BlrwestSiR

Nice and clean there John. The shark mouth seems to suit the F-80/T-33 planes really well. There's an RCAF T-33 that had a shark mouth which if decals existed for I'd go through the process(torture?) and build another one. Carl

As an addendum, I opened the white box on the right side of the pic which I thought was empty. Inside were 6 bottles of Tamiya paint plus 3 more behind it. All are various shades/sheens of black. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to clean things up a bit between projects.

Operator error... Far too tidy...must correct. And if you're wondering about my second bench, it's not much better.

Here's my just completed AH-1G late in 1/32. There's a couple firsts for me on the build. It's my first ICM kit and the first time I used Quinta 3D decals.

Rob, the canopy is the only fussy bit. Take your time and it goes together just fine. I got the last pair of rocket pods finished. With those mounted, time to call this one finished. I'm happy I picked the kit up and even more glad I got the Special Hobby release in the stash for later on.

Well, at least it has a cockpit opening...

Thanks guys! Almost there. Putting on the decals, and final details.

I'm guessing the stock attachment was a plastic pin?

Next up was many of the small details on the airframe- lift rings, antennae etc. I also painted the landing skids. Finally I started finishing the fuselage by adding the stub wings, the M35 fuselage pods and hung the M134 gun pod. I think I'm close to the home stretch now.

So looking at the weapons loadout chart in the kit, they suggest a podded M134 minigun on the inboard station opposite the M35 Vulcan. There's a pair of them in the kit but the details are a bit simple. I didn't want to go overboard but decided to add a couple details. I drilled out the circular vents on either side. For the minigun, I used a Live Resin M134 I had in the spares box. I mocked up a simple drive assembly, painted it and glued it in place. I then glued the halves together and gave it a coat of paint. You can just make out the barrel inside through both the vents and the front opening. So a quick improvement. Metallic Details make a nice 3D printed set that have a removable front cover that shows the full minigun underneath. I'll probably use that on my Special Hobby kit when the time comes.

Thanks guys! This kit is going together quite nicely and smoothly too. Phil, I'd definitely recommend it if you've never built a help before.

Fantastic build Tom. The replacement canopy for my B-24 arrived last week so I'm hoping to get back to it soon. Carl

Something different. Trying to get the weathering and shading just right is proving to be a challenge.

Really nice build. Is that the Scaleworx conversion set or did you scratch build it? Carl

I got the red onto the shark mouth. First I traced and copied the shark teeth. The turret has some too. Then I hit it with the red. Moment of truth.

Thanks John! This kit is going together very nicely.

I got the rotor blades painted. I then assembled them onto the main shaft so that's all done. So why is it on helos they're called rotors and on a plane they're propellers? Anyways, shark mouth time. I wasn't too keep on applying the kit decals for the shark mouth so I tried making masks the old fashioned way. I photocopied the decal sheet and laid a piece of kabuki tape over it. After tracing the shark mouth onto the tape I cut it out and applied it to the model. I then sprayed AK primer in white onto the shark mouth. Once that's dry, I'll cut a mask for the teeth, mask those off and spray the red.

Nice recovery Martin. My Slovak Tiger Meet Fulcrum arrived the other day so one day I'll get to that puppy.

Very nice build. Carl

As mentioned, not much time at the bench but enough to make some progress. The rotor blades were cleaned up and prepped for paint. Same with the tailplanes, tail rotor and the rotor head. After a coat of white primer, I sprayed red and yellow as required. Once they're dry, I'll move onto the black.

Jimmy's been needing some extra attention since his operation so haven't been down to the bench like I hoped. I did get the main rotor blades glued together so maybe later today I'll be able to get those into paint and have something to show.

Thanks for the heads-up on the para pack fairing. I just got the Slovak Tiger Meet version of the kit so that'll come in handy. DN Models are great. They've done several custom masks for me at very reasonable prices. Can't wait to see how the digital camo turns out.

Well, Jimmy got snipped yesterday. I wonder if he's aware anything's missing...

Same here.

Where!