Spey_Phantom's corner of solitude

[TheChronicOne]

Cuban Hornet!!   

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #194

i started work on 3 1/144 super hornets a few days ago, and i just added a 4th one to the assembly line (Australian F/A-18F).
decals for the RAAF one are not yet printed but the designwork is done.

ive started the 4 superbugs as a stash slimming measure, taking on multiple smaller 1/144 kits at once.
i might take a pair of Valom 1/144 T-6G Texans in between, since the dont have many parts, would make a nice quick build.

also on the list for next projects are a small number of 1/144 classic hornets (3 RW and 1 WHIF, plans for an RAAF F/A-18A have been canned).


also, i longer have an LHS nearby (well, not literally), as the last pure modelshop in Brugges (Neverland) screwed me over on my last visit, increasing the price of theyre painttins by 80% (with no pricetags on the shelves) and by selling me a used empty one between the full tins, ended up paying 17 euro's for 7 (well, 6 usefull) tins! the store was already too expensive for my liking (asking 20 euros for a revell 1/144 Mig-31, while others charge 5 and asking 30 euro's for a revell A320 when the retail price is 13) and this incident really was the last straw, im no longer going there ever again, if i need humbrol paints, i'll go to Ostend or buy them online  .


meanwhile, the jobhunting isnt going as good as planned.

i found a job last friday and started on monday, a interim job at a factory that makes packaging materials.
all i can say is that i underestimated the job, it was mentally and physicly exhausting and way to stressfull (making me operate 5 short-running machines simultaiously and other tasks in between). it was horrible and i was forced to quit it, i couldnt hande that ammount of work/stress. im now looking for something else, somewhere they dont treat me like a machine.


more soon.....

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #195


all quiet on the bench the past week, i have 4 1/144 super hornets on the go (2 US Navy, 1 USMC and 1 RAAF), they should be ready for painting very soon.

in 1/72, no progress on the Mig-15 or the Sea King.

for today, im gonna do some decal designing, last week i have completed the design for the top secret Boeing 747-8 project.
now im gonna design the decals for a few more projects, including 1/72 Belgian Army & Navy H135M's, 1/72 Agusta A109 (Belgian) and (maybe) a 1/48 AS355F1 (local EMS helicopter, dont usually do this scale, but the helicopter is only available in this one, and its a AS350).

im also planning to change my buildplans for the old kit GB, switching from the 1/100 Antonov AN24 to a revell 1/113ish Martin PBM-5 Mariner (in Belgian Navy markings).

jobhunting isnt going as good at the moment, mostly because this time of year, there arent that many openings, esspecially with the holidays aproaching. for the moment, i have a lot of administration to go through (im really lacking behind on my paperwork).


more soon...

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #196

more slow but sure progress on the bench, the 4 1/144 scale Super Hornets are almost ready for a first layer of paint, but before that i still need to place on the landinggear doors. the 1/72 Mig-15 is making good progress as the cockpit is done and the wings are placed on.

i just finished printing out a new set of decals for current and future projects including:

WHIF:
-1/144 Grumman G36 Martlet (Belgian)
-1/72 Airbus Helicopters H135M (Belgian Air Force and Navy)

Realworld:
-1/144 F/A-18F Super Hornet (RAAF)
-1/144 P-47D Thunderbolt (Ecuador Air Force)
-1/144 Boeing 727-100 (Belgian AF)
-1/144 Junkers Ju-52 (Sabena and Lufthansa)
-1/48 AS350 (local EMS Helicopter)
-1/72 Agusta A109H (Belgian AF, serials only)
-1/144 AW101 Merlin (Norwegian Air Force)
-1/144 F-16A (Romanian AF, serials only)
-1/144 Sepecat Jaguar-A (French AF, serials only)

i didnt want to use my standard decal paper, as im saving those up for a later project, so i used a set of Bare-metal Expert Choise inkjet decal paper i had lying arround. i already applied a first layer of sealant/varnish so i will see how that turns out, i heared some bad thing about the product, but i thought i would find out for myself.

i now have decals for most of my planned project for this year and next year, the only ones i still need to print out are those for the secret Boeing 747-8 project. if the BMF paper works well, i will use this, otherwise its back to the standard decalpaper.

the decals for the Cuban AF hornet are on hold, until i can figure out a color scheme, i was thinking the 2/3-tone blue/grey aggressor scheme used by the US Navy's Top Gun school. the plans for the Belgian Tornado IDS have also been postponed until the next decal sheet.


more soon....

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #197

more movement this week. the Airfix 1/72 Mig-15bis (East German AF) is now Finished and the 1/144 RF-4E Phantom sideproject is also nearing completion.
no progress on the last SeaKing or the 4 1/144 Super Hornets.

i just got back from the Sait-Jans hospital in Brugges. no worries, its modeling related. since a few weeks ago, the national TV station VTM started a reality series on the local EMS helicopter (the only one in Flanders, witch lives solely on crowd-funding and donations). they had a 1/35 prebuilt desktop model of the Eurocopter AS355F1 they use in the institutes main office and would like to have it repainted in the current red/white livery with the current sponsor logo's.

like this:



i had volenteered to do this job free of charge (and AFAIK, i was so far the only modeler in the region who makes his own decals).
i still have the decal designs for the 1/48 version i was planning, i only need to upscale it a little. ive only started and i ran into a problem, the stickers/decals on the helo are a bit hard to remove, im gonna try to remove them with a hair dryer, or, if that doesnt work, will use paint remover. in the worst case, i will have to repaint the whole model, witch i want to avoid as the model is already in an all-white paint scheme.

meanwhile, im also making preperations for the next build, either a 1/72 Agusta A109 (Belgian Army, RW), 2 H135M's (Belgian Air Force and Navy) or a 1/144 embraer E195 in citybird livery.


more soon....

[NARSES2]

Well done mate 

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #198

more bench activity, after a week of work, the AS355F1 model is ready to be handed back to the St Jans Hospital in Brugges.

the result:



meanwhile, final work is in progress on a 1/144 RF-4E, all it needs are some stenciling and a layer of varnish.
still in need of attention are the 4 1/144 Super Hornets that have been put on hold for a week or 2 now.

also, still to be started is the secret Boeing 747-8 (to be revealed in August 2017) witch the missus, strangly enough, is urging me to start on.
there will still be a number of project be taken in between, one of witch is the Citybird embraer E195. another project i want to start are a number of 1/72 Luft'46 themed models and a number of 1/72 Belgian AF Whiffs (H135M, Tiger-ARH,...).
looking at some armour in the stash, i have a revell 2-pack of humvee's, witch im planning to building Belgian Army markings.

looking back in the blog to some unrealised ideas, im gonna take up some of those pland in the 2017 projects list, these include, in 1/144, F-104K Starfighter F.Mk.3 (RAF), NAMC YS-11 (RAF, Andover CC.4), Airbus A320 (RAF),....
in 1/72 there are plans for mig-37's, Mig-1.44, Su-47, F-22A, F-35A, H145M...... there's also a plan to build a Bolkow Bo-108, using a Eurocopter EC135 with the tail from an EC145, im thinking Austrian Army markings.


more soon.....

[NARSES2]

Come out well Nils 

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #198b

ive been looking into building a number of Civilian WHIF airlines, to go with a number of surplus airliner models in the stash.
ive been doing a little research and came up woth these, one is a WHIF, the other a "never was".

first off, is Yamato Airlines, people familiar with "Area 88" will know this name.
this is an attempt to give the airline a modern day revamp. i havent found any clear images of the YAL logo, so i decided to give the Japan based airline a new logo. as for the fleet, i was thinking of a number of Boeing 737's and 747's, maybe replace the older 747-200's with the newer -8 model. so here's the planned new logo, a bit simple but subject to change.




the other im planning is Flanders Airlines, the company only flew a few years, from 1986 to 1992 (operating 6 Fokker F27, 3 swearingen metro's and 3 (leased) Bandeirante's).
ive redesigned the old logo with a bit of an 80's classic vibe. im planning on replacing the Belgian civil OO- registration with Flemish WHIF VL- registrations. for aircraft, im thinking of Boeing 727-400's (CFM56 powered 727-200) and maybe a smaller turboprop (maybe AN-24). i could also concider using an Airbus A320.




aside from these 2 Airlines, there are also plans for Citybird aircraft (Airbus A350-900 and Embraer E195) and VLM Airlines (possibly A320/319).


more soon........

[PR19_Kit]

..... there are also plans for Citybird aircraft....

LOVE that oh so green scheme! 

I've had a CityBird MD11 (Welsh Models vacform) under way for many years, but it needs some more time and enthusiasm on my part to get it done.

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #199


made some more progress today, 3 out of the 4 1/144 Super Hornets are ready for painting, the 4th one will be put on hold for a while.
next in line waiting on the bench is a 1/144 Embraer 195 with DACO/Skyline Citybird decals (using a 1/200 boeing 737 sheet), work should start later today.

also on the bench now is the top secret Boeing 747-8 ive been planning for some time, this project will use a number of new techniques witch im practicing at the moment, including Airbrushing.

to test out the airbrush and to do some practicing, im using an old Boeing 787-8 dreamliner (the New Flanders Air Force KC-48 tanker version ive built a while ago, now serves as a testing model). so far for full surfaces it looks good, but still need to practice more to improve paint coverage. if succesfull, i might redo the whole model in Yamato Airlines colors.

another problem i have for another future project, a TUI/JetairFly Boeing 787-8, is masking curved lines, i dont thing the Revell tape can make those bends, so i might have to BlueTac the whole thing.

once the 1/144 Superbugs are done, im gonna look into organising WIP builds, so at all time i have in progress:

-1 or 2 small 1/144 aircraft
-1 Luft'46 model
-1 1/72 side project (WHIF or RW)
-1 or 2 special projects (like the commision builds (Seakings and NH90-NFH's) or the secret Boeing 747-8)

the past week, not much was done, most of the time went into cleaning the mancave, reorganising the stash and cleaning out the spare decals box.

in terms of building more Luft'46 models, im revisiting the Arado Ar.555, having already build one of these fine and impressive models, im planning a long-range intercontinental version, with 2 large external tanks, replacing the 6 Jumo 004 engines with 2 BMW 018's and reducing the payload to a single atomic bomb. im also planning a ne 1/72 Arado fast tactical  bomber, by scale-o-rama'ing a 1/48 Ar.234 with a new cockpit, canopy and swept wings (from a 1/48 F-84F Thunderstreak ihave in the spares pile). still need to do more research though. i also want to get my hands on another HUMA 1/72 Ju288, so i can build a jet version (based on the EF.132), just need to find a good donorkit for the jet engines, wings and tail, maybe a Tu-16 might do it?




more soon.....

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #200


wow, the 200th blogpost already? 

there has been little activity in the past week, no progress on any of the models on the bench.
ive spent the whole week practicing and refining my airbrush skills, but i keep running into problems (paint runners, spatter,....).
im experimenting with 2 kinds of paint, enamels and waterbased paints (using revell/humbrol enamels and Aqua paints).
i will post pictures on my practice later.
this is my finding so far (positives and negatives):


Enamels:

+sticks better to the surface
+cheaper and easier to come by.
+already familiar with the thinning process

-needs more ventilation
-smell spreads all over the house
-needs more layers.
-prone to chipping when layers differ in ammount of thinning.


Water Based paints:

+covers better
+no bad smells
+can be thinned with water
+easy to clean

-prone to runners
-different paint-to-thinner ratio (sometimes too thick or too thin)
-a bit more expensive and harder to come by here.


im currently thinking of building a spraybooth, using an old box (plastic or wood) and an old PC cooling fan, might ask some help from my PC savvy little brother on the latter part.

i was thinking of using the airbrush for the Citybird E195 im about to start on, but since im still having problems with it, i think i'll wait and go back to the old paint and brush. so there is still along way to go until i can perfectly airbrush a model, although i will still be doing the smaller parts by hand.

this week im gonna be looking at making some more progress on the Super Hornets, and start on sub assemblies for the E195 and Boeing 747-8.
after newyears, im gonna look at finding my old 1/72 Airfix Tucano for the Soviet GB, i started that project a year ago, but it never actually got built.


more soon...

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #200b


just got news, i have a job interview this afternoon at the Belgian Navy (at a private contractor, who maintains the fleets Tripartite-class Minehunters) as a turner/miller/metalworker 
if all goes well, i can start after newyears 

*sings "In the navy"...*

[NARSES2]

Best of luck Nils

[Spey_Phantom]

and i just got news, ive got the job 
after newyears im joining the Navy under a civilian imterim contract 

i will mostly be turning parts for the Belgian and Dutch Navy's Tripartite-class minehunters!