CANicoll

Carl, Especially for armor and these desert builds I think the chalk adds something to the build. If you need some line, let me know. I have a lot!

My early days of modeling were definitely covered in chalk dust! Then I put it away for ages, but it does have its usefulness. I didn't photographic it yet, but used some for the exhaust staining. Along those same lines I have Doc O'Briens's Weathering Powders in a rainbow of colors... Thanks for the link, I will definitely look it up.

Absolutely. I haven't yet, but that is one way to keep the finish in place.

Really? The chrome parts are metal?!? No wonder they are 56Euro! I do like the older NASCAR schemes, especially Richard Petty's STP cars.

I'm very impressed with the ResKit stuff. The detail they can achieve with 3D Printing is amazing - as you can see!

Kept working on the antenna wires by drilling a very small hole for the down wire, then using some white glue to fill the hole, and eventually also as insulators. The ends can be hard to deal with so I usually gently tape down the other end that I'm not working with to keep the line stable. Once everything is completely dry I'll stretch it vertically and use some CA to attach it to the horizontal line. While waiting for the antenna glue to dry started playing with the exhaust staining (black chalk) and then also rubbed some sand-colored chalk onto the wings to see if that might also help blend in the camo. Let me know what you think. Had this stuff for at least 20 years. It's from "Builders for Scale"... Used the mustard yellow chalk on the right-side wing. The left wing in the photo has not been touched. The chalk definitely adds to the matte/flat effect, but I think it is working to blend in the darker camo colors which is the desired effect. Applied with a rounded thick brush, any place where it was applied too heavily, I simply wiped it off with my finger. I figured if it was REALLY bad I would take a damp paper towel or cloth and wipe it all off. Thoughts?

And I have them sitting in their own little tray until I get ready to attach them (literally it will be the LAST thing I do!). 🙂

Not yet! Check out today's update. Playing with some chalk. Still have to get that antenna wire set and then position the canopy open with its own retaining wire. Thanks for the info! No worries on the detour. I'm taking notes, too.

Hey Kevin, Honestly, I think I picked it up at Scale Model World in Telford, England, which I attended for about three years. If you need a few inches of the stuff, let me know. 👍

Wow, Peter, these engines look awesome, and I hope they are not completely covered up. Your dry brushing technique is incredible and really brings out all of that detail. You may not have a lot of bench time but you certainly make the most of what time you get! I needed to some of that drybrushing inside the cockpit of my 109.

Thanks Martin!

Finally got the main antenna line attached, but in the meantime broke off both elevators (independently) as well as the antenna mast. Sigh. Following some online resources trying to come close to how the antenna wire was attached to the aircraft. Using some of the PE pieces for that. Will trim the line and add the resisters and add the down wire once all of this is firmly cured. I'm not a fan of EZ-Line for antenna wire as it is actually flat and not round. I prefer to use the Uschi line for the antenna wires as it is round and comes in some incredibly thin diameters - down to .001. I'm using their .005 line and the down wire will be .005 as well. Photographs seem to show both wires are the same size. Eduard provided the PE for the tail antenna connection. This bit I took from another part. will move the wire down to the PE part and trim the excess line tomorrow once I'm sure the mast is on and stable. Sad that the rear canopy piece is raised up a bit. However it is FIRMLY attached so I don't want to risk breaking by detaching it and re-attaching..

I tend to tape those edges when I can, running the tape diagonal for the longest area to be held together. But that is a huge wing.

That website is a mess! I'm surprised you found these there. Took me a while, but I did find that page. Thanks for posting.

Do you make your own stencils?

Thanks Peter and Rob. I will have to break out the Dullcote here pretty soon, I think. That it is a lacquer is a bonus, for sure. I actually have TWO bottles of the original Pledge so probably should tap into that (free) source of a nice gloss. Rob - Yep, had not gone over the edges with the toothpick yet. On the larger scales I usually run a new #11 blade around the mask but not always in 1/48. I should have with the 109 given all the straight lines on the canopy. Oh, well, not a problem to clean it up. 👍

Dave, Great to see your progress and thanks for sharing the tips along with way. Very helpful. I'm still keeping an eye on that ZM 1/48 F-4C in my closet.

Cool, thanks PW!

That is a LOT of clamps...

"Squeezed water bottles"??? Where did you even find such a thing? And the skulls will make things interesting... But this will be a cool build.

Amazing what you learn. Yesterday sprayed the MRP matte clear and it came out... glossy. Dried... glossy. Yeah, you have to shake/mix the bottle. Duh. But even after respraying a well-mixed MRP Matte Clear, it seemed to be more like a Satin Clear (which is a different MRP bottle I have, too). What do you think: So went to my usual Go-To matte - Vallejo (and yes, seems like I had to mix/shake that bottle, too). Here are those results. I left the lighting exactly the same between the two pictures as in as close to exactly the same place as I could: Definitely a difference. Top view after unmasking the canopy and adding the spinner and prop. Canopy will be displayed open. Currently letting the antenna mast completely dry. Beauty shot before final touchups, cleanups of the canopy from the unmasking, exhaust stains, antenna wires, prop decals, etc.

Firewood, free delivery. Cut your own....

Thank you Peter and I try and follow your lead so thank you again!

Thanks Rob! I appreciate the kind comments. I have some oils I could use for washes and PLW but just never get the gumption up to give them a try. 🙂 Same with Pledge - what do you use to thin it? But am really liking the X-22.

Nice work and perfect paint job. Cool scheme and subject.