CANicoll

I received a note from Debbi Corley this morning saying that AAA Hobbies is closing and she is in the process of shutting down the website. Sounds like all of her husband's products are no longer available. She is trying to find a buyer for all of his equipment, molds, etc.

Carl, thank you but I'm going to keep up with the kit one for now. I appreciate the offer. If it was more noticeable I'd jump at your offer. For the life of me I can't think of how the scratch got there but oh well! I just looked at the canopy after a second Future dip and while I see the scratch there, I don't think I'm going to mess with it, as Rob suggested. Part of it will be covered by painting. Like you, I may display with the canopy up, but may display it down as the canopies are pretty clear.

Carl, The Canards are an inspired choice and definitely add to the uniqueness of the aircraft. Nice job on the missiles - I'm looking forward to seeing how you finish them. The canopy fit is frustrating as that is so much a focal point of the aircraft but you did a terrific job on the sprue attachment and the polishing. The seats look terrific, especially how the belts sit differently on each seat. The molded-in seat belts on the plastic or resin seats just doesn't look right.

Made a bit more progress on the nose stencils (over 30 of them just on the left side!!) as well as touching up the canopy framing and matching the fuselage camo pattern. With the canopy piece in place and I notice there is a huge scratch on the side of the front canopy - lower left corner. Dipped it in Future again and it looks better but will see how it turn out when the future dries. Overhead view. These are the kit pieces after an initial Future dip are extremely clear. I may have an errant stencil in there - white stencils are for green backgrounds. Black is for tan/brown backgrounds.

Using the kit pieces for the canopy did some painting of the frames while the Future-dipped clear pieces dry. There is still a bit of final painting to be done on the center piece to match the fuselage camo line, but while that dries, worked on some of the nose stencils. Should make more progress this weekend.

John, Great modulation on the OD, nice work! Chris

That must have been very cool to see.

Carl, excellent idea about the sealant. I was very careful about how I clipped the sprue attachment point but I like your idea of cutting it a bit long then carefully sanding it down. I'm not as clever with the styrene bits so that would take me a fairly long time to fix. I really am trying to hit the deadline, even if not with the full armament build out.

Looking Good John! What seatbelts did you use? Great job on the props - not sure I would have taken that on. Well done.

Following on from Peter's problems with his 3D printed seat, my attempts to separate the clear resin canopy pieces from their pour blocks was 95% successful. Yeah, not 100% successful. Ugh I got nearly all the way around, using my small razor saw when at the very last connection, a small part of the canopy frame snapped off and I have no clue where it went. and what it SHOULD look like on the other side: SOO CLOSE!!!! ARRGG. The windscreen also seems a bit out of whack as well, running just a bit long (the windscreen rear needs a little bit more trimming). Will have to see about may be adjusting the HUD which may sit a bit proud, for both windscreens. Compared to the kit piece: I may end up just using the kit pieces. Here they are test fitted: Lots still to do.

Wow, the stonework is awesome as is the painting/washes - beautiful work!

I still have a bunch of the Model Master Acryl paints, thinner and cleaner. They were terrific!

Peter, That issue with wings and flaps is a strange one. Like you said, they are not posable, so why not just mold them in? And we really don't expect to have major fitment issues with kits these days. Not everyone will be at Tamiya-level of precisions, but decent fit should be expected from a major brand. Good luck!

Thanks Peter! I'm making slow but methodical progress on the stencils. OMG why am I doing this to myself!!! Taking it stages so doing a little bit at a time.

Carl, Thanks for pointing that out. I originally had missed that so am planning on going back and repainting that and a couple of other places. I have to do some alterations to the side pieces to allow the burner cans and tubes to slide in anyway. There is a tab on the inside I need to remove from those pieces.

Thank you, Martin. Much appreciated. Started on the stencils for the wings and put the Sparrows in place for the moment.

Usually this time of the year I'm outside doing things, but 95 yesterday, 99 today with an expected heat index of 110 so not going a lot outside. Instead - making progress. Attached the Reskit pylons to the main wings, which are now attached to the fuselage. Used toothpicks to position the pylons in the original kit holes, and a bit of CA Gel for the attachment. Thanks again to Carl for the idea on how to sand the pylons to match to contour of the wing.

1:144 scale and it has 75 pieces???

Peter, thank you! Your work is always terrific - I just try and keep up. I also have a ZM F-4C in 1/48 scale in the stash so may watch to see when you start your build. 🙂 The Tamiya bird is a big beast, however. WOW. The F-4 is heavier than I would have thought and that is without the resin missiles. I imagine it is those huge resin intakes and exhaust. Can't image if I had done the resin radar equipment and cockpit sets as well. The kit came with metal landing gear, and I opted to use resin tires, so it won't have the problem an old 1/32 Mustang I built has with the vinyl tires - they are flat-spotting. Once I finish the last of the Sparrow missiles, I'm going to focus on the canopy and landing gear so the plane can be mostly complete. The canopy is going to take some work. I'm sure...

That is a really nice start to the cockpit. I did pick up the Gundam markers but have not used them yet.. I do like the Eagle... one day!

Peter, Sorry to hear about the 3D printed seat, what happened? I'm finding the 3D stuff easy to sand, but otherwise kind of brittle. Can't torque the pieces at all.

Post it Carl!!! Martin, definitely can't be worse than me bothering Carl for the past two months!! Thanks for your comments. I appreciate it!

Test Fit #2. Wanted to see how everything was working together, and to show myself some actual progress towards a completed plane. This this is so large and has so many pieces that even right now I can disassemble the plane into 21 pieces. And four screws. The fit looks to be pretty good so that is helpful. Check me on that later... Nothing is glued on, even the seats are just placed at the moment. Nice to see it coming together and where I missed a spot with the masks on the top of the fuselage!. This will be an easy fix... The outer wing tanks are pressed into place while the pylons are taped on. Still doubtful about making the Jul 3 deadline, but will keep on it till I'm done none the less. The clear resin canopy pieces are a real pain to separate from their pour blocks. I'm sure they will look AMAZING once done, however... Have TWO sparrows done but have not started on the sidewinders or the ECM yet so still a lot to do on the build-out. Landing gear is basically ready but have to work on the resin tires.

Due to a highly likely possibility of me screwing one up, I was planning on doing all four - just in case!! Am already seeing where I could have done a better job attaching the fins so will pick out the best three. Also, figured out an easier way to attach the pylons. Taped them to the wing in the right spot, used a fine black liner pen to circle down through the original wing mounting holes and draw a circle on the top of the pylon. Helps that I have not put the top and bottom wings together yet. Drilled that out. Amazingly, a toothpick is JUST about the right size and that gives me a tiny bit of wiggle room to make sure everything is straight. Easier than cutting the mounting lugs off the kit pylons. I had to order some more MRP Clear but used some Alclad clear for the bottom. Not completely pleased with the result. When it full dries will see how it looks before doing those stencils.

Thanks Martin and Rob. Learning a lot about jets and stencils - wow. It's a LOT of work! Rob - I think the main issue with the Top Notch masks is they do not differentiate between the various Phantom II models and I didn't catch the difference for quite a while. I ran into a similar problem with EagleCal decals for the Tamiya 1/32 Mustang. They had scaled up their 1/48 decals for Big Beautiful Doll - the nose checkers - however Tamiya changed the contours of the nose for their 1/32 kit. Eagle sent me a second set after the first set didn't fit, and when that one didn't either (after sending LOTS of photographs and emails back and forth) they finally admitted they had not actually tried applying the decals to the 1/32 Tamiya plane and had only scaled up their 1/48 sheet. I ended up having to use Zotz nose checkers which were not 100% accurate for BBD, but it got the job done. I don't think anybody can really tell the difference. Kind of the same for my F-4. The Top Notch masks are not 100% accurate in size but I'm not that much of a stickler. It LOOKS very much like the camo pattern used in Vietnam and that's good enough for me. 😉 I'd have gone mad if I had tried to do the camo pattern out of tape... It was pretty easy to use the left-over mask material or just a bit of tape to extend the masks where needed. I'm rethinking how I'm going to attach the pylons to the wings, however. I was going to use screws, but if I do I think it will shatter the pylon. Thinking now of cutting the mounting lugs off of the kit pylons, drilling the Reskit pylons to accept the lugs and then gluing the entire mess to the wing. That is the plan for now! A big factor is how well I can get the pylon to contour to the wing... Stay tuned!