LorenSharp Posted December 22, 2021 Share Posted December 22, 2021 Excellent job so far Bill. I can commiserate with the pitfalls of doing a Privateer, not matter what the scale. At least the light at the end of the tunnel means it's easier to see what your doing, so that's a good thing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted December 22, 2021 Author Share Posted December 22, 2021 Well, as I mentioned - don't get your hopes up! Not my best work by a long shot but it's going to have to make do. I take solace in the fact that I was at least able to superglue strips of 0.005" thick styrene onto 0.002" thick super-stretched vacuform. Or, as Mr Spock would say, "construct a mnemonic memory circuit out of stone knives and bearskins." That must count for something. Off to try and finish the egg bubbles... Cheers, Bill 15 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted December 22, 2021 Share Posted December 22, 2021 They look pretty neat to me. This is still 1/72 scale, right? Ciao 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shalako Posted December 22, 2021 Share Posted December 22, 2021 As the old man said "IT'S A BEAUT, CLARK. IT'S A BEAUT!" 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LorenSharp Posted December 22, 2021 Share Posted December 22, 2021 Close enough for Government work, half... well you know the rest.... to pass. Better than me I would have gotten finger print glue ALL over them that small. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted December 22, 2021 Author Share Posted December 22, 2021 Arghh! I forgot the astrodome. What an idiot. Let's see if I can figure out how to add one without drilling a hole in the top of the fuselage (which would no doubt open the fuselage seam at the rate I'm going)... No cheers, Bill PS. Did I mention that I intensely dislike this kit? PPS. Ooh - I got an idea. It involves a scribing template and some paint. It worked for Roger Rabbit when he needed a door, right? 5 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LorenSharp Posted December 22, 2021 Share Posted December 22, 2021 Remember Bill, the Astro Dome is Aft of the forward Top turret. Not the usual spot, right in front of the pilot. Don't want you really cuss ( its not good for the digestion, you know) because you drilled the wrong spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted December 23, 2021 Author Share Posted December 23, 2021 45 minutes ago, LorenSharp said: Remember Bill, the Astro Dome is Aft of the forward Top turret. Not the usual spot, right in front of the pilot. Don't want you really cuss ( its not good for the digestion, you know) because you drilled the wrong spot. Me no drillin' no holes! I've got the Ginter volume and it has some nice layout drawings. The center of the astrodome is 14 feet from the center of the rear top turret - which puts it right in line with the leading edge of the wing and, as you say, aft of the front top turret. Plus, I have photos of Ol' Blunderbuss that shows this location. By the way, I took the lazy way out. I painted a flat black circle where the astrodome should be, and will glue the dome right on top of it. Looks good to me! If I had drilled a hole, it would be a black hole anyway...here is the "Black Spot" courtesy of Pew at the Admiral Benbow Inn: And the framework for one of the bubbles - this covers the rather ill defined vacuform frames. The clear bubble has been glued to the trunnion ring, and will be blended in with my spot glazing putty. I still have to add the trunnions back onto each end of the ring. I should get to that tomorrow, I hope, although my son and his family are heading up from Maryland, then the festivities will get in the way of modelling for a few days. But that's OK, family is more important. Cheers, Bill 25 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted December 23, 2021 Share Posted December 23, 2021 Looking mighty fine. Black holes, bearskins and stone knives are certainly working for you. But as you say, family first! Regards, Adrian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted December 24, 2021 Author Share Posted December 24, 2021 Hey, if I don't appear for the next few days Happy Christmas everyone! And don't forget yours truly, your humble servant, on Boxing Day. 🎁 I'm only just a short hop across the pond. Cheers, Bill PS. So what do you give the man who has everything? How about a way out of this Privateer project? I suppose I could just finish it... 4 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted December 24, 2021 Share Posted December 24, 2021 19 minutes ago, Navy Bird said: Hey, if I don't appear for the next few days Happy Christmas everyone! And don't forget yours truly, your humble servant, on Boxing Day. 🎁 I'm only just a short hop across the pond. Cheers, Bill PS. So what do you give the man who has everything? How about a way out of this Privateer project? I suppose I could just finish it... Happy Christmas Bill. Hope you and yours have a great time. Catch up on the other side! Terry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
81-er Posted December 27, 2021 Share Posted December 27, 2021 Very neat work there Bill James 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted December 27, 2021 Author Share Posted December 27, 2021 Here's how nasty the waist turret blisters looked after I was done with all my styrene and putty nonsense: But with a coat of paint, some flat varnish, and the trunnions re-installed, they just might work. And the most amazing part of this is that they actually fit into the opening in the Cobra fuselage sidewall. Maybe I should quit while I'm ahead... I added the marker beacon and IFF antennae to the belly of the beast. The astrodome went on nicely (although I had to sand a curvature in its base to match the fuselage contour), and I finally took the masking tape off of the fuselage windows. Surprisingly, those don't look too bad, and are certainly better than the moulded kit windows each of which has a giant sinkhole in the center. I forgot the armoured glass for the bow turret, so I popped off the canopy and will add the glass tomorrow. The aerodynamic fairings that cover the trunnions have to be modified slightly to fit properly. Dremel tools with cylindrical grinding bits will help fix this. Is there any of the Cobra resin parts that I haven't modified? I can't think of any. I have just a couple days left to finish this by the end of the year, but I think it's doable. Cheers, Bill 21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H Posted December 27, 2021 Share Posted December 27, 2021 With any luck Bill, once you get this done, Arma Hobby will announce one for 2023. 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted December 28, 2021 Author Share Posted December 28, 2021 1 minute ago, David H said: With any luck Bill, once you get this done, Arma Hobby will announce one for 2023. Well, it wouldn't be the first time I've sacrificed for the good of my fellow Britmodellers. Cheers, Bill 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 Those blister turrets are an outstanding piece of micro engineering Bill as is the rest of your build Stay safe Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted December 31, 2021 Author Share Posted December 31, 2021 Oh so close...the finish is in sight as long as all the horses don't pile up crashing into the hedges. I added the retractable band in the waist turret gun slots using styrene paper painted aluminum to match a colour photo that I have. The fuselage holes for the waist turrets were found to be too large, so there was a noticeable gap between the top of the turret and the fuselage opening. Since the real aircraft had a seal in this same area, I made some out of the styrene paper, painted them blue and added them to cover up the gap. An inelegant solution, but it works. The aerodynamic fairings on both ends of the waist turrets are a lousy fit - typical of this Cobra resin set. I may pop them off and try to improve the situation. Or maybe not, I've lost all my mojo for this build. I removed the front ball turret glazing to add the armour plate that I forgot. I was going to add the prop logos to each blade, but I have one good photo of this aircraft that shows the props and there are no logos present. That saves me a little work. Still need to add some antennae wires, the cockpit windows, the props, and probably something else that I'm forgetting. All told, she looks OK and I'll be glad to move onto something else. I'll count this one as a 2021 build so I can add it to my yearbook. Cheers, Bill PS. In the meantime, Happy New Year. Raise a toast of single malt in honour of whatever you want to honour. 26 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheyJammedKenny! Posted December 31, 2021 Share Posted December 31, 2021 Happy New Year to you, too! Just "ok?" It looks just "ok" to you? From this angle and distance, I'd say it's pretty fantastic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted January 2, 2022 Author Share Posted January 2, 2022 The End. A proper RFI will follow. Sometime. Perhaps. Cheers, Bill PS. I think this project swore me off Matchbox and Cobra for all eternity. 44 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LorenSharp Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 7 minutes ago, Navy Bird said: PS. I think this project swore me off Matchbox and Cobra for all eternity. Until next time that is.... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janneman36 Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 Now that is a happy new year for starters👏👏👏 I have the same kit and conversion but I was always reluctant to start the project🙃 Still yours make me still wanna built the thing … A happy new year and a lots of mojo this year .. cheers, Jan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Screech Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 Truly an inspirational build Navy Bird! Really enjoyed watching it come together. Happy New Year! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 Well done sir, Id love to build one someday. Hopefully I can use this as a guide. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheyJammedKenny! Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 Inspirational, indeed! Happy New Year, and may there be copious amounts of single malt and Mojo in your future! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 Dayam, Bill, she's beautiful! I think I speak for all of the usual suspects when I say the end product was well worth the months and months of inhaling filler and resin dust! You do know that the Second Law of Modeling states that " Right after spending months on a scratch build or conversion project, a state of the art new-tool kit will be released." We will all owe you a big debt and mass quantities of brewski's! 🍺 Mike Things could have been worse- it could have been the injected/vacform Usk B-32 Dominator kit! ( Every time I think about getting that one off of the shelf, I realize I'm not getting any younger, and put it back!. Then, there's the Esoteric P4M Mercator! 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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