Grey Ghost 531

Update: Fuselage and wings are assembled, rescribed, reriveted and redzused. I whittled the seat backs so they're not foot-thick slabs and I painted the little dudes after some whittling on them too. I have the clear parts Future dipped. I haven't decided if I'll glue them to the fuselage before or after I paint the frames. It's is going to get decals from the IPMS sheet. I received the sheet from Mike Belcher but the schemes on it are all for early Mk Is and this kit is a 5.

I mix Model Master Helo drab and steel for the seeker head. There isn't really a correct shade as the real ones vary all over the place but fairly dark metallic with a green tinge is what I do. I use gloss aircraft gray for the lens. It works in my chosen scale, maybe others have different advice on bigger than 1/72.

Nice! I like collections like that, they look really good together.

Yellow Frog tape is much stiffer than Tamiya tape. I use Tamiya tape for the actual paint edges and yellow Frog tape to fill in. I don't see tweezers on anyone's list - they're a necessity. My favorite pair is one with pointy tips that are bent 90°. Get good ones who's tips meet up when you close them. Sprue nipper - fingernail clippers work, cheap cutters work better, good cutters like Xuron work best. I also have a pair of tweezer type nippers from MicroMark. Go there to see what they have for a lot of hobby tools and supplies. Depending on your eyes, make

that's a sharp looking jet!

It's been bleaching in the window for about three weeks now. It's a lot better than when I first taped it up but there's still some yellowing. And...I don't know how much better it's going to get this season now that the autumn rains have started.

I was leaning that way too. Even if I don't get the Belcher decals I've got an old sheet printed by IPMS Canada that's got the right leafs. I'm hoping Mike gets them to me though, the IPMS sheet is something like 25 years old.

Since the Sea Fury is almost finished and there's two months to go I'm going to attempt a third kit. It's an old boxing of the Fairey Firefly. I need advice. I've ordered a sheet of decals from Mike Belcher that includes two RCN Firefly schemes. One is the EDSG over sky grey and the other is an earlier, pre-maple leaf roundel in temperate sea scheme. Which would you rather see? I can work on the wings and paint the little dudes, but I have to decide before I work on the cockpit as it will determine whether it's black or interior green.

update # 5 It's all painted. I bought some EDSG and what I thought was light sea grey at the Hobby Emporium down in Mass when I was at GraniteCon. I painted a primer coat using the light sea grey and it looked much too dark to me. Then I looked at the bottle. It's FS36307 U.S. light sea gray, not RCN light sea grey! It's almost as dark as light gull gray and much too dark for a Sea Fury. So, I rummaged through my box of paint and decided "Fulcrum gray" was close enough. I shot that on and was happy to see it's a semi-gloss so decals will be easier. I shot the canopy frames with the EDSG a

That's a beautiful model. You make me want to find the kit! But then I'd only disappoint myself...

I like it. You don't have to worry about seeing another one just like it at a show! I've always thought the "YB-60" text on the nose looks Russian.

Step 1 - paint the doors white Step 2 - coat or two of Future Step 3 - carefully but not psychotically so, paint the edges red with enamel Step 4 - let dry for an hour Step 5 - Clean any boo boos with a Tamiya pointy Q-tip damp but not wet with thinner. The enamel is dry enough to not smear but not so cured it won't come off easily, the Future protects the white. You're always cleaning up against an edge so it's not hard. Plus, with a steady hand and a good brush, there's not much to clean up.

Just a quick update because nothing much has changed visually. I puttied the wing and stabilizer joins, sanded, puttied, sanded - you know the routine. So, here it is ready for paint. Bonus nose-on image to show alignment.

Here's the eighth day build update. This is phenomenal speed for me. Fuselage is closed and flying surfaces attached. The alignment looks good. I matched the top edges of the wing root so there's a bit of a step on the starboard wing on the bottom. It's a flat area so I can fill and then block sand it so it should be an easy fix. Especially since the wing root is the undersized part. I used some strips of decal trim film on the rudder to simulate the rib tape. I wish it were a little thinner but that's about as narrow a strip I could cut without it breaking up. I'm hopi

Moving right along. This OOB approach has some advantages! I got all the parts cleaned up and most of the sink holes filled. I lost practically all of the raised panel lines on the wings fixing the sink holes and fixing the joins between the outer wing panels and the inners and blending in the separate ailerons, so, I rescribed it all. I think that's allowable under OOB rules as "restoring lost detail". The sink holes on the fuselage parts caused loss of some panel lines and to make it match the wings and stabilizers, the fuselage got rescribed too. I need the practice anyway (witn

Well, fine. It doesn't change what I meant. Italeri has often prioritized "getting there with the firstest" over "getting there with an accurate representation" to paraphrase NBF.

To be fair, the Italeri kit came out before the actual Hornet did. Italeri was (is) known for squeezing out a kit based on partial, incorrect or guessed information.

I haven't met one that was worse than I expected. Here's the list of "challenging" kits I've actually built: Airfix 1/76 Panther Revell 1/110 P-3 Orion Academy 1/72 Sopwith Camel and for the 21st Century: ACE 1/72 PRP-3 (BMP derivative) All crummy kits, but I was aware of that before I started.

Since I actually managed to finish a model for a group build I'm going to go all in and try another one! I'm intending to do a legit OOB build of this. I'll even paint the little dude and put him in the cockpit. I'll see if I can keep the AMS muzzled. That canopy though...

Here's some pictures of the finished build:

Here's my CT-133 "Silver Shark" with the spoils of her debut. First in 1/72 jets at CapCon in Ottawa. Plus a bonus go-go juice cup from the four hour drive home. Close up pictures in my main thread.

Hmm, I guess I shouldn't bring any models of Boeing products up to CapCon this weekend...

I use my wife's dehydrator sometimes. I've also heard of using parts from chicken incubators to make one.

Paint is applied, I hope I don't have to touch up anything, it's all custom mixed to match the color swatches provided on the decals. It's close enough for me.

That's a "giant water bug", also known as a "toe biter"