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I have the Toko kit on my pile for a sometime next year build. What are the problems you are having?

Hi Ed, I have used 310 and as far as I can tell it never stops being tacky and is also sensitive to decal solvents. I have applied decals to it and it is usually OK and then I would coat it with their 314 flat and the tackiness goes away, but I found that if I leave MicroSol on it too long it will blister. I stopped using it. Good luck Howard

This is my 3rd in a series of lifting bodies, the Northrop M2-F3. As many of you are probably aware the M2-F2 famously crashed after 16 flights as seen in the intro to the "Six Million Dollar Man". After the crash, using some creative accounting, they were able to rebuild it as the M2-F3 which went on to 27 more successful flight. Differences in appearance between to 2 are; a third vertical fin added, The main gear reversed so the wheels face outward rather then inward, a bigger engine, and a re-enforced nose which split the front window in to 2 pieces. There were also internal changes. These changes turned it from what R. Dale Reed called an "angry" machine into a much more pleasant one to fly. More information can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_M2-F3, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_M2-F2, and in Reed's book "Wingless Flight" https://www.amazon.com/Wingless-Flight-Lifting-Story-2002-06-28/dp/B01MT30UGD/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502472205&sr=1-5&keywords=wingless+flight The Anigrand kit is of the M2-F2, but they give instructions on how to modify it to the M2-F3. I chose to make the -F3 because it was more successful and made more flights. I am not inclined to also make the M2-F2, but never say never. Like my previous Anigrand kit, with the exception of the "transperancies" the casting were excellent with no visible pin holes, short shots and crisp edges. It did have an issue with the fuselage top being slightly shorter the the bottom, but this was fairly easy to the. The transparencies were translucent at best with internal air bubbles. The decals were a bit stiff, but worked. So on to the pictures; Next up is the Mach 2 X-24B which will be my last lifting body, at least for a while.

The launch sequence is of the HL-10, but the the crash sequence was of the M2-F2, which I am building next. I guess they dcouldn't get films of the launch of the M2-F2. The pilot of that crash survived with "only" the loose of an eye due to infection. A really good source of information on these is Wingless Flight by R. Dale Reed https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0813190266/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1.

This is the second in a series of NASA lifting bodies. The first was my X-24A that I posted a few weeks ago. This is an Anigrand kit and while I see a lot of complaints about pin holes, and short shots with Anigrand kits, this one must have been cast on one of there good days. With the exception of the "transparencies" all the parts were clean and crisply molded with no pin holes or voids and the fit was very good. The exceptions were the "clear" parts that were translucent at best and in the case of the main canopy was way too small for the opening, but nothing some super glue, styrene strips, sanding and polishing couldn't fix. The decals were OK being a bit thick and stiff. Paint was Alclad II Aluminum. This was a very quick build taking less then a week to complete. On to the the pictures; Note that this was designed to fly at a high angle of attack, imagine the pitot tube horizontal and the pilot spent most of hist time looking between his legs out the front glazing. More information about HL-10 can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_HL-10

Thanks all. It is surprising that there are so few kits of this. That and the O-1 Bird Dog

Years ago when I got my first SLR, a Nikon EM, I was able to use ISO 400 film set the aperture to f22, manually focus and get great shots with great depth of field. Now I have a fancier digital auto everything camera, Nikon D50, and it seems to get offended if I don't use Program mode and try to set some of the parameter. It will refuse to use the flash, or it will loose the ability to focus or just refuse to take the picture. . So going full manual, including manual focus, I retook them and get better depth of field. I guess the D50 is a bit long in the tooth and I should get something newer. This is the color scheme that the Wolfpak decals called for and searching the web I web able to find a B&W photo of this plane in this color scheme. Testors has/had one in 1/48, not 1/72. Thanks Howard

This is my 1/72 Airfix O-2 Skymaster, affectionately known to its crews as Oscar Duece. At least I think it is Airfix. I bought is as a bag of parts that contained almost, but not quite, enough parts to make 2 models. The instruction were marked "Made in England" but no other identifying markings, so I am assuming it is Airfix. This was a bit of a more difficult build then I expected and not my best work, mostly because of the transparencies. There was no way to fill and sand the seams for the fuselage halves and the wing to fuselage joint without also sanding the window. I used a Flex-i-file polishing stick and future to fix the scratches, but they are still not as good as I would like. The interior was a compromise between the commercial version which I think had 6 seats in rows and the military version which had 2 staggered seats. I tossed 2 and moved the observers seat back a bit. I did not try and to replicate the radio equipment in the back. I think there were decals in the bag, but I tossed them because of sever yellowing and I had a Wolfpak sheet. I have used Wolfpak decals before and have been happy with them, but this sheet was a disappointment; they were thick, stiff with a large surrounding film and tended to disintegrate when dipped in water. Anyway, enough complaining and on to the pictures. Next up will be the Anigrand HL-1 and M2-F2 which I will probably post together

Usually the interior and canopy are my downfall with dust infiltration from sanding, but this one was easy to seal and the vacuformed canopy, which I hate, worked out. Thanks Howard

A lot of work, but worth it Thanks

Thanks

It looks like security retouched the photo to make the wings looks smaller and the tail bigger, but that's it. Yes Lockheed YO-3A, based on the Schweizer SGS 2-23 sail plane. Thanks

They only made 11, none were ever lost in combat, and there are 6 at various museums. That leaves 5 unaccounted for

Finished!! The decals proved a bot more of a challenge then I had hoped and that their sparseness would indicate, and I had do the registry numbers individually from a handy Microscale sheet, but it worked in the end. More pictures at Thank you all for your kind comments and encouragement.

This is my Unicraft YO-3a, affectionally know by its crews as the Yoyo. The work in progress thread can be found at; The YO-3a was a low altitude silent stealth aircraft designed to observe enemy troops at night without making an audible ground level sound. For more information see: http://www.yo-3a.com/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_YO-3 You can see the build thread for my trials and tribulations, but this is what I had to start with; Given that I am kind of proud about how it turned out, K'velen in fact. Next up is the Airfix O-2 Skymaster. Enjoy.