The artist signs his work...

Having glued the exhaust that Casey painted black the night before, I had him sign the inside with the year the kit was built. A tradition of mine since I have been creating kits as a teenager.

F-22 Pilot

Today Casey had some fun painting the pilot of his F-22 Raptor an army green color. We also examined the kit and unfortunately beyond a few small details there is not much to do as the F-22 is a very simple kit compared to other models that we have built...

Happy Birthday Casey!

Happy Birthday Casey! Your now 7 years old and what could be better than a scale model of an F-22 Raptor! Looks like we will be having some fun with a new build this summer...

A-6 Cockpit

At first I wanted to make an identical cockpit to that of the original aircraft however I decided not to. Reasons are because there are several configurations plus the fact that once the cockpit glass was closed not a whole lot will be visible. I decided to use my artistic talent and let my imagination choose the button colors. Overall I think it looks convincing...

A-6 Crew

Just completed painting the pilot (right) and the navigator/bombardier (left). Will glue the arms to the bodies once they have been seated in the cockpit.

Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye

Just finished detailing the two E-2 Hawkeye's and just like the Sea Kings I added photo-etched propellers from Gold Medal Models and the decals are from Starfighter decals. I plane to fold the wings of one of the two aircraft to display it in a parked area while the other one will be ready to launch on a catapult.

Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King

Completed work on Midway's two Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King's. I estimate that I spent about an hour per helicopter. Added photoetched rotars from Gold Medal Models and the decals are from Starfighter decals.

Complete!

This afternoon I weathered the Schwimmwagen using Tamiya Weathering Master A Set (sand), applied a coat of flat clear, added the final parts (windshield frame, mirrors, etc), weathered some more then applied a second coat of flat clear. Tonight I installed the windshield to the frame using Elmer's white glue and this kit /project comes to an end after being purchased some 10+ years ago. 

I added up the minutes from my records and the total build time comes down to 1281 minutes or 21 hours and 21 minutes. Its a lot more time then I expected but I had extra rework to due because of initial painting I did when I originally purchased the kit and I paid a lot of attention to detail based on the research I did. Overall I am very please with the kit. It's a very small one (smallest in my collection) but the fact that I bought it over a decade ago always nagged me when I saw it unbuilt on the shelf. WW2 German innovation has always peaked great interest for me and what could be more interesting then a car that can swim.

Take it for a Drive...

Installed the completed soldier in the drivers seat and I was surprised (as well as relieved) that the arms positioned very well with the steering wheel. You will also notice in the photos that I added accessories such as the shovel and paddle.

Maverick

Today Casey and me finished assembling his F-14. He is pretty happy about his latest project and already wants to build another kit. Ironically tomorrow on the local cable channel what movie is playing... "Top Gun". Guess who wants to see it...