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A recent completion


Ralph Nardone

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Aye, tis a lovely Scottish Skyhawk to be sure! Hey put a kilt on that thing! I can see its bloody drop tank dangling below! :smiley17: Great looking A-4 Ralph, even in Tartan drag! Thanks for sharing!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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I was in VA- 46 in the early 60's aboard the F.D Roosevelt and then the Shangri-la. I sure would like to find decals with the then MacDougal plaid that was blue,red and white. :smiley24:

 

I'd love to do a whole VA-46 collection, but finding decals is tough. According to Jennings Heilig (the guy who did the art for the Victory sheet), this scheme almost made him go blind and insane.

 

Ralph

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That's a sweet looking Skyhawk. I noticed you used MM Acryl paint. Did you have any trouble with masking? What masking material did you use? I've been a little concerned with using Acryl paint when masking a canopy, afraid of it lifting.

 

-Jesse

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That's a sweet looking Skyhawk. I noticed you used MM Acryl paint. Did you have any trouble with masking? What masking material did you use? I've been a little concerned with using Acryl paint when masking a canopy, afraid of it lifting.

 

-Jesse

 

I usually use Tamiya tape for masking duties. The canopy was masked with Tamiya tape, the inner frames were brushed with Acryl Aircraft Interior Black, then the canopy was tacked on the model in the closed position with white glue. The white primer (Tamiya, straight from the spray can) was sprayed on and allowed to dry. It was then only masked where the fin cap and the slat wells were before I shot the Light Gull Gray onto the model--the separation with the white was done freehand. I used the Chinese knock-off version of Silly Putty (Magic Putty, Wonder Putty, or some such name--it certainly isn't Silly Putty. that's for sure!) to outline the slat wells for the red--I used Acryl Insignia Red.The anti-glare panel was done by placing Tamiya tape on the area, the shape drawin onto the tape with a pencil, then I removed the tape and cut the stencil. The stecil was reapplied and the Dark Gull Gray was sprayed on.

 

I must be living right--I have never had Acryl lift due to a tape mask, but I have heard horror stories to the contrary, and I believe them. In all the years I've used acrylics (since 1982), I've never had a problem with them lifting when a tape mask was removed--either a mask for a canopy or a mask for camouflage. I don't do anything special--in most cases, I spray right onto the plastic with no primer. I used the Tamiya white primer on the A-4 simply because theer was a lot of white to paint. Be sure to wipe the model down with some Isopropyl Alcohol (or wash it with water and a little dish soap) before you paint, but other than that I use acrylics the same as I used to use enamels and lacquers.

 

I have used Scotch Tape, drafting tape, blue painter's tape, masking tape, and vinyl tape to mask for acrylics. Never had an issue. I probably won't use the putty again for masking--it doesn't stick well, and tends to creep a bit. I'm finishing another model where I'm planning to use the Office Depot equivallent of Blu-Tac to mask the camo scheme (an Italian WWII "Poached Egg" scheme), I'll let you now how that works...

 

Ralph

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Nice Skyhawk. But you haven't said how the job search is going? It's nice to have time to build but I've been there on the job search thing and it's easy to get discouraged. Hope it's gong well.

 

Thanks. The model was a fun build I started back in 2005. It was nearly complete when I had to pack it away to move out of the last rental house we lived in and into our own house.

 

As for the job search....Well, it's going....

 

I'm an avionics technician/installer by trade, and when the bucks get tight, the owners don't make discretionary purchases--99% of the avionics business is retrofit and repair, and if they can live without it, they do. There is only one thing an airplane owner is required to do by the FAA, and that is to have the altimeters, static systems, and transponders certified every two years. In South Carolina, like a lot of places, the industry is flat at the moment. It doesn't help matters when the failing auto manufacturers fly their Gulfstreams to Washington with their hands out begging for money (if they were going to Tokyo, I could see the use of the airplanes--but from Michigan to DC?) and are labasted in the press for doing so. Anyone in the business world knows that corporate aircraft are business tools, but to the layman it is seen as an extravagance--and then the backlash arises. The various trade organizations (NBAA, AEA, GAMA, and others) and the manufacturers (led by Cessna and Bombardier) are blitzing the aviation media with their own sales pitches, but the damage has been done.

 

We're not looking to relocate--the wife is tenured in her position as professor at the local college, and I doubt we'd be able to sell the house--we are literally out in the sticks (you have to take a dirt road to get to the gravel road to get to our dirt road), to the point that we're still on dial up with no prospects of getting DSL or cable. I also have resumes out to places looking for technical writers and editors and I also have friends in the industry keeping an ear to the ground. Most of the contractors have slowed down with their hiring, too, so it might be a long wait for something to open up in aviation. Right now, the technical writer/editor gig seems to be the best bet for anything paying more than minimum wage. Of course, I'm really hoping that the application I have with the FAA pans out--that would be sweet.

 

I have a progress review later today at the SC Employment Securities Commission office, and a follow-up interview tomorrow for a retail sales position.

 

So, until something comes along, I'm making progress on a lot of projects around the house. I'm also losing a lot of the stress I've accumulated over the past 20 years, which surely has to be a good thing.

 

Ralph

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Ralph,

That is a good looking Skyhawk. I really like it. It looks so much better that my old Monogram one that I brush painted.

 

I empathize on the job hunt. I went through that back in 02-03, after 20 years with a defense contractor. Started all over with the State here in TX at half the pay. It is a job. We have moved from a 2 bedroom apartment to our own house now and I have my own room for my stuff (modelling). Keep your chin up and good luck. Oh yeah, keep modelling too!...

 

Carroll

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Ralph,

That is a good looking Skyhawk. I really like it. It looks so much better that my old Monogram one that I brush painted.

 

I empathize on the job hunt. I went through that back in 02-03, after 20 years with a defense contractor. Started all over with the State here in TX at half the pay. It is a job. We have moved from a 2 bedroom apartment to our own house now and I have my own room for my stuff (modelling). Keep your chin up and good luck. Oh yeah, keep modelling too!...

 

Carroll

 

Thanks for the coments. The Hasegawa kit has a lot of fine details, but it isn't a fall-together kit. There are some minor issues, but nothing that can't be overcome....

 

As far as the job hunt goes, I'm doing okay--something will break soon, even if it isn't in aviation. With the free time, I have been building models--other than the Horten, Skyhawk, Corvette, and F-84 that I've already posted, I have just completed a Trumpeter 1/35 Ariete C.1, and am closing in on the final touches to the Revell A-10 and Hobbycraft A-4. The Macchi is close behind, and I may even get a ship model done, too. The down time from work has been an up time for models....

 

Ralph

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Ralph -- I wish you luck on the job search, I'm unemployed too. Unlike you, I unfortunately haven't touched an airplane with tools since I left the Navy in '87, not even to build my own, and I've been an EAA member since '93. I thought an avionics job would be fairly easy to snag, but I kept getting asked how much experience I had on Cessnas and Messerschnitzels and Beechcraps and..... Grumman wouldn't even talk to me. So I said screw it, and I've done absolutely nothing even remotely related to aviation since. I've been a welder, truck driver and done building maintenance, but the only airplanes I see are at Oshkosh. So much has changed over the years I wouldn't know where to start troubleshooting now. I was pretty good with Tomcats, but there's not a lot of call for that these days. As far as modeling, I'm not getting any of that done either, and I'm chapter President. My conscience nags at me that I should be devoting 24/7 to looking for a job, fruitless as it may be. Great looking Skyhawk by the way, sorry. I'll always love my Tomcats and Corsairs (F4U type), but there's just something about Skyhawks.

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Ralph -- I wish you luck on the job search, I'm unemployed too. Unlike you, I unfortunately haven't touched an airplane with tools since I left the Navy in '87, not even to build my own, and I've been an EAA member since '93. I thought an avionics job would be fairly easy to snag, but I kept getting asked how much experience I had on Cessnas and Messerschnitzels and Beechcraps and..... Grumman wouldn't even talk to me. So I said screw it, and I've done absolutely nothing even remotely related to aviation since. I've been a welder, truck driver and done building maintenance, but the only airplanes I see are at Oshkosh. So much has changed over the years I wouldn't know where to start troubleshooting now. I was pretty good with Tomcats, but there's not a lot of call for that these days. As far as modeling, I'm not getting any of that done either, and I'm chapter President. My conscience nags at me that I should be devoting 24/7 to looking for a job, fruitless as it may be. Great looking Skyhawk by the way, sorry. I'll always love my Tomcats and Corsairs (F4U type), but there's just something about Skyhawks.

 

The aviation industry usually feels the pinch first, and recovers last. This time, though, the pinch came later on--and it had a lot to do with the auto makers' use of their personal airplanes to go look for a handout. It was commonly held that things would start to ease by now, but the more I talk to people, the more it looks like this will be a long haul, even longer than the slowdown of the 1980's. Right now, I'm hoping to get a call from the FAA to work as a Safety Inspector, because that will probably be the best aviation bet I'll have.

 

You're right about technology. New Cessnas are equipped with the Garmin G1000 integrated avionics/display system, a system which would make some veteran corporate pilots run away in fear. Had my instructors told me that in 20 years, you'd go from pulling and repairing radios to performing software updates on a system, I'd have told them they're smoking crack. 90% of the work done on the newer airplanes (specifically GA stuff--Cessna, Beech, Piper, Mooney, Diamond, and to a lesser extent Cirrus) are software upgrades. If a radio or display fails, it gets pulled and replaced if in warranty, and pulled and sent to the factory if out of warranty. Garmin would rather do that than have the shops in the field crack the unit open and have a go at fixing it. Older airplanes are a huge concern, and it is getting harder and harder to find qualified technicians to fix the older stuff--I was the shop mamanger for about 2 years, and I could not find an experienced techncian, only installers.

 

As far as a job goes, I may have found somthing to tide me over. It isn't anywhere close to what I was doing (this one is retail sales), but at this point....

 

Thanks for the comments on the Scooter. They are neat airplanes, and I should have a Hobbycraft A-4N done shortly. I'll post pics when I finish.

 

Ralph

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