CANicoll

And a big vehicle just to transport the boxes home!!

"Only" $712 from BNA!!

More bits for the F-4. BNA comes through again!

Hi folks, I've been in touch with the widow of Nautilus Models who is trying to sell her husband's things. There are two 3D Printers, a Laser Cutter (he was cutting planking for ships) as well as shipping and packaging materials. If you are interested, please PM me and I will forward on her information to you. I do not have any further details on what the equipment is other than what is here.

Peter, Excellent that you found another outlet for your awesome creative skills. The work so far looks amazing. I don't know how you work back and forth between plastic, wood and whatever Hydrocal is. I can see how the skills will translate, but for now, looking forward not just seeing your progress, but also you amazingly detailed write-ups about your process.

Sorry to hear Peter. I have to admit, looking at all that PE, railings especially, antennas, etc, keeps me from attempting. Good luck with the HO and O kits. HO is comparable to 1/48? Chris

Carl, Good to know I'm in good company. I've had more than one build attempt an early unauthorized flight test...Glad to see the damage was repairable.

I hear you on the procrastination part. One big motivation is the July 3rd GB end date. The fuselage - except for that intake gap - is ready for the next phase of camo. But just hit something of a hiccup as my mother wants to move into an Assisted Living facility this month so I'm probably losing a fair amount of the bench time that I was planning on. Oh well!

Gotta watch out for those Wingtrip sensors. Specialized pieces, those are!

Carl, I'm hoping this other AAA Hobby store will fill the order - I'm not clear of the relationship between Nautilus and AAA. I'll give it a week and I've reached out to AAA. Making some progress, but the intake seam is giving me some problems that will require some specific focus. In the meantime, focused on the Sparrows and repainting the underside parts. Quick view of most of the progress off-fuselage. By the drop tanks at the top of the picture are the correct G11 rails for the Sidewinders - still on the sprues. Repainted the landing gear with the MRP white which appears to me to be brighter than the Vallejo while. I have the Eduard Placards for the F-4 and they have some for the landing gear that it does not look like I have other decals for. The Sparrows were repainted MRP White as the Vallejo White was too close to the underside grey (at least to my eye). The MRP is also sooo much smoother than the Vallejo. Did a couple of coats of MRP Clear in prep for all of those missile decals/stencils. Ditto for the pylons. A couple of coats of MRP USAF Grey and then MRP Clear. Again, the pylons are soo smooth so looking forward to seeing how the stencils will go down. Will let this dry for a couple of days - so probably Wednesday for the decals. And a reminder of the stencils to be applied. What is interesting is that in the diagrams below there isn't that step at the front of the fuselage connection that I had to sand down on the part.

I'm sorry to report that the Owner of Nautilus Models, Jame Corley, apparently passed away suddenly in January. His widow, Debbie, is trying to shut down the company. The website is still up and taking orders (unfortunately...). The site primarily served ship builders with an extensive array of bits and bobs, but also some plane parts (like the much-needed F-4 Phantom Wing dihedral correction jig). Website: http://nautilusmodels.com Product listing: http://nautilusmodels.com/orderpage-USA.htm

Thanks Carl! Hey, I heard that Nautilus is shutting down. I had sent an email to the company, and the proprietor's wife said he suddenly passed in January and she's trying to shut down the company. Very sad. I'll post a message over in the appropriate forum. Chris

Making progress on the pylons thanks to Carl's excellent suggestion. Pretty close to where they need to be: The left pylon has been sanded to shape, the right (back) pylon is un-altered. That is a LOT Of material that needed to be removed. Two views of the pylon after sanding. It actually sits flatter than shown here. I'm still thinking of screwing it in from inside the wing. I don't think the Sidewinders will be very heavy, but the added tightness the screws would provide would help pull the pylon down to the wing. May try this out tomorrow.

You are FULL of great ideas!!! Wish I had thought about that sooner. Cheers!

Carl, Found the G11 pieces but took me a while as I had put all of those sprues away and forgot where they were. Thanks for the info. There is a bit of a fit problem with the Reskit pylons. The front of the wing connector sits very proud of the bottom of the wing. Been working on it and here is where this is at for now. Getting closer to having the 'wings' sit flusher with the wing surface. I was about to start putting the stencils on the pylon but now want to wait to see how difficult it will be to attach the pylon to the wing. I'm somewhat tempted to drill holes into the wing and pylon and use that to fasten the pylon to the wing... This arrived yesterday: Started on the painting. Have a bit of touch-up to do as well as painting the noses black. And here are the Sparrows, prior to the primer coat. I may need a smidgeon of filler on some of the fins and I need to clean up the nose points. However, my adhesive work was miserable! I need to do some touch-up work

Carl, Do you know if there is a resin/3D part to replace kit part P1 - the Sidewinder Launch rails? The kit parts seem too large, especially the mounting lugs to the pylons. I looked into the Reskit parts, and their website, but I don't see any launch rails. Thanks. PS ordered the Nautilus jig.

Carl, as usual you are a life-saver. I was probably within a weekend of closing up the wings and was about to clear coat the bottom wing to start on the stencils. Whew. Question about Nautilus - are they still in business? The website has apparently not been updated since 2022? I sent James and email.

I think you can also try putting it in hot water (no pun intended) and then straightening it out. Maybe tape it to a straight bar, pen or something while it cools?

Love the ASAT idea!!

Fran, Thanks for this review - you do amazing reviews, very much appreciated. I would not have looked twice at this kit, but for your review I may have to take a look. I have never done a P-47 but I do like the 1/48 scale.

Gus, I had exactly the same experience with the twist of some fins. And one of the Sparrow bodies seems to be a bit warped, but not quite a badly as the one on the left in your picture. What did you use to attach the fins? I used a gel CA.

Yep, beautiful job John. I built the same kit so can really appreciate the fine work you've done. Looks terrific and really nice job on the camo. Your airbrush work is super.

Carl, Thanks! I'll be working on the missiles and paint/camo for a few weeks so let me know what you find on the location of the wing tanks, and how to reduce the angle of outer wing panels. Your help is invaluable, and very much appreciated! The Reskit missiles are terrific, but a chore to remove from the pour blocks. Got the Sparrow parts separated. The Reskit resin is interesting - easy to sand (carefully!) and saw. The resin is a bit more flexible than styrene, but also seems to be softer. One down! I wish I had a jig to make sure the fins are straight and aligned... Left the pour block on to use as a base while the fins are attached.

Whoa! Quite the departure but glad to see you are looking forward to the build. I don't have any ships in the stash, just the huge Revell Type IXC Submarine that is longer than my dining room table. Looking forward to your work with the PE and Brass. Those are amazing detail kits, for sure.

So the challenge with the Sidewinders and the ALQ has taken another turn. Thanks to good old Facebook and someone posting family pics, from Korat no less, I have a confirmation and an 'aw crap' to report. Not even 24 hours after I ordered the new Sidewinders and the ALQ from BNA, I took a look at these pictures. The tail number is right in the range of the Zotz decal sheet, this aircraft is 276 while the decals span 268-380. What luck! Nice glossy nose but that is something of an aberration - as you will see in other pictures. Notice the sidewinders, however. More on that in a minute. Also, the skewed paint line on the nose of the right fuel tank. Never seen that before. Really nice shot of the ALQ. Thanks Carl for the suggestion. Also what looks to be a soft demarcation line on the camo. At scale, would it look like a hard line? It kind of does in the picture above. Here, the intake splitter is smooth, not perforated like I've seen before. Hmmm.. Really clear shot of the ALQ and the Sidewinders. I guess I didn't need to get different ones after all... Also, I don't see a lot of stenciling on this aircraft. And back to the nose cone... So will probably just keep going with the Sidewinders I have and wait on the ALQ and Resin tires.