Peterpools

Thanks Chris very much appreciated your comments on the Kingfisher- just as painting and decaling are my favorites part of any build and good wishes on my oral surgery scheduled for tomorrow. I have to admit I'm a bit nervous as the procedure is scheduled to last for between an hour and an hour and a half plus recovery. I would absolutely prefer to take a short break your way to boost up the juices and mojo. While I have been going extra slow on the Kingfisher, letting each stage thoroughly dry before moving to the next one, I started tinkering with my next build: the Revell 1/32 Spitfire MkIIa. Originally, I was going to use a good number of Barracuda resin to bring the detail level up but only used their joystick, seat armor plate and gun sight so far with the balance being from the Quinta detail set. I'm planning on using the Barracuda resin set for the exterior corrections, using Edgar's correction notes (the link posted in in John's build). Maybe early next week I'll feel up to starting a build thread, as a lot of the work in the front office is now done.

Telpatu My latest research agrees with your explanation. I've since did a bit of research and originally the glossy orange yellow upper wings (started in the biplane era) were to help locate downed and lost aircraft on the ground. The painting of the wings continued on monoplanes as well until the start of WWII.

Thanks Martin Going to the bank or PO for an international money order as they do not accept PP or CC's.

Trumpeters' Devastator is still MIA after another year of being promised she will be coming. Why can't Trumpeter just remove it from their catalog and be done with it? BTW, is it in the 2023 catalog? 💣

Gaz Nice work and some mighty fine detailing on the torpedoes - what a difference!

Ernie The 'mishmash' brown does look good - nice and faded. Lots of work getting the color you're happy with.

Kev Nice progress and the added details brings her up to a whole new level add

Thanks Martin A nice pic for sure of the wheeled version and it was assigned to the Arizona as well. Just wish there was a mask set for the canopy as I have a second kit with enough parts for the wheeled version. Without the mask set, just way too much nerve-wracking work in 48th scale.

Thanks Gaz. Just love that era as it's so colorful. And of course, thank you for a thumbs up for Saturday's oral surgery.

Gus Got me!

Thanks Carl, finally getting over all the obstacles of an old kit it and making the turn for the run up to the finish line. Good luck with taking the boys to the dentist tomorrow - I'm sure they can think of a lot better things to do.🏒

Gus Is it the air bleeds on top of the fuselage - the insides should be gloss white.

"PW", much appreciated and of course those are my initials. Both the Army and the Navy aircraft had yellow wings during that period. Other then being colorful, there has to be a good reason - just have no idea,

John For such a simple kt, it's been a long road to this point.

Thanks John - finally heading in the right direction and the Kingfisher should be done in a week or so - thank goodness. .

Thanks Phil very much appreciated. Should have done this years ago rather then trying to keep saving my bad teeth. Anyway, fingers crossed the few days after the surgery won't be too bad.

Congrats. Now the fun begins

DECALING AND THE REPAIR THE REPAIR: Over a good week ago, I started an ‘OH NO’ thread in the Modeling Forum. I was nearly heartbroken when I discovered a bad stress crack on the lower left side of the fuselage just behind the wing. I posted my problem and received lots of excellent suggestion – thanks guys. First attempt: I drilled a stop hole at the beginning and end of the crack, sanded the crack smooth and with a combination of CA and Extra Thin, treated the crack and the stop holes. Total failure as the crack doubled in size with in four hours. Second attempt: Drilled new stop holes, drilled a larger pressure release hole at the very end of the wing trailing edge and opened up a slit under the flap, hoping this was the area that the stress was developing in. Then I drilled two more stop holes, sanded down the entire area down to bare plastic and used liberal amounts of extra thin. Let dry for a good day and then I sanded out the entire area, getting it ready for primer and painting again. I made sure the stop holes were left completely open and clear. While I was at it, I re-sanded the fuselage above each wing, removing bit of ‘turbulent paint’ I discovered. All was left to thoroughly dry for 48 hours and then I primed with MRP Lt Gray Primer and the Aluminum Paint was Tamiya Lacquer LP-70. Let dry for two full days and all still seems well. DECALING: Let’s just say the kit decals left a lot to be desired. After researching, I used Yellow-Wing decals, with one be being specifically for the Kingfisher aboard the USS Arizona just prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor: 48-044. Decals are printed by Micro Scale and are beautiful. I followed both the painting and decal guide provided with the decals. The national insignias are a bit small as compared to the decal drawings but look just fine and went down beautifully. Next up will be the gloss seal coat and then the runup to the finish line with adding all the small details. This Saturday, I have major oral surgery scheduled and am not expecting to be doing any modeling for around four or five days.

Just blown away -incredible work.

Phil Right with you

Phil Nice progress on the helm and the added details looks good and add a lot. Hard to phantom why there is so little AM for some kits and way too much for others. Carl's paint scheme suggestions certainly are different - never knew they wore they type of cammo.

Rob Right with you on using CA glues, as these days I do use a lot more CA then in the past, both Extra Thin and Medium. One area that the use as greatly increased is in filling in seam and I've been leaning more towards the black CA glues, as it's a lot easier to see where it is.

Ernie That it does. What really drives me crazy is when comparing paints with FS numbers or the common WWII colors, no two paint manufactures colors are the same. I always wondered how this could be. There must hopefully be a formula for each color.

John Yes, I know the Corsair was completely restored to flying condition. I wasn't referring to the Corsair but to the fate of so many old airplanes that have met the wrecker, just said it very poorly.

John Got ya .. just hate to see an airplane put out to pasture and deteriorate until it's off to the wrecker. Still. going to be a pretty cool project i something very different.