Stikpusher

You’re quite right about the Air Group ID tail colors. That was a brain fart on my part. This one is going to be VF-2 Flying Chiefs, not a Felix the Cat F2A. I don’t know why I boned that part up on my narrative. Most of the bad press the Buffalo gets is due to Midway. At least here in the USA. And when you look at the fact that the Buffalo was outperformed, outnumbered, and flown by mostly junior inexperienced pilots against the most experienced Naval fighter pilots in the world, flying the hottest carrier based fighter of that time. It’s hard to expect any other outcome could have been possible. In the East Indies and at Singapore, the Buffalo did give a better account of itself, but again the odds were quite against them in the long run. The Finns on the other hand showed that it could be quite the agile killer that it was originally designed to be when flown by well trained pilots and not overloaded.

Well I’ve finally started slinging some paint onto this bird. First up I tried out Tamiya Lacquer Flat Aluminum on the fuselage, empennage, and wing lower surfaces. I also airbrushed on some Tamiya Flat Black Lacquer in the wing walk areas. Then after letting that dry and cure over 24 hours I airbrushed on a coat of Tamiya Acrylic Lemon Yellow on the empennage for the Saratoga Air Group ID color I’ll have to mask off the wing walks before I do the Chrome Yellow on the wing upper surfaces. I then airbrushed the propellor with AK Real Color Aluminum, which is brighter and shinier than the spinner in Tamiya Flat Aluminum. I like the contrast between the two More to come in a few days…

Thank you for your kind complements on this build Rodolfo.

Yeah, it’s not like I have a lack of projects or stash…. but I still keep looking for those gaps in the collection to be filled… speaking of which…. Found this one on eBay last week for auction at about half off the best shop prices. And NOBODY else bid on it. Since the Thunderbirds started here at Luke AFB in 1953 flying these, it’s going to my Luke collection. Something of a new and old kit, as it is metal plated like the old Hawk F-84 that I built decades ago.

I love it! I wonder if there is a 54mm scale figure available?

Mark, it’s gonna be great to get another sideliner completed. As well as resuming work on my Buffalo, I also resumed work on my P-40. First up was drilling out the exhausts after that I installed the exhaust stacks and from portion of the nose, as well as the nose gun fairings I also figured out a way to add some sheet styrene after closing up the wing into the wheel wells to fill the gap and replicate the missing skin and wing spar in there. I also filled the mount point for the drop tank, as AVG Hawks we’re not able to mount drop tanks lastly I had previously added the horizontal stabilizers Just about ready for some basic painting…

Due to a steady stream of houseguests here since the Labor Day weekend, I haven’t had much bench time. Until this weekend. I resumed work on my F2A. First up I installed and drilled out the exhaust stubs, and then glued the landing gear struts in place. Since all of this will be aluminum lacquer, there is no worries about adding those parts at this point next I detail painted, added a wash, then installed the engine lastly I have added the horizontal stabilizers and the engine cowling front. I’m just about ready to start some paint soon!

This past weekend, I went with a friend out to the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson located next to Davis Monathan AFB. I really have to say “WOW” about that place. It has one of the most comprehensive collections that I have yet seen in an air museum. I’ll share a few photos here some air team aircraft a Tomcat in one of my favorite marking schemes an original Phantom An overview of some of the outdoor displays This C-130 I had to photograph, as it was from the Tennessee ANG, who flew support for my class in Jump School at Ft Benning once upon a time. I had to wonder if I had jumped from this particular Herky Bird. There is even a museum within the museum, dedicated to the 390th Bomb Group, that has a complete WWII history of that Group in WWII. Long story short, I took slightly over 100 photos, and would have taken far more, until my phone battery was on its last legs. Here is a link to my postimage album with the rest of the photos https://postimg.cc/gallery/kXb8R8G If you’re ever in the Tucson area, make it a goal to see this place! It’s an all day affair.

Oh man, I guess I missed a good look at this back in June Mark. Looks good. Do I see rigging on this little crate? Bravo!

Thanks Mark. I know how that goes on spare cash. Been there/done that far too often in the past. We have Modelzona coming up here in about six weeks, so perhaps another bargain Rocket will turn up there. 🤞🏼 So it’s been a bit since I posted an update on latest acquisitions…. I’ve been nickel and diming it here and there, plus a couple of lucky finds… For my 1/48 aircraft I stumbled upon this F-5F the other day at a local shop for a great price (far lower than any of the eBay scalpers were asking), so I snatched it up ASAP. then at IPMS last week, a fellow chapter member was selling off this kit for cheap, and who am I to say no to a bargain. I also successfully haggled for a lower price on this Microscale decal set off the E, since I didn’t care for the kit markings… Then I picked up this Verlinden transfer set to get the markings I want for a future project, as again I didn’t want the kit decals. Alongside are some F-86D decals obtained in trade for a different project of mine. Thanks John Eaton for answering my “looking for” plea. a second thank you to him for graciously sweetening the deal by throwing in this P-40 that he apparently bought in bulk and my ground forces were not neglected either…. firstly with the recent announcement that Archer was closing up shop, I decided to pick up some of their marking sets I need for few different projects. It’s now or never… finally, at IPMS I had won a couple of gift certificates to Andy’s Hobby HQ from monthly chapter contests. Yesterday I went and came home with this baby… along with some mundane supplies that are really not worth taking a photo of but used up the rest of my certificates amount. Now to build some of these…

The kids/juniors nowadays watch a few YouTube how to videos and they are off and running way ahead of the learning curve. Unlike the older folks who had to learn by the Calvin Hobbes methods in the dark era before the internet… 😉 Thats one good looking Tiger tank! 👍🏼

Mark that’s a great haul! I’m with you on Guardians of the Galaxy and Rocket. You lucky dog on getting that kit! And good for you on finally getting a Concorde. Such an elegant looking jet liner! I think that the Alabtross and Fokker are both Eduard kits by looking at that finishing diagram. That’s done in their style.

But sometimes the decals expire… 🤨

I don’t know exactly when I started this kit, but I do believe it was sometime after I came home from overseas deployment in early 2006, and moving out of that house in summer 2011. I did a few improvement mods to the cockpit and fuselage, but most were not well referenced and I decided to just resume construction to get it done. I’ll get ahold of another kit and have another go at it somewhere down the line. Anyways, this is how the kit was this afternoon when I pulled it off the shelf of doom. The fuselage was mostly together and seams cleaned up, and basic wing and tire construction completed So this evening I installed the wings and a little bit of reference inspiration… I’m gonna be working on this during the usual paint or glue drying pauses on my F2A, and if that one is completed first, it will be full speed ahead here.

Thanks Gil. Yes, it’s way more fun when the aircraft starts taking shape. 😉