CANicoll

Rog, That just sucks, but once all is said and done, well, you'll still be pissed at the builder, but you will have a really nice home!!

Well, Making slow progress on the Voodoo, but ran into an unexpected problem masking the canopy. Well, didn't get to the canopy actually - the windscreen. I purchased the Eduard Ex108 masks since they are for the Monogram/Revell 1/48 F-101 Voodoo. The problem is, they don't fit. The two pieces on the right are supposed to overlap, and the piece on the left should cover the entire point and then come far enough back to overlap the right two pieces. Eduard is never THIS far off so something has to be going on. Looking on their website, there are two sets for the 1/48 Monogram F-101 Voodoo. The set I have, Ex108 is shown for the Monogram/Revell kit. Looking at the Eduard Website there is another set of masks: XF179, which is for the Monogram kit. Sigh. The XF179 masks are definitely different than the EX108 masks. Not sure how the canopy will turn out. But will tackle the masking with tape tomorrow, I hope! BUT, I did make progress on the Catalina! Which is another HUGE masking challenge...

Thanks Peter! Hopefully this update will be up to snuff! The instructions are very vague as to parts placement - kind of a 'it goes over there' kind of thing. But it rewards dry fitting! here is the IP in place. The 'wheels' are on a bar that actually moves forwards and backwards, which is very helpful when it comes time to put the pilots in their places. Also did a bit of panel-line wash on the interior bulkheads. Who knew there were seats on the bulkheads when the gunners were not manning their guns?? Also painted the shells brass and then highlight with a black wash. Should have done that a long time ago. However, the big task (no pun intended) was assembling the 26"/66 cm wing! It became immediately apparent that any wing work required clearing off the workbench. Amazingly, the fit of the FIVE wing panels is really good - tight and aligned, for the most part. Very large sprue attachment points. There is a pretty big gap at the wing tip to the float - on both ends of the wings. Tempting to get the razor saw out and cut off the floats, trim the offending pieces and reattach the floats. Working on the seams with my trusty IPMS UK seam scrapers (and the usual sanding sticks). Bottom view of the wing showing the two sections which join in the center, splitting where the fuselage pylon is. The top float's support is not painted yet (triangular shape). The starboard section of the wing is maybe 1mm off center for the pitot tube hole. Should be workable. Here is the top view showing the three pieces that make up the top of the wing. The center section contains the two engine bulges and extends to where the trailing edge angles towards the tip. The fit was terrific. For reference, the cutting mat is 16"/40.6cm wide! And with the 16" long fuselage Now the question is, chop the tail off now, before putting the fuselage together, or put the fuselage together and then chop off the tail? I'm thinking to put the fuselage together THEN chop the tail. Thoughts?

How did they sound after all?

Wow, just the clean-up is a huge job onto itself, and then all of that PE. WHew!! VERY much looking forward to watching this as it builds up. Your work already is turning this kit around. Chris

Beautiful and those green stripes are striking. Nice plumbing on the drop tanks. I have one last Revell P-51D in the stash and probably more AM than kit parts for it. Maybe after the GB I'll put that one out and get started.

Current Ride: And it does go in the snow! One Day:

Yummy!!!

Thanks Carl for the Mr Color suggestion. I'm trying to minimize the number of paints I'm using (primers, thinners, etc) and at the moment have Vallejo Model Air and Vallejo Metal, Tamiya, MRP, Alclad, Model Master Acryl and Model Master Metalizer. A couple of Mr Color and Mr Surfacer. Vallejo drives me a bit batty as some of their colors are so far off. But I love their black primer and their Metal colors. MRP is wonderful, but I have to use my respirator when I spray and clean up - but the results are terrific. I'm sorry Model Master is basically gone. The newer acrylics like MIG are supposed to be terrific, but I'm trying NOT to add another line to my wall. I guess it is all a tradeoff. Hey Mike! I've never tried to mask over PE before so that is a new one for me. I have not had lifting problems with Vallejo over a primer on plastic. Without primer? Oh yeah. I do have Mr Surfacer 1500 but have barely used it. Got it to fill in the rivets on the top of a Mustang's wings (and had to go with 500 to accomplish that!).

When your mechanic wants to take your sports car out for a 'test drive'...

Scott, I'll try not to say another word about the size of my Catalina. You have some serious styrene there!!! Can't wait to see what you have planned for the display.

Hubert, I wanted to buy one of those Waldron punch sets decades ago, but never got around to it. You have made excellent use of yours! Chris

Thanks Kev! The Vallejo Black Primer lays down very nicely, thinned about 25%, sprayed at 18psi. I have Mr Color Black and MRP Black but the Vallejo is just so easy to use.

Your PE work is terrific Carl, definitely makes a big difference. Chris

Your detail painting really brings out the console - a pain to do but really nice job on it!

Oh yeah, looking really good Bill!

This thing is a beast! I didn't realize how long this kit is. Wow...

After clearing the fouling of the front wheel doors, I primed/painted most of the bird prior to further assembly. This this has such a huge wingspan that I find it easier to complete the major painting in sections, then finish up and touch-up afterwards. Especially since this is an all-black scheme. Handling is easier for me this way as well. The fuselage has 'hand holds' painted where I can grab on for future painting (e.g. when I get the clear parts installed and masked - then I only have to paint those parts). The paint booth was rather crowded this evening!! No clue how the entire aircraft will get painted. Maybe the wing as one piece, and the fuselage as another, and then put the two together (along with the wing struts). My favorite paint for this is actually Vallejo's Black Primer. The Gloss Black Primer seems to be impossible to get, so settled for the other Black Primer which is somewhere between a matte and a semi-gloss. It goes on very smoothly, handles and masks extremely well (as you would expect from a primer) and is very easy to modulate color if you choose to. This build will be a fairly factory-fresh aircraft so, against my usual habit, I opted to pass on the faded scheme. The paint does go on VERY smoothly (and dries to the touch quickly! By the time everything has gotten a coat, the first pieces can be handled). Here is a closer picture of the wing - showing some pretty fine detail (for 1995! Which is the date shown on the copyright on the elevator tab). There will be one more coat once everything is assembled so pardon the spots with less than perfect coverage. f The masks showed up tonight so hopefully this weekend the clear parts can be installed and masked. Chris

Thank you! Actually you were right - a little bit of gentle pushing and pulling and it pretty much snapped into place. No cutting! Thanks!

Thanks Peter and Gary. I'm going to try and tackle it tonight - it got too late last night and we all know doing these things when you are tired is just asking for disaster. I think the left side resin sidewall might be catching the bulkhead on that side. I'll see if that is actually the case - but either way I think the fix will be fairly easy. Worst case - I will grind off part of that bulkhead to ensure there is no interference. We will see! Oh, the masks for the Cat are 'Out for Delivery', and this also includes the Tan MRP for the Voodoo build. Yay! Chris

Really an admirable build - the detail is terrific and I'm looking up "Resin2Detail" to see what they have. Regarding matte vs glossy - very tough, as you've said. I'll start with a gloss/semi-gloss and they gently spray a matte over it in streaks trying to show an irregular finish. Very much like fading paint - more faded on top, less on the bottom. But the Helldiver looks terrific as she sits.

Next stage was to work on the interior - cleaning up some of those huge Ejector pin marks and get the bulkheads installed. Took a bit of fitting but things MOSTLY went right. For some reason put the wheel well interior section in. Mostly in case something was actually visible through the tiny windows. It will be very dark in there once the fuselage is closed up. Notice the opening for a small window into the wheel well. The red lid is to the toilet - in pictures it is really green, but what the heck. The waist machine guns get added after the fuselage is closed up. The fuselage looks like it will come together pretty well. The main landing gear is a one-piece insert on each side of the fuselage. There is a fit problem at the bottom. Under the cockpit are the doors for the nose gear. In-flight this is one piece which looks like it is a bit long for the opening in the fuselage. The fit has been pretty tight in all of the previous test fittings so maybe with some work it will slot in ok. Will look at it tomorrow or Friday. Looks like there is a mooring rope molded into the fuselage nose. More to come!

And it SPINS!! THAT is a winner! What a space-saver. Hmmm. I think I have an old white 'Lazy-Susan' bottle holder somewhere in the back reaches of the closet. I like to pull down the colors I am using for particular builds and this is one way of doing that.

Peter - Thanks for your terrific shots and it reminds me I really should just keep a photo booth set up. The office looks terrific and the fuselage is well along. Definitely agree, these 1996/1997 kits are really surprising us on their fit and detail!

Ernie, Just beautiful! Looks amazing and you can definitely see the time and effort you put into this build. The scheme is one of my favorites. Oh, and all that work to drill out those dive flaps really pays off - especially in this scale. The wings in general look terrific. Still watching! Chris