Love the Blackbird Mathew, great base as well.

Mark

Thanks for the kudos, much appreciated. I grabbed another SR-71 yesterday. Got plans to do one of the NASA birds at some point. That one will be gear down, canopies opened. Too much nice detail inside to hide. Thanks again for the kudos, glad you like it.
Joe, the Phantom is looking good. Diggin' the 18 in the background too. Love the livery. "Q"

Greetings one and all!

I bring you some progress shots of my Revell 1/72 F-89 Scorpion, one of the most surprising kits I have built for a long time. Fit is great, detail is great and the decals, even though I though they had yellowed, are marvellous! The backing paper is a creamy colour and that is what had me worried.




I am building a F-89D with the wing tip rocket pods and red and checkerboard markings so hopefully it will come out nice and colourful..

Nice start Warren. The 89 is one of my favorites. My buddies grandfather used to work on them back in the day. He said they called them Hoovers as any FOD that was on the runway would be easily sucked up by these things. Yours is looking good. I got 11 of these all with resin and PE goodies in 1/48 sitting on the shelves as well as 5 or 6 in 1/72....don't as me why. Looking forward to seeing your finished. "Q"

Ok progress report time.

I now have a large Green and Grey Mirage sitting happily on it's landing gear. I'll be doing touch ups on the paintwork tomorrow and then its transfer time. It may just be finished by the end of the weekend.

The Sabre has been sprayed with Alclad Aluminium rather than the polished stuff. I reckon after a few missions it wouldn't be too shiny. The panels round the jet exhaust and gun openings have been sprayed gunmetal and it's now ready for the landing gear to be added. I reckon it will only be a day or 2 behind the Mirage for completion.

thanks
Mike

Sounds like some good progress Mike. Keep at it. Looking forward to seeing some of your work. How is everybody else doing? "Q"

Why is it that sometimes this useless forum tool deletes all you have written for no apparent reason?? I put in a emoticon, hit return for a new line but instead it puts in another emoticon. Then when you hit backspace to remove it it takes you back a page and you lose all you typed. Useless.

Anyway, I have come up against a slight problem with my F-89, it is missing a part of one of the wingtip pods for the F-89D version, the nice colourful one I was intending to finish it as. I still have the F-89J parts but the instrument panels etc are all for the F-89D. And the colour scheme for the F-89J is booorrring...

So I will go and have a look on Ebay to see if I can find another kit before I go any further. Don't expect much progress for a while.

Cheers
Warren

Warren, I feel your pain. Been there done that in regards to the emoticon thing. Not sure what the solution is.
As far as your F-89 goes, just finish it and paint it/mark it how you want to. I recently did this with one of my kits and all my "expert" modeling buddies had no clue what was wrong with it. Save your cash for later and have some fun with this one. I know it sucks to run into this problem this far into a build, but feel free to use my motto at will....."Finished is better than perfect." Keep at it my friend. "Q"
ps. What part are you missing? I may be able to cast you a replacement.....

It did it again... Useless...
I will take your advise Mr 'Q' as I do not want to spend more money on another 1/72 plane. I wish Mr Trumpeter would ignore the kits everyone else had bought out (Bf-109s) and bring out more original 1/32 mouldings... like F-89s!
So the F-89J wingtip tanks are going on with the F-89D colour scheme.. lots of red and silver!

Atta boy! Build for yourself and you can't go wrong. Looking forward to seeing lots of silver and red! "Q"

Going to try to add some progress pics of the Sukhoi by the end of the week. Going for a straight out of the box build and fill the very empty cockpit with an old airfix pilot. Might even use the supplied stand as there is a VERY big slot on the underside that will be a pain in the ass to fill!

Sounds like you at least have a plan Stephen Go for it. As long as you are happy with the end result is all that matters....stand or no stand. Looking forward to seeing more progress pics. "Q"

I thought I would throw this one in the mix. The kit is the Airfix U-2B/D in 1/2 scale. I used this as a how-to on painting the panel lines back on a plane after they had been sanded off. I already had a couple of black planes in my inventory, so I thought I would change it up a bit with this one and the overall glossy gray. It's nice that it fits the theme even though I already have one completed for it. Hope you all like it. Thanks, "Q"

Lovely work Q. Always wanted to do a U-2 but have never got around to it.

After my sob-story about my F-89D I started going over things again and it dawned in my thick skull that all the part is is a plastic cylinder under 10mm long. Me thinks I may be able to find an unneeded bomb, rocket or some other bit that I can modify to carry out the job of the bit that has disappeared.

I will report on my search later.

Cheers

Thanks for the kudos Warren. That's the spirit with the 89. Don't shelve it...build it! I can cast that part for you if you want. I've got several of the kits on the shelves, and the mold material on hand. Just say the word. "Q"

Thanks very much for the offer Q. Maybe you could spare one of the parts for me? What word do I have to type/say?

Thanks, and thats great paint work on the U-2. Its a technique I've never seen done before. Thats something I'm trying to concentrate more and more on lately. I could at one point get caught up over details and end up stalling a project for weeks and maybe months while I try to dig up anything and look for after-market bits. And in the end half of that hassle wasn't worth the end result. It's always good to do something simple. I'm also working on Hobbyboss's 1:72 Leopold Railway gun, a christmas present from my girlfriends parents. Its a VERY complicated kit and this Sukhoi makes a nice break from it some nights.
Anyway, I've painted up the cockpit and instrument panel, a part that looks like it belongs in a 1930's era aircraft but I dont mind. I mixed the wierd Russian cockpit blue from some sky blue and a bit of green. Looks greener in the pics than it really is. I also made up a jet-pipe from some plastic tube glued to the rear bulk head. A larger diameter tude would have better as the Su-7 had a big engine, but at least it now looks like it has an engine!



I've also made a start on thinning down the intake. One sides done and the other will be in the next day or so. Its little things like this that really improve these old kits.

No problem. "Alakabampolazabooza" three time fast! What part # is it?
"Q"

Looking good Stephen. I hear you about trying to find all the little doo dads and what nots for builds, then ultimately getting stalled. I have friends who do more research than anything and rarely get anything built. Sometimes its just fun to crack open an old kit and hammer away at it until it is complete....much like we did as kids. Keep at it. Looking forward to seeing more progress pics.

I agree with you, Matt and Stephen.

I also sometimes break out one of the small Matchbox kits. Just for the memories and joy of the build. It is nice and relaxing and sometimes it is good to make a simple low detail build and still get a reasonable result.

Other times research take more time than building.

Both my Mirage and Sabre are done now. Pics will be in the gallery soon.

thanks
Mike

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I've found a few interesting Egyptian cammo schemes for it, just got to decide which one to go for.
Matchbox made some great kits. First model I ever built was their Hellcat in FAA colours, even followed the inacurate paint guide to the letter ( 2 shades of grey cammo and silver undersides and I've still got it carefully stored away). Its great that revell still do a lot of matchbox stuff, the recently reissued gladiator is great little model.
If I have time after the sukhoi I might do my matchbox Phantom FGR.2 and F-101 for the group build. The Mystere is another good one, the only kit of it made as far I know.

Some progress!!

See if you can pick the replacement part..



If you need a clue you must be blind..

Ahhh, part #57. I'll see what I can do. Looks good thus far. How did you know I need to wear glasses? "Q"