Mud Movers GB - July 1st - Dec 31st 2008

And this is how I spent my afternoon....

God, I wish the F-15E was a single engine aircraft....those actuators SUCK!

A little progress....here is how I spent my morning.

dupes wrote:

I've already started replacing the decals with aftermarket stuff for all of my other older Revell/Monogram kits. Heh.

Ah....those old Monogram decals. Gotta love em! Not only were they about an inch and a half thick and off register...they looked like they were printed with a dot matrix printer.

If I buy anything older than 1995, I make it a point to walk out of the hobby shop with an aftermarket sheet also. You just never know what you are getting

Hey, thanks man!

I actually thought the same thing when I started laying out all of the ordinance like you see in all of those old cold-war style pics...that's why I didn't throw it in the photo booth.

I've already started replacing the decals with aftermarket stuff for all of my other older Revell/Monogram kits. Heh.

Wow Dupes. That is top notch!

I actually thought that it was sitting on a diarama base you had made....then I realized it is your cutting mat. I shouldn't post when I just woke up.

Shame about the decals. Good job putting em back together. I recently built an old Monogram Phantom and the decals did the same thing. I tried to put Micro Decal Film over em and they just bubbled up off the paper. 

Can't wait to see it loaded up and ready for action!

Forgot to mention (but I'm sure you'll notice) that the Revell decals were printed quite badly out of register - the red stars don't fit within the white stars which don't fit within the red stars. Meh. I actually looked around for a while considering replacing them...but the only ones I found (to replace 8 lousy decals!) cost more than the kit.

Oh well. 

You want ordinance? I'll give you ordinance!

I'm actually quite pleasantly surprised how the Frogfoot looks in this pic - had a few issues with the 1988 decals. Namely, they shattered when they hit the water! Luckily, I was exceptionally patient yesterday, and I like jigsaw puzzles.

A thick coat of acrylic flat after the micro sol/set (what I had left after spilling it on my rug last time) helped to fill in the cracks a bit, you can't tell unless you really shove yer face right down onto her.

Not much left, obviously I have still to paint up all the munitions, attach the exhaust cones, then do a panel wash. That might be it...?  

btp2k2 wrote:

The top and bottom halves went together without a hitch. My problem area was at the nose to fuselage joint and the two outer wings....they didn't quite line up right. But as far as the top and bottom, they melded so well I didn't even need to hold them together with tape. Yours must have been molded on a friday afternoon!

Hmm, then it must be the resin intakes screwing up the fit.  I have the most issues all in that area.  

Ironically enough, I haven't had any issues with the outer wings!  Gotta love Revell!

Haven't tried the nose section yet. 

btp2k2 wrote:

BTW....just curious how you would classify this....would you consider an F-14 in "bombcat" trim a mud mover? or a F/A-18F loaded with iron?

You've hit upon the major problem I faced when mulling over the big idea of this GB at the beginning.  Should I restrict to only those aircraft strictly defined for the CAS role?  In the end I decided that would be too limiting and opened up the field to all aircraft that had been used in the ground attack role, as long as it wasn't What-if.  So the F-14 Bombcat is perfectly fine, as well as the F/A-18F.  Both have been used in the ground attack role.  But keep in mind the ordnance slung should be realistic, i.e. don't sling loads the aircraft can't carry.

Fair enough? 

Here is the cockpit for the Hasegawa A-7E

I've been on a huge pilot kick lately...

arki30 wrote:

Dupes - That's a 30 minute masking session?!  I quit.  Needlepoint, here I come.   The camo looks really good, appears the seam work paid off.

Hahhahhaha...thanks. Silly putty is the bomb! Seriously! Slap it on, move it around until you like the shape, fire paint. By the time you're done cleaning the airbrush, you can rip it off.

The seam work - well, I worked on it, anyway. They didn't come out quite as well as they should have for the amount of time I put into them. By far the weakest part of my game.

BTW, masked and fired the underside last night as well.

Did a test decal this morning before work...the outlook on my 1989 printings isn't good. Luckily for me, though, there are only 8 decals - 6 stars, 2 numbers. I'm going to have to find a way to make them work!

Forgot to add a pic of the scooter....

The progress on the A-4 doesn't have anything to do with being a fast builder....it speaks more to the simplicity of the kit. The Hobbycraft A-4 is a very simple kit....as you can see, it does not have the internal detail such as compressor face like the Hasegawa kit does...it's pretty much do the cockpit and stick the two halves together and stick the wings together.

arki30 wrote:

Paul, how much trouble did you have getting the top and bottom fuselage halves to meet?  Mine isn't terrible, but it's not great either.  I can't tell if the resin intakes are goofing something up or if it's just typical Revell fit. Where'd I put that putty...?

The top and bottom halves went together without a hitch. My problem area was at the nose to fuselage joint and the two outer wings....they didn't quite line up right.

But as far as the top and bottom, they melded so well I didn't even need to hold them together with tape.

Yours must have been molded on a friday afternoon!

BTW....just curious how you would classify this....would you consider an F-14 in "bombcat" trim a mud mover? or a F/A-18F loaded with iron?

Paul, how much trouble did you have getting the top and bottom fuselage halves to meet?  Mine isn't terrible, but it's not great either.  I can't tell if the resin intakes are goofing something up or if it's just typical Revell fit.

Where'd I put that putty...?

No prob dude....it's all good.

4 builds shouldn't be an issue....I tend to work better when I do an "assembly line" of sorts anyway. Pound out all the cockpits, then all the wheel wells, so on and so forth. And the more builds I am doing at once, the more the paint dries while I am working on another. I finished five Tomcats for the Grumman Iron Works build. The deadline motivates me to get off my butt.

@ Dupes....that Frogfoot looks great. Cannot wait to see that one done.

Dupes - That's a 30 minute masking session?!  I quit.  Needlepoint, here I come.   The camo looks really good, appears the seam work paid off.

Paul - Thanks for understanding, however begrudgingly.   I've always felt using one build for multiple GB's sorta misses the spirit, if you will.  Anyway, you da man if you can knock out four builds for this GB!  I hope I can finish one!

arki30 wrote:

By the way, Paul, a gentle reminder that crossovers with other GB's are not allowed, including those in other forums.  Thanks!

That's cool....a bit lame, but whatever. I have another C and a M that should get here today or tomorrow....when that happens, I will start building that one for the ARC GB. So, the Blue Tail Flies will be built as originally intended for the Mud Movers GB. I also intend on building a Hasegawa A-7E loaded to the teeth for this build. For some reason, I build faster (and actually finish) when building in GBs.

Nice progress on the mudhen BTW.

Dang, Arki - that resin 'pit-fit is certainly "less than optimal".

As I thought, got a bucketload done on the Frogfoot this weekend - took a pre-paint pic, thinking that would be it...but after basecoating last night, managed to do a speedy (30min) mask-and-paint of the dark green this morning before coming to work! Nifty!

Was in a bit of a hurry, so my apologies for the awfully dark pic. Once I get the bottom masked and sprayed (hopefully tonight!) I'll take something better.

Quick progress update.  Finally was able to get the cockpit installed in the front fuselage, although with more difficulty and issues than imagined.  Once I installed the side pieces on the resin cockpit it quickly became apparent that more sanding was required to fit within the kit fuselage.  I sanded the plastic fuselage sides and resin cockpit down as much as I dared, but it still was an imperfect fit at the rear.  I went ahead and closed up the fuselage while letting the rear portion remain apart.  Once everything had cured I came back and clamped down on the rear portion with CA glue and accelerator.  That's when my first major issue arose.  With the sidewalls of the plastic so thin, the fuselage cracked on both sides.  You can see the crack on the one side in the photo below.    The good news is the crack(s) are not total plastic failures.  With some deft use of glue I was able to fill and strengthen the cracks.  I'll just have to sand and fill the areas later.  

Also managed to remove the necessary plastic for the Cutting Edge seamless intakes, paint the interior of and install said intakes, and paint the engine fans.  Still have some filling and sanding to due at the joint between resin intake and kit fuselage, but that's expected as the cutting required is a bit trial and error.

I'll hopefully have the fuselage top and bottom halves together soon.

By the way, Paul, a gentle reminder that crossovers with other GB's are not allowed, including those in other forums.  Thanks! 

Those big weapons sprues certainly are a big plus...was reading that one of the reasons this kit never got any good press was that it was released within a month or so of the last Hasegawa retooling of the A-4. Bummer for them.

Hooray for the Ryder Cup! It's given me tons of bench (well, coffee table) time to file, sand, file, and sand (and some filing) the Frogfoot. Pretty much all I did this morning. Heh. I'm thinking that I may actually be ready to throw some paint around sometime tomorrow! A bit more construction to go, then canopy masking...what else is there?

dupes wrote:

Bummer about the lame pit...the rest of that kit is pretty darn sweet for something that can be had so cheap!

Well, the thing about the scooter is the canopy is so small you aren't really going to see alot of that detail anyway....so when you get right down to it, blowing your wad on a 30 dollar hunk of resin or even PE that won't even be visible might be a waste. On an aircraft like the A-10, or F-16 or something with a big bubble canopy, I can see that being an issue...but not so on the A-4.

The Hobbycraft A-4s got a bad rep because they aren't from Japan. But in reality, if you exclude the cockpit, the kit is a really nicely detailed A-4 that comes with weapons (choke on that one Hasegawa!) for a fraction of the cost. I just picked up a second A-4C for 5 bucks off a guy at ARC and grabbed a A-4M for 10 bucks. And it is a pretty easy build. Last night I was sitting down with the wife watching "Dazed and Confused" and was building on the coffee table.....I almost have the thing completed.....I just need to attach the wing and fill and sand a couple of small gaps, then and the nose cone and intakes, fill and sand those smooth and then time to get out the trusty Paasche H and go to town

Damn! You found me out.....I am actually a model building android from the planet Tenax-7!

Cripes Paul!  You're a machine! 

Nice job on the cockpit, considering it's HC.

Thanks dupes. Sometimes I just get inspired and knock em out....other times I just want to sit and play Winning 11....I just happen to be in an inspired swing.

That pit could most definitely benefit from some AM love....perhaps in the form of all out resin replacement. Not sure if you could shoe horn a cockpit made for a Hasegawa scooter into the Hobbycraft....worth a shot to find out though

Wow man, you're flying! Spooky that I was poking through my Hobbycraft A-4C last night, thinking how I'd love to bang it out for this GB if I have time...!

So you're saying it could benefit from some AM love in the 'pit area? 

Hey arki......remember that Hobbycraft A-4C I mentioned I might try?

Here is the cockpit....

The details in the Hobbycraft cockpit suck (not nearly as bad as decals...but close). I scrounged through the spares bin and found an old friend. The old Monogram visor open pilot figure....popular in so many 80's kits. So....I dressed him up....put some light blue on the helmet to go with the VA-153 markings that will be on the plane and sat him down....the only downside is with all the extra stuff in the cockpit now, I didn't have room for the stick....oh well, it was pretty crappy anyway!

This is what happens when I get tired of filling and sanding all day.....I also started the 'pit for a A-7E that may or may not make it into the build...we'll see

Kev - Thanks!  I've fitted the side panels and now realize I will have some sanding to do in order to fit the cockpit in. 

Paul - Nice fast progress!  Did I mention I'm jealous?

Spiralcity - No problem, life does get in the way.  Appreciate the heads up and I'll update the list. 

J-Mart - Thanks!

btp2k2 - at least on my corner of the US (southern CT), Michael's coupons come in the newspaper fliers. And nice job(s) so far in your builds!

arki30 - very nice job on the cockpit...seat came out real good.

Arki,

I dont know if I'll be able to add a build to this group. Sorry

I've been on 60 hours at work and I havent had much time for anything. I also have a build scheduled for October, I'm hoping I find time for that.