Ken Middleton Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 Built as part of the Group Build Only modification while building was seprating the reat horizontal stabs as they are connected with a brace, so the 2 stabs can pivot together. But the in-flight inner tubes blocked the brace. I cut the stabs off the brace, and left a short section, and placed a section of brass tube over it to strengthen it. I inserted a slightly larger piece of brass tube in the fuselage to accept the stabs. Decals went on great - very thin and look great and the white is opaque. I had tried to modify the tank a bit on a Testors' pylon, and it ended up being a bit slanted, which I did not notice until applying the assembly after being painted and decalled. Then the challenges began...yesterday while applying the pitots and holding with tweezers, one of them shot out of the tweezer's grip into the abyss somewhere. So I had get another identical one from another kit, and paint it. The original clear support rods were just long enough to reach into the brass tubes in the fuselage. When I placed the closed-type nozzles on, and put the support rods in, the bend in the rod was up against the nozzle, and put too much pressure on, and popped them off. OK, not a big deal, I will make new rods with longer sections into the fuselage, and the bend part will be further back and not touching the nozzles. As I reached for something on the shelf over my bench, a small box fell and hit the right rear stab, breaking it clean off with the mounting stub in the fuselage still. After some choice words, I decided to deal with that later. I made the new acrylic rods with the longer part. Worked better, but they barely fit into the nozzles, and made it hard to get them in. I grabbed some open nozzles from the spares box and painted them. They work much better and make the rods so much easier to insert. Now the stab...I decided to use 5-minute epoxy and just apply it flush. I sparingly applied some expoxy and fitted the stab back on. Holding it place for over 10 minutes (I thought this stuff was 5 minutes?) was a challenge, but in the end, worked out well. Also, taking photos of a dark, glossy model is a challenge showing every imperfection! The lighting on this one makes it look like a Blue Angel Anyway, thanks for looking. Cheers Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Eric2020 Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 Stunning model again Ken!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 (edited) Ken. STUPENDOUS work.. Very smart finish and the lighting in your photography is just AWESOME and looking IMPRESSIVE as ever Your builds are always INSPIRING Edited June 4, 2011 by HOLMES Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ken Middleton Posted June 4, 2011 Author Share Posted June 4, 2011 thanks Eric and HOLMES! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
.linus Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 awesome job ken. i love your displays! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ken Middleton Posted June 4, 2011 Author Share Posted June 4, 2011 awesome job ken. i love your displays! thank you .linus! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chopperpilot71 Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Nice Hornet, Ken! Very sleek, I love these retro Navy birds. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ishthe47guy Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Got to say Ken, very nice build. Makes me wish you marketed your display stands. I am curious about the decals, though. The fonts for the "VFA-106 VBF-17" decals used on the centerline tank & the spine of the aircraft look identical, when on the actual aircraft, they are two different fonts. On the real deal, one font is the typical USN Long Beach, while the other looks to be UASF Amarillo. Kind of stands out to me, especially in 48th. Thats, to me anyway, the kind of stuff I normally dig about 2Bobs sheets, the attention to the small stuff, like my all time favorite sheet from them, #097, the VF-11 retirement scheme. The nose art was nailed back then, but the font slipped through on this sheet. Also, is the CONA badge have a clear background, or is it printed GSB? I've been right clicking & saving all the pics I can on all the CONA schemes, with the GSB schemes being my favorite, & possibly easiest to paint. Ish Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ken Middleton Posted June 5, 2011 Author Share Posted June 5, 2011 Nice Hornet, Ken! Very sleek, I love these retro Navy birds. thanks Rich! Got to say Ken, very nice build. Makes me wish you marketed your display stands. I am curious about the decals, though. The fonts for the "VFA-106 VBF-17" decals used on the centerline tank & the spine of the aircraft look identical, when on the actual aircraft, they are two different fonts. On the real deal, one font is the typical USN Long Beach, while the other looks to be UASF Amarillo. Kind of stands out to me, especially in 48th. Thats, to me anyway, the kind of stuff I normally dig about 2Bobs sheets, the attention to the small stuff, like my all time favorite sheet from them, #097, the VF-11 retirement scheme. The nose art was nailed back then, but the font slipped through on this sheet. Also, is the CONA badge have a clear background, or is it printed GSB? I've been right clicking & saving all the pics I can on all the CONA schemes, with the GSB schemes being my favorite, & possibly easiest to paint. Ish thanks Chris! Regarding the display stands, I have thought about it, but even I sometimes have to rework and really carefully design it specifically for the model I am doing - it would be difficult to market them, they'd probably have to be custom requests. The tank and spine decals are a bit different, at least the "A" is different between the 2. The tank markings have the A wider, and a larger opening, where the fuselage A's are skinnier. I know on the real plane, the zeros on the tank markings have a square inside corners, and the fuselage are what looks like 45 degrees. I don't have the model in front of me to check that, but can see from a pic I took of the sheet at least the A's are definately different. The CONA badge goes over a white circle that is part of the VFA-106 / VBF-17 decals. The white decals are very opaque. I too have been collecting all pics I can find of the schemes, Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 What a beauty! :wub: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ken Middleton Posted June 6, 2011 Author Share Posted June 6, 2011 What a beauty! :wub: thanks Moritz! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wolfgun33 Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Wow Ken that is awesome!!! :woot.gif: Very nice!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 GOODNESS!!! That is one great looking model!! Imperfection? What the heck are you talking about? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mario krijan Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Great work Ken!!!! That blue looks great!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ken Middleton Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 Wow Ken that is awesome!!! Very nice!!! thanks Wolfgun33! GOODNESS!!! That is one great looking model!! Imperfection? What the heck are you talking about? thanks Mike! A little bit of roughness in the paint here and there Great work Ken!!!! That blue looks great!! thanks Mario! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Very simple looking yet very sharp! Nice and clean and in flight gets a big Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ken Middleton Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 Very simple looking yet very sharp! Nice and clean and in flight gets a big thanks Richard! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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