John Laidlaw Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 I hope everyone had a great Christmas! My wife's eye surgery was successful and made a significant improvement in her vision. We'll let this heal for a few weeks and then see if a new eyeglass prescription might improve it still further. Unfortunately, my dad's dog passed away the day before Christmas. Little gal was 18 years old, so she led a good doggie life! Cheers, Bill Excellent news on SWMBO's surgery, first of all. Keep us posted, please? 18 is a good age. However, if you love 'em, 18 is nowhere like long enough... I've had cats that have lived into their 20s, and it still wasn't long enough. Hope your dad's coping. Regarding the model - it's gorgeous, of course . I can't help regarding the details, but I'm sure someone will soon enough. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted December 30, 2015 Author Share Posted December 30, 2015 On 12/29/2015 at 22:01, Sten Ekedahl said: Looking very good so far! But aren't the cannons still missing? Thanks - the cannons are still in the paint shop. Good eye, mate! On 12/30/2015 at 00:01, John Laidlaw said: Excellent news on SWMBO's surgery, first of all. Keep us posted, please? 18 is a good age. However, if you love 'em, 18 is nowhere like long enough... I've had cats that have lived into their 20s, and it still wasn't long enough. Hope your dad's coping. Regarding the model - it's gorgeous, of course . I can't help regarding the details, but I'm sure someone will soon enough. Thanks - my dad is taking it a little rougher than he should, but we lost my mom back in 2004 so the dog had been his companion. My dad will be 87 in another month, so I don't think a new puppy is a good idea, but perhaps a retired service dog might be. Best to let things settle down first. Cheers, Bill 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 It doesn't matter how old they are and how much your head knows they won't live as long as you, losing a dog is always devastating - all the more so when you are on your own, I expect. Great to hear that the surgery went well, though. ...and the FR1 looks superb (if temporarily a little toothless, as Sten has already pointed out). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Great news about Mrs Bill's surgery. There is indeed a cable that runs from the fuselage to the ASH pod, if only I could remember where I saw the drawing of the thing. Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted December 30, 2015 Author Share Posted December 30, 2015 On 12/30/2015 at 12:38, martin hale said: There is indeed a cable that runs from the fuselage to the ASH pod, if only I could remember where I saw the drawing of the thing. A wiring harness I suppose? I'll keep looking for photos that give me an idea of where the cable ingresses and egresses, or vice versa. Cheers, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Great work bill! Glad the surgery went well for your wife, please pass on my best, as well as my sorrow for your dads loss, I remember losing both my dogs which we had from childhood. Also I hope you are keeping well Rob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 Well, lucked out again! I was able to repair the damage where the yellow paint lifted off of the primer. Here are a few photos that show the progress. You'll notice that some of the canopy masks have been removed - I wouldn't normally do that at this stage, but for some reason a few of the Montex masks curled up and would no longer stick down. There are some that I need to remove, and then I'll make new masks out of Kabuki tape for the remainder of the build. I really like the way the carburettor intake came out - you may recall that Special Hobby left this rather significant feature off of the model entirely, so I scabbed an intake onto the bottom of the forward fuselage using thin styrene card stock and a whole bunch of putty. I think it looks quite dapper! Another prominent feature that SH forgot are the vanes inside of the radiator intakes. I'll make these out of styrene stock as well, but I'll paint them before I slide them in. They have to be yellow on the bottom half, and aluminum (HSS) on the top, and I figured that would be easier to paint before assembly. To give the model some contrast, I'm planning on using a different metallic shade for the wheel wells and the wing fold mechanicals. The landing gear struts will be painted yellow. I'm also going to go ahead and give the entire model a few coats of Future to help minimise the risk of the yellow paint lifting again when I paint the black stripes on the bottom. I have no clue if this will actually make any difference, but hey, it's floor wax right? We walk on this stuff all day long and it doesn't crack, so it must be strong. It can't hurt (I hope!). The final overcoat will be a satin finish to make the aluminum look more like paint and less like natural metal. First, though, I need to go add the navigation and landing lights to the wings. Cheers, Bill 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 That TT looks great in the aluminium/yellow finish. Not far to go now Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Both Firefly are looking fantastic Bill. Good work sir. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 I think the later marks (i.e. post moving the chin radiator) of Firefly were really beautiful aircraft, and your TT is living up to it. Great carb intake. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Gee that's looking good Bill. Lucky the masks lifted after painting. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 The TT is beginning to look really smart Bill! Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 looking really nice - great paintwork 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAVY870 Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Apologies Bill the plans are is such poor condition the only thing I could do was photograph the interesting bits. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted January 5, 2016 Author Share Posted January 5, 2016 On 1/3/2016 at 05:13, NAVY870 said: Apologies Bill the plans are is such poor condition the only thing I could do was photograph the interesting bits. <snip> Great stuff, Steve! Thanks so much - these drawings agree quite nicely with the Special Hobby painting diagram. I'll bet that's unusual! I also received the following information from Canberra Kid when I was building my Sea Vixen TT. The stripes in the Firefly drawing also seem to conform with the guidance contained in this document, as well it should. I make particular note of the "datum" stripe, which must intersect the centreline of the port fuselage roundel. If you extend the stripe on the bottom that covers part of the arresting hook, you'll see that it does just that. With all of this in hand, I think I can move forward with painting the stripes. Sorry for the lack of activity here, but I came down with a flu-bug of some sort on New Year's Eve, and I've been rather sick since then. Things look to be improving somewhat now, so perhaps I can get back to the bench soon. Cheers, Bill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Get well soon Bill - as we all know the 'man flu' is the worst Following your build with awe, as usual... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted January 6, 2016 Author Share Posted January 6, 2016 Hi mates, After measuring and scaling the drawings so nicely provided by Steve, along with some trigonometric triangle calculations, I've come to the conclusion that the black stripes are 36 inches wide and the distance from the leading edge of one stripe to the leading edge of the next stripe is 9 feet. That means the yellow area in-between the stripes is twice as wide as the stripe itself. The stripes are angled at 30 degrees from the longitudinal axis of the fuselage (60 degrees from the lateral axis). All of this conforms to the written instructions as well. So! I've painted the black stripes onto the bottom of the fuselage according to those dimensions, and they match Steve's drawings precisely - which in my 1:72 scale world means to about a millimeter or so. This time, I had only two minor paint lifts - two tiny spots of yellow (that I've fixed with a brush) and then some aluminum off the trailing edge of the rudder (which will require the airbrush). I'm flummoxed by these paint lifts, as I really can't remember the last time I've had that happen. What did I do wrong, or at least different from previous builds? Nothing that I can think of - other then using Testors paints (the yellow). I hate to blame the paint though, it must be something that I did wrong. I used Gunze H77 Tire Black for the stripes in hope that the serial code decals will be visible in the areas they're applied over the stripe. The H77 seems very black, though, and I expect my hope will be dashed. I'll post some photos as soon as I fix the rudder damage and paint the wheel wells and landing gear. Stay tuned - thanks! Cheers, Bill PS. Feeling better - finally! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted January 8, 2016 Author Share Posted January 8, 2016 All right then, I promised some photos of "ze stripes!" as applied to the underbelly of the Firefly TT.4 (sans wings). So here we go! The Gunze H77 Tire Black (sic) seems much blacker than I recall from my youth. I was anticipating a very dark warm grey, the colour of, well, tyres! There's little chance the black in the serial codes will differentiate from the stripe. Oh well, I sure as 'eck ain't gonna mask that off again! The wheel wells were brush painted with Floquil Old Silver (sounds like an after shave) and Testors RLM04 Yellow. They still need a wash and some dirt and grime. There are also two flaps/covers that hinge at the forward edge of the lower radiator openings. These seem to be open in most of the pictures - Special Hobby included these with the kit, but I prefer to make some new ones out of thinner card stock. Hey, how about Testors discontinuing about half their remaining line of paint colours? Let's see, they killed Floquil, Pactra, and Pollyscale, and now they're whittling away at their own brand. I predict, since they're primarily a supplier to the US hobby industry, what will remain will be automotive, and US military colours for modern and WWII. Why? Because I think that's what they sell in the US. It's pretty easy at the LHS to see which bottles are dusty in the rack and which ones aren't. Cheers, Bill 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Laidlaw Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Crikey, that is (as per usual) some of the neatest, cleanest work I've ever seen. Beautiful. I wish I could approach that standard... but at least it gives something to aim for .I wish I understood Testors. They've killed off some of the best paint lines ever (and Floquil Old Silver - what were they thinking???), so I can only assume they're headed the way of PlastiKote. Silly sods. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Looks really good Bill, although I still would have liked to see you take a punt on the stripes in the wheel wells but that's just me being my evil sadistic self! As for Testors, it sounds like they have pushed the self destruct button. If modellers can't get what they need then they will simply go elsewhere, probably never to return, regardless of what Testors might try to lure them back. Silly sods! Martin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 That's some proper stripes work! (and I understand you don't want to mask it all over again just to have a different shade of black ) Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritag Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Crikey, that is (as per usual) some of the neatest, cleanest work I've ever seen. Agreed. Absolutely trademark Navy Bird 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Bill that painting is brilliant and is why I always love to watch your builds I agree about the Firefly lads, the later version is by far. My favourite piston engined naval aircraft Even better than the Sea Fury TBH Enjoying these two, thanks Bill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAVY870 Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Even better than the Sea Fury TBH Wouldn't be hard! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Very neat Bill, excellent masking job! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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