AIRCRAFT - 'It Floats and Flies Group Build' - Feb 1st 2005 to Sept 30 (Gotta finish sometime!)

All right Brian, you are like a snowball rolling downhill - just gaining momentum and Model Grandpa, great progress. Unfortunately I will not be able to post pics for a while due to the fact my daughter fried my router last night. I'm operating out of the office at the moment

QUOTE: Originally posted by Model Grandpa How do you plan on installing a cockpit if you already have glued the fuselage halves together?

Just gonna slide it right in and up through the big opening for the wings! I made sure that was feasable before I put the fuselage together.

I've searched for cockpit photos, but I've only come across B&W pix...what color was it in The Aviator?

Brian, I found a great shot looking out the windscreen and the Internet and didn't book mark it. Had a great view of the instrument panel, pilot seat, and window frame. I just knew I could find it again…and if I remember right it was in color too! Mostly I remember it being “interior black.” I’ll see if I can find out when I’m over at the museum on Saturday.

How do you plan on installing a cockpit if you already have glued the fuselage halves together?

QUOTE: Originally posted by Model Grandpa Here is my windmill farm, the eight tiny nacelles and propellers for the big Herc. All I have to do is mask and install the canopy and my Herc is ready for the paint booth. I’m going to go visit the real thing this Saturday for some last minute inspiration on the paint job. One more question for Brian, did you or are you going to “open” the windows just aft the main canopy/windscreen?

Nice farm, Dan! Were your props a little "flashy?" Mine are...gonna have to be careful cleaning those little guys up!

Dan, I'll just paint those little windows black, being that they're so tiny. Are you opening yours?

Here's a quick progress pic:


All the seams are nice and gushy, just waiting to be sanded. Don't think I'll need any filler, thanks to that gushiness. Hopefully the wing-fuselage fit will be good.

Here is my windmill farm, the eight tiny nacelles and propellers for the big Herc. All I have to do is mask and install the canopy and my Herc is ready for the paint booth. I’m going to go visit the real thing this Saturday for some last minute inspiration on the paint job.

One more question for Brian, did you or are you going to “open” the windows just aft the main canopy/windscreen?

Thanks, folks! Aahh, good to be building again!
Got the wings, horizontal stabilizers, and floats together, too.

Dan, I'm going to scratch a rudimentary cockpit, just because the windscreen is rather large on the Herc. Black would probably work just fine, but there's so little detail with this build anyway, I'll give it a shot!
Any suggestions as to cockpit colors for the Herc?

Frosty, looking forward to the pics.

Brian, you are now officially ahead of me on this one.

Regards, Rick

Congrats, J-Hulk. Keep a steady pace. Don't go too fast!

cossack,

Just e-mail me a postal address. I may not be able to get it out until the first week of March, though.

Congratulations J-Hulk! Did you scratch a cockpit or go with the highly detailed black paint like me?

Here's some very big news: I've glued the fuselage halves of my Herc together.
That's the first time I've actually opened a bottle of glue in a looong time...

Great progress all ... I'm not really that much further ahead myself, so no pics

Aurora - thanks for the decal offer. If they are spare, then I will offer a very grateful "Yes Please".

That Herc is HUGE!! and looking great. And Swanny ... what can I say???

project update:
the W29 is moving along... slowly.
i had 2 sever one wing from the combo wings/cockpit floor w/ a razor saw
in order 2 get the assembly 2 fit the fuselage. it was easier than sanding, &
i'll b able 2 reestablish the dihedral based on the side that's still connected
(i hope).
i added little styrene tabs inside the fuselage halves 2 give a more
positive connection, since there were no locating pins, & i added a styrene
map table 2 the observer/gunner's position both 4 added detail & as an
internal stiffener.
i decided 2 try using the kit decals, they slid nicely onto the
bare plastic of the upper flying surfaces, altho' they weren't very sticky ...
(the fact that i chose to soak them really well & float them onto the wings mite have had something 2 do with that, tho'...)
& they have snugged down onto the wing detail
pretty well after a couple of applications of microsol.
the naval lozenge colors may not b entirely accurate &
there r no decals 4 the tops of the floats, but i have decided that i can live w/ that....
now i need 2 take some pix of this project !

frosty

Mike,

I've seen an Airfix Sunderland kit with that set installed in the flesh (er, plastic) and it looked great. That set does wonders for the kit.Listen to Swanny and take your time with it.

Bondobandit,

I've never seen a kit of a Seahawk (hardly ever see a picure of a Seahawk) so it'll be great to see those shots of it.

Wow, cool looking set of brass. Take your time, study the parts, plan your attack. A fresh razor knife, medium super-glue and accelerator helps a lot also. Good luck

I've just recieved my PE for the sunderland from WEM ..looks a bit daunting never used these before (wish me luck) ..

exterior detail

bomb bay detail

cockpit detail


cheers mike

I've always wondered about those Exotic72 kits. Looking forward to your pictures and comments.

If none of you guys ever built an Exotic72 kit........I got to tell ya the fit is terrible. The SC-1 Seahawk i have is one tough cookie to make fit together right. I just thought I would give y'all a heads up if you decide to build one of these. I got a lot done (need to take some pics) and I'm just about ready to blow some paint on it. Im not badmouthing the kit.....it just takes a ton of work .

Dan, The Herc is looking great so far. That is one big bird !

Regards, Rick

What a huge bird Model Grandpa, looks like your enjoying it.

Herc's looking good, Dan!

Man thats one big bird Model Grandpa , looking good .

cheers mike

Swanny, it’s the first kit I’ve built were the wife walked into the room and correctly identified what aircraft I was working on. The fit is good; I’m a little worried if finish will be interesting enough. I’m going to paint it in the gray scheme the real Spruce Goose currently carries. I’m going to order another one of these kits and do a “what if” paint scheme on it as J-Hulk suggested awhile back.

I did managed to get the interior painted and the wings, elevators, floats and fuselage halves glued together today. That’s a pretty good day of modeling for me. I was also working on another top-secret project at the same time.

How big is the Herc? That’s a 1/200 scale (the same scale as the Goose) DC-3 parked under the wing. I just couldn’t resist getting the DC-3 mocked up to show the size difference.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Quagmyre Swanny - Those pre-war props always seem to take so much time to do with all the masking, etc. Did the same on my Catfish prop, but it didn't come out as nice looking as yours... maybe I'll just send it to you so you can fix it for me. What's your billable rate?

LOL ... let's see, at the shop I get $80.00 per hour, had about three or four hours into these over two days. Yeah, sure ... send em on

ModelGrandpa - that Herc sure is looking sweet. I think I'm more interested in seeing that done than in seeing my own build complete.

“Bring lots of dynamite, its one big mother!”

I did a little dry fit on the Hercules' today. It should build fairly quickly as I have not ran into no fit challenges, plus its getting the black paint cockpit detail action.



100 bonus points to whoever can tell me the name of the movie the above quote is from.

Swanny - Those pre-war props always seem to take so much time to do with all the masking, etc. Did the same on my Catfish prop, but it didn't come out as nice looking as yours... maybe I'll just send it to you so you can fix it for me.

What's your billable rate?

I'm working on the propellers this weekend and they are of the pre-war color scheme. What a pain these are to paint. They are base coated with Krylon Gloss black then Alclad 2 then go through a series of masks and paint to achieve the final result. Here is the first step and the last, my site update features all five steps if you want to see the whole story.

Swanny, the Sikorsky is really looking good!

Sorry for not posting my own yet but it's still just the cockpit and I've beeen mullling about rebuilding the seats. Plus this weekend I've been working on the 'Mad Robot Day' build.

Paul, I have some RZNAF decals that were ment for the 1/48 Otaki/Arii Corsair kit. There yours if you'd like them.

QUOTE: Originally posted by rjkplasticmod Brian, at least it's a start . I'm not much further along with mine. Regards, Rick

Five days later, and neither am I!

Tomorrow never comes, Rick!!!

Looks great Swanny. Mine is sitting there staring at me saying "Do Something". Maybe tomorrow .

Regards, Rick