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Cold War (1950-1974)
Discuss the aircraft modeling subjects during the Cold War period.
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GWH 1/48 scale Lockheed T-33A early ver.
Joel_W
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Posted: Sunday, March 25, 2018 - 11:14 PM UTC
Time to start another aircraft build, and thought that a early jet would be a interesting break from the one after another WWII prop aircraft. 1st generation jet aircraft have always been one of my favorite eras, and the F-80/T-33 Shooting Star a favorite within that generation.

Great Wall Hobbies had molded a rather nice 1/48 scale T-33A early version, and when I saw the Caracal decals, I thought it time to build this kit.





Work naturally started with the cockpit, and the upper fuselage walls are visible when you look into the "Pit". There was one issue that needed to be addressed, and the tops of several injection pin marks were above the line where the tub gets glued into the fuselage. So out came the Bondo, and I filled, then sanded the ones that needed to be removed.



the cockpit tub is nicely molded with just the bare min amount of detail for the side panels.



The instrument panels are comprised of the front panel with raised bezels, and a backing plate that you apply decals to for the instruments, as well as the rudder pedal assemblies.



I primed all the interior cockpit parts with Mig Ammo Black primer to help give some additional shadow detail.



Then I airbrushed the IPs with a mix Mig Ammo FS36320 Dark Compass Ghost Gray and a drop of Black to darken it so that it matched the correct dark Gray FS26231 over the black primer. Then I hand brushed the bezels with Tamiya Nato Black as it's not as stark as their regular black. The next day I applied the decals to each backing plate



Gave the decals a day to cure, then glued up each of the IPs



I also airbrushed the tub, then hand painted the panels Tamiya Nato Black. I still need to finish dry brushing the knobs and switches.



and now you're up to date.

Joel


rdt1953
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Posted: Monday, March 26, 2018 - 02:48 AM UTC
So I think I hear Leroy Grumman spinning in his grave while his biggest fan flirts with the ghost of Kelly Johnson . The Ironworks bows to the Skunkworks !
LOL - have fun with your blowtorch- I'll be watching !

Cheers - Richard
Joel_W
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Posted: Monday, March 26, 2018 - 07:19 AM UTC

Quoted Text

So I think I hear Leroy Grumman spinning in his grave while his biggest fan flirts with the ghost of Kelly Johnson . The Ironworks bows to the Skunkworks !
LOL - have fun with your blowtorch- I'll be watching !

Cheers - Richard



Richard,
Mr. Grumman has given me a compensation to build other aircraft every so often. It's an honor to be building one of Kelly Johnson's Skunkworks creations.

Naturally, I'm glad to have you along on this journey.

Joel
thegirl
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Posted: Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - 05:25 AM UTC
Hiding over here now are you ..will follow along Joel . Always enjoy your builds



Terri
magnusf
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Posted: Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - 07:00 PM UTC
Joel! You know that Kelly really was Swedish ? Both of his parents were from Malmö in the south of Sweden, close to where I was born. There ends all similarities !

I am curious about the instrument panels, how did you position the decals? Are there indentations or something else to aid in positioning?

Cockpit looks very nicely detailed, I would say just about as good as it gets without going resin! A drybrushing session will pop the details for sure.



Magnus
Joel_W
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Posted: Sunday, April 01, 2018 - 02:39 AM UTC
Work has progressed at my usual snail's pace, but I've got enough accomplished for a small update.

The cockpit tub had both IPs installed along with both sets of rudder pedals. Using Tamiya X-22 Clear Gloss the entire cockpit assembly received a clear coat. When dry a wash of Black enamel oil paint heavily thinned with Turpeniod was applied, let dry, then the excess was removed with more Turpeniod on Q tips. The seats and sticks will be left out till the end of the build. Naturally, I haven't even started the ejection seats as yet.

I built the exhaust up the cone, then using some Model Master Jet Exhaust Metalizer I still have, it was airbrushed on both the outside and inside of the cone. Then glued to the same side of the fuselage as the pit was.

Not following the directions, I 1st glued the pit in place, let it set up, then I glued the front wheel to both the fuselage and the bottom of the pit as called for in the instructions.

GWH has included a Plastic weight to keep the T-33A on its tricycle gear, so that was glued in place as well. I'm not so sure that will be sufficient, so after the wings are installed I give it the balance test, and if it needs a little more weight I'll add some fishing sinkers to the nose cone before it's glued into place.

the Fuselage halves were joined and glued together, let dry overnight, and a coat of Bondo was applied over the joint line.

Joel












Merlin
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Posted: Sunday, April 01, 2018 - 11:38 PM UTC
Hi Joel

Nice start!

Ironically, I was only looking at my own T-33 the other day - still waiting for its n/m finish! I thoroughly enjoyed the kit to the point where I left it, but sadly it's been overtaken by events and I need to concentrate on the builds for my forthcoming book.

LOL! It still feels really weird mentioning the book! - but (after a false start caused by Eduard announcing a bunch of upgrades for Tamiya's Bf 109G-6 - naturally, the kit I'd just started work on... ) I am firmly underway on an alternative first build - GasPatch's Hs 123.

I'll look in when I can and will look forward to following your progress on what will surely be another gem.

All the best

Rowan
Joel_W
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Posted: Wednesday, April 04, 2018 - 09:13 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Joel

Nice start!

Ironically, I was only looking at my own T-33 the other day - still waiting for its n/m finish! I thoroughly enjoyed the kit to the point where I left it, but sadly it's been overtaken by events and I need to concentrate on the builds for my forthcoming book.

LOL! It still feels really weird mentioning the book! - but (after a false start caused by Eduard announcing a bunch of upgrades for Tamiya's Bf 109G-6 - naturally, the kit I'd just started work on... ) I am firmly underway on an alternative first build - GasPatch's Hs 123.

I'll look in when I can and will look forward to following your progress on what will surely be another gem.

All the best

Rowan



Rowan,
Thanks buddy for checking in, it's much appreciated especially now that you've got other priorities. The GasPatch Hs 123 certainly will challenge you. If you can make any posts, I'd sure love to see your progress.

Agreed, it's a great kit, and almost falls together. Since I'm doing a Texas ANG aircraft, it will be in ADC Gray, not metal finish.



Joel
Merlin
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Posted: Thursday, April 05, 2018 - 12:41 AM UTC
Hi Joel

After your good advice in the past on applying n/m finishes, I mistakenly took it for granted that's what you'd be going for with the T-33.

The Hs 123 is turning out to be even more of a gem of a kit than I'd realised when I reviewed it. The cockpit detail straight OOB is quite amazing. I can thoroughly recommend it if you want something to get your teeth into after the T-33. At the moment I don't have permission to post shots ahead of publication, but I'll have another word with my editor in due course.

All the best

Rowan
thegirl
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Posted: Thursday, April 05, 2018 - 05:05 AM UTC
Nice job on the pit Joel . What is your take on the level of detail in the pit ? I no nothing of this part of aviation . To me the detail looks a little soft .



Terri
Joel_W
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Posted: Thursday, April 05, 2018 - 11:59 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Nice job on the pit Joel . What is your take on the level of detail in the pit ? I no nothing of this part of aviation . To me the detail looks a little soft .



Terri



Terri,
About all I know is what I can find Googling the T-33A. I'm a prop kind of guy.

The fuselage side walls have zero detail. the tub itself has a min of panels with raised switches. There are two sticks, and two ejection seats that I'm going to try and add a little detail to. the highlight of the interior is the two IPs, which are very nicely done.

I'm working on my next update which should be posted within the hour, and you'll see that once the tub is enclosed in the fuselage, you don't see any of the side walls at all.

The wheel wells and intakes have more then enough detail molded in to make a decent presentation for a display model.

My original objective of this build was to focus on a NMF, but since I bought a Texas ANG Caracal decal sheet not so much in error as ignorance of the subject, I'm going to have to do this in ADC colors, as they were all painted when they were transferred to the ANG units.

Joel
Joel_W
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Posted: Friday, April 06, 2018 - 12:52 AM UTC
With all this "wonderful" weather we've been having, I've been basically stuck in the house, so after my daily Honey To Do List, I spent a fair amount of time modeling daily.

1st order of business was to finish sanding the main fuselage seams. The fit was excellent, so only a little re-scribing will be needed. Of course I forgot to take a picture of the fuselage after polishing.

Next sub-assembly was the main wing section, which is a full bottom wing from starboard to port side. The wheel well is a one piece unit that fits perfectly. I primed the wheel wheels and the top of the flaps with Mig Ammo Black primer, then when dry I air brushed them with Model Master Enamel FS 34151 Interior Green in a random uneven pattern. I still need to paint the pipes and various lines.



Then I glued to top of the wings in place. The fit was absolutely perfect.





the engine intakes for each side of the fuselage are just two piece each, and once again the fit was dead on perfect.



The fit to the fuselage was more then a little tight, and needed some light filing and sanding so the parts just snapped into place without any pressure needed.







the came the intake fuselage scoops. the fit is very good, but not quite perfect. I painted the insides my own mix of ADC using Tamiya paints. Not perfect, but as good as I could get it to the 595 Chip FS16473.





Now I glued the wing assembly to the fuselage. The fit was excellent, and needing only some minor sanding for a perfect fit.







thanks for taking the time to stop by and check out my progress to date.

Joel



rdt1953
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Posted: Friday, April 06, 2018 - 03:20 AM UTC
Nice progress my friend ! Beats the hell out of shoveling snow !

Keep at it - Richard
Willard79
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Posted: Sunday, April 08, 2018 - 02:09 AM UTC
Hi Joel, following with keen interest. Can't wait to see it with the paint job. I've got a mind to do a Hawker Hunter at some point, but like you I'm more a prop guy, but first gen jets do have a certain appeal.
chris1
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Posted: Sunday, April 08, 2018 - 07:41 AM UTC
Hi Joel,
An interesting build.
I came across factoid while looking for something yesterday apparently the Bolivian air-force only retired their T-33s last year.40 years service,not too bad almost as good as our C-130s and P-3s 50+ years.
Also I see Boeing offered an upgrade that would be an interesting companion piece.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Skyfox

Chris
Joel_W
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Posted: Sunday, April 08, 2018 - 07:22 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Nice progress my friend ! Beats the hell out of shoveling snow !

Keep at it - Richard



Richard,
thanks for the thumbs up. Like I always say, coming from you, it's quite a compliment.

While it didn't snow over the weekend. They're now calling for snow overnight not amounting to anything, but the last two times they said that, we got creamed.

Joel
Joel_W
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Posted: Sunday, April 08, 2018 - 07:25 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Joel, following with keen interest. Can't wait to see it with the paint job. I've got a mind to do a Hawker Hunter at some point, but like you I'm more a prop guy, but first gen jets do have a certain appeal.



Spud,
Welcome to the party. Always glad to have more friends join in.

Still can't figure out how these jets stay up in the sky without a proper prop.

I've found that my modest jet interest seems to have expanded these days, but I just can't get enthused about the way the new generation looks.

Joel
Joel_W
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Posted: Sunday, April 08, 2018 - 07:30 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Joel,
An interesting build.
I came across factoid while looking for something yesterday apparently the Bolivian air-force only retired their T-33s last year.40 years service,not too bad almost as good as our C-130s and P-3s 50+ years.
Also I see Boeing offered an upgrade that would be an interesting companion piece.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Skyfox

Chris



Chris,
It always amazes me how these 2nd and 3rd tier countries keep the old stuff flying or rolling on the ground. yet they do. where the heck do they get parts from?

Can you just imagine a T-33A going up against a modern jet? Would last like 30 seconds once it's on their radar.

Checked out your link, and it does indeed have a similar shape.

Joel
Joel_W
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Posted: Sunday, April 08, 2018 - 07:36 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Joel! You know that Kelly really was Swedish ? Both of his parents were from Malmö in the south of Sweden, close to where I was born. There ends all similarities !

I am curious about the instrument panels, how did you position the decals? Are there indentations or something else to aid in positioning?

Cockpit looks very nicely detailed, I would say just about as good as it gets without going resin! A drybrushing session will pop the details for sure.



Magnus



Magnus,
My apologies my friend for not replying to your post. Don't know how I missed it.

So Kelly Johnson roots is Swedish. From your modeling skills, I'd say that you have some of his aircraft traits as well.

As for the IP. the instruments are decals with a outline of the IP. So I used it for alignment, then carefully checked by placing the top IP on and seeing what adjustments were needed. About the same effort as using a Eduard PE IP.

Joel
thegirl
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Posted: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 - 06:22 PM UTC
So ...where does the prop go ? Coming along nicely so far Joel




Terri
Joel_W
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Posted: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 - 09:59 PM UTC

Quoted Text

So ...where does the prop go ? Coming along nicely so far Joel




Terri



Terri,
Excellent question. I'm pretty sure that Leroy Kelly and the Skunk work's hid them right inside of each intake.

Joel
Joel_W
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Posted: Monday, April 16, 2018 - 12:31 AM UTC
Time for my slightly longer then weekly update.

I started off attaching the rear horizontal stabilizers, which fit pretty well. Some putty work was needed to blend them correctly to the fuselage.

Then came the nose section. I decided to add a 1/8 oz. fishing sinker just to be sure about not having a tail sitter even though my testing showed that as is, she would stand tall on her tricycle gear. Unfortunately, the nose needed some blend sanding as there was a lip on the bottom, and a smaller one on one side. Really just a minor issue.

The last addition was the rear cockpit flaring section to smoothly transition the canopy to the fuselage.

I needed to putty the wing assembly seam to the fuselage, the intakes seams, the nose, the horizontal Stabilizers, and seal the joint for the rear fuselage/canopy seam, yet keep the seam visible.

Finally I masked the windscreen with the Eduard's masking set, and glued it in place. The fit was absolutely perfect.







One major issue surfaced with the addition of the rear canopy flaring section, and that's a huge gap between it and the rear cockpit bulkhead.



I'm not to sure how I'm going to correct this, but putting the joint isn't an option. Maybe some type of sculpting epoxy.

I also finished the wing tip tanks and dry fitted them. Damn, she's really starting to look like a classic T-33A.



Joel
magnusf
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Posted: Monday, April 16, 2018 - 01:45 AM UTC
Joel! You're certainly right, even I can see what it is now !

That gap: I would go for white Milliput (kind of a sculpting epoxy as you suggested yourself!). The advantage with Milliput is that it can be smoothed with water, I use a rubber tipped sculpting tool (looks like a paintbrush but with a rubber tip instead of bristles) and usually end up with a good joint and a minimum of sanding. If you don't feel like running to the art store, an ordinary plastic eraser can be cut into whatever shape is suitable and then be used as a sculpting tool!



Magnus
Joel_W
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Posted: Monday, April 16, 2018 - 05:06 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Joel! You're certainly right, even I can see what it is now !

That gap: I would go for white Milliput (kind of a sculpting epoxy as you suggested yourself!). The advantage with Milliput is that it can be smoothed with water, I use a rubber tipped sculpting tool (looks like a paintbrush but with a rubber tip instead of bristles) and usually end up with a good joint and a minimum of sanding. If you don't feel like running to the art store, an ordinary plastic eraser can be cut into whatever shape is suitable and then be used as a sculpting tool!



Magnus



Magnus,
I'm going to take your advice and go for an acrylic type putty that I can buy at my local Art store. My Milliput was so old, it just dried out, so I tossed it.

Joel
Joel_W
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Posted: Friday, April 27, 2018 - 01:56 AM UTC
Well, more then a week has past since I've posted any progress on the T-33A. While work has slowed to nearly an full crawl, I've managed to make some decent progress none the less. Final sanding and polishing, re-scribing as needed (my most unfavorite aspect of modeling by far), add the Vertical and Horizontal Stabilizers. I masked the canopy and taped off the cockpit. And finally all the individual pieces that needs to be painted have been cleaned up and readied.

Now comes another decision time as how to prime everything. The T-33As on the decal sheet are all ANG units, no longer front line aircraft. From the pictures I've seen and from various posts, all these aircraft were maintained to a high level. So little operational weathering is going to be done.

But the issue that I've come up with is that while these aircraft were maintained to a high level, they're not freshly painted, and would or should show some paint fading, and a little wear and tear. At least that's my thinking at this point. So I decided on black basing, but with a heavier color coat to keep the effects to a min.

Since I couldn't find any Acrylics pre-mixed in ADC FS16473, which is the call out from the Caracal Models decal sheet, I downloaded two sites versions of the chip which were darker then almost all of the pictures I have. I then custom mixed Tamiya XF-20 Medium Gray with XF-2 White, and FX-18 Medium Blue till I got as close as I could to the chip color. But now going over a black base not gray, I'm going to lighten up the color once again.

As it stands now, the T-33A has the base black coat applied.





I didn't bother masking out the wheel wells and inner flaps as my original plan was to just mask out the wells after the fuselage has been painted and repaint plus those areas that weren't originally painted. This way I was able to get the Interior Green into all the nooks and Crannies, without worrying about over spray.



Joel
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