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Mach Busted. Eduard Bell X-1 1/48


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Finished the iconic Bell X-1 Mach Buster a few weeks back and have only just got round to popping it up here.
Learn’t a hell of a lot while building it. You know. That ‘Oh right’ just after the ‘Oh ****’ followed by a small paddy. So she’s not perfect. Not by a long shot. So I’ve used a few distraction techniques in the following.

Like i said, had some issues along the way! Didn’t go with a primer, hey … it’ll be ok, right? Nope. Theres still an orange tinge to everything on my desk and while spraying the finishing coat(s) ended up with an orange peel finish in a few places, which you can see. Looks like skin ! And caused havoc with the wash. Which is a little heavy (under statement). Decals or should i say Pro Decals. Look great but wow, what a job they were to lay down without curling under on themselves and deforming at a touch. So much so the model was shelved for a bit. They scared me off … until i grew some. I broke both of the thingamabobs for wing tips while cleaning them up, so they’re missing. So in conclusion. Fought me all the way, some fit issues, CRAZY decals but such an iconic plane i had to share it with you.

All comments and critique very, very welcome. Hope you enjoy the pictures. Cheers

 

Bellx1.jpg

 

Thanks for looking! 
Simon

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That's a cracking job Simon -  It looks good in orange, which incidentally is one of the more tricksy colours to spray :) I know you had some decal issues, but you'd never know it  :thumbsup:

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1 hour ago, Tony Oliver said:

Looks great! Apart from the probes wouldn't have thought it caused all that drama! 

 

 Got one of these on the bench too. Currently trying to decide how much weight to put in behind cockpit... 

 

I'm a total drama queen Tony. As for the weight, 30p worth of coin taped and glued in. 

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We can all suffer from gritty overspray/orange-peel* in our intimate areas too, so every time you spray a coat, check for it, and sand it back with the most delicate technique you can muster with a very fine sanding stick.  That will help to minimise it for the next coat. :)

 

* Technically orange-peel is that lumpy paint that's half-dried on the way to the model, so has a texture like the skin of an orange.

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Stunning.  That really looks good.  Sometimes I think with some of these less than Tamigawa perfect kits that we have to build it twice, once to make the mistakes and figure out what the problems are and once more to get everything right the first time.  This airplane is really beautiful.  Makes me want to build one.

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42 minutes ago, Niles said:

Stunning.  That really looks good.  Sometimes I think with some of these less than Tamigawa perfect kits that we have to build it twice, once to make the mistakes and figure out what the problems are and once more to get everything right the first time.  This airplane is really beautiful.  Makes me want to build one.

Thanks niles. Totally agree with you on the 2 kit thing. 

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