Peterpools

Hi Guy Still having second thoughts on weathering up my Jug as I like to display them in my mini-Museum. See how it goes.

Ralph Looking good.

John Looking mighty good and you're flying through the build for sure.

Phil Looks great and will have to give the Vallejo NMF's a a shot.

Paul So sorry to read about your Mother's fall and injuries. Just so glad you and your sister are caring for her at home where she will recover much quicker. You both have hearts of gold.

Scott WOW, your Blue Angle F4 looks spectacular. Many years ago, my wife I always attended the Reading Air Show in Pennsylvania and at one show we were treated to both the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds in their F4's and the Snowbirds as well. The airport is in a valley and when those Phantoms lit up their afterburners, the sounds were amazing. This was the last time I saw either Team flying their Phantoms as they switched to smaller and less gas consuming aircraft ... geez, those were the days.

Martin Right with the guys and it's a wonderful tribute and a lasting memory.

Just seems as if this is the way of the future for not just our hobby but almost everything. I tend to spend more time trying to find online what I need from the fewest number of vendors, so I just don't keep paying for shipping over and over again. Being nearly impossible, I now plan out and commit to a project after I have found, ordered and have what I need on hand, otherwise, the project is not even started - just too frustrating and time consuming any other way.

JOhn The spinner looks right on and so very good. Colors are always subjective depending on the weathering of the aircraft at the time the photograph was taken and the film used. Just go with what you feel are the best color representations for your build.

GUs Looking good and some mighty terrific progress.

Absolutely!

Gus Enjoy the build and I fully agree, Ernie generosity is incredible.

Finger crossed

Great choice and the office looks great. You are easily turning into the Master of Aires Cockpits.

MRP. my paint of choice and it sure does look close

Oliver Holy Smokes the weathering on the details is so brilliantly done and wonderfully realistic. Some mighty fine work 🏆

HI Mike Great choice and PM sent.

Scott and Carl Now those are serious stashes for sure. Any idea of the value of each stash might be?

Mike, absolutely The Boat - simply an iconic Sikorsky aircraft. 🏆 it's got

Thanks Kev. Started playing around with it and I'm planning on doing a bit of very light weathering ... OMG, what did I say? See how it goes.

Thanks Paul Finally, she is looking like a P-47 and hopefully in a week's time, I'll have the decaling done and making the turn for the home stretch.

IT’S AIR BRUSH TIME While waiting for mask set to arrive, I tackled the cowl and cowl flaps which I thought would be a snap … oh, little did I know. Trying to fit the nose cowling assembly onto the fuselage was a bit of a struggle, just too tight. Appears to have been a case of too many parts needing to fit together precisely and that wasn’t in the cards for me. The upper fuselage radio mast I was so careful not to break off during most of the build, I managed to finally break it off and was not reusable. A new antenna was fabricated, test fitted but will not be added until the end of the build – I just know if I add it now, it’s a sure fired bet I’ll break it off again. Finally, with the Eduard mask set in hand, the canopy glass was masked and glued into place. The front windshield required a lot of tweaking to get close but for sure, no cigar. One last polishing, wipe down, initial masking and the Jug was ready for priming. I used the kit’s ‘In Flight” main gear doors to mask off the gear bays and they were a bit big, needing some slight trimming. The correct underside color has turned into a minefield, as to what color the 78FS undersides actually were. One thing for sure, it was not RAF Sky. My main source for online research kept referring to both Dana Bell and Roger Freedman’s research, who both initially referred to the underside color as Sky and later on calling referred to it as light gray. I decided the color was a medium gray and my final choice was MRP Light Ghost Gray – close enough for me, as Neutral Gray seemed a bit too dark. Does all this really matter – nope, not at all, just a bit of Sherlock Holmes fun. The freehand cammo went on without a hitch and after 24 hours to dry, it was time for a good two days of masking for the invasion stripes, which were then accomplished in two stages. What a pain and a test of nerves. The engine cowling was masked off as the Tamiya Lacquer Gloss White would serve as a nice base for the checkerboard nose decals, the white stripes on all the tail surfaces were also air brushed. In the end, way too much unforeseen masking; but it’s done. The painting guide showed the gear doors invasion stripes were not painted showing the stripes as straight lines across the undersides of the wings matching that of the wing's invasion stripes but rather the pattern is length wise across the doors. I’ve seen this a few times before in photos and always wondered why the ground crew painted them this way unless it was faster and easier – who knows. Still a good deal of detail painting to do but I'm making progress, slowly, oh so slowly.

Kev Terrific build for sure.🏆

John Sorry to see her back on the SOD but maybe down the road you will have the erg to give the build another go. PE can easily be the 'undoer' of a build oh so fast.

Guy Looking mighty good and glad the dio is still a go.