dnl42

Titan IIIC This is the Round2 rerelease of the MPC 1/100 Titan IIIC. The kit was originally released as a static model (here) and a flying model. It looks like Round 2 may have upgraded the decals. Thank you so much to @bianfuxia amd @Bobby No Mac for hosting this GB. I have another addition to the space collection. Without further ado... And the build log is

Thank you @bianfuxia and @Bobby No Mac for hosting this GB. My space collection is now a little larger. With the kit decals and a coat of Winsor and Netwon Artists' Acrylic Matt UV Varnish, it's done! What worked: Stripping the chrome and replacing the various standoff and brackets was a Very Good Idea The Microscale solid black decal sheet did a fine job for the roll pattern. Exactly the opposite of my attempt to paint decal paper The kit decals also worked quite nicely What would have worked better: Glue the main booster stack togerther rather than building stages that I was going to glue together anyway Trim the top of the main 2nd stage to better fit the 3rd stage (the 3rd stage is way too lose in the 2nd stage). Stick with the plan on attaching the lower SRB brackets to the SRBs, not the main stage Paint all the white and gold(?) decal blocks as the decals aren't that opaque Remove the rased detail at the top of the main 1st stage so it didn't clash with the decal Off to the gallery. Thank you for watching and commenting.

Oh nice! These kits look quite excellent.

Thanks! The missing HVAR was in that film can. Both sets of decals look good. It's coming along quite nicely! First paint has hit the cockpit Thanks for looking.

There's no minute like the last minute! The Jug is normally outside of my primary interest, but between this GB and this offer from my LHS/LMS that I could not refuse, I'm in. And now the usual start photos The kit includes markings for a single option, P-47N-5-RE, 456th FQ, 4145h FG, August 1945, Iwo Jima Here are the two D sprues. A 5-in HVAR was removed from one of them The C sprue. Here are the A & B sprues, which led to that nice price. The small bits were in the 35mm film canister. Llooks like everything is here! Woot! I also found this decal sheet; 333rd FS, 319th FG, Ie Shima; 'early' and 'late' versions are available. Haven't yet decided whcih markings I'll use. With a fortnight left in the GB, there's no time for my usual geologic builting pace, but hey, this is a simpler kit, dry-fitting shows excellent fit, and I'm going to build it OOB, modulo the above decals and some metal gun barrels. It shall all be illuminated. Thanks for looking.

I found an odd article, "Exploring the Airfix Fairey Gannet" on a self-styled "global satellite communications" site. I assume my Google news feed showed it to me for AI, space, and modeling. The image in the news feed first caught my eye, as it shows a "not-a-gannet". Looking for at the image further, it's not even self-consistent! That makes me expect the image is an example of generative AI (for example, Chat GPT, perhaps "create an image of a modeler building an airfix fairey gannet"). The article text looks similarly Chat GPTish.

Oooh, nice! Will that be a service truck for your fllet?

Wow, talk about a turn of events! It turns out I had a sheet of Microscale black decal. Stiffer and robust compared to my painted decal. I was able to get 2 of the 3 roll pattern sets on each booster. Back on track!

Thank you for kind words! Well, the decals didn't work. They were too fragile and the paint would break with the least tension. Every block I put down cracked in multiple locations. I'm going to have to mask this. I hope I can make it.

Wecome aboard!

Very nicely built Super Cub!

Some more space might be made available with a display case. My display case is filling up, so I'll soon add more shellves in a closer pitch. That will about double the space. After that, boxen in the attic or worse... One method I read about for aircraft model is to hang the models by the tail against the wall with fishing line. This puts the model's wheel's against the wall and allows for fairly dense packing. Would also allow better viewing of the important bits.

I just found some things that may be useful An LED driver board, https://www.tindie.com/products/terraintronics/conwy-castle-simple-4ch-led-driver/ Associated LED tutorial, https://github.com/Audio-Rochey/TerrainTronics-Conwy-Castle HTH -- dnl

My, that is some fine construction!

After much pondering, I decided to go with decals for those roll marks. I painted the nose code and a sheet of clear decal paper with Tamiya Flat Black. Before I painted the that white band on the main booster, I did a proper job of smoothing the joints and repaired the resulting damage to the raised details with Archer Fine Details' resin raised panel lines. This stuff is excellent--I'm still sad they shut down. At any rate, more priming with Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 and another coat of silver rendered it ready for the while band. I then spent quite a while with Tamiya masking tape for the silver bands on the SRBs. Easily 10x the time spent painting the bands. Not quite visible are some small divots in the right hand SRB from the masking. Luckily they'll be under the roll marks, so I just need to feather the edges. After that, I'll give the model a gloss clear coat with Mr. Color Clear (C-46) in preparation for the decals. The gallery is yet in sight! Thanks for looking.

Are you familiar with LEDs? If not, some useful facts. They are polarized, the longer lead is the anode (positive), the shorter lead is the cathode (negative). They are available in a variety of voltages. They need a current-limiting resittor. They're typically wired in series; sometimes paralle. GIYF on using them. A useful tool to have is called the "LED Buddy", by Velleman. It's a kit that must be assembled (you'll need a soldering iron). It allows you to determine the polarity and correct resistor for a given LED, supply voltage, and brightness.

That is seriously good work! And that cockpit. O.M.G.!

Welcome aboard!

Not that I'm aware of. There will always be a material interface (joint) between the two parts. You can minimize the seam at the surface by making the mating surfaces very smooth and planar. Even so, you're going to see it unless it's hidden by paint. This is true for clear and opaque pastic. Do you have a joint that won't be hidden by paint? Is it possible that joint is present in the prototype?

@Winnbowman, that's a nice photo! But as that's a restoration aircraft (USS Midway Museum, San Diego), a contemporaneous corroborating photo is posted at https://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2016/08/f9f-panther-catapult-hook-up.html @Tailspin Turtle has a number F9F posts that should be quite helpful.

My experience with such canopies placed the joint within a frame. This allowed me to hide the joint behind the frame paint. I used a clear-drying acrylic to glue the parts together and to the fuselage. One such example was the Special Hobby 1/48 Goose. Absent obsuring with paint, I can't imagine a treatment that would render that joint invisible. I'm happy to be proven wrong.

Welcome aboard!

Excellent work! That's an outstanding build of a kit from 1960!

That's quite a build. Those awards are very well derserved!

Welcome aboard!