Jump to content

SHhhh....secret project!


ghodges

Recommended Posts

She's together and primed!

002_4.jpg

 

003_3.jpg

It's actually smoother than I expected, although I've since added dabs of thinned putty into the various divots here and there so I can sand them, "polish" the primer, and then apply the first coat of silver.

 

Still lots of other little things to work on tomorrow while the paint is drying. We'll see where we are this time Sunday night! :smiley2:

 

GIL :smiley16:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is one impressive model Gil! It looks exactly like it's supposed to look; the canopy fix surely does improve this immensely. Brilliant work from a master Vac-form modeler!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for kind words Duke!

002_5.jpg

The first job today was to add the cabin air intakes (the red bumps) and the APU exhausts . The air vents were made by sawing two 1/24 rocket heads in half lengthwise, then cutting them off to create the humps, and then using a motor tool to hollow them out. The exhausts were made by bending and cutting plastic tubing. You can also see the scribing that's been added to the model.

 

004_4.jpg

 

005_4.jpg

And the main coat of Alclad Aluminum is on! :smiley20: If you think the bottom of the fuselage looks unpainted, it is! It will be black, so no need to waste any paint on it. There's plenty of little dings and dents in this nmf, but it will serve my purposes! This thing is so big, and the Alclad so fast, that the booms in back (where I started) were dry by the time I put the finishing touches on the front of the fuselage! And yes, more colors will be added later tonight. More pics after that!

 

If I don't hit any more unexpected snags, I'll have this one on the table at the Nats. It won't win anything, but it will turn a few heads if I can get it there! :lol:

 

GIL :smiley16:

Edited by ghodges
Link to comment
Share on other sites

75% painted now....

001_4.jpg

 

002_6.jpg

 

Had to paint the white about 9pm, and then masked it off and painted the Arctic Red about 2am. The bullseye on the nose was done using a piece of 3m plastic tape, stretched around the compound curve. I also had to rummage through my decals and pick out the sizes of numbers, stars/bars, and USAF so that I could figure out the slightly over sized masking to put on the wings and the tail fin. Most of the masking was done with various types of Tamiya tape, except for that white stripe on the nose.

 

This sets me up to mask and paint the black walkways and trim on the bottom tomorrow, the last of the paint job to be done. More pics tomorrow evening after that gets done. Happily, I'm back on schedule to get this one to Columbia!

 

GIL :smiley16:

Edited by ghodges
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Today's humpin' got me all the way to here!

001_5.jpg

Obligatory bottom pic to show it's completely painted, and though not in this pic, decaled too.

 

003_4.jpg

I painted the black walkways....which entailed roughly 2hrs of masking for 10mins of painting! But, they did come out nice! :smiley20: Also, you might note that I also masked off and painted the ailerons aluminum after originally painting them red with the rest of the wing.

 

005_5.jpg

And the decals are on! Well, except for the nose art, which I couldn't scan and print well enough to use. I'll have my buddy Jerry do that for me and add the nose art sometime in the future. By the way, the white walkway stripes in the black square were added using rub on lines cut to length and pressed in place. The tail fin numbers are also dry transfers rubbed on in place one at a time.

 

First order of business tomorrow morning is to flat coat the entire model. Once that dries, I can unmask the windows and see if there's "crud" on the inside that needs to be gotten out (hopefully not!). Then the side windows will be filled with either 5min epoxy or Micro Krystal Klear (if the epoxy doesn't work).

 

Still have to unmask and assemble some of the fiddly bits, but I should be able to have this one done by 6pm when I have to go pick up my buddy Jerry at the airport. We'll see.... :smiley2:

 

GIL :smiley16:

Edited by ghodges
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Done!

015.jpg

Finished it up about 4pm today. Heck I don't know why I was ever worried.....I had at least 12-13hrs left! :smiley16: You will be able to point and laugh at it (and me) in Columbia.

 

Rest of the pics up in the aircraft topics. Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's nothing to laugh about here! This is a stunningly magnificent piece of work, especially given how rapidly you were able to finish! My 1/72 scale injection-molded kit didn't come near to this amazing quality! I only wish I could see this in person so I can point and exclaim in awe my complete admiration for this model.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Yes, they were some of resin parts supplied with the kit. They were quite clunky, and I didn't do much to correct them, but at least I didn't have to scrounge around or scratchbuild them in the frantic last hours.

 

Gil :smiley16:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...