Fox Thre3 Custom Models

First time using QuintaStudio products and must say that they're very nice and highly detailed.

I'm usually a big fan of doing the hand painting, but these are very good.

Tomcat is coming to life at a good rate.

Tinker time again..

Hey gang!

Sorry for the absence. Life has had its series of ups and downs this last 18 months and it was definitely time for a mental reset.

Back in December I decided it was time to trade in building model airplanes for flying real ones. After nine months of studying, dedicated effort and tons of time in the air, I'm officially a pilot.

I've missed being at the work bench, but plan on getting back into the swing of things very soon!

Hope you've all been well, and look for some updates in the very near future.

Stay well.

Had an amazing opportunity at work recently to create a model of the most recognized C-130 on the planet, the legendary Fat Albert. I was invited to present the model to the Blue Angels at their end of the year ceremony on Nov 11 in Pensacola. "Boss" Capt. Kesselring (Blue Angel 1) and Maj. Huckeba (Fat Albert lead pilot) unveiled it at this ceremony and it was a great honor to be apart of this amazing opportunity and to meet so many great folks with Blue Angels, both past and present. This 25th scale 'Bert' is now on full time display at the Blue Angels hangar at NAS Pensacola.

Kinetic 1/48 T-45

T-45 has been progressing closer and closer to airworthiness.

Hey gang,

Sorry for the hiatus. Life has not been ideal lately and I've been struggling to find the interest to get back to the things that bring me joy. That being said, sometimes it's those things that pull us out of the dark days.

So I've embarked on this T-45 that's sat in my stash for several years.

It's not dazzled out with tons of flair and extras, but it's admittedly felt good just gluing stuff together again and getting out of my own head for a spell.

Hope you've all been well and as always, thanks for sticking around to see what creative mess comes from me next.

It may have won several battles, but I'm happy to say... I won the war.

There was admittedly a lot of frustration in this build. Although I'm typically always very thorough in my build process, I feel like this old girl didn't even really allow many opportunities to shave off any time. Despite it all, I'm happy with the outcome.

She's a bear to photograph due to her sheer size, but I did the best I could to try to capture the parts I was most proud of.

Enjoy!

1/32 Trumpeter A-6E
VMA-121 markings using custom decals and paint masks

Finally got her off her belly and onto her legs.

Weathered out the gear, and added some foil tape for the oleos as well as some simple wiring/tubing to add some interest to the main landing gear.

Lot of small progress leading to big progress. Rigged the trailing edges of the wings, spent entirely too long bonding plastic to metal while building the gear and installed all the fiddly bits to the canopy. Time to dress these gear up and then start slapping this thing together.

Clear plastic is boring...

Punched out some replacement turret lenses from iridescent acetate, fixed them in place and leveled the lense by adding some kristal klear. Once it hardens and dries, it looks quite more exciting than the original parts.

Installed tail hook and finalized tweaking weathering around the body and gear bays. All I've really got left at this point is to build these gear up and start putting the finishing pieces into place. Almost done!

Bending, folding and building the photo etch parts to bring this boarding ladder to life. Only one more to go and then some paint and primer will help them look the part.

Finalizing weathering on and building up the first half of the payload.

Sunday update as I am at the intro stage into decals.

Leading and trailing edges are taking on the remaining color this afternoon. Need to paint wing leading edges and boarding ladders as well as the tail hook well and it should be a wrap for paint!

Drilled out chaff and flare buckets, sized and cut backing plates to paint for according colors and voila!! Loaded buckets!

These could have just as easily been painted with a toothpick, but the depth and difference is hugely noticeable and it's honestly not much more work.

Core colors are all in place. Moving into spraying custom squadron markings and then it'll be on to a light phase of weathering.

Friday night paint session

The process has begun with paint. Still a lot of work left to go, but so far - so good.

Finally progressing into paint. Building up wing surfaces and cleaning up some bumps and seams has been a progressive venture with this one. Also spent entirely too much time on these two MERS. While I sincerely appreciate the level of detail that Eduard adds to their product - I'm not sure it should ever take two hours to build any support equipment for a model... I used to be able to tear down and clean a real one in half the time! 😂

Lot of good progress today. Would like to think I can start moving some paint on her this next week.

Closing up all the engine bays has yielded a lot of body work on the back of things. Cleaning up seams and re-scribing lines and rivets after cleaning up the center seam. Wing roots are secure and it'll just be a bit more filling and sanding as I progress closer to actually getting this thing into the shape of an Intruder.

Progressing into body work for the intruder this weekend.

Moving on.

A bit more tinkering on cockpit paint today.

Cockpit lower half is starting to look a little busy!

Seats and cockpit are booting up.