Zenrat's Flying Circus

[zenrat]

Wings went on today.  The tabs were a very sloppy fit in the slots on the fuselage.  I tried shimming them but when I got a nice tight fit I had different anhedral on each side so I dropped that idea.  They are both on and the fit is good but not perfect.
I'm sure that compared to the original 60's Lightning my dad built me as a kid or one of the equally old Hasegawa ones then this kit is amazing but it's just that i've read nothing but rave reviews of it and so I was expecting perfection.

Also today I put some decals (80's style graphics - wonderfull.  Made me want to put on acid washed denim and date Kylie) on the Orange Chevy Caprice and finished assembling a scratch built styrene and balsa load bed for a 1/25 hot rod - 2mm balsa "planks" slid into a frame made from evergreen I section rod.

The Bf 109 for the Me 262 Mistel has been painted silver and awaits some hairspray.

The A Model Yak sits wearing all over grey primer (albeit in 3 large pieces) awaiting fine tuning PSR before I glue the wings on.

[Old Wombat]

Strange, I was 17¹/₂-27¹/₂ (inclusive) during the 1980's & I never wore acid wash denim nor did I ever want to date Kylie.

[zenrat]

I was 12ish to 22ish.  What terrible decade.  Kylie, who is almost exactly the same age as me, brightened it up immeasurably.  Especially when muted.

[PR19_Kit]

I was 38 to 48 then, and I've NEVER worm denim ever!

Kylie's quite pretty but needs a good meal or three for my tastes. 

[NARSES2]

I was 28 to 38 then and had an Australian girlfriend for a spell 

For some reason Croydon became an off shoot of Earls Court during the decade and a fair few young Aus' ladies used the Blacksmiths. Ah memories 

[zenrat]

Yak 28R is now in one piece.  This was not without struggles but then that is to be expected from A Model.

EE Lightning is ready for masking.  I might paint it white with a pale grey underside.

Me 109 for the Me 262 Mistel is undergoing painting.

Chevy Caprice and Hot Rod pickup are crawling to the finish.

And as it's 15:15 I have to go do battle with the school mums on the roads and go to work to hand out parcels to the ungrateful, ignorant, illiterate and moronic.

[TheChronicOne]

 


And, looking forward to this yak, for sure... It's a shame that I'm always hearing of Amodel kits being janky because they have such a range of really cool subjects!! I ALMOST built one, but haven't yet, but I still like the kits I've collected .... "just because."     I have one that is some sort of North Korean night fighter then some sort of... something-58 with rocket pods that is supposedly a good one. 

  I might paint it white with a pale grey underside.

Yes, that would be glorious!     

[zenrat]

I forgot impatient and surly.

The A Model Yak 28s seem to go together OK if you put a bit of effort into it.  They certainly don't fall together.  The Yak 38 on the other hand I gave up on as it was so terrible.

[jcf]

A Model issues also vary with when the kit was created, many of the newer are not too bad,
however they all require some work.

[zenrat]

One Yak 28 wing joint cracked and reglued today in order to correct asymmetric anhedral.

Hot Rod Pickup completed apart from a few licks of paint.

Chevy Caprice major parts wedged together to check it all still fits.
ProLux WIP 11-11-17 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

PSR commenced on EE Lightning.

PSR completed on Apocalypse Post van.

First coat of all colours completed on Me 109 (nothing interesting, just a fairly standard yellow nose scheme - it gets interesting when I take to it with the old toothbrush).

I also built the Javelin Engineering Soil Riddle Mk.2 from recycled timber, bird wire and fencing wire. The Mk.1 is now about 5 years old and the frame is failing.

[TheChronicOne]

Caprice looks cool. Hell of salmon color going there!

[zenrat]

That's Vallejo German Orange.  I had the decals for the graphics on the side and wanted a colour to go with them that gave it an eighties pro street look.

I got all the paint done on the Me 109 today.  I think I went a bit heavy on the mottling which I did by stabbing at it with an old brush - but it looks better than the last time I tried it when I used my airbrush.
Me 109 WIP 12-11-17 01 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Now I scrub some of it off again.

[zenrat]

So today i attacked the Me 109 with water and my old toothbrush.  It didn't go as planned as different colour paints came off in different ways.
The yellow just peeled off in large pieces, the sky blue resisted, the grey green came off nearly as easilly as the yellow and the dark green was stubborn but not as stubborn as the sky blue.
The result was an airframe with a lot more paint gone than I had intended.  Not a complete fail but not what was in my head.

[zenrat]

Put paint back on the fabric covered surfaces of the Me 109.

Yak 28 is now PSRed, primed and ready for colours.
I took a photo but I have to go to work now and throw parcels about so i'll put it up when I get home later.

I also undercoated the Lightning.  I used the crap undercoat, rushed it and it ran in a couple of places so some light sanding is required.

And I made a doughnut box for the Chevy Caprice.  Once again you'll have to wait for a pic.

[TheChronicOne]

Ain't gonna lie.... I'm most interested in the German Orange Caprice and that box of doughnuts right now..    

I'm on the verge of being inspired enough to grab a car kit and get after it. I built 2-3-4 some odd 25 years ago. One that stands out was a duely (?) duelly/  dooly  / whatever Ford pickup.     Every time I see one of yours or progress pics of one,  it makes me want to try one myself.

It's weird, though, but I want to search out and do the most boring subjects ever. Like... if I could find a kit of a 1991 Chevrolet Cavalier I would snap it up in a heartbeat...

Shame about the shithouse result on the Me (myself and I) 109.