All Is Well At My Workbench

I enjoy the posts when I can write how well the builds are going. This is certainly going to be one of those posts. I’m quite pleased with this trio.
The F-84 has been ready for paint for a few days now. I sprayed the anti-glare panel Olive Drab this morning and I hope to have the rest painted tomorrow.
The F-89 is in a close second with only a few minor spots to sand down. This build will be ready for final paint shortly. Pulling up the rear is the Mirage. This one scared me at first. With the big gaps, I thought I was in for another “project” build. It must have been my fault or a fluke because the rest has gone great. I have some more sanding and priming to do but that doesn’t look too time consuming. I still haven’t decided on a paint scheme for this one. Any suggestions? I need to do some research to find the right one.
It’s great to have three kits that seem to be working with me. I hope it stays that way.

Vacation Over

Vacation is over and it’s back to the grind. I wasn’t able to get much done while I was in Michigan. That’s ok because I was able to make some progress last night and tonight.
Last night, I primed the F-89 and F-84. I was also able to put the fuselage together on the Mirage. I put some filler on it as well. There were some pretty good sized gaps to address.
Tonight, I sanded the Mirage down and I will prime it tomorrow. The F-84 looks good. I added the wings and they fit great. I added a little more filler to some trouble spots on the F-89. I also attached the wings which needed some filler as well. It’s not bad overall. A quick sand and I can move on.

Let’s Relax

Our annual vacation to Ludington, MI has come around with much needed relaxation. It certainly couldn’t have come at a better time. Along for the trip are the F-89 and F-84. I decided to leave the Mirage behind for this one. I don’t think that I can pack three builds into this vacation.
I made some good progress today on both kits. I was able to finish off both cockpits as well as get the fuselage halves put together on both planes. I made sure to remember the nose weights in the F-84. I think I added enough, but I’m a little nervous about it. There’s no going back now.
The external fuel tanks and ordinance have been sanded and I primed those this afternoon. Sanding is the next step for the fuselages. Both kits look relatively good. I should be done quite soon. Between family time, fishing, and building my models, I’ve had a great day.

Father’s Day and Some Time at the Workbench

Happy belated Father’s Day to all the Dad’s out there. I had a great one. I spent the day with my wife and kids relaxing and, of course, doing a little building. I received the best Father’s Day gift ever. If you ask my wife, I am the most difficult man to buy a gift for. I would agree with her. I’m just a specific guy. In a bittersweet turn of events, the better of the two hobby shops that I frequent went out of business. That resulted in my gift. I was lucky enough to get my hands on two of their paint racks. Both racks were only $75.00 together. They will make for handy storage of my paints when I get my hobby room at the new house. As far as I am concerned, my wife and kids hit a home run this year. Thank you a million times Elsa, Abby, and Jack!
The building aspect of my hobby has been chugging along. I broke open the Mirage and Scorpion. They both look great upon inspection. All the prep work is completed on all three kits. My next step is to build and detail the cockpits. All three look like this set will go well. I’m leaving for Ludington, MI on Saturday so I suspect this trio will be part of my luggage.

Back to Normal….For a Little While

I am happy to report that my home has sold. We accepted the offer late Thursday night. We actually had two offers which helped the highest offer come in $2,100.00 over our asking price. It is such a relief to get back to a normal way of living for the next month until we have to do the dreaded packing and moving. With no more showings, I can let my workbench look like a workbench for a while. The new builds have been picked and re-picked. I was going to go with a dual A-10, N/AW-10 build but decided to wait a little while to forego that one. Instead, I chose to go a different route. On the docket for this trio will be Academy’s 1/72 F-89J Scorpion, Academy’s 1/72 F-84E/G Thunderjet, and Hasegawa’s 1/72 Mirage F.1C. The only one that I have broke open is the F-84. I know I always say great things about Academy kits and this one is no different. The cockpit detail is great! I honestly wasn’t expecting as much as they provided. I am excited with this kit.
The other two kits await the usual perusing and prep. From what I have seen of them, they look like typical kits. I believe they will go a lot smoother than the last set. Now that I don’t have to constantly keep my workbench “clean”, I can get more involved and not have to worry about appearances.

F-16CJ, F-16C, & F-16I

I thought it would be neat to photograph all three of my F-16 builds together. The F-16CJ (grey paint scheme) was built about a year and a half ago. I think they look great sitting next to each other.

F-16I Sufa

To wrap up the trio of builds, I have finally and happily finished Hasegawa’s F-16I. As you can see in the photographs, the F-16I variant looks like a regular F-16 on steroids. It’s a much beefier looking aircraft, yet still retains the overall appearance that makes the F-16 an attractive jet.
I am always a fan of building airplanes from countries other than the USA. Doing this allows me to learn the different colors, as well as weaponry used by other countries. The F-16I is used by the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) and I was happy to get my hands on an IDF weapons set from Skunk Models. It was a steep price to pay ($24.99 from Sprue Brothers), but it adds much needed accuracy. The stock weapons would have fallen short.
The overall build was good with a few disappointments along the way. I expected more from a detail standpoint as well as good fitting pieces. Most of the parts fit well, but some of the most important parts did not. It wasn’t major surgery like the Skyhawk, but there were some unwanted challenges. Aside from those facts, it was a typical Hasegawa kit. The decals were a highlight to the kit. Very easy to handle while reacting well to decal set.
Compared to the Academy kit, it lacks greatly. Standing by itself, it’s a pretty decent kit. I guess my expectations were too high from the start. Having said that, I am very pleased with how it turned out. I guess that is the most important thing.

F-16C Fighting Falcon

Although I have built this kit before, the ease and quality still impressed me. This build got put on hold a few times due to the abundant attention needed on the Skyhawk build. The Hasegawa F-16 presented its own problems leaving this F-16C patiently waiting. When I was able to devote some time to it, construction went smooth. I don’t remember having any difficulties with any part of this build.
I once again chose to ditch the factory decals and use an aftermarket set. The Arctic Bandits aggressor paint scheme is one of the coolest I have come across. Two Bobs offers an excellent set of the 18th Aggressor Squadron. As usual, they performed well.
Painting this aircraft could have gone a little better. My airbrush decided to throw a fit and not work properly. While outlining the camouflage, it would spit a little paint, leaving slight spatters. This isn’t the greatest when spraying black on white. I gave the parts a good soak in thinner but I still had the problem. It wasn’t as bad, but it was still there. I did the best I could to hide the defects and moved on.
This kit rates high in my favorites. I am a huge fan of the F-16. That combined with the awesome camouflage scheme and I’m a sucker. Now I can focus on finishing the F-16I and comparing them side by side.

A-4E Skyhawk

It’s amazing how quick we forget the complications endured during certain projects. I think it’s the overwhelming relief and the satisfaction of beating the system. In all honesty, I absolutely wanted to file Fujimi’s Skyhawk in the “spares” box. To be fair, I believe it was a little bit Fujimi’s and my own fault. The past Fujimi kits that I have built have shown me that I must have botched something up somewhere. In my defense, there were a few bad fitting parts that paved a path of self destruction.
After the cosmetic surgery was complete, a nice looking A-4E Skyhawk appeared. I used Tamiya (white) filler to fill the gaps. If you use this filler, you know how great it can be. It’s messy stuff, but it never fails me. I partook in a few rounds of filling, sanding, and priming before I was satisfied. After all the filling and sanding was completed, it was back to a normal build. It took me forever to make the time to get it painted. I used the Vietnam era paint scheme of Flat Gull Gray on top with White on the underside and all movable surfaces. I’m fond of a few variant paint schemes of the Skyhawk, but this one, to me, looks the best.
The decals were so so. They were thin and didn’t want to release from the backing. Most of them turned out well, while some silvered a little. After what I went through to build the kit, I can accept a minor issue like that.
Overall, I am pleased to have made it through this kit better than I imagined. I am especially glad that I did not give up on this kit.

Ready to Move On

I am far beyond ready to put this set of builds behind me. Frustration has been the victor far too many times in the last twenty days. Thankfully, I am almost complete and my endless complaining will soon cease. At least until my next build(s).
Progress has been plentiful as of late. The Skyhawk is the closest to being finished. The decals have been applied and it sits waiting for the weathering. A few more hours and this one will be done.
The Academy F-16 is not too far behind. Painting is complete and I was able to get the decals on this morning. I’ll shoot it with some clear matte tonight and hopefully weather it tomorrow.
Hasegawa’s F-16 is acting as tail end Charlie for this group. It’s actually not that far behind. It has two of its four colors applied. I airbrushed Model Masters Sand yesterday and I noticed that my airbrush needed some attention. I pulled the needle out to find it gunked up with remnants of past builds. I dropped it in a jar of thinner to soak overnight. I’ll try to finish cleaning it tonight and maybe get back to painting. If not, tomorrow should see the F-16I’s paint job completed. It feels great to be this far after the way things have gone this past month. Hopefully my next post will feature some results.