oortiz10

Good to know... I don't pour anything back into the original jar. As a habit, if I've thinned it, I use it or dump it. Interesting that it still sprays and dries clear. I'll give it a shot (pun intended) on some scrap. Not that I don't trust you all... Thanks for the responses! -O

Just like the title says. I'm wondering if X-22 goes bad. I have about 1/3 of the "large" jar that can't be more than a year old. When I went to use it earlier this week, I noticed that it had a yellow tint to it. Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone know if it'd dry clear if I tried using it? Thanks in advance, -O

OK gang, I got a little more done on my Jolly Green. Not a lot, but every little bit of progress counts, right? Hajo mentioned that the demarcation lines between my camo colors were a little "blurry." I didn't think so at first, but the more I looked at it, the more I thought he was right. I looked at a bunch of pictures online and saw that the borders between the colors were pretty sharp. So, I went back and tightened up my lines. It's not terribly noticeable, but I think it looks better. Besides that, I started decaling too. The engines were mounted because I still need to go back and clean up some paint, and I'm going to touch up the engine to fuselage joint. Still quite a bit to do, but I'm happy with my progress. As usual, comments, questions, and criticisms are welcome. Thanks for looking! -O

TRAGEDY AVERTED! First and foremost, I have to thank Mig for saving this build. If it wasn't for him, this project would be on the shelf. Let me explain... After I got the doghouse cut to accept the -J canopy, I noticed that the canopy itself was about 2mms too wide. Well, I went back and forth about how to attack this. I tried heating the plastic and slowly squeezing it to lessen the gap, but the plastic was very thick and that idea didn't work too well. I decided I'd glue one side down, and after that side was dry and solid, I'd clamp and glue the heck out of the other side. As I was dry-fitting and squeezing the canopy...CRACK! My canopy was ruined. Lucky for me, Mig had an extra canopy and generously donated it, thus saving my build. THANKS MIG! As it turns out, the canopy Mig gave me fit much better. It was still about 1mm too wide, but it was much more forgiving. A little filling, shimming, and sanding got me a pretty good fit. Here's what it looks like under an initial coat of primer. A little more clean-up, and I think it'll look just fine under the final coat of paint. Another small problem I encountered was with the skids. One skid (port side) was "tip high." That is, it didn't want to lay flat when installed. As I was tinkering with its fit, I broke that part too. Luckily, I had the skids from the -S that I was planning on using. That explains the green skid. Unfortunately, it, too, is tip high. I wonder if it's the mounting holes. Oh well, I can live with it. I don't want to risk snapping another skid...especially since I have no more to spare. Anyway, here's where my -G is at. Comments, questions, and criticisms are welcome. Cheers, -O

WHOA! I can't believe it's been 9 months since I fondled this plastic! Well, I'm back with some progress to share. Another project that I was working on hit an unexpected roadblock, so I figured I'd get back to this beast... First, thanks for the feedback on the sanding. It looked a lot worse than it really was. You'll see in the pictures that it wasn't that bad. When I last posted, the fuselage halves were just about to go together. I got the fuselage and sponsons pieces glued together. Unfortunately, the fit wasn't perfect. I had to use some Mr. Surfacer to smooth things out. Then, when sanding to get a flush finish, I lost some of the raised surface detail. I tried to use some tape to protect some of the raised detail on the sponsons. Some creative masking and thick layers of Mr. Surfacer replaced some of the lost detail on the top of the fuselage. After the fuselage went together, I attached and masked the clear parts. I was also able to start on the painting. This is a simple kit and I'm doing it OOB, but I really wanted to focus on my painting skills. I wanted to try to replicate a patchy, worn paint job. The camo was free-handed. I hope it looks alright. Let me know if the demarcation lines should be "tighter" or if it looks OK as is. In the following pictures, everything is just dry-fitted together. With most of the big pieces ready to go together, I started looking at some of the smaller stuff. One assembly I needed to tackle was the recue winch. The instructions were really vague about its attachment point, and the whole assembly was super-fiddly with just butt-joints to hold it all together. So, I decided, I'd just eliminate the kit attachment parts and use some wire. Two simple holes in the winch with corresponding holes in the fuselage give me a much stronger bond. When the engine assembly's in place, you don't even notice the difference. Once everything is assembled and painted, things will look just fine. Anyway, that's where things stand now. Thanks for stopping by to take a look. Feel free to share your comments, criticisms, and questions. Cheers, -O

CRUD! While working on my current project, I accidentally snapped my canopy! GRR!!! Does anyone have a spare canopy or scrapped kit that they would be willing to part with? I'm looking to pay handsomely for the part and shipping. Please contact me via email at oortiz10 AT yahoo DOT com. Yes, I'm posting this in multiple forums...I'm desperate! Cheers, -O

CRUD! While working on my current project, I accidentally snapped my canopy! GRR!!! Does anyone have a spare canopy or scrapped kit that they would be willing to part with? I'm looking to pay handsomely for the part and shipping. Please contact me via email at oortiz10 AT yahoo DOT com. Yes, I'm posting this in multiple forums...I'm desperate! Cheers, -O

CRUD! While working on my current project, I accidentally snapped my canopy! GRR!!! Does anyone have a spare canopy or scrapped kit that they would be willing to part with? I'm looking to pay handsomely for the part and shipping. Please contact me via email at oortiz10 AT yahoo DOT com. Yes, I'm posting this in multiple forums...I'm desperate! Cheers, -O

Hey gang, Thanks for stopping by and looking. I don't have a lot to show today, but I've gotten over the last big hurdle of the build. I think it's all down hill from this point on. I got the doghouse cut and shaped for the canopy. The fit isn't perfect, but it's pretty good. I'm very happy with the results. There are a few small gaps here and there, but a little filling and sanding should blend things in. Let's take a look... So...whatcha think? Comments, questions, and criticisms are welcome. Feel free to share your two cents. Cheers! -O

Hey Ski, Nice work. I think I saw your build when I was looking at 1/48 -Gs online. I do have a question for you. How'd you go about modifying the doghouse to fit the canopy? Any pointers or suggestions would be very helpful. That'll be the last hurdle I'll need to get over to pull off this build. Thanks!

Happy New Year, fellow plastic mashers! One of my three modeling resolutions for the year is to try new things and push my limits. I figured this would be a good project to start with... I was able to scoop up all USMC Cobra variants in 1/48 (2 - AH-1Js, 1 - AH-1T, 1 - AH-1W, 1 - AH-1Z (W boxing with "Z" parts; 1 - AH-1Z). My goal is to improve my skills with each one until I work my way up to the Zulu. Obviously, there is no -G in 1/48, so I gotta make my own. I know that the Js are can be hard to come by and can cost a pretty penny, but I was able to get one and a -S fairly cheaply at a local model swap meet. Since I have two -Js, I'm not too worried about screwing this up. To start, I figured I'd try to scratch the chin turret. I told myself, if things went well with the turret, then I'd press on with the rest of the build. I have to say, I'm fairly satisfied with my first attempt at scratch building. I used the existing opening in the turret and traced its size and shape onto a piece of tape. Then I used that tape as a template to open up a second slot. After opening up the slot, I used some plastic rod, tube and card to create the grenade launcher, then I found a minigun in my spares box to round things out. Nothing's glued together in the picture above, but I'm thinking once everything's assembled, things will be passable under some paint. Feeling invincible, I moved on to the doghouse. I decided to build the doghouse separate from the fuselage. My thinking was, if I screwed the pooch with the doghouse and its modifications, I could still salvage a -J from the plastic. The first thing I did was tend to the exhaust. As it goes, out of the box, the plastic allows for a "see-through" exhaust. I fixed that by finding about 1/2" of 5/16" OD tubing to substitute as the exhaust. On the interior end, I glued what I think is a wheel hub from my spares box for some visual interest. As of now, the exhaust is just dry-fit to allow for final adjustments and painting. Continuing with the doghouse, I moved on to the inlets and their debris screens. I looked at a lot of pictures of both Army and USMC AH-1Gs. While all of the screens were similar, not all were exactly the same. That was nice to see because it gave me some flexibility in my "interpretation." I had some random PE screen sitting around, so I cut it to size and trimmed it with strips of Tamiya tape. Perfect? Nope. Replicates in scale? Nuh-uh. Close enough? Yep. I'm sure they'll look OK under some paint. Satisfied with the stuff on the outside, I worked on the cockpit. Everything up front is pretty much OOB, except for some wrapped wire to represent the ECS hoses. I cut one free from the rear bulkhead and wrapped the bulkhead in foil to serve as soundproofing. I'm not too worried about the texture not being perfect. Little is going to be seen once everything is closed up. Besides the ECS hoses, I used a small square of clear acetate as the pilot's sighting glass, and some tape strips as simple seat belts. These shots were taken before it was all cleaned up and flat coated. Well, that's where things stand as of now. Winter break is over, and I gotta get myself back in the classroom tomorrow. It was nice having some time at the bench, but I don't know when I'll be able to get some more progress done on this. The good thing is that I'll have some time to come up with a plan to tackle the canopy issue. If anyone has any ideas, I'm open to suggestions. Feel free to share any questions, comments, and criticisms. Thanks for looking! -O

Howdy gang, Were the upper canopy windows ("greenhouse windows") tinted green or left clear? I can't tell from the era pictures that I've been able to find. Thanks in advance, -O

I was waiting until both my submissions were completed before posting here. I present to you my F-5E Tiger and F9F-5 Panther. Both rescribed but otherwise the plastic's out of the box. The former wearing Two Bobs decals, and the latter wearing Eagle Strike markings. Thanks for the laughs ARC! I'm looking forward to my next entry in a GB. Cheers! -O And a "heritage" shot of my Panther with a 1/48 Hasegawa F4U-4 in VMFT-20 markings too.

Hey ARC, Here's another ol' Revellogram I wrapped up for the GB. I really enjoyed this kit. Low parts count, good fit, and decent detail. I rescribed the plastic and pretty much built it out of the box. I used some twisted fine wire to replicate the rope ejection pull handles, some drilled-out plastic rod for the gun barrels, and some tape for some simple seatbelts. Besides that, I used Eagle Strike decals for the markings. Special thanks to modelguy2 for helping me out with some replacement decals. I couldn't have wrapped up this build without his help. The kit was painted using MM enamels and Alclad lacquers. I would definitely love to build another one of these little kits. I think the next one might be a NMF Panther. Enjoy the photos! Thanks for looking. Feel free to share your comments, questions, and criticisms. Here's to mashing plastic in '19! Happy Holidays ARC! -O

Annddd...DONE! Though it took a little longer than I wanted, I finally got it done. There were a few bumps with the gloss coat, wingtip tank and nose decals, but it's finally on my shelf. It's definitely not perfect, but I like the way the green jumps off of the GSB. Anyway, thanks for looking. Enjoy the pictures! Happy Holidays ARC! Here's to mashing plastic in '19! Cheers, -O