HubertB

Oops ! It took my latest post to see that the Sesquiplane landing gear legs were more angled outwards that what my kit shows. I had never noticed it before, not that there are many pics of the Sesquiplane to start with. This means the kit’s lower plane has a too short span vs the original aircraft… Oh well, there is no way I am going to modify this now. If you don’t tell anyone, your secret will be well kept with me 🤐 … Hubert PS: And yes, I know the macro photo shows all the defects of my painting of Sadi Lecointe. But a) it looks good from 20 cms with a naked eye, and b) I am not sure my hand will be steady enough to do a much improved rendition …

SOk. I am calling the repaint of Sadi Lecointe done. I feel I achieved a slight improvement over my first attempt, but, working on other figures in parallel, I have come to realise that the main issue is the starting base, a reworked Preiser 1/32 plastic figure. Try as I might, It is difficult to obtain the same level of detail and relief accentuation as with resin figures. Finding a figure of a civilian in a suite and tie is pretty difficult, but after much internet roaming, I found a German site selling 1/32 3D-printed figures. I have ordered a few, and we’ll see if they are better than my starting base for Sadi. Anyway, on to some pics. Sadi repainted and on its own : And in front of his Sesquiplane of the word speed record. Compared to the first paint below : And the new paint in close-up, to emulate the inspirational picture : TBC Hubert

YESSSSS ! Now I can start and finish a twin in this timescale 🙄 ! 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣 Hubert

Nice progress, Scott 👍 ! If I may, I think the area behind the cockpit was interior green, not black, even on grey / white Cutlasses. And, btw, Paul Fisher’s research was impeccable on this one. The area surrounding the windscreen was green, not sea-blue as per the Navy painting specs. Hubert

Ouch. AFAIK, Tamiya decals are not considered their forte (I can’t really judge, as I have not touched a Tamiya kit for at least 25 years …). Looking at your pic, you’re probably better off removing the insignia completely. Just my Hubert

Some figures, in an attempt to improve my figure-painting skills (but I am starting from very low ). I love to display my finished models on a simple base, and to add a figure to reinforce to scale impression of the kits. My Nieuport Sesquiplan, showed on the site’s gallery, has thus a figure of Sadi Lecointe. Its pilot of the world speed record of 1923, in an attempt to reproduce a period picture in the Hirsch book on racers. I have always been moderatly happy with the « Sadi Lecointe » figure, kitbashed from a Preiser figure. So it was time, whilst I wait for the boudary-layer vanes of the Cutlass to settle, to try a repaint of the figure. It was stripped with lacquer thinner, and I tried something new : after spraying the figure (plus 5 more) a dark gray overall, I sprayed them with white, but from an angle, to try to emulate the sun lighting coming from an angle above and sideways. My theory is that this should give me a starting base to reproduce the highlights and shadows achieved by the Master figure painters … Sorry for the not-great pics taken with my phone, which seems on top to have a focusing issue. The white and shadows are a result of the painting, not the (poor) lighting of the pics. Anyway, here is a WiP of the figures, taken with my iPad, of Sadi Lecointe, of a US pilot to go with my Fisher Ryan ST-M, and then 4 mechanics that will go with my pair of Gee Bee racers. I found a period photo where the SARA mechanics wore white overalls, so reproducing an « interesting » white is going to be a challenge. I still have to complete the detail paintings and touch-ups (funny how the macro-photography highlights details I thought looked better when viewed with my Optivisor 🥴), but it gives you an idea of what I am aiming for … TBC Hubert

Thanks Rob, I confess it’s a constant personal challenge to choose between my AMS that pushes me to add more and more details, and a realistic view that most of these details are invisible or unnoticeable for 99.9 % of the population, and that I am growing older with a significant stash to reduce, therefore I can less and less afford to spend a lot of time satisfying my AMS … My excuse for the Cutlass is that the nose landing gear bay should be visible with the high stance of the F 7-U. I will spend far less time on the main landing gear bays ( but I’ll still add some details, because I can ). Mind you, adding details is also probably a way of procrastinating before I have to paint the kit, as it’s never been my favorite part of a kit build. But then, seeing Peter’s and John’s builds always reminds me that this where you can get a decent-looking or a great-loooking kit . My Cutlass will be a VA-83 F 7U-3M in NMF, so a challenge in itself … Hubert

Hey Scott, as you’re going for a white and grey scheme, I found an interesting picture that shows a gloss-black painted landing gear. And, while reading the Navy painting instructions, I found that the « non-specular area around windshield » was to be painted « non-specular sea blue lacquer» And, btw, for those tempted to paint the national insigna, those were specified to be « decalcomania » on the painting instructions. HTH Hubert

Well, after a 9-months plus hiatus (enough time to have a baby - only this is waaayyyy beyond my current capacities ), moving to a new house, completing a mile-long to-do list, I have sat again at the bench in earnest. So I’m back at the Cutlass. After adding a few bits and bobs in the front landing gear well, I have splashed some paint to blend everything together, and painted the details. The front LG well is now finished ! And I have started working on the boundary layer exhaust vanes. If you have followed Scott’s build thread, you know there is a gap (about 1.5 / 2.0 mm wide) on each side of the front fuselage, where it meets the intakes. The boundary layer exhaust vanes are flush with the front fuselage, so have to be modified. Scott modified his, but I have decided to reproduce the original exhaust vanes system. It is a series of S-shaped plates, that start horizontally between the intake and the front fuselage, and duct the boundary layer air to exit on the top fuselage. I am using a thin Evergreen strip shaped by hand, and CA-glued to the intakes inner side. Each one has to be adjusted before gluing the next one, so it’s a time-consuming process, with long waiting times to let the glue and putty dry before adding the next strip. Here is strip #1 glued on tne left intake. In the meantime, whilst I wait for the strip to be finished I am trying to improve my figures-painting skills. More on that in a separate thread Hubert, happy to be back modelling.

Fantastic build, Rob ! The result speaks for the quality of the model, but also for your skills, Hubert

Why not 1/32 ? (Then there is the DC-10, the Tristar, and the Trident …) Hubert

And the third half doing the Ford Tri-motor … Hubert

I always loved the America Cup sailing ships. The pride of my library is the Taglang & Chevalier « America Cup racers ». 15 pounds of America Cup history, drawings, pictures. Yes, you read it right : one book weighing (at last) 15 pounds … The Columbia was not described as such in the shop I bought it from, but there is no mistaking the magical pencil of Nathanael Herreshoff’s creations. Hubert

A big boat ! In spite of my bench being wide (5 Hobbyzone modules wide, so that’s 1.5 meters of « free » space, it’s pretty full with it … Some time ago, I showed some pics of a model of « Columbia », the 1899 / 1901 winner of the America Cup. It is not my build, but a model, probably made in Mauritius, that I bought off-the-shelf some 23+ years ago. It is not a scale-model per se, with a somewhat « rustic » feeling in some areas, but the overall shape is accurate enough to make it an unmistakable reproduction of Columbia. After some 10 or 11 moves in the same time-lapse, it was badly in need of a major careening : flaking paint on the hull, some rigging gone astray, some missing bits and pieces, the bowsprit which I had replaced a few years ago bending up under the jibs tension, etc. So I went through the restoration process. This was the last tick on the to-do list of the works in my (rebuilt) new house, so an important milestone for me: I have now a free mind to come back to modelling ! The idea was to keep the feeling of the model, and the unique features of the hand-made model. The cracks and flakes in the paint were puttied, sanded and the above-waterline hull repainted in the original white that adorned Columbia (the underwater part was probably green, but again, this is not a true scale model …) Some new brass fittings were made, especially by adding some cross-bars to keep the bowsprit straight and true, even though they were not on the model in the beginning. My soldering skills are still not great, btw … And here it is now, repainted, remasted, and re-rigged … By the way, in my restoration effort, I decided to replace the model’s original steering wheel, small and toy-like IMHO, with a new home-made one, more in-line with the scale size of the model … Now, on to clearing the scale aircraft models SOD ! Hubert

Nice project John. I’m sure you know the intake area is a high-cuss zone … Hubert

50 ? Happy entry in your 6th decade, my old friend 😇 ! Hubert

No way ! Hubert

This chain is really a scale rendition of the 1:1 prototype. Well done, Rob 👍 ! Hubert

Nice start to an interesting project. One comment I could not help but make to myself : I am not sure the fountain as positioned would not be a hindrance to a vehicle turning onto - or out of - the bridge … Just my Hubert

As a precaution, I’ll add a bit of weight in the nose in mine, before inserting the cockpit, nose gear bay, and joining it to the main fuselage, methink … Hubert

Hey Ron, where are you going tu put that gun ? Hubert

Great start Jeff ! Truck models certainly have a presence to them, and I’m sur this one will be no exception … Hubert

Damn ! Me and my big mouth 🫢 ! You’re right Martin, and I should have checked references before pretending to be an aeodynamics expert 🤣🤪😂 ! Hubert 🤐

Keep on trucking Jeff ! Hubert

The angle of the canards with its high dihedral looks weird to my eye, and make the canards of dubious aerodynamic function IMHO, even if this is a what-if model … But the whole is great 👍 ! Hubert