SPA Modeler

patiently awaiting the next update...

Looking forward to more updates. I'm excited to see how everything comes together. Yeah...that shuttle is a big one. Which ship are you going to do it as?

Oh my, yeah se is a biggie!
Indeed, the cockpit looks good after the paintwork,

curious to see the next steps Duke!

- Kari

Thanks guys! I hope to get more work done next week.

Blacksheep, I haven't quite decided yet. I may do a poll to see what everyone likes. All options are available on the decal sheet, even the Enterprise; despite her never going into space.

Okay, here's the latest on my mostly small scale, out-of-the-box projects that I've been working on.

I'll start with the Space Shuttle since there's only the one pic. Seems the bottom seam is atrocious, so I slathered a good amount of Mr. Surfacer 500 in preparation for cleaning this up:



Hopefully tomorrow I can install the interior into this model and move on....

Next I went to work on my little Huey Hog helicopter that I've been neglecting for a while. I finished up painting the pilots and adding the main rotor stem:



I also dry-brushed white on the instrument panel:



I kept it simple since I didn't expect much would be seen through the windows anyway...

Finally, I slapped it all together and set it up to dry:



More to come on that later. I have a lot of touch-up to do on that. I'll also probably need to shoot another OD coat on it.


Moving on, I also went back to another model I've been neglecting a bit. It was time to complete the cab for my Diamond T cargo truck. Before that though, I didn't like the gaps between the tanks on the running board and the forward fender. So, I took out the Mr. Surfacer 500 and added some to the gaps. Then I used Mr. Hobby Thinner to smooth it out so that I wouldn't need to try and get some kind of sanding implement in the corner:





Next I added the windshield and door windows to this. Here's the windshields:



Seems the Mr. Surfacer 500 got a little thin and opened up again. Gonna have to fix that...

Windshields were kind of hard to see in that pic, here's another one:



Then I added the windows to the doors:



Don't know where all that dirt came from on those; I already got them cleaned off. I also noticed that they didn't include a window for the back of the cab. So, I used my Micro Crystal Clear to make one:



While all that was sitting and drying, I went ahead and added the wheels to the chassis:



Gonna be painting those wheels later on, possibly tomorrow.

Finally, I got the cab finished:



I didn't add the headlight guards on this because they are solid plastic and look terrible. I'm going to try and find some P/E mesh I might have somewhere to replace it on this model. Hopefully I have some.

Finally, some more Fun With Dryfitting:




Last but not least, Jim here's your 1/48 scale Revell Stearman biplane that you sent me to build for you.

This is the box I got in the mail this week:



Some nicely molded parts in this model. It looks pretty good in the box:



After looking it over, I cleared my bench and got started. First off was the cockpits and interior:



While that was drying, and while I was waiting to find out what scheme he wanted this done in, I painted black on all the black and metallic parts. The metallic parts will be dry-brushed with aluminum or steel, depending on what I'm painting:



By the way everyone, he left it up to me to choose the scheme so I'll do the one shown on the box top. Jim, I hope you like it so far.

Tomorrow I was supposed to help someone move, but the place he's supposed to move to isn't ready yet so I have the whole day free. The airbrush is coming out so I'll be painting the Stearman interior and several other models.

Stay tuned for more! Meanwhile, comments are welcome; thanks for looking in.

Looking good, Duke...

Looking like you are off to a great start, Duke. Lyle sent you the kit (btw)

Work, work, work...

Uh, how is that Phantom coming?

Thanks guys! Glad you like my progress so far.

Lyle I apologize; I have no idea why I put "Jim". I am stumped by that.


More to come, stay tuned.