Okay, here's a nice long update on all I've been working on the last two or three days.
I went to Hobby Day weekend this past Friday and Saturday and was able to get a considerable amount of progress done on some of my models while finding time to start a few more. I'll start with my aircraft that I've been working on.
First up is my pair of Tomcats that I'm doing the review on. It was time to finally build the burner cans for these models. If I hadn't said it before, I'll say it now: Always pay attention to the
I and
2 symbols shown in the instruction sheet to be sure you are using the correct parts for the version you are building!
Here are the two burner cans for the F-14B. They were very easy to assemble as it was all plastic parts:
The inside of the F-14A burner cans had photo-etch parts. These were fairly easy to add and were a tremendous improvement on the appearance of these cans:
Once assembled, however, they were almost invisible:
If you look straight in, they are still visible.
Next it was time to assemble the wings. These are all the parts that are needed for the wing assembly. You can see I needed to do a lot of cleanup first:
Afterward I assembled almost all the wing. The little protrusions you see all need to be cut off if you intend to make these models with the wings swept:
I will be assembling both of these with swept wings due to my limited space for display when these are done. I did cut all those off and assembled the leading edge to each wing.
As the wing was drying, I installed the vertical stabilizers and dry-fit the horizontal stabilizers. It is a good thing I did this since when I first snapped the horizontal stabilizers in, I got this:
Rather than try and re-shape the holes or anything to make these more horizontal, I pulled them out; switched them to the opposite sides of the fuselage and then re-inserted them:
Perfect! So, when you build these models; pay close attention to where you are inserting the tail surfaces to make sure you are putting them on the correct sides before you try to level them out. This will save you a ton of frustrating work.
Moving on, I had to install the forward canards on the front of the main fuselage. For the -A Tomcat I installed them extended:
I installed them retracted on the -B model Tomcat:
This certainly helps to make it easy to tell the two apart.
Here are the two of them side by side:
I apologize that I did not get any pics of some of the speed brake door installation or the installation of the engine burner cans. Everything went together fairly smoothly so I continued to move on. I also installed all the speed brake doors closed since I know I will break them multiple times during the paint stage if I left them open. One thing to note: make sure you line up the burner cans so that the tab on the end inserts into the slot provided. Press in the burner cans close to eliminate any gaps. I did have a couple small gaps on the -A model Tomcat which I filled with the AV putty that I have. Interestingly enough, the -B model Tomcat burner cans went in far easier than the -A model Tomcat.
Finally I got around to installing the wings. These are actually only pressed in and lightly glued:
Later on, I made some effort at carving out some of the inside opening on the main fuselage where the cockpit module goes. This thinning of the front of the main fuselage seemed to fix the issue with the step between the cockpit and main fuselage. It's not too easy to see here as these are just dry-fit together, but they do look far better now:
Okay that is as far as I got on this for now. A few more steps to do and I'll be able to shoot some paint on these.
After all that, I decided to start a simple kit and pulled out my Boeing 737 kit:
So simple, so basic; it doesn't even have a cockpit! So, I added a couple nose weights to this to be sure it sits properly on all wheels:
Later I shot the interior with flat black:
Once that was dry, I started to glue the two fuselage halves together. I ran into some problems on the front of this:
...so I started gluing the tail and moved forward until I had two-thirds of this glued. When it dries sufficiently, I'll adjust this front section until it glues together properly. Meanwhile, I set this aside to dry:
While that was drying, I cemented together the two halves of the tail surfaces:
And then I cemented together the two halves of the wings:
Before I closed them up though, I had to shoot a pic of this:
Finally, I assembled the two engines for this:
Wow, that was fast and easy work! Later on I'll go back and close up the nose and then clean everything up.
Meanwhile, I wanted to get further on another large aircraft so I re-masked and re-shot the white on the top of the C-118 for the sixth time ever. Five coats of white later, I shot four more coats of gloss over that. After all that re-shooting of the white and gloss; I think I might be finally ready to apply the decals:
The next model I decided to try and fix up is my F-102 Delta Dagger. I applied some Mr. Surfacer 500 on the top to smooth out the spine and fill a couple small gaps:
You can see above that I also used my AV putty to fill in the slight gaps at the wing root. Some time later, this got sanded smooth. Now I think I'm ready to mask the canopy and start slinging paint:
Finally, the little Jetstream was calling my name so I answered it by assembling the tiny cockpit and seating the pilots inside:
I also glued the windows inside the fuselage sides and then assembled the main wings and the two tail surfaces:
Later on I'll complete the interior assembly and move on with this one.
This was all I got done on my aircraft.
However, while I was shooting white on my C-118, I also took the opportunity to touch up the white on my VW bus:
That was all I did on that. I am still missing the other door.
After that, I wanted to finally get all the decals finished on my Russian aircraft carrier. I was so close to being done with that deck so out it came. I finished up the final six decals and then sealed this up:
Afterward, I completed applying the decals on the hull as well so now this bird farm is finally able to be completed:
Wow! Finally I can move on with that model!!
Okay, now it's time to move on to my armor and vehicles.
To start with, my friend Harmon and I continued our dual build of two Sherman Fireflies in 1/48 scale for the Bolt Action game. I got the tracks on mine finally:
Later on I applied the rather scanty decals to this model while Harmon finished his Firefly:
Since I was applying decals to 1/48 scale tanks, I also added the decals to the M4A3 early; turning her into Classy Peg:
Now these are ready for dullcoat and weathering.
After that I got to work on my own models. The first one I decided to move forward on was this short-run SchturmTiger that has been languishing on the desk. It was time make some progress on this. I added all the final plastic detail parts as well as the main barrel in preparation for the P/E parts that go on this:
That was enough of that. I moved on to something simpler, like my USAAF resupply set. I was so close to being at the paint stage on these so I pulled them out and finished everything up to where I needed them to be to paint. First off, I did a crude repair on the axle of the bomb trailer. It ain't pretty but it should hold the wheel in the proper place:
Next I added the seats to the side of the bomb tractor bed:
And finally I added the last detail parts to the tanker trailer:
Now these are all ready for me to start slinging some OD.
I even assembled the bombs so I could paint them too:
After that I pulled out another simple and easy model to do. This is the Zvezda 1/72 scale British Bofors AA gun. It went together so fast and easy I never took time to shoot pics:
That was almost like taking a break from building. Now back to the rest of the production line...
Another new kit called to me so I pulled out my Vauxhall British Staff Car. I assembled the basic chassis at first:
I had broken one piece even before getting it off the sprue; that's how delicate this tiny model is. I also had some difficulty getting anything to stick where it was supposed to so this was as far as I got. I set that aside to work on another new and simple model: my Merkava IV.
I started with the tracks and wheels. The way they molded these makes this part so easy:
Next I assembled all the little detail pieces to the lower hull. Here I also test-fit the tracks to the lower hull to see how they look:
I'll pull them off again for painting.
I then assembled all the turret parts except for the final machine guns and some antenna. That took all of five minutes. Next I added the turret to the upper hull; then dry fit the upper hull to the lower one to see how it looks and fits. There were no parts to add to the upper hull. Again, this will all be removed for painting:
Wow, this will feel fantastic having this tank in my collection!
That is all I got done so far in the last two or three days. I have a job starting Monday that will probably pull me away from the bench for awhile so I'm thrilled that I got this much done.
Thanks all for looking in. Comments are welcome.... when you wake up....
