So I'm back. Things happened. We almost moved, then other things happened. And we didn't.

Anyway I finally got my things unpacked and the basement cleaned up.

So now I'm going to build this:



It's one of the ultimate shake'n'bakes so ideal for getting back in the swing.

My goals with this kit are:

-Completion. More than a few dodgy kits have ended up hamstrung or otherwise in the past 24 months and I want something to show for once.
-Methodology. I am the king of building out of order and missing things. This leads to horrendous paint and time wastage.
-Masking. After a marked success with Mal's miracle masks (he made me some generic hinomaru sheets in two scales) on a zero I want to continue down this path. In this case with a montex set.

So with method in mind I started out on this one treating it like I would any project I undertake at work. I took the instructions and circled out various elements into easy to paint sub-assemblies. Making a small list with columns to mark off various stages for each of them. Nothing innovative here admittedly but the procedural approach should revolutionize my little world.

Next I built and primed the sub-assemblies.


I really need to replace Tamiya primer, it stinks, literally. I'm thinking of trying future or the expensive Vallejo stuff.

Feel free to be opinionated folks, attaboyism is appreciated but I can always use tips.

I rarely prime. But I will tell you one thing: there are a couple better primers out there than mustard!

Lol....

Happy New Year,

Gary

The Tamiya Wildcat kit is an excellent choice for getting back into the swing of things. It goes together well and builds into a very nice model.

When men of learning eventually decipher the grand unified theory, they will see it was made by Tamiya.

It never ceases to amaze me how well these go together. Tape is unnecessary for dry fit. It just goes together.

Howdy Richard
What happened? Any updates? I was thinking of tackling this baby, I've read good things about it.
Thanks,
Don "Lakota"

Richard,
All things Grumman's usually catch my eye, but I missed your build. Sure hope that you're still making slow but steady progress on it.

As for priming, I prime just about everything. My go to primers are Tamiya Gray, which is a synthetic based primer, and MIG AMMO Gray primer, which is Acrylic based. Unlike Tamiya primers, it has almost no order. Dries rock hard almost as fast as the Tamiya primer does. I still use the Tamiya primer as it's easy to get, and the Mig primer only has a few US based retailers that sell it, and they're out of stock more then in stock. For car modeling I use true Lacquers including primers by Zero and Gravity.

I do have a homemade exhaust paint booth where I shoot the lacquers in, so the odor isn't an issue for me.

Primers are not gray paint, and gray paint isn't a primer, although way too many modelers use it for that. Primers main functions are to adhere to the surface and give the paint a nice textured surface to adhere to.

Joel