GusMac

More progress today while the missus was doing the Christmas tree. 90 minutes of masking.... Then 10 minutes with the airbrush and we have.... Couple of touch-ups needed around the front edge of the vertical stabiliser and the left side of the nose where there's been a slight bleed under the tape. I'm also not happy with the transitions on the nose which are too 'pointy' for my liking, so a bit more masking and another short session with the airbrush and we have... I'm a lot happier with this, so we're done with the main painting I think. MRP is just so easy for touch-ups as you don't have to worry about thinning it, so just mask and go. Next up is detailing the wheel wells.

Congrats on the sale of your company Hubert. Even better that it's gone to your protégé who's obviously attached to the business.

Track details do look very nice. Hope the assembly isn't too tedious.

Nice pick Rob. My memory of those Parmalat Brabham's as a kid was wondering what the hell Parmalat was! Back in pre-internet days it was hard for a kid in rural Scotland to find out about Italian dairy companies. 😆

I totally get that Rog. Painting is one thing I really will only pay someone else to do as a last resort, or if it's too high. As you say, I reckon I can do just as neat a job, just slower. When we got our house built my father and I did all the landscaping in the garden and all the splashback tiling in the bathrooms and en suite. There's definitely a satisfaction in knowing you've done things yourself.

Got the first paint on. Mr Paint Sky which goes on lovely and looks far closer to the 'proper' colour than the Tamiya XF-21 which was my other alternative. The more I use these paints, the more I like them as they are just so easy to use without the need to thin them. Sorry for the pictures but there's so little contrast between the Sky and the grey primer that it was difficult to get it clearly. Next up is masking before the upper surface paint. I've also realised I got ahead of myself and started this before I did the detailing in the wheel wells but shouldn't be a huge issue as it's just some lead wire and shaped plasticard. I'll just do it before I mask off the wells for the interior green.

Looking great, love the dented roof on the Beatle.

Looking great Rog. I take it it's your responsibility to get all the interior painting and decorating done? Over here that's all part of the package although that tends to mean you get everything painted in magnolia! I think that's maybe what Martin was meaning in his earlier post as well.

Well, primer is on and thankfully just some fairly minor touch-ups needed to the joints. So hopefully just one more trip round the fill/sand loop.

Ready for primer I think. We'll see then how good the filling and sanding has been.

Cool, I haven't seen that picture of years. It was in an old Medical Physics textbook that we used to recommend to students.

Nice idea for the base Rob. Should look great as the drone is an imposing size.

One of my favourite F1 cars ever, please do a WIP. Still remember Villeneuve's lap at Zandvoort with 3 wheels. Perfect example of his unique mix of genius and lunacy.

Yes, it's been a pleasant build so far and the fit quality is very good.

It is an odd hybrid with a relatively 'modern' looking fuselage with a pair of WW2 wings attached.

Great to see you back Peter. I hope all the results come back positively for both of you.

Thankfully the fill and sand loop is done for the main fuselage I think, although primer will be the final arbiter of that! Anyway the next thing was to add the front windshield and then the wings. Both fit pretty well although there is a bit of a step between the rear of the wing and the fillet but should be fixed with some sanding and then filler. It's a surprisingly big airframe now the wings are on. Plan is to get the wings sorted and then throw some primer at all the joints to check for further work before adding the tail fins.

That'll be the Fred Flintstone limited edition then! 😉

I built the 1/32 one a good while back and it was similar. BUT the metal wheelgear gave up the ghost after about 18 months sitting in the cabinet. I'm not sure it's all Trumpy's fault as it is a bizarre arrangement which would be hard to make robust in any material.

Hope you have a good one Peter and as Hubert says, hope you're both back on an even keel.

Midway through the first iteration of the sand and fill loop, so nothing much to show. Hopefully, it looks like it won't take too many trips around the loop to get everything smooth. Unfortunately, that is then followed by rescribing which is definitely not my favourite pastime.

Nice patchwork finish on the metal surface. Remember 111 Sqn from Leuchars Airshows in the 70s but they were flying the FGR2 by then.

Hi Hubert, yes I did a double take myself when I uploaded that picture. I think because everything is black the rail on the right isn't very visible, certainly not in my usual half-baked pictures. 😁

Yes, it does look someone's cut'n'shut the front of a Jet Provost onto a Hunter.

Bit of significant progress today. Got the cockpit floor and instrument panel glued in and dropped the splitter plates in. They are unglued and centre themselves when the fuselage is glued together. Thankfully then remembered to glue the tail wheel well in before I joined the fuselage. Would have been a bugger to fit after the fact as it's wider than the hole in the rear of the fuselage and would have meant trying to burst the epoxy joints. Just some tape to keep things tight while the epoxy cures fully but everything fitted in nice and snug and there's only going to be a little bit of filler and sanding needed which is a relief.