Skyking

Here is the finish sanded lower left wing. The white ares is sheet plastic I added to fill the original depression from the nacelles. The kit is of a DH10A, I am building a DH10, the main difference being on the 10A, the nacelles were part of the lower wing. I went the hard route and raised the nacelles up onto the struts. (OK I am a sucker for punishment... I admit it) This created a problem, as the lower ings needed to be shortened in the center section and lengthened on the outter sections, or else my geometry was going to be way off. I measured the correct amount and cut it from the lower

Here's a comparison shot of the wings while being sanded. I used 80 grit paper on a sanding block to speed removal. ( I hate sanding ). I then use a cabinet scraper to smooth and true the trail edges, with I cut back about 1/4 inch so that the wing skins form a nice tight trail edge. The unsanded wing is on the left, the sanded and thinned wing is on the right. The K&B Plastic is very easy to work with fortunately. K7B reissued this kit in the early 70's, as Aurora did the initial release back in the early 60's.

I have had this old K&B DH10 kicking around and always wanted to build it, but lack of suitable references has always kept me at bay. That was until Windsock released Datafile #38. LO, I was in heaven. It still took me another 10 years to finally muster up the guts to actually build it, and here is where we begin. I am going to hit on the hi-lites, as I will do a feature on it to be published later on. The kit components I will be using are the wings, for cores only, The nacelles after much modification and correction, the tail surfaces, also modified for correct shape, and the wheels, als

Hi Grant, No you were right it IS the humidity. When the air is heavy with moisture the solvents can't evaporate out of the paint as quickly as they do in dry air, so as a result the paint takes longer to dry. My suggestion would be to place the model in a cardboard box of sufficient size for it, and a regular incandecent lamp that you can leave on for a while, with a 75 to 100 watt bulb. Close up the box and leave the lamp on for the day. You will be in effect, creating a "micro-climate" of warm, dry air, and should speed up the drying process. If you overocat with Future at this point you r

Hi Mark, Maybe you can glean an idea how reflective Chrome Alclad is by this shot of my Sopwith Camel. This is straight out of the bottle over a black base as recommended by Alclad. HTH Cheers Mike

I guess I will be the odd-man-out on this one. I use both. I use digital for reference shots, and anything I want to publish on the web. If it's something that I want good razor sharp resolution and longevity, and to make large image posters out of, then I go with Print Film. When you consider a standard 35mm frame of Kodacolor II has roughly 18 MEG of resolution, you can see that you have to spend a ton of money in digital to get what you can get with a decent SLR and roll film. Also with regular film, there is only 3 layers of light sensitive material for the image to pass through, one for e

Hi Erwin, I really can't say for sure on those, as my experience with them has been mainly on their World War 1 biplanes. I did look at the P-38 once, and it looked doable from what I saw in the box though. Perhaps some others can shed more light. Cheers Mike

Hi Erwin, I did one of these many years ago, but if I recall it came out rather nice. I'll answer your questions one at a time, and explain what I did to build it. All the plastic parts, and I do mean ALL, are vacuformed styrene plastic, in either clear for the canopy, or white for everything else. They fit pretty well considering what they have to be attached to, but they do require some tedious cutting and trimming as you go. Be prepared to spend time removing a little at a time until you get a good fit. One technique ou can do is cover the area of the fuselage with 220 grit sandpaper, i

Hi Pete, Judging from pictures I've seen, actual aircraft I've looked at, I'm not sure if the GSB really "weathered" all that much. The glossy nature of the paint wouldn;t allow oil or other stains to adhere like you would a flat finish, plus Navy A/C were somewhat more pampered than their Air Force cousins, by being washed and even waxed on occaision. I think if it was me, I would just preshade the panel lines with some black then shoot your GSB, or do a light wash after you paint, just to add some hilites. Other than toning down the glos a tad for scale effect, I'm not sure you really need

You can still use your airbrush Istavan. Spray the paint from the can into a paper cup, ( wear gloves while doing it ) then pour it from that into your airbrush's bottle or color cup. Best part of that is there's no thinning required. I do it all the time. Cheers Mike

Hi Istvan, I use lacquers all the time. Make sure that you have it reduced enough to spray. I reduce mine to the consistencey of skim milk, and spray about 20 to 25 pounds. Also make sure you do it on a day of relatively low humidity, or it could possibly "blush" on you, which gets a foggy or milky look to it. Don't spray it on too heavy, instead use several light coats, letting each one flash dry between coats. Test on a scrap of sprue from the kit to make sure it won't harm the plastic, but I've yet to dissolve a model using lacquer. Also make sure you clean your airbrush. I use a "dirty" ri

That is a great idea. I'll try it on my next Albatross and see how it goes. Thanks for the tip Mr. Olds Areseny, check out the props from Marty Digimyer. You can purchase them from Copper State Models. I use to carve my own too, until I found these. One of the few items I will purchase for my NC4 project. Cheers Mike

Hi Doc, Sprue streatching always gave me fits too. I didn;t so much as break it, I just couldn't get a knack for keeping the diameter the same from one end to the other. Some places would be thick, others hair thin. I've since stopped using sprue complettely since using monofilament or knitting elastic. I use the mono for antenneas and such, and I use the knitting elastic for rigging. Both can be had from Aeroclub by mail order, and a spool of each will last a long time for about 10 Dollars US. If the sprue gets the better of you like it did me, try those and see if you like it better. C

I have had good results using Pactra Aerogloss Silver Dope for aluminum finishes too Old. It's very durable, and it has just the right "silvery-gray" look without being too metalic or too gray. The only drawback is you must spray it onto bare plastic. It's "hotter" than enamels and it will lift any enamel underneath it. You can mask it with little trouble though. Just make sure your plastic surface is smooth and finger-oil free. It covers well with a very thin thickness, so any scratches or imperfections will jump out at you. I haven't tried Future as a primer underneath it yet, but that may h

This is my Curtiss N9H Seaplane converted from 2 Lindberg Jenny kits, based on an old article from Fine Scale Modeler Magazine. Scratchbuilt floats,, much modified wings and fuselage and I replaced the OX-5 Engine that came with the kit to the correct Hispano_Suiza from a Lindberg SE5 kit. I sent a construction article to Steve, showing in-progress construction photos. Hope you enjoy. This is my first attempt at posting here, so I hope the photograph shows. Mike Robinson Duh... wrong topic. I meant this to go into In Progress. Making the change.