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nspreitler

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Everything posted by nspreitler

  1. You can probably safely mask almost as soon as it is dry to touch, but it definitely gets harder over time. I've masked it in as little as 15 minutes but generally I'll give it about an hour.
  2. It's fixable, but not ideal at all. I'll lose some detail sanding everything, but on this I'm not going to worry about rescribing it.
  3. Finished the main assembly this evening. The fit for the cowlings and nose isn't horrible, but it's not great either. These are pieces made for the specific version and this is where manufacturers tend to struggle getting all the parts for different versions to fit. It won't take much more than some Mr Surfacer and a little sanding to smooth everything out though. These issue could probably have been avoided with some tabs or slots to keep the pieces better aligned since all the joints are just butt joints. The fit is better than I remember the Hasegawa kit and far better than the Re
  4. Got the main assembly complete. Overall it is good, the landing gear can go on after assembling the booms, it just fits into notches. The fit is generally good, there is a step on the boom where it attaches behind the wing it isn't too bad and won't be hard to fix. While the fit is good it could be a little more sturdy, some tabs to lock in all together and get the right alignment would have been helpful. The fit assembling the booms is good and there are a few locating pins on them.
  5. Finished the cockpit and glued the upper and lower wings/fuselage together. The fit was good, my only complaint was seating the radio bay, it isn't seated up into the upper fuselage, but that will be really hard to see on the finished model. The next step is the main wheel wells. This looks problematic with the main gears being assembled this early in construction since that will be a fragile area to deal with while painting.
  6. I started the Academy kit first, like most it starts with the cockpit. The cockpit detail is adequate, with a floor, seat, seat cushion, frame, radio bay and separate sidewalls. I gave it all a coat of MRP interior green, which quickly reminded me why I love lacquer paints. It was dry by the time I ran a cup of thinner through my airbrush and I proceeded to brush paint the black parts with Vallejo Model Color acrylic. I planned on doing this out of the box, but one thing I think all planes need are seatbelts. To me they don't look right without them. I looked through what I had expec
  7. Now that the Mustangs are done, I started on the next pair for this GB. Like my Mustang build this is the old best with the Academy kit vs the new king of the hill, the Tamiya. Opening the boxes there isn't anything that immediately stood out, the Tamiya detail is certainly more refined and there are clear differences in how the kits will o together though.
  8. Thanks, they are both nice kits. If I was going to build several Mustangs and wanted to concentrate on the finish I would go with Tamiya. It's an easier build, less detailed interior and wheel wells but once on a shelf how often do we really look at those. For a definitive Mustang Eduard is the way to go, lots of options for different variants with detail between versions Tamiya doesn't offer.
  9. Eduard's P-51, there are a few flaws the wing root on the left wing isn't as neat as I would like, and the canopy could be better. I ended up doing quite a bit with oil point and used the AK weathering pencils to brighten up the areas I chipped. The stars are painted on using masks cut on a Cricut.
  10. The Mustang rodeo is complete, the Eduard and Tamiya kits are both good. The Tamiya kit is what you would expect from a Tamiya kit about 20 years ago. The fit is great, the detail is lacking in some areas especially the cockpit. I didn't use many decals on it, instead painting the markings. The Eduard kit is a little more challenging to build just because it has more parts and there are a couple areas the fit wasn't great. The detail is fantastic though, the wheel well really stands out as an area where Eduard set the bar. The decals are really good too. For simpli
  11. Calling it done, I may go back and add the droptanks but I'm happy with it for now even though there are some flaws. I ended up doing quite a bit with oil point and used the AK weathering pencils to brighten up the areas I chipped. Using oil paint I was able to mute the bright yellow and red on the nose to better match the decal.
  12. Mine tend to stall when it gets to things I don't enjoy, so for me that is usually after major assembly and before paint. It's the filling and sanding steps that generally result in a kit being placed on a shelf while I do something else. Fortunately with newer kits there is less filling and sanding, but I still have a couple in that stage. Most notably is my Trumpeter 1/48 C-47 that I started for a GB here early in the year. The fit is not what I was hoping for and it stalled. I pick it up and do a little work occasionally but overall I am just not very happy with it so I don't have mu
  13. I checked and I've been a member here for 16 years. It is still a great resource.
  14. Eduard's Mustang is nearing the finish line. I'm generally happy with, there are a few things to note. Getting a neat attachment on the flaps wasn't as easy as with the Tamiya, the fit on the front windscreen needed a little work, and while the detail the attachment of the tailwheel is very fragile. The decals went on well, my only complaint is the checks on the nose are not very bright, the colors seem a little off.
  15. Spruebrothers is fast, they had my last order ready to ship within a few hours of when I placed the order. Hobbyworld is a one man operation, so it may take Matt a couple days to get an order packed and shipped. I can live with that. Both stores are great, and I do business with both. I do prefer to shop with Hobbyworld if I can, to show my support to a growing small business, I don't mind waiting a couple days.
  16. I am the same, and I've ordered some from Spruebrothers since I was already getting other things. For the most part I will keep ordering from Matt though. I tend to buy paints well in advance of when I actually start building so I can usually wait until he has something in stock.
  17. Coming close to the finish line. A few things I've noticed. The Eduard kit has multiple props in it, which is really nice even though none of the versions in this one use a different propeller. The one piece rear canopy is different from Tamiya which made the frame and clear part separately. I prefer the Eduard one, it's easier to mask and paint the canopy than it is to glue clear plastic The decals went on well, it includes a full set of stencils but I won't use many of them since this plane was repainted and in references I can't see many stencils The landing gear went togethe
  18. Testors was a bigger brand in 1984 when RPM bought them. They just haven't kept up with the market.
  19. Those are accurate observations. Testors and companies like Revell USA seemed to ignore that the internet is a thing. Revell and Testors didn't stay relevant, they didn't improve, and they don't seem to understand their market.
  20. 1985 is pretty solidly part of the millennial generation, which is fine. There is certainly nothing wrong with being part of that generation. Like every other generation the generation before doesn't like them, but that's just like old guys yelling to get off their lawn.
  21. Got a lot of the paint on, trying out my homemade masks on this one. They are working well and this is certainly something I will continue, these weren't perfect but I'm learning and touchup was pretty easy. A 12 x12 inch sheet is only about a $1 and a lot fits on one sheet. Used some hairspray chipping but I started a little too soon so I got bigger chips than I wanted, I'll probably redo that area.
  22. A little progress, all the major assembly on the Eduard kit is done. I have to add the front part of the canopy and I can move on to painting. I got a little sidetracked with a couple other projects but the Mustangs are still coming along. I hope to at get the base paint down over the long weekend. Since the Eduard kit will be a green/gray aircraft that was well used it will be a lot more weathered than the Tamiya kit
  23. I don't do a lot of 1/32 but I did just get the Z-M Ho229 and it looks amazing. I am sure the Tamiya kits are fantastic as well, but the full internal details on the 229 are better than anything I've ever seen.
  24. I didn't say acrylics are better, personally I am not a fan of most water based acrylics or enamels. I predominantly use lacquers like Gunze and MRP. MRP is relatively new, but has 400 colors in the lacquer range and they have a water based acrylic range as well. In my opinion enamels are the least useful paints for airbrushing since they take a long time to dry and have to have an acrylic or lacquer clearcoat if you want to use most weathering stuff over them. That's why I mostly use lacquer, since things like Tamiya panel liner and oil paints don't react with them.
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