Major Kong

First for 2018. Woohoo! Enjoyable build. Joining the front and back fuselage halves together was a little troublesome but I whipped it into submission and I prevailed. The wingtip missile rails do cant down a bit but I think they got a little carried away and I didn't really notice it until I saw the pictures. I have a couple more of these in my stash and later on, I'll do one up in some kind of operational scheme. My Dad worked on the F-20 during his career with Northrop. Once I was visiting my folks while on leave and Dad had me put on my uniform and come down to the

Fresh off the assembly line. Wolfpack 1/48 pretty much straight out of the box except for replacing the kit seats with the Wolfpack resin "eraly" seat. Figures are from the spares box and are Hasegawa. Color scheme is retro early 60's using the Wolfpack decal sheet "USAF 1960-80 Era" plus a couple from Furball and the kit. I feel this kit is more accurate that the Trumpeter offering. It was an enjoyable build and was fairly painless but I still used more putty than I cared for.

Yeah, we were both jarheads at NAB Little Creek, VA in the late 70's. The AV-8B was still a few years off, that's why I did the "A" for her. Very cool you working on them.

A little artistic license with the EGA. It was used on the CO's plane (modex 1) but not on this one. I built this as a present for my sweetheart (who was a Marine as well) so I decided to keep it clean (no weathering) and slapped on the EGA because it looked cool.

It was looking forlorn on my shelf so I figured it was about time I built this humble kit. Sanded off all the panel lines and personally I really don't miss them. Pretty much out of the box. Caracal decals, AIM-9Ms from Hasegawa, some Mike Grant decals on the instrument panel and a Master Model pitot tube.

VF? I never knew. What was your method for the vortex generators on the fuselage? A real pleasure to look at. Megas, 1 ea.

I crafted intake throats and added afterburner cans. Unfortunately my photography skills suck so I haven't got any decent shots of those. And yeah, those cats at NAS Redlands have a rather untidy flight line.

1/48 Monogram F-5E with Two Bobs decals, an AMS resin cockpit, rescribed, things hanging of the wingtips from the spares box, this that and the other ad infinitum. Now matter how groovy cool all the uber ebgineered kits are nowadays I will always be a Monogram kinda guy. It just takes a little more time and putty. Tell me whatcha think. Sandy

My first build for 2012, finished towards the end of January. Out of the box build with Cutting Edge declas. The only thing noteworthy is that I sanded down the panel lines (except areas where there was plating and such). I think it came out looking fine without them. Hardly any issues, a most enjoyable build.

Thanks.<BR><BR>And if you like those you won't believe what I can do with a tuna caserole.

This is my first time getting in on the "end of the year" recap. At the rate I'm going I'll need to live until I'm 115 years old to make it through my stash. Drum roll please............ B-52H - Minicraft 1/144 N-156F (YF-5A) - Testors (Hawk) 1/48 U-2R Senior Span - Italieri 1/48 FJ-4B Fury - Hobby Boss 1/48

I've been banging my head against the wall since May working on the Italieri U2-R Seior Span and I got so sick of it I had to put it down and slap something together so I could feel good about myself. This is a very quick throw together of the old Hawk (now Testors) F-5A done up as an N-156F. The no. 1 A/C didn't have guns or the scoops above the engines. The Norair tail logo is a custom print (I'm starting to get the hang of doing custom decals). This is pretty much out of the box but I did drop the flaps. I was going to throw a cockpit in (either one from a Monogram F-5E or Classic Airframe

Hey all, A quick question. Does anybody know, for certain, if the intake throat of the FJ-4B Fury's were painted white or left natural aluminum? This was during a major transition with Naval A/C painting and marking standards and I've yet to see definitively what was going on in the intake. The few pictures I've found I can't really make out one way or the other. If there's anybody who knows............. Many thanks, Sandy

Lots of Alclad. White is Tamiya white primer. Operation Chrome Dome finish. Homemade decals for the horizontal walkways, vertical and tail numbers on the Houndog missile (although you can't see them in the photos) Only real issue (besides myself) is the join of the engine pylons and the wings to the fuselage. Otherwise it was an enjoyable build. Doesn't have the depth of detail of the Revell kit but it has flaps and most important the windscreen is worlds better than the Revell kit. (Jeez, what's up with that?) Happy Holidays everyone. And for the Marines, Ooh-rah! Sandy

Who doesn't like Lady Jessie? This had been sitting on my shelf half built for years. Now it's finally all built. Of course being a Monogram kit it doesn't have the finesse or grace of a Hasegawa or Tamiya and they can be pretty fussy but it still can come out looking just fine. (Although the weathering is a bit over-kill.) Used CAM decals which went on without a hitch.

Submitted for your disapproval the Hawk (now Testors) 1/48 F-5A. It's an old, old, old kit but it still looks pretty good to me. (Certainly easier than the Classic Airframes kit) Threw in a Monogram F-5E cockpit and put the gears up. My Dad worked the late shift at Edwards getting this aircraft ready for it's maiden flight the next morning on July 30, 1959. It first flew as the N-156 and later was re-designated YF-5A before becoming F-5A. And please pardon the fishing line in the photos. My special effects department went on strike.

My latest disaster piece. Academy 1/144 B-47E. Used a bunch of Alclad polished aluminum and a few other shades. Decals were kinda fussy and brittle, still have to put the wing walkways on but didn't want to deal with them after breaking that spine walkway into about 50 pieces. After doing a couple of teeny-tiny scale kits it's back to 1/48. Something I can see, almost went blind on this one. (Old age sucks) A fun build none the less. Saw alot spectacular stuff at the Nationals and did some major damage to my wallet in the vendor section.

Here's first build for 2010. And at the rate I do things about this time next year I'll have second one done. This is a 1/144 Minicraft R5D-3. Which in civilian terms translates into DC-4. Overall a pleasant build with few hitches in assembly but somebody needs to take away my airbrush before I hurt myself or anybody around me. This is all part of my continuing effort to get this NMF thing down so it looks convincing. Although it looks pretty good from about a foot away, it has some serious issues because I kinda rushed finishing it. (Bad, bad, bad no dessert for me.) There's some nasty "si

Zounds! I’ve been away since I posted this and I’m honestly over-whelmed by the response. Everyone’s enthusiastic and encouraging remarks mean a great deal to me. Thank you beyond words. I have admired the works of many of you (I recognize some names, I’ve been haunting this place for a while). A couple of words about the build. This was one of those things where I didn’t fully appreciate what I was getting myself into when I started. First off, I only had three rather marginal pictures to work from. A lot of this was purely a “best guess†kind of thing. Lord knows I did a fai

Here's the rest of the pics.

Way back when……….. I've had this kit in my stash for who knows how long. I must have picked up this old reliable 1/48 scale Monogram F/A-18 soon after it's original release. I am just bound and determined to master the whole bare-metal thing and I figured I'd take out all my frustrations on an inexpensive model instead of a pricey Hasegawa kit. For all of you out there who have in their possession "The Great Book of Modern Warplanes" you'll probably recognize on page 218 (at the bottom) a couple of pictures of the number 4 "structural test" ship stripped of paint. That looked way too

Thanks to everyone for the kinds words. This kit actually is the "black" one, Vandy 1. This had been sitting around for many, many, many, many, many............(you get the idea)years and the declas were totally shot. When you come down to it the MicroSclae declas I used weren't any younger just in better shape. Most of the common markings were scavenged from a Hasagawa kit. Besides, I'm a former Jarhead and it seems only proper to pay homage.

That is genuinely frightening!

A coninuation from the previous post but this time a pair of BUFFs. OUCH! All you need is Mel Gibson running around doing some kind of Mad Max thing. Enjoy, Sandy