Nik W

Really looking forward to seeing how this progresses, by all accounts Fonderie kits aren't the easiest to put together, but they do cover some interesting subjects. Nik

Evening Jeffrey, Many thanks for those links. I was blissfully unaware that the engine pods were a bit on the large side. I think the work involved in putting that right, while satisfying, would be a bit too much for my skill levels, so that one can be left as it is. The Lone Star cockpit set does look really nice, I'd looked around for info on that set previously but come up short. Armed with that knowledge I may well be ordering a set for Hustler number two! Hi Pete, I think you're spot on there with regards to the wheel bays, after spending most of the weekend hunting for further images that was the conclusion I'd reached as well! Nik

Haven't actually made a decision on that front yet, I've got both the Mike Grant & Fox One decal sheets, so hopefully be able to pick something out from these options... Now that's something I never thought of! Snoopy would be something a bit different right enough! Not a bad idea at all...

Morning Jeffrey, I agree about the BMF looking a little bit uniform, I think that if I go down the route of foiling it I'd probably use aluminium foil as you said, just to give it a more realistic appearance. Although I think the fuel/weapons pod would have to be Alclad, the thought of foiling that complex shape is too much to bear! Do you have any photos of the Lone Star resin set? It's a set I'm tempted to get for my second Hustler, but due to its limited availability over here I'm hesitant to cough up for something unseen. You mentioned there were size issues with the engine pods? Are they terribly far out? I must admit that this wasn't an issue with the kit I was aware of. Hi Brokenedge, Thanks for the info about the undercarriage, it does look very spindly indeed when you look at it. I'm glad it's sturdy enough though, the White metal replacement sets look like an expensive addition for the same level of detail as the kit parts. I had noticed that the intakes we all styled for the two inner pylons with the bump on them for the pylon itself. Shouldn't be too hard to take that off and get it profiled back to the rest of the outer engine pod. Thanks for all the encouragement folks! Nik

Stunning work Tom, absolutely stunning. Nik

Thanks Bentwaters, love the project Bullseye story, found that in the back of the Jay Miller book - fascinating story and concept, which I hope is true, the Hustler just looks mean in SEA Camo. This wheel well issue is posing a tricky one, which I'm still a bit stumped by. The photos below seem to all contradict each other a bit, Above shows zinc chromate but underneath white at the Museum in Pima, as does the photo below from the BM Hustler walkaround. And then there is the example at the USAF Museum which has what appears to be a very odd shade of green, but may just be the flash washing the picture out. All a bit confusing as because these are all museum aircraft combined with the fact I'm far from an expert on the subject, I'm unsure as to whether the white paint in these photos has been added during museum refurbishment or not. Decisions indeed...

Evening Chris, I actually hadn't made a decision on that front yet, I'm tempted to have a go at BMF (although it would be my first time using it) as the results can be stunning if done right. Also considering using Alclad as I've previously had some fairly good results with it. Tough choice, but hopefully nearer the time the decision will be a bit easier! Nik

Evening folks! It's been a good while since my last project on here (the Dynavector Wyvern - which is still languishing waiting for paint...) as modelling time has been pretty much non-existent for the past year and a half due to a pretty hefty change in career, which saw me trade my aspirations for a light blue uniform for a dark blue one and a move to the south coast. Thankfully things have settled down a bit now, so while I'm on holdover waiting to start my Observer training in the Spring, I thought it was about time I sunk my teeth into another big project to keep me occupied in the evenings and at weekends. So here we go once again... So here she is, Monogram's classic 1/48 Hustler kit, which despite all the well known issues with the kit such as the dodgy fit of the engine pods to the wings, the odd moulding bump in front of the windshield and the raised panel lines, still builds up to be an absolute beauty of a kit (not to mention an absolute monster... still haven't quite worked out where I'll keep the finished product or the other one I've got in my collection! ) As you can see I've also got the Fisher Models detail set for the kit, which includes replacement elevons, replacements for the kit intakes + shock cones, replacement exhausts and also the earlier mark of ejector seat. Early Seat: Replacement Intake: Fisher Exhaust vs Monogram part: The first job for this beast was to re-scribe the panel lines, which at first I was a bit apprehensive about, but really isn't all that huge a job. The raised panel lines on the kit are quite prominent and almost entirely straight lines, so this task wasn't too bad. Using the kit panel lines as a guide, two evenings of re-scribing and sanding were enough to get to this stage. There are still a few areas left to be scribed, but these will need to wait till the fuselage parts are joined together as the panel lines run across both parts, so I don't want any massive misalignments in my scribing. This is where she stands at the minute, and I'm now about to commence painting of the cockpit and undercarriage bays. At which point I've run into a small problem... Does anybody have a definitive answer as to what colour the undercarriage bays and doors should be? I've seen various walkarounds which show about four different answers to this question - white, overall aluminium, what looks like a zinc chromate yellow and a fairly hideous shade of green which I can only describe as looking like Games Workshop's old style shade which was called 'Rotting Flesh'... Just to add to the confusion, the instructions for the kit call for them to be in Medium Sea Grey! Any advice would be more than welcome on this subject! My other concern is that this is going to be a fairly heavy kit once it's all together, would anyone here who has previously built one care to comment on the strength of the plastic undercarriage legs? Would a set of metal replacement legs be necessary? Anyway, this little essay has gone on long enough now, hopefully some kind soul can point me in the right direction with the colours for the undercarriage bays/doors and by posting the build here it'll give me the motivation to actually finish a build for a change (I will finish my Wyvern! I will!!!) Cheers folks, Nik

Absolutely brilliant stuff! I find the Air America stuff fascinating, this may just prove to be the inspiration I need to venture down that route myself at some point when some space presents itself in the build queue! Top stuff! Nik

Wonderful looking Mirage! I've got this kit tucked away in the stash and seeing this is giving me the urge to build it now :-) Nik

Fantastic work! The casting job you've done on those nacelles really is super work, I wish I had the skills and equipment to have a go at something like that. I've got the same kit in the stash for when time permits to devoting the necessary amount of effort to make a good job of it. Looking forward to seeing more of this!

Outstanding work on that paint job. Will definitely be bookmarking this and using it as reference for the Danish F-104s I've got planned. Keep up the great work! Nik

Is it bad that my first thought upon seeing these was; "Oooh bit of silvering on those decals!"

Hi John, That's a sod about them not doing a G - was certain I'd seen one somewhere, but it looks like I've completely made it up! Still, with your thread here to follow and all the info on the SIG site, I should hopefully be able to knock something together that looks a bit more like a G than the Airfix kit straight out of the box! Cheers! Nik

This is one I've been following over on the Canberra SIG site, glad to see it here though as well, means I can get a daily dose of Canberra here too! I've got a B-57 from Airfix tucked away in the stash, but looking at the amount of work you're having to put in to get things right with that front end, I may re-think my plans to do it as a 'G' - did CA do a G model B-57? I know their kits are a good deal more work, but the their B-57s are still relatively easy to track down from what I can tell, so that might be one option. Failing that though I'll just use this as a reference for the surgery that my Airfix one is going to need! Keep up the good work! Nik

I would have loved my first models upon returning to the hobby to be as neat and well finished as that! Great work! Nik

Evening folks, Time for a (very) small update on things with the Wyvern. Progress has been a bit slow of late due to the nights being a little lighter so I'm more inclined to actually turn up at rugby training and getting myself to the superhuman levels of fitness I'm going to need when I start IOT at BRNC at Dartmouth in a couple of months time has taken priority. Anyway, when I left this the next step in building was to add some detail under the windshield to create something that looked at least vaguely like a gun-sight. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any pictures or even technical drawings of this, so I had to use a bit of creative license and built it up with a few levels of evergreen strip and some copper wire from some old phone chargers (amazing where you can find modelling bits!). Not the prettiest looking thing ever, but it gives a rough approximation of a gunsight and with a bit of paint and some clear plastic glued in place it doesn't look too bad I don't think. I'm not too bothered that its a little bit rough and ready, as the canopy framing is quite heavy and I just wanted the area to look that bit more busy and I'm not one to freak about about levels of accuracy to be honest - if it looks right that's good enough for me! Main construction is done as can be seen in the photo below, including the resin spinners which were a pain to remove from the casting blocks without damaging them too much. Not shown in this pic is the canopy which has been masked up and painted with a base layer of NATO Black. The windscreen has been added since this photo was taken, and is currently waiting a little bit of filler to blend it into the fuselage. Next up is a bit of rescribing some of the detail which I olbliterated during the build process, and then hopefully I can start getting some paint on it and get things moving again. Thanks for looking folks! Nik

Radleigh, thats ace! I'm sure Tom has probably already told us what he uses somewhere, but I'm at work just now and trawling through the thread is sadly not an option in an open plan office! Thanks for the tips on using it outdoors as well, think I might be making a trip to Halfords or somewhere similar when I finish work this evening! Cheers mate! Nik

Hi Tom, This really is inspirational work, truly a master-class in Vacform Building and scratch-building components! Quick question for you, seeing your builds and after being bitten by the vacform bug while building my Wyvern (which I really need to update) I decided to jump in at the deep end and get myself both the Sanger Shackleton AEW 2 and the B-47. Having followed your Shack build and this, I know that with vacforms like those from Sanger I'm going to need to invest in a hefty dose of filler and I don't think my little tubes of Squadron Green & White are quite going to cut the mustard. What is the filler you use on these kits and where about is it available? I'm in the planning stages of the Shackleton just now and want to get as much in place as I can before I make a start on things. Keep up the great work though, your builds really are an inspiration! Regards, Nik

Brilliant work! Followed the build over in WiP so I'm glad to see its finally done, and looks every inch as good as it promised to during the 'In Progress' process! Regards, Nik

One method I found to get a really nice finish in the Alclad is to apply a coat of Klear over the top of the gloss black basecoat then once this has cured, polish it right up to 12000 grade with a bit of micromesh. By adding the Klear over the top it gives you a hard surface to polish up, without risking taking off the black undercoat. Once it's looking really glassy, then it's time to hit it with the repeated, very thin mists of Alclad. It does add a good few extra hours to the whole process unfortunately, but the results are well worth it, I've found I can get damn near to mirror like finishes in the Alclad with this method. Hope that helps at all! Nik

Simply stunning paintwork! That really is very nice! Nik

Super line-up of Thuds! I'm with F-32 above though, this is just giving me the urge to build a few! Nik