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1/72 Convair C-131B, Texas ANG


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Happy New Year ARC - 

 

I finally finished this one - as finished as it's going to get anyway.  I know I am missing the antennas and radio wires but this was not an easy build and this kit fought me at every step.  I just wanted it off the bench!  With that being said, I am pretty happy with the way it came out overall.  

 

This is the Mach 2 injection kit.  The decals all came from the decal dungeon.  The Texas ANG specific markings are from the excellent Caracal 1/48 F-4C/D and 1/32 T-33 sheets.  The vertical fin lightening bolt isn't 100% correct in shape but was the best I had to work with.   Paints are MM Enamels shot with my trusty Paasche H and the white was from a Tamiya rattle can.  I made several improvements to the kit.  The clear fuselage windows didn't fit at all so I used the late Bondo-Phil method of clear packing tape and clear resin.  I added the nose pitot tubes from needles, added the port side cargo door and handles, filled and re-scribed the baggage door on the forward front starboard fuselage to the correct location, added the astrodome to the top of the fuselage, added landing lights from Krystal-Kleer, drilled out various intakes in the wing leading edges, and drilled out the engine exhausts and used portions of a soda straw for the tubes.  I replaced all the smaller detail parts since the kit's were very crude and soft detail-wise.  The engines were replaced (ironically) from a scrapped Mach 2 C-123, the props are a white metal set from Aeroclub, and the gear is a wonderful white metal set from Welsh Models.

 

I'd love to do a T-29 with a belly radome also but I'm not sure I could get through another one of these kits.  I think they are a test in stamina and patience but the reward is something not seen too often build up.  I can't figure out why I keep eyeing the Mach 2 AJ Savage I have in my stash, I must be a real glutton for punishment hahaha!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

-Derek

 

 

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Wow! looks great Derek, glad you persevered with it. I have Welsh model CV440 on the shelf of doom with self-inflicted paint issues.

 

What is the Bondo Phil clear tape and resin method? Sounds like something I could do with me current 1/72 P-8A build

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11 hours ago, Trojan Thunder said:

Wow! looks great Derek, glad you persevered with it. I have Welsh model CV440 on the shelf of doom with self-inflicted paint issues.

 

What is the Bondo Phil clear tape and resin method? Sounds like something I could do with me current 1/72 P-8A build

 

Thanks Trojan Thunder.  I too had several paint issues with this kit but didn't give up.  I always seem to have trouble with large areas of white paint for some reason.  It's one my least favorite colors to spray.

 

Here is where I first learned of the way to make clear windows:

 

http://kits.kitreview.com/anigrands2067reviewpb_1.htm

 

Scroll down to almost the end.  It's under the "Clear Parts" header.  I tried this method and it worked great for my Convair.  The only thing that you have to be careful about are air bubbles forming.  You can poke them with a toothpick while the resin is still wet to break them up if you have any issues.   Before I poured the resin I thinned the fuselage sides around the windows with my Dremel tool:

 

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Good luck and let us know how it goes if you try this method!  I think this is much easier than say filling the windows with clear plastic and then sanding and polishing it clear.

 

-Derek 

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