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1/48th Hasegawa A-7D, 4450th TG "raison d'etre"


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John and Rick thank you very much.

 

After some careful masking to the canopy framing, so I'd have a paint free surface for gluing and, the front windscreen area, I was able to get the black painted. Unmasked everything, cleaned up the glass and, test-fitted the canopy. It's not glued yet, just sitting in place. Looks the part I guess. Still lots to do yet but, progress is being made.

Steve

 

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8 hours ago, RichB63 said:

Canopy looks great Steve… and the pilot completes the look. The whole cockpit area on your model really draws the viewer’s attention.

 

Rich

Much appreciated Rich.

 

Since there was so much dark over spray in the main wheel wells and tailhook well, I re-primed them. I overdid the masking because any white over spray at this point would not be good. Better to be safe than sorry. Tomorrow they'll get a coat of Insignia White and another piece of the puzzle will be finished.

Steve

 

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13 hours ago, vonjhn68 said:

What do you think is the best way to tackle the yellow canopy 'weather seals' that are typically seen on A-7s and other jets of that era? Furball released a canopy decal set for this kit, but they are hard to find.

Not really sure and that's why I left it off of mine. I've never used decals on a canopy before and wouldn't know how to really go about it. I can tell you their canopy mask set did not fit the canopy, they were smaller.

Steve

 

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13 hours ago, vonjhn68 said:

What do you think is the best way to tackle the yellow canopy 'weather seals' that are typically seen on A-7s and other jets of that era? Furball released a canopy decal set for this kit, but they are hard to find.

I have tried masking the canopy and leaving the area to be painted the seal color unmasked.  Painted the canopy black, let it dry and paint the appropriate seal color, then mask the seal outline. Paint the rest of the kit.  It is a lot of masking and hoping when you remove the mask you don't pull off the painted seal.  At the width of these seals it is tough to get them not to look ragged too.  You also have to make sure and keep the width consistent.  If you are careful it can work.  Most of the time I don't bother.  

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On 3/3/2023 at 12:00 PM, A-10 LOADER said:

Not really sure and that's why I left it off of mine. I've never used decals on a canopy before and wouldn't know how to really go about it. I can tell you their canopy mask set did not fit the canopy, they were smaller.

Steve

 

Thanks for the info about those decals, I will pass on them.

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On 3/3/2023 at 12:31 PM, Geoff M said:

I have tried masking the canopy and leaving the area to be painted the seal color unmasked.  Painted the canopy black, let it dry and paint the appropriate seal color, then mask the seal outline. Paint the rest of the kit.  It is a lot of masking and hoping when you remove the mask you don't pull off the painted seal.  At the width of these seals it is tough to get them not to look ragged too.  You also have to make sure and keep the width consistent.  If you are careful it can work.  Most of the time I don't bother.  

I'm with you on this, trying to mask a continuous line with a consistent width of a human hair on a canopy seems a little risky. 

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I used the furball decals for my canopy seals. They look a little wide to me but give the jet the look I wanted. However it appears as though some A7s didn't have it at or only on parts of the windscreen that are noticeable. 

 

I recently finished a MiG29 that has pink canopy sealant. I bought a masking set that has you mask the canopy. Paint the sealant. Mask again with the slightly larger mask and then paint the canopy frame. Worked perfectly. A friend used the same thing on an apache. So maybe they exist for an A7. 

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39 minutes ago, tomthegrom said:

I used the furball decals for my canopy seals. They look a little wide to me but give the jet the look I wanted. However it appears as though some A7s didn't have it at or only on parts of the windscreen that are noticeable. 

 

I recently finished a MiG29 that has pink canopy sealant. I bought a masking set that has you mask the canopy. Paint the sealant. Mask again with the slightly larger mask and then paint the canopy frame. Worked perfectly. A friend used the same thing on an apache. So maybe they exist for an A7. 

My jet should have it but, it will be fine.

Steve

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Lot's of masking for little areas of paintwork but, a necessary evil. The antennas on the belly of the jet were painted, the leading edge slat wells and, the metal areas at the horizontal stabs and around the chaff/flare buckets.

Steve

 

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Finished up the last bit of airbrush work yesterday with the painting of the radome and last night I installed the landing gear and wheels. A+ to Hasegawa for the design of the gear, once installed and glued in place, it's very strong.

From here it's painting all the small details and final assembly.

Steve

 

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6 hours ago, Mr.Happy said:

Steve,

 

She’s really shaping up very nicely!

 

Absolutely beautiful work.

 

Keep modeling,

 

Mr. Happy

Thank you sir, very much appreciated.

I jinxed myself earlier saying that all the airbrush work was finished. Went to install the main gear doors and forgot all about these two arms, which support the larger doors. I probably put these off because one was broken. I managed to get the part glued back on but, we'll see if it still holds when the time comes ??

Steve

 

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3 hours ago, Spruemeister said:

Don’t you just love two hours of masking, followed by 10 minutes of airbrushing?  Such is our way, but the results are worth it. 
 

Rick L. 

I say to myself all the time when I'm unmasking things, "it took me a hour to mask this and less than two minutes to unmask it". You are correct though, the end result is worth it.

Steve

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