Clunkmeister

Gear is not glued, just press fit to check Barracuda wheel. It fit perfectly. Now to weather the tire, give the wheel a wash, run brake lines, and mount the dang things.

Going off old photos it looks pretty darn close to me. Wait overnight then some pastels and then light overall wash.

As the very famous philosopher Borat exclaimed, GREAT SUCCESS! We hit with 600, 800, 1000, 6000 paper on the outside, and mostly it went away. So as I used to say: “Good enough for Government Work!”

The Mother of all Reviews! Awesome job, Sir! Of course I'll be doing this one, and actually, I can hardly wait

Whomever the deep thinking genius was who designed French rigging, he must have been some kind of gloriously insane

It'll be a ground display, I just haven't installed the gear yet. yes, I'm thinking a simple VAC form will be a great idea. We'll see. The good news is that this model with be "Display Only" and afterwards, I can easily remove the offending component and install a new one through the tail area.

It won’t hurt to try, Rob. I had polished and Futurized them before I installed them way back when as well. They are 3D printed from a clear resin and are hollow in behind. We were experimenting with options for the windows and came up with this idea. If this doesn’t work, I’ll knock it out in a couple weeks and install a spare. I’ll need to reapply decals around it, but it’s not the end of the world. I’m not too concerned right now as it doesn’t show at all when looking from above, and in person it’s not so apparent with the Mk.1 eyeball. The camera brings it out badly. It’s too bad as so far it’s the only somewhat obvious flaw on the entire build. Life goes on.

One thing with Mission Models Metallics. They are seriously tough. If you follow their directions, they won’t lift when masking, either. BUT, you MUST clearcoat before decal application. The metallics don’t like water. Because they’re water based, any water that gets on he surface can and does affect them. Overcoat with clear as soon as they’re nice and dry to avoid spots from even a drip of water. In that respect, MMP is the opposite of Alclad. Alclad doesn’t like clear as much and can change the sheen. I always apply decals directly on Alclad. MMP loves clear, it does not affect the sheen, and makes decal application painless.

So, hit the outside it with a couple small Future coats last night. Much much more subtle on the window. I’ll do the inside tonight.

I have no idea what happened Mike, but it might be a reaction to whatever I used to polish it, or even the Micro Set and Sol, I have no clue. After Chattanooga, I’ll knock it out and replace it with one of the spares. What’s odd is that the other side is good.

Yeah the funny thing is, there was no anything around it. They were secured with epoxy and canopy glue, and sat for weeks uncovered as I worked on the wings. I maxed, then got to prep and paint. The only thing I can see is possibly paint fumes reacting with the plastic. I’m hoping if I get some future on the inside surface, it’ll hide it some. If not, some light overcoating with smokey clear might help. There’s always got to be that “one thing”.

Well, my only issue is some mystery crazing on this one convex window. I have no idea now it occurred, it was perfect up till it was masked, but it’s certainly caused be me somehow. I’ll overcoat it with Future from the inside. I should be able to reach it with a funky brush.

Barry I’m no armor guy, but I sure appreciate fine workmanship, and that 50 makes me want to grab on and rock n’roll.

Barry, that's brilliant! It's going to be a crime to paint Ma Deuce!

What’s ON my bench? I cant even see my bench!

I'm hoping this is being resolved in YOUR favor, Mark.

Per ardua ad astra!! Brilliant work, Mike!!

Whatever you do, make sure you use a set of those amazing printed exhausts and burner cans....

Wwaaay out of my comfort zone but I found these Polish Eagles decals for my Acadamy two seat D Block 51+ But hey, stick it together, paint it grey and be big hero. What could possibly go wrong?

They slide on an off, but there's a teeny gap in a couple spots. Plus, they'll need to stay on this one, what with the antenna farm that's fixin to go on it.

And my hydraulic lines look big enough to operate the entire RCAF instead of one Lanc.

Well, so far, so good.

The autocorrect at 0100 version of turtledeck