Vidar_710

Finally calling this headache done! Photobucket has made some changes, so if you want to see the full screen image, click on the images twice to bring them up. A heads up, if you choose to blow up the image, you'll get booted out of the thread when you leave the image. Yeah, I know, that sux.

The new lo-tac masks created by Aztec Dummy All masked up... Primer down... Color down and surrounding masks removed... Came out great! No loss of metal finish whatsoever! The hard part is over. Some decals have already been applied. Stay tuned! Tracy

OK, third time is a charm. The repaint is complete except for the paint masks for the airline's name on the fuselage. Wish me luck! Tracy

No, not abandoned… between work, home life and other model projects taking precedence, I’ll be getting back to Excelsior soon. Almost all the masters are finished. A few things need to be scratch built. There have also been some upgrades to some of the 3D printed parts. The initial plan is to mold the main hull sections to be vacuum formed and cast bucks in plaster so the masters won’t be damaged or even destroyed during the heat of the vacuum forming process. Once have created what amounts to a kit from the masters, I’ll decide weather to build it as a continuation of this th

1/48 S-3 Viking. Preferably VS-22. I served two separate tours with the Checkmates 87-91, and 93-98. Desert Shield/Desert Storm was when we looked our best. Tracy

Thank you! It was a royal pita. I have a full thread of the build in the In-Progress section if you have not seen it. There was a few times it almost ended up buried into the wall. Tracy

I'm not giving up because I'm coming up with a way to re-create more realistic metal finishes, and this project is getting me there. I'm proud of the construction of the kit, so it remains as my paint mule. There is a means to an end. Develop things here before applying what I've learned and developed into the 1/72 scale American Airlines projects I have planned. A 1/48 scale B-58 project will also be in the future as well. Tracy

Back from Nationals after concentrating on getting the 1/32 scale F-16XL finished. Took 3rd btw. Since the photo progress above, the model's fuselage has been stripped yet again. I could not get the carrier film around the "trans global airways" to disappear over a pristine metal finish, despite trimming as close as possible to the graphics. On top of that, the decal softener marred the metal finish. Solution? I've had nylon paint templates made from the graphics. The first attempt by a nice young lady at a graphics shop had material with way too much tac. They pu

I got the targeting pod on in time for IPMS Nationals. The XL was moved by the head aircraft judge to Miscellaneous due to the XL was never in service. I took 3rd... Not bad considering the battle it was to make something of this kit. Tracy

I had to do some repainting and additional detail painting due to this very clear image of the jet at the end of the movie. I've had this image for a while in much less clarity. This really brings out the detail. First, the wing panel on the bottom is Boeing Gray 1 fixed Second, the Boeing Gray panel under the American flag. Gear wells finally painted First use of Vintage Flyers decals. Really happy with how they snug down and bring details out. tga logo added to the tail. note the tape...

I decided to add one more wing detail. I don't know if the Airport 707 had this, but I decided to include it. This is a photo from a family trip on an American 707 AstroJet around 1970. You can see the inboard flap is framed with Boeing Gray strip paneling detail. The Entex kit details are a tad broad, but I didn't feel like filling and re-scribing these panels, so I painted them as is. Paint complete and the model has been clear coated in prep for decals. Tracy

Well, it's not quite finished after all. After hanging all those GBU-54's on it, something seemed wrong. A targeting pod is missing! I found a sprue of the pod from the 1/32 Academy F-16 kit on evil-bay... It's on the way. Now the count is parts from 4 different F-16 kits are in the build - not including the aftermarket products used. Tracy

Boeing Gray applied. It took a marathon of cutting tiny pieces of taped to get all the Boeing Gray characteristics in. Preliminary masks going into engine details, and the radome. For the bottom, the stab is done, and the three sections at the front of the jet. All four engine details are finished. Some jets, this feature is a varied shade of aluminum, but in "Airport", the aircraft had Boeing Gray panels here. The top of the stab is done, as well as the panel at the base of the spike HF antenna on the top of the tail. The spoil

Coroguard details and the gray panels on engine pylons 2,3, and 4. But first, I masked off the wing box to shoot it a slightly dulled aluminum. On the American AstroJets, this was painted Boeing gray, but on the 707s in the movie "Airport" they were bare metal. One a side note, I hate masking. Masking the wing box area... Upper side Corguard first.. unmasked... and the engine intakes finally unmasked,,, Masking the bottom panels next...

I don't want to display yet another big silver monotone bare metal jet. I'm trying to recreate this... And without going too far overboard, I think I succeeded. Enamel colors next! Tracy