Project status, Airfix 1/72 Britten-Norman BN-2A/B Islander

Airfix 1/72 Britten-Norman BN-2A/B Islander
I started this at home, worked on it on vacation, again at home, and then took it with me for Airliners International, 2010

Updated 21 October, 2010: The main gear repair worked, both axles on the port side had been sheared off the landing gear leg, so I drilled the remains out of the wheels with a hobby knife and glued a robust piece of round plastic rod between them. Of couse I cut it slightly oversize, and sanded it down to get the same wheel spacing as the intact, original, one. Then I had to remove what was left of the bottom of the leg so that the new axle could fit straight across. VERY gentle sanding stick work, holding the gear leg to keep from knocking it off. I scraped some of the axle flatter than it started, and filed a modest curve into the mounting point.

After a couple days drying, it stands nice and looks good.

I took the opportunity to use strip styrene to fill the seam above the cockpit and out between the port starboard wing and its wingtip.

Now I’m feeding 20 AWG wire into the hole for the nose-wheel to serve as wieght… there’s not much space for weight. I’m crimping it but not cutting through with a pair of diagonal cutters. After a push a segment in, I bend the wire at the edge of the model skin to break off little pieces what will pack well.

Original posting from late July.

I got almost all the pieces attached and had it neatly painted in time for the Saturday contest judging time.

One main gear leg and its two wheels & tires got knocked off on the trip home, so (I’m taking advantage and fixing some filling issues before putting the leg back on, Then the nose weight get added, final painting and decals…

Project status Minicraft 1/144 American Airlines MD-82 (?)

Wow, thanks for the vote based on not much!
here’s the state of play- needs antennae, bits and pieces markings:

Minicraft 1/144 American Airlines McDonnell-Douglas MD-80
I’ve got a pile of home-made detail decals to put on the AA MD-82, and it needs antennae and lights

Project status Airfix 1/76 M4 Sherman

Airfix 1/76 M4 Medium – “Sherman” tank
All *kinds* of progress to report-
I’ve removed the not-straight bogie units from both sides of the hull, coincidentally making it easier to mount the tracks. I’ve fixed the broken or bent track return rollers and applied reddish-brown ‘rust’ to the rollers.

I laminated up the ‘bustle’ of the turret and then sanded it to match the plan from Steve Z’s book.

I had to put a ‘skin’ on the left side of the hull because it took a warp after being left in the car one day… There’s a lesson learned. When I was done, it looked and measured the same as the undamaged part on the right side…

Some of the bent styrene rod lifting eyes were not as successful as others: the port side forward and one of the aft eyes on the turret were completely bad. So I’m going to redo them.
I’ve drilled out the bad lifting rings. You can see the bad ones in this photo, and I promise, the bogies I removed were NOT straight…

Project status Revell Germany (Heller) 1/72 de Havilland Venom Mk 5/50

Revell Germany 1/72 de Havilland Venom Mk 5/50 (ground-attack version)
I’ve got all the kit parts (originally a Heller kit) painted, somehow manged to loose the canopy :(, have a beautiful aftermarket photo etch set that’s perhaps too much good stuff, lots and lots of work, but nothing for the ejection seat (MB Mk 2?) since I imagine they assume you’ll use Aeroclub.
Gotta get a canopy, decide how much of the PE to apply, or use for reference.

Project Status Revell Germany 1/72 TF-104G Starfighter Trainer

Revell Germany 1/72 TF-104G
I’ve got the basic painting inside the cockpit and gear wells done, needs touch-up cleanup and I have to decide if I’m using the Eduard brass set or just using it for reference.

Project status Monogram 1/25 1985 Fiero GT

Monogram 1/25 1985 Fiero GT

The 1/25 1985 Fiero GT Jean gave me for Christmas needs some instrument panel touch up and all painting the trim painting on the body and its time to do final assembly. A high gloss black goes on the triangular panel behind the side windows, satin synthetic rubber on the rubbing strip along the side of the body, flatter rubberish black around the windows. Then it needs the side, rear and front marker lights, and the various black bits around the windshield wipers.

Project Status Monogram 1/48 de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito – Done!

Monogram 1/48 Mosquito –
All done now. The last steps were to make and install the main radio mast and the trailing antenna guide for under the observer’s side wall (the kit inexplicably has the trailing antenna mounted in the center of the underside…”

The kit decals make the squadron ID and individual aircraft id look like a thin, white paint, and so I identified a reasonable “light gray” and over painted the thin, white, letters I’m very pleased with the result

Just finished painting the canopy frame. Painted up interior as if it HAD the details inside, very satisfying.
Its all complete, landing gear, doors, bomb-bay doors, canopy, wing tip lamp covers (had to get Revell-Monogram to send me a new set, I lost the originals) Bless them for that- I ordered on their web page and they had the parts in my hand in under 2 weeks. Touchup paint around/over silvered decals is done, it needs the radio antennae behind the canopy and the tube for the trailing wire below the observer’s sidewall (not centered in the fuselage as the kit was made!)

Project status Hasegawa 1/72 Vought F8E Crusader

The Hasegawa 1/72 Vought F8E windshield and canopy framing is painted, I sanded/filed the ejection seat to look more like a Martin Baker Mk 5 or 7, need to dress it up with identifiable parachute box, face-curtain handles, center or side handle, 02 bottle, etc. Just like that one I scratch built, uh, 25 years ago 🙂 Maybe just copy it :^) It WAS based on the Famous Aircraft Of The World F8 book’s drawings…, The Y rails, well, maybe measure on the Heller fuselage or another Haseegawa one, or the FAW drawing :^).

Its foolish, I’ve got all but 5 or 6 pieces attached, the decals are done for goodness sake… Oh, and I lost the starboard all-flying elevator but made a new one from a chunk of styrene. Sheesh. Ought to take a picture.

Project Status Don Schmenk 1/144 Hawker Sea Fury

Don Schmenk 1/144 Hawker Sea Fury – spinner shaped and painted, tail sanded down, corect dayglo rudder painted in. Need to finish overall Crimson with hard mask for rudder. Get it done!

I’m a bit irresolute and keep going back and forth on this… I may have sanded down the rudder again… We’ll get there, one of these days.

Don Schmenk 1/144 de Havilland Canada Twin Otter

Don Schmenk 1/144 de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter

May 10, 3010

Seems like I bored out enough holes to epoxy a new set of brass-wire reinforcements or even carbon fiber if I wanted to re-assemble the model. Then wrap-up the finish. Wow, what a learning curve for me!