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This weeks up-date;

The wash has been applied and I have begun applying the decals. I decided to mask and paint red intake warnings by hand. I still may use the intake covers though I keep going back and forth on that.

A-4E_VMA121_bld18.jpg

Right now the decals look like they have been freshly painted and I would like this to appear as a well worn machine so I plan on dulling them down with a clear coat that has been tinted with the base color. After that I will reapply the wash in some select areas followed by some pastel dust streaking. I really want this to be a dirty bird.

A-4E_VMA121_bld19.jpg

Undercarriage and flaps are ready to attach.

A-4E_VMA121_bld20.jpg

Fuel tank, pylons and LAU10's just about ready to go. A-4E_VMA121_bld21.jpg

I also managed to get all the Snakes glued together cleaned up and ready to be painted.

A-4E_VMA121_bld22.jpg

Just about there. If all goes well I should be able to finish this by the deadline.

Thanks for looking,

Mark

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Thanks guy's! ^_^

She's up on here feet. I finished painting the other intake and adding the rest of the decals. I'm just about ready to start adding the clear coats to tone down the decals a bit.

A-4E_VMA121_bld24.jpg

The flaps have been attached and leading edge slats are painted and ready to attach but I managed to knock off one of the actuator arms on one side that I'll have to re-do first though. The pylons have been attached and the centerline fuel tank has been dry fit.

A-4E_VMA121_bld23.jpg

I'm hoping to get this build wrapped up before the Super Bowl Sunday deadline :crying2: .

Thanks again for the encouragement guys.

:thumbsup:

Mark

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Here she is, finished!... I managed to squeak another one in by the deadline, but not without a struggle. Just as I was applying a final dull coat and being in a rush to finish this one off, I decided to use a rattle can of dull coat. I've done this before with good result. I heated the can in warm water and was ready to spray a light dull coat and I noticed a bit of fuzz from the Q-tips I used to remove the wash sticking up, so I set the can down to remove it. Then I reached back for the dull coat (without looking) and sprayed a light pass on the right wing and realized that I had picked up the can of Floquil "Old Silver" that I had used to paint the burner can instead of the dull coat. Talk about bone head moves. Fortunately the wife and kids were out because I was cussing myself out something fierce. I immediately wiped it down with a cotton ball dampened with thinner and was able to salvage it but I spent most of the evening getting it back to where it was before the whole sorry episode began. It is still not where I would have like it but considering what it looked like yesterday afternoon, I'm relived to have just gotten it finished.

A-4E_VMA121_done1.jpg

The rest of the done images will be posted in the finished build thread.

Thanks again to everyone for their encouragement along the way, and especially to Dave (TomcatTweeker) for the decals, you're awesome Bro.

Semper Fi,

Mark

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