Revell 1/144 E-2C Hawkeye and AV-8B Harrier II+ Completed.

  Yes, you did read the title right.  After a year I have finally finished the Hawkeye.  It wasn't the "dream build" I've read about.  But I think thats more to do with my stupidity than anything else.  I also "finished" the Harrier.  I balls'd it up tho so I have left it where it is.  Still quite impressed with it.  I'll post pictures of the Harrier first.

   I can't believe how well the cockpit has come out.  Love the fuel tanks too, shame they messed up too.

   The transfers/decals where not that bad actually.  I was expecting far worse.

  Close up of the cockpit, can't believe how much detail you can see in it.  I need to make better cockpits, but I am happy with this.  The HUD looks cool.  Learning how to make seatbelts will be my next thing.

  Top view, if you are wondering why the fuel tanks are on the middle station instead of the inboard ones. Thats because I wanted to use the GBU-12 and TILAD pod on the inner ones.  I've got pictures of AV-8B's like this, so I know its a viable fit.  Might break off the tanks and use them again.

  And finally the tail, the decals weren't that bad really.  However they are not a simple fit, I cut mine into two parts, wish I had done 3 or even 4.  Now that I think about it, I am going to make this model again.  Maybe with aftermarket parts and dropped flaps.  Now onto the Hawkeye.

   I am really loving this model, now the bugger is finally finished.  Think the de-icing boots could of been done better or masked off.  But live and learn eh?

 Top back half.  Really am pleased with how this came out.   I will be buying this again at a later date.

   I just love that Green and Yellow band around the forward fuselage. It actually fits and it wasn't that hard to put on either.  As for the "Danger" one for the props... that was a complete bastard and didn't go on straight :(

   Think if I was to do this kit again I will have to do it as an Hawkeye 2000, and have folded wings on it.  I'm gonna have to paint the "button" on the radar as it's a different colour.  Also the cockpit will be painted better as you CAN see it through the windows.  Still I am well happy with what I have done.

   Decals for the rudders look really cool to me.  Not too sure if they are on correctly or if they have silvered a little?

   Love the little decal for the "USS Kitty Hawk".  Oh yeah the walkway decals.  I forgot to put them on before I had rebuilt the rotordome housing.  However you can put them on after the housing is on the plane.  However I do still believe that it would be easier to place them before the housing is on and maybe to cut the main on for the wing up into two parts as it has to match a panel line on the wingspar and there is also an emergency escape hatch on the rear fuselage that they wont match up with.  Still this is one good kit.  The decals are really good.  Need to recover the windscreen to varnish it and try out a little wash.  I will see about doing that tomorrow.

  Any comments or suggestions please let me know.

  Peace!

  Dazz

Bombcat, Typhoon, Hornet, Harrier, Hawkeye WiP and New Purchases

  Well it's been a while since I posted anything.  But here is a few posts of what I have done the last two weeks.  It's a struggle atm because I am fighting for control of the table with my family.  Well I'll post some pictures up of what I have done thus far... well thats not correct.  I am further along with some models than I am with others.

  The AV-8II+ with it's 3 coats of grey.  I think the grey thats on the side of the body was a little too dark.  Oh well...

  Top side of the Typhoon.  Not too bad.

  Bottom side of the Typhoon, with the harrier in the background.

 Top half of the Harrier, you can see the 3 different greys but I still think the middle tone is too dark.

  Top half of the Bombcat.  Buggered this up totally.  I think the top half is a little too dark.

  Bottom of the Bombcat, the paint has leaked where I didn't mask it up correctly.  Still learning with the airbrush... should that be "Canbrush"??....

  Top half of the Hornet.  I'm gonna strip this model and start again.

  Read above.

  Now the Hawkeye I am actually happy with. :)

  Think the grey on this one is really good.  However I later found a picture of the very model I am doing and it's supposed to be darker than this... bugger.

  see where the radome housing is buggered?

  Those rudders look very cool to me :)

  The fuel tank for the F-18 and the two Storm Shadows for the Typhoon.

  The fuel tank and the Storm Shadows.

  And again?  God knows why I have 3 pictures of the same thing.

  Last but not least the GBU-10's and GBU-12's that I am gonna be using on the various kits. :)

  Now on to the purchases.

  Got this one when I ordered a few paints.  It was only £2 and I love the MiG-29 for some reason.

  Now this purchase was a complete mistake.  I clicked on it by accident and forgot to take it off at the checkout.  Oh well it is a model I wanted, just not now.

  Smaller than I thought it would be.

 
  Well thats it for now.  More to come when I can be arsed.

  Peace! 

  Dazz

Hawkeye, Super Hornet, Bombcat, Typhoon, Harrier WiP Update

  The last few weeks have been manic for me, with the wedding stuff we had to sort out to all my hayfever playing havoc with me to my anti-hayfever medication actually knocking me out (long story).  Onto what I have done then.

  First up is the Hawkeye, now the rotordome housing is totally buggered I will not lie there.  However I have managed to scratch build new legs for the housing and get it glued onto the body.  Pictures as follows.

  If you look at the housing you can see that its melted to crap, so I am hoping that the rotordome will hide most of the damage.  The yellow bits are from the sprues for the Ex-S Gundam.  It seems to be working well.  Next up the Hornet.

  I've brush painted on some Vallejo Light Grey to see what it looked like, but shes all masked up for spraying now.  Harrier next.

  Once again all masked up ready for painting, I'm gonna have to sort out those intakes now I look at it.  Bombcat next.

  Yeah I've primed it white, doing a little experiment with it.  But shes ready for spraying soon.

  All primed and ready to be sprayed too.  :)  If you've noticed that the pictures are better than normal, thats because I've purchased a Canon 1100d DSLR.  I love that camera :)

  More to come tomorrow.

  Peace!

  Dazz

Work so far...

  Yesterday I was supposed to wash my car (I know what an exciting life I lead eh?), but as is typical for England it was raining as per usual... and we are in a drought... go figure.  So I decided to do some models, now I didn't do anything major.  Just some tidying up and masking which took me a while.

  I've finally gotten around to masking the canopy for this bugger Hawkeye.  For a model that is supposed to be a modelers dream, it sure is turning into an nightmare for me.  It's just that bloody gray that I can not get right.  Might just slap on any old gray.

  My Revell 1/72 Ju-87 G Stuka, I decided to build the tank buster after all, might get some after market barrels for those cannons.  Dunno yet, need to tidy up those wing tips also.  I am quite pleased with what I have done here.  I need to sort the cockpit out also, that canopy isn't glued down yet.

  My little Revel 1/144 F/A-18 F Super Hornet, only managed to get the cockpit painted and glued the canopy down also masked it up.  Still trying to decide what weapons load I want on it, I might leave the Mk.82 bombs or the JDAM off and put them on the AV-8B Harrier II+, dunno yet.

  And last but not least we have the 1/72 Iterali BAe Hawk 127 (altho the model says 100), I've cleaned the cockpit out and made sure the canopy fitted correctly this time around.  I also tidied it up a bit and tried to get rid of the join lines.  I painted the Sidewinders too, so I just need to varnish it and decal it and this little baby is done.  I might buy this plane again at some point, I masked up the canopy but that too me an hour...

 
  A close up of the canopy, the paint work needs some touch ups but it's more or less done for an spraying.  I can't wait to get this one done.

  Haven't had much chance in the last two months between going to work, going out and crap weather to get the telescope out.  Almost forgotten how to use it :P  Hope I can soon...

  PEACE!

  Dazz

Revell 1/144 Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye Part 3

  Just a little update.  I finally got around to looking at the Hawkeye again, I was actually re-reading one of my Scale Aviation Modelers International magazine the other week, when I noticed an article on the new RAF Voyager, actually an Airbus A330 MRTT but meh... anyhow a bloke in it (I will find his name and give him full credit at an later date) had an A330 and he was going to convert it to the Voyager.  However he had already painted it using the display colours of the A330 at various airshows.  So he had the problem of removing the paint (as well as putting more nose weight in), anyhow he said that he got a tip of using Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner and putting it in a bag to "cook" for a day and then washed it off.  Well it's only £3.00 ish at work and even cheaper with the store discount (yeah I work in a supermarket, fucking hate it with a passion).  I tried it the other day and I can say it worked a treat!  Admitted I buggered up by getting water into the canopy but I can sort that out later.  Below is a picture of her drying from being washed.  I am back on track in getting this "simple" project done.

  Now I just need to decide on the colour of the aircraft and I will get the bugger done ASAP.  Well depends on when my Firestorm Armada cruisers get delivered.

  PEACE!

  Dazz

Revell 1/144 Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye Part 2

For the people who have actually read the other parts of my blog they will know that I started a Revell 1/144 scale Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye sometime last summer and all of the trouble I have had with it up until this point.  Well below is a picture of it semi-dry fitted

Thats it before I started to paint the main plane and attach the canopy to it.  At this point only the main wings and the tailplane are glued to the fuselage.  The Rotordome and it's struts are not glued yet as I think it'll be easier to set the decals for the walkways on without having to navigate my way around those strut legs.

  If you look at the dark grey bits below the rotordomes shadow you will see the Walkways which I speak of and know why they would be easier to attach before the rotordome is glued in place.  I also think thats an Hawkeye E-2D (aka Hawkeye 2000) as opposed to the E-2C I am doing, but that matters not.  Anyhow, I moved onto painting this little one, now for some unknown reason and as far as I can tell, Revell only give the numbers for their paints and they are always something stupid like 97.35% Matt 8 with 2.65% Matt 5 hardly ever a single colour.  Well this one asked me to mix white in with a light grey which I done and well to me it looked too dark.  To me all the Hawkeyes look a little white with a very fine little grey in them.  So I had to take the paint off, luckly it hadn't cured yet so I could use white spirit to wipe it off.  The picture below kinda shows you how well their colours come out.

You can just see a bit of it between the fuselage and the left wing engine.  What you can also see is my well painted arrestor hook.  Cool no?!  Anyhow that colour didn't work either, so I tried a little more white in the mix this time, still no joy as you'll see soon below.  So I have been on the search for a light enough grey when shopping around for a colour for my Hawk Mk.100 I noticed it gave an FS number, which to my understanding means "federal standard" (please correct me if I am wrong).  Anyhow the Hawk uses a colour called Light Ghost Grey from ModelMaster I thought I might be in luck there, I tried it on my Hawk, and altho I love the paint now, it was still too grey.  However looking around on the interwebs, I found another modeller who used Light Gull Grey, I have ordered that and will try putting that on.  I'm also debating if I should use the standard decals that come with it or not... still not sure...

Do you see what I mean about the grey being too dark?  If it was an F-15 or an F-16, no problems but it just seems... wrong to me.

Anyhow I've received my Light Gull Grey paint now with two other greys as I am now painting quite a few grey models.  Lets hope I can actually finish this model this year eh?  more to come...

  Peace!

  Dazz