T-51D "Sentinel" Trainer

[Captain Canada]

Ouch !


That one's too hot to handle.............


Can't wait to T her all finished !

 

[John Howling Mouse]

Thanks guys.  To answer questions:

1. Now that you are almost done with the assembly, what do you plan to do for painting on this project? Have you made a final decision on the colors and markings? Will it be an armed trainer, or will you just put some drop tanks on it? How about wing tanks like the Cavalier Mustangs?

It will be an unarmed trainer: mostly white with red-flashes/fin/tips in USAF markings similar to what used to be on some T-38's (hey, not all my models can be in CAF schemes!)

My next one will be a COIN bird, armed to the teeth in 3 color camo and probably some Latin American markings.

2. Is it Motomaster putty I see?

It is Bondo's "Glazing & Spot Putty" likely very similar to Motomaster's stuff (and this one was bought at Canadian Tire, too).  You can really trowel it on yet, unlike Tamiya's much harder putty (which certainly has its uses as well), an 1/8" thickness could be wet-sanded to nothing with no trouble at all.  This 128g tube has lasted me for the past 3 years.

[John Howling Mouse]

Have FOUR straight days off starting today.
Will post some in progress pics courtesy of Photobucket.com!!!

Thanks for the continued encouragement.

I would model 95% LESS without you guys!

[John Howling Mouse]

All cleaned up, pretty and ready for fwd fuselage plug and new vertical tail adds.

[John Howling Mouse]

Underside view.  

You can see I still have to glue in a slab of styrene to enclose the void where the air intake features were removed from the fuselage.

Have painted the wheel wells in Testors silver to represent bare metal.  Final aircraft will be in typical gloss white training scheme with red features.
I plan on leaving the struts and wheels themselves in very clean bare metal.

So, should I paint the insides of the gear doors and wheel wells in:

a. matte red
b. zinc chromate primer
c. gloss white
d. bare metal
e. others?

[John Howling Mouse]

Pilot!!!  Well, he won't be in this model but he came with the kit...

I've always wondered who the talented sculptors were who made the masters for Monogram's fantastic 1:48 pilot figures.  Always a pleasure to paint!

[Captain Canada]

Great job on the little dude, Baz !

And that's a tough call on the gear door inards...I'd probably say silver. But maybe green........I think red would be too 'flashy', and white just doesn't seem right.......unless the guys in the paint shop were training as well !

 

[The Rat]

Pilot!!!  Well, he won't be in this model but he came with the kit...

From that angle he looks like George Bush, the elder.

Keep 'er goin' Baz, there's some bad craziness in that bird, and that's a good thing!

[John Howling Mouse]

One thing that has me puzzled though, where is the turbine exhaust located? 

There is a 1 cm fuselage extension plug going on at the front of the fuselage as it is cut at present.  Attached to this plug will be the turboprop's exhaust, much like that of the Piper PA-48 Enforcer.  

And, no, I don't really know how I'm going to pull that off, just yet.  Will likely thin down some aluminum tubing and squash it a bit...   ^_^

[John Howling Mouse]

The big void under the fuselage receives a whole swack of small styrene cubes, etc. to serve as braces to hold up the cover panel which will come later.

[John Howling Mouse]

I placed masking tape on the void and "buffed" the edge of the opening with a pencil to get an accurate outline of the void's shape.

Transferring the marked masking tape to a bit of 20thou card gave me a cutting template.  I scribed a few lines and an oval access panel, bent it at the suitable angle to conform with the shape of the fuselage and glued it into place atop all those little braces you saw in the previous pic.

Some sanding down of the aft edge and a bit of putty to fill in the joints and it should blend right in with the rest...

[Martin H]

Nicley done that man.      

[nev]

Man, scratchbuilding looks hard  :dum:

Glad you're doing it not me    

[John Howling Mouse]

Man, scratchbuilding looks hard  :dum:

Glad you're doing it not me  

It only looks difficult the way *I* do it, heh, heh...

ME:  :dum:  :dum:  

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Will likely thin down some aluminum tubing and squash it a bit... 

Barry, I have some extra C-130 parts from the Italeri and Esci/AMT-Ertl kits and this includes the little exhaust ports for the engines which is nothing more than a little disk thingie with a lip that is longer on once side than the other.  If you want to try one of these parts, I am sure I could render assistance for this project as well as the follow-on COIN version you have in mind.