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.