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CDW

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Everything posted by CDW

  1. Turning out to be a very impressive model. I like Airfix kits, particularly the newer releases. I agree with you, James, about photo etch to a certain extent. There are times when it's helpful and adds detail not available with the kit parts, but more often than not, I end up not using much of the set parts because they specifically do not add detail or realism to the kit. It's as if the parts are there simply as a "parts count", to make it appear the set is a bigger value for the money spent than it actually is. Many partially used photo etch sets sit idly in my spares box. I do admit however, sometimes the parts became useful in some other build the set was never intended for. For the most part, I try to stay away from buying photo etch sets unless I think it's something too important to pass up. Most of the time, it's not.
  2. I masked up and painted a few panels in different colors to break up the monotone gloss silver of the airframe, and to make the model more interesting-looking. Before I move forward with more masking and painting of panels, I wanted to use this photo to proof-test the concept. In the lighting of my work room, it's not easy for me to see if the difference is worth the time and effort of masking. It's time consuming to be sure. In this photo, you can perhaps (you tell me) see the stainless-steel colored panels directly behind the exhaust and the blue nose color. On the wing top, the machine gun/ammo feed cover is painted in dull aluminum. Can you see it, and do you think it makes enough difference to continue. Should I use a different shade of aluminum perhaps? PS: Maybe I'll try that "post-it note" masking trick Ken wrote about his buddy using. It would be a lot faster I think than the way I mased and painted these first few panels.
  3. Did you do your primer from a rattle can or from your airbrush? It laid down super smooth. Nice job, Jack.
  4. The auxiliary fuel tanks and mounts have been attached to the wings. The prop and spinner have been assembled and attached. The windscreen required some reshaping with sanding sticks to fit on the fuselage. Without reshaping, a nasty gap would have resulted between the windscreen and fuselage. After reshaping, applied a Pledge clear coat on the windscreen and canopy before masking and painting the frames on both. Here in these photos, the windscreen and canopy are dry-fitted to check for a decent fit before cementing in place. I've yet to install the seat and aerial wiring before cementing the canopy in place. Will fix the canopy in an open position.
  5. What I would like to know, was Bertha really as big as she appears in the photo? She seems to dwarf her husband. Perhaps the name, "Big Bertha" was literal in more than one sense of the words. Look at the size of her hands! Sheesh.
  6. The Dora will require about a lot of shelf space. Lots of parts, too.
  7. That's exactly what I do/have done on my 1:700 and 1:350 warship models, except I used commercially available scale flag decals. PS: I first place the decals on the foil and allow it to dry before shaping the flag to appear as though it's waving in the wind.
  8. The parents of one of my best friends from junior high school days used to drive new Cadillacs. They would drive us over to Daytona Beach for the weekends where we spent many hours on the boardwalk, riding the rides and playing the games of chance. I always thought riding in those Cadillacs was a big deal back then. They went down the road super smooth, quiet, and the air conditioning was superb. My oldest brother had several convertible Caddys down through time. They rode the best of them all because they weighed more. Super smooth rides. I bought the same M-41 kit just to get the turret mounted .50 caliber machine gun from it, which I used on an Israeli Sherman tank. One day I should find another .50 cal to replace the one I stole then build my M-41, too. Looking forward to seeing how yours turns out.
  9. The M41 was made by Cadillac. Wonder if it was as comfortable inside as a Cadillac? 😀
  10. What a gun! Great looking model. I’ve wanted this one, too. Seeing it built is fun to watch.
  11. When test fitting the stock wheels and rubber tires, I discovered the tires are too big for the wheels. Either Dragon didn't do any proof build of their kit before putting it out there for the public to buy, or they knew about the fit issues and put it out there anyway. Whatever the cause, I needed to find and purchase a set of wheels and tires as a replacement. I bought these Eduard wheels for that purpose. I ran a little test on the drop tanks and wing mounts. I mixed Mr. Color super silver2 with Mr. Color leveling thinner 400 at a ratio of 1 part paint to 10 parts thinner. I sprayed on the highly reduced paint in light, thin coats, at 12psi ala Alclad application style. The silver was applied over a base of AK Xtreme Metal black base. The black base is a lacquer. It went down super smooth and glossy, very fast drying. The black base was shot straight from the bottle using my airbrush. I believe the silver finish may take a light polish. It is said to have much better durability with handling and masking than does Alclad, no clear coat needed. I'm interested to see how it works out. I like the silver finish, much similar to the Alclad in appearance. Very fine silver pigment.
  12. If you ever try building a ship model using a Pontos detail and photo etch set, a new high water mark will be set for photo etch sequence difficulty. The good news is, perseverence and patience usually pays dividends in either case. Your work is coming along real nice.
  13. I once had a good friend from Newburgh. He and his wife both have passed away now. He used to tell me tales about his good friend “Jimmy” from Newburgh and all the mischief they got into a long time ago. One time Jimmy drove down from New York and I got to meet the legend. He came down in a big new Lincoln Town Car. Turned out Jimmy was a hit-man for the good fellas. I was nervous as a cat on a tin roof around that guy. A man of few words but he meant what he said when he did speak.
  14. Hi Dan Don't worry about a thing. I enjoyed learning more about the original, factory finish on this aircraft by everything you shared with me here. Thanks and don't hesitate to contribute in this way to any of my build threads. And likewise, thanks to you as well, EG. You are a storehouse of knowledge on so many subjects we model, and I always look forward to you sharing that information on my build threads.
  15. When listening to the YouTube video (posted on page 2) narrated by Bud Anderson, he says his ground crew worked all night stripping his aircraft to bare metal. While he doesn't mention putty, it seems likely to me that the crew stripped everything on top of the metal skin to lay it bare.
  16. What a lucky guy he is. All those warbirds along with the cash it takes to own, maintain, and fly them at will. Amazing indeed.
  17. Thanks Dan. I have no reference photos to use as a guide for the putty. Modern restored P-51’s show no evidence of the putty so I won’t try to model it now. Maybe on another build when I have reference to work from.
  18. I'm thinking about breaking up all that shiny aluminum with some various shades of aluminum on different panels.
  19. Primarily because of the smooth finish under it. But it's always that way with paint. It's only going to be as good as the surface it's painted on. I forgot to mention, the blue is Tamiya lacquer, "Pure Blue". it may be a tad darker blue than it should be, but I can live with it.
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