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.