I've been trying to keep busy, so there's more to show in this latest tour. Thank you for coming in, all aboard the trams and we'll get started....
Once again, the Hangar is the first stop. We got a bit of progress done on a number of aircraft. First, the Grumman Duck got it's wings on:
I had also added the canopy first since trying to get that on with the upper wing in place might have been quite difficult:
Next up, we got the canopy masked and installed on the AH-1Z:
While that was drying, we also worked on two more AH-1's, this time two -G models. The late one from AZModel was first since it seemed to be the easiest to do. We started with the cockpit of course, gluing it straight into the one side of the fuselage:
This got painted later:
While that was drying we masked off the canopy for painting:
Then the fuselage went together after the P/E parts were installed inside:
The canopy, wings, tail, and other detail parts were then installed:
While waiting for that to dry, we started on the AH-1G Early from Special Hobby. Of course, we got the cockpit assembled:
The decals for the instrument panels looked great so we added them to the instrument panels:
Then all the other parts: wings, tail, tail feathers, engine inlet covers, exhaust and a myriad of other things went on this after the fuselage was closed up:
The last one we got working on was the Russian Ka-29 which had been giving me fits! The previous time we closed the fuselage and added some of the other parts; the interior rotor mount broke away and we needed to tear the whole thing apart and repair it before moving forward. Hey, it's a Russian helicopter right? While that was drying, we masked off the canopy clear parts:
After that, we were able to re-close this up and add all the parts that had to be removed before. Then to feel like I made some progress on it, we added the clear parts as well:
Finally, another Forum friend sent me the extra airfield accessories he didn't want, so we got these built to help with future projects:
Finally that completes the tour of the Hangar, now on to the Shipyards.
The first thing we tried was to get the decals on the RAF Rescue Launch. The main problem there was that the decals were so old, they curled right up once loose from the backing paper. Here's one of the roundels showing what they all did:
That one even tore while I was trying to remove it from the tweezers. The rest remained intact fortunately. How do you fix something like that? Well, I 'painted' on some of the latest iteration of Future and then we placed the decal on the patch of Future. Using a soft brush, we slowly unrolled the decal, pressing it flat on the Future. The Future was just sticky enough to hold it, and as it dried, I continued to brush the edges so they would stay down. Here is the results:
That shot shows the roundel from above. The only decals I had any issues with were the deck decals. The checkerboard ones didn't fit so I cut slits to work around the posts on deck. I also cut parts on the number decal that were settled over raised detail. I then pressed down on the raised detail to try and get it to conform as best I could. I'm happy enough with these. They look far better than I expected for such ancient decals!
Here's a shot of the stern number:
And a shot of the other side, with a better look at the deck markings:
Okay, enough of that. I wanted to start a more simple model and actually do some construction so we laid the keel for the USS Indianapolis. Once that was done, we started on the main superstructure holding the bridge since that part could be assembled without having to fasten it down to the hull:
Later while that was drying, we built up the hull and main decks. The bridge sub-assembly was dry fit on it to see how it fits:
That is all from the Shipyards, now on to the Motor Pool...
Not too much was done here, but it seemed like a lot since it took awhile. First, the Australian Bushmaster was masked off with the Silly Putty so the first color could be sprayed on once the paint booth is fired up:
Next we started on the upper hull of the T-62 with ERA armor on it:
Quite simple, but the Rolls Royce was calling so we got started on that one, chassis being the beginning:
Then of course, the main hull:
Followed by the cargo(?) area in back:
And finally the turret which was surprisingly difficult to get lined up properly:
And we'll close this tour with the mock up of this attractive little armored car:
Thank you all for stopping in and taking the tour. Comments are always welcome.
