popeye the sailor

duly noted Mike..........please excuse my lag here. life has been busy of late.........life, work, and the satirical vehicle we own. just when I think I have the problem licked, it comes back. I just turned 66 the other day........the claim to fame of the day, was that I ate 3.4 LBS of steamers in 19 mins .......topped it off with a mega stein of beer and a seven piece shrimp cocktail! awesome day! during this stall in progress, only a little was made. I did a dry fit of what is done so far......... I have painted and assembled the prop and spinner......the pictures must still be in the camera. hope to have more on this project soon

old airfix kits.........closest I've come to them were the old MPC profile series kits look'in good Craig.....keep in mind though, some of the projects that don't look good in the beginning, sometimes look best when finished. it may be better to use the open version bomb bay doors, than the filler part.........it will look more realistic, and you won't feel like you need to scribe the door seams more to achieve the realism clear plastic parts can be terrible to work with. you could try buffing it to bring down the 'scratch' and then touch it up with window maker

nice start on the diorama Grant interesting use of chalk as a stain. are you going to use any sort of sealer afterwards?

thanks Ken......fitting the other radiator face. also experimenting with the cockpit glass.

look'in really good so far

very nice progress! the cockpit looks sweet! the admiral complained about play'in the lottery a few weeks ago, so I told her to play..........the darn ticket is still sitting on the fridge!

gives new meaning to 'strap in'! .....more permanent than the old fashioned 'jet lag' do you still have the kit Chris?

the next day, I repainted the cockpit interior....looks better gray. I added some of the added detail........there's more. the tires were also painted. I'm not finding any trouble using enamels. with the boots modified and painted, they were added to the underside of the wings. the exhaust are resin parts.......time to add them to the fuselage halves, along with other bits of detail. as can be seen, the instrument panel has been cemented in place. two pedals were added before this took place. it was sanded and trimmed down to fit. I also started to work on the radiators. together {the 'plug' as a whole} it did not fit the cavity......it sat back too far. I want to bring them more to the outer edges of the radiator box. taking the plug to the scroll saw, it was cut in half. the front radiator face looked kind of bland......it needs a grill like look to it. I recalled that I still had a couple of pipe screens. painted, it might do the trick. there was some cleaning out to do on the inside of the fuselage.......need to trim the part as well I did miscalculate and the result was a nasty gap. it took quite a bit more sanding and trimming to get me where I'm at....I still have the other plug to do. hopefully I can keep what I have. if I press it together, it becomes much less. still need to add the detail bits to the other half of the fuselage....still a work in progress more soon!

now.........barring any more interruptions......I can proceed! first off.....I got a good scare. taking Jav's advice, I put the canopy {the good one} in a window that gets quite a bit of sun. bad thing is......I forgot about it. we had a wedding to go to today, so I took a half day off to go {wished I didn't}. got home........made supper on the grill.......watched some boob tube..........and after enduring shows with little intelligence, I decided to finally post the updates. this is when I realized what I had done with the canopy..........whenever it was suggested was when I put it in the window! rushing to the window, I was startled to find that it had disappeared! I ran to get a flash light, since the only light in the room is set up for the fan at the moment. thankfully, the wind blew it out of the window, because I found it behind the speaker by the TV stand so.......yellow or not, it's getting painted and used! OK......at last post, I had added the ailerons to the wings.........I added all of the actuator rods. one set was resin, and none of them broke! once dry, the underside was painted a light Ghost gray the top halves of the wings were cemented in place at this time. they had already been painted........I stuck with the Forest Green as I did with the JU87G 1 the walkways have also been painted. the camo is the same as the JU87G 1.........I want to do something different. this will be the base colors. there is another update....more that I did on the next day. another bit of news that I got today. I came home around noon today...the admiral was play'in with her phone at the table. on the table was a model kit...........odd???? I ignored it for the moment and caught up on what she had done in the morning.......she wanted to go out with our younger son to Walmart, and buy another dress for the wedding. then I asked about the model.........she told me she got it from Walmart in the whole time I've worked for them {18 years Sept 20th}, I have never seen a model kit in their stores! ..........maybe somewhere else, but not 'round these parts! it's an old AMT {Round 2 production} of a '57 chevy Bel Air Hardtop....I asked her why this particular model.......and she replied because she liked it {she who think I have too many models} I have come to the conclusion, that she is an enabler

oh heck no Dan........these logs are designed to gather information. if anyone decides to build this particular plane, all he need do is look up this log, and he would have more info that he ever needed! not to mention the insane ideas to finish a great looking model. it's all around good stuff! I do have an update to report, but I'm told that we need to get on with the errands. so....I guess I'll just bite the bullet and get them over with. I'll see you all when I get back

I'm doing alright......I have my days........still get the tired legs and the usual aches and pains, but that nasty sore is gone on my heel. it doesn't stop me though........ I forgot to congrat you Egilman.........glad to hear that your diagnosis is tipping in your favor I hope more goes your way! the JU 87A is more labor intensive than I thought..........I have only finishing touches to do to the JU 87G 1. the canopy is a pain.......the frame detail is nothing but raised lines, and I'm making a dog's ear out of it. I'm just going to even it out and be done with it. next one I do, I think I will go by way of the mask!

yep......decals can be a problem. either they are too glossy or flat, or they are thick or thin........thin making them more prone to cracking. you could paint the yellow and then source out black pinstripe decaling to finish it off. you can also print black stripe decal on your computer. I have a decal program as well. there are thing at your disposal that you can do. super silver job overall.........I think you succeeded quite well!

I'm in Chris!

superb model Chris..........well done! great job on the wings.........must have been hard to get them to line so well. all around beautiful model!

sweet that a dio base was included...........I usually make my own, but they lack the detail you'll see with yours

you made my eyes go big when I saw this! just so happens that I received two SU 27 Flackers @ 1:72 scale, along with a Rafale A @ 1:72 scale a couple of weeks ago. they were on the Old model kits site for so long, and I wondered what was wrong with them..........I'm not a Jet guy, but they looked so lonely they came in the same box {wondered what that was all about}......haven't taken the time to check them out yet, but they are Revell and the price was right. keen to see your progress

according to the instructions....... the Revell color chart suggests a dark gray. I think the Special Hobby instructions suggest the same..........I shall refer to my translator. I just looked at the translator I downloaded........seems I got my grau and grun mixed up I can change it.........that Monogram paint looks more like a stain, than anything else. it's nature suggests that it would be more suited for wood. likely 55 to 60 degrees........any more than that, I don't think even dive brakes will keep you from creating a crater ...........not only that, the bomb is supposed to get there before you do. jets have more thrust, but I think wing shape is important too. I learned quite a bit during my initial stint with balsa airplanes....lucky to remember 1/4 of it today. I've done that before Jav.......never got the success that others got. did you have a cello canopy? this is the first model I've done that supplies one. I set it in the living room window..........it's worth a try

the procedure is to insert a wire in the vein at the knee, until they get it to the inner thigh. they numb it while they are doing this....can't say that it is totally painless though. once the wire is in position {it has a heating element at the business end}, it is heated to cauterize and close the vein. I was awake during the procedure.......pretty much joked the whole time the guy at the computer that was tracking the wire........the computer made this cool rhythmic sound.........I told him that if I had my bass with me, I'd give him a run for his money! I have the compression socks too, but I don't wear them all the time........just doesn't look cool with a pair of shorts do you have the discoloration in the calf area?....I have it more on my left leg. yes.......sitting is not good.........I tend to stand quite a bit when I model now. don't let it rule you.......let your passion flow! me 'n Gibbs go out for our walks........took 'em on a good one this morning....this time HE was tired! I wish you well as well my friend...........really though......even if you can stand there for just a short time........try to continue modeling. I'll bet it will make you happy Be Excellent! just a short that I haven't forgotten this one........I'm painting the glass. it's a pain in the ash........the detail doesn't want to be my friend. I am putting on some of the odds and ends though, so that's cool {sorry....saw the movie, and now everything's this 'valley girl' type junk now {it'll wear off soon} {I hope}. wasn't a bad movie.......they had a character named Denis

hello Ed.....your just in time I felt I had enough pictures together to make a decent report....they pick up from last Friday. firstly........I was able to capture a decent picture of the cockpit. with everything in place, it will be pretty detailed.........odd thing is that a few of the parts are not in the kit. they need to be scratch built {simple stuff, but effective}. as can be seen, I did what I suggested........the floor is cemented into one side of the fuselage. this particular side has a couple brace bars that connect the gun post to the wall, so this was already predetermined. I'm not happy with the idea that it requires a dark paint. Schwarzgrun, which according to my translator, is a dark green....I have some that is made by Monogram / Humbrol {part of the paint booty}. I've been mixing the heck out of this stuff because it was separated so badly.......the pigment was a hard layer on the bottom at a latter time, I decide to try and cut out the cockpit glass. for some unforeseen reason, there were two in the kit.........like the cost of failure was so high. the first one didn't come out to bad.......only encountered one episode where it cracked as I was cutting it. it was very tiny, and I was able to smooth it over....cement will do the rest. in the rear, there is the gun opening.........a bit of a nail biter, but it trimmed out OK. the second one came out worse......the gun opening killed it. picture not that great......I'll try and get a better one. I had my doubts about this paint. may cover better with two coats.... I'll see how it goes, but I don't want to put too thick of a coat on it. I finished fitting the tires in the boots......time to give them some paint. still need to paint the tires. the fuselage was re dry fitted and the wing bottom was added. before I did that though, the brackets for the aileron flaps were added to the trailing edges of the wing. the ailerons on most planes are cut into the wing and lend to a more controlled dive and lift. the ailerons on the Stuka however, are set up apart from the wing surface, to allow a more aggressive dive. one problem with this, is that it is much harder to recover from such a dive as quickly. for that, the use of dive brakes are use to slow the speed of the dive, so the ailerons can function more effectively. I've noticed that on some kits, dive brakes are not included....the Revell kit doesn't have them, and neither did the Fujimi kit. the ones in this kit are resin parts and there was some trouble cutting them free. I may try my hand at scratch making a pair..........if I do well, I may make a pair for the Revell kit too six tabs are cemented along the wing........when dry, they were lightly sanded to even them up. your getting this in real time now..........this part I've been doing while chatting with you all now I will be able to gauge the wing root end better. starting with the center section, it was cemented into place. there are some resin parts to add after they are complete. this is actually really neat..........I have said in the past, that these kits..........this aspect of the subject, should be done in separate parts. well, now I'm going to see how this goes......I have gotten my wish! speaking with you further, the outer section was added, beveling where it will join the center section as it relates to the wing shape. ....................schnitzel! I was so busy chatting with you folks, that I forgot to take a picture!!!! ....so, I guess we'll just have to wait till I get the last section on. it too was beveled to fit the shape of the wing edge. the moment of truth! this brings us to where I am at the moment. I will have the other side done by the next update.........and hopefully much more.

the M&M ship........the admiral won't part with it! I told her that when she goes to the happy hunting ground, I'm gonna put her ashes in it! I saw your log.......good to see more of your fine work! both of the wheels are now fitted Ken..........the pants have been painted. I have an idea for the radiator {front and back}.......but I'm concerned for the dive brakes. one of them broke removing it from the mold bar, so I'm in the process of figuring out how to repair it. I should have an update soon!

hello Sam! so good to see you! you caught me in the middle of one of my tangents.......... the instrument panel is a decal.......I sanded the molded detail off the part to get it to lay better on it. ...as for the procedure..... bit of a circulation issue......the valves that line the veins that run up my legs are not as good as they used to be. these valves hold back the blood as the heart pumps fresh blood to the legs and feet, and keeps the blood from running back down between beats. the result is pooling in the feet {mainly, my left leg} and causes the feet to swell....it also developed what could be described as a lesion on the side of my heel. in the legs, there are three major veins.....the procedure shuts off one of the veins to lessen the amount of blood. the way the doc explained it is weird........I think that if one vein is shut off, that would increase the workload on the remaining veins. the obvious thing here is that the veins return the blood......arteries are the ones that supply the blood. I would think it more logical to shut one of those off. but hey.......that's why my insurance pays them the big bucks

I rest the sprue protrusion on my thumb nail and whittle with a sharp razor blade....little bits at a time. works fairly well.

that's one of the bi products from adding color to the plastic. ...try to break the part away and it comes off like string cheese

looking great! really nice progress

the Hellcat looks awesome Chris.............very nice on her display base too! another superb project....looking forward to you next one!