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Surely the only Martian not to have been to Area 51 then

Getting on with things today. Checked again & finished up the wiring, so time to close up the fuselage. This is why we buy clothes pegs isn’t it? Then some paint on engines & outer wings. Just a quick coat that will need touching up. So which is blacker? The Blackbird or Metallica’s black album? Not painted the exhaust otters and just test spotted together So will let the body join dry over night & start filling the join tomorrow. Canopy and undercarriage to do, the nose needs finishing off & attaching too

That really adds some context to a Blackbird start up @Tailspin Turtle - thank you. It’s difficult to imagine that all going on in a shed over on the far side of Mildenhall airbase in East Anglia on Det 4

Fitted the cameras and sealed them with silver foil behind. One reason is so that there isn’t a ‘black hole’ behind but a backing of silver insulation. The other is to block any light leak through the camera apertures. Same goes for the nav window, so that is sealed off too. So I put in the lighting to check everything and added the engines with all of the bits balanced together The outer wings & engines need more sanding of joins but then are getting there. Once I fit the lighting permanently I can seal up & start filling the main body joins. But starting to get there. No rush as the Caracal decals aren’t in stock yet so unlikely this side of Christmas

Got the glazing into the camera apertures and the Astro-inertial navigation system. Plus I put some paint - a light spray I’d of brown & black - over the exhausts, then picked out the ceramic rings with an acrylic paint pen. They are a bit gold (would have preferred cream) but catch the light quite well

Great set of builds Alan. And I thought the Blackbird would be the biggest one in there. Those are some sizeable models, but great detail on them

Cheers Alan. The internet has yet to replace books for some things. I was hoping Habu.org was going to have down detachments served by airframe but they seem a little thin on the ground. ABPics is great but you have to start with the number & work back looking for photo locations. We need a US version of Thunder & Lightning for Cold War jets

That’s very useful Alan. Where did you find the codes? Provided the Caracal decals can be adapted to one of those numbers then that will be the one. Knowing that I saw 974 fly in low viz though makes her favourite

I was wondering about tail codes for Blackbirds that had definitely been at Mildenhall. As I said before I fancy a low vis marking red tail code example. So I looked at Airfete 84 and found this shot of 64-17974 She went up last as we got on the coach home. I remember people telling the coach driver we were going nowhere while she was up and to enjoy it as we may not see one display again. As it was they did but we were not to know that at the time. So that is why Blackbirds look like this to me

It’s doable to get the Italeri kit there in a short time as there are not a lot of parts! Out of the box would be quick but I have been messing about with mine so getting there more slowly Yours is coming along nicely Alan

Think I have the underneath around the camera apertures smooth enough now that looks pale but that is two coats of Humbrol matt black. I can get on with fixing the glass lenses now & get another step closer to getting the body halves together. Getting some primer on the engines now too

Now the bits of camera are together it might make a bit more sense From the other side the only bit you might be able to see. And that’s the repainted front tyres behind You can see in the pic the still not level surface, so another sand back and rescribe I will get some more paint on & check the finish again

Got my wine bottle seal cut fitted & painted. Does the job to stop light escape Few other bits tidied up. The nose wheel tyres are now black, some paint on the camera, and despite another coat of filler I think it needs another

Now cameras. Mad idea to put something inside the camera apertures. This is what I a basing my idea on I gather that is a Technical Objective Camera or TEOC. I mine don’t quite look like that, it in reality only the lense end will be a little bit visible. So balsa wood body, plastic tube & old sprue you get this Which would fit inside the body kind of like this And all you will see is this Turns out the balsa body is too chunky and hits the body top, so I have thinned it down. Get some paint on it& get them fixed inside, and then wrapped behind with some silver foil to stop the led firing the anti collision lights from shining out of the camera apertures. if I can stop fiddling with bits like this I can think about fixing the leds in and closing the nody. That would feel like progress

Fill, sand, paint, repeat. As others have said elsewhere, trying to get finish which will look right under a single colour like black means more prep than usual

The walk around shot on here are pretty good. Like this one Trouble is I never know how the colours on a museum bird compare to an operational one

Yes always keep a couple hanging about. My ability to store potentially useful resources leads to my wife calling me a hoarder. Quick prime over to see how it is going - needs a coat of green stuff to smooth it out but fit isn’t too bad

Bit of filler around the replaced bit. Think I need a prime over to see how it looks

I was just sitting here on Sunday night thinking about painting the top of the anti collision light, but thinking that the light may still get through. Then I thought about the silver foil on a cork sealed wine bottle. Can’t think what gave me that idea! Glue a disk of that on the end, pre painted black & definitely no light getting through

I was wondering about how to give the anti collision lights their red glow. So I found some red electrical insulating tape & stuck it over the inside I will paint the end black but otherwise think that will do. Now the camera apertures. Marked out to cut Cut out The inside view with the back windows plated over & the front cut outs reversed And from the outside so needs filling around the edges and blending in

That’s the problem with air to air shots. There is only supposed to be one shot of Concorde at Mach 2 taken from a Tornado that was struggling to stay with her. Most air to air shots of a Blackbird are going to be from a tanker I suspect. Unless the Russians have anything from a Foxbat…..

@Alan P I was assuming that it would have slowed and come down from high altitude to refuel so would be descending in to moist air at, for a Blackbird, slow speed, leading to moisture collection. Or even if this was a post launch refuel before heading to altitude & speed the airframe won’t be properly warmed up. Don’t know but that was my reasoning

Can’t say I have noticed it @March - is yours the Testots or the Italeri boxing? Mine is an odd Heinz 57 variety - the body is Italeri and I have the matching engines, but the built up engines I am sure are Testors. Have also only very lightly scribed as the panel joins are too noticeable. In fact the most I have noticed them was in pictures of the recovered wreck of 974 were they had started to rust

I had always assumed some of the colour on that shot is from icing and condensation, something that wouldn’t normally show on the ground

That book looks very nice @James G I have heard of an Alconbury RF-4 pilot who came back to Mildenhall flying Blackbirds. Seems to be a good starting point for them