Christmas Loot

At thirty-three years old, society considers me to be an adult. Ask all who know me and you will be scoffed at in remarkable fashion. The reality is that I am eight trapped inside a thirty-three year old body. I will admit to playing with my kids toys and enjoying it. Maybe this is why I am greatly indulged in my hobby.
This past Christmas was kind to me. I was fortunate to receive three Hasegawa kits to add to “the stash”. Not to downplay any of my other gifts but the prized present this Christmas was my Heng Long 1/16 radio controlled M41 Bulldog tank. Features include lights, sounds, and smoke. Another great feature is that it fires 6mm air-soft rounds. It came mostly assembled except for the accessories. The figure comes unpainted in solid dark green so I spent a few hours painting him. I also painted the .50 caliber machine gun to make it look a little better. Another detail I added are the heart stickers. I dubbed the tank “Big Fat Sophie”. I named it after my Italian Greyhound, Sophia, who has gained a few pounds in recent years. I’m itching for old man winter to leave so I can take this beast outside and test it out.

Me-163S Komet

Merry Christmas! While I patiently waited for my two kids to drift off to sleep, I finished up my Komet build. Final assembly went well with no problems. I was fearful that the three piece canopy would have fitting issues but they went right into place. The final result is a great kit from Academy. This was a speedy build. I recommend this kit to anyone

Behind Schedule

Originally I imagined the Komet build to be finished by Christmas. Here we are on Christmas Eve and I just finished putting the decals on this morning. With Santa coming tonight, I can expect that I won’t get a chance to finish the Komet until tomorrow night.
All has gone well with construction and aside from the bitter cold in Northwest Indiana, painting went just as well. The decals went on with zero issues as I anticipated. This was a good build. The Komet has proven to be a quick and burden free build.
I have finished all the filling and sanding on the Crusader. I am going to try to spray the white on it this morning. If all goes well, I hope to have it completed by the weekend.

Project Crusader

I have come to the realization that my progress with the Crusader won’t come as easily as the Hellcat. With all the internal parts, I had some major fitting issues while joining the fuselage halves. The rear landing gear bay is too long to fit into the guides on the fuselage halves. After quite a bit of strategic sanding, the halves fit well enough to move on. I was able to get them together with minimal gaps. As it sits, I have a little more sanding to get through and all should be good to proceed.

While I am taking my baby steps with the Crusader, I have started Academy’s Me-163B/S Komet.  I have always admired this little jet.  I have decided to build the “S” version which is a two place cockpit design.  Construction has been a breeze with this kit. There aren’t too many parts to interact with making this a “weekend build”.  I should have this one complete within a few days. I plan on starting final paint this morning and be ready to decal and weather by Sunday.

F6F-3 Hellcat

There isn’t too much more to say that I haven’t already said about the Hellcat build. Everything about this build was great. Hopefully this wasn’t the calm before the storm. I’ve already noticed some roadblocks with the Crusader. We’ll see.
I used Model Masters Flat White and Flat Sea Blue along with Humbrol Intermediate Blue to accomplish the tri-color paint scheme. I used pastels, as usual, to weather the aircraft. I usually dry brush aluminum paint for the chips in the paint. This time I used a silver Prismacolor pencil. It was a lot easier and more precise. I think I’ll adopt this method for the rest of my builds.

Go With the Flow

Progression on the Hellcat has been rather fluent as of late. It has been such a leisurely build that I put the Crusader on the back burner.
Academy never ceases to please me. This has been a fantastic kit to work with. I haven’t had any issues and the only downfall to me is that you can’t position the canopy to be open.
The picture is a bit outdated. I have the painting done and the decals were applied today. I’ll weather it tomorrow and it will be ready for final assembly.
The Crusader is lying in wait. The fuselage halves are ready to be joined and I have all the ordinance completed. This kit has quite a bit of guts to it. It is a finely detailed kit that will take some solid hours to get it right.

Next on the Workbench

I began construction on my two new builds a few days ago spending a good couple hours on the prep work. Today was the first time since then that I was able to accomplish anything worthwhile.
On the workbench this week are two kits from Academy. In my personal opinion, Academy is the best all around manufacturer out there. For quality and the price, you get a great kit. I’ve chosen to build an F6F-3 Hellcat along with an F-8E Crusader. Both kits are typical of Academy. Finely detailed moulds with great recessed panel lines. The Hellcat cockpit is the best you can get without buying an aftermarket detail set. I’ve made great progress on this one. The fuselage halves are together and sanded. I put a coat of primer on this evening. The Crusader is equally as detailed. The landing gear bays along with the cockpit have wonderful detail. Another plus is all the ordinance provided. These two kits offer great potential.

Ki-46-3 Dinah Interceptor

The Dinah has been completed and parked with my other finished builds. This was my first time building an ARII Models kit and they left me impressed. The kit featured spectacular fitting parts with recessed panel lines. I have a few more ARII kits in my inventory that I was hesitant about. After this build, I am sure they will be of the same quality. The flow of the build was perfect. I did forget to install the belly window during construction. Simple mistake, right?
The build was great, however the decals were a nightmare. There were eight total to apply and they were atrocious to work with. They did respond well with decal set, though. Next time I will have an aftermarket set as a backup just in case this is a regular thing with their decal sheets.

Boeing X-32A

In 1993, the United States Department of Defense was seeking a replacement for their lightweight fighters in which many companies paticipated.  In November of 1996, both Boeing and Lockheed Martin were awarded contracts to build two concepts.Lockheed Martin produced the eventual winner in the X-35 (now the F-35). Boeings odd looking concept was the X-32A.

Tamiya produced a great kit. My only issues came at final assembly when I was installing the weapons and the landing gear. There are some bizarre fitting issues that leave you perplexed at how you were supposed to move on. My guess is that the problem was the instructions.  I was able to make it work and move on to complete the X-32A. The decal application was quick and painless. There were a total of sixteen decals to put on. This was a simple build with great results.

 

Ahead of Schedule

Much to my delight, I am way ahead of schedule on my X-32A and Ki-46 Dinah builds. I spent all day yesterday diligently at the workbench. I am relieved to say that both kits are painted. I applied the decals to the X-32A last night and it should be completed by tomorrow tonight. The Dinah was painted late last night so it will be another day or so before I can call it finished. I’ll get the masking off and spray it with a gloss coat tonight so I can decal it tomorrow. The X-32A will get weathered tonight and final assembly can begin tomorrow. Both kits should be ready for the weekend.