CrowTRobot

Thanks for the kind comments, but I didn't mean to scare anyone away from this kit. Go ahead and built it- if I can do it anyone can. Beside, it' the only injection-molded option in 1/48 barring the old Lindberg kit dating from the Eisenhower administration.

Well, I was excited when this kit first came out because I had wanted a 1/48 Starfire for a long, long time, but the honeymoon didn't last long. Here's a list of glitches that I encountered: Much of the plastic had a rough, pebbly texture that had to be sanded and polished before I could even think of getting a decent natural metal finish. This resulted in the obliteration of some of the ultra-fine engravings which I had to rescribe. The kit includes a fictitious exhaust (part #A26). I scoured dozens of reference photos, but I could find no evidence that any F-94C was ever equipped with such an exhaust, so I omitted from my build. This kit would benefit from a good aftermarket resin exhaust The ejection seats are really lame, and only a single set of photoetched belts is included. I dressed them up a bit with some styrene and Eduard photoetched belts, but this kit cries out for aftermarket resin seats. There are no positive attachment points for the "dangly under-bits" like gear doors and speed brakes, so attaching them was tedious and error prone. The aft speed brakes were particulary diffcult in this regard. I had to invent new swear words after wearing out the old ones. The kit omits the pitot tube under the nose. I added one from my spares box. The kit omits the inner windscreen for the rear cockpit. There wasn't anything I could do about that :-( The main landing gear struts are molded with fully collapsed oleo struts , so I cut them apart and added styrene rod to extend them to a more natural length. The spoilers on the upper outboard surface of the wings were missing, so I scribed them. They're just simple rectangles so it was easy. The tires are missing circumferential tread patterns, so I scribed them. The kit decals are generally excellent with one big exception: the decals for the tip tanks are much too small. The outer red area at the tip should border the inner black area along the centerline of the tank, but it doesn't, There were huge silver gaps between the red and black on both tanks, so I had to mix paint to the correct shade of red to fill them in. I added some details to the otherwise bare lower canopy frames. I used various Alclad & Testor's Metalizer paints for the natural metal finish and bits of Floquil and Testor's Model Master enamels elsewhere. Don't tread on me

Nice job on the SEA camo scheme! I hope the camo on my A-1J turns out as nice as yours.

Yep, that's the stuff. It can be a little tricky to apply to the thin canopy edges, but the I find the results are worth the effort.

I often use the canopy itself to mask the cockpit. With this technique I get a "twofer": I can mask the cockpit while painting the canopy frames along with the rest of the exterior. I attach the canopy temporarily using a thin "noodle" of blue tack along the edges that mate up with the fuselage and the windscreen.

Nope, I'm with you there.

Yes, you can thin it with water. It also helps to add a drop of food coloring to add some contrast.

I just received a 22-400 sized cap, and I can confirm that it does indeed fit the 1/4 oz. Testor's jars. I also got 30 of the larger 28-400 sizes, and I'm using them to replace the awful stock caps on my 1/2 oz. jars.

Do you know if they have a size that will fit the 1/4 oz. Testor's paint jars?

Very nice! Which kit is this: Monogram or Hasegawa?

Thank you! If you're building your F-84 as a Korean bird then you won't need a lot of super-shiny shades since those planes were subjected to harsh combat conditions. You shouldn't have any trouble masking if you follow Netz's advice.

I've masked most shades of Alclad with Tamiya tape and had no problems with paint lifting. However, the shinier formulas like Polished Aluminum are more fragile, and they might lift up with the tape. I usually wet mask over these shades. For a clear coat I use plain old Future. Here are some examples:

Floquil's Old Silver and Platinum Mist are tops in my book, but Floquil paints are being discontinued. :(

This works very well in my experience.

I use custom templates cut from aluminum cans. For simple, non-compound curves I cut thin, straight strips of aluminum. For more complex compound curves I use a set of french curves to trace patterns of varying radii on the aluminum, then I cut them out and test fit them to find a good match for the surface. Either way, I'll attach one end of the template with a bit of masking tape and hold the other end firmly taut with one hand. Then I use the free hand to scribe with a needled chucked in a pin vise. The nice thing is that these templates are reusable over several models before they start to wear out, and they're cheap!!

Thanks! I also built their F3D and FJ-1 kits, and they were much tougher than this one.

That is just drop-dead gorgeous!

Thank you! I attached the vacu-formed windscreen with CA glue, and this left a prominent ridge at the base. I blended this in to the fuselage with 2-part epoxy putty (Apoxy Sculpt). An eternity of vigorous sanding then ensued.

I just finished this nice old Monogram Panther. I rescribed it and made a few tweaks along the way: Added photoetched seat belts Replaced kit exhaust with brass tubing Replaced kit gun barrels with hypodermic tubing Added landing light & approach lights to wings Replaced tail skid strut with a steel pin Sanded off the oversized & opaque nav lights and beacon, replaced them with clear epoxy glue, and painted them with Tamiya clear paints Added steel BBs to the nose to keep it sitting on the nose gear The kit builds up nicely apart from some nasty seams around the intakes. I used Testor's Model Master Gloss Sea Blue for the base finish and Floquil Old Silver to represent the corroguard on the leading edges. I mainly used the kit's decals, though i did steal a few from an Aeromaster set. The nose spiral and v-stab trim are painted. I've no patience for painting spirals, but I have even less for messing with spiral decals.

Here's my rendition of the Czech Model FR-1. This is my third Czech Model build (the others being the FJ-1 and F3D), and it was the easiest of the lot- but that's not saying much. They're all short-run kits so some grief is to be expected I guess. Some notes: This model required a lot of weight to keep it sitting on the nose wheel. The entire nose from beneath the cockpit floor to behind the firewall is packed with lead bird shot. I also added bits of a flattened lead fishing weight to the front face of the firewall, and even with all that it will sit on its tail with little provocation. The oil cooler vent on the starboard side of the nose was poorly molded, so I sanded it off and fabricated a new one out of aluminum from a soda can. I added an ignition harness to the radial engine The kit's resin jet exhaust tube was unrealistically short, so I replaced it with a longer section of brass tubing. I added transparent nav lights to the wing tips by filing notches in the correct positions and gluing some bits of clear styrene sprue. Then I sanded the clear bits down flush, polished them, and painted them with Tamiya clear paints. The tail nav light was fabricated from a droplet of clear epoxy glue. I also added clear landing lights on the wing roots just outboard of the gun ports using same technique. The wire antenna is made from EZ-Line. The whip antenna on the top spine is made from section of stretched sprue. I replaced the kit's pitot tube with hypodermic tubing. I added brake lines made from fine copper wire to the main landing gear. I fabricated catapult bridle hooks & holdback fittings from styrene and attached them to the belly.

Also, a toothpick with a little blob of blue-tac stuck on the tip will do the trick in a pinch.

Nice job! Excellent work on that camo paint job.

Fireball Modelworks does custom decal printing. I've used them before and was very satisfied with the results.

Holy crap! Canopy latches in 1/72? Congratulations on the award!

Nice work, Gianni. It looks like a battle-hardened Thud ready to go out and kick some more a**.