DougN

Simply fantastic work Jim, I love it! Doug

Sorry for the massive lack of updates on this one! I started a new job at the end of April, and have been traveling around the US for training since then. That, plus needed to re-learn how to prioritize things each day has caused this one to sit for awhile. Things have settled down a bit, so I can post a bit of an update. I would have more pics but the wife took the camera to Geneva (and I actually got some bench time) so I was not able to take photos of every step as I would have liked. Apologies to Bob, as it seems I forgot to answer your question! I just applied the decals over the kit instruments, and they managed to stay flat on top of the raised detail, which was a pleasant surprise indeed! Any air pocket underneath got filled in with future when I applied it at the end of the process to give the appearance of glass. So, here we go with an update! I used the older kit, figuring the yellow plastic would make it easier to paint the yellow over them. Wrong. The yellow paint is very translucent so light showed through the wings even after a few coats of paint. I also discovered that there were some nasty sink marks on the upper wings, and a problematic join on the bottom. So I stripped the yellow paint and went with white primer. Here you can see them in the middle of correcting the issues: I also got some paint on the fuselage. I first sprayed and masked the white areas, and then sprayed the OD over the rest of the fuselage: ] The color of the horizontal tailplanes was a bit of a mystery, but after digging around, it seems that initially this unit had white tailplanes with black scallops, and later went to the more standard yellow tailplanes with black scallops on top, and a fat black bar on the bottom leading edge (like the Smithsonian example). So, I decided to stick with the white tailplanes for this build (as it looks nicer). I also got the gear spats together. First I painted the wheels and then painted the unassembeled spat parts in OD. Then after everything dried, I pre-taped one section of each wheel, stuck them in the spats and glued them together. This way I will only need to paint the seams and can avoid the danger of getting paint on the trapped wheels. I added the Townsend ring to the engine. I also painted this OD first, then glued one side, let that dry and then glued the remaining side. Only one side needed a little Mr Surfacer to clean up the line: I also managed to get the wings painted yellow, and then attached to the fuselage. After that, I masked them and sprayed the OD area on the wings, which is how she sits now: I also noticed a seam had developed on the top of the fuselage, so I sanded it a little and put some Mr.Surfacer on it as well: That's it for now! Thanks for looking, comments/questions/critique all welcomed! Doug

I'm sure his Highness the Nizam would be pleased with your progress, almost there! Doug

Off to a great and speed start Jeroen! Keep that momentum going for when you have to stick the wings and fuselage together Oh, one other thing, it seems that according to the data I could find, the wings are approximately 1.25 inches (actual, not scale) too long, so you might want to check that too Of course, I built mine without any correction and it looks fine in my display case Doug

Nice looking build Mike! You just need to add the missing aerial wire on the stab - like this: Doug

Well done Jeroen! Should be a nice addition to your collection Doug

Dragon has most of the work completed for a 1/32 Komet, but stopped due to the "economy". Who knows when they will get around to finishing/releasing it... Doug

Looking forward to your build Dave! IIRC, didn't Kobayashi fly a few different Ki61's with the silver/green splotch paint scheme, giving you the option to do one with the standard kit nose as well (maybe a different colored fuselage stripe)? Doug

I was convinced it would be a Luftwaffe subject until I saw you selling off your Trumpy kit and assorted bits a few months ago. Then I thought there might be something to all those Corsair rumors after all Doug

Love that IP Jeroen! Will be watching this one so get busy my friend! Doug

Looks good so far Jamme, looking forward to seeing more Doug

Guess it's time for an update since I fell off the first page I have not had much time to work on this model, but I managed to get the instrument panel sorted out to my satisfaction. Here is the stock kit IP as shown above: I used Airscale's excellent USN/USAAF 1/32 instrument decals to see if they would help. Here is the result: I put the decals on, sprayed everthing with dullcoat, then used a black marker to highlight the bezels and other bits, then used Future/Kleer to give a glass look to the individual instruments. I also managed to get the engine together: I could not resist sticking it on the taped together airframe to see how it looked: This is my second of the old Hasegawa 1/32 Quartet (F4B-4; P12; BF2C and P26) and I am really enjoying them! I'll definately be building more in future. Ok, that's it for now, going to get the cockpit finished off and get everything permanently assembled so that the painting fun can begin! Thanks for looking, comments (of any kind)/questions welcome! Doug

Looks ready to start up and take off Jeroen! Doug

Nice looking MiG in an unusual scheme! Doug

Love the 109 and the base/background! Doug

This should be interesting to follow! Looking forward to your cowl fix, as I plan to build this kit someday Doug

Very nice so far! Doug

Looks fantastic Jeroen, looking forward to seeing this one finished (as I am sure you are as well) Doug

That is pretty cool, but who is in the cockpit starting the engine?

Thanks for your kind comments everyone! Thanks Thomas, but my name is Doug and I am not Matt Yes, it's pretty bright as it is, but adding the squadron markings should make it even more colorful - at least that's the plan. Gotta love a kit that can look almost completed an hour after you start on it. Thanks Paul, this is my first one, but I have built the Hasegawa 1/32 F4B-4. I'll be sure to watch for the bracing wire issue, and yes, I'll be doing this one in OD, as that is what the decals I have call for I will do blue one next, and in spite of all the controversy around the blue color, plan to use True Blue for mine when the time comes unless I come across better information by then Doug

Rigging looks terrific so far Jeroen!

The engine bay looks like the wrong color, hopefully you can fix that before you finish the build Doug

I wanted to sneak in a quick build for myself between some other build commitments, so I decided to add some color to my display case with the old, but excellent, 1/32 Hasegawa P-26, at the same time doing my first WIP here on the site. I have 3 copies of this kit, two in the old green/yellow, and one in the newer gray plastic. Since the wings and tailplanes will be yellow, I decided to use one of the green/yellow plastic kits, thinking this will save me some effort in trying to get the yellow paint to cover. If you are not familair with this kit, it is very simple, with only a few parts, but what is there is actually pretty nicely detailed. This kit was the last in the series of 4 1/32 interwar aircraft (F4B-4; P-12E and BF2-C) and has a multi-piece engine, where the others have everything molded together. Here is a shot of the entire kit contents: The surfaces have very, very fine rivets and a few raised panel lines where appropriate. Since this is meant to be a quick build, I will do the minimum required to get it together, since the painting will take a bit of time and effort. Getting started, I have assembled the main cockpit components and will spray them, along with the interiors of the fuselage, with some Floquil Old Silver. Since I'll have the airbrush out, I'll spray the engine cylinders silver at the same time: I painted the instrument panel (as well as some other parts) Model Master Interior Black. It's a bit basic, but since you can actually see it a bit on the finished model, I'll see what I can do with it (too bad Eduard never made a PE instrument panel for this kit): I also glued the wings and tail planes together. One tip, it is easier to attach the flap to the lower wing half if you want them closed, rather than trying to attach it after the top and lower halves have been joined . After they were dry, I could not resist dry fitting everything together. Note that the wheel spat halves are not even glued together yet! It will probably be next week before I can get back to the kit and make any more progress. Thanks for looking, comments (good or bad) and questions always welcome! Doug

Wow! I think there is actually more resin here than actual kit Looks great as usual Jim! Doug

I loved watching this build when he was originally posted it, thanks for posting the photos, as I believe they are gone from his build thread. Doug