JNordgren42

Thanks! The gear doors actually fit surprisingly well. The only slightly tricky part was the front nose wheel door, it's molded as a single piece in the open v-fold position so I had to make a replacement out of sheet stock and scribe the fold line. The air brakes also fit really well in the closed position.

When I finished my Final Countdown Tomcat this summer, I sent some pics to my brother and he showed them to my nephew. Who promptly said "I wish I had that!" So, being the awesome uncle that I am, I decided to build him a fighter jet of his own. I wanted something with undeniable cool factor that also didn't have too many small bits to break off (he's 10, and I don't expect any 10 year old NOT to fly a jet around and make "woosh!" noises. ). I also wanted to pay homage to both his Japanese and American heritage (my brother and I are from the U.S. and my sister in law is from Japan). I found th

I'm calling it done. I still have to glue on the aileron counterbalances and actuators, but I'm going to wait until I have the final display base done to do that, they're exceedingly small and delicate. I also built a temporary combined base out of Lego to display it with the Tomcat. I really can't wait to get the final base done with a more dynamic pose, but even as is, they look amazing together. Also on the to do list is a blurred prop, I've only got the static prop and spinner tacked together with a tiny bit of PVA glue and the hub is held on by a poly cap so it will be easy to change it o

I'm closing in on the finish line and knocking out the final details. I masked and sprayed the wing walkway lines since the decals did not want to cooperate. I got the tail hook and wheel detailed and glued in, the wash applied to the drop tank, and small detail painting under way (engine exhausts, nose machine guns, navigation lights, etc.). I've also started to give some serious thoughts to the display stand, I'm going to print out a motion blurred ocean plate and mount it to an acrylic sheet. I printed out a quick and dirty test just to make sure I like the effect and I really love it, even

I spent last night on the canopy, in the end I decided to just do it the old fashioned way with yellow Tamiya tape and a very sharp blade. It's not perfect, but I'm happy with how it came out. I do have to touch up the front windscreen, I somehow cut that panel at the wrong place, but it's an easy fix. I did a test fit and it's really looking great with the greenhouse painted up. I'm waiting until I'm completely finished with painting to glue on the canopy and all of the delicate bits (especially the aileron counterweights and antenna mast). It looks really amazing next to the Tomcat and I can

I did the first weathering step, an overall wash of AK Interactive Grey Wash for Kriegsmarine Ships. I really like this color, it accents the panel lines really nicely without being too stark (as a black wash can often be), while at the same time giving a nice subtle grime.

Thanks! I'm super happy with how the figure came out. And I can't wait to see them together in the display too! That's not a bad idea. I have a couple of strategies I'm going to try for masking and I have the closed canopy to use as a test mule since I'm going to display it with the canopy partially open.

The decals are done, and it's really starting to look the part. In the end I decided to just use the AI-102 tailcode that's included on the decal sheet, The first film Zero is AI-113, but unless you pause it, it's almost impossible to see. I did cut the yellow tail stripes off though since those are definitely not on the film bird. I'm not a huge fan of the Tamiya decals, while I had no problem getting the Wolfpack Design VF-84 markings I used on the Tomcat to lay down in the panel lines, no amount of Micro Sol would get these decals to conform to the extremely fine panel lines. To be fair, th

Thanks! I wanted it to be subtle, but definitely there and I think I achieved that goal pretty well. 🙂

I got the little details bits on the fuselage masked off and painted. The control surfaces are fabric and a slightly darker shade of grey, and the exhaust portion of the cowl needed some black. Additionally I painted the cowl parts and the prop and spinner. On a real Zero they're silver, but I decided to go with black like the filming birds. I actually prefer the black for the spinner and prop. I also did a test fit of the cowl and it's really starting to look like something.

I made some good progress over the weekend. The seatbelt experiment was a failure, I was able to trim the decal/sticker combo down perfectly, but when I tried to get it on the model, the decal came right off. I went with Plan B and just cut some straight strips out of some of the tan colored sticker material and made some exceedingly tiny belt hardware from Evergreen strip. I also got the cockpit and wings glued in and started paint on the exterior. I went with grey primer, white marble coat, dark grey pre-shading, and a custom mix of Mr. Color off white with a few drops of tan for the base co

Thanks guys. I'm really happy with how the pilot came out. Fingers crossed that I don't have any major disasters and the rest comes out as nicely. 🙂

I'm getting very close to being able to start the exterior paint. I finished up the pilot and I'm really happy with how he came out. I'm also trying an experiment and if it works, I'll have found another use for Bandai stickers besides masking (since they're certainly not good for finishing a model). I put the kit supplied waterslide decal on a spare panel sticker from my Millennium Falcon, and with any luck I'll have a result that is reasonably close to scale thickness, flexible, and self-adhesive. I'm waiting for the decal to dry thoroughly and keeping my fingers crossed that it works. I als

Thanks!

I'm working on the 2nd aircraft for my Final Countdown display, a Tamiya A6M2b Zero in 1/72 (yes, I know they used converted Texans in the film, I decided on an idealized version with an actual Zero 😉). At this point I've got the cockpit and engine completed and I'm working on closing up the wheel wells. I'm also waiting on my pilot figure to arrive tomorrow, I went with the Hasegawa Japanese Naval Aviator set, the selection for WW II Japanese pilots in 1/72 is surprisingly limited.