Just Another Day At The Workbench

My hope for this post was that the main feature would be the finished P-38. I am not quite there yet. After finishing final paint, I let it sit for a day to fully let the chrome dry. I started to apply the decals and noticed that I left a big fingerprint in the paint. After halting all activity for the weekend, I gave it another try this morning with success. As for the fingerprint, luckily the stars and bars covered it up. There is still a lot of detail work to address before I can start final assembly so I expect a late week finish.

While the P-38 was on hold, I delved further into the rest of it’s bench-mates. I am quite happy with my progress so far. The Have Blue finished basic construction this morning and will move onto paint tomorrow. The YF-16 is also ready to paint. First, I will paint the wings and vertical stabilizer red and mask them off to get ready for the blue. White will be the final color of the trio. 

The YF-23 is not too far behind with the vertical stabilizers being the final pieces to affix. The very tip of the upper fuselage half was broke of causing a slight setback. I sculpted some filler on there and created a new nose. I think I can get this one into paint tomorrow with a little focus and hard work.

The YF-17 is giving me a little trouble with the seams. The nose is looking pretty good but back by the horizontal stabilizers is where the real issue lies. The moulds were kind of hinky with some low spots and an ill fit. The third layer of filler went on this afternoon and I am thinking that should be it. I still have quite a bit left to do as far as building goes so this kit isn’t as close as the others.

The F-117 is another kit that I am further behind on. I started it last so that added to the delay but what really threw me off was the FLIR lens in the nose. The instructions call for it to be put in through the underside of the fuselage half. That doesn’t make me happy but I have to go along with it. That issue has been taken care of and tomorrow will see the fuselage halves together. The dry fit is great and with my past Stealth builds, I know the rest of the build isn’t going to be that difficult.