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StuartMont

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Everything posted by StuartMont

  1. Thanks for taking the time to explain your take on this issue Ron. As I explained to Gil I will have one more opportunity with a plated assembly with this model. The specifics regarding an easy method to remove the plating is appreciated. Passing on your significant knowledge of modeling sure helps this old novice.
  2. Thanks for the clarification Gil. I see the “philosophical” differences in the two responses to my question about treating seams with plated parts. There is only one more plated assembly with this model and it will be exposed so decision necessary soon. Your willingness to assist with my needy modeling is very much appreciated!!
  3. Hi Ron, thanks for responding. Can you explain why you remove the plating?
  4. Thanks Gil, I don’t think I could do those ignition wires on something 1/2 the size of this model. And, your responses are always helpful. I assume I need a different kind of primer that would adhere to the plating?
  5. So I tore my rotator cuff playing pickle ball and am currently rehabbing from the surgery. After months of not being able to build models it’s time to start up again. Family and friends pooled together and bought me this one as a get better gift and because they got tired of me complaining about rigging the 1/32 and 1/48 biplanes I have built. 😀 I know I said no more large scale planes but I am excited to build this one. Here is what I have completed so far, my usual “please help me” questions are embedded. I hope you don’t mind me sharing the build progress of this one. The rigging of the control cables was interesting but the cord supplied with the model is quite difficult to deal with, it curls and unwinds very easily. The next step is to mount the floorboard to the fuselage with all of the cables in front of and behind the floorboard hanging loose. Any thoughts on how to “manage” these during this stage of assembly? Also, I think my Tamiya clear orange paint must be kaput, it did not go over the wood brown paint very well, you’ll see if you zoom in on that one. The instrument panel gets painted the same way, wood brown under clear orange. The engine went together very well. I researched the Clerget 9b engines on the internet and was frustrated by all of the different colors I saw. Therefore I decided to stick with the colors in the kit instructions, a mixture of silver, steel and gold. The ignition wires took me some time but once I figured out the best method (for me) they went pretty well. You can see my trimming isn’t great but I was worried I would cut something I didn’t want to. This model includes plated parts and the plating must be removed from the cemented surfaces. I learned the hard way that I have to wear gloves when working with these pieces or my fingerprints will be all over them. You can see the marks all over the fuel tank that are my doing. The tape you see at the bottom was used to hold the straps in place while I glued them. How do you guys work with the seams on these plated parts? I don’t think I have a paint that will perfectly match the finish. As usual, I would love to hear (and would greatly appreciate) critical comments and suggestions.
  6. Fantastic Spitfire, I’ve never seen one with clipped wings like that. Can you guys give a little more detail about the camo scheme “hard edge”? Do you mean there is no gradient? I thought the hard edge was the norm? How does using silly putty do a better job than masking with tape? Hope you don’t mind the questions but who better to ask.😀
  7. This is exactly what I wanted to read Gil, thanks so much for posting it. Stuart
  8. That's a beautiful airplane model. Is this the place to ask for more detail for us newbies? For example, when you had to fix the wing dihedral, did that cause problems with the fit anywhere else? Is that why you had to sand down the edge of the wheel wells? Just a bit more detail would be great. Stuart
  9. The tribute looks very proper to me. Some of my fondest memories are of my brother and me driving to Oceana NAS every year to see them fly. I get the same feeling looking at your model as I did looking at the real thing, beautiful!
  10. Ron, Thanks very much for the primmer. You’ve helped with this before and when I tried it, the result was a real mess. I will keep trying though. I have a folder dedicated to stuff l haven’t been able to do yet. As always, help and advice is very much appreciated. Stuart
  11. Very cool, thanks. I really liked the ordinance in this model but found it interesting that the instructions did not include assembly of the torpedo included with the kit. I realize you don't need any to assemble the torpedo but the instruction included assembling and attaching the rack but actually removing the pins that would, I presume, have been inserted into the torpedo when attaching it.
  12. Oh, I never took umbrage, I figured it was an historical reference and thanks very much for explaining. It actually helps me better appreciate the time I took to mask the interior and replicate the stringer fuselage. It was hard to be consistent but what you can see in the assembled model looks cool I think. I actually did some research on this one and fell in love with the airplane. I studied some blueprints and read some articles but if I came across the reference it slipped off into the ether 😀. I will say that building these planes really helps reinforce the courage of folks that flew them in battle. I got the impression they were too easy to shoot down.
  13. Thanks for your notes about airbrushing Gil. Printed and filed with all the other wonderful advice I've received on these forums. These are the paints I used for the wing upper and lower surfaces and you are correct, I did not thin them, naively assuming they were ready to go with an airbrush. Lesson learned. I've had so much trouble keeping the airbrushes clean and spraying consistently. My opinion has been that the brushes that came with my starter set are just not very good ones. I've seen a single airbrush online that cost more than the total cost of the compressor and three types of airbrushes that came with my set. Perhaps, after reading your notes, the too thick paint is causing the problems. A while back I posted a question about masking canopies. After providing great advice the respondent also very kindly warned against bringing up topics that were long ago addressed and perhaps created some controversy when they were fresh. Therefore I won't ask for recommendations 😀😀 but if someone wants to simply post or send me a direct message with their favorite brand/type of airbrush to use it would be very helpful in looking into my next step in improving my models. Stuart
  14. Thanks to all for the posts. I tried to stretch sprue once and it did not go well ☹️. Floral wire is something I do have in the drawer but it’s too thick so I can look for thinner. I’ll also look into beading wire. I feel like I have to finish it somehow, leaving that last piece off hits me the wrong way. Gil, I have to ask what a “String Bag” is 😳 and thanks for your kind words. I am very critical of my models but they mostly deserve it 😀☹️ I’ll put some photos up of the finished model. I appreciate y’all taking time to help. Stuart
  15. Good morning everyone! My first foray into anything smaller than 1:32 and an airbrush. I've attached a few photos of my almost completed Swordfish. I decided to incorporate Tamiya's photo-etched bracing set and for someone with very limited experience I quickly found out that it is not easy, it fought me tooth and nail. The pieces were incredibly fragile and one of the bracing wires from the upper to lower wing was "destroyed". As you can see, on the right wing assembly all is in place, albeit not perfectly taut. The wires went into the holes OK but once you started to manipulate them up or down to the next wing they kinked or, in one case, broke as I tried to insert the other end into its hole. The left wing assembly is where the last (literally) piece broke and it became unusable as I tried to deal with it. What I was hoping is that I might get some suggestions on how I fix the left bracing. I don't want to buy another bracing set for just the one piece. As noted this is also my first foray into using an airbrush. I hand painted the fuselage (mistake) but used the airbrush for the upper and lower wings. Once again, one quickly learns that these things take lots of practice. No where near those perfectly smooth finishes I see here all the time. I used a light table and the provided 1:1 scale drawing to create masks for the camouflage and that worked out OK, a little time consuming. Unfortunately I failed to see a small footnote about the colors which should have been reversed for my scheme. Since my models are no where near worthy of display anywhere but in my house this makes no difference to anyone but me. Here's what I learn as I continue to build these models. Nothing you guys do that makes your models look amazing is easy. My appreciation of the skills put on display here is increased manyfold every time I try to mimic it. My first goal is to post some photos and actually ask you to zoom in rather than hope that you don't 😀 Stuart
  16. Thanks so much for your kind comments.
  17. Thanks so much Mark, that’s very kind of you to say.
  18. Thanks to both of you, I appreciate the kind words and your taking the time to look at my airplanes.
  19. Pushed send too quick. Added a few more photos of the F-15 and apologies for two of the same photo in the first post. Not sure how that happened.
  20. No zooming in please 😀😀. These are my last two 1/32 scale airplanes, no more room so it’s on to 1/48 scale. The Trumpeter P-38J was a bear (for me) and it’s hanging because I accidentally reversed the landing gear wells and could not remove them without destruction🥴. So I switched gears and built it as a flying model. Based on the fit I don’t think it was supposed to be. I tried to scale up (I think) the weapons decals for 1/48 scale to 1/32 scale but that did not work. The colors are accurate based on help from you guys. Getting fishing wire to make it look better hanging. The Tamiya F-15 went together very nicely and was a joy to build. Finally purchased an airbrush but too late for this one and the finish is C- at best. All of the detail colors are accurate I hope. This is the first time I applied every single decal called for and they went down fine. I took liberties with the ordinance, picking what looked coolest to me and learned a hard lesson about the order of things in terms of assembly. The instructions weren’t much help and thus the two missiles sitting next to the plane. So my modeling experience now consists of twelve 1/32 scale models. The 1/48 Tamiya Swordfish is next. This will be also be my first build using an airbrush so wish me luck.
  21. I did try to search for one online but to no avail. Does anyone know where I might be able to buy a 1/16 scale WWI British pilot figure? Thanks, Stuart
  22. Thanks for the link! Here’s my workspace, plastic airplane models and Ancient Egypt.
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