ghodges

Love your scratchbuilding...and it's so CLEAN....If I built that stuff there'd be glue smears galore on those pieces. If this even comes close to your Seahawk it'll be pure gold! Grabbing some popcorn and staying tuned.... Gil

Absolutely stupendous! There's SO much eye candy there it's hard to take it all in.....I sure hope to be able to see it in person in Texas this summer! GIL

Great looking build of a beautiful plane, and one not often seen. Thanks for letting us tag along! Gil

Welcome Robert! Glad to have you here on the forum with the rest of we nuts! I cannot echo Ron's invite enough....the Rickenbacker club in Columbus is one of the best in all of IPMS and you'll certainly have fun with them. As an honorary lifetime member of the Columbus club (as long as I never move back! ), I can tell you that you'll get all the help you could possibly desire, and probably make some very good friends. In the meantime, please settle in here and make yourself at home! Gil

Amazing! You're like the Energizer Bunny Builder and we just keep scrolling and scrolling and scrolling......;) Way to take advantage of the self quarantine! Gil

"Just curious, how long did it take you to prep, and paint the fuselage colors? What was your final grit of sanding medium you used to prep it before you shot on the Alclad ?" Chris: I got it all sanded, primed, and painted in about a week to 10 days, including a few days to allow for drying. The wing itself was the most work, and there's probably a couple of hours work in order to first flatten the bottom belly contour (very coarse sanding sticks), then rough sand with 400 to start removing scratches and take off the Entex raised panel lines, and then 600 grit to smooth most everything out. After that, I wet sanded with worn 600 (fine) grit sticks to get a very smooth surface. The wing then needed rescribing, and that took a good hour or so. The gloss black primer pretty much fills in any imperfections left, but I did "polish" it with a rough paper towel (less than 5 mins) after letting it dry 24hrs. Although not mentioned, the kit canopy has to have the mold line on its top removed. It was gently scraped away, then I started with 600 grit and progressed with sanding/polishing pads from 1600-12000 grit, and then polished it with Novus polishing cream and cloths. That took about 30mins.... The Alclad painting is very fast, as it dries enough to mask over in less than 30mins. So, I misted on 2-3 coats of the Aluminum, waited about 15-20mins, then masked off (with Tamiya tape) the center wing panel, the gun panels, and the tail and painted the Alclad Dark Aluminum and Magnesium. All in all, the entire metallic finish (including the fiddly bits like gear and drop tanks) took about 1-2 hours to apply. The yellow COULD have been painted immediately, but it was applied the next day, and then since it's a gloss, I allowed 24hrs for it to set, and added the black trim the next day. The black trim took longer to mask off, since it had to be "measured and spaced" to get even results. You could certainly do more fine sanding and polishing than I did, and THAT shows in certain spots when you get up real close.....but then I'm not a perfectionist so I quit when I thought I had done enough to get the result I wanted. Hope that answered your questions. Let me know if it didn't. Thanks for the very kind words! GIL

I wanted to build a Korean War F-86E in 1/48, but since they had a non-6/3 slatted wing, and NO 1/48 kit is made that way, you have to convert an "F" back to an "E". There are several resin conversion wings made...but most are put of production, all are hard to find, and they're all expensive. You can use a Revell F-86D Sabedog wing, but I chose a cheaper route, using an old Entex/Marusan F-86D Saberdog wing, which is a much cheaper way to go and doesn't sacrifice a truly nice kit. This is the 3rd time I've done this...having built an "A" and another "E" several decades ago...so this isn't anything new for me. The Entex wing is requires some modification to fit the Academy "F" fuselage I used for the conversion. The "belly" is too deep and has to be flattened significantly. This means you'll sand completely through the kit plastic, so the interior has to be backed with epoxy putty. In the pics below you can see the large patch of Apoxy Sclup I used for this. As you see, the wing has separate flaps, ailerons, and slats. This is a kit molded in the 60's, so the parts do require a lot of clean up, and they need to be modified to be added later in the build instead of being "trapped" while building the wing. The Academy center wheel wells were also transplanted to make up for a lack of detail in the Entex wells, along with the addition of plastic card and some tubing to act as gear sockets. You can see the large area of epoxy exposed by flattening the belly of the wing in the pic above. Once modified, it actually fit very well on the Academy fuselage. In any case, the filling and sanding needed to smooth it in is nothing compared to the previous work! The rest of the build is very straight forward, and for the most part was OOTB for the rest of the model. I was going to use Alclad metalic paints, so I sanded everything glass smooth, rescribed the wing, and then shot a coat of MM gloss black enamel (thinned with lacquer thinner) as a primer base. Alclad Aluminum was then misted on in several coats till I got the look I wanted. The wing center panel was painted dark aluminum, while the tail and gun panels were painted Magnesium. I wanted to do Clifford Jolley's "Jolly Roger" from the Korean War, so I painted the yellow and black stripes instead of using the provided decals. The decals were applied directly over the Alclad, and are a combo of Aeromaster and Academy kit decals. Although this conversion takes a lot of elbow grease, it's not really all that tough to do. I've wanted this Korean War F-86E on my shelf for a long time, and now I finally have it! Question, comments, and critiques welcome, as always! Gil

Sweet! That brass really sets off those radiators. Looking forward to your next progress post! Gil

Nice progress! The "high speed silver" on the bottom looks great! Gil

Immensely impressive is right! There's hardly a straight build in them and yet you got one done every 60 days or less. And I have to agree that those prototypes make for VERY interesting models to place on tables anywhere. Congrats, and thanks for sharing. I look forward to your 2020 projects! Gil

There's a lot of people who wouldn't recognize your starting point from the result you achieved! The thing that caught my attention was how nice the pilot and interior look with some dedicated painting..entirely unexpected knowing what the molded parts look like. Yet another of your oldies that's no longer moldy! Nice! Gil

Good looking build! As for a "what-if" scenario....time travel it back to 1917..... Thanks for sharing! GIL

And the BIG winners.... BEST JUNIOR MODEL went to Robert Morgan....however, he (and his entry) had to leave early, so no pic of him or his very nice diorama "Crossroads".... Most Popular AND JUDGE'S GRAND AWARD went to George Arnan for his Viking Ship.... Gil

And the 7 Division Best Ofs.... David Neely's 1/48 I-16 Rata won Best Aircraft Best Armor went to John Grenot for his M1A1 Abrams tank Best Automotive went to Mathew Cunningham for his 1/24 '57 Ford Custom Best Nautical went to George Arnan for his Viking Ship Best Figure went to Mark Sprayberry for his 1/35 Spartan Hoplite figure Best Space/Sci-Fi model went to Butch Bryan for his USS Shayu Best Diorama went to Steve Arthur for his 1/16 Tiger 1 (late) "Viller's Bocage" diorama Finishing with the BIG winners below.... Gil

Ok....Starting with the 4 Specials and the Theme award.... Rick Scott won Best Gloss Finish for his /49 Merc Custom Best Camouflaged Model was won by David Neely for his I-16 Rata... Best Natural Metal Finish went to Ken Friend for his 1/32 F-86 D Best Detailed Model went to wayne Stevens for his '70 ProMod 'Cuda Best 50 Shades of Modeling Blues 2020 theme award went to Bill Giles (no pic of him, he left early) for his "Just Needs Paint" pickup truck Best Of's to follow.... GIL

I'll use this block to list the Golf Medal winners....unfortunately, time didn't allow us to get pics of all of them; something we hope to remedy next year! 1) David Neely- 1/48 I-16 type 10 Rata 2) Junior, Robert Morgan- “1/72 Crossroads Diorama 3) Junior, Jackson Sellers- 1/35 Leopard 1 tank 4) John Bishop- 1/72 DO-17 5) Andy Mason- 1/48 A-4 Skyhawk collection 6) Stuart Kane- 1/35 “Vehicles of the IDF” collection 7) Tom White- 1/24 1930 Model Coupe 8- Butch Bryan- Star Trek ship USS Shayu 9) Steve Arthur- 1/16 Tiger 1 (late) diorama 10) Randy Riley (2)- “Stranger Sounds” diorama & 1/35 Col. Mike Kirby figure 11) Bill Cruz- 1/700 IJN Sub Chaser 12) Doug Hamilton- 1/350 Steam Packet Boat 13) Mark Alkas- 1/350 RN Destroyer 14) Roger Page- 1/350 BB Montana 15) Lorenzo Vallebono- 1/350 Italian Sub 16) George Arnas- 1/24 Viking Ship 17) Erin Lantz (2)- “Jesta” fighting Suit & Char Kick diorama 18)-Mark Sprayberry (3)- Boudica; Spartan Hoplite; Beggars figures 19) Mathew Cunningham (2)- 1/24 ’57 Ford Custom & 1/24 ’47 Chevy 20) James Marshall (2)- 1/24 ’66 VW Beetle & ’66 Chevy Fleetside 21) Jim liquor- 1/35 Mekava 3 22) Jason Grenot- 1/35 King Tiger 23) Wayne Stevens- 1/24 Peterbuilt Rollback truck 24) Speedy Gonzalez- 1/24 ’72 Can AM Racer 25) Rick Scott-1/24 ’49 Mercury 26) David Stankel- 1/48 F-4J Phantom diorama 27) Ken Hamilton- 1/24 School Bus Camper diorama 28) John Grenot- 1/35 M1A1 Abrams I'll post the Specials and Best Ofs below.... GIL

Ahhh....I could not have when you originally posted that....but picked up the HK 1/48 B-17G at Jaxcon and can try to make a few comparisons between the old and the new.....stay tuned, though it may be a week or so since I'm trying to finish up Jaxcon paperwork (and actually started building another model!). GIL

Yeah, blew a LOT of people away! I heard a lot of complements on the build and the super presentation! GIL

Great pics Wayne! By the way, could you post a pic of your '70 Pro-Mod 'Cuda that won Best Detailed Model; and do you mind if I share your link elsewhere? Gil

Actually met a friend of yours....a guy comes up and says "Mark says hi"......I'm asking "Mark who"?? After all....your on the left coast...and he goes "The DUKE! Who else?" GIL

Glad to have you here with us Keith! Make yourself at home and post some pics of your work when you get a chance. Welcome! GIL

Managed to find a rare CollectAire resin 1/48 FH-1 Phantom and built it. Typical of CA resin kits...plenty of fit problems and needing a LOT of gel superglue and epoxy putty to fill and smooth the wings (designed to be folded) and nose parts (designed to be open and show the guns). The real problem is that the kit decal sheet fractured on me. They were high quality InvisaClear decals that I've never had a problem with before. I was able to save a couple of small ones and replace (mostly) the rest from the spares box, but that really sucked my enthusiasm right out of the room. After that, I just finished it up, minus seat belts, antennas, and wing lights just to get it done and over with. The markings represent the Flying Leathernecks jet demo team. The good news is I have a rare addition to my 1/48 collection with the first Phantom...but it ain't going in any contests! Here's a few pics of the build and the finished model. Anyway...onward and upward! Comments, critiques, and questions welcome, as always! GIL

I agree....nostalgia builds are fun, and you can even limit what you do to them to make them a bit more "authentic" to their past. Look at some of the builds Ron Bell has posted here for very good examples. Here's my rebuild of the old 1/48 Aurora Me-109....which I built a few years ago to commemorate (and duplicate) my very first model build...minus the gluey fingerprints! GIL

Excellent read and a great looking model to boot! I think you may be a little too harsh on yourself as that NMF looks pretty good to me, especially since it's an Iwo bird exposed to some tough weather and coral runways. I really like the Alclad metallics, but you need to MIST them on and build the color up. It doesn't work as well if you apply them in a regular "wet" coat like most paints. You might also try the AK metallics....just as forgiving, can be taped over; but it doesn't need a primer under it and can be sprayed in a more normal manner with good results. I've found them to be a bit easier to use than Alclad, though both can give a really good NMF. Congrats on a super looking build and thanks for sharing! GIL

Yet another successful Jaxcon is in the books! We had almost the exact some turnout , as last year...126 people entered the contest with 543 entries. We had a vendor from Ohio, and contestants from Virginia, the Carolinas, Miami (almost as far!), and even Canada (ok, he's on vacation, but WE count him!). I'll get some pics posted in the coming week! GIL