Ever need a complete change of pace?

[John Howling Mouse]

Got really tired of all the more difficult things I'm been trying to scratchbuild lately and decided to take a detour into a very simple, straight from the box build.

Chose the old 1:48 Testors (formerly Hawk) T-33.  Figured it would be easy since it appears to be so simple and basic.  Knowing that it is a very old kit, I wasn't expecting much in the way of detail (part of the reason why I chose this as a building detour).

Aiyeee, even the cockpit tub seems like it was made for an entirely different model!  So,
back to some basic scratchbuilding and kitbashing.

No instruments?  No problem!  Just painted on some details with a sharpened toothpick.  I painted up my True Details resin seats but then realized it would be unfair to plunk them in this kit so, decided to save them for the Academy kit and robbed the Academy kit for the Testors one.  I know they're nowhere near accurate but neither will the rest of the model when I get through with it, anyhow.

Because the cockpit is so bare and open, I've put a coaming (?) over the fwd instrument panel and boxed in the front of the aft instrument panel (the two pegs there just looked too goofy otherwise.  Lots of squinting going on.  I do not comprehend how you guys can build and kitbash 1:72 kits!

Wish I drank.  I could use the foil from a wine-bottle for harnesses on the seats.
Masking tape looks terrible.  Wonder what regular kitchen foil would be like?

[John Howling Mouse]

Cockpit view from the front.  Nothing to scream about, I know, but thought I would share with perhaps the only group of colleagues in the world who would understand what goes into even basic modifications to kits.

The cockpit tub fit was so bad I had to remove all the locator pins in the fuselage halves and reshape the fwd instrument panel.

Oh well, need some seat harnesses, I suppose.  I plan on having the canopy closed so, once completed, all the viewer will get is a "taste" of some indeterminate complexity that otherwise would not have existed.

Hopefully, it will end up as one of those projects wherein the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

[Gary]

Baz, It's absoutely wonderful. I've been struggling with what to do with some of my older Airfix and such kits. Some of those olf frog Kits repackaged under Russian names and so on. You've inspiered me yet again.

[Captain Canada]

So far, soooo good !

Which glorious Canadian scheme are you going to finish her in ?

My brother painted most of a HC 48th scaler in tremclad aluminum and testors guards red. It languished in my 'styrene cave' for years, until I detailed the cockpit and assembled the poor fuzzy bunny. I also added the Leading Edge sheet.

Man, did it ever look good. Cold Lake bird circa mid-70's. Gave it to him as a surprise, and the dumb donkey gave me poo-poo for putting the numbers and CAF under the wrong wings !

Jackass..........

[John Howling Mouse]

Man, did it ever look good. Cold Lake bird circa mid-70's. Gave it to him as a surprise, and the dumb donkey gave me poo-poo for putting the numbers and CAF under the wrong wings !

Jackass..........

"Jackass"?

Todd, you've been watching "Corner Gas" again, haven't you?!

I admit, I picked up Season One on DVD today myself.

^_^

As for scheme: This T-33 will be a fully laden attack bird, likely in third world camo markings.  That's why my cockpit has a bit of glass displays in it (not exclusively dials and rocker switches).  I'm even going to lengthen the landing gear struts a bit to accomodate bigger underwing pylons and ordnance payload.

Funny thing is, I thought turning a T-33 into a combat aircraft was pretty original, based on my limited knowledge of them (see them at many CAF bases as gatekeepers) and always thought of the T-bird strictly as a trainer.  Then, I pulled out the HC kit (same as the later Academy reboxing) and realize, "Oh yeah, that was a COIN bird"    D'Oh!   So, the crappy Testors kit has to be reworked to handle combat features (nose guns, scratchbuilt wing pylons, HUD, etc.) while the much better HC COIN kit is going to be reverted to a natural metal finish CAF trainer, removing the nose guns and not using the pylons, etc.

And, yes, the T-33T will be a slightly modified T-Tail.      Another in my growing collection...

[Tophe]

So harm-onious for our eyes  and maybe so harm-ful for the enemy
Congratulations...

[Ollie]

Good show Barry boy!

Will it be Canuck, eh?

 

[John Howling Mouse]

As for scheme: This T-33 will be a fully laden attack bird, likely in third world camo markings.

Here's a shot of the completed cockpit.  You can see the Berol Prismacolor silver pencil crayon used for the tiny silver weathering.  Great stuff.  Unlike this kit, which was completely barren, you can use the Berol Prismacolor silver pencil crayon to buff over raised instrument panel and console details in a matter of moments for a great looking final result.  

Also, I decided to heck with the seat harnesses after all.  Just want to get on with it and there is going to be a lot of time devoted to puttying and sanding yet, anyhow.

[nev]

Crikey barry, if this is a

very simple, straight from the box build.

I'd hate to see what you get up to when you decide to push the boat out!  

[noxioux]

Wish I drank.  I could use the foil from a wine-bottle for harnesses on the seats.
Masking tape looks terrible.  Wonder what regular kitchen foil would be like?

Have you tried aluminum muffler repair tape?  It's pretty heavy, but it's already sticky on one side, and it cuts really nice.  And once it's stuck to something it really doesn't come off.  I usually use plain black electrical tape for seatbelts--with a little OD green or tan testors enamel for color.

Kitchen foil would work, but I think it would be a little bit of a pain.

Just a thought.

I like the prismacolor idea.  I'll have to try that.

[John Howling Mouse]

Holy Outdated Thread, Batman!      I just stumbled over this while looking for something completely unrelated.  Sometime before the house move, I think I actually lost this in-progress kit.  I'm going down to the basement to see if I can locate it and ressurrect this old build.  Stay tuned... 

[B777LR]

Holy Outdated Thread, Batman!      I just stumbled over this while looking for something completely unrelated.  Sometime before the house move, I think I actually lost this in-progress kit.  I'm going down to the basement to see if I can locate it and ressurrect this old build.  Stay tuned... 

That will take a long time... ;-)

[sotoolslinger]

Simple out of the box break from all the complicated stuff huh.You are nuttybuckets Baz. You are also extremely over talented and annoying to mortals.  

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Whatever happened to Ollie ?

Ian

[B777LR]

Whatever happened to Ollie ?

Ian

Gone with the wind. Dunno, think he left because of that f*cking self reveiw thread that also sent Alvis and Tophe away...