The glacier moves forward

My modelling seems rather glacial at times!  Nothing much has happened with the Mustang, except some touching up here and there on the seat.  For some reason I never painted the back of the seat, so, need to do that.  Used Gunze Sangyo acrylic, but didn’t thin it.  Result was, hmm, not tostandard.  So, quick flick with the sanding stick, and off I go again!

The Sunderland is moving forward.  The porthole that had the glass pushed in was filled with Krystal Klear, and it seems to have dried OK.  Put Maskol on all the port side, and one starboard side, portholes.  Now need to Maskol the rest, mask the canopy & turrets, put on fin, rear planes, oh, the list goes on!  Still, moving on.

The real progress has been with the Mach 2 B-45 Tornado.  I removed all the masking from the canopies, and began painting (or re-painting) the olive drab of the engines covers, using Humbrol 86.  So far so good.  Wheels are in place too.  The chap who originally worked on it must have stopped when he was on the wheels as they’re partially painted.  Excellent job too!  In other words, it’s approaching completion point.

Other than that, things much the same as ever!  Bought The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on tape for £2 in St.Albans market, so listening to that whilst working.  Also bought a futon for £10.50.  The people I bought it from seemed most unhappy to have sold it for so little.  Of course, the fuel costs to transport it, plus buying my friend lunch, and cleaning the car, made it almost the same price as a new one.  Ah well, it’s fine, and had a nice day out too.  At least it means that friends, if they want to stay over, can do so now.

Torn assunder?

Finally decided to finish the fuselage of the Sunderland.  Easy task, you might think, except, no, not this time.  Before one can assemble the fuselage, the 3 turrets need to be attached, and the cockpit too.  The upper turret is easy, it sits on a shelf which you attach to one side.  The front turret sits on a slider, a little more work, but OK, whilst the rear sits on, well, the rear!  The cockpit, as with so many cockpits, was a pain.  Still, it all came together.  However, this is not true of the fuselage, which left massive gaps!  Out with the Plastic Weld, out with the clamps, and, eventually, out with the Zap-a-gap.  During the fight, one porthole became partially pushed in.  If it goes fully in, I’ll have a dead model, so, need to rescue it.  Also, the gun from the front turret became dislodged, so, using a cocktail stick, need to re-attach.

The turrets themselves are very simple affairs, with no lines for painting.  Still, they’ll do.  Speaking , it’ll do, the fuselage is now looking much better, and begining to resemble a Sunderland.  With the top sanded down, and the bottom now looking better too, it’s all go!  Next up will be the rearplanes and the fin.  After this, mask the canopy and turrets, then spray on some Mr.Surfacer.  Normally I don’t use this, as a bit rough, but need it this time I think.

Not much else this week, except the re-painting of the Mustang floor.  Now resembles a plywood floor, to which black paint has been roughly applied, and thence worn away in places.  Pretty pleased with that!

Need to sort out a ‘works programme’ to complete all kits sitting on my workbench.  Most of them are near the end, so, I should be able to clear a lot, quickly.  The current kits are (and next stage) – all 1/72 unless otherwise indicated-:

Short Sunderland – Attach rears elements; B-45 Tornado – need to repaint engine covers; Horton – repaint swirls; Draaken – mask canopy; Spitfire – mask canopy; 1/144 Lancaster – fix gap, repaint; Submarine – get the energy to attach bits!; Sea Fury – mask for final paint; 1/48 Mustang – cockpit; 1/48 F-14 – cockpit; 1/48 Spitfire – next layer of brown

Whilst I know what I’m going to build next, nothing is release to the workbench until these are completed or binned!