Case

My wife got me a nice display case for my birthday (which was last month) as promised. Unfortunately when I opened the box I discovered  a crack on the side.  A few days later I got an exchange at my local hobby shop and all is good.

I had been trying to find a solution of how to display the Midway properly and this was the best solution that I could come up with that was affordable ($50) and proper scale. I will have to raise the base (will probably add some wood) so that I can incorporate a battery for the lighting in the hangar.

Complete!

Sprayed a final coat of clear flat, removed the mask from the canopy and this model is now complete! This build took me 43 hours and 17 minutes, a lot more than I had originally planned but I am very happy with how it turned out.

Weathering

Applied diluted oil paints to the seams of the grey sections of the plane but noticed immediately that this is not going to work for the white sections so I will not weather those sections.

Decals Complete

Applied the printed decals and once dry sprayed another coat of clear to seal them as instructed so that the colors don't bleed. This kit is starting to look real sharp now!

Photoshop Decals

Recreated the decals I want to replace in Photoshop using several reference photos of decal sheets I found online. Interestingly I find that the new decals look better than the originals, with the text being much more crisp.

Decal Woes

Spent the past few days applying decals which I always find to be one of the more rewarding parts of building a kit as it helps bring it to life.

Unfortunately I had not one but two issues that caused a lot of frustration. First, a while back I had pre-cut the decals to minimize any transparent borders surrounding the them but it appears that I lost not one but both red arrow decals next to each jet intake. Second issue, one of the danger arrows on the side became displaced by accident while manipulating the model and I did not notice until it was too late.

I contacted Revell to get a replacement decal sheet but it could take up to 8 weeks and I really want to complete this kit in September. So looking for an alternate solution I found printable decal sheets and with the aid of Adobe Photoshop I'll recreate them.

Clear Gloss Coat

After double checking the masking on the canopy I sprayed the whole model with an acrylic clear gloss to prepare the plane for the decals.

Happy Birthday Terry!

Here is the resting place for Terry's plane. Will be one of the first things he sees when he wakes up in the morning and the last when going to bed. Hope it sparks his imagination, make him day dream or just enjoy his plane.

Happy Birthday Terry, love dad.

Photo Gallery

Birthday Party

Well today's the party for my second son Terry's 5th birthday and here he is with his new plane! While it was a challenge to build the aircraft in such a short time I am very happy with how it turned out. Total build time calculated was approximately 49 hours and 8 minutes.

Landing Gears

With Terry’s birthday party being held tomorrow (his actual birthday is on the 29th) I installed the last part, the landing gears. The tail wheel actually comes from an old unbuilt Revell AV-8B Harrier kit that was missing parts as the supplied wheel was very simple and not nice.

Red Nose

With the clear spray paint and mask removed I installed the red nose cone and I have to admit I find this kit very stunning.

Sharks Mouth

Finished painting the propeller which required seven coats of yellow paint. Also painted the inside of the mouth as I have seen several reference photos with this paint scheme that I prefer, make the aircraft appear to be even more menacing.

Also regretted removing the Tamiya masking tape which I suspected would happen as I had to re-mask the cockpit window in preparation of spraying painting the aircraft with a clear to seal the decals to the model.

Decals

Finished adding the decals to the aircraft which went well. I find this step fun and enjoy how it adds so much more details very quickly. The mouth piece was very challenging and took twenty some minutes to position properly but it is also my favorite element giving the kit a lot of character.

Wheel Struts

Completed the wheel struts, added black electric wires for extra detail.

Positioning the Guns

With the machine guns painted with Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black, I super glued them into the wings.

I also glued the motor exhaust pipes into place.

Making the Guns

With some very small brass tubing I used a razor blade to cut six 1/2 inch pieces to make the machine guns. Using a razor blade avoids crushing the pipe. Also drilled six holes into the wings with a Dremel drill.

Olive Green

Yesterday evening I applied several coats of olive green and am very pleased with the results. While there was a little paint bleeding due to the 3M scotch tape I used it was minimal and will be able to easily correct with some white paint.

Tamiya Tape

Last night I re-spray painted the underside of the plane with white paint. Tonight I spent an hour masking it in preparation of the olive green paint. I use glad cling rap with tape around the edges. Unfortunately I ran out of the Tamiya masking tape and had to resort to using 3M scotch tape as I feel I cannot afford to delay masking the plane till tomorrow. While the 3M scotch tape may cause a bit of paint bleeding it is probably the best alternative to standard scotch tape that I have on hand. I also found out that buying the tape on eBay from Hong Kong costs about $6 where as locally it costs over almost $12, the tradeoff is that it takes about 3-4 weeks to get the item in the mail.

Primer

Found that the white spray paint cracked so in an attempt to fix it and also prevent further cracking I decided to spray paint the whole aircraft with white primer. This is something I should start doing more often with scale models as it makes everything uniform between the tissue, white glue, super glue, wood and plastic materials.

Antenna

Spent a good thirty minutes sanding a square block of wood to make the antenna. Small details is what turns an average kit into a great one.

Tires

Spray painted the wheels with Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black last night in the garage. Using a toothpick to manipulate the parts while painting, I take an old egg carton to hold the parts while they dry