Childhood Memories: Building a stone-age kit with stone-age tools (Double build)

[AdrianMF]

On 19/11/2022 at 15:08, Flying Badger said:

....the paper instructions and the cardboard of the box are clearly part of the kit...

I did an OOB 12-hour Airfix Tiger Moth starter kit build a few years ago with just scalpel and tweezers extra and made the belts out of the brown paper bag it came in. Don’t know if that would have gotten me disqualified…

 

Regards,

Adrian

[RidgeRunner]

There's a heap of great work going on here, Bill (as always). Its amazing, isnt it, what can be acheived with the simplest of tools.👍

[billn53]

6 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

There's a heap of great work going on here, Bill (as always). Its amazing, isnt it, what can be acheived with the simplest of tools.👍

Yes, I never in my worst nightmares thought I’d be scraping down brush marks with the edge of an X-acto knife!

[opus999]

On 11/27/2022 at 1:23 AM, billn53 said:

Also, Hawk thoughtfully engraved painting guides for the walkways.

They also thoughtfully provided engraved guides for national markings on their T-6 and SBDs... ask me how I know!

 

I'm really impressed with both of these builds.  I think the way you handled the ill-fitting canopy was fantastic.  I didn't have the skills to make that look decent when I built mine and am reminded of the poor fit every time I go downstairs!  I see you addressed the lack of landing gear bays, but I must have skimmed over the details.  I was wondering how you were going to address that.  That was one of the biggest disappointments of the kit.  The best I could muster way back when was to paint the engraved landing gear bay panel dull while the rest was gloss. Ugh.

[billn53]

My "Stone Age" Skyray is done!

 

(appropriate celebratory video  🥳 )

 

 

 

 

I did my final detail painting, including the anti-glare panel and radome. Scary hairy stick work without masking!

 

 

 

Then, decaling. The "stars and bars" are from my spares box, all the other decals are homemade copies of the kit originals (which were too far gone to use):

 

 

 

Per my self-imposed rules, using a clear coat was a no-no, so the decals gleam at certain reflection angles. I cringe every time I see this 😢

 

 

 

Lastly, I installed the landing gear parts:

 

 

 

 

And that about wraps it up! Here are a few "walk-around" photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

The Skyray is definitely a mean-looking aircraft. It's no wonder I was in love with it as a child!

 

 

On the other front, I added the vacuform windscreen. It had some fit issues so I've applied a generous amount of Mr Surfacer in hopes of salvaging it. If that doesn't work, I have a backup plan in mind . . .

 

 

and, I've painted the canopy rear section, which turned out looking pretty good IMO:

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow I leave for my business trip, and I'll be spending most of today doing homework (so I won't have to do it while traveling). Thus, no more bench time until I return on Friday.

 

 

[LorenSharp]

Bill there is only one comment I an make on this excellent build......Yabba- Dabba-DOO!

[AdrianMF]

Well the OOB one looks great, so that must mean that your “everything including the kitchen sink” one will look even better!

 

No pressure then…

 

Regards,

Adrian

[RichieW]

The stone age build looks amazingly good and yes that vac formed canopy came out looking pretty good. Well excellent really 👏 👌 👍 

 

Richie

[SprueMan]

Yep, can only agree. The stone-age model is actually not too shabby.

[billn53]

43 minutes ago, SprueMan said:

Yep, can only agree. The stone-age model is actually not too shabby.

 

2 hours ago, RichieW said:

The stone age build looks amazingly good and yes that vac formed canopy came out looking pretty good. Well excellent really 👏 👌 👍 

 

Richie

 

2 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Well the OOB one looks great, so that must mean that your “everything including the kitchen sink” one will look even better!

 

No pressure then…

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

3 hours ago, LorenSharp said:

Bill there is only one comment I an make on this excellent build......Yabba- Dabba-DOO!

 

 

It's definitely a three-footer though. Maybe a five-footer.

[k5054nz]

Nice work, and I can't wait to see the two together!

[giemme]

Nice job on the SAK (Stone Age Kit), but I 'm very much looking forward to more work on the other one 

 

Ciao 

[81-er]

Echoing everyone else's thoughts, the stone aged kit is mightily impressive!

 

James

[billn53]

I'm back from my business trip and spent a bit of time at the bench, working on the "NHB" (No Holds Barred) Skyray. My club's Group Build is due this coming Saturday, so I'll do my best to have it done by then. But, I also have finals this week, plus some makeup work from my time away, so I'll be lucky if it's ready.

 

I added some missing surface detail in the form of resin louvre decals from Archer Fine Transfers. I had to use a hair dryer to make the flat decals to conform to the curved surfaces -- that was successful, but the heat caused the fuselage seam to open up . Happily, a bit of Mr Surfacer got things back in order.

 

 

 

I sprayed the forward fuselage area, including the windscreen framing, with light gull gray, then removed the masking. As I mentioned earlier, the vacuform windscreen had some fit issues and I wanted to confirm that my putty work had done the trick, before going any further. Low and behold, the unmasked windscreen looks fine, so I think I'm good to go!

 

    

 

Time to throw some paint at this baby!

 

 

[giemme]

Neat job there, Bill! 

 

Ciao 

[opus999]

Your "Stone age" build turned out excellent Bill.  I personally would've bend the rules with a clear coat because those decals just make me squirm, but it still looks terrific nonetheless.

 

The NHB build is still shaping up nicely. The louver decals intrigue me.

[billn53]

21 minutes ago, opus999 said:

Your "Stone age" build turned out excellent Bill.  I personally would've bend the rules with a clear coat because those decals just make me squirm, but it still looks terrific nonetheless.

 

The NHB build is still shaping up nicely. The louver decals intrigue me.

 

After I show it at my club meeting this coming weekend, I'll probably clear coat the "Stone Age" Skyray for the reason you mentioned.

 

As for the resin louvre decals, I first used them when I re-did the engine pods on a Ford Tri-motor build. I believe Archer also offers resin decals for weld lines and rivets.

[billn53]

Base colors are on. I also painted the anti-glare panel, once that is good and dry I'll do the radome:

 

 

 

While I was thinking of it, I finished up the position lights (those 'dimples' I'd ground some while back). I painted the bottom of the depressions with chrome paint, then filled in the recesses with clear UV-activated resin. Finally, I colored the port and starboard lights with transparent paint. The lights on the fin I left clear.

 

 

 

It's about time now for me to choose what markings I want on this delta-winged ray!

 

 

[busnproplinerfan]

Cool build on two classics. Only thing missing from the one being built the stone age way is your fingers being all greasy from eating a bag of chips while building. Strange how when we kids, greasy fingers never were a problem, now are so paranoid about keeping everything clean for painting.

[giemme]

Clear UV resin, now where have I seen that before?     

 

Excellent progress, Bill  

 

Ciao

[billn53]

1 hour ago, giemme said:

Clear UV resin, now where have I seen that before?     

 

Yep. As I said, I use that stuff for all kinds of things.

[billn53]

A bit more progress today . . . .

 

Painted the radome and engine area:

 

 

 

Added the rear "flipper" trim surfaces. These were commonly seen in the elevated position for aircraft on the ramp:

 

 

 

The elevated position caused a large gap on the underside (something I'm sure Douglas had a solution for). I've not been able to find photos showing this area, so I filled the gaps with Apoxie Sculpt:

 

    

 

That's it for now. Not long before decals go on!

[billn53]

Okay, help me decide -- I've narrowed my marking options to two choices:

 

 

 

a) VF-13

 

 

 

 

b) VF-74

 

 

[AdrianMF]

Nice work!

 

Personally I like the look of VF-13.

 

The VF-74 pic seems to show a surface just like your Apoxie sculpt one as an extension to the lower surface of the flap.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[billn53]

Here's an interesting photo of two VF-13 Skyrays from USS Shangri La (July 1961).

 

Note the different orientations of the "Star & Bars" between the two aircraft. Also, that the upper aircraft's anti-glare panel is gray (vice black), and there are stars in the aileron stripes that aren't on the lower Skyray.

 

One strange thing common to both is the "VF-13" markings on the dorsal spine. The markings are not symmetric left-to-right. I.e., the portside "VF-13" is farther forward than the starboard marking.