CANicoll

Placed my largest Hannants order ever over a month ago and it finally arrived! It was a little bit like Christmas, especially since I look at a few of the things I ordered, and I can't remember why I ordered them. First up are masks for the Tamiya Spitfire Mk VIII and an old P-51C that I started maybe four years ago, and the canopy is all that is left. I THINK I can still find the canopy... Also are the Quinta sets for a few builds: a 1/48 Spitfire, 1/48 Hobby Bossy Me 262 and a 1/48 Eduard Bf-109F. Oh yeah, trying out the ASK masks on an Eduard P-51 (I have three possible candidates!). Some Quickboost bits for the 1/32 Tamiya Spitfire Mk. VIII and resin barrels for the Tamiya P-38H. I figure the nose is so noticeable I'd give these a try. I could have gone brass... More masks to help with camo and painting markings - the Mustangs are pretty simple, but I think the masks also help with the nose checkers. Mustang camo is pretty much monochrome, not like the English and German aircraft. I am bound and determined to build some SEA-Camo Vietnam F-4 Phantoms and this set is for a 1/32 Tamiya F-4 I bought at the first Nationals I attended. Not sure if the Tamiya will be the first build, or the ZM 1/48 F-4 I have: And last, but not least, the Spitfire camo. It is for an IXc, but hoping it will work on the VIII as well. I guess I will also be testing out a lot of different brands of masks!

So you've seen me sanding wings before!

Working on the Black Cat Catalina and realized I do not have a decent reference for the gray US Insignia markings they used. I'm hoping @Martinnfb or someone has an idea. Thanks gents! Chris

Peter, I had visions of your earlier problems and what it took to stop the crack. I think mine was just me pressing too hard. Oh well! At least it didn't fracture completely. Can you imagine putting the Styrene tail BACK on in that case?!? Chris

Averting Disaster? There are some sounds you just don't want to hear when you are working on your model. CRACK! is one of them... When trying to gently pry the elevators from the resin tail, seems like the CA bond was strong than the resin tail. A line appeared about here: I was unhappy with myself for not scribing into the seam first to clear out as much of the CA as possible, so immediately hit the crack with Ultra-Thin CA which wicked into the crack pretty thoroughly. That did fix the weakness but at that point decided to just let the elevators have a bit of dihedral and live with it. Was so frustrated that I went ahead and filled the (existing) gap/seam between the tail and the elevator with some Vallejo putty. The right side was pretty tight, the left side is the one with the problem. That did smooth out the gap pretty well and it looks much better. Also took the opportunity to hit the markings area with clear gloss to get ready for the masks, and do a bit of touch up with the black paint. Going to put this down for the day to let everything set. "Patience, grasshopper, patience..."

Definitely waiting to see how that Lancaster goes, too! There is so much detail available for the kits now, it really is something.

Gary and Rob, thanks! I used a TON of CA on that resin tail, but now you got me thinking about gravity over time. Hmmm.. Oh, well - I should live that long! Rob, I also can't wait to peel off the masks, just hope not to be too disappointed. The windshield wipers have me a bit worried tho. The waist will be interesting to see and I get to do some detail work on the machine guns. Still to come is masking and painting the markings. I've seen where national insignia is painted with a light/medium gray instead of white. Will be my first-time using masks for those markings. I have some Maketar insignia masks which I originally bought for a 1/32 Mustang build but the sizing is pretty close here. And figuring out the weathering. The pictures perfectly capture the heavy weathering on the top of the wing. Usually if I'm going that way, I start with weathered paint colors so this build may be of a newer aircraft.

Peter, How is it that I've missed this build until now?? It is a treat following your builds as your discussion and descriptions are informative and educational, and the photography is always fantastic. Good to see the old Spit coming together and you are right, the Quinta cockpit is fantastic. I balked at using them for a while, but I did on the SU-29 and especially for the jet consoles, wow. As with everything we do - it really isn't shake and bake - still fitting and building that has to be done. Looking forward to paint and primer.

Martin, The tail planes are probably a bit flatter than they appear in the pictures but are not as perfectly flat as they should be. I'll see what I can do about that. VERY interesting that the wing float is perfectly black, while the rest of the aircraft is weathered. A new float maybe? Here she sits: The elevators do have a bit of a dihedral. 😞 Main wing is just sitting on its fuselage pylon. That is quite the wingspan...

I definitely feel for you. The lady I was with for two years decided to call it quits late last year, with no explanation other than 'it's not you, it's me'. We still haven't fully sorted everything out. Life is like that. Try to focus on the good stuff, and what makes you happy. Sometimes it is all we can do.

Harv, Sorry, completely missed this. Seems like you are hanging in pretty well - new house, car, carpet! Your own place. I was married 28 years before it came to an abrupt end. Life moves on and glad to see you are keeping up with the rest of us crazy lot. Don't get isolated. And no more arguments about leaving the toilet seat up or down, or which side the TP unrolls from. Bonus!! Chris

That would be awesome, thanks! I've never seen this modification on a Cat before so this is very interesting. SIX machine guns in the nose? Wow, a water-borne P-38 basically! Never mind your pics, they are great! Thanks for posting! I wonder what putting all that weight on the nose of the plane did for the balance of the aircraft.

Rob, That looks awesome under the primer. I hear you about the tools you need keep on hand. But it is really handy, necessary actually, to have the right tools available. All of that PE really does pop on the ship. Nice work!

Wow Rob, are you sure you want to paint this? The boat racks look terrific in the photos and to the naked eye they will be even more amazing. I'm still amazed you did all of those port holes on the boats. "Fiddly"? You have the patience of a saint to do this detail work. I'm still amazed at how tiny these details are, but also how much they add to the kit. All of that superstructure just looks fantastic.

Nice work! So much goes into this it is fun to watch.

Gus, just saw this and love the livery. Very nice job modulating the gray and the white - very tough to get that done so it looks good but you managed it very well. Nice job! Chris

Great watching the build, but your photos of the completed plane really do it justice. It just looks so good! You have to be pleased with the final result, even with all of the challenges - even more so because of the challenges. Well done!

Yeah, I'm probably going to have to do some touchup work on the nose turret, now that we have some better pictures. The weathering will be very interesting... Had to do some filler for the canopy glass and it seems like the clear parts either shrunk (not likely?) but the canopy is a bit too narrow for the opening, by about a mm or 1.5mm. Maybe it has always been that way. Added some filler around the canopy rear and port side. Any light color you see around the radar mast is white glue, to reinforce that bond. Also finally masked the rest of the fuselage windows. Between the cockpit and the waist blisters it must have been pretty dark. On the other hand, small windows make it much easier to black out the windows so no light escapes which could give away the aircraft. I also wonder about civlian use (mini-Clippers!) and how cool that would be. Since no painting was going to happen today with the filler going in, decided it was a good time to affix the elevators. Right side first. Notice the high-tech, flexible elevator prop holding it in place while the Gel CA sets up. The clamp provided the means to set the right angle pretty easily. Fancy set-up!! The view from the nose. The right side fit pretty well. The left is going to require more filler and it seems like the join is off a bit, but it fits into the groove on the resin tail. I do wonder if the updated Belcher Bits resin fits better with the kit elevators. The old, one piece resin tail has a different profile where the elevators attach compared to the kit pieces. Oh well. it will all be painted shortly! And the new view from the nose. This thing is pretty big. More to come!

Martin, no worries!! I'm sure that my masking is off on the turret, but will see what I can fix up. Made a bit more progress tonight, but first a few pictures: I had not realized the radar dome was so far forward as to be over the pilots heads. Note how open the blister is. Very cool the mechanic working on a running plane. Notice the wear on the underside of the leading edge of the wing, too. Never seen that before. Another shot of the radar dome as well as the nose turret, as well as those props and all the stuff on the top of the wing. And the model. Shockingly, I think the radome is close to being in the right place. The instructions were bleak and not helpful (or specific) at all. But the internet was a huge help with some key shots. Still hoping the liquid mask is holding on the windscreen. It has been on there for a long time. The view through the blisters is going to be cool. Here is a view you never get to see of a Catalina. It kind of reminds me of a blue whale... There is so much detail that could be added to the waists of these aircraft since there is so much open space. Not sure it is worth detailing the cockpit or the rest of the aircraft as so little can be seen.

Hey Martin, You have the best pictures. The wiper blades are molded onto the windscreen, so we will see how well the masks worked to paint the wipers. I have a feeling it will look way too fat. There were not any masks available for the nose turret, so I winged it best as I could with small pieces of tape, and liquid mask. HOPEFULLY the liquid mask worked for the front of the turret and the top as well. Thanks for the photo, it helps immensely. Interestingly, I've never seen the 'bubble' shown in the picture on the nose turret. Maybe I just missed it, but it is not part of the kit's piece. I can already see where I have masks on the front of the turret, but in the picture you sent it is metal (around the gun port). The kit instructions were hopeless but I should have done better research for the masking. Thanks again, Chris

Thanks Peter! Definitely is motivating that things are moving forward!!

Thanks, Rob. I wonder how many of us got into snorkeling and diving because of Cousteau and became much more aware of our water world? His and the family's impact is enormous! Chris

Peter, Thanks for the vote of confidence! Hopefully this will be up to snuff: Dry fitted the engines to the wing and the fit is very good. Exhausts still need to be painted but will be added last. Did some seam work on the leading edge of the wing. Also shows me that the inside of the engine cowlings need to be painted! Next up was to get some of the glass attached. Spent yesterday painting the glass (about 20 coats!!!) and then just letting it dry completely. I THINK it is opaque enough not to let light through. The blisters turned out to be easier than expected. Masked the inside where the windows are but painted the inside of the blister where the windows are not to prevent the show-through. The windows actually have a lip (which restricted the opening of the window)that provided a convenient place to glue the window to the blister. This is the view from the inside, which sadly shows a white glue spot inside the window. Hopefully it will dry VERY clear. The fit and the look is pretty good - dry fitted for now and in need of touch-up paint. With the blisters in place (not glued in yet) the rest of the fuselage and finally get painted. Finally!! Spent some time on the front as well. The canopy is mostly secured, but waiting for the Formula 560 to fully cure, then will finish the job. The canopy fits, after trimming the rear cockpit bulkhead, and the nose turret hopefully will in stay in place with the little bit of gluing surface available. It literally just sits in place. Will be interesting to paint the rope molded into the nose of the aircraft, the bumpers and the cleats. Unusual for an aircraft! The fit of the rudder to the tail isn't too bad after all. The rudder is narrower than the tail, as it is on the actual aircraft. Painted black, it should not be too bad. The rudder, after a bit of trimming of the tail, fits pretty closely. Definitely having patience with the sanding sticks, and having flat sanding sticks, is a huge help to getting the rudder to fit properly. Fitted the elevators, but they hang a bit (NOT a tight fit) so in the photo they look a little bit like the Phantom's, pointing down. But, after spending a bit of time with some soft sanding sticks, the fit to the tail is actually pretty tight. Likely will still need some filler, but much happier with the fit than originally. The jury is still out regarding if the tail is worth the effort. The panel lines on the resin tail do not even come close to matching the lines on the fuselage, the resin is kind of rough in spots, the fit under the fuselage is off. And for the solid tail - the weight is not insignificant. No clue what the issues are (if any) of the hollow/two part tail update. Not sure the old, solid tail is worth the effort. I wonder if Mr. Belcher would swap the old version for the new one? Getting close to putting all the pieces together! We are expecting snowy, icy weather on Saturday so sounds like a good build day. Whew!

Carl, We all hit these lulls, just be patient and you'll get thought it. I'm trying to get out of one myself - life issues and such interfering. The bench is always there waiting for us! Looking good, keep it up! Chris

Very interesting start, John, looking forward to your build! Chris