Classic Kit GB [Official Thread]

Can't wait to see that Texan with some decals...

I finally got some work done on the Wildcat! Assembly has been sort of going on in spurts, but I'm at the painting stage now...fired some Zinc Chromate on all the interior stuff, and once I get home part one of the 2-part early war Wildcat scheme will be shot.

Used some of the ZC on the inside of the wing roots (foldable!) but am unsure if that was the correct color? I'm guessing that there's supposed to be a bit more detail in there than what the kit shows... 

Excellent! Grumman folding wing roots, both sides., inner and outer, are a puzzle, for sure. I'll check my references when I get home but a light gray primer (Grumman used a light gray primer of their own selection on the firewall and interior of the Wildcat's wheel wells...), green zinc chromate primer or upper or lower wing color would all seem like good bets. Pick whichever you like or think is most plausable. F4F-3s didn't have folding wings, but were delivered in aluminum painted fuselages and yellow wings, overall gray, and possibly blue-gray top and light gull gray on the bottom.

F4F-4s with folding wings were delivered in blue-gray over light gull gray, and sea blue top, intermediate blue sides and non-specular white on the bottom, for sure. Overall gray? I'm not sure. Aluminum and yellow wings? Also not sure. Have to compare the paint change dates to the airplane model number dates. Point being, the factory might concevably paint the inside of the wing some special color and the top and bottom of the wing different colors, but the paint shop of an airwing, afloat or ashore, would be unlikely to continue something that fiddlly. Neatness counts, so I'd expect the wing underside or topside color to be uniformly applied and sharply masked (if needed) from the 'other' side.

 The Lone Star Museum in Galveston have an F4F-4 in flying condition, and its wing fold mechanism is the same color as the underside of the wing. But its a restored example, not original paint.  Either the Tillman or the Ethel books of contemporary color pix would be a good place to consult. The Detail & Scale book, and posisbly the Squadron Walk Around book, might have contemporary black and white photos...

 Super!

 Bill

OK, details later, but here's the classics I'm working on now. And yes, I'm trying to finish more and have fewer in progress- a bad habit, but I do have a bunch in progress. In no particular order:

 Revell 1960s 1/72 Hawker Hurricane. Classic style- leaving black kit plastic for most of color, painting only other colors. 

Hasegawa 1/72 J2M-3 and Ki-44, both as imagined air racers. J2M needs touch up painting and more sponsor decals, Ki-44 needs another paint session or two and then decals and its done.

Matchbox (1) 1/72 Hawker Hurricane IIc. Being completed as G-AMAU, the Hawker-retained bird that was flown by Group Captain Peter Townsend in post-war air-racing. I went nuts 11 years ago and spent a new year's weekend scratchbbuilding a cockpit for this plane. Major assembly now complete, it sits on its gear legs. Of the kit parts, only the radio antenna, pitot tube, radiator enclosure , canopy and prop & spinner remain to be attached. Of course, I'm modifying the radiator, using a vac canopy, and need to put yellow tips on the prop.

 Airfix (!!) 1/72 Hurricane I/II. This is their second tooling, the one with all the extras- rockets, bombs, fuel tanks, but a not-very-accurate fuselage and zillions of rivits.... Started when the Matchbox kit was started, its about 1/2 way to having the fuselage halves joined.

Hasegawa and Skywave US and UK 1/700 airplanes- F4U, F6F, P38, P40, P47, P51, SB3C, C47/DC-3, TBM, B-26, B-29, Tu-94, Phantom II, S2 Tracker, Fairey Gannet, F-86, F-104

 Monogram 1/48 dh Mosquito, B Mk IV, accurized....

Airfix 1/76 Sherman M4

 Tamiya 1/20 Tyrrell P-34 Six Wheeler, started 22 years ago, or so.

 I hope to see a bunch done by December! I touch every one of the above at least once a month, and move the rock a bit further down the road...

I'll put some pix up when I figure out how.  

 Bill

MKelly, Fantastic job on your Monogram FW... You gid a great job of Transforming that box of Dark Green Shiny Plastic into a " Wow , Look at that FW on the Shelf " !    I built the same kit with a different paint back on pg 9 of this GB. I was still in the learning stage af salvaging old kit decals back then....

Arki , Looking Good, Cant wait to see more progress...

Bill, Keep at it and Post some Pictures..

MKelly,

Beautiful! I started that one decades ago and never finished. You did it proud!

Bill 

Alright, finally took some pics. First one is of the majority of construction:

And after the upper and lower paint has been applied:

Should get to fire some future tonight, then start decaling! Crossing my fingers that these ancient thingies hold together...

Dupes, Wow.... These are the First Pictures I Have Ever Seen you Post..
 Your Bird Looks Flawless, cant wait to see more progression. I have been spraying my old decals with a mist of clear enamel paint and it has helped keep them from going to pieces.  If they give you too much trouble I am pretty sure I might have a spare set somewhere... 

I know these are the first pics I posted of this build, but do you mean first pics of mine you've seen...EVER? I'll have to rectify that if that's the case!

Hmm. I don't have any clear enamels (only acrylics for me) - do those work as well to seal in decals? I may have some rattle can flat coat laying around as well, but not sure what sort of base that would be (assuming lacquer, though). 

Thanks, man...if there's one thing I know how to do, it's using that airbrush.

Let's not talk about zooming in on any of those seams, however.

Speaking of snags...old Monogram decals appear to be allergic to Micro-Sol/Set. Not that I had any super high hopes for these old relics, but they're crap.

I don't think this one was destined for the pages of FSM, so I'm going to keep plugging away. 

Fini.  Here is my 1/48 Monogram AT-6 Texan.  Great little kit with really nice detail for it's age, particularly in the cockpit.  Kit markings and decals.  Speaking of decals...

The decals held up very well considering their age.  I didn't have a single decal disintegrate.  But, the decals were very thick and pretty much immune to decal solvent.  Couple that with a heavily riveted surface and I just couldn't get the decals to melt down like they should.  And there is some silvering I couldn't do anything about.  

For anyone counting, one of the canopy sections is not installed.  True to Monogram, it won't fit in the closed position or in the open. 

Other than those snafu's it's a great oldie and was a lot of fun building.  Thanks for letting me participate!

arki30  Great job on the Texan, looks like it is waiting for some recruit to take her up. The finish looks flawless.

Despite it's oldness and unwillingness to cooperate fully, that's one sharp looking Texan. Swank job, Arki.

Man, do I hear you about those decals on top of rivets...

Pain in the , aren't they?

Thanks for the compliment dupes!

Arki, Thats a Fine looking AT-6 - You really did a Fantastic Job on an old challenging kit. Everything looks Good.   When you going to build another to match ?

On these older kits with the thick decals I have been using a 12 yr old bottle of Solvaset I bought at a Hobby Town store and it has been giving me really good results. Maybe that stuff is like wine it gets better with age..... 

I promise I'll get back onto that Hunter!

Meanwhile, I HAVE been building classic kits: 

Matchbox Humber Mk II

Heller Fi 103 Reichenberg IV:

Matchbox Jaguar (in progress - as is the Humber):

They all look good, That tank looks tiny.

Well, thank you. I'm not used to people saying kind things like that :)

The armoured car IS tiny :) It's 1:76 scale. 

Alrighty, the Wildcat is on the shelf. While this is not up to my usual personal standards, this ancient kit makes a good "3 footer", if you know what I mean. I'm sure that building this will make me go out and buy the Tamiya F4F so that I have something you can lean in a bit closer to!

I'm on the fence about doing a panel wash on this guy, as there really aren't that many panels - all raised detail, and I wasn't sure what happens if you try to hit that with a wash. What have you guys done in the past with that? May go in and hit the elevators, ailerons, the big stuff, not sure.

Here it is!

and with the wings folded, as requested :