SPA Modeler

Didn't see this one till now Carlos. You are a brave one for tackling an old kit like this. I was just talking about older kits on another forum to somebody else. It's good to challenge our model skills by taking these on from time to time. That old Jo-Han kit that I'm building mirrors these older Monogram kits in terms of work required to get them "up to snuff". Looks like you are doing a "bang-up" job on this one so far.

portman wrote:Two simple yet effective improvements Carlos - nice work. I have to say I'm liking the detail on that kit - it looks good!

Adding the U/C before paint - that's a bit out of the standard building process - any reason why (I've started to do that myself)?

Thanks Stuart. Considering the pedigree and age of the kit, the detail is adequate. Not great, but not terrible. I built the original Aurora kit as a boy, and remember it having retractable landing gear with big open holes for wheel wells..
As far as why I added the struts at this stage? The nose strut is easily added at the end, but the main gear struts are glued against the rear walls of the wheel wells. I figured that it’d be easier and stronger to add them at this point for a more secure mounting. Painting will be easy because it’s all gonna be white.

mustang1989 wrote:Didn't see this one till now Carlos. You are a brave one for tackling an old kit like this. I was just talking about older kits on another forum to somebody else. It's good to challenge our model skills by taking these on from time to time. That old Jo-Han kit that I'm building mirrors these older Monogram kits in terms of work required to get them "up to snuff". Looks like you are doing a "bang-up" job on this one so far.

Thanks Joe. I think that many of us cut our modeling teeth on kits like this. And it is fun gettin these older kits “up to snuff”. Especially improvising things with Evergreen styrene. It’s too bad that Jo Han never did any 1/48 aircraft, as I would love to have a go at one. I do remember building their 1/72 planes as a boy, and loved how they usually had some duel version option.

Thank you Bruce. It’s nice to lose yourself in an activity. This online stuff will still be here in five minutes, hours, or days. Enjoy the moment!
And as much as people gripe about the raised panel lines or fit of the old Monogram kits, whatever their shortcomings, those hand carved molds pretty much got the shapes, dimensions, contour, curves, etc., right. I have a hard time plopping down several times the cost of the R/M kit for a far more costly Trumpeter or Hobbyboss kit. Which those usually tend to be riddled with shape and size errors. Even the cockpits and wheel wells are often not as well detailed.

It's the same with a lot of the old Airfix kits, a bit soft on detail and raised line yes, but they often got the shape just right.

This weekend’s progress... I broke out the power tool... the Dremel...



I removed ejector pin marks on the weapons pylons and inside the main wheels. Afterwards I applied some Mr. Surfacer on the pylon ares, allowed that to dry overnight, then sanded them today. I also cleaned up the mold seam lines on the pylons. Since I’m doing a slant load on the TERs, and the kit bombs have sway braces molded on them, I added a pair of sway braces to each TER on the inboard side. Then I glued the pylons for stations 1, 2, 7, and 8 in place.







I have one more kit shortcoming to address, then I’ll start on getting this puppy ready for paint...

I really like that head on shot, what a air intake this thing had.

Looking great Stick

LyleW wrote:

The headslap was supposed to be