CANicoll

That looks like a bit of work, and the work he is putting into the conversion is admirable. Looks good!

Ernie, I'm sorry to hear of Flash's passing. So much life lived in his time. My condolences. Chris

Thanks Mike! Definitely a different resin but the lines are a bit different between the two tails. Interesting. Can't wait to see your build! Chris Here is the latest - started the masking process and this is going.to.take.a.while. 26 masks just for the canopy. Whew. And masks for the windshield wipers! And worked on the join-seam for the tail a bit. Some squadron white putty... Splitting time with the Voodoo -which is up on her wheels! Check her out here.

Added a few (incorrect!) decals as I had absolutely nothing that was close to accurate - oh well! But got the plane up on its wheels finally. Have to paint the missles which go underneath. But did run into two build problems. Attaching the wings before inserting the nose gear or the weapons bay was a no no. The nose gear bay did fit, with a bit of sanding and some persuasion. The weapons bay, on the other hand. Nope, not going to fit. So the weapons platform was fitted into the opening (pictures later!) so the result is the platform is fixed, rather than rotating to show the two different missles arming the aircraft. My bad on not following the build order closely enough. Will fit the engines/exhaust after the flat coat. That's it for now!

Conversion? Uh oh!! Is that a Tamiya conversion?

Nice to get to know your postal folks! That is funny. I knew my former postman and he would do special things for me as well. Nice gentleman!!

Wow, Peter, just beautiful!! Your patience with the color certainly is paying off - what an eye-catching build. Definitely looking forward to the full unmasking.

The twins! Working on the Voodoo as a break from the Mr. Surfacer fumes...

Rob, Definitely expectations are different around the world. But this is not the first time I've been watching the app, expecting a delivery, and knowing that no vehicles came on campus (FedEx, UPS, etc) and then I get an update via the app of some problem : 'Resident not home' or 'Please verify address' it is more a matter of Probably too many packages to deliver so by the end of the day, some just don't get delivered. I wish they would just say - 'we missed our delivery date, will deliver tomorrow'. The Spit did show up the next day, and was sitting at my door - No signature! Oh well - worse things happen. The panel lines are definitely an enigma. I've seen a Catalina up-close and those panel lines are not nearly as visible as on either the resin tail or the acadamy kit. Even if you look at the rest of the Monogram fuselage - there are not many panel lines to be seen. I may just have to bite the bullet and hit those panel lines ONE MORE TIME. A smooth tail will probably look better than the current lines. Just looking just to get some consistency between the tail and the rest of the aircraft. I think the fuselage detail is pretty impressive, actually. Too bad Mr. Belcher was not able to come close to the detail that Monogram has.

Kevin, the base is fantastic and really will set off your beautiful build. The details add to the boat so can't wait to see more of this. Nice job! We have a full woodshop here, including the bandsaw and a routing table (and hand routers). So very lucky to have access to all of that and learning a whole new world of woodworking. One of the guys turns Pens so I have two blanks to do that sometime (he has a mini-lathe which is awesome).

Definitely making progress on this resin tail. It has been a bit of an experiment using the Mr. Surfacer 500 and how it gets removed from around the panels lines. Mr Surfacer on one side, sanding on the other. The results have been pretty interesting. See for yourself: A few applications of Mr. Surfacer 500 the panel lines are just barely there, and almost match the rest of the aircraft. With another application or two these panels lines would disappear. Compare with the 'before' picture: The other side, Mr Surfacer and sanding actually took a turn: Instead of just sanding, tried using the cotton bud and Mr. Color thinner, and I probably took out some of the Mr. Surfacer out of the panel lines. Oops! The 'before' this last attempt: The panel lines cleaned out look better so will stay at this level now. Next is to clean up the fuselage seam, and the surfaces where the rudder goes (and clean up the rudder too) and get onto masking all of those clear parts. Oh yeah, and get onto the figures! Chris

Rob, I'm wondering how much styrene is going to be left after all of this PE and woodwork. Do you buy CA by the quart or the barrel? Chris

You gotta watch that. Their 'spend per hour' can get PRETTY PRICY! Best if you can send them off to a movie or bowling or something cheap.

And this, my friends, is a fine example of brilliance personified!

SOMEBODY there has to have red nail polish. Someone.

And THIS showed up today... Not sure when THIS will get started...

GREAT USE OF TIME. I was never able to bring modeling supplies on a business trip and DO anything. But I never had to deal with much of an ice-storm as well - so good planning! Safe travels!

Hey Mike, I have not, but come to think about it I may have some in my drawer, I will take a look. You are right, seems like all of the other options do shrink to some degree. We have a rainy day - good day to be at the workbench! Chris

Thanks Gary!!! Much appreciated!

Good luck!!!

Rob, Watching your amazing skills and this build is fascinating. Never really contemplated building a ship - and watching all of the PE work you are doing, and the incredible detail it adds, NOPE! Not going there! Chris

Scott, this is such a fascinating build. Every step of the way is pretty cool - and I'm really digging the lighting and how you can really see the interior. And 1/128 scale figures?? Wow. Fun to watch! Neat progress! We have a full woodshop here where I live - really enjoying the woodworking too. The CNC machine is REALLY neat!

Bill, Fantastic tutorial! Thank you for all of the photographs and especially for showing what did and did not work. So helpful to learn from - thank you! I'm always looking for new ways to do things such as feathering the edges of paint. Kingfisher is looking terrific, nice job on the paint. Chris

Thank Peter! Now if I can only find some decals! 🙂

UPS decided, after missing the delivery time, that I needed to 'verify my address' - but they had the address correct. Actually, UPS didn't show up for the evening deliveries here (I can look out over the complex). Frustrating, but it seems to happen frequently, and I have to be here to sign for the package (thank you Tamiya!). Oh well. Worst things are happening in the world. Got the next bit of Mr Surfacer on the tail. Might go back in a few minutes and work on it. 🙂