Peterpools

PW, very much appreciate Teh comments on the Sea Fury. For a small scale build, she has consumed a record amount of Tamiya Tape and as of now, still is.

Thanks Kev Have to agree, she does look good as the RN and RAF have a way of creating some mighty good paint schemes for their aircraft.

Thanks Oliver, very much appreciated and glad you're on board. For me, the build has been a test of wills and finally, I'm over the hump and on the way to the finish line.

Mark Got ya and good luck.

Mark Yikes, huge doesn't come close but the detail looks exquisite.

Mark Looking forward to you starting a build thread and will be along every step of the way. I built my Tamiya Viper many years ago and it was a gem then and is still now the Queen of the large scale Vipers.

Thanks John, very much appreciated. Hopefully all the hiccups and potholes are finished with and fingers crossed it will be an uneventful run to the finish line from here.

DECALING IS DONE What a relief to reach the decaling stage, one of my favorite parts of any build and a sure sign of progress as the build is now heading towards the finish line. I had purchased a set of Wolfpack decals before starting the project, as the markings looked interesting and I was leery on how well the Airfix decals would work – was I in for a BIG surprise. Decal prep as normal, a super glossy coat of Tamiya LP-9 clear lacquer. If anything, a bit too smooth as the decals slip and slide and take their good old time to bite in place using the Micro Set instead of water to speed up the process. The Wolfpack decals looked great, are wonderfully thin and the carrier film was kept to a minimum. All went well until I went to apply the upper wing roundels over the ID Stripes and the thinness of the decals turned into a huge issue: you could see the black ID stripe plain as day – not good at all. What to do, as I only had two decals on the sheet for the upper wings? Unbelievable as it sounds, Airfix to the rescue. The kit decal roundels were exactly (?) the same size and color and what a happy coincidence, so I gave it a shot. On the left upper wing, I double decaled the Wolfpack roundels and on the right upper wing, I needed to double decal the Airfix decals. Both company’s decals were as thin and translucent as each other. It’s almost as if the decals themselves were printed by the same company? As both sets of double decals dried, I could still slightly see the black ID stripe but very acceptable. No way was I going to triple decal the roundels. What I should have done in hindsight was either mask the area under the roundels in white or use a mask set, lesson learned. I was very impressed with the Wolfpack decals and blown away with how good the Airfix decals actually are. Next up: A seal coat of LP-9 to seal in the decals, panel line wash and then the final clear coat of Alclad Semi sheen/mat. Once dry, it should be time to assemble and add all the remaining assemblies’ parts and of course the landing gear. Prop and spinner are just taped into place for the pics.

Some very nice solutions to what seem as if HB was asleep at the switch when designing the kit. It almost seems they just wanted the kit out the door and left it with so many issues to be dealt with by the builder.

Rob Looking forward to your next update and hopefully the weather will improve and allow for things to return to somewhat normal.

Thanks Rob Very much appreciated the compliments on my painting style. Just don't know which is worse, all the heavy rains or the blistering heat and no rain - neither is an alternative and my vote has always been for something in the middle. Just seems the weather has been changing globally for years and it's now reached the point of climate change. Hurricanes reaching the US are bigger, more violent, more devastating and in greater frequency. The west has been suffering a terrible drought for nearly a decade and both Lake Mead and the Colorado River have been receding for years. With a heavy snow fall last winter and an above average snow melt, that has turned around but needs to continue for years to come. 🤞

Thanks Kev I'm getting there and began decaling early this morning. Just been so many doctor appointments and procedures the past few months, bench time has been suffering.

Gus Yikes ... what a mess. I tend to use Mr Setter and Softer only when absolutely necessary and very tenderly, as it is so much hotter then the Micro System. These days I use mainly Tamita LP-9 and Mr Color Clear Gloss, as they seem to be impervious to almost all the hot setting agents and weathering items we use. Fingers crossed the planned fixes work out well. 🤞

Kev Awesome build and tackling a limited run kit that has been in residence in the stash for 20 years 🏆. Sure, sounds as if you're feeling better and better each day ; good news for sure. I only hope my Airfix Sea Fury comes out looking half as good.

Now that's pretty sneaky for sure - 😉

WOW, heading over. I am speechless at the speed you work at and never a slip or letdown from your high standards. 🥇

John I'm just blown away .. your Bardahl Special looks fantastic - absolutely a perfect. It's just incredible to comprehend how you turn out so many 32nd scale kits and everyone is built to your high standards of fit and finish. 🏆 Thanks for the group Photo - what a fantastic collection - I hope they have a display space just to themselves.

🤞 They sure are

Thanks for the very kind words. Of course, the Sea Fury has been a complete PITA from step one and loves to eat loads of dollars in AM and especially Tamiya tape. Hoping the gear goes on with not much fuss and then it shouldn't be much longer before she crosses the line and I'm onto the Kotare Spit build.

Good news to see Harv making such progress and posting here on the forum

Thanks Smitty - will be buying and giving is a try.

Thanks Martin, very much appreciated. Airfix did their best to create a kit that certainly has been a test of wills. Throw in the worst weather we have had here in the northeast and all the redo's and from update to update, took what seemed like forever. Glossing and decaling is up next.

Smitty Does it require a gloss black base, or can you shoot it right over the aluminum landing gear paint finish and still get the chrome shine? Thanks for the link.

THE PAINT BOOTH and MASKING MANY NIGHTS AWAY With the last major assembly requiring some tweaking and sanding with the front nose clip being a bit too wide, the assembly was glued into place with Flexy 5K CA Black CCA, an awesome slow drying glue, leaving loads of time to correctly locate the cowling and then left overnight to dry. The glass was masked off with a masking set that came with the Wolfpack decal set, a nice surprise and good thing I looked inside the pack when I did. The front windscreen fit was fair but geez, I wish manufacturers would follow Tamiya’s style on treating the front windscreen as a part of the fuselage and not a separate piece of glass, eliminating a lot of delicate work in trying to achieve a good fit. The Sea Fury was primed with MRP Gray Primer, which revealed more then a few sanding marks that needed attention. MRP Light Gray Primer, my all-time favorite is a great example of why fix and change something that isn’t broken; new bottle and no longer available in light gray, just gray. After the sanding mark repairs and re-priming, I discovered two more small sanding marks that were in hiding, were dealt with and onto the air brushing the MRP Sky portion of the color scheme. Even for lacquer paints, I let the paint dry for days, as it hadn’t stopped raining for what seemed like weeks here in the northeast, bringing record rainfall and flooding throughout the northeast corridor. With the AC off, there was no way to control the humidity in the house, curtailing any notion of continuing with the air brush work. During this period, I devoted an inordinate amount of time masking for the hard-edge, RN Extra Dark Sea Gray. Finally with a break in the weather, the air brushing was underway and when done, I couldn’t believe it but I found more sanding marks, especially all around the wing fold areas. Back to more wet sanding and polishing, priming and the cleanup color coats. The basic color scheme was now done. RN INVASTION STRIPES RN Korean War Sea Fury’s wore “invasion” stripes for identification purposes and determining both the location and band width was no easy task for me. A good number of work sessions were needed to accomplish all the masking and air brushing, which was done in stages. The fuselage invasion stripes were especially frustrating due to a conglomerate of compound curves in this area of the fuselage. While waiting out the weather, the prop, spinner, landing gear, drop tanks and tailhook were assembled masked and painted when the weather allowed. The invasion stripes are far from perfect, I gave them my best but there are some mistakes that I need to live with, as I already did a few touch ups and I'm worn thin with all the air brushing redos. Next up: clear gloss and the decal work.

Kev Glad you're feeling better and on the mend - just don't overdo it for a few more days. Whirlwind is looking so good up on her legs and wearing her Nikes, props in place and coming together so nicely with all the other added parts and touches. I'm sure you can 'feel' the finish line right around the bend.