Bstarr3

Agreed completely

Thanks. I love seeing peoples work spaces as well, although it usually just ends up making me jealous. I'd love a thread of workbench pics. Where should we start it?

Thanks. Welcome to follow. As for the tidiness of the workspace, I've just moved into it, so it will probably never be this clean again

Main painting done on my Korean War M46. This is one of the famous tiger face Pattons from the 6th Tank Battalion, 27th Infantry Division in the early going on the Korean War. I'm making it as part of a diorama for my father in law, as his dad was a communications officer in the 6th. Only a couple WIP pics so far. First primered in black, then with main coat on. Really happy with how the masking went for the yellow, and the stripes are hand painted. And then, some shots of my new updated space. After a year of sweltering in the garage in NC, I finally got some indoor space after my daughter went away to college! And my homemade spray/photo booth with newly upgraded lighting. Will post more as the weathering proceeds, and hopefully be able to show pics of my finished diorama... someday.

Thanks all for words of praise! It is now officially an award winning model, as I have been awarded "Most Creative" in a Mission Models/Spray gunner hosted Facebook contest! My first time entering anything for competition

Thank you. It is theoretically removable, although a lot of the stuff closer to the plane is just sort of stuffed in and not affixed in any way, so I'd have to rebuild it if I wanted to remove and replace it

Thanks both. I don't love the base, actually. Its my first time trying watercolor paper as a sea base, since I was going for a high altitude effect. I was trying to go for the effect of some clouds far below, but I agree that it's unconvincing. I finally left that one because it covers up a sloppy area where the rods go into the base.

Thank you! Agree its a very nice kit. My best ever probably still goes to the Tamiya 1/32 Mossie.

Thank you. Yes they are 10mm acrylic rods I bought on Amazon. I softened them with a heat gun (tried a hair dryer but it wasn't hot enough so went out and bought the heat gun) and bent by hand. I also glued some styrene tube with a 12mm ID into the exhaust port, which accepts the rod and keeps the strain off the kit nozzles.

I started a WIP thread on this one, but ran out of initiative to keep up with posting photos. First a couple shots of the finished kit. Mission Models paint and kit decals for VF-84 CAG. Modified to be displayed in flight. Then the magic part: chicken wire and cotton wool to build a vapor cone as the ship transits the sound barrier. It doesn't look exactly like the reference photos, but I'm really pleased with how it came out! Comments and criticisms welcome. Thanks for looking!

Construction completed, and the simple paint job done, now it's on to a lot... And a lot... ...and a LOT of masking. I would advise anyone doing this kit of two things: 1) the fit of the nose to the main fuselage is so good that it can be done after painting. This saves a lot of masking if you paint the parts separately. 2) the wings can be left off and painted separately as well. However, if you aren't careful with your gluing, they'll get stuck on and you'll have more masking work to do. Ask me how I know. Now a little more insight into how I plan to do my display. I got some 10mm clear acrylic rod. I tried heating it with a hair drier to bend a curve into it, but I'm obviously going to have to use a heat gun. I secured this styrene tube inside the exhausts, which is a loose press fit for the acrylic rod. Painting on the exhausts. I used Vallejo Metal Colour and Mission Models metalics, along with a little Tamiya clear blue and red, and then a heavy coat of Tamiya smoke. Black basing for the light gull gray. Started with Stynylrez black, and marble coated with Mission Models light gull grey. To add to the tonal variation, hit a few panels with white, a couple of areas with dark rust, and also spatter sprayed some white all over. I did this by thinning the pain less and holding the airbrush farther away with high air pressure. Blended with multiple very thin coats of light gull gray. All paints Mission Models brand. Next will be to spray black for the vertical stabilizers and around the canopy, and aluminum at leading edges. Probably will do a little post shading before removing all the masking.

Cheers!

It's been a while, but a few progress pics. Tamiya do not want you to build this kit with wheels up! I had to build some structure up to support the closed gear bay doors Tried a new technique for dealing with seams: shaved off some slivers of sprue and melted them into the seam with Tamiya extra thin. Went great - no sign of a seam after sanding. White primer followed by a little preshading in Ocean Grey and rust colors, then a thin blending coat of insignia white on top. I'm using all Mission Models paints for this build, and their insignia white is really like a cream color. Didn't care for the way it looked so went back over it with white, which covered almost all of my preshading. In the meantime, I've also built and painted the ejection seats and assembled drop tanks, pylons, and missiles. Pictures of those forthcoming, along with my planned device for displaying in air...

I think I'm going to go with the classic standby, VF-84 Jolly Rogers. How are the kit included decals? Should I spring for aftermarket?

Just getting started on my next project. Having done exclusively WWII subjects for the past several years, I thought I'd try out a well-regarded kit of the plane that got me interested in aviation in the first place (via Top Gun, naturally). The kit is usual top grade from Tamiya, and the office goes together with their usual puzzle like engineering and fit. Here it is, finished up for now, still awaiting seats and crew. I think a little modification is in order, because I've decided I'll be building this bird wheels up. Stay tuned in the coming weeks to see if my idea for an in flight display comes to fruition...