WildBill50

Dick, Is the linen/doped detail on the kit? It looks like there is a texture on the picture that looks that way. BTW...That is not the way I would have wanted to go to war. Nice job.

Bob, these first pic's are for you. The B-70 was done awhile ago, painted up with Krylon flat white spray paint and overcoated with MM clear gloss. Weathering was done with pastels and lead pencils and prismacolor silver pencils. Pictures of the plane after some of its flights showed extreme paint wear and peeling due to the extreme temps. I tried recreating this from the picture I've seen and have. The B-35 pictures show the landing gear almost complete...the spokes on the wheels are all drilled and filed out. The landing gear doors and prop spinners are partially painted (have to apply the red now), I tried to show how the paint was messed up on the natural metal, but is hard to see. I've sanded it down now and it awaits some "bare metal foil" to hopefully fix it. Thanks for looking. Bill

Here we go with a little update. The cockpit is almost done being painted, seat belts and a wash and it should be done. The intakes are together but need to be finished sanding. The NACA intakes are on in place of the airscoops from the kit on the lower fuselage. The new wheels are together, these are narrower than the kit parts as there are no wing bulges on the single-seaters. The exhausts are partially painted and now need to be painted on the outside. The wing seams are filled and sanded. That's it for now. Bill

I'll be going to New Orleans pretty soon. I'll check on the voodoo chant and let you know. If you need it quicker that that, I can call my son and he can find out (he lives down there).

If only it was on the bottom. Nope, this has to be right next to the cockpit area. More sanding and then it's foil time in those areas. One good thing is there are no compound curves that will be tricky. Pics soon. Bill

Hello again from the build from you know where. The ship has been filled , buffed, sealed and painted again. And again And again. I dont know what is happening to this model. I stripped the offending area of paint, cleaned it very well, filled all of the dimples that needed to be fixed. I then sanded it smooth for a nice shine to get a coat of paint down on it. I repainted it and it looked fantastic when I left it to dry. I used a rattle can of Krylon Nickel color for plastic to paint it this time. When I returned about two hours later it looked like someone through static grass on top of the paint. This happened only on the spots that were repaired from the "mat incident". It looks like the silver flecking that lays down in the paint to give it its color was trying to escape. Maybe if i comb it and put a part in it like hair , I could put the part where a panel line would go. I just got done startint to sand this off again and am contemplating just using BMF in these areas. The rest of the model looks very nice as the color and sheen is great on the other areas that were repainted. Any ideas are welcome at this time. Thanks for letting me blow off some steam here. So much for a semi-quick build...I have issues. Bill

Since I stated on the "model I wish for" thread that I wished for an F-101 VooDoo in other guises besides the F-101B from Monogram, here is the beginning of the RF-101C. This is the Koster vacuform conversion the is mated on the Monogram kit. So far nothing too difficult in this conversion. If one follows the Koster directions, the new nose fits very well. I can't believe how big this aircraft is. It is longer than the two seater that I started with. I would love to do this in "natural metal", but I'm chicken. So Viet Nam camo it is. I need to make a camera bay with a few widgits to show the cameras through the "recce windows". After that, this should go together relatively quick (yeah, right). So here we go: The new nose and keel has been attached here. More to follow soon, I hope Bill

All I know is, I want a some different versions of the F-101 and F-106. I am attempting to do that with what is available and will post some photos soon. If Trumpeter wants to make these in a large scale that would be fine with me also. I give everyone a big thumbs up who can make a vac kit look like a injection molded one. Me, I'm like water...take the path of least resistance. I've tried a vacuform before (Nova KC-135, Model technologies Stealth Bomber) and thought they were OK but, to much effort and cost for a so-so product. I don't mean that in a negative way either. It's just the byproduct of their production. The Koster nose for the F-101 I am currently working on fits great and the other pieces are fitting to gether well. But, the molding process can only duplicate some things and not all the small nuances that an injection molded kit can. As long as I know that going in, I'm alright with it. This whole topic was about what we want to see; I want to see these guys in an injection molded kit because they are cool and haven't been done...just trying to keep my dream alive. Bill

OK, just to go over all of this...I think we are all in agreement that these would be OK to do. We are also in agreement that Monogram makes some very nice models and everbody has them and has built some of them. There are conversions out there for all of them to make different versions also. I still think that most modelers would rather build a regular kit than have to hack up one and stick some other companies addition on it in hopes that it will fit and have the proper provinance (pretty big word. eh). I think Iwould trust the original manufacturer to make these parts to closely resemble the original than someone elses work, ie.. having recessed lines on the new conversion vs raised on the original. If I were to make something for conversion I would think that it should match the original and not the other way around. I like everone's input on this and really appreciate the how's and why's of their answers. Really a nice conversation. Thanks. Bill

Very cool. Getting up wasn't a waste of time for me today, I see. Nice explanation of those tires. Almost to easy. In this case a picture is worth a thousand words... Carry on. Love the pix of this build. My hat is off to you. Bill

Gil and Ralph, I said in my post that I really like the Monogram kits. If they could update them like Encore did the 102 that would be excellent. Tooling costs what they may be would not be extravagant if they added and extra spue with some nose pieces to make the different varients of these aircraft. You would still have to buy the kit however many different versions you would like to build. I know it isn't just the nose that would need to be manufactured (cockpits, engines etc) but if they offered extra choices for you ala the old P-38, I think it would be win-win for all. I'm attempting the Koster RF-101 conversion as of right now. This is a great piece of work and fits really well to the original kit. But I still think more people would rather build which ever version that was available in plastic kit form than having to "use modeling skills" to make a different version. Some folks don't want to bother with rescribing a kit and have to deal with ill fitting pieces that are sometimes marginal in their use. I think Monogram is the best value for the money that is out there but if they added just a few bells and whistles to an already fantastic bunch of kits, everbody wins. Maybe I'm thinking out loud to much...just my opinion. Bill

I must agree and concur with your choices.

I'm on the fence on the F-94. I'm more interested in the F-35 myself. Some of the late 50's, early 60's stuff would be really cool though. How about a Banshee or Banjo for our Navy friends? Hope you put up a review on the F-94. Maybe you'l change my mind. Bill

A new !/48th F-101 (A, C,or RF) would be really nice. Manufacturers could even put in all three nose selections in the kit. I am currently building the Koster vacuform conversion for a RF-101, so by the time I just about get it done someone will come out with an injection molded one. They could also do the F-106 A and B the same way. I really love the Monogram kits of these fighters but a little update would be great. Both of these planes are large and both had some really interesting markings. This is just my 2 centavo's worth. Wild Bill :D

Thanks guys. The rotor comes pre-drooped in the kit. For the tint on the canopy, I used Gunze clear blue hand brushed and thinned with a little water. I'm afraid to paint those windows with my airbrush...don't know why, so I just hand paint them. Thanks again for the comments. Bill

Here is the Italeri SH-60B Seahawk with an Eduard interior upgrade. I lowered the main landing gear by cutting about 3/16 of an inch from the oleo's as the gear stood too tall. I scraped off the tubing on the sonobouy launcher and replaced them all with fine wire. I added safety wires on the tail rotor also. The Eduard set consisted of extra bulkheads seat belts and shoulder belts, new instrument panels for the cockpit and sonobouy stations. This set really dresses up the interior nicely. The model was painted with three different MM gray's, a combo of Acryl and Enamels. The cockpit was painted Flat Black with the rest of the interior painted Dark Gull Gray. There were no real difficulties with the build. I added a few wires to the main rotor head to busy it up a little more than the straight kit parts. The decals were from the box and went down nicely over a "Future" base that was applied just where the decals would go. I overcoated them with "Future" again after they dried and then hit the whole model with MM Acryl Clear Flat. I applied "Tamiya" weathering masters around the exhausts and called the "helo" done. The gray paint scheme isn't very photogenic, but it looks pretty cool in the flesh, so to speak. This model is the one I picked for our club's "What are you going to build for 2012". It's the first time I didn't take an extra two years to complete one of those. Get one...It's a really nice kit. 4 stars, 5 with the Eduard additions. Thank you for looking. Bill

Gil, The stabilizers do have dihedral to them. Before you glue them up check your references. The kit looks great so far Keep it up. When I saw your pictures, the tail just didn't look right to me. Check a front view picture or drawing and it will show the stabilizer upsweep. Just thought you should know. Bill

Very nice!!! Paint scheme looks great. Nice job. Bill

Mini-disaster has struck. While waiting for this boomarang to finish drying after a coat of Aluminum paint, I had it placed on a non slip mat. I picked it up to check on which panels to paint with other metalizers and such. The mat had imbedded itself into the model. Now this is not just stuck onto some sticky paint surface, it was melted to the plastic. Peeling it off the model left craters at each spot the mat had touched. Oh the joy on my face after realizing that I now had to fill a bunch of holes on the top wing with putty and smooth and buff and repaint and so on and so on (nothing like repairing something like this on a natural metal finish). Did I mention I love this hobby! Anyhow, I did do this a few times and I may even get some paint on it again this week if the Gods are willing. Repaint everything and wait again to dry. Props and spinners almost painted, while the wingtips and geardoors are primed and waiting for their yellow/red squadron colors. All the wheels have had their lightening holes drilled out and are painted and ready to be attached to the struts as soon as I attach some brake lines. I think this plane could have been done by now if not for the above setback. Oh well, that's why I remind myself it's only a hobby and it's fun and and it could be worse and it will be OK and it will make be a better modeler and... DId I say I love this hobby?

I've been waiting for this project come to the forefront. You better bring it to the meeting. GIT ER DONE!!! It looks great here and even better in the "flesh" (plastic?).

Hi Garth, I believe it's called "Amarillo" font. I've been chasing it myself. Bill

Tis one in the same. I also built it back in the day when it first came out. I don't even remember which version it was. I put different marking on that one also.

Thanks for the kind words all. It was fun to build and it is a unique way to remember a special moment.

I like it. Even though he's "nothin' but a one-eyed fat man". Now you need to find Ned Pepper. Great job. Bill