Yep, she's in the gallery.

Done, or as done as its going to get. (pics loaded into gallery)

Painting went OK after getting used to the MR Color Enamel (had a curious tendency to blow spider webs from my airbrush, not enough thinner I think).

Decaling though produced some, difficulties shall I say. I keep water in an old methylated spirits (pure alcohol) bottle (clearly marked as water) next to my bottle that in use. Not looking I poured some "water" into my shallow dish I use for decaling, after 10 seconds I tried the decal didn't want to come off, ok let it sit longer, another 15 seconds, still no joy, gently nudge it with a brush and print starts coming off, right about the I glance the bottle and see its not water DOH! well quickly grab another dish pour real H2O into it this and bath the decal in it. 5 seconds later the decal (or whats left of it) happily detaches and settles where it belongs (under the wing).

Ok grab another new dish not contaminated with any alcohol add water other wing goes fine tail numbers fine, then going for the fuselage national markings. Not fine. Both sides tear and one of the numbers, time to call this kit finished. Best kit ever done? No, but not my worst either. Have put Eduards kit onto my wish list.

Anyhow heres the pics.
First, underneath problem


Next one of the cracked decals


and the two shots I uploaded to the Gallery



Having now built 2 Hobby Boss kits I would say my opinion of them is average.
First was a 1/72 Lynx helicopter, lacked cabin detail and light on overall, but went together very well and no real problem with decals even though they were almost full kit in some places.
This kit, much better detail, went together poorly in some parts and bad experience with decals (not all my fault).

Hoping for a much better show with Hobby Boss F-111C and Tomcat I have in my stash.

Andrew, nice job on the F6F and a nice clean work area also.

Bob

Thanks Bob, as for the work area that varies on how motivated I am to build. The less motivated the more cleaning that happens. (that state is about average clean, when I'm really unmotivated I get borderline OCD on it.

While the curse continues I got more work done on the Cobra. Naturally, the port skid front part disconnected again so I had to use a different cement to hopefully have it stay attached. There is something wrong with the plastic as where it broke it isn't solid but sort of honeycombed.

I wanted to start the camo but when I checked I didn't have much MacTac left (and as luck would have it the two nearest stores were out of it) so I've had to do it in stages. I rough-in the spray by hand, let it dry and then use the MacTac to define the edges and then spray again. It's tedious but is working fairly well. The nose is done and so is tail and rear wings. Next up is to tidy up the edges in the centre of the fuselage. After that I will repeat the process with the black.





This thing is turning into something between a marathon and a crusade!

Cheers,
Jan

Jan,

Leaving all the problems aside, I'd say it looks pretty neat so far.
By experience I tended to disregard hangar queens with low (real low) expectations. Turns out that the results on both HQ I've finished in here really surprised me.
My point is resiliance and focus pays off No doubt yours will too

Cheers
Pedro

Hi there,

after some delays and an excursion in the building of a Focke-Wulf 190 "Sturmjäger" I laid my hands again on my Dassault Mercure Airliner. Painting is under way now. Hope to finish it between Christmas and New Years Eve. By the way, I wish you all a nice Christmas Season and a happy new year!

@ Peter and Jan, I wish you an undisturbed time while finishing up your builds. I will take a cue from Peter and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Bob

Could be my latest Hanger Queen to get finished. Airfix 1/72 OS2U-1 Kingfisher from the original Ancient Airfix Assemblers.

I need some help in getting a few photos uploaded on the Campaign Gallery.

Not sure why but regardless of the info that pops up after pressing the upload/submit button saying the image was successfully uploaded, the fact is nothing shows.
I've done the same exercise using my user album and the same thing happens. What can be wrong here?!?

Appreciate all feedback

Cheers
Pedro

Pedro, were you logged in? Sometimes it may take several minutes for the photo to apear on the gallery site. I have to wait a period of 24 hours in the past.

Bob

Hi Bob,

yep, I am logged but wasn't aware of any time period to get photos showing on the gallery thanks for the info, let see if that explains it

Cheers
Pedro

I have tried to post, but to no avail and there was a problem with either the internet, website, or the host.

Do not worry I know that you are finished.

Bob

Stumbling towards the finish line.

Well, the fun continues...NOT.

--the starboard stub wing broke off.
--when it hit the floor the rocket pod pylon detached.
--tail skid broke off while painting
--the two antenna above the engine cowling broke at different times while painting.
--the blade antenna above the cockpit got knocked off while fitting the main rotor and got lost to the carpet monster, necessitating scratch building a new one.

However, most of the damage is repaired except for the tail skid which I'll leave for last. I am committed (or should that be committed) to beating this pit viper. Here are some current progress pictures.







Now an important question for our esteemed campaign leader. How complete does the build have to be? I am thinking of leaving off the Hellfire missiles. In a momentary lapse of common sense I started drilling out the exhausts of each missile and it is taking far too long. I have four done but doing the next four will really slow me down.

Cheers,
Jan

PS- My thanks to Jessie C. for the tip about mounting the damaged decals on Future. It worked with the badly mangled intake warnings.

I'd say it's acceptable to complete the build without the missiles. 99% of the time they're not armed anyway.

Jessie,

I was hoping to get some good news about the missile pylons, thanks. I've gotten some new decals with the national insignia and the Marines decals. I've got Future down and the decals will hopefully be on tomorrow.

Thanks,
Jan

Jan, I agree with Jessie on the weapons stores they were allways the last item attached.

Bob

Thanks Jessie and Bob!

More progress...

All decals are on and the port side has received a top coating of Future. Starboard side has not yet had the Future top coat applied. Still need to touch up the cockpit, paint the canopy and engine exhausts then I'll put on the final coat of flat varnish. Fingers crossed as this one's going to be cutting it close! It's been a victory to get it this far along!





Cheers,
Jan

Keep on going, Jan! I love this Cobra of yours, especially the excellent paint job you did so far.
My Dassault Mercure is close to the finish line, too.
Have fun and a happy new year!
Peter

@b17-peter - Peter,


Thank you Peter but you are too kind. The painting is rushed and in person would show a few flaws as it was the first time I used MacTac as a masking medium. I've had to touch up areas by hand and I wish it had turned out better. The canopy ribs have turned out to be difficult and it is only about 1/3 done. I am hoping that this build can be finished to a good standard some time tomorrow. Good luck with your Mercure and hope to see your build and mine at the finish line.

Cheers,
Jan

Jan, relax and just set a pace not a race l know what you are able to accomplish

Bob

Thanks for your confidence Bob, but after 15 years and three HQ campaigns it is a race against the clock! I have other wingee things in the wings for a future HQ campaign. I must admit, I'm almost excited about getting this one done.

Cheers,
Jan

The insanity is strong with this one:


The kit decals date from the mid 60's, yellowed and aged beyond belief. I live in Oregon, so there's no way I'm going to be able to mount these to a window and get enough sunlight to whiten them before June. So I've scanned them to a bitmap, now I'm using Paint to clean up the decals I want, 3-0-4, 4, and U.S. Navy. Then I hope to print them out on clear decal film. Since it's clear film, the star won't print, so I'll have to steal it from some other decal sheet.

Nice builds in here everybody! Well, as usual, it was a nice thought on my part to actually finish a winged thing since I haven't for some 30 odd years. Unfortunately, it's not happening with this campaign but next month... yeah buddy! (been telling myself that since I found Kitmaker).
Anyway, Mark you might want to try sticking those decals under a sheet of glass and putting a UV lamp over the top for a night. I've had success with that in the past.
Thanks,
Charlie