Started the painting today... First the plane was primed in grey and then the leading edges were sprayed with Alclad Aluminium and then they were masked when dry



Then the coroguard was sprayed, I used Alclad Dark Aluminium to replicate this as I couldn't be bothered using the Xtracolor enamel



That was masked and then the wings were sprayed with Xtracolor Boeing Grey enamel



Before the paint and started the cure I removed all the masking (except for the fin leading edge)





Now to leave the kit for the next week to fully cure so I can mask and then start painting the fuselage with Thrifty Blue .

As always and comments, suggestions or critique is always welcomed

ALLEN'S BLOCK!

I've designed a ribbon for the campaign. What do you all think?



and this is what it would look like in real size.

@ Guy: safe choice that you made there. I would not want to tick off Hermon.

@ Allen: I like the ribbon, very nicely done.

@ Justin: call me dumb!

Bob

Allen labeled his foam block so Sam wouldn't use it

Actually it was from when Sam and I were with the Air Cadets. They kept 'borrowing' our blocks so we both put our names on them.

Here is my in-progress photo #1 of the Hobbycraft Piper Cub that I am building.



I can say honestly say that I am not too impressed with this kit. My first problem is that the instructions are garbage at best. The second is that part of the fuselage next to the left wing was broken off and missing in action when the kit arrived. I didn't notice it until I started the kit and I have had it too long to return it. The third is that some of the fit isn't very good and I have had to do some "modifying" to get things to fit right.. I am very thankful for the internet so that I could have reference pictures handy or I would have been lost with some of the construction.

So I have some seams to fill and file, some scratch-building to do and then I should have another in-progress photo to share.

Thanks,
Randy

Randy "Ditto on everything that you just said regarding this kit". Nice job though, how did attach the cabin brace, I was not able to figure that one out. I also have no idea of the engine essembly the instructions are no help at all. How did you assemble the engine and attach it to the firewall? Here are a few photos of where I am at with the engine.
1. I assembled the engine.
2. Cut off the cylinders.
3. Attached the block inside the cowl.
4. Stuck on what to do next.






Bob

Thus, is the way of modeling. Maybe if everything was perfect, we wouldn't do it. Keep up the good work, you'll achieve. Your Cub is coming along just fine.

Guy

These are some good reference pictures. The top part of the cabin brace fits into the indentations in the top of the cabin next to the wings and the the two ends attach near the instrument panel. You can see this in the engine photos as well.

I assembled the main engine block and assembled the cowling around it and then added the other pieces after that had dried. I had to make the openings in the cowling longer to make the block fit correctly. I placed the firewall in the fuselage first and then glue the finished engine and cowling onto the fuselage and the end of the engine mated up the the firewall (sort of). There should be two holes for the exhaust pipes in the cowling but these are not there so they need to be drill out.

You will need to scratch build the support cables for the tail as well.



I hope that helps some Bob.

Randy






Don't get me wrong. I am enjoying myself. I just wish Hobbycraft would have spent a little more time fine tuning the kit. I am sure the kit will look fine once it is completed.




Thank you for the kind words. I appreciate them. I plan on filling the gaps today and sanding everything down. Hopefully I will be able to get an overall base coat on it tomorrow. I think I might start the painting over and do a base coat of overall gray first and the go back and do the yellow. I wanted to "fudge" the paint scheme and paint it blue and yellow like a PA-11 but the decals I have won't work for that. So I will have to do the overall yellow I guess.

Thanks again.

Randy

I got the wings masked and the Xtracolor 'Thrifty Blue' on today. This is the shot just after removing the masking before the paint has fully cured.



After past experience with this paint (I used it on my Simpsons Jet) and the enamel taking two weeks to dry, I decided while the parents are away for the weekend to put the kit in the airing cupboard to try and speed up the drying time.



Hopefully it'll at least be touch dry by the time they get home

Randy, thanks for the info. I will give it another try.


Bob

Here is my in-progress post #2 of the Hobbycraft 1/48 J-3/O-59 Piper Cub that I am building for this campaign.



Nothing too exciting has been done but I thought I would show another in-progress photo. I made a replacement piece, to replace the broken part of the fuselage, out of a plastic spoon from a McDonald's restaurant. The plastic was the right thickness and had the right angle so it worked our pretty well. I decided to prime the Piper with gray and then reapply the base coat. I am already happy that I did as it is already looking better. The down side is that I ran out of paint so I had to order more and I am hoping that it will get here sometime this week. Preferably before the weekend.

That is all for now. Thanks for looking.

Randy

PS. Glad I could be of some help Bob. Hopefully the pictures are able to answer any questions that you have.

Started the decaling over the weekend and got the main decals on. These Daco/Skyline decals are reasonably thick and just wouldn't settle with Microsol, Mr Mark Softener or Daco's 'Stong' decal solvent. So I've had to slice the decals along all the panel lines and apply several applications of the decal solvents



Next will be to start applying the passenger windows and stencils (the bit I hate the most)

As always critique, suggestions and comments are welcomed

@ Randy: it is coming along nicely. I have been using your posts as my guide with my building.

@ Allen: WOW nice paint and scheme.

Bob

Looks good Allen. When I run into that problem with pesky decals, I use a hair dryer and Solvaset. Set the hairdryer on low and warm the area for a few seconds, then apply the Solvaset to the decal. Go lightly at first as Solvaset is extremely hot and could melt your decals....test one you won't be using first to see how it is going to react. I field tested/reviewed the Daco stuff when I was with Aerospace Modeler Magazine and wasn't all that taken with it. We were sent all 3 bottles and I tried them all. Looking forward to seeing your completed kit. Love the paint scheme. "Q"

Hi,

I´m going to begin this campaign with a Revell Airbus A-380 1/144,

I´m going to begin with the flight deck,

Continuing with the flightdeck,

After this, I´m going to begin with the landing gear and wheels, lots of it

Since my dornier idea was shot down i decided to go with the Spirit of St Louis. I was looking through some old family photo albums and discovered that my Great Aunt actually met Lindbergh and got pictures of him with his plane. I am going to incorporate the old photos into the display base and it should make a pretty cool piece.

Daniel, I like the shot of the real business office and what you are doing with the kits cockpit. But the landing gear has me not wanting to build this kit. They look like they would be the parts that would go flying from my tweezers and get eaten by the carpet monster. Nice job with what to me looks like a tough assembly process.

Bob

Continuing with the landing gear,

When I´d finished with the legs I began painting the tyres,

Well here is in-progress post #3 of my project.



I finished up the painting, applied the decals and clear coated everything. I just need to add the windshield pieces and it will be finished. I am working on a base for it as well and I hope it will look like I want it to.

Anyway I should have my final post in a day or two. I just wanted to show where I am at with it.

Thanks,
Randy