Stikpusher

Minimal progress today, I’m trying to wrap up a few other projects that are nearing their respective finish lines. But I did have a good airbrush session for all three builds. For this one, I used Humbrol Acrylic Interior Green in the lower portion of the cockpit tub. Thinned with plain old water the stuff came our smoother than with the previous thinners that I had tried. Now I have to do all the detail painting and weathering in there, so it will be awhile before I have more progress photos…

That’s a beautiful collection of your work! Very nicely done! I was at Oceana and watched a legacy flight with an F-18, P-51 and Phantom, what a wonderful sight. When one of the pilots in our area told us they used Phantoms for target practice my heart sunk 😒 Unfortunately, that has been the fate of many post war fighters that were still flyable and not sold off to other nations since the ability to turn them into radio control drones was invented. They get turned into target drones and end up shot down in live fire exercises. Great experience for the shooters, but sad to think of the airframes lost.

Started slinging paint on the Bearcat today. First up I used Tamiya Rubber Black in the cockpit and wheel wells. It works for a good faded black. since USN cockpits in the post war era were painted in flat black from the level above the side consoles and IP, and Interior Green below that, I’m just gonna mask off the black areas tomorrow, then paint the green after giving the paint overnight to dry and cure before masking. In the wheel well areas, I used Tamiya Yellow Green as Zinc Chromate Yellow over the Rubber Black more to come tomorrow…

Well, nearly a year after completing this build, I finally was able to take it into IPMS for a competition. I threw together a little base in the afternoon, then in the evening, off we went. Phoenix IPMS runs their contests a bit different than OC IPMS where I used to be, so I had to start at the bottom of the totem pole again, due to being a new member. They also only judge by chapter judges for the theme of the month, as opposed to all builds in a skill level in a free for all chosen by all members. Long story short, my little old 151 won in the new guys armor competition last nite No plaques, plates, or other such things are awarded at monthly meetings (perhaps that’s why the annual dues are so minimal), but winners do get a gift certificate to the local hobby shop of their choice. This time I chose Andy’s Hobby HQ.

Yeah, apparently they had enough left over hand me downs from the French to equip one under strength fighter squadron. They were eventually grounded as then replaced with A-1 Skyraiders in the early 60’s. I have read of some of the Farm Gate pilots getting one operational and using it as a squadron “hack” for fun flights during that time period.

Thanks Gil. This should be a fun project. Aside from some improvements in the cockpit, I’ll be going with what’s in the box here.

A few weeks back I had decided that I wanted to build a F8F Bearcat, as I can't remember ever building one in any scale before. Not the old Hawk or Monogram kits, nor any of the new tool releases, which I have a few of in my stash. Seeing how I've never built an RVN/VNAF aircraft either, I decided to go with this one that I've had in my stash for several years. Especially after recently building the Hobbycraft La-5FN. I like the cross of simplicity, and detail offered in this kit So I’m kicking off my build today, using this Hobbycraft kit. It’s one of their later moldings and is pretty nicely detailed, inside and out. Here is a photo of the real aircraft in the early 60’s and the kit sprues… not too high of a parts count, so this might be a fairly rapid build And of course, assembly starts out in the cockpit I’ll get some paint on there in the next few days…

Nice scores Mark! Have you given the airbrush a test run yet? When are you planning to build the FV.432 conversion? I can’t wait to see that one. I’ve had a few new items arrive over the past couple of weeks, so now I have enough worth posting… First up, for the Academy 1/48 Hawker Hunter that I’ve had in my stash for ages, a cockpit set to replace the very under scale kit parts. Then this nice old Accurate Miniatures 1/48 US ordnance set to correct or change some load outs on a few of my future builds… always nice to have! and last but not least, a new improved more accurate better replacement for the Hobbycraft La-5FN that I built last week for my great nephew… That’s all for now…

Thank you Gil! Now he can protect his home in the motherland from fascist invaders 😉

Thanks Mark. A fun old school, no frills build. No AMS. No weathering. No Aftermarket. Use the kit decals. Plain ole fashioned plastic model building. What a concept! 😜

So here it is, all finished in a bit over 80 hours. Hobbycraft’s 1/48 La-5FN built OOB. I did modify a few parts with files or filler here and there, but nothing beyond that. I also used the kit decals, which surprisingly worked very well. Now it’s all packaged up for travel to my great nephew and delivery to him over the weekend

Decals are now on. So many to apply… all 10 of them… lol! 6 Red stars, 2 Bort numbers, and the “boosted” stencils on the cowling. Amazingly the Hobbycraft decals worked very well! Just gotta add the final bits, do a sealing top coat, and this will be all finished…

Thank you Chris. Yes, all the previous builds that I’ve given him became ceiling hangers. And the basic camo colors are all on now decals tomorrow….

You and me both Mark! Although back then I never built any WWII Russkie planes. Only the postwar stuff, mostly Migs, that was in all the hobby shops back then… Well, I’ve got the basic colors on now. Underside is Humbrol enamel 114, Russian Light Blue. My old bottle of Polly S Russian Underside Blue had dried out since my last Red Air Force build… Topside is Polly Scale USSR Light Topside Gray. That took two thinned coats hand brushed… I had painted the side exhaust panels with Testors square bottle Steel last night next up, the Dark Gray disruptive pattern…

Lol! That wouldn’t surprise me a bit. Isn’t that what little boys are supposed to do with their model airplanes?

Not that I’m aware of… the Kitty Hawk kit is light years ahead of the ESCI/Italeri kit in detail quality. But with the company now kaput, good luck finding one. The ESCI kit is old but decent. It looks like a long cabin Huey when built, but can use some help.

So basic construction is now done. All that’s left to glue in place are the usual breakables: landing gear, pitot tube, antenna mast, and the bombs… All ready to start painting later this evening…

Thanks Mark! Yes, 7 is an ideal age to start modeling. Unfortunately I don’t see them very often. Especially now that we live in different states. and now back to our regularly scheduled build program… 😉 This morning after the gym I sanded the fuselage seams after letting that dry overnite. Then I added the wings… And then I added the chin radiator, main gear well center plate, and the tail wheel mount. I also added some strip styrene shims at the rear of the wing to fill a gap there I had to putty some small openings in the wing front that are a carry over from the common La-5/La-7 molds that should only be present on the La-7. I’m letting those dry before I sand them and resume adding the last assemblies. More to come later on…

Mark and Gil, thank you. Mark, he is 7. Not sure if he’s gonna be there with his gramps when we are there. Perhaps one day I can teach him how to build, but I don’t think that’s too likely. Well, this is as far as I’m going to go with this tonite. Fuselage assembled IP Drybrushed and cockpit installed Tomorrow I will get the seam clean up done and all the major assemblies added. It should be some serious construction progress.

My progress so far… Built the cockpit and painted the base colors. Just gonna dry brush the instruments and then install it. No washes or weathering… And few of the sub assemblies that I can do so far- the main landing gear struts and the cowl & prop assemblies… more to come later on…

So last night I received a special request via my brother in law from his grandson, my great nephew, that he would like another plane from Uncle Carlos. I have given him several of of my older builds. Now how can I say no to such a lad? The only problem was, I only have a few days to get it done before our next trip to visit, so the build has to be quick and simple. After mulling over my stash last nite, I settled on this baby I’m going old school and high speed, so no add-ons, just straight OOB. I’ve built the related La-7 kit many years ago and recall it is simple and straight forward, if somewhat inaccurate kit. So no real surprises or speed bumps should delay this. Besides, this gives me an excuse to get the newer & better Zvezda 1/48 La-5 FN…

I found this on another site

This arrived yesterday in the mail. It comes in individual slab forms that can be arranged in what configuration you prefer, then paint up. The perfect base for my Cold War Red Air Force

I imagine so. Especially the way that some kits in my stash have their seats molded. We shall see how much of a challenge that they are to use. And they sure should look better than standard decals. I do hope that I can get a more natural looking “drape” effect than PE seat harnesses.

Got these in the mail yesterday and I’ll be trying them out. Dress up some kit seats instead of replacing them with resin seats or PE… for a UK F-4 Phantom, Tornado, and ACES II seats