Helo 53

Hi shawn ; The PBM-5 Mariner went together okay with just a few minor issue's I needed to clamp the wing top and bottom halves while the glue set and a little putty was needed along the join all the way around the wings I also cut the cowl flaps open for a better look I also cut a piece of sheet plastic to shape where the nose turret sits Without the little shelf the turret kept falling inside the hull . I remeber that the right side wing wanted to angle up slightly more than the left wing , so some filing was needed on the right wing bottom join where it meets the upper fuselag

Thank's for the link to the Super Frelon front windows . When I look at the canopy the German modeler has and compare it to mine , perhaps Mach 2 may have fixed it slightly as I think the frame lines on my canopy look a little better ; The two newer kit canopy's are about the same as the first build ; The center window on my canopy's seems to narrow at the top a lot more than the German modelers ? Anyway here's some WIP pic's of the C-123 Provider . There is a huge amount of filing and sanding with the build and the first area of attention is the main wheel well opening and boxing ;

HAJO , I didn't change anything with the Super Frelon canopy ; I just masked and painted it as is . I have two more Super Frelon's in the stash for the IDF and I was thinking of trying to scratch build some "out-rigger" styled landing gear struts and delete the sponsons . Holmes and Moggy thanks for the kind words on my Mach 2 builds , I did try and upload some WIP pic's with the finished builds when I started the post but I must of gone over the limit for uploading pic's at the one time here on ARC Forums . Anyway here's a WIP pic of the AJ-1 Savage fuselage interior ; I made some steps

Hi HAJO ; Here's some WIP pic's of my Super Frelon build . I cut open the side cabin door and added some plastic strip to the opening to make up for the saw cut and filing ; I do remember those square boxing pieces that fit above the interior roof that cover the exhaust holes on both fuselage halves , there's two of them on the left fuselage and one on the right side . The two oposite each other stick out a little too much and you need to file the back of each one so the fuselage halves will close up . I added some control levers to the overhead cockpit consol panel ; After glueing

Hi everyone ; I've been catalouging some of my Mach 2 builds , both finished and WIP builds and I thought i might share a few pic's . Here's a AJ-1 SSavage for the U.S. Navy during the Korean War . I backdated the kit from a AJ-2 to a AJ-1 version by adding a lower crew compartment and I cut open the side crew door as well . I scratch built a lifting crane and scaffold from plastic rod and added an engine from a Airfix Skyraider kit as well as modifying a Airfix M3 halftrack trailer to make a prop trolley . Next is a PBM-5 Mariner built OOB Here's a RB-45C Tornado for the Korean War

The Jaguar is looking good Amen . I like the salt weathering and the display stand looks great . John .

Some more progress on the F-94B today . I airbrushed the wheel wells with some chromate ; I'll mask the canopy and cockpit next and the F-94B will be ready for painting ; There was a couple of sessions of puttying and sanding and I was carefull not to loose too much of the raised detail while sanding . Looking forward to getting some paint on her . John .

Well it's been a while since my last update and I finally have Crazy Legs up on her feet ; The canopy is glued in place and surprisingly the gap under the front canopy where it meets the fuselage nose section is a lot smaller than previous Lindberg HH-3E builds , so I just filled it with some Micro Kristal Klear . She is now ready for masking and then onto painting ....at last ! John .

Sebastijan , your Su-27 Flanker-b is awesome . I really like the paint finish and weathering . The tarmac display board with a little snow in the corners is terrific Well done Sir . John

Excellent work on the Mig-21 The different panel tones on the Mig really stand out . Awesome build Sir . John .

WOW , Very,Very Nice . I like the added cable under the fuselage and the blue,red and yellow colour rotor tips is interesting . Excellent work all round Sir . John.

A little more progress on the F-94B . Before glueing the fuselage halves together I drilled out the nose gun ports I picked up a nice PE boarding ladder and some resin seats which are designed for the T-33 but I thought I could still use them for the F-94B Here's the fuselage and wings glued on I'll putty the seams next . John .

I must confess to some "slacking-off" while the Boss has been absent these past couple of weeks . However I'm back on the job and started sanding the putty... Nice to have you back Boss ... John

Ray , really great build . What ever minor issue's you had with the masking and painting certainly don't show with the finished pictures . With the added cabin and cockpit detail as well as the extra effort with the rotor mast I think you could easierly give yourself 9.5 out of 10 , I do anyway. I like the rotor tie down on the tail but most of all the display base is a knockout . The only idea I've had so far for my helicopter builds in area's around snow was to use a piece of styrofoam ...quite lame compared to your awesome display base and I think the fire extinguisher looks good sitting

The Heller 1/72 F-94B Starfire kit arrived in the post yesterday and I thought I would make a start on it . I like how the decals have a silver backing around each marking which will help in not allowing the orange/red aircraft color from showing through , Also I think the "bat-wing" looks really cool . Anyway I did some preliminary airbrushing on the fuselage halves and cockpit pieces . The F-94B looks like a nice straight OOB build as I have felt a little burned out with all the scratch-building I've been doing on the HH-3E's . Should have the fuselage and wings all glued together b

Thank's for the info on the Wayne Mutza F-102 book . I found one at amazon .com from a seller that shipped international to Sydney , Australia . I look forward to my copy arriving in a couple of weeks . John .

WOW , outstanding panel shading for the metal finish ; Very nicely done Sir . John .

Excellent work Michael . The paint finish looks awesome . John .

Great WIP Ray . The added rotor blade trim tabs and pitch horns are excellent ; I must say the decals look awesome , especially the white lettering on the orange paintwork . I was wondering all this time if some of the orange would show through the white letters but it doesn't . The max decals are the first ones I've ever seen where you can apply the white decal without the paint color showing ; 10 out of 10 to Joe Maxwell for producing such awesome decals. John .

That's quite a good effort airbrushing those three colors Ray . One tip I found out about not so long ago about masking around curves and raised detail , like rivets and engine screens , is that for example say you airbrush the yellow tail band and once dry you mask that section to spray the orange or what ever color and your worried about a little paint bleed under the masking tape , the trick is to lightly airbrush a couple of coats of the yellow first up against the edge of the masking tape and then spray the next color which will help prevent the orange from bleeding through . Sorry I did

Ahhh , I see now why you replaced the molded on oil cooler . I didn't pick up before the difference in size until you posted the two builds for a comparision . I also like the styrene rod fix along the gaps in the roof section , another great tip I've copied into the "Huey Files" Am I right in thinking that the roof strake is slightly oversize and that's why you filed it down a bit , nice tip about attaching it to some masking tape . Great WIP pic's all round Ray . John .

I found two sites that have some great walk-a-around pic's of the EB-57 , especially the antenna's and other sensors that are on the underside of the Canberra ; http://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/b-57/eb-57_walk.shtml http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=77088 I found some underwing pods in the spares box I can use as Chaff dispensors and I managed to scrounge up a sensor for the tail fin and a couple for the nose . The rest I'll have to scratch build using the pictures from the links above . John .

Great work Ray . I like how you filled in the left side fuel filler cap , that's something I have always overlooked . I'm a bit curious about the underside where you filed off the raised square section and replaced it with a flat piece of plastic . What is wrong with the molded piece italeri have , this isn't criticism , I'm just not sure why . I like how you made those rotor blade counter balance pieces as well , I copied those pic's into the computer for reference . John.

I went looking through some of my B-57 Canberra reference books and found several interesting pic's The first two are scans from the Rene J francillon, Peter B Lewis and Jim Dunn Fighter Interceptors book ; The first pic shows the EB-57E with the ECM antennas mounted on the bomb bay doors and has some sensors on the nose as well as apair of chaff dispensors beneath each wing ; Another similar aircraft ; Here's an interesting pic from the Martin B-57 Canberra , The Complete Record by Robert C Mikesh ; Interesting info about two rescue helicopters being dispatched in case one or both

WOW , your off to a quite impressive start . Stretching the fuselage would require some awesome modelling skills and your work so far sure reflexs that . Keep up the great work Michael and I look forward to seeing the Canadian Coast Guard chopper come together . John .