SPA Modeler

Stikpusher wrote: ↑Sat Dec 23, 2023 3:15 pm The fuselage band matches the cowling color for the section leaders. Here is a chart to show, using F3Bs of Fighting 3 (VF-3) from USS Saratoga, white tails for that air group, to show the markings “by the numbers”.

Thanks Carlos, you truly are a living encyclopedia with so much knowledge.
That pic / reference saved for future use!

BlackSheep214 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 23, 2023 3:40 pm Now he’s gotta get 17 more…

And yes Tom, my hands are itching to build, if not all 17 remaning, but at least a few more!

- Kari

Christmas is over and only now I have some precious bench time... Before hitting on more paintbrush activity with my Seagull (the yellow wings) I thought I can as well start decaling the fuselage.

The kit is 50 years old and that is also the age of the decals, so very interesting to see how they work

Some yellowing in the decal, but not too bad




And the result, I let the decal soak perhaps for 5 minutes in the water. Only the "- 0" part of the decal came "somehow" off, the rest was sticked in the backing paper and did not come off, neither gently nor hardly.
After about 10 minutes, the backing paper itself started to disintegrate and then the "1" came off, though in two pieces..
The "- 0" decal piece did not have any glue nor cement, so it did not stick at all on the fuselage and slowly started to dry out.



So summa summarum, I need to hunt new decals for my Seagull.



- Kari

Yellow Wings Decals has you covered... but you will have to repaint the cowling...



http://store.yellow-wingsdecals.com/1-7 ... 13-95.html

Thanks Carlos, again so good and precise help!

The cowling is stripped from paint, so having a entirely blue cowling actually will look good. And the fuselage stripe needs to be blue as well ?

Hope there will be some information in the decal set what blue it actually will be.

- Kari

Old decals are always suspect. I usually get aftermarket ones if I can find them.

You're quite welcome Kari. Yes, if you are going to make aircraft 1-O-7, the cowling front is blue around the entire circumference. The color is called True Blue, which had the old ANA code of 501 and Federal Standard number of 15102. That should match the upper wing chevron and fuselage stripe on the decal sheet.

That's looking great Kari - I love yellow wings. Can't wait to see the finished product!

Medicman71 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 5:54 pm Old decals are always suspect. I usually get aftermarket ones if I can find them.

Yeah, had still hoped they would somehow work, if just working with them patiently, which after all did not work out

- Kari

Stikpusher wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 6:45 pm You're quite welcome Kari. Yes, if you are going to make aircraft 1-O-7, the cowling front is blue around the entire circumference. The color is called True Blue, which had the old ANA code of 501 and Federal Standard number of 15102. That should match the upper wing chevron and fuselage stripe on the decal sheet.

And there the answer came, :-) Many tx Carlos!

cbaltrin wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 6:49 pm That's looking great Kari - I love yellow wings. Can't wait to see the finished product!

Thanks Chris!

- Kari

The Seagull waits for better times, aka new decals... Meanwhile the bench has been empty and unused, until now when I started the Hurricane Mk 1 in 1:72 build from Arma Hobby

As mentioned in another thread, the kit looks good but is not a shake-and-bake kit as such.
Some sanding to get most of the cockpit parts squeezed into the fuselage, had to leave out one support frame, that would anyhow have been practically invisible. The gear bay required also some sanding, which was not enough as I had to use pretty much force and cement to get the wing halfs tightly squeezed together. Instructions are not too good either.

Nevertheless, this is the status as now. Main parts attached and waiting for next steps, paintwork.



This kit does (limited edition) does not come with any canopy masks, but the instruction sheet has a "template" to cut out own canopy masks. Might be other kit makers have similar templates in their instruction sheet, but this is the 1st time I see such + actively made own masks with the help of these.



Then one good example that shows clearly, Arma Hobby is not Tamiya from engineering point of view.
The tires are readily flattened, but why on earth are the sprue gates not touching in the flat part of the tyre?



Let's see how this build will evolve

- Kari