2012 Aircraft Models in Progress by the Duke.

[Duke Maddog]

I'll start with a recap of what was still unfinished at the end of 2011.

As you know, I was working on three large transports. Clearing these large boxes out of my room would be a great improvement. As of now, here is where they stand:

The C-160 Transall and the C-130 Herc have both received some additional sanding and filling before being prepped for paint. The An-12 Cub is almost ready for it's oat of paint which it'll get once I acquire the color. After that it'll be set up for decals and final finishing while I wait to see if I can replace the missing canopy.

Here's the pics of where these three are now in terms of assembly:

C-130:

C-160:

An-12 Cub:

Next I had started the MPC Profile Series/Airfix P-61 Black Widow. I had noticed that the horizontal stabilizer on the tail was crooked, so I had to break it and adjust the one wing to make it straight. That's where I am now on this. Here is a pic showing it where it is now:

I had also begun a B-57G Night Hawk and had it to the painting stage. Since then, I've managed to get a camo pattern on it now:

Another model I'd started near the beginning of last year and stopped working on was the Italeri Ka-50W 'Werewolf'. I'd stopped working on it because it seemed that every time I tried to get further along on it, something else would break. I seemed to always be taking one step forward and two steps back on this. I finally got tired of it and just kept barreling along until I'd browbeat this thing to where it is now.

Here it is; I have the camo pattern on it, decals on it, and the landing gear installed. I also assembled the blades onto the main rotor assembly:

Here's another quicky I started sometime after Christmas. I'd gotten it from a friend that knew he wasn't going to build it so he passed it on to me. It's an A-1 Skyraider being done up in SEA camo pattern. I got it almost all assembled and got the camo pattern on it just before the year ended. Here it is as of last year, with the canopy and prop dry-fit on it:

That's all my progress so far on all my aircraft models I started or continued in 2012.

For a recap on the armor models I am working on now in the new year, feel free to check out my thread on the Ground Power Forums.

Meanwhile, thanks for looking in on the start of my 2012 aircraft production line. Comments are always welcome.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Well it's a new week, and I've actually got something to post worth showing.

I've been working on my eight T-34's , as well as my large cargo planes so I can clear out a good set of boxes for more room.

I'll start out with my cargo planes. I've gotten my C-130 basecoated with a dark green and got started with some preliminary camouflage painting. You can see I've also already broken two propeller blades, one of which is already disappeared:

Next, I got my An-12 Cub completely painted and ready for a clearcoat. I should have decals on this bird pretty soon:

That's all my progress so far on my aircraft. Hopefully I'll have some of these done soon. Meanwhile, if you'd like to see the progress I made on my T-34's and a truck, feel free to check out Thread in the Ground Power Forums. Meanwhile, thank all for looking in, comments are welcome.

 

[moon puppy]

 

[Duke Maddog]

Okay, a small update for this week. I've been very busy with work this week so I haven't been able to get as much done on the bench as I'd like. Anyway, here is my aircraft progress for this week:

I refined my painting on the B-57G Night Hawk. Now it is ready for decals and final details:

Next thing I dd was to complete the camo pattern on my C-130A Hercules. Now it is ready for clearcoat and decals and then I get to find the two missing propeller blades and make some repairs before I can call this thing done:

And finally, for a Group Build on another Forum, I'm re-starting this model since I'm tired of it sitting around on my workbench!

Here it was when I stopped working on it about two years ago:

The white stuff in the openings is Testor's Window cement. I figured I needed to close off all those windows in the mooring tower.

Recently, I did get the mooring tower painted. You can see all the windows have cleared up nicely:

Okay, that's all I have for aircraft this week. I also got some armor projects started which can be seen in the Ground Power discussion board. There's even a new armored train started...

Meanwhile, thanks for looking in, comments are welcome.

 

[SA Dave]

Good going Duke. Some nice camo planes in the making there

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks Dave!

 

[moon puppy]

That's neat, that mast really going to support the blimp?

 

[Duke Maddog]

That's neat, that mast really going to support the blimp?

Thanks MP! Yeah, it will support it once I get the mast fastened down to a solid base.


On an unrelated note...... I don't get it.


I went in my hobby room earlier today to work on my transport aircraft. I have two that just need a clearcoat for decals and then I'll be almost done with them except for some final details to touch up. Those two are my C-130A and my An-12 Cub. Here's what I don't get....


I set up my C-130 to shoot my Future on it. I'd already checked to be sure that the model was clean and ready to go. So, I start to shoot some Future and notice on the wing tips is a bunch of dirt that wasn't there before. So, I start to carefully clean it off, and I break off the flap! Plus, I see a big fingerprint that needs to be fixed as well. So much for being ready for a clearcoat. I fix the wing flap, touch up the fingerprint to get rid of it and set the model aside to dry.... :angry:

Okay, I still have Future in my airbrush. Okay, so I'll go ahead and shoot Future on the AN-12 Cub. So, I pick it up and proceed to take off all the tape masking the white leading edges. Then I set it in the spraybooth to shoot Future. I start to shoot, only to have to stop immediately again because I notice.... BIG BROWN SMUDGES on the fuselage! :angry: Okay, so I go and get a wet paper towel and start to clean off the model, being very careful with it. Suddenly, the spine on top snaps open! I'd tried so hard to get that area to look seamless and now it just CRACKED OPEN! :vmad Now I have to re-glue all that together again and then sand it smooth, then shoot more paint on it! On top of that, as I was repairing that, one of the main landing gear falls off....AGAIN! :vmad That still hasn't been repaired, I will do that after I finish with the other break first.

Man, I just seem to NEVER be allowed to finish a large model without some stupid glaring flaw that I either have to settle for or break five more pieces before I finish fixing said glaring flaw!

I finally was able to shoot some Future on my B-57G Night Hawk so I can at least decal that! IF I haven't lost the decals to it! Just my luck, that's what happened!

Why, why WHY can't I just finish a large model without having to break it fifteen times just trying to prepare it for decals?



On a more positive note, I shot paint on my Ural command truck and my eight T-34's, and I weathered my little German Kfz-13 armored car. I'm gonna let them dry overnight and then take pics maybe this weekend and get them posted. The little Kfz-13 will be posted as a finished model.

Okay, I just had to vent. I go through this every time I build a two- three- or four-engined aircraft and I'm just so FED UP with it! By now, I should be able to build the stinking things without all these backwards steps!

So, stay tuned, pics are forthcoming.

 

[moon puppy]

I would have gone play golf after the first one.

on Mark.

 

[Duke Maddog]

LOL! Thanks MP! I don't play golf; I have a learning disability which affects my ability to see the ball well enough to hit it. It's a depth perception type of thing. I just wanted to get closer to being done with these things; I'm tired of having them cluttering up my workbench.

I will march on....

 

[Duke Maddog]

Okay, here's a quick update on the aircraft I've been working on this week.

During the week I spent some time on the spraybooth shooting paint. I got my C-160 Transall finally shot with a basecoat:

Next up: the camo pattern, then a clearcoat and decals (hopefully!!!)

I also painted some armor, but those are shown in my Workbench Thread in Ground Power.

Later on at St. Crispin's Hobby Day on Monday, I decided to start the Vickers Valiant that I picked up on Saturday.

I started with the cockpit first:

Then I worked on part of the bomb bay:

This will have a full bomb load; I'm going to paint this in the two-tone grey and green camo pattern to match my other two V Bombers. Even though I'm not doing the Nuc bird I couldn't help assembling the Blue Danube H-Bomb:

Moving on again, I decided to assemble the wing flaps, tail surfaces and other assemblies that required two parts to be cemented together to make the one. Makes things faster when it's time to assemble the whole model. I even built the underwing fuel tanks:

Next I built up the engine intakes, exhaust cones and then added the wheel wells and intakes to the interior of the main wing before cementing the two other wing halves to the main wing. That's when I noticed a little issue Airfix left me with. Check it out....

Here's one wingtip:

Here's the other one:

Airfix short shot the first wingtip! So now I'll have to get some sheet styrene and some Mr. Surfacer to make both wingtips match. Oh well. Even after all that, the big wing still looks pretty good:

Now all I have to do is paint up all the interior sections and then I can add the bombs to the bomb bay, put in all the interior assembles and close up the fuselage. This is all coming together very well so far.

Well, that is all my progress on my aircraft so far this week. I have a few days off, (one is my birthday) so I'll be getting even more done here this week. Maybe I'll even have a couple finished models to show by this time next week!

Feel free to check out my progress on the Ground Power Workbench Thread as well.


Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.

 

[MrT]

Big planes!! Nice work!

B)

 

[Duke Maddog]

Today I spent my birthday working on my models, so I have a bit more progress to show. Here is today's latest work.

After fixing the C-130, I took a good look at it. I realized I was pretty hasty in applying the paint and camo to this bird; I had a ton more issues to sand and fill so I went to work. Here is my Herc after I got it sanded. You can see where all the issues were:

The horizontal stabilizer on the right had broken off the tape was helping it to dry level:

Even underneath had a ton of issues:

Afterward, I added my Mr. Surfacer 500 to everything and set it aside to dry.

After all that, I figured I'd better check my An-12 Cub. Yep, a few issues there too, but fortunately not as many as the Herc:

Once that Mr. Surfacer dries, I'll be able to sand both smooth and move on.



Along with all of this, I also did a little work on the mooring tower for the R-100 airship; added liquid decal film to a couple sheets of decals; painted all the rubber on the T-34 roadwheels on all eight tanks, and touched up a little on the Russian command truck. Not enough progress on those to show in pics, so they weren't taken. However, pics of my T-34's are shown in the Ground Power Forums.



It's a small update, but I'm that much closer to being done with a few of these. Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.

 

[moon puppy]

Happy birthday Mark

 

[dewertus]

Best wishes!

I see that for this "big boys" company you missing B-36 :laugh:

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks MP! It was a good one!

Best wishes!

I see that for this "big boys" company you missing B-36 :laugh:

Thanks! I'm missing the B-36 from this company because it is already hanging on my ceiling for the last 25 years. It does need a good refinishing job, and when I can do it, I'll give it one.

 

[Dusan]

Great progress Duke! I like that C-160, Heller right?

All the best!
Dusan

 

[Duke Maddog]

Yeah, that's Heller. Not a bad fit overall, but the main canopy sucks eggs. I have an idea on a way to semi-fix it. All I have left is to camo that bird, clearcoat and decal it before finishing it off.

Thanks for the compliment!

 

[Duke Maddog]

Okay, here's a pretty short Progress thread showing what I've been doing on my aircraft between jobs for the last three weeks. I've been so busy, I've not been able to post anything until today. I did get a lot more done on my armor; feel free to check out the Ground Pounder Forums for my latest bprogress there.


Okay, I did manage to start getting decals on my C-130, but they aren't all on yet so I didn't take any pics. Besides, they are the old MPC decals that are thicker than vacuform. I even used Tamiya Extra Thin cement on them to get them to lay down-- nothing else would work!!!

I also got the camo pattern painted on the C-160 Transall. She's been clearcoated as well, and as soon as I get her decals out, I'll get them put on when I next can apply them. Here she is just before the clearcoat:

That's all for now. I'll be at Hobby Day tomorrow so there'll be a bit more progress to show after that. I just don't know when I'll be able to post it! LOL!

Meanwhile, comments are welcome; thanks for looking in! Stay tuned for more!

 

[Duke Maddog]

Well, I'm back from Ohio and have a day to myself to get caught up posting pics that were taken before I left.

I needed to 'cleanse the pallet' once in a while, so I had started a couple aircraft. The larger transports were left at home for finishing when I have the time at home. Taking them to Hobby Day so much gets troublesome.

This first one is Captain Steve Hillman's F/A-18 Hornet from the Independence Day movie. This kit is a Lindbergh kit and going together surprisingly well for a Lindbergh kit! yeah it's fictional, but hey, I have Maverick's F-14 from Top Gun, so why not Capt. Steve's plane from Independence day?

This other kit is the Hasegawa F-111 in Australian markings. I'm a bit disappointed in this model because Hasegawa requires me to build this model with the wings extended. There's no option for letting them swing, or leaving them swept (which I need to do to fit this on my shelf!) So, I'm going to go ahead and complete it th3e way it demands I do it. Here's where I left off on this model:

Well, that is all I have so far to show. I have another Hobby Day tomorrow where I'll be getting alot more done, and I'll even be starting one or two new kits that I got in Ohio at the Dayton model show. Feel free to c heck out my armor in the Ground Power Forums as well. Stay tuned, and as always, comments are welcome.