dswoofie Posted August 3, 2007 Share Posted August 3, 2007 Hi, Here's my latest project, it's an old Matchbox 1/72 Douglas F3D-2 Skyknight. I found this kit lying in the back of the shed at my folks house recently, along with about 25 others. Apparently I'd chucked them out some years ago, but they'd been put away instead. Glad they were as it's given me some interesting kits to play with. Most of them have decals that are very suspect, including this one, but I've tested one and it seems OK. Anyway, I'm going to build it as a F3D-2T2 VF-121 version, in International Orange/White colour scheme. Nothing fancy will be going into the interior, just the kit seats with a couple of belts added to brighten things up a little. With regards to the outside, I'm intending to rescribe all the panel lines! (oooer!) I've been looking for something to have a crack at this with, and this seems like an ideal opportunity. The kit has some finely raised lines on it, so I intend to use them as a guide to scribe with. Sort of looking forward/not looking forward to doing it! I think it's going to be one of those things where you avoid it like the plague because it looks so hard to do, but once you've tried you don't know why you didn't do it sooner. (I really hope that statement doesn't come back to bite me!!!) No progress yet, but here's a sprue shot to begin with... Karl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dswoofie Posted August 3, 2007 Author Share Posted August 3, 2007 Err, got to think now as it was a few months ago... there we're 2 of these Skyknights, A Sabre, Strikemaster, T-2C Buckeye, Phantom FGR2, Lynx, A-7D, A-10, Mystere, Hawk... and there we're a few other things too, A Fujimi Lynx HAS.2, KP Su-7BKL, Airfix Lightning F.1, Airfix Scout, Fujimi OA-4M, Fujimi Phantom F-4K (what was I thinking!!!! ) amongst others. I got really really really really really excited when I found 3 Canberra PR.9's as well... until I realised that these held loads of old crappy spares... and no canberra's Karl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leigh Posted August 4, 2007 Share Posted August 4, 2007 Ooh you jammy bugger a Buckeye! Scribing's not as daunting as it seems, but alot more tedious than you can imagine. My prefered tool of the many that I've bought for this purpose is a simple sewing needle chucked in a pin vise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dswoofie Posted August 6, 2007 Author Share Posted August 6, 2007 Nice find you lucky, lucky person. Want to part with to Skynight ,Strikemaster , toom and the lynx? Sorry Rory, the other Skyknight's already gone, the Strikemaster and Lynx are half done, and the toom is already built. Otherwise I'd have been happy to sort something out. Karl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dswoofie Posted August 6, 2007 Author Share Posted August 6, 2007 Here's an update on the latest position. One small job to start with was sorting out the scissor links on the main undercarriage legs. For some reason they are moulded whole. A little bit of drilling, cutting, and cleaning up makes them look a little better... Holes drilled... Cut out... Just a little filling and sanding after this and the scissor links look like the should. Well, as close as can be on a kit like this! Cockpit completed with the minimum of detail, just enough to add a little interest. Although I don't think much will be clearly visible through the Matchbox canopy! The Scribing was suprisingly easy. All of the panel lines on the kit were straight, so didn't pose any real problems. I used a pin vise and needle to scribe, and some Dymo tape as a guide. The only real difficulty was doing the vertical lines on the fuselage as they curve in 2 directions... getting the dymo on there was a bit tricky at times. Once I'd scribed all of the lines I sanded the parts down and scrubbed them with an old toothbrush to remove some of the debris from sanding. It only got about half of it in the end, so I then used a cocktail stick sanded to a nice point to run along the lines. This worked really well and cleaned out all of the crap, and seemed to smooth the edges of the scribed lines too. The scribed parts. Overall I'm pleased with my first attempt at the scribing, I made a booboo's along the way, but nothing that's unfixable! Just tried test fitting the 3 canopy parts on... gulp!, It's not good at all, definitely going to need some work on that, they sit very proud from the fuselage. Oh well, onwards I go! Karl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dswoofie Posted August 16, 2007 Author Share Posted August 16, 2007 OK, some time to progress at last. Got all of the major construction out of the way, filled all the necessary parts, the wing roots, intakes, jet pipes, etc. When I filled the wing roots I used a new process to me, I used water to smooth the Milliput one I'd applied it. It worked fantastically, it cleaned all of the excess off and left a smooth surface that didn't need sanding. I tried it again on the intake parts, but didn't have as much success. These needed a lot more filler and also needed to be shaped, although it did reduce the amount of sanding required. Finally got the 3 canopy parts to fit, but the are far from perfect. Good enough for me on this build as it's primarily about the re-scribing practice. Here's a latest pic, now it's off to the paint shop! Karl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 Quick progress on an old kit... What scheme are we doing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dswoofie Posted August 16, 2007 Author Share Posted August 16, 2007 Just a quickie... can anyone help with any pictures of Skyknights in the Orangey/White USN scheme??? It will help when it comes to finishing off... I haven't got any, and can't find any! Karl. Quick progress on an old kit... What scheme are we doing? The Orangey/White one! VF-121 (as above). Doesn't seem to be many references to them though, mostly the Black ones are the pics I can find. Karl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dswoofie Posted August 17, 2007 Author Share Posted August 17, 2007 Had some time yesterday in the garage and got some paint on it. Had to have a mull on the orangey colour. It says international orange, and I hadn't got any and don't know of any in acrylic ranges (can anyone help here?) Trying to find pictures of a Skyknight in this scheme seems to be like looking for rocking horse . Couldn't find a single one, the closest I got was one from China Lake that was similar. Anyway, in the end I decided to have a play and mix a colour. Looking at other a/c in similar schemes I decided to mix some Citadel paints - Blazing Orange, and Blood Red (lovely names!, much better than Hu 163 or XF-2 etc, etc,) I mixed them 5:1 in that order and came up with this... Seems to be somewhere near, and I like it, which is the main thing! Looks a bit lighter on here, but seems to react like the real thing. It looks orangey in bright light, and looks more red in darker light. A closer look... Not much progress today with it. just a quick touch up on some of the white after I'd de-masked it. The Citadel paints are fully dry but can leave a bit of a residue on anything that touches it for a while. I was using a cotton glove to handle it while de-masking, and after a while the glove was leaving some orange trace on the white!!!! That left me a little less than impressed! Got it sorted OK with a little touch up, and it's ready for a bit of varnish now. that'll seal it up anyway. Karl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dswoofie Posted August 20, 2007 Author Share Posted August 20, 2007 Daz, Let's hope so! Anyway, Progress progress progress... Nearly done with painting now and almost ready for the decalling. I hope to god that these decals stay together. They look a bit suspicious, but I'll just have to go with them and pray Here we are at the moment... Just a few finishing points left now with painting. All of the undercarriage is now done and ready... not long to go now! Karl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oliver Posted August 20, 2007 Share Posted August 20, 2007 Woof! Thats looks nice, nice crisp demarcation on the two colours too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thx6667 Posted August 20, 2007 Share Posted August 20, 2007 What what what? You threw out some old Matchbox stuff? (thud!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousA667 Posted August 20, 2007 Share Posted August 20, 2007 Pass the smelling salts someone...it's OK Jon, he's seen the error of his ways now... peebeep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thx6667 Posted August 20, 2007 Share Posted August 20, 2007 I have nightmares of someone throwing out H.S. 125s... (shudder) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thx6667 Posted August 20, 2007 Share Posted August 20, 2007 That's a nice build you've got going there Karl. Have to say that the first I ever heard of the Skynight and Buckeye was when Matchbox announced them in the 1980s! The Skynight is a nice kit, what Matchbox lacked in finesse they made up for in imaginative choices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dswoofie Posted August 20, 2007 Author Share Posted August 20, 2007 What what what? You threw out some old Matchbox stuff?(thud!) I know! but it was in the days when Matchbox stuff was soooo readily available and cheap! Karl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiwiSteve Posted August 20, 2007 Share Posted August 20, 2007 Looking good Karl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dswoofie Posted August 23, 2007 Author Share Posted August 23, 2007 (edited) OK just a catch up on whats happened to finish off... The decals were OK in the end. Had to make sure that the water was really hot to release them from the paper, and they also had this horrible white stuff that floated around everywhere on the decal paper. It needed to be removed from the decals as well before applying them...messy. Had a couple of bits of silvering, but nothing bad really. The held together fine, which was really suprising as they'd spent nearly 20 years in the shed without a box! Here's the decalled stage... I managed not to fill any of my nicely scribed lines when spraying as well. I did a light panel wash over them and the came up great. Didn't really look like a Matchbox kit too much after that! All of the smaller parts are now added and it's finally finished. I'm really happy with how it came out. The panel lines worked great. The finished article... See more pics in the Ready for Inspection thread! Thanks for looking! Karl. Edited August 23, 2007 by dswoofie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike in Aotearoa Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 Dang, that looks as sweet as a kumara! I like the dayglo orange, what paint did you use for that? Ain't nothing wrong with them ol' Matchbox kits that a bit of TLC won't fix! Cheers from NZ Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdxtnt Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 Lovely build Karl. Looks great. I'm a sucker for anything in dayglo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dswoofie Posted August 24, 2007 Author Share Posted August 24, 2007 Dang, that looks as sweet as a kumara!I like the dayglo orange, what paint did you use for that? Ain't nothing wrong with them ol' Matchbox kits that a bit of TLC won't fix! Cheers from NZ Mike Mike, I used a mix of Citadel paints to get to it. I used Blazing Orange, and Blood Red at a ratio of about 5:1 (in that order). Seems to have worked. Take a look at the finished product HERE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
periklis_sale Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 Wow mate... what a fantastic transformation..... if you haven't said that thats a matchbox kit i would haven't believe it........................... amazing!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now