2 new builds going! 2 finally done!

[ewahl]

Gil,

 

Thanks for the SNJ lesson. I have some of that powder but have never attempted to use it. Yes, the difference between the Old Silver finish and SNJ finish is easy to see. Now I want to see the Alclad over the SNJ. This is going to look fantastic.

 

Ed

[ghodges]

A bit hard to see (hopefully that means it's subtle), but the Alclad White Aluminum had been added!

 

It's a bit easier to see on the far surfaces than the near surfaces. Also, the SNJ performed like a champ, with NO problems with the masking (used Tamiya tape).

 

Still have some gray to paint on the top of the tail and under the nose, as well as all of the OD anti-glare panels to add; but it's getting there!

 

GIL

[ralph4hand]

Gil,

 

Looking forward to seeing you AND hope to see these two gems in Colorado in August. Very nice choices and beautiful reproduction of the GeeBee.

 

The GeeBee has always been a special joy to look at and the B-45 was the first real Jet I saw up close after joining the USAF in Dec 51 - but that's another story...

 

See you soon and TAKE CARE,

Ralph

[ghodges]

She is painted!

Yeah, I know....not really all that exciting....except that all the colors are on!

I also gloss coated the decal sheets because they are DEAD flat, and the clear areas would be much too flat compared to the NMF surrounding them; and because I've had problems with CA decals fracturing on me in the past. The gloss coat should solve both problems.

The fiddly parts are all pretty much painted too. I still have to mask the wheels and paint the tires, but that will be a breeze, and can be done while decaling the model. Hope to have this done by the 4th of July!

 

GIL

[John Heck]

This looks great, Gil. I'm looking forward to seeing it complete.

[ghodges]

Got distracted from the bench with some car repairs.....but back with some progress!

This my attempt at decal recce windows. I drew the 5 windows on the paper in pencil using a template. Next, I used a circle template and a silver pen to draw the camera lens outlines inside of the windows. Last of all, I airbrushed a heavy coat of Tamiya clear smoke over everything. The idea is to create a window with the camera barely visible once they're on the model (we'll see).

 

Some of the fiddly bits....the front compressor faces and the exhaust cones, as well as the wing tip tank lights; which are clear MV lenses coated with Tamiya clear red/green. The items on the bottom are the main wheel interiors.

 

Here are the tip tanks with the lights and their covers in place.

And finally, a couple of shots of the model with the decals applied

 

Still have to add the gear and a few other parts. More pics when she's done! Cheers!

GIL

[WildBill50]

Love it.

 

Shark(gator)mouth is cool.

 

Nice job again, Gil.

 

Bill

[Ron Bell]

Is the nose "eye" a decal?

[ghodges]

Yep, the eye is a decal, in 3 parts. It covers the nose camera door.

 

Gil

[Ron Bell]

If you bring that to CO, you might have to pay an extra baggage fee. That thing has got to be pretty heavy!

[ghodges]

It ain't going no where I can't drive it (or ride it, it's HUGE!) Made it tough to take pics of, but it's done!

 

Se all of the pics under its own topic above!

 

GIL

[AZRhino]

Were you satisfied with how your camera windows turned out?

 

Very nice build Gil.

[ghodges]

Hi Mike! In a word....NO! I think the idea had merit, but unfortunately the window decals I painted shattered along the edges, making them too ragged to use. At that point, I simply cut out squares of gloss black decal and coated them with Future after they been applied and dried.

 

GIL

[kpatterson]

Hi Gil, its been a while since I've been on this forum and I can see I need to start getting back on here! That B-45 is sweet!

 

Ken

[canberrasig]

Absolutely lovely GIL!

John