Tuesday, October 28, 2008
RF-4B Phantom II
Posted by Unknown at 9:29 PM 1 comments
Sunday, October 26, 2008
F4D-1 Skyray
Once I finished painting and weathering the interior pieces (jet intake fan, wheel wells, & cockpit) the rest of the fuselage pieces went together without a hitch. I didn't have to spend very much time filling gaps and sanding because it didn't really need it. I chose ahead of time that I wanted to show the unique wing shape as well as a folded wing by folding the port wing only. The other advantage to this was that I saved a little bit of shelf space for other models.
Posted by Unknown at 9:22 PM 0 comments
Sunday, June 29, 2008
AV-8B Harrier II Plus
This subject carries the markings of the "Wolves" of the Italian Navy. I chose number 04 because I like the false canopy marking under the forward fuselage. I originally was not going to pose the model with missiles, but an AMRAAM-burdened Harrier is an unusual sight so I went with it. Plus, the representation of the missiles were very good. I also chose to put a pilot in the cockpit which I think turned out very nice. The pilot helmet was included, but not the torso so I used a torso from my Hasegawa RF-4B. After a little bit of trimming the pilot figure fit quite well. I wanted to pose the canopy in the open position, however it would not fit between the two large scoops just behind the canopy. So I closed it up and the aircraft is depicted the a take-off-ready configuration.
I am quite happy with this model. This kit was essentially right out of the box, and it makes a show worthy piece. I highly recommend this kit to Harrier fans, but I still hope somebody releases an early-version Harrier beacause I would love to do an example from the Faukland Islands conflict.
Posted by Unknown at 7:09 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
F-86F Sabrejet
This model is an old Monogram kit that my dad gave to me to occupy my time, and it did exactly that. I used the kit as an opportunity to expand my skills. I rescribed all of the panel lines, added in a resin cockpit and wheel wells, and scratch-built the intake cover and main landing gear doors, not to mention I'm still working out how to do a really nice bare-metal finish. I completed this model late in April, but just now had the time to get photo's and a blog written. (Writer's note: the photos were taken post "Hurricane Parker", where my 19-month old son tried to reverse-engineer the model piece by piece, so some repairs have taken place, along with some additional scratch-built parts, i.e. the control column and some landing gear door actuators.)
I then decided that the sparse and shallow wheel wells wouldn't cut it, as well as the cockpit. I bought a resin cockpit by Legend Productions, and a resin undercarriage set by CMK - both designed for the Hasegawa kit and put them in. I had to do some additional cutting on the fuselage halves to fit the cockpit in, but this was relatively easy and the cockpit went in without a hitch. The resin wheel wells however were a bit smaller, although deeper, than the kit's wheel wells. Once I cut out the original wells, thined the plastic where needed, and glued in the resin wells, I had to fill in the gaps with styrene strips, superglue, and little putty. I sanded the seems smooth and the wheel wells looked just like they were part of the kit.
Posted by Unknown at 5:18 PM 3 comments
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Fw 190A-8
The most noticeable thing to watch out for is the fit of all those engine parts. The engine did not set in the proper position on mine so the fan blades protruded from the upper cowl about 1/16". I did my best to correct this, but it still wasn't perfect. However, I know to watch for this on the next one before I glue everything into position.
Some other problems to be aware of are the fit of all the parts in the wheel wells and the upper wing halves at the wing roots. I really had to sand down the tiny pieces in the wheel wells to get the wing halves to match up along the leading edge. Once I was able to get the wings together, I joined them to the fuselage and there was a bit of a gap along the wing roots towards the trailing edge. A little gap filler fixed this problem and then it was on to the gun access panel on the upper deck.My only advice about the upper deck gun positions is this: leave the access panel in the open position. The piece does not fit, nor do the machine guns - I had to do a lot of work to get the panel to look decent in the closed position. If you want to build an excellent model of the Fw 190 with the gun panels closed, buy the Tamiya kit.
The rest of the assembly was very good as well as the decals. I was lazy and used the kit decals for the ID bands, but don't do what I did. The plane will look much better if the bands are painted on. However, the other decals were very good and I really enjoyed this build. I am so looking forward to my second chance to work with this model.
Posted by Unknown at 5:42 PM 0 comments
Sunday, February 17, 2008
F-22 Raptor
The paint scheme was poorly indicated by both the Italeri and Two Bobs instructions, so I researched photos from the Air Force website, and used them to establish how the unique scheme was applied. The antennae surfaces are painted in a unique paint that I believe changed shade depending on the lighting angle which is impossible to replicate on a model, so I went with Two Bobs' recommendation and used Model Master FS36251, which turned out OK.
Since the lo-vis markings are purposely difficult to see, I decided early that I was going to display the aircraft with the missile bays open and armed for some more visual interest. I think that this was a wise choice, even though the bays and missiles were inacurrate and bare. I also tried to tint the canopy with my own thinned mixture of Future polish and Tamiya Titanium Gold with the metal flecks filtered out. I think it turned out well for an experimental kit, but I will need some more practice before I try the process out on a model that I would like to display publicly. Overall, I enjoyed my first time cutting up, detailing, and putting back together a subpar kit to make it better. This model probably wouldn't win any contests, but I think that I was successful to make it better than if I had built it right out of the box.Posted by Unknown at 9:03 PM 0 comments