Jeff, awesome build. Really well done.

Did you paint on the scratches around the airframe? What paint did you use? From the pictures it looks like real scratches which I find difficult to achieve as I looks like the scratches are painted on top of the camouflage.

Jeff,
That is a fantastic finish! Great, realistic chipping! Color modulation is impressive, too.

Gaz

Thanks Jesper
Yes I hand painted the scratches will Model Masters Aluminum. This was actually the first time I have done that much of a chipping. I usually just do some leading edges and stuff like that but seeing some other peoples builds of late war Japanese AC they were really in bad shape.

Thanks Gaz!

Jeff, I think I have some of that paint in the stash somewhere. Worth a try. Maybe on this Skyraider build.

Decalling is underway. Lots of decals - love the colorful scheme. After the decals I am going heavy on the weathering. I hope I will be able to make the heavy exhaust stains that are so characteristic of skyraiders.

More to follow

Decalling done. Now it is on to some weathering.

More to follow

Hi Everybody,

Some excellent work here - really love the Skyraider Jesper!

I need some assistance - I'm at the stage with my 1/72 Airfix Petlaykov Pe-2 where I need to start painting - and this is where my problem comes in.

I'm [currently] limited to Tamiya acrylics for paint. I'm looking at doing a dark green top and a light underside.

For the underside I'm going to use Sky (not going for historical accuracy here, but a approximation).

My quandary comes for the upper surfaces - which green should I use? Dark Green looks too green and any of the other green colours I have [Olive Drab and Nato Green] just doesn't look right.

Any assistance will be welcomed.

Thanks,
Kobus

Finally managed to get off my backside and get some progress going on with my Junkers.





Following one set of reference photos, I tried replicating the interior color of aluminium-colored colored metal coated with a yellowish protective coating. First a metallic paint, then a coated of tinted Future. Didn't work out that well... Could have painted it with just RLM 02. Oh well.


Test fits revealed some slight gaps, time to bring out the styrene sheet.


Having bought Quickboost resin props and spinners for the Hasegawa Ju 88 in my stash, I could cannibalize the kit spinners for this Revell kit. While the props in Revell's kit are far superior to the clunky Hasegawa planks, the spinners' shape is slightly off and the openings for the prop blades are noticably too big.
In addition to the spinners, I also took the extra pair of propeller shaft grommets from the Hasegawa kit with the intention of rebuilding the prop mounting system.

Thanks for the comment, Kobus.

I have the same approach as you regarding colors. Having seen myself the difference in colors from vehicle to vehicle in the army in peacetime. I can only imagine the variations in wartime.
In this case I would add some nato green to the dark green. I would stay away from the drab in this case.
Just my two cents.

Jesper,

The Sky Raider is looking great! Can not wait to see the completed project.

Kobus,
You can lighten your dark green using yellow and or white till you get where you want to go. Just do it in little steps. I wouldn't try doing anything with the olive drab. It has orange pigments to give it that slightly brown color.

Best wishes,

Gaz

Jesper,
Your Skyraider looks great! The decals went down very nicely!

Eetu,
Your extra effort will certainly pay off on the Junkers.

Looking forward to more,

Gaz

Hi Guys,

Thank you for the feedback - much appreciated.

Jesper & Gary - thank you - will definitely lighted the Dark Green and stay away from the Olive Drab. Will try to paint this weekend (weather permitting).

Regards,
Kobus

I have finished my Revell/Monogram 1/48 Skyrider. A decent kit, but unfortunately it is really showing its age. I felt like it was fighting me all the way except for the great decals. In the end I still had fun and I am satisfied with the result.

I have another of these in the stash and the next one will be better

Jesper,
Excellent!

Gaz

Jesper,

Very nice Skyrider!

Can't not agree with the two comments before: that Skyraider turned out really well despite being an older kit!

With the end of the campaign looming at the end of this month, I need to pick up the pace with my entry. Fortunately I've made some more progress, and I'm now ready to finally start painting the cockpit.

I didn't go overboard with detailing, just added foot straps to the rudder pedals, hydraulic (I presume?) hoses connected to the pedals, plus simple brass wire handles to the side console. Being non-prepainted PE from an older Eduard set, I've already glued in place the radio operator's lap belts. I'll use prepainted Eduard belts for the pilot's and bombardier's belts and add them after painting.


Main parts of the gondola. Seems like a good fit, except for one seam between the front clear piece and the middle part needing a bit of styrene sheet shimming to avoid a gap (see arrow in pic).
I have to say I prefer Hasegawa's parts breakdown on the gondola: you only need to eliminate the bottom seam between the two middle parts moulded in clear, as opposed to the side window parts being separate clear parts in the Revell kit. Not that the Revell solution is necessarily bad, but needs much more care to avoid glue smudges in the clear windows than with Hasegawa.


The clear part for the landing light looks really neat; I think all kits should tackle clear parts like this whenever possible and mould not just the glass, but the surrounding area as well. A bit stranglely the kit doesn't include the light itself to go under the clear cover. Oh well, an MV lens should take care of that. But what I find just bizarre is the weird step the two wing halves make in the light compartment. Of course, the light cover doesn't extend as far back on both sides of the wing, but I think the designers should have made the compartment accurate and not stepped like this. Probably nothing too tricky to fix, though.


Turned out I don't need any grommets in the propeller mounts, it was just a matter of enlarging the holes in the props, spinner back plates and engine faces to 2mm and glue in styrene rod of the same diameter for the prop shafts. The spinners from the Hasegawa kit also fit in perfectly after some trimming on the inside and cutting down the prop hubs a bit.

Next: cockpit painting time.

Jeff, Eetu, and Gary: thanks a lot for the comments. Much appreciated.

I also ended up being satisfied with it, despite almost losing faith a couple of times during the build.
I guess the Skyraider would be the last true dive bomber developed.

Looking forward to follow everybody's builds.

Yea, last update before putting the cockpit together.



Easily one of the nicest kit-supplied cockpits I've seen in a long while. The only things I've added is the Eduard PE seatbelts, tubing and straps to the rudder pedals, and levers made from brass wire to the left side console.
Also, it's been AGES since I last used the instrument panel decal in a kit. Not only is the decal nicely done and not looking like something from the 70's (looking at you Airfix!), it also aligns correctly with the moulded details.

But, it needed some cutting before applying. Anyone see where the designers done goofed?

Yeah... I wonder how someone didn't take into account how the compass doesn't sit on the same level as the rest of the IP. Very simple job to cut it off and apply separately, though. I also cut off (and didn't use) the lower left portion of the decal with the magneto switches and few other details, as I chose to paint those instead, and also fearing those being located deeper than the main panel meant that part also wouldn't line up correctly.

Eatu,

The cockpit area looks excellent. Nice job.

Eetu,
Some beautiful cockpit detailing there!

Gaz

Thanks! Good to hear you like. I think it turned out pretty well too.

I got most of the fuselage together now. Only the belly front piece to go.


The cockpit module fit in well, needing only some stretched sprue and thin styrene sheet on the right side. Wings fit seems good, just needing thin styrene sheet on the left side. According to my references, I left the seams between the cockpit sides and the separately moulded coaming, and filled and sanded that between the separate fuselage top segment and the rest of the fuselage.


The half-through locator holes in the fuselage belly not only appeared to be misplaced for the towel rack antenna, but also covered by extremely thin sliver of styrene. To play it safe, drilled them all out to be filled with stretched sprue. In addition to relocating the antenna, I think I'll replace the somewhat clunky styrene antenna parts with something sturdier and more in-scale.


Hmm, the kit-supplied pitot tube is not only a simple stick, but also arrived broken. Time for a more accurate and durable replacement! Steel wire and a hypodermic needle will make the pitot tube, and a suitably sized larger needle will provide a socket for mounting it in the wing.


Locator hole for the kit pitot drilled out and filled with styrene rod.


For once, the inevitable crimping of tubing when cut with pliers is helpful! When cut to a certain length, I could make a socket of just the needed depth, making gluing the pitot in place a breeze. After a quick filing to remove the extra width made by the crimping, the socket could be glued in the wing.


No measuring needed anymore. In the final assembly it'll just be a matter of appying a bit of glue and dropping the pitot in place. Zero risk of the pitot accidentally making its way inside the wing either.

Eetu,
Excellent pitot tutorial! I really dislike plastic pitot tubes, so I will use your lesson on many models to come.

Gaz

Thanks! Feel free to put that to good use. After starting to make to make my own pitot tubes, I rarely use kit-supplied ones anymore, being usually either flimsy, inaccurate, or both.
When flattened and/or filed to a suitable cross-section, needles also make good antenna masts.

The only downside is finding that straight, hard stainless steel wire. Or then it's just me and I don't know where to look. Mine's from Dragon's 1:35 German tank antenna set, which comes with a length of it for the whip antennas. I'm already on my second set, bought solely for that steel wire.

Eetu,

Excellent work! One thing I use for when needing straight hard wire is Piano wire. The smallest I have found is .016" which is about .4mm and goes up from there, some hobby stores here in the US sell it but I also get scrap from my local music store. I am a drummer and when one of the guys goes out to re-sting / Tune a piano (not Tuna Fish) he brings me back the scrap.

Thanks for the tip, I'll have to look for some piano wire when I start to run out of that piece of wire from the Dragon antenna set.

Some more progress again. Bomb bay/cockpit belly piece in place and blended in, with appropriate recessed lines re-scribed.




Looking at the tail wheel assembly, it's one of those assembled from two halves with the wheel trapped between. I'm personally not that big a fan.


I much rather assemble these so that I can paint and finish both the wheel and the gear separately. Simple job on a Ju 88, just a matter plugging the axel hole in the wheel with stretched sprue, then drilling holes in the wheel and tail gear to accept a brass wire pin.


To make the landing light compartment look better when assembled (that step would probably be visible in the finished model), I glued up an L-shaped piece from sheet styrene to extend the front wall of the compartment.


Part glued in place and a recess drilled in to accept an MV lens later on.


Continuing with the plugged locator holes in the fuselage belly. Those crossed over will go unused this time.


Comparing the plastic antenna parts to my references, I pleasantly surprised to find out them and the locations of the locator holes to be quite accurate, and a good help for marking the places for the pilot holes for new antenna mounts and the antenna lead holes.


I think I could put the fuselage, wings, fin, and stabilizers together next.
And talking of that, this is how you do locators! Perfectly snug fit, zero wobbling, pretty much foolproof.