SPA Modeler

Bruce, I can’t recall what my first Aurora build was exactly. I do remember building several of their 1/48 tanks early on, but not which ones they were. I can picture the box art somewhat, and I now know most of the kits in that line at that time. Square box tops with dramatic artwork, and a tan vacuform base inside are for certain. But we are talking 50 year old memories now, which are more impressions than sharp defined thoughts.
It was a year or two later after we moved to a new house that I remember getting Pactra paints. One store carried the line on a nice display rack, and another carried some box sets. The first set was one called “military flats”. But enough reminiscing for now.
What are those strips for Bruce? Are those going to be rib tapes for the wings?

Bah....never liked Aurora nor Pactra! Blasphemous, I say.

Interesting treatment on that plastic strip....

LyleW wrote:Bah....never liked Aurora nor Pactra! Blasphemous, I say.

Just go home...

uh, I am home. Down in the Paw Paw Piddle Palace, infidel.

The bad words are only PG-13...

Today’s update: I took a shot at using oils for a wood grain appearance.
First step, I mixed up a brown shade and then applied it over the interior wood surface areas



Next step I used a thinner moistened brush to remove much of the oil paint and leave a streaking that resembles wood grain



The final look... any resemblance to actual wood grain is more luck than anything else.



This technique is actually going to take lots of practice to get a handle on it.

Through the tiny opening of the cockpit that's going to be a great looking woodgrain pattern.

That’s pretty much along the lines of what I’m thinking. It’s good enough for what will be seen.

Lyle! I love Aurora kits; these aircraft, the sailing ships, the monster figures and the science fiction kits. I just... think these reflect my personal joy of model building. Not prototypical navel gazing. With these kits the builder gets to be imaginative. To problem solve. To misbehave, a little. I’m thinking of Firefly. To be a heretic. To be a little bit or a lot of crazy. I feel the way I do when I am in the Walt Disney designed portions of Disneyland: full of curiosity and ambition. I don’t feel like an infidel. I feel very American in the very best sense of who we are.

Carlos! Your work with translucent layers of oils looks beautiful; subtle highlights, and color shifts. I like the overall effect for its glossiness. To me this looks like well-varnished wood. I agree with Clint that the section which is seen of the cockpit will benefit from the work you are doing.

Today was... I had a lot of personal issues today. I didn’t do as much as planned. I sculpted a new version of the seat cushion. I repainted the interior sides where I damaged the paint. I fitted the cockpit, removed the molded plastic lip around the cockpit which I will replace with another sculpt in Milliput. I opened up the cockpit opening. I tacked the fuselage halves together; sanded then primed; sanded then primed; sanded then primed.



This looks like a dimple. I see these a lot of times on the AMT Enterprise Warp Nacelles. I guess it is a sinkhole that I missed during my first assessment.



I also love the plastic, I can practically carve this like a block of wood. I love that the edges thin out without falling apart. I also always cut off the locator tabs and nibs in order to decide what is the best fit for my needs.

I thought you said you didn't get much done? That's a lot of good work.