nmertes

Check out Mr. Surfacer primer. It comes in several grades both rattle can & bottle. The higher the number, the finer the finish. https://store.spruebrothers.com/searchresults.asp?Search=mr.+surfacer&Submit=

Sounds like an interesting project. I'm not into armor but, you have to start somewhere. Should be a good retirement job if it takes off. Good luck & looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

Congratulations, Mark. Very nice work. You & Ron Bell seem to like Braille Scale.

A couple years ago the Eduard F-8 Crusader kit was shown online as being in stock & I place an order. Got a confirmation email that it would ship soon. A week later I still didn't have a kit in hand but it was still showing online as being in stock. Emailed customer service and received a reply that the kit was no longer available. When I inquired as to why it still showed in stock on the website, I was told the website isn't always correct. Haven't ordered from Squadron since then. Ordered the Hasagawa version from Sprue Brothers along with the Eduard PE included in the Eduard version. Had it in 4 days.

I've used a product called 5 second fix that I got from Amazon. It's a clear cement that is cured by UV light (the opposite end of the pen). Works well & doesn't take near as long to cure as Elmers. I wouldn't use rubber cement. You run the risk of deforming the plastic.

I'm with Gil as far as the best shade of white. I would recommend laying down a couple light coats of flat white as a primer to prevent any color bleed through.

Looking good, Mike. I like the way your battle damage turned out. Very realistic.

Nicely done natural metal finish, Bill. Also very nice job on the painted markings. Until I read your comments with the 1st photo, I would have sworn the yellow/black markings were decals.

Welcome back. Looking forward to seeing your work.

The best advice I can give you is to use a white primer. Almost any gloss white airbrushed in light coats will give you a good finish if you're careful about dust.

Thanks for the comment, Gil. I've seen the rack and it would be rather a rather complicated structure to build in 48th scale. I don't understand why Kitty Hawk didn't bother to make the camera setup more accurate. I did attempt to install the original camera setup in the nose but, the lenses don't lineup with the windows. The model in the D&S has the access panels open. I think part of the reason the builder opened the panels is because of that.

As I posted some time ago, the camera setup in the Kitty Hawk Banshee kit doesn't resemble any aerial camera I ever saw. The mounting rack is a tubular affair with 3 vertical positions & several oblique positions. Attempting to scale it down to 48th scale is beyond my abilities & the tubing is thin enough I suspect it would be almost impossible to replicate. So, since the rack isn't visible once the access panels are closed, I figured it wouldn't make that much difference. Photo #1 is the original setup built as supplied in the kit. Photos #2 & 3 are my solution This is a fairly typical setup for a mapping mission. The cameras are from a CMK resin kit designed for the Tanmodel RF-84 but, they're the right scale and very similar to the cameras the Banshee would have carried. All that's required now is some paint & permanently mounting the cameras.

Bob, I know there are several sources for the decals you're looking for. The only 1 I can think of right at the moment is Mustang Decals. I'll check my sources when I get home from work & see if I have a reference to others. EDIT: It's not Mustang Decals, it's Mustang Hobbies in Rivers Edge, NJ. They have a lot of decals I haven't seen any place else. Here's the link to the 1/72nd scale decal pages (there's 22 pages). You should be able to find something there. Other brands include Speed Hunter & Techmod that aren't sold by the online hobby shops. EDIT AGAIN: I forgot to include the link. http://www.mustang-hobbies.com/category_s/1887.htm

I was wondering the same thing earlier today. Haven't received mine either.

Looking good there, Gil. I have 1 in my stash planning to mark it as a bird from Heavy 7. Just ordered the Nautilus support set. May have to move the Vigilante up in my build order.