CANicoll

I can't decide if the painting will be faster or slower than decaling....

Peter, I swear, there are more decals for the missiles than for an entire P-51D including stencils!! Also picked up a mask set which provides for painting the stripes on the missiles. That may be a bridge too far for me actually. We will see.

Making Progress... Look what showed up! A HUGE thank you to Tamiya USA for their quick turnaround sending a Free Sprue N for this kit. No clue where the original one went, but certainly not their fault. Been working on the other bits, including the drop tanks and the sidewinders. A fair bit of seam and ejector pin work on the missiles took some time. I still have a bunch of seam work to do on the drop tanks and the nose. Not to mention making the vent that Carl pointed out. A bit more difficult since the halves are put together, but not impossible by any means. The number of parts involved is interesting - each missile is five pieces = 20. The rails have 8 pieces each = 16. Thirty-six on the armament, so far! Mustangs and Spitfires don't really have to deal with that!!

Nice work! Question - the yellow highlighting on the instructions. Is that something you do?

That bombsight is amazing! I've built my fair share of 1/48 B-17s and the detail you packed into that little package is amazing. Impressive.

Martin, exactly!! Who says you have to have the same look on both sides of your car? Thanks! That upgrade over the stock brakes was $6k!

Taking a slightly different approach to new wheels. I really like the Bronze, but could not get a new set at a reasonable price. Gunmetal on the white car looks nice, too. Knew someone who did this exact setup, but an inch larger than my current 18x9.5 wheels. These are 19x9s. People only see one side at a time anyway, right?? Mach V Crucial Wheels - definitely shows off the 6pot Brembos to nice effect.

Not quite perfect as Alclad, but for an acrylic I think they do a pretty good job. You are probably more precise than I am on that. You have a terrific eye for detail and finish.

Ohhh, I LIKE that idea... and I always have a paint mule handy for exactly this kind of thing. Carl, you are FULL of great ideas! (Maybe other stuff too, but I appreciate the great ideas!! )

Carl, Excellent suggestion - I ordered those exact stencils on the 26th (still have not shipped yet). I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the stencil fading.

Thanks Peter, and as I said to DocRob, wow... Here is a conundrum - does a stencil on an aircraft fade like the paint the stencil is painted on? Doing a faded aircraft with picture-perfect stencils doesn't seem right. Or does some poor soul go round refreshing the stencils periodically (doubful?).

Carl, I did remember you had corrected the outer wing angle in one of your builds - I have some sheet styrene ready for that and now this vent you suggested. PERFECT timing as I am working on the seams for the nose cone now. I appreciate your help!!

Doc - I'm either in shock or awe at how many stencils are going on this thing. Especially the bottom!!! I kind of feel like I need to put it on a mirror or something to show off what will be probably days worth of decaling... Ugh!

Peter, Check out the ZM tape from SprueBros... It is a lot less expensive than the Tamiya tape and I can't tell the difference.

Minor construction update at this point. I've set up the new airbrush compressor and did a test spray of some primer coats and all seems good. The tank certainly smooths out the airflow compared to a non-tank temp set up I used briefly. These amazing resin seats just had me realize that those excellent Quinta seatbelts probably are not going to get used. I'll see if I can merge the two but I have a feeling that the excellent detail on these resin seats would be a shame to do away with. MRP White Primer. Assembled the wing tips and flaps, as well as the tail. Very straight forward and the fit is perfect. Used Tamiya Extra Thin starting at the base/thickest point then worked my way around. This will give you an idea of the fading I'm looking to do on the aircraft. Planning on doing white-basing for the fading, as well as doing some pre-shading of panel lines. This spot of paint is really to get behind the intakes (Thanks Mark!!) and the rest will be taken care of when I get to painting the fuselage camo. Test fitted the tail and still have a little bit of fine sanding to do to get it to sit flush, but it is pretty close right now. Closer than the picture indicates. The tail cap actually fits perfectly - it is dry fitted here. And, thanks to @Peterpools I'll be tackling the missile load outs here shortly. I think there are more pieces for the armament than there are for the entire rest of the aircraft. Ok, that is an exaggeration, but only a slight one! That's it for now! Thanks for looking.

Looking good, Peter! I hear you on the weather. I've taken to still painting if I have the heat (gas) on as that tends to dry out the air here.

Carl, Excellent!!! Thank you so much for posting these pictures. The IP that Quinta is missing is the one on the bottom of page 90 in the first set and the bottom picture on page 69. But your pictures show that Quinta really did get the rest of the panels spot on. If you build an F-4, I know someone who has an extra set (or two) of Quinta Interior 3D decals! Chris

Tamiya Update; Received an email just a few minutes ago from Tamiya USA which said they have the J sprue from a cannibalized kit which they will post to me at no charge. Super support from Tamiya on an out-of-production kit!

Fran, I see you are doing the Monogram/Revell B-29 in 1/48. What are your plans for that if I may ask? I have that kit too, and the 1/48 B-58 Hustler...

I'm wondering if I picked the right kit for this build. The Quinta cockpit set for the EJ aircraft is actually missing a complete IP, and instead has parts for an IP that is not used in the EJ variant. Hmmm. The characteristic metal tail of the F-4 had an uncharactistically HUGE mould line down the middle of the part. The nose also was almost impossible to put together without having a pronounced seam which I've started working on. Otherwise, things are progressing well. Despite the challenges, the cockpit looks really nice with the Quinta set in place. The color I used for the cockpit is FS 36321, Dark Gull Gray which the references I used said is the correct color. The Quinta set definitely is more of a light blue/gray. The Quinta IP question On the N sprue is the IP for the RIO which sits on the separation between the front and rear cockpit. Quinta doesn't have any pieces for this IP, instead, they have the pieces for the F35 IP, which is not used on the EJ aircraft. Strange... Started working on the metal tail, removing that mould line. Again, I should have taken the 'before' picture. Ditto on the nose. Despite working slowly and using Extra Thin, could not get the two halves to join up without creating a seam. Working on that, too. The sanding sticks are getting real workout on this build. The gatling gun won't be seen once the nose is buttoned up hence no detailing. Also, the muzzle end piece will be added before I put the rest of the cover on. Making progress! The seats are up next...

Thanks Carl, I'll probably give it a go with some stretched sprue, but am not going to stress about it. Unfortunately, I don't have the clear nose sprue as that didn't come with this kit - it was removed and the GT Resin intakes substituted. That's ok!

Peter, what color do you use for the cockpits on these jets?

Definitely want the air tank to go with the compressor. Thanks for the recommendation Peter and Rob. Chris

Making progress despite not having the compressor yet - or maybe because of it! The Quinta set went on beautifully. My initial hesitation with the different scope designs on the kit pieces compared to the Quinta set proved to be non-issues. A bit of work with a razor saw and sanding pad and Poof! Everything fits perfectly. For the IPs, and apologies for not taking in-process pictures, a bit of cutting made the difference. For part F-24 (left IP in the picture below), cutting the circular scope extension back to the shorter piece (which is where the base is solid) worked perfectly. For Part F26, merely cutting the circular scope back flush with the panel and sanding off the raised knobs and switches allowed the Quinta pieces (5 and 29) to sit perfectly. One note, the MRP color call out for USAF Interior Gray is not as blue as the Quinta pieces. Probably ok for the little bit you see on the IPs, but I may look at re-spraying the cockpit tub and sidewalls to obtain a better match. Have not quite put all the Quinta pieces on yet, but made good progress this morning on the front office: Happy Easter everyone!

What a cool build!!