Moments of Zen

[NARSES2]

     On both fronts

[Pellson]

You will forgive me for being more pleased by the missus news. Take care (and treat the dog some extra. He's invaluable at times like these, I'd imagine)

[DogfighterZen]

You will forgive me for being more pleased by the missus news. Take care (and treat the dog some extra. He's invaluable at times like these, I'd imagine)

No need to apologise, my friend!
She's doing much better lately so, we're on the right path, taking it easy.

So, with the bad vibes going away, mojo has come back and i've spent most of the weekend having fun at the bench with the kit our esteemed colleague The Wooksta offered me...



A closer inspection of the parts got me a bit scared with the amount of work i was facing but, much to my surprise, it has been fun to build so far...

Ordered another bunch of mask sets for future builds, including Peewit masks for the AZ models Seafang kit, which, i hope is usable on the Spiteful. If they're not usable on this build, i have 2 Seafang kits in the stash...
Haven't done anything on the BB Gina this weekend cause the Spiteful had my full attention.

[NARSES2]

A closer inspection of the parts got me a bit scared with the amount of work i was facing but, much to my surprise, it has been fun to build so far...

Ordered another bunch of mask sets for future builds, including Peewit masks for the AZ models Seafang kit, which, i hope is usable on the Spiteful. If they're not usable on this build, i have 2 Seafang kits in the stash...

Fun builds are what we sometimes need, can do us a power of good 

Must admit I like Peewit masks

[DogfighterZen]

Fun builds are what we sometimes need, can do us a power of good 

Must admit I like Peewit masks

Sure thing! Although the kit is a bit rough on some areas, it's been a fun build so far and, just what i needed to clear my mind a bit.

The Peewit masks seem to be good but they'd be even better if they included wheel masks like Eduard sets... Still, they seem good value for the price... I'll find out soon when i use these on the Spiteful... that is, if they fit...

Re the Spiteful, last weekend i dug up one of the Seafang kits from the depths of my stash and stole the contra prop to make this a F Mk15 and this how it sits at the moment...

You cannot view this attachment.

Next is some minor PSR on seam lines and shouldn't take too long, just a couple of spots needing more attention.
This was all done during the last weekend but work's been heavy and i've been too beat to do any modelling during the week so, i'm hoping to get something done, either on this one or on the BB Gina in the next couple of days...

[NARSES2]

The Peewit masks seem to be good but they'd be even better if they included wheel masks like Eduard sets... Still, they seem good value for the price... I'll find out soon when i use these on the Spiteful... that is, if they fit...

Must admit the lack of wheel masks doesn't bother me as I don't tend to use those on Eduard sets anyway. Nothing wrong with them, it's just that my eyesight issues, especially the stigmatism,  makes them difficult for me to use accurately 

The accessories I do prefer over Eduards are the Yahoo instrument panels. No fiddling around with various pieces, just simple replacement for the injection panel. Although some of the more recent Eduard etch has adopted a similar approach.

[DogfighterZen]

Those new Eduard sets are the SPACE line of products, they also look good... I have used both the Eduard colored PE and Yahu sets and i think the 3D sets are a logical evolution. You have both approaches mixed into one, with the added bonus of the more realistic 3D detail which, in many cases, seems to be better than what styrene injection molding tech can currently offer.
I still think that traditional resin cockpit sets(cockpit tub, seat, instrument panels, etc.) provide the best detail but it's up to the modeler to adapt the parts into the kit and have the skill to paint finish it properly so, compared to stuff you just have to glue on after sanding off any original detail present on the kit's parts, i think most people will prefer the 3D. And i think that the price tags are also similar in many cases and that will settle the question for most, i believe... At least for the lazy and unskilled me, it does.

Well, today i spent a lot of time sanding and dry-fitting the canopy and correspondent area of the fuselage of the Spiteful...

[The Wooksta!]

The area behind the canopy should be external camo, not interior green.  The canopy is an extra.

[NARSES2]

Those new Eduard sets are the SPACE line of products, they also look good... I have used both the Eduard colored PE and Yahu sets and i think the 3D sets are a logical evolution. You have both approaches mixed into one, with the added bonus of the more realistic 3D detail which, in many cases, seems to be better than what styrene injection molding tech can currently offer.

I've a used a couple of the SPACE products, and they are good.  However I think calling the 3D parts "decals", as some do, is wrong. Yes you need to remove them from the backing in the same way as a "decal", but they will not attach like one. I stuck mine to the surface using Klear, worked perfectly well. So any clear varnish or similar will work I assume. I'm not convinced by the 3D instrument panels, but it's still a relatively new concept and will  undoubtedly evolve. For now I'll stay with Yahu where possible.

[DogfighterZen]

The area behind the canopy should be external camo, not interior green.  The canopy is an extra.

Thanks for the tip, Lee!    I haven't been able to find any color pics of the interior so i went with the interior green that contemporary Brit fighters used in the cockpit and i was thinking of using black for the area behind the seat but you made me look for more pics and obviously, you're correct.
I've finished sanding and shaping that area and got the canopy to sit flush with the rest of the aft fuselage so now i have to put the pilot, control stick and gunsight back in the cockpit as these had to be removed to work on the canopy issue.
By "Extra" you mean, from another kit?

Those new Eduard sets are the SPACE line of products, they also look good... I have used both the Eduard colored PE and Yahu sets and i think the 3D sets are a logical evolution. You have both approaches mixed into one, with the added bonus of the more realistic 3D detail which, in many cases, seems to be better than what styrene injection molding tech can currently offer.

I've a used a couple of the SPACE products, and they are good.  However I think calling the 3D parts "decals", as some do, is wrong. Yes you need to remove them from the backing in the same way as a "decal", but they will not attach like one. I stuck mine to the surface using Klear, worked perfectly well. So any clear varnish or similar will work I assume. I'm not convinced by the 3D instrument panels, but it's still a relatively new concept and will  undoubtedly evolve. For now I'll stay with Yahu where possible.

I guess i agree with the name issue, but i figure that they're calling them decals because of the way they're printed in color, attached to a backing paper and are applied as you would apply decals but instead of setting solutions used to make normal decals stick to a model's surface, you just apply them with a stronger adhesive liquid and skip the solvent.
There is more work involved by removing existing kit detail and base color has to be painted first, than with one piece Yahu panels but their offer is almost non-existent when it comes to jets and the offer is very limited so, i think they'd have to expand the range and evolve the sets to really compete with the 3D cockpit decals.
But that's why options are good, we can choose the ones we prefer. 

 

[The Wooksta!]

I meant extra in that it's not actually part of the fuselage, it's an add on.

[NARSES2]

But that's why options are good, we can choose the ones we prefer. 

 

Absolutely 

[DogfighterZen]

I meant extra in that it's not actually part of the fuselage, it's an add on.

Got it.

Well, second day of vacation and i haven't done a thing yet... Got the BB Gina glossed and panel lines were washed yesterday so now i'm going to clean up the excess wash and decide if it's gonna be left new or just a bit weathered.

While the gloss coat was curing on the Gina, i gave the Spiteful a bit of attention and got around to fixing something that could be left as was but i couldn't resist.
The AZ Seafang's contraprop is a bit rough and needs lots of clean up but the worst part was is that the diameter of the back side of the aft prop was almost 2mm too wide for this kit's fuselage so it just looked wrong.
My options were to try a fix for the contraprop or use one of the 5 blade props, which are also a bit too wide and would need the same type of fix as the contra prop.
I wanna use the contraprop so, i cut the blades off and sanded the aft spinner down to the correct diameter. Surprisingly, attaching the props back on wasn't as tricky as i was expecting so now i have a contraprop flush with the fuselage.
Will have to rescribe a few panel lines on some areas were the sanding had to be go deeper so, i'll only put the pilot, stick and gunsight back in the cockpit when i finish the rough work.

Also been thinking about something else to get started and as always, i divided... Did someone recently say that having options is a good thing?  

[DogfighterZen]

Monthly update time, i guess...

After finishing the BB Gina, i focused on the AZ Spiteful and have been getting it closer to ready for paint very slowly... Still taking care of seams and fixing the lost panel lines and rivets where there was heavier sanding done but still a bit to go till i can get the pilot and cockpit done and closed to be able to spray some paint.
And i did start a new build, another one for my Whiff PoAF, an Italeri 1/72 OH-6A Cayuse... 
I'll start new topics for both builds on the aircraft section later today.

 

[DogfighterZen]

Well, some of you may have read that i went on a road trip recently... the trip was because of a special occasion... after 5 years of living as a couple, me and my missus are officially married!
No big wedding party as that is not what we wanted so we did it in secret and got the news out to the families after the deed was done.
The trip was our honeymoon and we had a great time travelling around the Peneda/Gerês natural park in the North of Portugal.
I drove the whole trip so, around 1500km including the trips around scenic and historical spots around the park and a couple of them were over the border in Spain.
Some of these included trekking to the sites so, i'm still feeling it on my body but that's ok, i still have a couple of days before i go back to work so i can rest the body while enjoying the memories.

So, modelling hasn't been much and today, i was hyped to get back to work on the Spiteful but, forgetting that i get sweaty hands very easily with the temperatures rising around here and after a few seconds of handling the model, i left two big fingerprints on the front fuselage of the model...
I decided to strip the paint off and try again but it really left my mojo in the mud...
Still, i'm trying to keep a positive attitude and it already had a bath of oven cleaner and most of the paint has came off so, maybe tomorrow i'll try to prepare it for another go...
The OH-6A is on the bench so i can do something on that one and that will be a final paint touch up on the observer figure and get the windows and canopy masked and then i can close the egg.