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1/48 Hobbyboss A-6E Intruder


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3 hours ago, 81-er said:

Good save on the decal. I do wonder who was doing the QC on those

 

James

Probably no one. The decals actually sit down really nicely. It looks a little funny with the J being slightly(?) bigger but I don’t think it’s too noticeable. 

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 Its lookin really good arthur, well painted ,concerning the decals 🤭, ive got a kittyhawk 1/35  sh60 and while i was looking at the decals i noticed quite a few say nothing at all its just random letters in a row, some of them are quite prominent too like yours ,I'd  made a bit of a start on it, but its now on hold as i need to source proper decals , 

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On 4/5/2022 at 7:39 PM, arfa1983 said:

Well the airbrush is still somewhat ill. I think I need to lube the needle up a bit. Not sure what common household substance I can use. Any suggestions? 

Fantastic work so far @arfa1983 👍
 

Your local hobby shop (OTAKU ME I assume) used to have a small airbrush servicing kit from TAMIYA which among other included some nozzle sealant and grease. I have used this kit for my own airbrush (which by the way is also from OTAKUME) when I had issues with the airbrush not working well and the general servicing sorted it out. I’m sure the staff at OTAKUME would be more than happy to help you out :) 

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On 4/5/2022 at 6:39 PM, arfa1983 said:

Well the airbrush is still somewhat ill

 

Bubbles in the cup on mine (Harder and Steenbeck Infinity) is a symptom of either the seal on the back of the nozzle or it's mating surfaces leaking air into the paint place instead of sending it rapidly past the nozzle. I've fixed it on mine with metal polish on a Q-tip,shining up the mating surface in the main body.

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Thanks for the info @desert falcon and @Bertie Psmith. Sure enough it seemed to be the nozzle seal. I used some lip balm on the threads and after a few good cleans also, it seems to be back to 90% health. I've ordered spare needle and nozzle which will get delivered to my parents place in Australia. 

 

But the show must go on!

 

And I'm close now,  basically everything is painted,  decaled and is ready for weathering and final assembly. I have absolutely got to the point now where I just need to get it done. Invariably this always seems to happen with my projects. In any case it's no problem. I think she's going to look good enough. 

 

If I had of done the low vis option I would be finished by now I realised today as I masked the drop tanks!

 

The kit decals, even though the artwork is not amazing, sit down into the details on the model so perfectly and easily. Even without softner they seem to just suck themselves into the panel lines and rivets. I'll get a close up picture next time. 

 

I sort of like the clean look,  but I think I'm going to give it some pretty decent weathering just to make it more visually interesting. 

 

Next weekend is my last weekend before travelling back to Australia so that's my deadline. Should be an easy job across the line I hope!

 

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4 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said:

Will you take it back to Oz?

It's just a holiday so no. In the past when moving countries I have usually sold my built models on evilbay. 

 

It's surprising but often I can get enough for them to cover the cost for the kit and some materials. On my last move I swapped a whole bunch for unbuilt kits much to my wife's chagrin! 😂

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2 hours ago, arfa1983 said:

It's just a holiday so no. In the past when moving countries I have usually sold my built models on evilbay. 

 

It's surprising but often I can get enough for them to cover the cost for the kit and some materials. On my last move I swapped a whole bunch for unbuilt kits much to my wife's chagrin! 😂

 

I used to do that years ago. I'd start the bidding at the kit plus paint price. They all sold except one. They went all over the world and let to me doing a commission build for a guy in Florida, which it turned out I hated doing! I can't remember why I stopped selling them. Postage hassle I think.

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I’ve now got everything pre-assembled and given the  sub assemblies a panel line wash with a mixture of mostly Tamiya Grey with a bit of dark brown in it.

 

I used the Tamiya branded q-tips/cotton buds to clean it off, and although they were probably literally 10 times the price of cheap supermarket ones, they are about 12 times better and they don’t break down at all unless really agitated. This photo shows the model before the line wash was removed.

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Hopefully tomorrow I can dullcoat and do final assembly!

 

in any case I have to finish by Thursday if I want to get it in the gallery. And I definitely want this off the bench. 
 

It has been a seriously fun build with a lot of work required but I’ve enjoyed almost every second of it. 

Edited by arfa1983
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Ok well calling it done!

 

A thoroughly challenging build for my skill level, and plenty of room for improvement. But at end of the day I (try to) build for fun, and once it stops being fun (ie too much repetition) then it's time to hit the race to the finish button.

 

I still finished this to a higher standard than I normally would have, thanks to the tips and encouragement and inspiration from the other fantastic builds in this GB.

 

And finally, after many years in the stash I finally have the venerable A-6 Intruder on my shelf and could not be happier. 

 

I will try get some proper photos for gallery before my trip, but if not I'll upload these same ones.

 

See you in the F-15 group build, but of course I'll be lurking in the other ones as usual!

 

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