Fleet Air Arm Group Build

Now I've gotta clear me 'ead! That is so great! I needa sit down and go through your photos when I have some free time, but she is truly a beauty.

Well done, Sir!

Now iff'n I could roll this weight offa me and open this door, I'd getta fresh air in this'ere locker and go grab a beer!

Hump Day tomorrow me Hearties and then it's all down hill to the end.

back CAG!  Good to have you aboard, sir.   Nice work on your Gunfighter office!  Also glad to see you took care of the rum shortage- well done!

Gents, I finished my Corsair early this morning!  Burned the midnight oil till 1 am local time, but glad I did as I slept like a baby knowing she was finished.  Here are some pics, thanks for looking! 

Built mostly OOB, with Eduard seatbelts being the only addition.  Painted with Gunze acrylics, and I used the provided kit decals.  I had originally intended to use a set from Super Scale for a bird from VMF-312 (checkerboards) but the decals really did not fit so I opted to build a fairly fresh airframe.  I like the contrast of the smooth, semi-gloss airframe and the really beat up napalm tanks.  The rockets have added arming wires with tiny blobs of glue painted to represent the connectors.  Added some brake lines from fine wire, and the antenna from 2lb fishing line.  The drop tanks alone took many, many hours but they are worth it IMHO.  Thanks for taking a look fellas!

Thanks for taking a look, much appreciated!

"Aaaaahhhhhhhh..........thats better!"

CHEERS LADS!

Well, I have been away for a while and I have to say its good to see you all keeping this famous thread going. Well done!

I have made some more progress on my F-8 Crusader........here is what the office looks like now:

The seat harness is masking tape and brass, and yes it is oversized. It'll look better once the 'pit is all closed up.

More tomorrow, all being well.

"WHAT! WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE IS NO RUM LEFT?"

"THIS IS INTOLERABLE!!!"

"X/O. I want the ready alert to lauch now. Send them to the nearest Bargin Booze store to liberate rum and deliver it here safely."

I may be back but I still do not have a model bench at this time.  Soon, very soon

Spent most off the weekend outside working on the yard.  The weather has been in the 70's and best of all, no humidity   Man I love it here

wyoroy wrote:

Frank, you gotta love the punch set.

I sure do, don't know how I got along w/o it.

Frank & Nam, PMs to you both.

Frank, you gotta love the punch set.  One of the best tools I own next to my air brush.

namrednef wrote:

Well Roy..........I was holding out for NOON EDT! Off work again today (3 days last week!).....hung at the coffee shop for a couple hours and Boss was very apologetic.....(Thank Goodness for my pension!) I need PAINT! Darnit! I believe the scurvy conscript (by his own calling)  bondoman is curled up inside the rum locker with some maid of the seas and holding the door closed! I'm priming a cap and ball to sway him. Lick yer lips and stay ready!

, he can't stay in there forever!!!

Thanks fellas, much appreciated!

On the gunsight, I stayed up late burning the midnite oil and up early this morn to finish it up, here it is:

I cleaned up the seams, then used my punch and die set to punch out a disk of Tamiya tape to use as a mask for the top reflector (?).  After a drybrush session this am, I punched out a disc of clear plastic from a blister pack and filed a flat spot into it and mounted it to the top of the sight.  A little brown paint on the crash pad, and voila!  One finished gunsight.

Roy- PM inbound!

Well Roy..........I was holding out for NOON EDT! Off work again today (3 days last week!).....hung at the coffee shop for a couple hours and Boss was very apologetic.....(Thank Goodness for my pension!) I need PAINT! Darnit!

I believe the scurvy conscript (by his own calling)  bondoman is curled up inside the rum locker with some maid of the seas and holding the door closed! I'm priming a cap and ball to sway him. Lick yer lips and stay ready!

Frank, the Corsair is looking first rate

Nam, by my account I should have a few rations of rum somewhere?  or did you and Frank take care of it

Moving right along Aaron! I enjoy seeing that shading technique and learning about it!

Frankie! Words fail me! Beautiful!

Very nice Frank.  Looking forward to the finished pics.

Regards,  Rick

Cheers, Richie

Aaron, Richie- Thank you VERY much fellas!  MUCH appreciated.

Aaron- nice work!  I can't wait to see more pics, always loved the Tomcat.  Now, I really want to build one!

I have been working away in the shop most of the last two days, flying along on the Corsair.  Yesterday morning she was just a painted and clearcoated airframe with a box of painted parts.  I have nearly finished her, the only reason I couldn't finish it today was the fact that I forgot to paint the gunsight!   I am off to the paintshop right now to square it away.  The canopy parts are only set on for the photo, awaiting the painted gunsight to be installed first.  Then it's only the antenna wires and finished!  Well, here's how she looks right now:

More to come soon!

Undershade painting complete, ready to start the paintwork.   Wooo Hooo!  ;)

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn112/azzamat/000_0152.jpg

Day, I'm in awe man.  That Corsair is beautiful!

I've decided to have what we call a 'Maori day off' in this part of the world.  So I'm hoping to get some black sprayed on panel lines for the Tomcat at some point while I'm playing hookie. Unfortunately she's not going to be quite as pretty as she should be, as the engine nacelles haven't quite matched up with the upper fuselage on either side of the aircraft, which has resulted in a bump on both sides where I don't think there should be one.  No amount of the putty/sanding process seems to be fixing it, so time to move on with the build.

Should be some WiP pics up later.  :)

Thats the way, uh huh uh huh I like it!!!!! Beautiful Mate!

Cheers, Richie

Thank you very much guys! 

namrednef wrote:

.....and yes, Bondoman is a major hoot!

Yes, and so are you!

Great work Frank.  Should be a winner.

Regards,  Rick

Absolutely beautiful workmanship there Frank! Canopy paint is exceptional, and those drop tanks look very real!

.....and yes, Bondoman is a major hoot!

bondoman wrote:

Conscript Bondo has gone to the rack wit' a nice enough lass, but she's a snoring like a horse and the rum fumes have me up fo' anotter. It may have been one of the worster weeks o' m'lif'ish. Attorneys, claims, first born etc. It's a stumble to the bowsprit, CAG, were'n I'm gonna "color" the sea forwhile Much rather have a rum enema. Oh well. Cheers my betters, a scupper crawler raises his stiff arm i'salute, then it's forehead to that nice... cool... deck.

ROTFLMAO!!!  Where do you guys come up with this stuff?  I love it!

I have managed to make quite a bit of progress in the last few days on my Corsair!  I have had the last couple of days off from work, and have spent a large portion of it at the bench.  I put a final satin coat on the airframe, then noticed the cracking sometimes found in Future finishes.  I fear that the last wash I applied wasn't fully cured and that is what caused it.  Ah, well... live and learn!  I also added the exhaust and gun stains, and did a tiny amount of paint chipping on the leading edges of the flying surfaces and around the cockpit.  I have decided to use the engine and prop from my failed Corsair attempt last year on this one, and save the super-detailed one for my next Corsair (Oh yes, there WILL be more!).  The hub needs to painted yet, as well as the cap.  I also assembled the LG, and removed the masking from the canopy.  The gear parts almost look like one solid color with te dark blue gear, black tires, and grease/oil stains.  After looking at it, I realized that I accidentally used the -1A hood with the bracing instead of the -1D version.  OOPS!  Guess this one is an EARLY model D.  I also sprayed the no-slip walkways on the wings, and finished up the paint on the drop tanks and rockets.  I wanted the tanks to look really old and beat up, to show that they had been around a while.  I like the contrast of the old beat up tanks and the relatively clean airframe.  Lots of WIP photos!  SHe's really moving along now.  Tomorrow I plan to finish up the detail painting (wingtip, formation, landing, and IFF lights) then possibly even the LG. 

Daywalker wrote:

Gents- It's the weekend, and time for a toast!  Cheers everyone!

Aye it is!!! Tip your scullers me hearties!!!

Cheers, Richie

Conscript Bondo has gone to the rack wit' a nice enough lass, but she's a snoring like a horse and the rum fumes have me up fo' anotter.

It may have been one of the worster weeks o' m'lif'ish. Attorneys, claims, first born etc.

It's a stumble to the bowsprit, CAG, were'n I'm gonna "color" the sea forwhile

Much rather have a rum enema. Oh well.

Cheers my betters, a scupper crawler raises his stiff arm i'salute, then it's forehead to that nice... cool... deck.

Gents-

It's the weekend, and time for a toast! 

Cheers everyone!

I have putty finally!!!

I'll be doing some fix up work on the Tomcat this weekend, will post pics.

Thanks New and Frank! Yeah I know some would think what I'm doing is going overboard. I have been staring at drawings and pics of the Stringbag for quite some time now and if its there in the pics and not on my model I'll always think there is something missing. lol really though, I'm just putting stuff on lil by lil and proving to myself that with alot of work, you CAN make older Airfix kits look good. It's a challenge to see how far I can go.

"Attention to detail is the key to owning the real thing, only in miniature"- Richie

Cheers, Richie

simpilot- great work on the swordfish

I've done a little more work on the Tomcat, it's not looking too bad just not much more to show yet.

Richie- Outstanding!  Can't believe you're adding that much detail to a 1/72 kit, makes me eyes hurt just thinking about it!  Well done!  Glad to hear your decals arrived, and you're ready to start on that one!

Aaron- Looking forward to those pics!

I am planning on working on my Corsair this weekend, feels like ages since I last did!  The Future has had two weeks to dry, so I should be ready for the satin coat and weathering next.

It's Friday, so break out the rum! 

Cheers!

Thanks kilo! Looking forward to more pics of yours as well!

, Richie

Sim the Stringbag is looking mighty fine bro!

Apologies for being MIA for the last week or so, been pretty crazy with work and what not.  I've not had too much to report on the F-14, I shot a coat of white primer on her last weekend, which exposed a whole mess of areas requiring the old putty and sanding treatment, but I found my many years old tube of putty had gone hard as a rock, so have been holding out for a chance to get to a hobby shop in order to pick up something that will do the job.  Hoping maybe tomorrow at lunch I'll be able to get some, so I can proceed with getting closer to the fun part (painting).

I hope everyone else is doing well.  I'll fire up some pics once I have something worth showing.  :)