SPA Modeler

Looks awesome! Nice and busy in there, the IP gauges are perfect.

Wow, if it wasn't for those nippers that is holding this up; I'd swear this was a real plane! You sure don't have to worry bout meeting realism standards; you've got a tremendous ability to achieve them! I'm but a talentless novice when it comes to doing this kind of realistic detail.

Thank you, Clint and Duke! I appreciate that.

It’s probably mostly the kit The scale especially makes this a lot easier.

I’ve been struggling with dissatisfaction over my painting and detailing of small cockpit parts. It is my feeling that if I can pick out as much detail as possible, crisply and cleanly, and then accentuate all of it with oil paint washes and filters and with dry brushing with enamels, I’ll get the kind of depth and realism I’m looking for. And sometimes that isn’t easy. And doing things like adding some wiring was a challenge, too. But this kit is fantastic, the cockpit is packed with details as-is, and believe me, the size helped so much in terms of the wiring and painting most especially. I just followed John’s lead and took my time, treated each little subassembly like it was a model unto its self, and here we are, nearly a month later... I’m relieved that this bit is complete. I got it exactly how I envisioned it in my mind.

Now I guess it’s back to construction. I have the horizontal and vertical stabs and moveable control surfaces to build. That’ll be a nice break from painting and weathering. And that’ll free me up to concentrate my creative energy on the Hellcat’s Pratt & Whitney.

Treating each sub assembly as it's own model is a great approach, it's what I'm trying to do right now with the King Tiger.

Medicman71 wrote:Damn! That looks incredible!

Seriously… I have no words for your incredible work.

Excellent! The instrument panel on the F4U is one assembly where I strayed from the Tamiya instructions. The clear instrument panel had domed faces for each of the gauges and I thought that it might distort the instruments. So I put the instrument decals on the front. But yours turned out great with the instrument decals on back... no noticeable distortion.

Clint and Mr. Black Sheep-

Thank you, sincerely!

John,

I was thinking about that when I built that IP. I’m not set up to punch-out individual instrument dials, so in this case, fearing that distortion myself, I just kind of went with it and hoped for the best. I’m really glad it all worked out. That’s the nicest-looking IP I’ve done so far and the way tamiya engineered that thing is a big part of why that was a success. I really like how they did that.

Yummy!!!

Awesome work on that cockpit Kenny!

Now look what this Kenny guy produces here. One year ago he was kind of a modeling rookie, asking rookie questions. Now he let's us all look stupid.

Shame on you, Kenny!