F6F Hellcat WIP 2...Progress is slow

A long over due update...progress on this build is slow mostly due to the pace of life right now. Its a pretty straight forward build. I really have to control my urges to just paint things how I want too at times though. I remind myself that this is a gift and I move on. I have the cockpit, and the engine mostly done, with the interior green color done along with the internal electronics that no one will ever see once I glue the two halves together. Kind of silly really, but I have the pictures to prove I put them in. Below is a photo of my painting area with my home made spray booth.

The fit on the parts is really nice and tight. At times a little too tight. Nothing plasti-weld cant fix though.

This is where I am at at this point. Sorry I am not taking as many photos as I normally do. This is some uncharted territory for me and well I forget to snap a few pics as I move along.

Got it all rigged up with a rubber band to keep things lined up nicely. Not a lot of color, but it is after all a WWII fighter.

Here are those "this will be the only time you see them" electronics. Nothing too interesting, but they are there.

I will have to get more done this weekend.
As always thank you for stopping by. T.G.

Change up....big time!

Well, the weather is cold here....as I tried to paint the second color on the Drekky, that all failed as the paint would not mix properly due to the cold in my garage....oh well. Then as it starts to warm up I find out my Wife's Grandfather is turning 90 at the end of March. He was a fighter pilot in WWII, so I thought I would build him the A/C he flew in the war (mind you I thought I had until the end of April so I was going to finish the Drekky) So between classes, work, and a looming birthday deadline I am going to build my first complete non-snapfit model. It will be an adventure to say the least I will have to carefully plan out my painting stages, and there will be zero liberties taken on colors. That last part being why I started Gundam in the first place. I like to do the colors I want not the ones I am supposed to do.  Here is what I am starting with....

What the heck do you do with a photo etched part....this is going to be fun to say the least.

Thank you for stopping by. I will get some updates going soon. Now that the weather is getting a little better. T.G.

Drehksturm WIP 4

I have been busy working on the clean up of this kit, and as usual with resin kits, just when I think I have it all cleaned and am ready to move onto the next parts for final clean up....I find another blemish I missed. Oh well, it will be nice in the end to have a good smooth finish.  I figured first I would show you the rough unfinished legs and such...It is an impressive conversion kit for sure. While personally I think its a full original stealing from the already made frame parts of a zeta.

Here you can see my basing intentions and working on positioning for the kit.

I changed the kits weapon placements a little taking some inspiration from the Kampher kit.

Here is the rough completed kit. I have mods that need to be done. IE I lost the piece of PCV that goes in the waist skirt to connect the chest and the waist together so I have to remedy that mess up.

But I do like the aggressive look of the kit on this base.

And below you will see my work on cleaning up the front leg armor. Below I have epoxied the pieces together, but the gap is still quite large.

I filled the gap in with putty and gave it a good long dry time. On the right you can see the leg I have already finished.

Below you can see post sanding work on the seam line.

And here is the mod for connecting the chest to the waist and raising it up some.

The small white part on the chest is 2 pieces of pal-plate that is going to raise up the chest.

Here is the view from the back. 

I have already primed all the pieces you see here, but due to the cold weather the paint stays soft for a very long time. So I am leaving it alone to dry fully.

As always, thank you for stopping by. T.G.

Drehksturm WIP 3 I believe....

 Well now that I have finished playing Dishonored, a great game by the way. Especially if you love inducing chaos like I do.

On to Gundam business: I have been working on finishing the clean up on the chest, and waist parts. I thought for those of you that have never worked a resin kit, or a conversion kit as this kit is. I will show you how I pin a part. Glue is nice, but sometimes super glue is a pain to work with. Normal plastic cements will not work well if at all on most resin compounds. So using a rigid pin is a great trick. Thick guitar wire, or small brass rods work best.

First step is to mark and drill out the part so it will have a spot for the pin.

 Do the same on both parts. Use some sticky tack to line up more complex parts. Below you can see I have pinned the waist piece from my MG Kit.

 I like to use gel super glue, just a little bit right over the hole you just drilled out. Then line up the pin and insert. I highly suggest you check the fit prior to glueing so you know the pin you cut isn't too long or some of the other issues like bends in the pin don't hamper your efforts.

 Here you can see the pinned part. Now stronger than if I would have just glued it.

 This is the glue I use. I have both the gel and the liquid. I like this one because the container allows for a lot of control in dispensing the glue.

 Here is the pre-primed and plated waist. I will say white resin hides a lot of the imperfections.  Normally I am a one time primer kind of guy, but this build is requiring me to change that and prime often to ensure I have a smooth finish.

 I will say Helmosengine (R.C.) did a great job ensuring a tight fit on the conversion pieces so far.

 But as usual I cant ever leave well enough alone. I get the first full casting of this kit and what do I do...add plating, and lines to increase details, as if Helmosengine didn't have a ton of detailing in this kit .

 Some additions to the chest too.

 The front piece to the waist skirt. All freshly primed and looking smoother. I will have to break out the 1000+ grit sand paper to ensure that my work is as smooth as I need it.

Thats where I am at so far. This kit has been a test of patience and a challenge at times. I knew that going in. R.C. warned me about it, but I love the design of this kit. I look forward to getting more of this awesome kit done.
As always thanks for stopping by, T.G.