Orangutan

tedium. basecoated the exhaust interior (3 colours on the "petals". off white on the "tube". AK aluminium on the fan blades). cheers Shane

the ones by Legends Productions. now that the front end is more or less complete. started work on the aires exhaust (sawed the pour gates/blocks off) and a quick dryfit Cheers Shane

cockpit base coated and ready for oil washes a closer look at the instrument panel should have trimmed some of the decals to get a better fit. Cheers Shane

what deadlines .....i blame the summer holidays. got the cockpit and front wheel well basecoated blocks on the cockpit floor are to raise the resin ejection seat. size difference comparison (Legend Productions vs GWH). I hear that the GWH seats are oversized. Cheers Shane

the scheme in question > http://www.airplane-pictures.net/photo/493488/92-8068-japan-air-self-defence-force-mitsubishi-f-15dj/ Many thanks all on the book recommendations!

hello! apologies about the "disappearance". thanks to holidays and all. A small update, from an hour at the workbench. Backseat circuit breaker and miscellaneous piping. and 2 photos (of my own) from RIAT 2017 and Flying Legends Airshow 2017. Till next time, Shane

Hello, this question comes out of a want to build an RAAF Spitfire HF Mk VIII with engine, cannon bays, radio, flaps displayed. Rather than purchase the components separately, I was thinking to purchase the SIN64809 set by Eduard designed for the Spitfire Mk IX. would this work? Been scouring the instructions/reviews and noted that parts for the Mk VIII can be found in the SIN64809 set. Appreciate any references comparing a Merlin 60 (Mk IX) vs Merlin 70 ( HF Mk VIII) engine as well. Apologies if I got any details wrong. Cheers, Shane

A quick build. this was finished over a week. the wet splotches you see on the solar panels are a black wash. Tried to vary the fuselage colours, but the camera doesnt really capture it well. things to improve >> Colour Variance on the solar panels, tried experimenting with splotches of black wash without luck (they were basecoated with Tamiya Rubber Black) Greater modulation on the fuselage Never rush a project comments and criticism welcome as always Cheers Shane

!!! by any chance would you have pictures of the cockpit? I am working on some mods, mainly a new circuit breaker for the back seat. Good tip on the masking tape. Shane

made some mistakes the avionics doors left a large gap. probably due to me being a little overzealous in sanding them. styrene card was used fill the large gaps. also note the odd disjointed panel lines (circled in red). another negative > GWH panel lines are really soft (having built their MIG-29). would be re-scribing pretty much the entire kit to deepen them. On the plus side, the cockpit detail is really nice and would be a joy to paint For those following, the deadline for this build is 26 Aug 2017, due to a club meet. Hopefully I will get more interesting bits done in my next post cheers Shane

getting the boring bits out of the way >> filler, sand, primer , (repeat!!) till we have this seamless intakes (well the front 3 inches at least). intake fans are from an Academy F-15 with silver paint applied. Cheers Shane

thanks everyone for the comments! Airbrushed AK Interactive Polished Aluminium cheers Shane

(Admin, please remove if posting videos isnt allowed) The Kit The aftermarket Legend Productions ACES II F-15 seats DXM decals Olfa circular cutter + lots of masking sheet /tape (the silly amount of masking required which will become apparent latter in the build) Hasegawa hologram (for the HUD) Hasegawa JASDF weapon set (for the AAM-3) Hasegawa weapon set B (for the ALQ-131) The Plane http://www.airplane-pictures.net/photo/493488/92-8068-japan-air-self-defence-force-mitsubishi-f-15dj/ WIP pics soon to follow. Cheers Shane

Many thanks for the kind comments! Well, erm, Yes & No. No because there would be gaps present (on the wings's leading edges especially) if I did not use glue and filler Yes because the parts' tolerances are so tight that they stay together (mostly!) just by friction alone. Making dry-fitting a nightmare. Primer was Mr Surfacer 1500 Black Base > Gunze GX 2 for the high gloss Metal finish > AK Interactive Polished Aluminium this was dulled down a fair amount by a thin coat of Tamiya clear, oils, pigments. remaining colours are Tamiya Acrylic Shane

build thread > WIP

5 months later and plenty of mistakes. Was planning to take proper photos with a compact DLSR. But Snapseed (photo editing app) was so much fun 1/48 Meng P-51D with Kit decals, Eduard wheels & SuperFabric Seatbelts. cheers Shane

shes done. more mistakes made during the installation (missing parts, etc). But enough! I will post better photos with a proper camera (all photos are from a handphone) as always, critiques please. cheers Shane

apologies about the lack of updates. mistake after mistake led to many touch-ups and frustration (i.e. Antenna & tailwheel broke. overtly done chipping, difficulty in balancing the red / yellow stripes and aluminium body work without it looking like a toy, exhuast stains, etc) all thats left is to paint + install the landing gear and tires till next time, Shane

slow progress, getting the decals done Shane

Hi Alan, MANY THANKS! please disregard my ignorance to RNZAF Corsairs, the only research I have thus far are from Google (the myriad colours of Roundels are confusing). Shane

Hello! I would probably use the RNZAF scheme & roundels provided by the Eaglecals sheet (scheme NZ5248, No.21 Squadron). Based at Papua New Guinea From Google http://www.adf-serials.com.au/nz-serials/nzcorsair.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._21_Squadron_RNZAF Some baremetal work on the Mustang, would be tinting certain panels with Tamiya smoke till next time, Shane

Progress has been slow due to well, life. But with the club meet in End April, its time to put this project into overdrive! First, some failures 1) I managed to crack the corsair's front windscreen whilst masking it. So it has been temporarily put on hold till a replacement part arrives >>Meaning, I would enter the Mustang for the club meet instead 2) i found out the Venture decals did not have the blue border around the white bars (for the lighter coloured roundels). cue a new purchase from Hannants Some basic paintwork > 1) painted the main wheel well, 2) base coated the red / yellow portions with Tamiya XF-2 White 3) some red / yellow for good measure (particularly proud of the glossy shine on the spinner) 4) sorted out the seams on the belly radiator OH, and a NEW Purchase the white tabs you see are to fill gaps on the lower hull. tip was stolen from themodellingnews More to come =) Shane

Yep, its brilliant! Mr Finishing Surfacer Black / Grey 1500, especially when thinned with Mr Leveling Thinner. The Mustang shown in the above photo only had a light coat of it applied without any polishing. For the curious, RNZAF roundels by Ventura Publications (on the left) versus SkyModels (on the right). Am leaning towards using the lighter blue colour by Ventura Publications, do correct me if thats incorrect. Cheers Shane

Hello, Long time lurker, and the thought of contributing some work came up. so without further ado, let me present the following WIP in 1/48 scale prop planes built in conjunction. 1) Meng 1/48 P-51D, kit decals "American Beauty" 2) Tamiya 1/48 F4u-1A, RNZAF decals by SkyModels (NZ5277), roundels by Ventura Publications added Super Fabric seatbelts by Eduard, not necessary the correct ones (US Navy seatbelts) but I am on a budget. Corsair Cockpit Mustang Cockpit Primed the Corsair in a medium grey mix (Gunze Mr Surfacer 1500 Grey + Black), more work ahead in cleaning up surface imperfections + rivet (reason for the grey, as I normally prime in black) + blend the canopies in This will be a competition piece for a local club meet. Mustang (sexy plane in black), more touch-ups to do. Brilliant fit, but some step issues due to the snap-fit nature. Disclaimer > the wings are supposed to be laminated and rivets filled, but am not keen on filling and sanding so much detail. Critique welcome, especially on RNZAF corsair colours, Google-d a few forums posts but nothing concrete yet. the astute amongst you might notice a TIE lurking in the back, which I may post as a Completed build one day. cheers!