Quarantine Builds-Month 1

[AeroplaneDriver]

_{Hello all...been a while since I posted here.  I was building quite a lot up until about 13 months ago, and then life, work, travel, and other hobbies took me away from the bench.  I've been itching to get back to building for a few months now, so what better excuse than being stuck at home for the forseeable future??}

 

_{Here are my builds over the past 4 weeks.  I like building in the "What If?" genre, and over the past 10 years that has been most of my building, but in the past couple of years it's been a bit more balanced, as these four builds show...50/50 split.  Paint is mostly Vallejo Model Air or Hataka acrylic shot through a cheap Iwata NEO.}

 

 _{I'm not someone who pores over a kit for months at a time correcting every inaccuracy and making sure it is perfect. I am in awe of people who build that way, but I like to build fast and build something that looks pretty good to a casual observer on the shelf, so forgive any sloppiness.}  

 

1.  Hasegawa 1/48 A-4M Skyhawk built as a What-If? Royal Navy FRADU Skyhawk FG.6 in full color markings for the 25th anniversary of FRADU in 1997.

 

 

2.  Hasegawa 1/48 P-51D "Petie 2nd".  Out-of-Box build other than Eduard fabric belts.  Testors Aluminum Plate Metalizer straight from the rattle can for the NMF, Vallejo Model Air for the blue.  The blue is a bit darker than Petie 2nd should wear (closer to Petie 3rd  I think), but I wasn't in a mixing mood and it looks good to me.  This was a 48 hour build.  

 

 

 

3.  Trumpeter 1/48 Hawker Sea Hawk Mk.100/101 What-If? build as a US Navy Naval Ordnance Test Station aircraft in 1958 during Bullpup missile trials.  This kit had some nice features, but typical of Trumpeter it had some shortfalls too.  Clearly it was meant to be built with the wings folded and speedbrakes/flaps open.  I'm no Sea Hawk expert so I may be wrong but that seems an unlikely configuration...getting it to fit in a wings spread, flaps closed configuration was a bit of a chore.  Added parts were a Aires MB MK.4 USN seat, Eduard seat firing handle, an old F-16 pylon/rail, and an AGM-12 from one of Mr Hasegawa's boxes of things that should have come with a kit in the first place.   Decals mostly came from a Two Bobs F-18 Centennial of Naval Aviation set. 

 

 

 

 

4.  Tamiya 1/48 P-38G "Miss Virginia".  After the fit issues with the Trumpeter thing I needed an nice easy build since my favorite part is the paint/decal/weather phase.  I got this kit from the GF for Christmas and I simply can't say enough good about it. I speak of it as though Tamiya were sending me a check.  It is simply perfect.  

 

 

 

 

 

Thats it for now...as long as the storms in the southestern US don't blow us away tonight I'll be starting build number 5 tomorrow.  Leaning towards more WW2.  It seems to be my favorite at the moment.

 

[Gary F]

All look good but I do like the Seahawk!