Jim S

I remember how disappointed I was when Amtech was rumored to be working on the Banshee and went belly up... Probably a dumb question but has anybody tried matching the wing of the Hawk kit to the KH kit? Kinda like making lemonade with two different lemon's?

Keep "hanging tough" Clif. We are ALL pulling for you.

Hello Martin, Managed to paint the underside color (AMT-7) and lighter of two greys (AMT-11) on the topside yesterday. I used Vallejo's airbrush thinner and cranked the CO2 up to 25 psi and had pretty good results with the Akan paint. The topside colors are AMT-11 and AMT-12. Akan's AMT-11 turned out to be as dark as the darker grey on the Yak-3 and La-7's box art and AML's decal instructions. Anyway, I am going to spray Akan's AMT-12 straight out of the bottle and call the camouflage done. I will probably add some white to fade the colors on the LA-7 but the Yak is what it is. There is

Managed to prime the Yak today. Used Badger's Stynylrez white primer. I had higher expectations after reading and watching online reviews. Anyway, it can be sanded, easy clean up, and it dries fast. It just doesn't play nice with my airbrush. I used white primer in hopes of brightening the red cowl and spinner. If it's too bright I can tone it down in the oil wash phase. That's all for now. Hope to have this and the La-7 done before the end of the month so wish me luck! Thanks for stopping by. Jim S

Hey RKic, Thank you very much. It's not "perfect" but it is done. Thanks for following along and noticing the little details. Jim S

Bummer RKic, sorry to hear that. I thought about filling the dip with putty but didn't want to sand out and rescribe the two recesses (especially the pear shaped one) and wasn't sure how the putty would blend in at the corner of the aileron. Guess either way there is a lot of sanding involved. Maybe if I went the putty route I'd cut the ailerons out & re-attach them later. Another hassle was the joint at the wing root. I ended up filling it with round stock. Good luck Jim S PS- Tonight I'll post some pics of the Yak in primer.

Looks beautiful. Thank you for the update!

Hello, Your Fujimi Skyraider looks awesome. Sorry to hear about the decals silvering. What paint/gloss coat did you use? I am wondering because I have the Euro Decals Skyraider sheet in 1/48 scale. The Gloss Sea Blue era of Naval aviation has always been my favorite period. Thank you for sharing your build of Ed Heinemann's Flying Dump Truck. Jim S

AGM-78 Standard ARM

Hello Murad, The fit wasn't too bad but it took a little bit of work. Had to shim the upper wing from the inside to make the cockpit floor flat, sanded the upper wing and trimmed the fuselage wall at the trailing edge of the wing to help the lower wing match the bottom of the fuselage. The biggest gap was in front of the wheel wells but that's no big deal. Hardest thing to do was align the cockpit walls/armor plate with the wing root. The lack of locating pins or tabs made it a hassle to line everything up so I lined up one side, clamped it,swiped the joint with Tamiya extra thin cement

No pics but I joined the main wing to the fuselage yesterday. Hope to be ready for primer next weekend.

No pics but pretty much ready for primer.

Thank you Martin!

My 1/72 scale ICM I-16 type 18 completed. Pretty much OOB, used a Northstar Models PAK-1 resin/etch gun sight and Begemot decals, added hypodermic gun barrels and pitot tube. Akan paint, oil dot finish. A really big Thank you to those who followed along. Thanks, Jim S

Update time. Northstar Models PAK-1 gun sight installed alongside the portholes I almost lost under all of the primer, paint, and clear finishes. I gave the lenses and portholes a quick swipe of Future and touched up the cockpit edging paint after this pic. I worked on the I-16 incessantly this weekend to get it done. After the gun sight and touch up's I installed the windscreen and venturi. Then I moved on to the landing gear, setting the mains and wheels. I used EZ line to rig the landing gear. The gear had to be raised by cranking a handle in the cockpit 47 revolutions if I remembe

Looking great Martin. To me, a bubbletop Griffon engine Spitfire is the epitome of beauty. Looking forward to some Extra Dark Sea Grey. Thanks for sharing your progress. Jim S

Steve, I am glad to hear you won't have a problem with the wings. In my case, if not for the Yak's seamless plywood wings I would have either tossed or replaced the kit. In hindsight, I am just relieved I purchased AML's decal sheet with two options rather than Begemot's comprehensive set with 68 options because one is enough for me, for now. Have fun with your build. Feel free to PM me with questions. Jim S

Hello Steve, If I had to do it over again I would pass on the Eduard set, though AML makes a nice PE set with landing gear doors and resin wheels... Anyway, have a drill bit big enough to ream locating pin holes on hand, a sharp knife to trim locking tabs and you'll be set. Enjoy your build, and Thank You for your interest. Jim S

Update time. Picked out a few minor details with paint and applied Flory Models' Black wash to the cockpit/wheel wells before closing up the fuselage. Fuselage together. I hacked a hole prior to gluing everything up to install the spinner after the fact. Had to bend the flanges of the cowing open to save some sanding. For what it worth, everything has fit together very well. Top side view. I have to come up with a way to fill the funny "Snap Fit" seams along the wing root, probably stretched sprue because it'll require the least amount of sanding compared to CA or putty. Bottom sid

Hello RKic, Glad you like it. Thank you for the compliment. I am looking forward to finishing the I-16 up. I am also looking forward to spraying more Akan on the Yak and Lavochkin. I think it will spray straight from the bottle this time around and if I have to thin I will try Tamiya's thinner instead of rubbing alcohol. The only thing I thought was odd was the paint still had a slight tack to it after 24 hours.Don't know if that was related to the alcohol, the semi matt paint, or my application. Beyond that I had no complaints whatsoever. Have a good one, Jim S

Hey RKic, Haven't made it to the landing gear yet but first thing that comes to mind is Pin Vise, brass rod, Crazy Glue or GO2 glue. Thank you for the heads up! Inspirational = Good thing! Hard on wallet = Not so good! Spruebros discount? If Mr. Kwan is up for it, I'm down for it! :woot.gif:/> Thanks for stopping by. Right now I am trying to catch up with the Yak-3 so I won't have any time to spend on the La-7 until next weekend, if then. And yes this is such a nice kit I might have another go at it myself someday! Have a good one, Jim S

Update time. Found little time to work on this during the week. Managed to spray the Dark Grey interior parts the other night and started detailing the cockpit today. First up is the primary cockpit assembly with PE side consoles and three layer PE sandwich for the instrument panel. First two layers of the instrument panel bent and edge glued with CA. Eduard provides a crease/fold line on the mid layer part so I bent that first with the beading pliers, then eyeballed and bent the background layer. The PE sandwich was tacked in place with CA, then I used the holes drilled in the instrume

Looking great. I've always loved the elegant lines of the Dora and your display base idea with the card and placard will put it over the top! Thanks for sharing, Jim S

Martin, if I were you I would look around for other builds on Britmodeler, etc. to see how prevalent the sink mark issues are across the board. Maybe I got a bad kit. At one point I was thinking about picking up the old Hasegawa boxing and applying what Eduard etch I could. Then I came up with a solution for the wing and decided to push on through with the build. Anyway, I will have more to show in the weeks to come and try to do an update each weekend so you can decide for yourself as it unfolds. Thanks! Jim S

Hello Martin, I agree White 24 is eye catching and worse yet there is the ever intriguing personal history of the pilot- Ahmed Kahn Sultan. Here's a link to the Wiki page- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amet-khan_Sultan My biggest problem is the fuselage decal is simply intimidating, figure I'll rip the thing for sure. We'll just have to see how it goes, OK? Thanks for the visit, Jim S