billn53

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:

Speaking of detail work . . . . Here's the camo after a panel line wash. I didn't want this to be 'in your face' -- I'm pretty happy with how it turned out: Installed the clear window for the strike camera. It stands a bit proud of the housing, so I'll likely sand it down and polish it back to clarity: Trumpeter provides little clear lenses for the four blue formation lights. From past experience, these like to fly off into another dimension -- I'll instead use clear UV-activated resin for the lights. The mounting holes, however, are pretty deep so I made them shallower by inserting plastic rod, and then painted the visible part with chrome paint: Next, I commenced decaling the drop tank and pylons. I'm very impressed with the stencils that Reskit provides. Here's what they look like: All that's a full afternoon at the bench, and I'm ready for my nap!

Must have been a fun kit to put together! Like painting on a blank canvas.

You’ve done an excellent job on the metallic finish, something I can only aspire to achieve.

Drop tanks are painted. I didn't use any masking or servo tape here, as I wanted them to look as if they'd been done 'in the field' by the ground crew. I also masked and painted the area around the gun muzzle: And, the unwanted seam along the dorsal spine has been sorted out: I believe I'm now at the point of applying a protective gloss coat in preparation for decals and some light weathering. 😃

More paint work: Masked and painted the wheel bays with Mr. Color green zinc chromate, and the radome & two antenna areas behind the nose gear with Tamiya black: Used a fine black pin to detail the main gear bays, followed by a thin black enamel wash to bring out highlights: The center pylon was done with Alclad dark aluminum. It also got the black wash treatment: Some very careful masking was needed to paint the narrow metallic band at the base of the radome: I noticed a hairline crack along the dorsal fuselage seam, so I gave it a coat of Mr Surfacer 1200: While that's drying, I think I'll tackle the camo on the underwing drop tanks.

Simply amazing, Adrian! I really had to double-check that this is 1/72, not a larger scale. Thanks for sharing!

Looking good! You are exactly where I was seven years ago: Building a ‘practice’ kit after being away from the hobby for a few decades. I can see you are off to a good start!

I got back from my business trip last night, and today I spent time at the bench finishing up the camo paint. Here's how my Thud now looks with her colors on: One thing that I did learn is that the servo tape doesn't like being on the model for a week. I found the masks were hard to remove and the tape often remained on the surface. Fortunately, the tape likes to adhere to itself more than the plastic, so I was able to 'roll' the stubborn pieces off the model using my fingers. In a few places, some paint came off as well: but the touch-up was relatively easy. Next up: doing some detail painting, plus painting the pylons and fuel tanks.

Also the set by Uprise Decals, which is what I will be using.

Nicely done! Coincidentally, that’s the same scheme I’m using with my current F-105 build.

I'm all packed up and ready for tomorrow's flight. And, I even managed to find some bench time today ☺️ First up, here's the final result of my repair to the tail fin. Not perfect, but much better than before and it should look fine under a coat of paint: Speaking of paint, I've started the upper camo colors. I cut out my paper masks and used 'servo tape' to give them a stand-off from the plastic surface. Servo tape is a double-sided tape and about 1/16-inch thick. I've used it before and it gives a good, light feathered edge between colors. Here's an example where I've masked off the Thud's gray underside and sprayed light tan on the fuselage side: First camo color (light tan) is on: And, the second color (medium green) is in-process: I'll pick up again next weekend, when I return from my business trip.

Camo painting has begun! I'll be using Hataka Orange line lacquers (new to me) as I like how they appeared on some other builds I've seen. The first color (light gray FS 36622) is on -- notice how my ugly black pre-shading has faded to subtle panel line shading: While painting, I noticed what appears to be a short-shot of the mold injection at the bottom rear of the fin. It should look like this (Monogram's kit on the right): But my kit's fin is severely rounded there instead of coming to a sharp point. To fix this, I added a small piece of styrene strip at the bottom of the fin, then filled in missing areas with sprue gloop: After the sprue gloop has hardened, I'll use a knife and file to get the proper shape. Moving on, I've finally decided on which particular aircraft to model. I've chosen 61-0159 "Have Gun Will Travel / Honeypot II". In this aircraft, Cpt. Jacques A. Suzanne of the 333 TFS achieved a gun kill against a VPAF MiG-17 on May 12, 1967. As described in the book "Aces & Aerial Victories", Cpt. Suzanne was leading a flight of four flack suppression F-105s in support of a strike mission when the flight was intercepted by five MiG-17s. Suzanne recalls: "At this time I turned into the MiGs and tracked the two that broke off to the right. Closing to 4,000 feet of range, I fired one burst of about 200 rounds. The MiGs then reversed to the left and at 800 to 1,000 feet I fired another burst until minimum range. Then I broke off as one MiG went under my left wing in a 70-degree dive, trailing white smoke. The MiG continued in this descent and disappeared under a shelf of clouds at approximately 1,000 feet of altitude. Crossbow 02 (Suzanne's wingman) observed the MiG on the way down and saw a bright flash on the ground in the position that the MiG disappeared." The necessary markings are on Uprise Decals's "F-105D Thunderchief Vietnam War Pt. I" sheet. The Uprise decals use FFA (Free Film Ability) technology -- after the decals have been applied and allowed to dry for about 24-hours, the carrier film can be peeled away leaving just the image. I previously have used similar decals from HGW to apply a multitude of stencils on a 1/48 F-4J Phantom, and was mightily impressed! But first I must get the camo colors on. I scanned and re-sized the camo markings from the Uprise Decals instruction sheet and will cut the printed scans apart to create masks for the upper colors. Vietnam-era Thuds exhibited great variations in their camo patterns, and the downloadable Uprise documents provide individual patterns for each aircraft on the decal sheet: Day after tomorrow I'll be traveling on business for a week, so I likely won't begin painting the upper camo colors until I return. Stay tuned!

I love the idea! It’s projects like this that keep the modeling juices flowing. 👍

Before tackling the camo paint, I took care of one more 'must do' item best done before painting. When on the ramp and powered-down, the Thud's horizontal stabilizers would 'droop' to a "nose down" position, as seen in this photo: Without additional support, the plastic mounting pins on the Trumpeter parts would most likely break off were I to mount the horizontal stabs in their ramp configuration. So, I cut off the platic pins and replaced them with 1-mm brass rod: I also had to improve on the mounting holes in the rear fuselage. The kit plastic isn't very thick there, allowing the horizontal stabs to 'flop' around. My fix was to drill out the holes on either side of the fuselage and run a length of tubing, sized to fit the brass pins, from one side to the other. Fortunately, the tubing was able to clear the resin afterburner can without any problem! The horizontal stabs now fit nicely in the brass tubing and they can be angled to match photos of the real aircraft.

Excellent result! It certainly builds up nicer than the 1/72 Airfix offering, which is truly a dog of a kit 😖

The Reskit nose is on, and I’ve pre-shaded the panel lines with Tamiya NATO Black. Camo colors will be going on soon! 🙂

I just got back from my business trip late last night, and this morning opened my mail to find this recently-released gem from Reskit: It's a nicely molded (3d printed) nose for the Thud, in 1/72 (I also received the 1/32 version for my big Thud build). In addition to the nose cone, Reskit provides a turned metal nose probe. I found that the opening in the nose cone is a bit too small for the probe, so I opened it up by carefully running a drill bit through the hole by hand. I do wish, however, that Reskit had provided options for the 'bump' under the F-105 nose, i.e., bump with combat camera, bump with RF-receiver only, and clean (no bump) nose.

Just got back from the Mad City Modelers annual show. Our new venue is both attractive and spacious (we'll be hosting there in July for the IPMS-USA National Convention -- Be there or be Square). I didn't do too shabby . . . five entries, four awards (2 silvers, 2 bronzes). I was disappointed that the big Bounder didn't place, but it was up against some very impressive competition. One of the judges came to me afterward and said he was sorry there wasn't any 4th place award, otherwise that's what he would have given me. Tomorrow morning I'm off on a week-long business trip, so no more modeling for me until I return.

Gorgeous! The Hataka colors look spot on, I plan to use them for my ongoing Trumpeter Thud builds (1/72 & 1/32)

What a joy to see! When I was a kid and Hawk was producing kits, my best friend received the aluminized U-2 from his father. Boy, was I impressed (and envious)! You've done the T-33 nicely -- well done! In bit of nostalgia, I recently built Hawk's old F4D Skyray straight out-of-the-box (it was my first model kit ever). I even restricted myself to using only the tools specified in the instructions: glue, brushes, bottle paint, and hobby knife: It turned out much better than I could have done when I was nine.

In case anyone is curious, here are my entries for this weekend's show: Amodel's 1/72 M50 "Bounder" (1/72 and smaller jets) -- I'll have to get there early to claim enough table space for this monster! LS's 1/72 Mitsubishi 'Kamikaze' (1/72 and smaller single-engine prop) Airfix's 1/72 Cessna O2 Skymaster (1/72 and smaller multi-engine prop) AMP's 1/72 Lenticular Reentry Vehicle (Real space - All scales) And, because the theme for the show is 'D-Day', I've dusted off Monogram's 1/48 P-47D Thunderbolt (1/48 single-engine prop) Wish me luck!

Between business travel and classes at the university, progress is slow. Here's where I stand so far: I added the tiny clear part for the HUD: And then added a bit of iridescent film to give it angle-dependent color and reflectivity: Next, I masked the canopy pieces. These are from Dead Design and come with two masks for each panel, one smaller than the other, in order to paint the canopy seal color separate from that of the frame: A bit of Eduard photoetch completes the forward windscreen: I glued the windscreen in place with ZAP Formula 560 Canopy Glue and taped it in position while the glue set. The rear canopy part is dry-fitted in place to protect the interior while painting. I've also spent a few hours working on bits and bobs that will hang off the wings. Here are a brace of Reskit's beautifully detailed Mk117 bombs: Closeup view: Reskit's ALQ-87 jammer pod is also a piece of art: This weekend is our local model show (not the big IPMS Nationals, that will be in July) and I will be bringing a handful of entries. Then, next week I'll be out of town on yet another business trip. So don't expect anything new from me until after I return!

For the big leading edge landing lights, you might consider using clear packing tape instead of the overly-think kit transparencies. Simply lay a piece over the wing opening and, using a sharp blade, cut it to shape. It’s much clearer than styrene and takes well to masking (at least, that’s been my experience). Here's an example where I used the tape technique for the landing lights on a 1/72 Airfix Cessna Skymaster:

Ooohhhh! I just received the Sova Bomarc, and have a Belcher Bits kit in the stash, so I’ll be following along.