I finally got a little bench time…I had a Cubscouts counsel meeting via zoom, so I was able to get some work done on some of the seams, and continue a few assembly steps.
I used a two step process (where necessary) of home made ‘sprue goo’ and Perfect Plastic Putty to fill the seams on the intake sides that are virtually invisible once the cockpit assembly is installed, and totally forgot to take a photo before priming and then installing the cockpit!
I was also able to get the upper wings installed last night too…
I am still waiting for my resin pilot in the ejection seat, which is somewhere between here and Scottsdale Arizona, and a set of resin exhaust cans, which are somewhere between here and Maryland. (Here is the suburbs of Philly…)
Continuing on…Using the KMC (True Details) cockpit in this one. It paints up pretty nice, I’m also adding the ECS duct in the tail…a sore spot of this kit for sure. Just some Evergreen tube, bent. The excess will be cut off and everyhting shaped into place.
And I have managed to paint up the PASGT (kevlar) vest and it’s woodland camo pattern:
In the other build thread we’ve had a discussion about how Verlinden made some errors in regard to the things that should from the pistol belt like the pistol holster or the canteen(s). I’ll try to correct those errors, but first I want to paint up the boots.
Hey gang, I decided to get started on my AH-1J. My plan is to build it in the 3 gray camo scheme used during Desert Storm. I want to eventually build every version of the Cobra that served with the Marines. This will be the second of the series. I finished a kit-bashed -1G in '19 and the 4-bladed demstrator last year. I purchased the Cobra Company resin cockpits for the the J, T, and W for my project. I decided to go ahead and use the resin for this build.
I have never used a resin cockpit before. My experience with resin hadn’t extended beyond an ejection seat here or a set of wheels there. Overall, I’m happy with the way it turned out. There are a few little mistakes, but they really won’t be noticeable under the canopy. The only addition I made was a pair of scratch built ECS hoses.
I’m ready to move on to the airframe. I’ll be sharing my progress as I make it. Comments, questions and criticisms welcome. Thanks for looking!
I was able to get a little more finished on my F-15C this weekend! Took care of the seam where the cockpit assembly mounts to the fueslage, and found that the speed brake panel had the mount tabs (?) broken off, so I started to fill them in with sprue goo…
I am at sort of a standstill until the resin exhaust cans and pilot/ejection seat get delivered by the ultimate USPS…
I also ordered the markings, a decal set from Ebay as well. I hope they dont take too long to get here!
Waiting for some A/M components, coupled with a Bout of shingles, has put a pause on my build time…one would think a week off of work would be a blessing…
Hey gang, wow, there’s some great work going on in here! I’m always impressed by your talent and skill. Very inspiring! Pushes me to be a better modeler myself.
So I’ve been able to make a little progress on my Cobra. Last I left you, I had the cockpit built up and ready for the next step. Well, the next step was to install it.
The resin cockpit was a bit of a challenge because I had to do some grinding to get the resin to fit. Also, there are no locating tabs so I had to do some careful measuring and comparing to an AH-1G I’m concurrently building.to get it pretty close. Well, as close as I could. Something you don’t see in the above are the armor plates. I added them after I took the photo but before I closed up the canopy.
Speaking of canopies, I got both the canopy masked up and installed. Again, there are two because I’m also kitbashing an Army AH-1G.
Shortcomings of kit are the intake and exhaust assemblies. The intakes are molded as hollow openings that allow a viewer to see into the empty doghouse.
I’ll have to figure out a solution for that. The exhausts are just these two shallow ovals molded onto a piece that mounts to the rear of the doghouse. I pressed some tissue soaked in white glue into the shallows to mold some FOD covers. A small hole drilled into the backing of the exhaust allowed me to push them out after they dried.
The last thing I did was attach the rotor blades to the hub. When I kitbashed a USMC -1G, I found that the assembly was very weak and allowed for a lot of flexing. So much so that I accidentally snapped a blade off during construction. This time I used a couple of small styrene strips to add some rigidity and reinforce the joint. I’m sure once everything is painted up and washed, the extra plastic won’t be noticeable.
So the main fuselage is assembled. Next will be to clean up all the joints and fill the gaps around the canopies. After that, I think things will go pretty quickly.
Thanks for looking. Feel free to share any comments, questions or criticisms. I hope to be back soon with more progress.
Construction is done on the m1a1 and it is now ready for paint. It is looking like a snow storm is coming to start off the week Monday so I might try to do some spray painting before the weekend ends.
Started on the Challenger yesterday due to my other builds are on hold due to the weather making it unpleasant to airbrush in the garage.
The first step was filling in the gaps on the rear of the hull. There are also two little holes that need filled in once the rear panel is glued into place.
There was also hole on the bottom of the hull that needed filled in.
The model has open sponsons once built with the tracks and side skirts in place you can’t tell unless looking underneath the rear of the model so sheet styrene was used there to block it off.
After a couple hours work a good portion of the lower hull is finished.
My next step will be working on the rear hull panel that is going to involve a lot more work due to the Eduard photoetch and the Eduard instructions are somewhat esoteric.
