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Canada: 1:144 RCAF CC-150 Polaris


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Hahah this kit was suppose to "ease" me back into this hobby but like all good things... she's attempting to down me!

It does give me great pleasure, however, to see what I can do these days when I think that Jim from 5 years ago would have accepted the low detail kit engines and would have changed his plans to gear down in the face of so many problems! In fact Jim from 5 years ago would have given up by now!

And that's thanks to this community so thanks guys!

.... But were not done yet!

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Go Jim!

So I suppose I have to ask, since you are building it wheels up are you going to mount it on anything? With my wheels up builds I put mine on home made stands made from craftwood bases and acrylic rod.

Like this incomplete build

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Hey Ray,

Nice jet! DHL 757?

The plan as it stands is to mount the jet on a cheap and cheerful display stand. Most likely a cheapish wooden based one. When I was planning it I had ordered a bulk set of stickers for my tool-kit, one of which was the Canadian Air Force Roundel which at the time I thought Brilliant must hang on to that.... Did I remember nope.... full steam ahead it went onto the tin and a was cut along the seams of the partitions.

So I havent quite settled on how its going to look done... might go classy with a CAF Roundel enamel pin and brass plaque.

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Very rarely in life does the opportunity arise to see an example of the aircraft you are building when you are building it! Even more so in the lesser built air forces group build but yes the stars lined up and I got to see a Polaris today in the flesh and so many questions have been answered and so many mistakes in painting avoided!

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  • 3 weeks later...

So last week I finally closed up that other pesky landing gear door and now its as smooth as the proverbial babies bum! The flap track fairings also recieved a lot of TLC, they are by no means perfect in shape with each one being a little different however they are all now level with the surface of the upper wing and although not perfect are much nearer the proper shape.

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I also last week while applying the lessons learned from my walk around of the jet decided to test the paints out. They are a little off for the actual jets colours but I think they look really,really smart so I am going to take myself a little artistic license and I will use these colours instead of searching for a more grey top colour and a paler bottom colour.

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When I did my walk around I learned that the interior wall of the engines is not an off shade of white which I was intending on doing them and which I had just assumed from the fleet of Airbus aircraft I work on was standard, instead I learned that the walls were instead a similar shade of pale blue grey as the external panels and that the blades were not black, instead a dark metallic grey. I also took the opportunity to fill the cavernous gap where the front and rear sections of the engines joined and set about starting the paint process. I foolishly didnt take any pictures of this stage and am nearing its completion so will do so when the internal areas of the engines are finished and ready for presentation.

Today so far I finished fixing up the last flap tracking fairing and I set about adding another bump to the roof, an extra I assume radar/radio fitting the military jet has that the civillian jet is missing. Its crude and not my best work but will suffice.

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Currently I am just taping up the rear tail plane to have filler added and leave to set over night while I give the engines their last coats of paint and seal them up ahead of mounting them to the wings tomorrow.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey Folks!

Ive been pottering about the last weekend and of course this is Bank Holiday weekend or as we all know it as BUILD ALL THE THINGS WEEKEND. And I didn't want to just post small updates I wanted to give you guys a massive update! So here we go!

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Look into the fan intake with the pale blue interior walls, metallic grey blades instead of black and silver external panels. To do this was a little tricky requiring staged spray painting and very fine detail work on the blades themselves as well as testing out the use of smoke paint to make the gunmetal grey darker.

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With the engine interiors now painted I set about delicately covering the intake with an engine cover inspired mask. Once I did that I sat the tail on its end and from some pictures I had taken of the Jet I got to see a few weeks back I examined the rear end of the engines, focusing on the weathering of the aircraft that had just come from a flight, not fresh from the wash bay.

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On the exhaust cone I applies Flat aluminium first, to give that worn, repeatedly heated flat dull metal tone. Then I used a little metallic grey and gunmetal smudged along the flat aluminium to give a multi tonal area around the lip of the exhaust. Moving back at the ring I applied metallic grey and smudged it with gunmetal to give it a dirty metal look before giving the final cone a complete gunmetal grey paintjob to make it appear the darkest of the metals before I smudges these areas with smoke paint and the exposed metal bit on the pylon. All of this aims to give the impression of a realistic used engine, like the aircraft is in the middle of some transatlantic flight.

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With that all done I set about the very, very tedious job of masking off the metallic parts of each of the engines. Before mounting them I tackled an area I have been avoiding for a little while, the Tail plane. Covering the area heavily in tape and green putty I then sanded away the canyons and was left with a rather impressive smooth hole free tail plane,

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This left the moment we have all been waiting for. I fitted the engines to the wing and let them cure overnight. I then fitted the wings to the fuselage, and at last the aircraft is now whole.

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