loftycomfort Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Hot on the heels of my 1/32 F-15I, I am starting this new project: Trumpeter 1/32 F-100D Thunderbirds aka rip off kit of the year. Due to the expecting baby in Feb, this could be the last model I'll build for a while. You guys voted for the Fisher Cutlass in my what-to-build poll, but I really feel like tackling an easier project than a full resin kit. The Trumpeter decals are crap, so I'll be using the Tbirds 1967 season decals from CAM. Also the Aires cockpit and exhaust will be used. I'm aiming for a glossy, high shine finish, so I bought some Gunze lacquer because the acrylics that I usually use isn't shiny enough. Right now I'm working on the least fun part of the project: filling the intake seams. The intake is flat and curved, so filling the seams will be difficult. I can't use latex because I can't paint silver over it. I'm flooding the seams with Mr Surfacer 500, then wrap sand paper around a stick to polish the insides. More to come. Terry Quote Link to post Share on other sites
geedubelyer Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 You're a machine Terry, a mega modelling machine! :lol: I'm looking forward to see how you treat the burnt metal panels at the rear of this bird. One omission I did spot though.........Zacto resin intake correction.... ;) Good luck with your Hun. She'll be another stunner by the time you're done. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Liberator24 Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Cant wait!!!!!! -Jim Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Terry, Guy said it best, you are are modeling machine! Good luck on this project... And again as Guy said, you may want to have a look at the Zacto intake. cheers, marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 (edited) Due to the expecting baby in Feb, this could be the last model I'll build for a while. Don't worry Buddy, it only took me about 23 years to get back into modeling after my first daughter was born! SWMBO became SWMBO X 2 and all sense of having time to myself to do what I wanted, became a very distant memory. All kidding aside, you should still be able to do a little modeling if you........ ummmm......... ahhhhh. Never mind! You're toast! :lol: In the mean time, good luck with the Hun. I'm sure it will come out looking just as good as your excellent F-15I. Edited November 15, 2011 by chuck540z3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loftycomfort Posted November 16, 2011 Author Share Posted November 16, 2011 Quick update. The task of sanding the intake seams was as difficult as I imagined, but is now complete. It's not babybutt smooth, but the attributes that make it difficult to sand (ie the flat cross section and curved tube) also make it easy to hide the imperfections. If a contest judge sticks a pen light deep into the intake, he can see the putty that my sanding stick couldn't quite reach, and he can see the relatively poor coverage of the silver paint because the airbrush can't reach that deep. For judges like that, I can also suggest where else on their anatomy they can stick their pen light into. *evil grin* Once I assemble the intake tube inside fuselage halves, I'll still need to putty up the intake lips to join with the intake tube, then paint them again. This should be a much easier task, though. Now I still start focusing on the resin cockpit. Cheers, Terry Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hooknladderno1 Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Terry, She's looking great! One suggestion for the future-attach a piece of sandpaper to a brass tube with double sided carpet tape. Used this technique many times. David Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rob Colvin Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 I battled that intake....once.....it is not an easy win! Looking good so far!!! I have been considering another hun myself. Rob Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loftycomfort Posted November 25, 2011 Author Share Posted November 25, 2011 While you guys are busy stuffing your faces and maxing out your credit cards, I made some good progress on the cockpit. Here's the tub: And with the rear deck: With the front coaming: And the side walls: Now I'll start working on the Aires jet exhaust. When that's done, I'll close up the fuselage halves with all the resin inside. Terry Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loftycomfort Posted November 30, 2011 Author Share Posted November 30, 2011 I made a lot of progress in the last few days. The cockpit is now installed into the fuselage. The engine assembled. The Aires exhaust is assembled and painted. All the main fuselage parts are glued together. There are quite a lot of seams to be filled. The next couple of days will be spent on sanding and polishing. This is how it looks now: Terry Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aigore Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Sweeeeet! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CorsairMan Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Nice work on the cockpit. Do you pick out all the instruments by hand and then drybrush? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Terry, the cockpit is looking very very good! Nice and crisp dial detail. Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EagleAviation Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Nice cockpit! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phantom Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Freaking awesome, Love the cockpit. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Youngtiger1 Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Nice project Terry. I have one F-100D saved up just for a similar project. All I need is the CAM decals. Your cockpit is looks nice. Take a lot of pics of your work ;) Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loftycomfort Posted December 16, 2011 Author Share Posted December 16, 2011 (edited) I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I last updated. I had a business trip and things got unexpectedly hectic at work, which slowed down my building progress. The main airframe construction is now complete. All the gaps and sink holes are filled and polished. There were some big gaps on the bottom of the fuselage which needed a couple layers of putty to fill. The wing roots needed a bit of Mr Surfacer 500. The slats leading edges also needed some filler, and the undersides have huge punch out marks to fill. I cut off the tip of the refueling probe and replaced it with a metal one from Master Model. I think it looks pretty good. BTW, here is the resin exhaust of which the linky I screwed up in the last update: Next I'll start working on the undercarriage. Starting December 21st, I'll be on holiday for the remainder of the year. I really hope to be able to finish this thing before New Years Eve. Terry Edited December 16, 2011 by loftycomfort Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neo Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 Thats some amazing work there keep at it Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Eastern Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 (edited) Wow! Terry, your big scale birds collection grows bigger and bigger! I think you need considering a bigger space to house them. ;) Maybe...moving to a larger apartment? Nice progress so far! Than bear metal finish on the nozzle looks terrific! Cheers and happy modeling! Alexander Edited December 17, 2011 by Eastern Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PHIL25102 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 hi magnifique!!!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dustiepal Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 (edited) Looking good Terry; I'll send you an email in the next few days and see about getting together next week. So you got the WASP, that is so cool. Dave Edited December 19, 2011 by dustiepal Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loftycomfort Posted December 22, 2011 Author Share Posted December 22, 2011 Do you pick out all the instruments by hand and then drybrush? The IP is a piece of photo etch by Aires. Each instruction dial is slightly raised, and I picked them out by a brush with black paint. Since they are so slightly raised, it's difficult to not paint over the borders (and impossible to touch up without painting over even more). My solution is to flood the IP background with diluted grey to drown out the black over-paint, similar to the way panel line washes work. The actual dials details within the instruments were just bezel decals from Mike Grant. I managed to primer'd the airframe last night despite the neighbour complaining about the smell. Today the engine area was given the Alclad treatment. The main colours were steel and jet exhaust. Some aluminum was misted within the panel lines. Then clear blue, clear red, and smoke were sprayed to create the heat stained look. Here are a couple of pics after the panel line wash. The thing actually looks better in person - it really does look like a heat stained hunk of metal. Tomorrow I'll start painting the main colours. Cheers, Terry Quote Link to post Share on other sites
blunce Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Looks awesome Terry. The 'pit looks great and that metal work on the tail there REALLY came out nice. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Terry, VERY nice heat-staining job! At your pace you'll have this done before Christmas. Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Eastern Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Wow! Terry, that burnt metal simulating treatment looks terrific! I have to give my Kiowa exhaust area the same try. Thanks for posting! Alexander Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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