OzReg are sneaky beyond compare. I will try to learn from you
Well here is the start of my metal bird. Just cleaned up some of the flash from the resin
I'll do two of these which will cover the full production run.

I bought them for £15 each which is as much as I've ever spent but was dying to have them
One will go to my dad who worked as a tech in Shorts all his life, and got me into this daft hobby,
the other I'll keep.



I'll smash mold a canopy. There is not much to see in there but the clear plastic/resin is very brittle.
I'll experiment with Bare Metal Foil for one of them and buffing paint for the other. The better one I'll give to my da.

Interesting little bird you've got there JP. I thought I recognized it from an old book by Erich von Däniken and a googling proved me right.



How old it really is I guess nobody knows.

Tony

I knew my dad was from another planet!

Great find Tony!! ... instantly thought the same

Here is my finished bird



more pictures in the build thread mentioned/linked above.

Do I have to upload a pic anywhere?

all the best

Steffen

" Aaah, nicht bewegen Franz. Noch ein bild und dann fahren wir!"

All cool Steffen. That't the picture (of a picture) thet I was hoping for. Nice build, all of it.

Tony

Hi guys, progress report incoming . . . . . . .

Fuselage sprayed, wings on, happy so far . . .





Next step is Olive Drab glare panels and on to decals.

Cheers from a very chilly and wet Wattle Glen.

Looks good, Damian. Are you going to put any stores on it?

Looking forward to see it with decals.

Hi Jesper, you asked for it . . . .

Almost finished LHS decals. I will be going with the drop tanks for maximum Aluminium value, the boring old Olive Drab 500 pounders will go in the spares box.

Thx for the comments, D

Could I join in with a P-47 EggPlane??

Mike

Nice job Damian. That just happens to be the same exact kit and decal scheme I planned to use.
No worries, I'll just go with a different scheme.
First pic is where my project is now. Second pic is the decal scheme I will be using now.
Again, nice job Damian. I hope my NMF will turn out as well as yours has. NMF always scares me no matter how many of them I do.





Hermon

Thanks Hermon, sorry about stealing your plans hehe..

Shhhh, don't tell anybody but I used a Tamiya Rattle can, not confident yet to airbrush NMF.

I think I've also gone astray with the decals, put the blue and white stripes on first then the stencils. . . OOPS. Oh well, my first jet and first kit with such extensive stencilling, we all live and learn !

Yours looks to be coming along nicely. You doing the gun bay closed?

A couple more hours at the bench today and got almost complete on the decalling. That leaves just the Canopy, flat clear and sludge, then attach the wheels and stores.




I have just realised that this will be the first kit I've actually completed in several years. Getting back to the hobby after a long break is like reuniting with an old friend, and being able now to share in this forum and learn from others here adds a whole new dimension.

being able now to share in this forum and learn from others here adds a whole new dimension.
Yeah, that's probably 90% of why I keep building these darn kits.
My gunbay will be closed. I have 4 or 5 campaigns going on right now so I'm keeping the detail to a minium. I have the first coat of aluminum on and am waiting on my other Alclad colors to arive so I can do a few panels in other shades.

Hermon

Note to self: Mr Mark Setter and Tamiya Flat Spray are NOT friends !!

Ok, so if I attach the tanks and wheels and stand back a bit the decal issues just magically disappear . . . . . for a little while at least.

dontcha just hate that. I've nver had trouble with microsol and future. But it could just be the decal's ink reacting, unlucky.
Don't give up just show her port side nose forward. Looks great.

Thanks JP. I'm unable to get Future here in Aus, but I am currently experimenting on some old hack kits with Pledge One Go in combination with the Mr Mark Setter. If I still have issues I will try a different decal setting system.

I am off now to indulge in my all-purpose fixit, a nice glass of red.

Damian: If you want, I can send you the stripes that get ruined, I am building the same aircraft, but diferent scheme. let me know.

I planned to built it for the "Stripes in the Sky" campaing but got a little stuck with the wing tanks. if I do not finnish it before the 9/30, I will post it here.


Byron

Hi Byron,

Thanks for that most generous offer, I might just have to take you up on it !! I will send you a PM with my postal details shortly. I only hope that I might be able to offer something in return some day.

Cheers, D

Well my Alclad paints finally arrived and I put on a coat of polished aluminium. I'll try and mask off a few panels later on and apply some different shades of metal before I spray the OD on the top of the fuselage.



Hermon

Hi Hermon,

Love that finish, one day soon I will get up the courage to give it a go with my airbrush. I have actually purchased some Testors Metalliser in anticipation.

Did you put a coat of primer or black on first, or just spray the NMF direct ?

Damian, I used Tamiya gloss black as a backing for the Alclad polished alluminium paint.
BTW, I started my decals tonight. So far I'm having trouble making them fit the contours of the wing tanks. Microsol doesn't seem to help much for some reason. These decals are extreeeeeemly thick.

Hermon

I found the same issue and it took 2 or 3 coats of Mr Mark Setter to settle them in place, I suspect that is what has released the pigments from the decals that then flowed slightly in the clear finish.
Anyway, I'm really looking forward to some shots of your bird with decals.
I have also found that the front windscreen section of the canopy seems to be quite a lot smaller than the fuselage it has to fit on, there is about 1mm difference.
I am now masking the canopy and widscreen, then she's about done !
Cheers, D

Funny, I found the same fit issue with my kit on the windscreen. I heated it a bit and popped it into place without glue. The slow cool down seems to have kept the windscreen into a somewhat managable shape.
Here is my bird with a few decals on. All in all not so bad. A few tiny wrinkles here and there in the yellow/black ones but nothing that will show up in photos. I'll finish up the bottom side tonight and hopefully start on all the small bits next week.





I'll try and get some better pic's when she's done. The flash is killing any detail I try to pick out because of the shine. Believe it or not I have used 5 different shades of metal paint here and there trying to highlight panels and flaps etc.

Hermon

I was building this F-84G for the Stripes in the sky campaign, but got stuck, now I will try to build it for this one.





The problem is that I can't not put metal foil in the wing tanks, I know that they can be painted, but that is my last option.

hope you like it.

Byron

Damian: are you going to need the decals?