swimmer25k

This should be my last update prior to completion. I mentioned that one of my wings snapped off last week. I was able to fix it without too much of a hassle. It is about 95% of original condition. It would take a pretty good eye to see where the fracture was. I glossed the model with metalizer sealer, decalled (most of it so far), and gave an oil wash in the panels. All that is really left is to flatten it out, finish the outriggers, and some fine painting. I also decided to add the windshield wipers. One is attached to the pilots windscreen with some Tamiya tape for measurement purpos

DISASTER!!! Yesterday I was giving my model an oil wash when "CRACK" goes one of the wing joints. I decided not to panic or act irrationally and moved the model to a safe area and walked away. I came back today to see that a fine hairline fracture was readily visible on both the top and bottom of the model. I decided not to throw it against the wall and got out the thin CA and started to layer it in there. Once the top seam was filled with CA I sanded it smooth and then went over it with some Tamiya putty. For the bottom, I layered in the thin CA and shaved off excess with my scalpel.

Yep, Dymo tape all the way. The whole model took just one day of work in front of the TV. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. There are some goofs, but life goes on. Chris

I have no idea where it is going to go. Maybe a hobby shop with a very large display case or strung from the ceiling.

Mike, Where the hell have you been? Hasegawa makes some mini-SOWs, but couldn't find enough white paint or shark teeth. What do you think so far? Chris

I screwed up and posted things twice!! If you would like to leave a comment please use the thread above. Gotta go, the short bus is at the door. Chris

Some more: Here are the Raptors:

Some finished painting pics:

Here are some pics of the painted model (sort of):

The wing-fuelage joint was rather large (to get the droop I wanted), so there were some big gaps to fill. The process was as follows: 1. Epoxy wings to fuselage (interior fuselage was reinforced as well). 2. Fill gaps with epoxy 3. Fill gaps with Miliput 4. Smooth joint with Tamiya putty 5. Spray a generous helping of Mr. Surfacer 500 6. Polish 7. Re-scribe I forgot to mention that the entire model was rescribed during the Kansas-Memphis National Championship game. Rock Chalk Jayhawk.

Back in February I started converting the old Revell B-52D to an H model using Cutting Edge's excellent conversion set. The conversion included (but not limited to): new engines, pylons, nose, lower nose, clear resin canopy, tail, extended fuselage, antennae, wing tanks, lumps, and bumps. Golden Dragon HSABs are located under the wing and are loaded out with Flightpath AGM-142 Raptor missiles. I added some Eduard color etch inside the cockpit along with True Details F-5 seats (the headrest looks like that of the Buff). There are some scratchbuilt do-dads scattered througout. Most notably

Back in February I started converting the old Revell B-52D to an H model using Cutting Edges excellent conversion set. The conversion included (but not limited to): new engines, pylons, nose, lower nose, clear resin canopy, tail, extended fuselage, antennae, wing tanks, lumps, and bumps. Golden Dragon HSABs are located under the wing and are loaded out with Flightpath AGM-142 Raptor missiles. I added some Eduard color etch inside the cockpit along with True Details F-5 seats (the headrest looks like that of the Buff). There are some scratchbuilt do-dads scattered througout. Most notably t

FWIT, a suggestion for your intakes: Fill your seams with white Miliput and then smooth out with a wet q-tip. It will fill those small gaps inside the intake lips. I did it on my Superhornet last year and it was extremely easy to pull off. Chris

Willie, Do you think you will have this finished by the time ScaleFest comes around at the end of May? I'm looking forward to seeing this one finished. You can never have too many Hornets. Chris in Dallas

Berkut, I got one from Airwaves mail order about a year ago and it is up to date with some of Amodel's newer stuff. The fiberglass parts are much more smooth and a lot less flash on the plastic parts. I used to have one of the early An-22 and it was dogged by comparison. Lots of elbow grease to get that one finished. It shouldn't have the problems like on Terry's example (sorry, Buddy.) Yefim Gordon did a book on Soviet X-Planes with a couple of good color shots of the T-4 in its heyday. There is even one with the nose cranked up. Try to get your hands on a copy. Good luck and keep us

I picked the paint up at a Wal Mart in the model car section. There is a Wal Mart about 2 miles from my house and they didn't carry the stuff, so I found one about 20 miles away that had it (along with the 21st Century models). You will probably be hit and miss when it comes to finding it. I'd call ahead (good luck with that!) I think it is lacquer based, but not sure. I cracked the bottle in the store to get a whiff and it smelled very different than anything I had used before. Because of this I opted to buy their thinner as well. It went on really smooth, but needed some thinning as t

Thanks. I dabbled with another Tamiya F-16, an A-4M, and an S-3 before settling with the F-104. I used to do a lot of NMF, but it has been a few years. I traded in every shade of Gunze gray for Alclad metal. How are the sheep?! Baaaaaa. Chris

Enough of my model... Took this photo here in Texas about a year ago. It is a L-Martin test F-16 from their factory.

Some more pics. The front canopy is just sitting there and the rear needs to be painted (again) since being fared in with Miliput.

A few months back I was working on a 1/48 F-15A Streak Eagle and hoped to have it finished by now for an upcoming show. Well, I screwed it up and it is now in my garage with about half of the paint stripped off. The old saying goes, "There's never enough time to do it right, but always enough time to do it over." A few weeks ago I started this F-104 with the intentions of building it as the Red Baron. I painted it red and then within a half hour had it stripped off. It looked too much like a toy and weird to boot. So..... I got out my NASA F-104 markings and got to work on the NMF. I us

David, First of all, thanks for the scans. They'll come in handy (one day) when it comes time to paint. My disaster was my own fault. I used Gunze primer out of the spray can. On one wing I sprayed Alclad clear base and then aluminum on top. Things were fine. The next day, I sprayed Alclad clear over part of the metalized area and it was spiderwebs by morning. I tried sanding and polishing things out, but by then I was only fooling myself. I gave it a wipe down with brake fluid. When its not 110 degrees in my garage, I'll go out there and finish stripping it, salvage for parts, and/o

DISASTER! I started to paint my Streak Eagle and the base coat cracked under the Alclad. It is currently in my garage in the process of being stripped clean with brake fluid. Unfortunately, much of my putty work was used utilizing Gunze 500 out of the jar and the brake fluid ripped that off as well. So, when my garage gets under 100 degrees, I'll think about going out there and finish the job and resurect the project. So for now, it is dead. In a fit of rage, I took out my razor saw and started cutting up an AMT Viking to fold the wings and add the Goffy Models cockpit and bomb bay. Tha

Thanks for the nice replies. I greatly appreciate them. I got impatient and started polishing things up last night. It is amazing how smooth the Gunze primer is. I started out with a 3600 polishing cloth to knock off the orange peel and things were moving swimmingly. I have to find out if my Alcad is good or if I have a skunked batch. Thanks, Chris

I'm kind of tired of looking at this thread and only seeing a white F-15. Here's a F-15I I built a little over a year ago.

Cyrus, How do you get your scribed lines so smooth, straight, and perfect? Fantastic job! Chris