The Forgotten War GB (6/25/08 - 2/28/09) - Deadline Extended Yet Again!

Sorry to hear of your paint probs. Charles. The Alclad job looks superb!

Not sure what happened there to cause such problems. I'll be painting the fuselage band on my Sabre as well, and hope it goes well. I've painted over Alclad many times without a hitch. What happened to you is just plain weird. The only thing I can think of is you've got 3 different types of paint on top of one another, and one of them doesn't like the other. Or...something wasn't completely cured. Too bad...the Alclad finish really does look good!!!

Jerry

Small update: I'm almost done with the painting, but had a slight mishap,: For some reason the MM Acryl yellow orangepeeled something aweful over the Tamiya gloss white base. to the paint that is cracked. It looks to be some sort of reaction to the Tamiya paint. Now that it's dried I'll have to sand and re-shoot the yellow fuselage band.

EDIT: Well, I've really botched an otherwise nice Alclad job. The yellow band has done this in. I've sanded and tried to mask the errors as much as possible, but unfortunately I had to put the paint on too thick. I'll be away from the bench for about a week, but try a little more to fix the stripe. Hopefully the black out edges will strighten it up a bit, too.

Geez, Jerry!  incredible! Hwat strength Opti-visor do you use when painting the IP? Mine just isn't strong ennough to get close enough to produce results like yours.

I heard the North American factory uses pictures of your model as a reference when building the real things...

By the way, how was Mr. Davis? I'm sure he had the pictures you needed.

I manged the first coat of Alclad on my T-33. I'll lay down a few other shades later on. now I need to figure out a nice way to display "in flight".

Oh man, talk about pressure....thanks Charles.

Armed with a little reference, I managed to get the seat and IP painted. These parts are KMC resin and are very nice.

Hope to close the fuse. soon.

Jerry

dirtball wrote:

Mucker, your bird just amazes me! Looking realy good!........   Jerry, grat start on your saber..........Harv

If you want to see amazing, Harv, wait until Jerry is done with his Sabre. I'm convinced he could put about 4 oz. of jet fuel in his planes and they would fly around the room.

   Mucker, your bird just amazes me! Looking realy good!........

  Jerry, grat start on your saber..........Harv

The illustrations are better than nothing ...thanks Charles. I really does surprise me that there isn't more reference available for such an important aircraft. If I were lucky enough to be able to get walk around photos, the cockpit would be the first place I'd go. Fortunately, I will meet with Larry Davis tommorrow, and he has told me he has an entire disc filled with everything I need. I'm anxious to see some good quality color pics of a real seat. With his permission, I'll send some your way or maybe just post them.

Nice job on the pilots....very realistic.

Jerry

I know what you mean, Jerry....they both look cool. I've the the Superscale "Mike's Bird" sheet if that'll help. I'm kind of partial to the checkertails, myself.

I'm still looking through  my photos. Here's one I've run across:

I'll shoot you an e-mail just in case it's bigger that way.

EDIT: I found a nice, large color photo from the book "Cockpits of the Cold War" (Donald Nijboer), but it's an F-86A at the Dayton Air Formce Museum. I think the "A" cockpits were black, whereas the E's and F's were gray. If you think you can use it I'll scan it for you.

As for me, small progress. The pilots are now forever in flight:

Charles

It's the Hasegawa F. I'm leaning towards Dottie 52-4701 yellow tail, but I kinda like the looks of Mitch's Squitch as well that's a checker tail.

I pretty sure the instrument panel of both these were all black, but I could use some good color shots of the throttle side consoles and the seat. Actually any color pics would be helpfull. I've exhausted all my web ref sites only to find there's very little out there on the Sabre. (scratches head)

I'm going to meet with a good friend of mine tommorrow who literally wrote the book on the Sabre. Don't know if you know who Larry Davis is but if you look at most Squadron pub. you'll see his name there. I'm sure he'll have plenty for me to look at but I'm sitting at the bench now and want to paint something LOL

Jerry

dragonfly wrote:

Forgive me for jumping in here late, but have finally cleared the bench and got started on a Sabre. I should have no problem geeting this done before the deadline, just waiting for some good detail pics of the cockpit. Hard to find BTW. Great progress everyone. Jerry

Excellent, Jerry! I'm glad you made it. Which kit are you building? The Hasegawa?

And which of the marking in your picture are you going with?

I've got a few Sabre pics at home. Which areas of the cockpit are you looking for?

Charles

Forgive me for jumping in here late, but have finally cleared the bench and got started on a Sabre. I should have no problem geeting this done before the deadline, just waiting for some good detail pics of the cockpit. Hard to find BTW.

Great progress everyone.

Jerry

Another small update. Here is the completed pilot (1 of 2 pilots). After some small touch ups they'll be sealed in the cockpit for all time. Then I can place the canopy on and apply paint.

Hi Charles,

I've done a couple of orders to Luckymodel, they're a first-rate company. The Hong Kong traders are usually competitve, but when it comes to kits I buy from a couple of eBay traders. There's one in Beijing (Clarion Militaria) who sell Trumpeter at factory-direct prices, even including further discounts for bulk, which creates prices that are unbeatable. Then there's a HK trader from whom I buy all my Tamiya, we're talking a quarter US shelf price in many cases. The only drawback is he packs like crap, wraps kits in paper so they arrive crushed, charges for protective boxes and if he actually uses what he charged they're supermarket dumpster boxes that cost nothing anyway... Profiteering is what it's called, and he wriggles like a fish on a hook if you try to pin him down. Speaks English well enough to take an order, but not to answer a question about it, if you know what I mean. The only thing that keeps me going back is the dirt cheap prices. Basically, when I need a Tamiya Mustang, Corsair or Bf 109, I order it up, expect a crushed box and bin the packaging as a matter of course -- the contents is fine.

You'll have to give me a yell when Luckymodel have their Academy sale, I'd love to land a few at that price! I get Echelon decals from Singapore on free shipping, which is great too.

Cheers,

Mike

I hear you, Mike. You gotta love Luckymodel! I've seen Hobbyeasy and Cyber Hobby but haven't ordered from them yet. Lucky Model have several product lines with free shipping, too. THat got me trying Legend resin products and I absolutely love them.

I think once a year they have an Academy sale. Some of the WWII fighters get as low as US$4.49. This is how my stash grows.

Who do you buy from in HK?

Charles

Thanks, Mucker! Well, I checkled out Squadron but the canopy masks are still out of stock, so I think I'll tackle this one the old fashioned way. She should be fine. Hoping to have her in the display case for New Year.

Well, maybe it was just bad luck that I used Testor cement on the teensy tailwheel parts of the Hobbycraft Corsair, with disastrous results... First there was no hole to connect with a corresponding pin, so I drilled one, but the thinned wall of plastic just gave up the ghost when glued. Seriously, if I could get AM Corsair gear, I'd substitute it, but when I can pick up Tamiya's -1D from Hong Kong for only US$9.98, there's no point in wrestling with the HC...

Cheers,

Mike

Thanks, Harv. Slowly but surely I'm putting her together.

Mike, I've been using Tamiya liquid cement and Tenax. So far the plastic has responded fine, like a Hasegawa or Tamiya kit. I've got some Testors liquid cement, as well. I'll have to give it a whirl. I usually use the Testors when I need more set-up time for handling the parts.

The Mustang is looking good. The squared off Wings and overall lines make it a real beauty.

WOW!!!Looking gooood, mucker. Your doing us proud! I too cant wait to see this baby in some color. Keep us posted.

   Thunderbolt the stang is comming along VERY nice, I likey.................Harv

Hi Mucker --

Yep, I'm in Aus, 38 years here!

So, tell me, how did you find the Hobbycraft plastic reacted to glue? I was going to build their FG-1D COIN bird for the Corsairs GB but, on top of crazy paradoxes like round pegs and square holes (and a lot more besides), I found Testors liquid cement actually caused small parts to melt...

EDIT: Progress pic:

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Many joint lines fall on natural panel lines and the close fit means no dressing is required at the wing and tail joints. It's just the fuselage seam, really, though the leading edge can also beg a little attention under close examination.

Mike

Thanks, Mike and Bob.

Mike: I didn't know you were from Down Under. Excellent! We have more of an international flavor now! Someday my travels will take me there.

Yes, it's the Hobbycraft kit. Not an easy kit, but not that bad. Typical hobbycraft/Academy: Nice fine panel lines, decent fit, but sparse interior detail. thus the resin cockpit. Hopefully the decals will work out as I really want to use the Korean War markings.

Charles

Bobbaily -- I would love to take a shot at the new Talon acrylics and SnJ powder finish -- I've been looking for a source in the UK or Hong Kong, as with the postal regs change I can't buy paints from the US anymore and they're almost certain to be unavailable in Aus. There'll be a few proplem finish spots on this airframe, I have trouble with the attachment points from the sprue, I never seem to be able to make a perfectly clean separation. Going from my reference pics, the Mustangs in Korea suffered a lot in the harsh weather, and the brightness of the NMF was noticeably reduced. I'm thinking of doing an enamels job, mixing Chrome Silver with Flat Aluminium to both cut back the shine and increase the hardness. The surface should still be amply bright enough to take decals well, just less polished.

Mucker -- lovely T-33! Hobbycraft? Sorry, I've not read the thread as closely as I should, busybusybusy!

Cheers,

Mike/TB379

Bob: Ahhh, the old "soon to be fifteen year old". I remember back then. I was one year away from knowing everything! Now I am sooooo far away from that.

I have some progress pics to report. No priming yet, as I am painting the pilot figures before i seal them in and paint with canopy glued on. The figures come from the Kinetic F-84F and the Tamiya F-84G.

Mike-nice work on the F-51D.  I'm building the same kit (different decal option) over in the Mud Movers GB.  And I've learned that the finish must be perfect before attempting a NMF.  I used Talon acrylic & polishing powers-I'm very happy with the results.

Mucker-I know the feeling-I hope to accomplish some work on the Sherman over the holidays, but I have a 'soon to be 15 yr old' at the house who will get his learner's permit on the 27th, so I forsee some serious road time coming up. An 'End of January' extension would be a blessing for me.

Hi Mucker --

Yes, I'd say the Hasegawa D is the slightly tougher build. I did one many years ago and I remember there were some minor fit issues around the scoop and tailwheel area, and exhausts that fit from inside so can't be left out until after painting, but otherwise a marvelous selection of options (canopies, propellors, exhausts, and a wide range of stores). Some impressive engineering too, like keyed fit of the landing gear main struts so misalignment is impossible.

The fact is I can finish the D on the original deadline, it was just a case of masking and feehanding the canopy the old way... And since the main section is separate from the metal lower edge, that solves at least half the problem to begin with. So I'd say don't extend the deadline for me, but if anyone else needs it, by all means do so.

Cheers,

Mike

JMart: Only 3 burnt meals? Now THAT's impressive!! I can't cook to save my life. My wife doesn;t let me in the kitchen when she's cooking either. 2008 has been kind of a wierd year. Here's hoping 2009 brings us some of the "good times" back.

Would an "end of January 2009" extension work? I know I can use it. I made some nice progress over the weekend, but I plan to take the family on the road for the Holidays. If enough people need the extension, I think that warrants it. I don't want to extend it if I'm t he only one needing it, though.

Mike: So you've built the Hasegawa kit, as well? I have one in my stash and was looking it over yesterday. I have the Kendall/KMC resin set for it, too. I am trying to decide my building golas for 2009 and this has to be in here somewhere.

I hear the Hasegawa kit has more detail, but is not quite as "easy" a build, which is a good stereotypical comparison between the two brands from my experience. How did you find the Hasegawa kit?

Hi guys,

Mucker -- yes indeed, the Tamiya D falls together, the main structure consists of anywhere from 8 to 17 parts depending on how persnickety you want to be with definitions of 'main structure,' and the fit is close enough for a beginner to get away with undressed joints. I have noticed the Tamiya plastic reacts a bit with solvent-based putty, you need to mill the surface with wet sandpaper but liberal applications of putty (not that liberal applications are needed) would create surface problems that would stick out like a sore thumb through a NMF. That said, she's a beaty and I'll be building lots more of her. The pit is not quite as good as Hasegawa's, perhaps, but its quite good enough for most, especially at this scale. She'll look the part!

JMart -- we seem to have some characteristic spousal injuries happening... Harv's other half lost her gallbladder, mine lost hers years ago. Yours had leg/knee injuries, mine fell getting out of her truck a fortnight ago and -- you guessed -- has bone and ligament damage and will have a cast for the next month! I'm terrified to hear the next one to show up in case history repeats!

The Mustang is now largely together, I mounted the flaps and scoop details today and did a round of joint dressing. I'll be getting to detail painting soon, landing gear, warload, prop blades, and the yellow trim of the unit. With the month-long extension now in force (correct???) I have time to chase some Express Masks, as they were out of stock at Squadron when I placed my last order.

More pics tomorrow,

Cheers,

Mike/TB379

Finally catching up in here... feel great to have some time! :)

Love all that NMF...  deadline extension?? yippeee! I may give it a go then....

Harv, glad the wife is doing better... of big reason I was out of GB builds (or any builds) was taking care of the Ms after a serious knee injury/surgery. I only burnt 3 dinners ;)

My apologies for not being a frequent or useful contributor to this GB... at a personal level I cannot WAIT for 2008 to go away, so much bad karma this year.

Cheers all

My favroite part of GB's is the comaradarie. yuo really get to know some of the Finescale forum-goers better, and there are some great people here.

I'm making progress (although pictures will follow). Due to a bonehead move (no nose weight added before sealing up the fuselage) I'll be making my first "gear up" project! While this Hobbycraft kit is definately not shake n bake, the gear well parts fit very nicely, which eased my pain.

I hope to have it primed today.