospital for the last week or so with a mouthfull of ulcers, she didn't eat for over a week so they had to feed her through a tube, but she's out now and eating like a horse so life is returning to normal so i'm lookin forward to getting some time to make models and spending some time on the forums........
just be patient my freind you'll get the urge to build soon enough
Cheers Jules.......

Thanks guys for the support, man, what a month it has been for everyone, I am glad everyone's wife and daughter are ok. We got a rental this weekend and my wife cried the whole time we were unloading her old car. The insurance company called her and said we needed to have it cleaned out so they can take it to the wreckers. She really hoped they could fix it. She looked at me with teary eyes asked me if I could try to fix it, like I do with my models? I really felt bad because there is really nothing that could be done. We hadn't felt this bad since we had to put our Beagle to sleep. You see, we bought the car new when we were married and it has survived a turmulous 12 years with us. And to see it go was kinda hard on us. Kinda like seeing your old ship being sent to the cutting tourch.

Well, I am ready to put the fuselage together on the Wildcat, it sure is nice to be able to do something to take one's mind off of all other problems for a few minutes.
Scott

Glad to see everyone's alright.

Sorry to say this, but I might have to pull out of this GB. I can't find good decals to do a
VF-17 birdcage corsair. There were only a few birdcages' used by the navy, so there's not a great choice for schemes. There are a set in the Tamiya kit but I don't really want to use them, because they are not very good. I've been looking for photos of VF-17 corsairs, so I might be able to put something together, but can't find anything. If anyone can help me out, I might be able to continue with this thing.

If not, I have an Aeromaster set for a Marines bird, so I might do it in that scheme. I'll still check back and see how everyone is going though. I'm sorry to drop out like this. Good luck to everyone else with their builds (and cars).

I understand the "ship being put to the torch" thing Scott... re: my post on the ship topic... I had an old 1969 Chevelle SS396 when I went in the Navy, the 2 summers before I worked at a couple of places that allowed me to rack up unbelievable overtime... as in one place as much as 20 hours of overtime per week! (at 9 dollars and hour in 1983 that was serious money! like 16 bucks an hour!) anyway... I spent every last dime on that car... my mother reupholstered the interior, I rebuilt the engine with everything Holley, Thrustmaster etc.. could provide... my dad conviced me that after my A school (combat medic school) I would go straight out to a ship... being he was in the Navy as well I took his word.. I sold it to a biker who's nick-name was "Satan" and within a week he twisted the camshaft on it ... actually broke it in half!!! the engine had 300 miles on it when he bought it... I warned him to go easy...

Anyway long story short it was many years before I got over that... being talked into selling it.. then because I had only a week or so left selling it to a dubious buyer... and see 2 yrs of sweat and blood (lots of blood from cracked knuckes, cracked head etc...) end up in a junk yard...

maybe not the same as your wifes car but I empathize... maybe you should rent Old Yeller or something and get her used to the idea sometimes its better to let them pass along...


on a birghter note... congrats on getting back into the build! I was doing good until this weekend with family visiting and all... and today was the day to end all days at work... actually had a server lose a harddrive.... which is ok... then it lost a second one.. then a third... before it was all over it was dead so I have a day ahead of me tomorrow... I dont like to see em go like that...

QUOTE: Originally posted by pingtang Sorry to say this, but I might have to pull out of this GB.

no prob Pingtang... I am about to pull out of a GB myself (not this one) ... sometimes real life, or lack of what you need gets in the way... I'll see what I can find for ya but if nothing else we enjoy your company and conversation so feel free to stick around and ooooh and ahhhh at our wonderful builds! (you better oooh and ahh at mine no matter how bad it looks!!! hahaha)

good to have you with us, even if it's just as a spectator... I'll try and get back to you by tomorrow and see what I can find...

Thanks Tom for the reply. She will never allow me to rent Ol Yeller, she hates to see dogs suffer. However, I do threaten our Labrador with watching it so he'll have an idea what might happen to him if he doesn't stay out of my model shop

Daniel, I'm going to miss you here. I cannot remember, and don't have time to look, but was wondering what squadron was the first to have F4U-1A Corsairs on the Enterprise.

Pingtang, I just found a decal set for a birdcage corsair if you are interested. it's by Eagle Strike, you can see it on greatmodels.com search for: eg48085 Best Sellers - Corsair F4U1 Collection Part 1

there were more on there but I notcied this had a VF-17 set for a birdcage corsair included...