Zenrat's Flying Circus

[Captain Canada]

Wow....love the FIAT ! That certainly does look amazing for what you had started with. Great job.

[NARSES2]

I am sure that it's not the best kit.  Not as bad fitting as their F102 but probably as old if the faintness of the raised detail is anything to go by.

I've had a Hasegawa F4 in the stash since who knows when. The boxing with the USAF bird climbing away after dropping its load in Vietnam. Kept it for pure nostalgia reasons plus as a reminder of the weapons choices Hasegawa used to include in their kits. It even has the target towing thingy

[Gondor]

If your F-4E has single fuselage sides without a break behind the cockpit then its the old version from the late 60's or early 70's

Gondor

[zenrat]

Thanks Cap'n.

Chris, this is the EJ and while not the 70's boxing with the whacky font is uses the same box art (all white JASDF scheme IIRC).
It doesn't have the target thingo but does have lots of missiles and tanks.
It is exactly as you describe Gondor.  The raised detail is so soft and faint that sanding it all off won't be a great loss.

Here's a pic of the Beaufighter Biz Prop.

[zenrat]

PSR progresses on the Phantom.

Decals are on the Beau.

[Captain Canada]

Bill Biv Blue Beau !



Lovely !

[zenrat]

Rather bad picture of where I am with the Beau.

I have cut the side panels from one of the Revell Lanc nacelles to expose the engine (painted Hemi Orange).

[Captain Canada]

Great idea. I was wondering where you were going with that !

[zenrat]

Carefull study of the photo above will reward the viewer with the realisation that the engines are not aligned with each other.
I blame this on the constant breaking off and regluing of the Revell engine subframe on the Port side (and only the Port side - the Starboard one seemed immune to my clumsiness).
While the Port engine will be covered up by the cowlings the exhausts and the prop locate to it so it needs to be aligned.  Shimming the front mounts solved the problem.

PSR on the Phantom is nearly finished.  I have switched from my usual Tamiya Polyester Putty to Perfect Plastic Putty.  I must say PPP has proved excellent for filling the gaps along the wing roots and leading edges and at the front and back of the bottom wing panel.  It seems soft though, even when dried and I am wondering if it'll be suitable for the big "build large areas of the aircraft with putty" jobs where I dob it on and then carve it to shape?

TurboCat wing centre section PSR is complete and the new resin nacelles look very good although they need some panel lines scribed as the Academy kit has decent engraved detail.  No room on the bench to get building the planned passenger lounge area though as it's a big kit.

[NARSES2]

I feel your instincts are right. I use PPP for small gaps whilst for anything on the larger size, especially if it will need shaping,  I use a more conventional putty (Greenstuff at the moment) and when I really, really have to Milliput. Great but just so ****** fiddly to prepare.

[zenrat]

We'll see when I get to the tail-sitter 190 as I have a feeling that is going to take a lot of PSR.
Given I want it to have a hugely long nose I am scheming up a scratchbuilt deltic configuration 54 cylinder diesel engine.
The resultant forward shift in CoG will mean forward swept wings.
Both acts that will require lots of filler.
For the contra-prop I will either build a jig to enable me to use steam to lock a twist into blades cut from sheet styrene or cut up a set of chopper blades and use those.

Primed the F4 today.  No time to do anything else as I slept for 10 hours straight (unusual for me) and then had chores to do followed by a visit from a friend.

[zenrat]

Had a better squizz at the Airfix 190 A8 today to try and figure out where to cut.
I will be hoping to remove the kit engine in usable pieces as I have a Special Hobby Blohm & Voss P.194 which could use it.

[dumaniac]

interesting

[Captain Canada]

Can't wait to see some progress pics on these builds !

[zenrat]

Me too...

I will not be starting the 190 tail sitter until I finish at least one of the other builds currently underway.
However, the Beau and the Phantom shouldn't take too long as the require mostly paint and attachment of fiddley bits.
And the rather complex decals in the case of the F4.