Loach Driver Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 I have just discovered this build. Anything based at Groom Lake is always interesting! 👽 Keep up the good work. LD. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted December 19, 2020 Author Share Posted December 19, 2020 Well folks, summer is over and I've gotten my brain out of fishing mode, and into modeling mode, so it's time for an update on this build. As some of you know, I am an avid tiger musky fisherman and spend most of my summer chasing these elusive fish. I had a pretty decent season with them, catching 23 fish in about 50 trips. That is much better than last years beating of 4 fish in 35 trips! Attached are a couple of pics of my big fish of the year at 44.5" or 113 cm in metric. It was a real pig, and made my year 😁 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted December 19, 2020 Author Share Posted December 19, 2020 And on the "bump board". As always, the fish was released to fight another day 👍 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted December 19, 2020 Author Share Posted December 19, 2020 Now..... on to the update. Last night I started adding some of the antenna's that I hope won't get broken off. I also added the vortex generators by the the stabilizers. They give them to you in photo etch, but I'm not a big fan of p/e and decided to scratch them out of strip plastic. The antennas on the top of the fuselage are from a Hasegawa P-3C kit, while the bottom ones are also scratched. There's a few smaller ones that I will add this evening. She's getting closer to paint! Fred. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aircommando130 Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 Awesome work! I think I need to update my security clearance looking at this! LOL! Cheers...Ron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dutch Posted December 23, 2020 Share Posted December 23, 2020 Fred, this will be a true one-of-a-kind model when complete! Nice fish BTW! K/r, Dutch Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted December 24, 2020 Author Share Posted December 24, 2020 10 hours ago, Dutch said: Fred, this will be a true one-of-a-kind model when complete! Nice fish BTW! K/r, Dutch Thanks Dutch! I'm looking forward to getting going on this build again. Now if I could just get my work to slow down a bit..... Fred. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 Hi everyone, The other night I finally got the last of the numerous antennas on the jet. Most were from other kits, notably the Hasegawa 1/48th A-4 kits, but some were scratched as well. Also added were the rest of the vortex generators around the tail. In retrospect, they're probably a little big, but I'm okay with them as its still easier than monkeying around with the supplied photo etch parts! Thanks for watching ;0) Fred. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 Lately I have been having a real problem with "lines" in the Milliput on the tail empennage. I assume that they're small air pockets from when the two parts of the Milliput was folded in upon itself to mix the halves. I tried Tamiya white primer, both the spray on rattle can type and the brush on type, and later thin super glue, but nothing worked. Finally I tried brushing on some Testors gray paint and lightly sanding that out once it dried. That seemed to do the trick! The gray lines are the areas that the paint filled in. Fred. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 Last night I washed the model off to get ready for painting today. Here she is in the paint booth and ready to be sprayed. Wish me luck! Fred. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 As I started spraying the Model Master gloss white it became quite apparent that I had missed a number of screw ups. This was supposed to be the base coat, but after seeing what I missed, and all of the lint that was being attracted to the paint, I decided to promote this coat to "primer"! I only did the top half of the model as it is basically too big to hold and paint at the same time. Tomorrow I will paint the bottom and see what I missed there, then go back in a few days and fix the areas that need attention. The fun never ends ;0) Fred. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 This spot is where the flat antenna that I added used to be. I finally got a few good reference pics from a fellow modeler, and decided to go with that aircrafts antenna fit from that time period. As with many secretive aircraft like this one, the antenna fit will change over time. So the flat antenna on the roof had to go, and this is the canyon that it left me that I missed...... AAARRGGHHH! I love modeling ;0) All for now, Fred. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
A-10 LOADER Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 With all the "bodywork" you did to this jet, I'm surprised you didn't prime her first. I know she'll look great at the end anyway so, keep up the great work. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted January 3, 2021 Author Share Posted January 3, 2021 2 hours ago, A-10 LOADER said: With all the "bodywork" you did to this jet, I'm surprised you didn't prime her first. I know she'll look great at the end anyway so, keep up the great work. Steve Hi Steve, I tried priming the model with both Gunze and Tamiya white primer on the nose and tail sections as a test drive. I must say that I wasn't very impressed with either product. The Gunze stuff was especially bad. Perhaps I did something wrong with it, but it made a real mess. I sanded everything out as best I could, but apparently I missed several spots. I'm going to paint the bottom this afternoon, and fix the imperfections in the new week. Thanks for your input, Fred. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
A-10 LOADER Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 I'm not a fan of Tamiya paints / primers at all. You should try the Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 primers, I really like them. I have the black, gray and, white depending on what my top color will be. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted January 8, 2021 Author Share Posted January 8, 2021 Hi everyone, Just a quick update today. No, this is not a new snow camo job on my NT-43, I just got done sanding out the flaws in the paint 😄 I gave it a wash and will shoot white over the problem areas tomorrow. If all goes well, I will give it one final coat of white on Sunday, and then sometime next week I'll start airbrushing the details. All for now, Fred. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pieter Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Fred, Even with this white it already start looking great 🙂 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ichitoe Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Fred - damn, those are nice muskies! 23 of them in a season is very impressive! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted January 9, 2021 Author Share Posted January 9, 2021 10 hours ago, Pieter said: Fred, Even with this white it already start looking great 🙂 Thanks Pieter! Hopefully this afternoon it will look even better ;0) Fred. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted January 9, 2021 Author Share Posted January 9, 2021 9 hours ago, Ichitoe said: Fred - damn, those are nice muskies! 23 of them in a season is very impressive! Thanks! 23 fish in a season is about an average year for me. Back in 2017 I had my best year with 34 muskies caught, but 10 of them came in one trip! They were absolutely lit up that morning. I even managed to catch three in a row, which is about unheard of. And they were all between 37" and 42", so they had some size on them. What a day 👍 Fred. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Da SWO Posted June 7, 2021 Share Posted June 7, 2021 Don't know if this will help or hinder your build, but here is a link that has some nice photo's in it. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/40915/these-are-best-images-ever-of-the-worlds-most-secretive-737 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted June 7, 2021 Author Share Posted June 7, 2021 (edited) 5 minutes ago, Da SWO said: Don't know if this will help or hinder your build, but here is a link that has some nice photo's in it. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/40915/these-are-best-images-ever-of-the-worlds-most-secretive-737 VERY helpful! Thank you! Fred. Edited June 7, 2021 by f5guy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Da SWO Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 Any updates? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted September 6, 2022 Author Share Posted September 6, 2022 8 hours ago, Da SWO said: Any updates? No updates. The paint is really kicking my butt, so I set it aside for awhile. I do plan on getting it finished this winter though. Hopefully ARC will get back in business and I can post without having to endured getting bombed with spam after every post. Until its fixed I won't be posting much of anything. Thanks, Fred. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dutch Posted September 6, 2022 Share Posted September 6, 2022 Fred, I was really hoping it was on again. Any plans for the RC-135U? K/r, Dutch Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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