ghodges

Very nice progress! Little things like the striping on the tail hook and the edges of the intake can go a long way towards accenting a model. The decal art looks sharp too! Gil

Got the 1/48 Hobbycraft T-33A Shooting Star done. The build started as the HC RT-33 kit, which was converted to the T-33A by grafting a spare Hawk kit Shooting Star nose onto the HC kit. I also added a Verlinden interior, simply because it was in the box. The markings are for a T-33A in Korea using an Aeromaster sheet. I should have had one of the USAF's most important trainers on my shelf long before now, but glad one's finally there now! Gil

That's a terrific looking Tempest! And who ever said that "perfection" is the goal in our hobby? I'd have given up 40yrs ago if I'd known THAT was how I needed to build models!. What I see is a build I'd proudly put on my shelf without reservations. By the way, which kit and what scale is it? I bet it feels pretty good to get one done. Glad your back here and thanks for sharing. Now get the next one done! 😉 Gil

This is the very rare Attack Squadron resin Grumman F2F-1 Barrel; the smaller engined forerunner to the more famous F3F Barrel series. This is a very well engineered kit. The interior is cast as one piece except for the seat and stick, which slides into the completed fuselage. The cabanes struts are molded as part of the upper forward fuselage. It has pe parts, including the main IP which is backed by film instruments. The engine is finely cast with the exhaust tubes on the back, and fits perfectly into notches cast inside of the cowling. The only fit trouble was the upper forward fuselage section to the fuselage. I just made sure the cabanes were aligned correctly when I glued it in place, and then filled and sanded as necessary. The only other trick to the kit is with the main gear. The instructions would have you glue the pe triangular support struts to the gear leg, and then glue the assembly to the fuselage. It's much better to glue the legs to the fuselage at the correct angles, and then glue the gear supports into place. Care must be used since they are pe parts and somewhat flimsy. The pe gear doors need a bit of concave shaping before adding too. The main gear legs are wire reinforced and quite strong. I added wire "pins" to the bottom wings to strengthen the butt joints. The fit of the wings and the tail planes was good enough to paint and add them all afterward. The green trim colors were all painted. The green fuselage strip had to be pricesly measured to be JUST wide enough for the "-F-" in inside of it. I used the kit white strip decals on the top wing chevron, but painted the rest. I used the kit decals, which worked quite well. Glad to have this rare subject in 1/48 on my shelf! If I ever get my Grumman FF-1 "FiFi" built, I'll have the entire Barrel family! Comments welcome as always! Gil

Coming along swimmingly! Gil

Wow... to start with, the models look great despite what you said! Jim will indeed be missed! One of the greatest treasures in my life are the friendships I've been blessed enough to form through IPMS for over 40yrs. While most of the closest came through my local clubs, I also have friends that I'm lucky to see once every couple of years at the Nats. That doesn't keep me from saying we've been friends for those 40+yrs! And there's a few I've yet to meet face to face too. Looking forward to that day, if and when it happens. It's hard to convince non-members of such an intangible benefit to being in IPMS. To me, it's THE biggest benefit of being a member, though it takes time to realize it and gain from it. Unfortunately, we're a graying society for the most part. My local club has lost no less than 8 people in the last 15yrs. There's at least another 5-10 who've passed that I only knew from local and regional shows, as well as the Nats. Thanks for your post. It goes to the heart of how we should all feel; grateful for the time that we are given to be friends with people like Jim! Gil

As I said elsewhere, MOST impressive James! And that's quite the ambitious goal to get enough done for a collection considering all of the extras you're throwing into the mix. Still, if they come out near as nice as this one, you'll have no problem picking any of them to take with you! Thanks for sharing! Gil

There IS a shelf life on Future/Pledge Shine/Kleer (acrylic clear floor wax), but it seems to be related to heat. I've had it go bad after several years (that's at last 3-5yrs or more), BUT, I've been modeling in my garage for decades, and only had air conditioning out there for the last couple of years. So, it seems that heat in excess of 80-85degs for many months of the year may cause it to become unusable. By the way, you can tell because it does eventually yellow slightly and also begins to thicken up a bit, becoming thicker than its original watery consistency. If you keep it at normal room temp, or stored in a cabinet as intended, it may indeed have almost no shelf life! Gil

Ron has made the most salient point thus far; if it ain't broke, don't fix it! The Nats has been VERY successful while being held in the summer "vacation" months, even if it has limited us to higher hotel and travel costs. While I personally generally ignored the school influence on attending the Nats, most people DO take it into consideration and time has shown that it does have an impact on attendance, as do any summer holidays that get tied to the Nats. As for the average attendance, there's two basic demographics. The first is the "core" that attend every year no matter the location unless some unexpected thing prevents them. I'd estimate that at 20-25% at most. The majority though are those who decide to attend whenever it's within driving distance (8-16 hours or less). These people are interested in attending only when it's "near" them, and not when they have to book a plane to get there. Considering the added cost and how difficult it is to travel with models on a plane, that's not surprising. That's why the Eboard makes every effort to get bids from varying sectors of the country whenever they can, AND also why they may choose one bid over another IF it allows an area to have a show that hasn't had one in a while. The "formal" bid process of rotating the Nats from east to west each year may be gone, but its spirit is still in play! I happen to think that the Nats COULD be held in one place, at the same time each year and be successful. As mentioned elsewhere, there would be new obstacles to overcome, but many of the things needed such as IPMSUSA financing the show and running registration are already in place. The contest itself is run by the NCC and the judges, with little to no input needed from the local hosts. I believe the manpower issue could be resolved through ways we've yet to try to use and haven't considered simply because there's always been a local host to supply it. That said, the Nats has been SUCH a success in varying locations, there's no true need yet to "fix" it to one spot and time. If the Nats ever gets anchored to one place and time, I think it'll be by replacement. Some show, somewhere, may become SO popular and well attended that IT simply becomes the "IPMSUSA Nats". Short of that happening, and I'm not aware of any show approaching that status yet, the Nats should carry on as is, with efforts to improve it confined to the events during the show, whenever and wherever it's held. Gil

Nice work! Movies generally intercut film from earlier/historical sources and thus I'm not surprised that the bombs in the drop sequence didn't match the ordnance hung under the wing. As for the paint job, since the Navy had switched to the tactical gray schemes by the time of the filming, it sounds like they did some minimal repainting so the film planes could at least "pass" for 'Nam Intruders. That means you have to choose between doing a period correct bird, or an exact duplicate of the plane as depicted in the film. Enjoying the ride! Thanks! Gil

Thanks for the very kind words everyone! Ron is right..... the Saberjet is one of my favorites, and have built no less than 12 of the various F-86 subtypes in all 3 scales over the last 45yrs. If you include the Navy's Fury variants that grew from the Saberjet line, then it approaches 20; with 14 Saberjets and Furys of all kinds surviving on my display shelves. Gil

Great looking Frank! Can you post some more pics of it? Thanks for sharing! Gil

This is the 1/32 C&H resin conversion, along with parts from the Hasagawa 1/32 F-86F kit to make the last Saberjet variant, the F-86H Saberhog. The conversion kit gives you the deeper resin fuselage, the ribbed rudder and tail planes, as well as later model ejection seat. You also have to convert the Hasagawa kit canopy frame from the original sliding type to the later clamshell type. The nose gear also needs to be extended 3/8". The fit for the resin fuselage was marginal to poor, the worst area being trying to get the rudder to fit smoothly. The Hasagawa late type 6-3 extended wingtip slatted wing (perfect for the "H" model) actually fit quite well. The model was primed with Alcad Gloss Black. The NMF is AK Aluminum overall, with the lighter varying panels being done with Tamiya TS-30 Bright Silver. The trim colors were painted in Testors Green (the small bottle) thinned with lacquer thinner. The kit decals performed very well despite their being over 20yrs old. However, the shamrocks and nose "swooshes" were printed in a green with a slightly blue tint, so they were carefully repainted by brush with some Apple Barrel acrylic green. Overall, this was a pleasure to build, though it did give my right arm some strenuous sanding exercise, especially filling and smoothing in that rudder! Critiques, questions, and comments are welcome, as always! Gil

If I may suggest.... try some ApoxySculp (or another type of epoxy putty) to fill that seam and take care of the step in front. Once you have the seam filled you can use your finger wet with alcohol to smooth the excess down over the nose and to make a "ramp" from the step down the nose. Smoothing it with your finger like that will get the contour the way you want it and save a lot of sanding. Gil

Glad to have you here Fulton! Make yourself comfortable and let us know how we can help you have more FUN! Gil