Small Parts

I have attached all the little bits and rigged my antenna.


There was a bit of splatter from the paintjob.  It really is much more pronounced in these photos then it is on the model.



I am not going to add the stripping; I thought I had decals for that but they are not there.  I will add them buring the build of my next plane.

Exhausted!

Besides the lower antenna mast; the biggest difference between my model and the plane at the AirZoo is the suplemental exhaust.

In working on this, it seems that the engine nacelle on the real plane is longer then on the model.  I will try to force the perspective to make this mod work.

I first tried using shrink tubbing, but it was too fat and if I shrank it down to much it bacame too stiff.
So with this not working; I decided to try 14 gauge electrical wire.  I can even leave on the covering to simulate the rubber hose.

There is a thin plastic film over the covering which is too shiny.  I tried to rough it up, but it is better to just remove it.  I have learned however, that I need to bend the wire into shape and then remove the covering.  The covering also slides which makes it easy to adjust.  A small drop of CA holds it in place when it is ready.

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The shape of the intake is a bit off.  I used part of a P-51 drop tank that I had in the spares box.  If I had some extra PE this would be a perfect use.

Finally my helper found a new use for my figures....


Just a little more paint and this part will be finished.

Almost There

So switching to the Olive Drab was a good choice.


Here you can start to see some of the details I have added.  The atnenna masts are just a test fit right now.  They are a little out of scale; but I am happy for a first try.  I have already built the next set and they are much closer to the correct size.


My son painted the propellers so they were done with a brush instead of my airbrush.  I think the next ones I will paint the white, then the red, and finally the black.  With a little masking it should go quickly.

Once this has cured I will finish the grey on the bottom and then flat coat with Future and Tamiya Flat Base.  More updates to come.

What Next?

I am getting close to finishing my first C-47.  My first kits from Wingnut Wings arrived... they are a pirates treasure of styrene.
  

Even the box art is beautiful.


I want to take a break from fill and sand before I tackle my final C-47.  So now I have to decide what I want to build next.  I have a few kits to choose from;



I have some led's coming to play with so I think I might try the Pilgrim Observer.  There are a lot of parts, but it looks like a pretty simple build.  Lighting the wings will be a fun project.

I have switched to Flickr for my image hosting, I will see how this works.

Engine Trouble

I am starting to think that my green is too green;
 
I will try Olive Drab instead of Olive Green.

I have a couple resin engines on back order from the hobby shop.  Until then I thought I would see what I could do with what I had;


Here is the final result.  I think I made a pretty good match.



The wing and the body are a poor fit.  I will be doing another round of fill and sand.  The seem above the cockpit broke open again.  I really regret leaving out the piece that goes there.  An additional strip of styrene on the inside would probably be helpful.

Until next time.
Shane

New Project C-47 Skytrain

My current project is from Travis at my local hobby shop L&J Family Hobbies.  He picked up an estate collection that included three Revell C-47 Skytrains.  

This is my boys second favorite airplane at the AirZoo and my all time favorite aircraft.  I figured I can put one together to see how it fits and what it needs, then I can use the other two to pull together the best parts to make a great kit.

This needs a LOT of work.  I want to base my final model on the plane at the AirZoo so some serious modifications are required.  Here are a couple of the areas that I am fixing...  this is still the first kit so I am doing a lot of playing around to figure out what works and what doesn't.




I will probably need smaller tubing here and will try to flatten the tubes first.  I forgot to aneal the brass and I think that might help next time.




Again I will need smaller tubing and better placement.  I followed the model and not my photos on this one

I have some photos of the wheel wells, but they need so much work I won't bother to post them this time around.  This has been an adventure in fill and sand, fill and sand.  I am working on the engines now, but am thinking about just finishing this off to see how the rest fits together.

Besides; I want to start practicing my woodgrain painting...

Starting Over

I tried to start blogging last year, after three posts I kind of lost interest. I thought I was full of political rants but there is so much of that out there done by writers better than me I just don't see the point.

I might still throw in some politics; but mostly this will just be about my kids and my hobby (building plastic models). 

I am very excited over the discovery of WingNut Wings.  I have always wanted to try modelling WWI aircraft and now seems to be the best time ever! 

I have started to practice making turnbuckles while I await the arrival of my first two kits.

More later after I get some pics uploaded.

Shane