The Duke's GAABSA Builds.

[Duke Maddog]

I have two New-in-Box kits I just got so that covers that. Now for the Shelf Of Doom kits, I have these:

First is a 1/72 scale F/A-18 Hornet that has been fighting me all this time. I've had to repaint this at least four times and replace the broken tail piece five times. It's the one that is missing again....



Next is another modern aircraft that I'd forgotten about until I started cleaning up and found it. I'd started this a couple years ago and put it aside. It's time to get this finished: it's the Tamiya F-35 in 1/72 scale:



Mind you, this is only the second Tamiya aircraft I've ever built...

Next is a commission build I really need to get started on again. All I have to do is mask the lower surfaces and paint the upper camouflage pattern; then I can move on to finish it. This is the ancient Airfix Handley Page Hampden in 1/72 scale:



While we are on the subject of WWII aircraft, I also have this 1/72 scale Italeri Me-110 Zestorer to finish up. It was a gift from a friend of mine and I really should get it done:



Additional prop planes I need to finish are these next two. First up is my 1/72 scale C-118 Liftmaster for the Cargo Haulers Campaign. I don't see myself finishing this in time for that so it'll have to go into the Second Chance campaign. I'm still trying to get a smooth enough coat on it for both the white and metallic coats of paint:



She's a big one too.

Another "horse" I need to finish is this 1/72 scale B-377 airliner. I'm still trying to get a smooth coat for it too:



The last two aircraft seem to be some small and simple models but they aren't. These are my two WWI aircraft I started for my Canvas Eagles game. The Revell 1/72 scale SE-5 was almost done, but then the wings and rigging all fell apart. In addition to that, I lost one of the horizontal stabilizers:



This next one could possibly go faster if I can get the decals colored in for the lozenge pattern underneath. Otherwise this Revell 1/72 scale Fokker D-VII would be further along:





Moving on now to my ground vehicles, I only have two. I put them in this one picture, but it shows my two UM Models 1/72 scale Russian Armored Trains that I still need to complete:





Next are my ships and boats....


First up on my ships and boats is this Airfix 1/72 scale RAF Rescue Launch. I just need to mask and paint this up before I can move on:



Next up is this Lindbergh kit of the President's Liner. I have a long way to go on this one:



Last ship I need to finish for the FSM Aircraft Carrier Group Build and our own Shipbuilder's Campaign is this Hobby Boss 1/700 scale Soviet Carrier Baku. I have the deck painted and clearcoated for the decals. Then after that I can add some more P/E and finish off the details:



I had an other boat to add to this but I just finished it so feel free to go check it out.



Finally, here's some things most people don't expect me to be building but I have started them anyway. These are the automobiles that have intrigued me and so I'm building them.

First is this Revell 1/24 scale Rebel Racer Corvette. I still need to get that body smoothed out and shot with another shiny red coat:



Here's another red car that I did and thankfully managed to get a nice smooth coat on this! Now all I need is to find the engine for this Revell 1/24 scale Monkeemobile:



Here's another crazy model I got from my brother's boss. It's the Revell 1/24 scale California Cruiser VW bus that I started to paint. I'm not doing the funky green color on this; rather I'm doing the white over blue color on the outside with a powder blue interior:



Finally there's a memory I'm building: the old 1/24 scale Mach 5 from Speed Racer! I got this painted white, and have done most of the interior. Time to move on with this one:





Last but not least, there is this 'horse' I also need to finish. This is the Monogram 1/72 scale Space Shuttle with Boosters. I have finally gotten a decent white on this and now I need to start masking it off and getting more detail paint on it:

[KSaarni]

Would be nice to see the commision build Hampden and the Space shuttle "one day" made...
Many other subjects as well... but those are my two favorites of tehs GAABSA builds...

- Kari

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks Kari! I will be getting back to the Hampden fairly soon as I do need to finish it for my client. The shuttle I will try to get back to once I finish off the C-118 and B-377. Things are slowly moving along on those two. I want to get them done because they are very large and the Shuttle is too. I'll need the space they take up for the Shuttle so they have priority now.

Stay tuned, more to come.

[Duke Maddog]

Here's another short update showing the last five to six hours of work. I managed to get some progress done on a few of my Shelf Queens so here they are. I also posted this in my Manufacturing Thread too since it is progress I made on my production line.

To start with, I masked off the C-118 Cargo plane so I could start the white flowing:



Next, I got some Wal-Mart 96-cent can of white and shot it over the top of this model. This is the first coat; I think I'll be adding a few more coats. It's a little hard to see in this pic, but I assure you it is there:



The white came out grainy; probably because I was trying to 'mist' it on and shot from a bit too far away. I'll polish it down before adding further coats.

Next up, I masked off the Hampden to prepare it for the camouflage pattern:





I'll try to shoot that tomorrow as it got too late to fire up the compressor to airbrush it. We'll see, but at least it's ready to move on.

Finally, while I was trying to get a great coat on the Liftmaster, I figured I'd also try to get a better coat on the B-377. I sanded down all the blemishes and filler, sometimes even getting back down to the bare plastic:



Next I shot a Mr. Surfacer 1000 primer on the bare areas and buffed it smooth:



Afterward, I shot the bare metal finish on this again. In this pic; it is still wet so it is really shiny here. Because of that, some of the reflections look like blemishes, but this turned out fairly smooth this time:



Later on I went back to look at this and I did see a few very minor blemishes, but not nearly as many as I found before. I should be able to buff them out well enough to shoot a clearcoat on this later and then start decaling. By then, hopefully the C-118 will also be ready for a clearcoat and I can decal both of these at the same time. I might even get the Hampden ready for a clearcoat as well.

That's all for now. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get further along on these yet again. Until then, thanks for looking in, comments are welcome.

[Stuart]

Great looking NM Finish Duke - is that 1/72?

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks Portman! Yes, this 1/72 scale. That's all I really build in when it comes to aircraft and armor.

This is now ready for a clearcoat and decals. Hopefully I'm seeing the end of the line with this and the C-118.

[Duke Maddog]

Wow, after seeing Carlos' GAABSA Thread, I remembered that I had started on too! I've been forgetting to post anything here. So, time to remedy that. Here's what I've been doing on some of my GAABSA builds...

I'll start out with the Speed Racer car: I shot another coat of white over it. You can see how rough that coat is so there's going to be more sanding smooth and re-coating in my future:




Now on to some of my Shelf Queens. Earlier this week I tried to shoot a new coat of Gloss Aluminum on the C-118. The paint cracked. I'm guessing I was shooting too close. It's kinda hard to see in these pics, but it's there:





So, I sanded the cracked paint smooth again and then shot another coat. Since I'd gone down to bare plastic in some places, this coat turned out blotchy:



Again, kinda hard to see in that pic; but it was very obvious in person. So, I sanded smooth again, then applied some Mr. Surfacer 1000 from the spray can. When it dried, I buffed it smooth and re-shot the Gloss Aluminum. Much better; I can move on with this now:





While I was working on my large planes, I pulled out the B-377 and applied the decals to the fuselage. What a challenge that was! They broke a lot, and also didn't fit where they were supposed to so I did the best I could. Finally, I had them more or less acceptable. It even took a few applications of Solvaset to get these to lay down right:





A few days and a clearcoat or two later, I applied the decals to the wings. Not nearly so difficult as the fuselage, but there were a few challenges. One frustration I had was the globe portion of one of the front decals disappeared. I have no idea where it went and I have nothing available to fix it so this will remain that way. Despite that, I'm thrilled with the way this looks now:



Now to shoot another clearcoat to seal everything once again and I'll be able to move on and finish this. I can't wait!

Speaking of models I can't wait to finish, I also applied the ancient Airfix decals to the HP Hampden in order to move forward on this. These took copious amounts of Solvaset to settle down well, but I'm happy with the results so far:





Now this one is ready for a clearcoat before I start the finishing on this. That makes three clearcoats I have to apply; The C-118 will need another before I'm comfortable with any further handling of that model.

Several days later, and I got to enjoy another exciting episode of "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back"! Yes, in trying to finish these two large aircraft I'm working on, I have encountered even more setbacks. It's as if these two refuse to be completed.

Let's start with the big B-377...

I had finished re-coating this and set it aside to dry and later picked it up to start removing the window masking. That's when I found this. It's hard to see in the pic, but it is a blemish on my perfect upper fuselage from running clearcoat:



So, after masking as seen in this previous pic; I sanded this smooth and re-shot it with the now-decanted Tamiya Gloss Aluminum. I think I got it close enough to how it was before:



Finally, I felt I could move along on this. I decided to remove all the window masking to prevent my breaking the landing gear and gear doors (among other things) later on. It seemed to go pretty well at the start:



Then I got to the other side. You can see how windows 1,2 and 4 fell inside the plane. Now I have a wonderful little high-pitched rattle inside this plane! Yippee!



Well, they weren't coming out so I did the only thing I could. Out came the window making fluid and now I have new windows:



My apologies for that poor pic, I was so frustrated with those three windows!

Moving on to Episode Two of "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back", we have my efforts to fix the aluminum coat on the C-118 which cracked. As you recall, I had shot the plane thusly:





Later I peeled off the Tamiya tape and lo and behold; it pulled a little of the white off with it, despite my clearcoating efforts! Okay, no problem; I was able to hide most of it under the 'cheat line'. Still some of it remained visible:



I primed it with a brush, masked it off again using the same technique with the B-377 and then decanted some white again. Here it is ready for me to spray:



Later on after spraying a couple coats of white and clearcoat; I pulled the Tamiya tape off and was gifted with a pain free and complete finish:





Finally! Now I can move forward on this.... again! Given the difficulty I've had in the past with this and with the B-377 decals, I pulled the decals for the C-118 and applied Liquid Decal Film to them. I just don't want to take any more chances!



Time to move on....

I added the remaining clear parts to the Hampden after dipping them in Future, along with the guns that are supposed to stick out from them:





Later on, I'll be masking them, dullcoating this plane and then painting the clear parts. Maybe then I can call this thing done.


And that now catches everyone up on my GAABSA builds for now. I'll just have to remember to post here from now on....

Thanks for looking in everyone, comments are welcome.

[Stikpusher]

The Stratocruiser and Hampden look like they are nearing the finish line soon. Decal application is always a sign that completion is soon...

[Duke Maddog]

You're right. I have a few detail parts still to add to the Hampden as well as the engines and propellers to the nacelles and then a dullcoat and it's done. The Stratocruiser just needs it's landing gear and gear doors. Maybe this weekend I'll be able to get one or both of them done. Man that will feel great!

Thanks for looking in Carlos!

[Duke Maddog]

It's been a rough couple weeks, but I tried again to get some languishing projects finished.

I puttered around doing some detail stuff to the Hampden which I did not take pics of. That bird is practically done anyway; I might as well wait and post pics of the finished model.

After that, I pulled out my Soviet Carrier Baku and started to decal the deck. These are some delicate decals indeed and they don't lay down very well. However once I got started; I realized that I still needed to paint a yellow strip down one section of the deck, some of which has to be covered by decals. That put an end to this task right here:



Yes, later on I did apply some decal solvent to eliminate the silvering. The yellow stripe is now painted and I can hopefully move forward on this again. Pics forthcoming...


Thanks all for looking in. I know; it's a tiny update, but the next post may just be another finished GAABSA build....or two!