Dutch Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 On 12/3/2023 at 11:37 AM, f5guy said: Hi Dutch, So it's not just me with the Krylon problems huh?? I still may give it another shot and just shoot it heavily thinned down through my airbrush on a paint dummy and see. Interestingly enough, their black from the rattle can is awesome! I use it all of the time, which is why I was hoping that their white would be the same way. Not so much thus far though. As for the -800..... I'm in the process of adding some final details. I'm hoping to get some primer down in the coming week as time allows. On another note.... Last night I was checking out that ERTL 72nd EC-135 kit that I got from you with the Combat Sent conversion. I don't want to do the Combat Sent version right away as I'd like to build that kit, and figure out all of it's issues, once, before tackling a big conversion like the RC-135U. So I ended up swapping out the fuselage halves of the EC-135 with those from a KC-135R kit that I have. I want to build the Combat Sent with the later engines anyway, so once the EC-135s big old nose is chopped off it will work great for the RC-135U. As a bonus, the fuselage swap now allows me to build a KC-135E, which the local Utah ANG flew, and Caracal did decals for. So I'm thinking the KC-135E project may be next as sort of a test drive for the Combat Sent. Seeing all of Jost's killer snooper 135 builds in the "In Progress" section has got me inspired! Take care, Fred. Fred, Wow! Well, you are the man with the plan. I will eagerly watch each build in progress. K/r, Dutch Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dutch Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 22 hours ago, A-10 LOADER said: MV lenses, that's another product I miss. I have some in my stash but, that's dwindling. Apparently AK Interactive sells lenses like the MV ones, might be worth a try. Looking forward to seeing more of your progress. Steve Ditto! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted December 9, 2023 Author Share Posted December 9, 2023 Hi everyone, I made a little more progress on the 737 over the last few days. I got the entire airframe primed with Mr. Surfacer 1500 White, which did a fantastic job. I am quite impressed with this stuff! However, my joy was short lived as those *%#!ing window strips continue to cause problems. I found several more problem spots that will need filling and sanding AGAIN (seventh time now). Hopefully this time does the trick. The next time I build another one of these, I will try something different to get those window strips in , as my usual superglue method clearly didn't do the job. In the next day or two I'll get some sanding done, and maybe, just maybe, start putting some paint down on this guy. Some of you may have noticed that I primed right over the wing tip and wing root lights. I will lightly sand the primer off of those spots and mask them just before shooting the wings Boeing Gray. The leading edges are chrome anyway. I also got the engines primed and painted Model Master "Grabber Blue" . Before painting them however, I added three vanes to each engine. The kit supplies them as photo etch parts. I am not a fan of p/e so I fabricated my own out of thin sheet plastic and glued them on with liquid cement. My Titan Models 72nd 757-200 lurks in the upper left corner of the pic. Is anyone interested in a build thread of that kit? All for now. Fred. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
A-10 LOADER Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 She's getting there Freddy, those engines look good. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 Looks good Fred, would love to see how the 757 goes together as well! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dutch Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 (edited) What Brother Ray said! Edited December 12, 2023 by Dutch Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted February 1 Author Share Posted February 1 Hi everyone, Well it's been awhile since I last worked on this build, but now it's getting towards the finish line! After months of back and forth between sanding, priming, and attempts at painting, I finally found a system that has given me satisfactory results. Basically I decided to give spraying Tamiya white or Mr Surfacer white through my airbrush a go. I'd read about it for years, but never tried it. What a difference it made after a light sanding! I used Tamiya laquer white for the white area's, MRP Boeing Gray for the wings, and Model Master chrome for the leading edges. After much touch up, I finally got things to where I wanted them. Next up is getting ready for the decals. I was unsure as to the best method to place start placing decals, so I used a method suggested by several folks over at airlinercafe.com (Thank you gentlemen!) . I copied the decal sheet, then cut out the large and long decals. Then I put strips of tape on the non printed side and pasted them on the model to help me judge which decal I should start with to help those long stripes line up correctly. Still it will be a challenge, and no doubt I'll be on here later boo hooing about having to try to match paint to the decals to cover gaps 🤣 See the pic below. I will be attempting the decals this weekend. Thanks for staying with me through this drawn out thread! Fred. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
A-10 LOADER Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 I wish you luck Fred, they do not look like fun. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted February 2 Author Share Posted February 2 AAARRGGHHH!!!!! Just when everything was going well and I was making progress...... the kit slid off of my bench and into the five gallon trash bucket and blew the right wing off in the process 🤬🤬🤬! Ahhh.... sometimes this hobby really tests my patience! It's fixable, but what a setback.... Fred. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
A-10 LOADER Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Aww Fred that sucks. You were so close to being finished too. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sodasorb Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Oh man….terrible when those things happen. I’m sure you can fix it! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RichB63 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 So sorry. It may come as cold comfort, but many of us here can “feel your pain,” having experienced similar modeling disasters. I hope you find the resolve to repair it. It’s such an impressive build! Rich Quote Link to post Share on other sites
southwestforests Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Oh dear. 😲😢 If it does eventually get repaired it will be a model with a story behind it. That Eastern livery is one of my favorites. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Geoff M Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 hope you are able to carry on! it was looking good Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 Another ouch! from me. On the bright side the decaling looks great! 🏆 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 (edited) Thanks for sharing my pain everyone 🤣🤣 Any time I see someone post something like this on their build thread it just makes a little sick to my stomach. So anyway..... I got the wing glued back on, then got some gap filling super glue on, and started sanding. I do have another one of these kits, so I will use the wing walk decal from it to repair the one that got sanded. So thankfully it looks as if this whole mess will just be a little set back and nothing more 👍 Thanks for your kind comments! Fred. Edited February 25 by f5guy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Geoff M Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 Great recovery. Looking forward to seeing you complete it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ST0RM Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 Cruddy set back, Fred. But nice recovery. We've all been there, dropping a project so close to the finish. Glad you are moving forward. -Jeff Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drifterdon Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 Great repair work Fred. You won't be able to tell she did a header into the waste bucket. Can't wait to see the final build. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 (edited) Hi guys, Well believe it or not, I had enough "fun" with this kit that I've started another one. This one will be the Delta 737-900ER that my wife and I flew on to Mexico last year. Without getting into it too much, I had to cut up a second 737-800 kit to get the necessary fuselage plugs to do the 900ER, which is longer than the -800 that the BPK kit represents. Thankfully, I was then able to cut down the donor kit to make the shortest of the NG series, the -700/C-40. BPK has since released a -700/C-40 kit, but I'm doing it the hard way. Anyway, while working on the -900 build I decided to reinforce the underside wing joint, which I did not do on the Eastern build. If you look closely at the pic that I posted of the model with the wing blown off you can see that the fracture on the underside of the wing went right along the joint for the engine pylon. This joint is thoughtfully hidden beneath the engine pylon, but is quite flimsy, and "popped" on me several times during the Eastern build. On the -900 I decided to reinforce this joint by using a piece of styrene sheet cut to fit the span across the outer wing to the inner belly section. This should significantly strengthen that delicate joint. I wish that I had done it on the Eastern build as it might have saved me a bunch of goofing around. Should you build this kit (which I highly recommend!), you'll need to reinforce several joints, so you might want to learn from my mistake and reinforce the wing joint as well 😉 All for now. Fred. Edited February 5 by f5guy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 Good to know about the wing seam issue Fred, I've got an -800 and P-8 in the stash and will apply this reinforcement when I attack them. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted February 25 Author Share Posted February 25 (edited) Alright! I finally got some time to get the blown off wing problem fixed and painted. Tonight I'll be doing decals. Then will come the fun part...... trying to match paint colors to the decals to do the wrap-around pattern on the nose. V1 supplied decals for the nose, but no way, no how are those laser printed decals, which are quite stiff, going to wrap around the nose. There's a few other areas that need to be touched up too. It should be fun 😳. Pic 2 is a teaser pic of the Delta 737-900ER that I started a few weeks back. That involved cutting some fuselage plugs from another -800 kit. Thankfully, the donor kit can then be shortened to a -700/C-40 version, so no harm, no foul. If you look closely, you can see the plugs. I'll be using decals for the windows, so I didn't care if they didn't line up. They'll be getting painted over anyway. All for now, Fred. Edited February 25 by f5guy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted February 25 Author Share Posted February 25 (edited) The -900 with cut plugs inserted, and the donor kit cut down to a -700. Fred. Edited February 25 by f5guy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RichB63 Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 A family of NG Guppies in 1/72…that’s so cool! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted February 27 Author Share Posted February 27 14 hours ago, RichB63 said: A family of NG Guppies in 1/72…that’s so cool! Thanks! I decided to start another thread for the 737-900 build to not hijack my own thread 😂 Here's the link. Fred Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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