Howdy, all!
Working from home is a big plus. Sure, there are distractions, but working from the house means I don't spend two and a half hours driving to and from to start and end a 12-14 hour day. The lack of travel time means I can spend it at the workbench after I'm done pecking away at the computer at the tech documents that work requires. That means I have been getting things done. I've showed a few of them in previous posts, but those were all projects that I began recently. What about those projects I've been telling you about for years? Thanks for asking...
First up: Monogram's F-82 Twin Mustang. This was another recent project that started out as a scribing demonstration for the club. I finished the re-scribing, attended to some molding issues with Evergreen, and them finished it using some ancient, out of production Microscale decals from the decal dungeon.
Next: Trumpeter's 1/35 scale SA-2 Guideline Missile with Launch Cabin. Pretty much out of the box here. I used photos from my friend Ed Okun's blog as a loose reference on finish and display. You should check out Ed's blog, by the way. He has been there, done that, and got the T-shirt--and he's a great model builder, too!
Another long-time resident of the In-Progress drawers is up next: Special Hobby's 1/72 scale ER-2. Another OOB build--but with Special Hobby, OOB includes resin and some multi-media. The only place I varied from the instructions was to add a square-section brass wing spar. The kit joints are butt-glued, and those long, heavy wings would have come loose with little effort were it not for the spar. The only difficulty I had with the kit is that stripe--they didn't give a curved decal to get around the nose, so I sectioned the straight stripes to make it conform. I think I was marginally successful All the other problems I faced during construction were self-inflicted.
In the spirit of "we all learn from the misfortune of others", here's the litany of shame. It is mercifully short...
1. I didn't pay attention to the relationship between the wing, fuselage, and the Superpods. As a result, the Superpods wound up pointing outboard about 3 degrees when I attached the wing. With much gnashing of teeth, I carefully cut the pods loose and re-set them in the proper position. I was fairly successful at getting them correct, but don't look too close...
2. While painting, I initially primed with Vallejo gray, then followed with Vallejo white. The white got a little rough in the areas where the wing, fin, and horizontal joined the fuselage. It got really rough around the datalink pod. I thought I had taken care of the issue until I clear coated the model for decals with what used to be called Future. What do you say when the clean, white surface of your model looks like 120 grit? Well, I wasn't happy--but I wasn't worried. Before I applied the decals, I took an 1800-grit Micro-Mesh Soft Touch sanding pad and smoothed out the offending areas. Easy. And because I had applied the clear, I had a bit of "sand-through" insurance. During the process, I saw some areas that were a little light on coverage, so I touched them up. After that, I proceeded as normal. The results are as you see them here.
Continuing with the Hit Parade comes a model I have been wanting to build since 1986, and have been working on since 2013 or 2014. I'll let it speak for itself..
Yep. Hasegawa's 1/72 scale F-111F marked as Karma-52 from Operation El Dorado Canyon. This one was a love-hate affair. I had built one of these kits back in the early 1990's when they originally hit the market, and I thought at the time it was pretty good. Now, don't get me wrong, the Hasegawa Aardvarks are still #1 in 1/72 scale, but either I didn't pay attention, didn't care, or didn't remember how fiddly they are. All the flaps, slats, and vanes mean more finishing worries--maybe I brush painted all the red areas on that model, I dunno--as well as some display woes. Look at photos, and the majority show the wings swept. For the photos that show the wing spread, the flaps, slats, and vanes are retracted. And sure, you can build the kit that way by doing some minor work to the basic kit--and next time, I may well do just that.
But the big stumbling block for me was the paint scheme. I had not done a tight feather-edged scheme in 1/72 scale since the late 1990's on a Hobbycraft Caribou. In the intervening time, I switched airbrushes several times--from an Aztek, to my Badger 150, to a Badger 105 Patriot, to a Grex Tritium TG.3. I also have changed paints, from PollyScale all the way to Vallejo, with a few stops in between. The first attempt I made on this model was with Hataka acrylics. No bueno. Now, I haven't worked with them enough yet to give them a big thumbs down, but I didn't like the way they behaved. So, I reached for the Vallejo paints.
F-111's in Europe had tight, soft-edged camouflage. I was going to use raised paper masks, but I got frustrated early while making them. So, I decided to go the poster putty route. Try as I may, it never looked right. By this time, I had achieved nothing but Ugly Paint Buildup. A rag soaked with Isopropyl Alcohol got me back to square one...
I finally decided that if I could do a freehand, tight, soft-edged scheme on the Caribou, I can do it on this one. I literally had to re-teach myself to "paint small"--I thinned the paint a little more, removed the needle cap, and had the tip of the airbrush literally 1/4" from the surface of the model 99% of the time. I probably didn't need to, but I also used the .02mm needle/tip in the Grex. Well, it worked. I'm actually proud of the job I did, and I'm happy that I could get my airbrushing chops back.
Between the ER-2 and the F-111F, I faced some adversity. I faced it, slapped it around, wrestled it to the ground, and made it my bitch.
The lesson bears repeating. As Chief Lone Wattie recounted in "The Outlaw Josie Wales" , all you need to do is "Endeavor to Persevere".
And yeah, I know--not the greatest photos. More on that later...
So, now that I'm getting things done, what's next to head to the display shelf? Well...
Washed, filtered, and drybrushed, the Dragon 1/35 scale StuG IV is waiting for final assembly, weathering, and a base (which is also in work).
Another one in the final assembly shop is the Dragon 1/700 scale Mini Mighty Moo:
Last night, I gave both the StuG IV and the Cowpens' hull and flight deck a coat of Satin Varnish, and I painted the Acrylic Gel Medium on the ship's base. Getting closer all the time.
The next two after these will be the Special Hobby 1/48 C.200 and an Academy 1/35 T-34/85. After that, I'll complete the Aeroclub 1/48 Gloster Gamecock. After that, I haven't decided. Perhaps a 1/72 CH-47 Chinook, maybe something else. I'll cross that bridge when the Macchi and T-34 are in the finish shop.
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Now, the photos. Yes, they're low-resolution iPhone workbench photos. Yes, they need to be better. They're wide angle shots. They're sometimes overshadowed by the background clutter. I've been planning a quick and easy photo booth setup, and think I finally found one that is quick and easy. It was relatively cheap, too, since the materials come from Lowe's and cost all of about $20. I have a point and shoot and a DSLR already, and we have some reflectors and lights (although I did get some Ottlite flip LED lamps on sale--two for less than $20), so I'm going to play around over the next little bit to see what this rig is capable of. Stay tuned...
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So there you are. Progress on all fronts. And not only have I gained momentum again, I got my mojo back...
Thanks for reading. Be good to one another, and as always, I bid you Peace.
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