billn53
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Posts posted by billn53
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2 minutes ago, Brandy said:
I like the look of those decals, and I think your repositioning of the lights is a great improvement.
The tyre looks very square though, or is that just the camera?
Ian
The nose wheel/tire came molded in with the brass undercarriage, and the tire is more squared-off than I would like. But grinding down the brass is a bridge too far for me — I’m sure I would muck up it up!-
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A few more details dealt with this morning before doing the matt coat . . .
Masked and painted the refueling recepticle door and IFF antenna on the nose:
Added various blade antennae on the underside:
I already had these wingtip lights in the stash. From my "Hanoi Special" build, I recall these were a pain in the a**. The tip pieces are thinner than the wing, requiring significant putty work to blend in, and the joins to the wing are weak (kept breaking off during that build). Adding insult to injury, after you're done you still need to mask the actual lights. This time around, I decided to go a different route and simply cut off the relevant parts of the lights:
And glued/blended them to the wingtips using UV-activated clear resin:
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Very nicely done!
The Thunderstreak looks grand in Luftwaffe colors
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27 minutes ago, RidgeRunner said:
Nice work, Bill. Are you planning to paint the putties canopy seals at some stage?
Already done! That is a feature of the canopy masks I’m using.
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Decaling is complete! After a marathon session this morning, I finished putting decals on my Thud (at least, all that I had the patience for 😁 ). Most went on without any issues, however, I did lose a few (mainly to my own mis-handling). Tomorrow morning I'll remove the film, then I'll be ready to give everything a nice coat of matt varnish.
Also, I wasn't quite satisfied with the nosegear lights. This is where I had left things yesterday:
Notice that the lights are forward of the black radar reflector. In reality, they should be behind & below the reflector.
To achieve this, I cut the lights away from the reflector and glued them directly onto the nose gear fork. This is how they look now:
Much better!
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1 hour ago, opus999 said:
Thank you Bill! I'd love to see what you can do with a Fw-190!
No pressure though. 
Checking my stash, I have Tamiya’s 1/48 Dora, and in 1/72 I have Hasegawa’s A-8 and D-9 versions. But I recently acquired the new 190D-9 by IBG Models (plus a bunch of aftermarket), so that’s the one most likely to get built. -
I’m happy that worked out for you!
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You could certainly try overspraying as you proposed. I would do that with highly thinned base color — this will givevyou more control over the color.
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6 minutes ago, F-104 nut said:
That Thud is really looking great !! I’m really liking this 🙌
Thank you. My current worry is how to attach the brass landing gear (made for Monogram’s F-105) to the Trumpeter kit while getting the gear angles right. This is challenging because the plastic in the Trumpeter wing is thin, meaning its attachment points are very shallow.-
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Well fought, sir! Many of these Dragon kits seem to have an attitude — at least, that’s been my experience.
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Excellent paintwork, sir. Makes me want to break out and build the kit that’s been in my stash for, like, forever.
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More stencils going on (focusing on the rear fuselage at the moment):
And, I've made an attempt to improve the nose gear light arrangement:
While I was working on that, I realized the brass nose gear is missing a couple of actuators (or maybe they are shock absorbers) on the steering assembly. So, I added a pair made from styrene rod:
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1 hour ago, opus999 said:
This whole trend of removable carrier film decals is intriguing to me. I really like how they turned out on your Thud; they look amazingly real. I probably missed it, but how did you get the carrier film off?
One video is worh a thousand words!
Two things I found essential, however: a very bright light (to see the film) and sharp tweezers (to lift the film -- I'd worry about using a knife, as shown in the video above).
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1 minute ago, Gruntpa said:
These decals are amazing and give that "painted on" look to them. Definitely going to investigate these.
I concur. Uprise has decals for a goodly assortment of aircraft in various scales (I have a set for my 1/32 F-105 project). Documentation is provided as a downloadable file and is very complete.
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A bit more about the nose gear . . . .
The F-105's nose gear includes a radar reflector and two landing lights:
Trumpeter provides the reflector & lights as a separate part, which I intend to use with my brass nose gear. For the lights, I used the same technique (grind them out, paint with chrome, and add lenses made from UV-activated gel) as I did for the main gear (grind out the light body, paint with chrome, and add lenses made from UV-activated gel):
However, comparing the kit part to the real McCoy, I believe the lights should be relocated and may even be too small. Something else for my 'to do' list.
As promised, I removed the outer film layer from the Uprise decals after they had set for 24-hours. The film came off easily, without any problems at all:
With the macro lens, I can see some discoloration where the film had been. The film residue isn't visible to the naked eye and in any event should come off with a gentle cleaning.
Satisfied with the free-film decals, I have begun adding stenciling. This will be a tedious task, as Uprise provides well over one hundred decals for the stencils!!!
Let's see how far I get before I call it quits 🤪
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Oops! I meant to include this photo of the Aerocraft Models brass nose gear (after painting). It comes as a single piece, i.e., with wheel included.
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I got back from my business trip last night, and today began putting the Uprise decals on my Thud. Uprise employs "film free" technology which means the clear carrier film on the topside of the printed decal. After the decals is in place (24-hours wait is recommended), the clear film can be carefully lifted off the surface, leaving only the printed markings.
I've used decals similar to these but never before those from Uprise. Thus, I decided to just apply the 'major' markings first and see how well they work, instead of going crazy with all the various stencils carried on the F-105.
I found the Uprise decals a pleasure to work with. After just 2-3 seconds in warm water, the decals are ready to be removed from the paper backing. They go on easily, but I recommend placing them as close as possible to their final location because they sometimes 'stick' to the surface and resist being moved. As recommended by Uprise, I used Mr. Mark Softener to help them adhere to the glossy surface.
My biggest concern was with the decal shown below, due to its size. I needn't have worried, it went on without any problems 🙂
One caveat for anyone considering using Uprise's decals: When moving them into position avoid 'poking' the printed areas, as they can be damaged (note the 'M', below):
Tomorrow, I'll remove the outer carrier film and report back on that experience.
In the meantime, I've begun working on the landing gear. Because of all the weighty resin aftermarket, I intend to use brass undercarriage from Aerocraft Models ( www.aerocraftmodels.com ). The ones from Aerocraft are intended for the Monogram F-105, so need some modifications to be used with the Trumpeter Thud. Hopefully, everything will work out fine -- my backup plan is to use the Trumpeter landing gear and hope they don't bend under the load!
Here is the brass item for the main gear leg. Note the plastic spacer I've added at the top -- this is because Trumpeter's mounting hole is much shallower than that on the Monogram kit. I've also ground out the front of the landing lights as I have an idea for how to make the lights more realistic.
I made up a set of clear lenses by putting drops of thick, UV-activated gel on a glass plate and zapping them with my UV flashlight. I made a bunch in different sizes so I could pick a pair that best fit the brass gears' light housings:
After painting the ground-out 'dish' of the lights with Molotov chrome, I attached the lenses in place using clear Future as glue (in retrospect, I could have used my clear UV resin for the same purpose):
The longest part of detailing the lights was grinding out the brass housings, everything else went very quickly.
More tomorrow!
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Excellent detailing, that Academy kit cleans up nicely. The clarity of the canopy shows off your interior work, is that the original?
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I sorted out the clear glazing on the strike window, and now I'm ready to apply the Uprise decals. However, being "film free" decals I would have to let them sit for 24 hours before removing the overlaying film. Because I'm off on another business trip tomorrow, the decals will have to wait until my return.
And, I've had a minor change of plan. Instead of mounting an ECM pod and Sidewinder on the outer pylons, I will instead have Cpt. Suzanne's Thud carrying a pair of Mk.82 500-lb bombs, as in the painting below. It is, after all, "Have Gun Will Travel", not "Have Missile Will Travel" 🤪
Here are the bombs and their pylons (more Reskit parts!) -- painted, decalled, and ready to go:
I'll be back in just a few days, and will get right on the main decaling job on my return!
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Here is a curious bit of B-58 history:
That time the Air Force used bears as ejection seat dummies:
Read the story here:
https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/air-force-used-bears-in-ejection-seats/
Be sure to watch the video.
Enjoy!
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56 minutes ago, Viking said:
Beautiful, looks like it is doing Mach1 just standing still!
Cheers
John
“Just” Mach 1? Hustler’s top speed was about M2.2 😆-
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Nicely done!!! I enjoyed building mine, and it certainly looks impressive in the display case. The kit’s biggest fault (aside from some poor fit) is that the profile is foreshortened: it should be about an inch longer overall.
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Hi Loren! Great job on your B-2, I wish I had the space for something like that.
Here’s something I just found, and immediately thought of you:
Have Gun Will Travel: Trumpeter's F-105D Thunderchief in 1/72
in Work in Progress - Aircraft
Posted
I got a coat of matt varnish on, so proceeded to work on the fuselage lights.
I removed the masks from the little circular depressions that I had previously painted with chrome paint, and filled the depressions with clear UV resin:
The lights on the forward fuselage also got a coat of AK "Real Color" transparent blue:
The top of the tail fin has a red light which is represented by a raised rectangular area on the Trumpeter kit. I first painted this chrome, followed by AK's transparent red:
There are still a couple more lights to add, but before I tackle those I felt it was time to unmask the canopy. This one's for you, @RidgeRunner
😁