jonbryon

Thanks guys. Should have the Israeli version done in about 6 weeks 🙂 Jon

Thanks guys. This is actually my biggest disappointment with the finished kit, because they are poorly painted. I made my own masks using sheets of Tamiya masking material and a Silhouette cutter, but the shapes were not accurate enough. I'm making another one of these kits at the moment as an Israeli AH-64D-I, and for that one I will use Bare Metal Foil to mask the cockpit glass and then Tamiya tape to mask the sealant. Hasegawa mould the edge of the sealant with a decent recessed line which I think will enable to the masking to be cut accurately by hand. I did not have any significant fit problems. The nose, as I recall, was pretty good. It depends what your threshold is for what constitutes a problem seam. I always fill and sand all seams regardless of fit, so my tolerance may be less than yours. I used Archer Fine Transfer resin rivets to replace all the rivets I sanded away. Cheers Jon

Thanks for your comments and feedback everyone. The main finish is Hataka FS34031 over Gunze Mr Finishing Surfacer Black primer. This accounts for a lot of the patchiness. There is then some further overspraying with the Hataka paint mixed with one of their sand shades to lighten it, followed by some oil paint washes of various light and dark shades. Yes, this is absolutely fair. The main problem is that the Hasegawa blades are a little warped, and in the wrong direction! So mine actually bend upwards a little. I've never had the nerve to try the hot water method of getting blades to droop, and probably never will 😞 Cheers Jon

Hello all, I posted this over in Critique Corner, but that forum doesn't get much traffic and since I used a lot of information posted in this forum since the Hasegawa kit was released, I thought I'd post it here too 🙂 Thanks to all of you who posted various bits and pieces about this kit. This is my latest completion: Hasegawa's 1/48 AH-64D Longbow Apache. Additions are a Master gun/pitots/tail aerial and decals cobbled together from ArmyCast, the kit and an Airfix BAe Hawk. Paint is Hataka laquer. I've very unhappy with my effort on the canopy sealant and there are a few other issues which became apparent after I looked at the photos, but overall I'm pretty happy with the final product. The aircraft modelled is from http://www.b-domke.de/AviationImages/Apache.html#AH-64D_US. Thanks for looking and comments welcome. A build article and more photos can be seen at https://jonbryon.com/hasegawa-1-48-boeing-ah-64d-longbow-apache/. Cheers Jon

Hello all, Here is my latest completion: Hasegawa's 1/48 AH-64D Longbow Apache. Additions are a Master gun/pitots/tail aerial and decals cobbled together from ArmyCast, the kit and an Airfix BAe Hawk. Paint is Hataka laquer. I've very unhappy with my effort on the canopy sealant and there are a few other issues which became apparent after I looked at the photos, but overall I'm pretty happy with the final product. The aircraft modelled is from http://www.b-domke.de/AviationImages/Apache.html#AH-64D_US. Thanks for looking and comments welcome. A build article and more photos can be seen at https://jonbryon.com/hasegawa-1-48-boeing-ah-64d-longbow-apache/. Cheers Jon

MiG-21SMT to the left; MiG-21bis to the right. Both are Eduard kits. The bis has the Cold War Studio nose correction. Jon

I note that Hannants seem to have a recent restock of all AMK's kits. Fundraising? Jon

I'm pretty sure it's impossible to vacform that canopy shape (if that's what you meant by thermoforming). It has an Ω cross section. Jon

Many thanks indeed. I'm off to scratchbuild some doors 🙂 Jon

Hello, I'm making two Hasegawa 1/48 AH-64s, one as a US 'D' and the other as an IDF 'Saraf'. I have a quick question: under the engine pods there are two little doors that Hasegawa mould shut (see photo below under white arrow for the open doors). Photos seem to show they are open when the aircraft is powered down and on the ground and Wingman/Isracast provide PE doors for these. Are these *always* open when unoccupied and on the ground or can I get away with not having to make my own doors for the stock US 'D' model I'm making? Thanks for your help. Jon

After they retooled them, yes. But there's clearly still a market for a correct canopy... Jon

After their errors with the F-15 and T-33, I'd be looking forward to the F-14 with some wariness. Jon

Thanks Zactoman. I do enjoy looking at it on the shelf! Jon

Thanks. Quite stressful. There's more comment in the link. They lack opacity and can rub off quite easily, even under a good coat of their recommended XW100 clear gloss. Jon

Hi all, Here's my latest finished kit: GWH's 1/48 Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star with Caracal decals and Eduard seat belts. It's finished in Kcolors 60 Steel. It's a nice straightforward build and I have many more photos and an extensive article here: https://jonbryon.com/great-wall-hobby-1-48-lockheed-t-33a-shooting-star/ Comments welcome and thanks for looking. Jon