ScottsGT

Wrapped up the Tomcat Tuesday. Pulled this one out of the stash yesterday. Did a lot of reading about kit short comings and made a couple mods already. Carl has offered up a Fisher folded wing and I gratefully accepted! That alone will be a big correction to the build.

So sad to see this come one day for myself. I’m not a member, so I cannot see what he’s selling, but giving up a passion (in my opinion) is putting one foot in the grave.

Yea, I get it! I was a paint and bodyman in my first career. I gave up the collision repair painting because I didn’t have the eye for paint matching. Stuck with the bodywork until a new career came along.

Rog, A few drops of black mixed in that yellow/green will match later interior green that’s more common. 8 drops of white and 1 drop of the yellow/green give you a pretty good slime light green for jets.

Excellent weathering job on that keyboard too! Both look outstanding! (But I’d be tempted to strip down that keyboard and start over 😁)

Like I said Carl. I’m done with Tomcats!!

Go put the heat on Ali from Aerocraft Models. He’s been talking about the canopy for a while now.

DONE!!

I’ve built two of these kits in the past. And actually, one was the second model I built when I got back into the hobby as an adult. The second build was 4 or 5 years ago as the VX-4 Black Bunny. I do not remember the difficulty with the past two that this one presented to me. Almost looked like fuse halves were popped out of different molds that did not match. And of course throw in the aging large plastic that finds a way to warp itself sitting inside the box. This one came very close a few times of taking flight across the room, but I held my temper and pressed on. Besides, the biggest screwup was done all by myself without any assistance when I had the wings installed upside down and on the wrong sides. Landing gear is a blend of grafting together the Revell and a set of Tamiya’s, as is the exhaust nozzles. Bang seats and pilots are Tamiya and the cockpit details are Quinta Studios made for the Trumpeter kit. Wheels by Reskit. I thought I had some decals I could use on the Sidewinders and Sparrows but came up empty handed. I can always go back and add them at a later date. Now on to the next project. Hmmm…trying to decide.

Being late isn’t what really bothers me. It’s the waste of resources and stupidity that will just cause postal rates to increase once again. Sometimes I think these knuckleheads do this intentionally just so they can justify raising rates. Barracuda sent my latest order out last week. Looks like airmail from CA to Atl GA. Arrival here was supposed to be yesterday. I’m 3.5 hours from Atl. So then they sent the package to Charleston. Charleston freaking West Virginia. I ordered something a few weeks ago and it bounced back and fourth twice between east coast and west coast. I keep hearing this is all automated, but even machines can’t screw up this bad. All I can imagine is Newman tossing my package in a bin labeled “Charleston” and saying “Close enough!”

Man, that is one dirty bird! Absolute perfection!

Today was eye straining tiny decal day.

Nice pics! On another forum I’m on there is a guy that was working the set on the movie and a former CAG of the Jolly Rogers. He flew with them just after the movie came out.

It’s not the build (or buy) we question, but the display space we question. Then again, we are talking about Pete here. Probably just take it down to the hanger and wire it up in the rafters.

Jack, I do know Paul was trying to buy back a Skyraider kit that came up for sale on LSP a few months back but was too late to respond. He said it was to build since he wanted to build something again. Might reach out to him just in case he’s looking for a project to build.

You win the internets for today!

Yea, I’ve noticed a trend of auctions starting very high now since eBay is taking such a huge chunk of the sale (and shipping) and the risks of flaky buyers ripping off the sellers without eBay supporting the sellers. eBay has ruined what use to be a great thing. I quit selling years ago.

Not her personality type. She’s go, go, go, go…..cannot sit still. She loves going running, vacations (even though our home is like a mini-resort she insist she has to get away from household chores) driving 2 hours up the road to see her 85 yo father, etc. Were about to pull the trigger on a $2800 treadmill for her (and she thinks me) since it’s so damned hot and humid in the summer. She use to do the traveling half or full marathon thing a few years back. Anything within 8-10 hours is a drive. Beyond that she insists on flying. She wants to do a New England in the fall trip, but she wants to fly up and rent a car. I told her there is lots of stuff in between we should see as well. Nope. That 4 days of traveling. Get there, get it done and get home.

Nice. I saw the nose correction go on eBay a while back for $185. I really wanted it, but not that bad. I think my highest bid was $75. A few weeks later I was going through my box of AM stuff and discovered I did indeed buy the nose correction from Paul. But I think all I have is the nacelles/props, radome and nose. Didn’t splurge for the flaps. I did buy three sets of G Factor landing gear though.

I also have some of the Connie correction parts and correct radome. But I have all three of the Heller Connies in the stash. My unbuilt Fishers… Connie corrections, but not all. F9F-5 Panther A-1E Skyraider Ryan PT-22

Wow! Thanks for the generous offer! Let me look at some pics of one built up with the wings folded and make sure I want to go that route before committing.

Another one I regret not getting. I do have the Hobbycraft kit though. I understand there’s a major flaw with it though. Something about the wing profile upside down or something like that. I’m thinking of pulling it out and putting it on the bench after the Tomcat is done.

As predicted…just had to lay down 4 or 5 more coats of yellow. My low temp Monokote heat gun sure comes in handy!

Meh, solid white base and lots of slow buildup coats. I ran out of time yesterday and I think I need to put a few more coats down.

Medieval torture time.