The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

Daz, thats a busy bench.
I've never seen the B-36 being built before. Whats your plan for displaying it?
The Forrestal project is looking good as is the S tank, a kit I've been looking at lately.

My plan for displaying the B-36 is to buy/steal/build a box for it and only display it at shows. I don't think Mrs D would take kindly to a cabinet large enough for such a monster.

I'm applauding the sheer moxie it takes to tackle such a beast as the B-36! The detachable wings/box idea is good thinking. I've seen this done before with brass tube inserts in the wings.

I have a friend who's got 36 B-36 kits. I've never heard of one being completed in under a year. My friend is 65, so he'll be busy with them at least until he's 100.

The Great Auk

The "new" decals came in the post today, Thanks Darryl.

The Great Auk wrote:I'm applauding the sheer moxie it takes to tackle such a beast as the B-36! The detachable wings/box idea is good thinking. I've seen this done before with brass tube inserts in the wings.

I have a friend who's got 36 B-36 kits. I've never heard of one being completed in under a year. My friend is 65, so he'll be busy with them at least until he's 100.

The Great Auk

No detachable wings on mine. The joint isn't very good in any case so it took a fair amount of work to get them to look right. I wish your friend the best of luck with his B-36 bomber wing although I do believe MarkyM607 built one in 6 weeks!

Michael modeller 48 wrote:The "new" decals came in the post today, Thanks Darryl.

You're most welcome Michael

Still a man of leisure and making the most of my available bench time. Most of it has focussed on the S tank for the Scandinavian GB.






And it's coming along quite well.

I haven't forgotten my US Navy Air Wing though.

I had to do a little more work on the Airfix A-4s. These are not the shake and bake kits I expected and a lot of it is to do with poor kit engineering and quality. For instance, the wing root leading edges are separate parts(???) which could easily have been moulded in with the wing. They weren't a very good fit either and required filling. Also, the aft ends of the main u/c housings are provided as separate parts with honking great mould gates. Why, Airfix? These should have been part of the wing moulding. Anyhow, they are together now (Oh, and I had to sand down the airbrakes too ) but at least they fitted). The airbrakes on the Fujimi A-4C are going to be left open. It's easier than trying to fit them.

So, as you see them here, they are ready for masking and priming. I've done a bit of pre-shading in wells and bays and done a little metallic work on the tail of the F-8E.




Hopefully a bit more progress very soon

The S Tank looks a nice kit, loads of detail and it looks like it's going together well!

Those S-Tanks are so cool. Love the look of them. Although, not sure I'd want to have to rely on a tanks suspension and tracks for aiming it in combat. Yours is looking sharp!

mjatx wrote:Those S-Tanks are so cool. Love the look of them. Although, not sure I'd want to have to rely on a tanks suspension and tracks for aiming it in combat. Yours is looking sharp!

I had wondered about that too; are these intended as battle tanks, or as tank destroyers (as the German Stugs)/SPGs?

either way, yours is looking good Darryl

Thats going to be some big box!!! Good luck with it.
I'm trying not to buy any more kits until after xmas, but everytime I see that S tank I start to head to eBay.
Lovely work.

You're all very kind and your comments are much appreciated. I'm afraid that a family issue has kept me away from the bench properly for a few days but I've got back to it and pushed things along a little further.

First, the S Tank is coming along well and is nearing the finish line.




And my "Forrestal Foursome" have seen some movement too.

Both the Academy Crusader and Fujimi A-4C have received an initial coat of primer. Naturally, this has revealed a little more work to be done but nothing unexpected. Some additional filling on the Skyhawk...




...and a spot of blending work at the rear of the F-8E's canopy.




Nothing too onerous and the primer has really made the engraved detail on the Crusader pop. I'm so looking forward to getting this one painted


The Airfix twosome haven't progressed quite as much, largely because I've run out of clamps and places to put things but ....



... they now sport pylons and probes. Some blending will need to be done but they'll be ready to be sequenced into the paint booth behind their shipmates.

More progress soon. Maybe even a bit of B-36

Great lineup progressing here.
Can't have too many Crusaders! (Must do something about that!)

Cheers,

David

Do you have any particular squadron in mind for your Forrestal Project Vigilante? From what I've seen whilst researching my own USN project, most of the specific detail is on the tail fin with a squadron badge on the fuselage, the rest being standard markings. I will be making up a decal sheet of lettering and numbers within the next couple of weeks and will probably have enough free space to run off a couple of Vigilante fins if you want me to do that.

These builds are progressing very nicely, Daz - I particularly like the way your S Tank is shaping up