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GWH 1/48 scale Lockheed T-33A early ver.


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 Time to start another aircraft build, and thought that a early jet would be a interesting break from the one after another WWII prop aircraft.  1st generation jet aircraft have always been one of my favorite eras, and the F-80/T-33 Shooting Star a favorite within that generation.
   Great Wall Hobbies had molded a rather nice 1/48 scale T-33A early version, and when I saw the Caracal decals, I thought it time to build this kit.
 
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   Work naturally started with the cockpit, and the upper fuselage walls are visible when you look into the "Pit". There was one issue that needed to be addressed, and the tops of several injection pin marks were above the line where the tub gets glued into the fuselage. So out came the Bondo, and I filled, then sanded the ones that needed to be removed.
 
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the cockpit tub is nicely molded with just the bare min amount of detail for the side panels. 
 
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   The instrument panels are comprised of the front panel with raised bezels, and a backing plate that you apply decals to for the instruments, as well as the rudder pedal assemblies.
 
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 I primed all the interior cockpit parts with Mig Ammo Black primer to help give some additional shadow detail.
 
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Then I airbrushed the IPs with a mix Mig Ammo FS36320 Dark Compass Ghost Gray and a drop of Black to darken it so that it matched the correct dark Gray FS26231 over the black primer. Then I hand brushed the bezels with Tamiya Nato Black as it's not as stark as their regular black. The next day I applied the decals to each backing plate
 
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Gave the decals a day to cure, then glued up each of the IPs.
 
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  I also airbrushed the tub, then hand painted the panels Tamiya Nato Black. I still need to finish dry brushing the knobs and switches.
 
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 and now you're up to date.
Joel
 
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12 minutes ago, Aigore said:

Oooooooo...nice, kind of inteerested in this kit too. Going to be interesting to see what you make of it.

Janne,

  Thanks for stopping by. Honestly, I'm not really much of a Jet guy, so it's going to be almost pure OOB. What I'll be focusing on is the NMF with very light weathering as it's a Texas ANG aircraft.

 

Joel

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Looking good Joel.  T-33 is one of my favorite jets.   Just can't get into the "grey jet" thing for some reason.     Was the real cockpit that barren (side consoles) or did GW just skimp on the detail?  Nice job on the IP's by the way.

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55 minutes ago, 11bee said:

Looking good Joel.  T-33 is one of my favorite jets.   Just can't get into the "grey jet" thing for some reason.     Was the real cockpit that barren (side consoles) or did GW just skimp on the detail?  Nice job on the IP's by the way.

11bee,

 Thanks for stopping by, it's much appreciated.  

 I haven't spent a whole lot of time researching the cockpit as I'm going to be closing the canopy, so the stock seats and home made seatbelts and shoulder harnesses will be the main feature when someone looks in through the canopy. .  Being a prop guy at heart,  I tend to keep the few jet builds I do more towards the OOB side of the scale.

  

  When I originally bought the kit, it was with the intention of doing a NMF, which I tend to shy away from. When I purchased the Caracal decals, I didn't realize that those ANG aircraft with indeed FS16473 ADC.  So  my next NMF aircraft will have to wait for a while.

 

Joel

 

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56 minutes ago, AlienFrogModeller said:

I need to retire....and find me a sugah momma. I need the time to keep up with you! Looking forward to this build; I'm along for the ride.

AFM,

    Given the choice, I rather be 45 and working my butt off, but still young. Retirement at 70 has it's rewards & its limitations. Unfortunately, I'm way closer to the end of my journey, then from the start of it. 

 

   Good luck finding that "Sugah Momma". 

 

Joel

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11 hours ago, kike said:

Great star for one of those ugly nice planes!! looking forward for more progress

Kike,

  Thanks for checking. Gotta love those plain Jane's as they do have their  own special beauty.

Joel

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21 hours ago, Joel_W said:

Janne,

  Thanks for stopping by. Honestly, I'm not really much of a Jet guy, so it's going to be almost pure OOB. What I'll be focusing on is the NMF with very light weathering as it's a Texas ANG aircraft.

 

Joel

 

The 111th T-birds were ADC gray, not bare metal.

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1 hour ago, Slartibartfast said:

 

The 111th T-birds were ADC gray, not bare metal.

If you read the thread you would have seen that he realized that about 3 posts before you posted, having read the painting instructions......

Edited by RCAFFAN
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5 hours ago, Tomcat Tweeker said:

Glad to see ya build this one Joel! Looking great so far!

 

Dave

 

Dave,

  Thanks for stopping by, it's always much appreciated. But honestly I haven't done much of anything as yet. 

Joel

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   Guys, any confusion as to the finish is entirely mine. When I 1st started looking at the GWH T-33A they were front line fighter aircraft, and indeed were kept in NMF. I just wanted other paint options from the one USAF marking that came with the kit, so when I saw the Caracal decals, I bought a sheet only for ANG aircraft.  Caracal clearly calls out ADC as the color. They also make sheets for NMF aircraft which I could have purchased as well.  

 

  So now I'm focused on a ADC operational aircraft that is well maintained, so there will be weathering done to add some much needed interest to a monotone paint scheme.

 

Joel

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22 hours ago, RCAFFAN said:

If you read the thread you would have seen that he realized that about 3 posts before you posted, having read the painting instructions......

Yeah, I missed that. Thing is, I had typed this up several days ago and hit the back button instead of the post button. I came back to the thread and saw it sitting in the quick reply box and automatically hit post.

 

My apologies to all.

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19 hours ago, CaptainObvious said:

Front row seat watching. :thumbsup2:

Capt. Obvious,

  The build has been on a temp hold this week as I'm trying to really finish up my 3 entries for the Miosquitocon a week from tomorrow. Even the Hurricane needs a little tweaking. I've to a little to do on the 1/32 scale Scooter, the 1/48 scale F6F-3, and the Mk1 Hurricane. Then it's back to my T-33A

Joel

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17 hours ago, Slartibartfast said:

Yeah, I missed that. Thing is, I had typed this up several days ago and hit the back button instead of the post button. I came back to the thread and saw it sitting in the quick reply box and automatically hit post.

 

My apologies to all.

Slartibartfast,

  We all have done that. Just glad that you're coming along for the build.

Joel

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46 minutes ago, Slartibartfast said:

You bet I'm along!  111th was based at Ellington, which is about four miles away.  I saw that jet flying, I'm sure.

 

Slartibartfast, 

Now the pressure's on for sure. 

Joel

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On ‎3‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 9:14 PM, Joel_W said:

Capt. Obvious,

  The build has been on a temp hold this week as I'm trying to really finish up my 3 entries for the Miosquitocon a week from tomorrow. Even the Hurricane needs a little tweaking. I've to a little to do on the 1/32 scale Scooter, the 1/48 scale F6F-3, and the Mk1 Hurricane. Then it's back to my T-33A

Joel

 

All the best for the event Joel!
Take some pics for us if you can.

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1 hour ago, CaptainObvious said:

 

All the best for the event Joel!
Take some pics for us if you can.

Capt. Obvious,

will try.  Just hoping that my level of work is consistent to what the better builders are doing these days. I haven't been to a contest in 38 years. 

Joel

 

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 Work has progressed at my usual snail's pace, but I've got enough accomplished for a small update.
  The cockpit tub had both IPs installed along with both sets of rudder pedals. Using Tamiya X-22 Clear Gloss the entire cockpit assembly received a clear coat. When dry a wash of Black enamel oil paint heavily thinned with Turpeniod was applied, let dry, then the excess was removed with more Turpeniod on Q tips. The seats and sticks will be left out till the end of the build. Naturally, I haven't even started the ejection seats as yet.
  I built the exhaust up the cone, then using some Model Master Jet Exhaust Metalizer I still have, it was airbrushed on both  the outside and inside of the cone. Then glued to the same side of the fuselage as the pit was.
  Not following the directions, I 1st glued the pit in place, let it set up, then I glued the front wheel to both the fuselage and the bottom of the pit as called for in the instructions.
  GWH has included a Plastic weight to keep the T-33A on its tricycle gear, so that was glued in place as well. I'm not so sure that will be sufficient, so after the wings are installed I give it the balance test, and if it needs a little more weight I'll add some fishing sinkers to the nose cone before it's glued into place.
  the Fuselage halves were joined and glued together, let dry overnight, and a coat of Bondo was applied over the joint line.
Joel
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