2012 Aircraft Models in Progress by the Duke.

[Duke Maddog]

Okay, a little more progress to show from my time at St. Crispin's Hobby Day Friday.

This is the second of two models I started last Friday. It's a model I'd been given by a friend for free. This is only the third Tamiya model I ever started. It's the 1/72 scale F-4U Corsair. This is the cockpit after I assembled, painted, washed and decaled it:

The instrument panel side:

Here is a shot of all the parts that I painted and washed on the sprues; as well as the completed cockpit, wings and engine:

After they dried, I assembled everything you see here:

Next I just have to add the canopy; mask off all the engine and wheel wells, then I can paint this. Sweet!


That's all my progress so far on my latest works in progress. I'm hoping to move ahead on more kits than this soon. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, thanks for looking in, comments are welcome.

 

[moon puppy]

gotta love a Corsair

 

[Duke Maddog]

Oh yeah! Especially this one! I've never had a model that went together without any seams; I don't know what to do with myself!

 

[matrixone]

Duke,
Yes its possible to get a good finish using spray cans, the problem with using spray cans for painting models is you have no control over how much paint comes out and if you have an older can of paint the paint might not give you a smooth finish as good as a new can of spray paint, also temperature can effect how well the paint will lay down on the models surface and that would be very noticable on a NMF.

I rarely if ever prime my models before spraying them, the exception to that would be a NMF and spraying on a coat of thinned gloss black first works very nicely, spray the gloss black on a little thicker than you would normally and you will get a very smooth finish without the orange peel you somtimes see in close up pics of models with gloss finishes.


Matrixone

 

[Tankbuilder]

Duke,
Yes its possible to get a good finish using spray cans, the problem with using spray cans for painting models is you have no control over how much paint comes out and if you have an older can of paint the paint might not give you a smooth finish as good as a new can of spray paint, also temperature can effect how well the paint will lay down on the models surface and that would be very noticable on a NMF.

I rarely if ever prime my models before spraying them, the exception to that would be a NMF and spraying on a coat of thinned gloss black first works very nicely, spray the gloss black on a little thicker than you would normally and you will get a very smooth finish without the orange peel you somtimes see in close up pics of models with gloss finishes.


Matrixone

How do you thin spray can paint? Or are you saying to airbrush the gloss black coat?

Thanks for the hints and cheers plus happy Holy Days

 

[matrixone]

Sorry I did not make it clear, what I meant was to airbrush thinned gloss black.

Anyway, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!


Matrixone

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks for that great tip. I'll have to give it a try, maybe even on this latest model. I'd have to strip it first.

Oh, and Tankbuilder; another way to 'thin' spraycan paint is to place the can in a bowl of hot (almost boiling) water for a few minutes. It allows more pressure to build up inside and the spray comes out airbrush fine.

Thanks again for all the help guys. Gonna see what I can do with this soon.

 

[Tankbuilder]

Thanks for that great tip. I'll have to give it a try, maybe even on this latest model. I'd have to strip it first.

Oh, and Tankbuilder; another way to 'thin' spraycan paint is to place the can in a bowl of hot (almost boiling) water for a few minutes. It allows more pressure to build up inside and the spray comes out airbrush fine.

Thanks again for all the help guys. Gonna see what I can do with this soon.

Thanks again.

I've used that very hot water trick to spray paint outdoors when the temperature was a bit too low for optimum spraying otherwise.

Cheers and Merry Christmas

 

[Duke Maddog]

Well, it's almost the end of the year, and I've got a bit more progress done. I doubt that any of these will be finished before the end of the year, but who knows? One or two may get finished. Otherwise, consider this a preview of what I will get finished in January.

Let's start with some of the projects I've had languishing on my bench for a while. For instance, my Privateer. I got some paint on it and now it is more-or-less ready for clearcoat and decals:

You can see I have quite a few guns to repair on this. I also hope to have the turrets turn as well, but I'm not confident. Now to clearcoat this and decal it so I can finally finish it.

Next up is my Airfix Vicker's Valiant bomber. I finally have the fuselage cemented together; the wings and horizontal stabilizers installed; and the bomb bay installed with bay doors open:

Sorry only the one pic; my camera was running out of battery charge. Now to check seams and gaps to fix them so I can start painting this.

Next is a model Skyraider I got from a friend who had started it. He lost interest and then gave it to me, knowing I would finish it. It's been languishing on my bench for most of the year. Well, I'm a few steps closer to finishing it now. The canopy is painted, some other details were painted and she's almost ready for clearcoat and decals, if I can find some decals to use:

Now on to some of my more recently started projects....

The first of these is my Mi-26 Halo. It took awhile and bored me stiff, but I got the main and tail rotors painted the way the instructions said to do it. Now I'm ready to assemble these massive rotors. This is going to be interesting to say the least....

While they were drying I painted the lower fuselage of the helicopter with the light blue. Then I went back and touched up the rotors while the belly paint was drying. Once it was dry, I masked off and painted the upper fuselage with the base color. Now all she needs is the camo pattern and she'll be ready for clearcoat and decals:

Next up is my Tamiya Thunderjet. I couldn't close this up earlier because the engine exhaust cone that went inside the fuselage went into Oblivion. After awhile, I thought about it and said 'screw it' (in slightly harsher terms) and decided I wasn't going to be held up by this stupid model anymore! It always seems that something keeps holding me up from making any significant progress on this! So I cut out a small circle from some sheet styrene and glued it inside to block off the opening of the small exhaust. Then I glued these two fuselage halves together, added the tailplanes and went looking for the wings. AARRGH! They were left at home! Well at least I was able to get this far:

Now on to something that is more cooperative: my Tamiya Corsair. I added the canopy and refined the seams by buffing them smooth. Now, after I mask everything off, she's ready for paint:

After all this, I decided to start a couple of my Secret Santa Christmas presents.

This first one is my AMTECH 1/72 scale Ju-88S-1. Here is what is in the box:

Naturally, I started with the cockpit:

Rather sparse, but this will look better in paint. Then I went on to assemble the wings and nacelles:

That's about all I have for now. This is my latest progress for this year so far. I may get done with a little more; if so I'll post that on New Years Eve as my final progress for the year.

Meanwhile, thanks for looking in, comments are always welcome and motivating.

 

[Leopard2]

You are busy as always. Good work my friend. I started the AmTech Ju as well a few month back and it started out fairly decent but then I ran into some it issues, especially with the clear parts and that stalled me. You might want to keep an eye on that.

Joe

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thank you very much for the compliment. Also, I greatly appreciate the heads up. I'll keep an eye put when it comes to that step.

Stay tuned, more to come.

 

[dewertus]

I'm very curious how will come Your "V" bomber

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks Hubert! I'll be painting my V-bomber in the camo pattern used during the Suez Crisis. That way it'll match my other two V-bombers, the Victor and the Vulcan.

Stay tuned for more!