CANicoll

Love the scheme and terrific start to the build, John. I do like the Eduard kits as well, but seems like Tamiya has the market cornered. The North African scheme is beautiful. Can't wait to follow along.

Pretty strange, huh?? Thanks for the suggestions, gents. Doc, I think you are on to something there - Carl, I did try it at various pressures down to 8 psi so you and I had similar thoughts. Peter - I believe you nailed it. I think I have narrowed the culprit down to a pipette I used to take the paint from the MRP bottle to my airbrush. I have a tendency to re-use stuff and in this case, there was a white residue inside the pipette that I neglected to pay attention to. I need to do another test, but I'm 95% certain that is the problem. FWIW I even tried it with a different airbrush and got the same result. So probably tomorrow I'll be able to do a test and am hopeful that will be the answer... It is always something, huh?

Quick update: Resprayed the lower exhaust area with Model Master Exhaust Metalizer. Darker is definitely the effect I was hoping for, now will tone down the highlighted seams and add some clear blue heat staining. Also did some shading of the arrestor hook using both Metalizer and Alclad.

Carl, Whew. Ok, thanks. Obviously, I'm NOT a jet guy!

Hubert, Thanks! Huge sense of relief... I have not found any pictures showing the slats deployed.

Sorry for the lack of updates. Having to take it slow, but want to make some progress this weekend. Also, am wondering if I screwed something up with the elevators. Started masking the exhaust area. The idea is to darken the panels, but I didn't choose a dark enough mix (Alclad Magnesium) so will have to do another shot today. Definitely needs to be much darker! The elevators represented another conundrum. The look like they are upside down to me with the leading edges. I've been back over the instructions many times, but I can't see where I messed up. Are the stabs correct?? I can't image the slats go UP? I just don't see how to have assembled the Stabs with the slats pointing down. SO what obvious thing did I mess up on? Thanks Guys!

Need some input from the smart people here. I was attempting to spray Alclad on my F-4E last night started getting what looked like threads on the model. Paint threads. I was shooting Alclad Aluminum straight, at 8, 12 and 15psi. Here is what it looked like on the F-4 tail: And then on my test mule: I know it LOOKS like actual cotton or wool thread, but it is paint. Also notice the coarse surface texture behind the gun muzzles. I have a theory what caused this, but want to hear your thoughts before sharing. Thanks!

Carl, I ended up going with the Master Airbrush Cool Runner Professional with a 3L tank. The Sparmax was good for small jobs, but does not have a tank. It is VERY quiet however.

It is just me, but I could not find the price of the jig on the website, or how to add it to the shopping cart. I tried two different browsers: Edge and Chrome. I can find the prices and am able to add other products to the cart, but not the jig.. Hmmm

Scott very cool!!

Can't wait to break it open!!

The package from BNA arrived today and I'm very impressed. Both with the quality of their packing and quality of the ResKit and Master Model bits. The Model Master metal probes are both finely finished and TINY!!! It will be a huge chore not to lose the tiny probe. oh boy... I'll post an un-boxing of the ResKit parts, but I am very impressed with the quality of both the 3D Printed and resin parts. The 3D Printed parts look daunting to remove, but I'm sure it will be pretty straight forward. Each set comes with very clear instructions including paint options, as well as decals and stencils (yay, great, more stencils...). Painting the Sparrow missiles will be incredibly easy with the missile body one color and the separate fins another. VERY easy to paint before assembling so this should be fun. The inboard pylons are 3D printed and the detail is simply amazing. Can't wait to dive into these new parts and see how they turn out.

That is what gets me about my bench. Normally I have everything pretty well organized. But having to do so many sub-assemblies has me putting parts everywhere... Not to mention various groups of paints.

Cutlass!

Scott, WWAYYYY too clean!!! I'm embarrassed to say this is MY current mess.

The price is at $205 now, but SB is VERY helpful providing all the AM bits in a nice, easy to select, deadly on the wallet, list on the same page.

VERY nice start and I hear you about doing jets. Very different from the Mustangs/Spitfires/Airacobras/etc. I've seen where Kinetic is making some nice kits. Your belts look terrific - I especially like that there is some texture to them, not just flat. The IP is AMAZING, esp for 1/48 scale! Had not heard of Red Fox before...

Doc, VERY interesting! Thanks for the info. Mark - always good to see 'in flight' with pilots. Can't wait to see the rest. Winnie, Looking good!

Martin, Looks awesome! Sometimes those quick builds are so fun.

Scott, agree with the guys, looks awesome and can't wait to see the other pics in RFI.

Agreed! It's probably why I have so many Mustangs and Airacobras in my case right now. Have you seen my 1/72 P-51C Purple Float plane? I love both aircraft. Working my way into Spitfires, Phantom IIs and other subjects. But I have a SPECIAL Mustang project in mind for the (hopefully near) future....

Scott, sorry that I lost track of this thread, but delighted to hear of a positive outcome to Mary's cancer surgery and a wonderful post-surgical result. WHEW. Forget silicone implants, I think you need to go the 3D Printed option...

I hear you on the decals. I've wanted to do a JJohnson Spitfire for a long time, but I know it is probably the most popular build. Still, it looks good!!!