Starting in the Hangar, we have these projects going, most of which are quite large and been sitting idle for awhile. First, let's visit this first bay where we have a 1/72 scale MQ-9 Predator under construction:
Basic assembly of the body and wings happened first. They didn't say in the instruction sheet that weight was needed in the nose, so that was carefully added later:
Later the engine and landing gear were added, that's where the weight issue was discovered:
Weight was carefully added and then all the final detail parts were added, this bird is ready for paint:
Next it it, we also have another MQ-9 Predator. Two came in the kit with options for two other versions. I chose to build this for my RAF, and now this one is almost ready for paint as well:
Moving on to the next bay, we go back in time with this Airfix 1/72 scale Dogfight Doubles set. It was a gift for me from a friend and avid WWI aficionado. The first plane from it is this British Se-2C scout plane that went together fast:
Later the engine was assembled and installed in place:
The beauty of this kit is that Airfix included these strut alignment jigs so the struts line up perfectly so we thought we'd try them out:
The jigs worked, simplifying the top wing mounting:
Later we got all the painting done on this.
While that was drying, we started on the other half of the Dogfight Double set, the German Eindecker E.II. Basic fuselage assembly was fast:
The rest of the plane fell together perfectly so we starting painting it as well:
And now both of them are ready for final decals and rigging.
Moving on to the next bay, we have a 1/72 scale Super Model Italian Macchi C-205 that was sitting in a very broken up box. It was time to get that one done. Basic fuselage and wing assembly was quick as there weren't too many parts. What parts there were certainly had some pretty serious fit issues. The propeller is in a cowl that glues into the opening of the nose so the propeller will continue to turn. It'll be one of the last things I glue into place:
As you can see a lot of filling was needed for the gaps around the wing roots, under the plane and around select panels. You can also see how confident the pilot was in the abilities of his plane; he bailed out before it is done. Again, propeller assembly is dry fit into place:
Some judicious sanding and shaping and this is starting to look much better. The pilot is still MIA so we closed up the canopy and started preparing this for paint:
In the next bay, we finally got the fuselage halves together for the British Westland Sea King. It went together pretty well with only a little bit of persuasion:
There were some seam issues that got addressed and then the main landing gear sponsons got installed along with portions of the glass:
Now on to some of the Big Stuff. The B-66 Destroyer had been sanded smooth after the second coat of primer wrinkled up. Now a third coat was shot on it. Overall it looked fine, but there are a few small blemishes that will need attention again before a metal coat goes on this:
In the next bay is the Egyptian Tu-16 Badger, one of two we're building, here is a reminder:
The cockpits were painted, the cockpit modules were assembled and the engines were mounted on the fuselage halves of the Egyptian plane. You can see both cockpit modules here too:
We got one set of glass cockpit and nose masked and ready for paint:
To make things easier, we installed those parts to one of the cockpit modules; the fit is amazing:
Now we'll try to catch up on the Iraqi Badger so this is where this stands. Meanwhile in the next bay we installed the inside engine and landing gear nacelle to each wing of the Tu-142 Bear:
I decided we should dry fit this together to see what we're dealing with. Remember this is sitting on a standard TV tray:
Finally in this last bay, we have the British Airways Concorde, here it is with the cockpit module dry fit to the rest of it. This is alkso sitting on the same TV Tray:
Work was done on the flaps for this, all these ejector pin marks needed filling which we started after adding the actuator casing to them:
The tail feathers were attached after that:
Here's another shot showing how big this is again:
Later we got half of it inside the spray booth for another couple coats of white primer:
Yep, more paint will be needed for that.
That concludes the Hangar portion of this tour, now on to the Shipyards....
Here is the Shipyards, things have been slowly picking up. We even started this project here in this first slipway. This is the Revell 1/106 scale tugboat that I'd been gifted so it was time to lay the keel. Mind you the instructions are missing so everything done in this slipway is done sans instructions. Here's where this boat was after the the first few steps:
Yep, badly warped main railings. Glue was applied on the rear portions and then after it dried, we glued the remaining parts in with a bit of persuasion. That allowed us to get this far:
While that was all drying, we started on the main superstructure, again all sans instructions. It went together quite well:
A test fit shows how well this is gonna look:
That was about an hour's work. More projects were taking a lot longer. One of them that didn't was the main deck of the USS Enterprise; white paint was finally shot after the last of the masking was added:
Later we'll paint the yellow portions and then see how much cleanup I'll need to do before moving on.
Finally in this last slipway, the Robert E. Lee was slowly being built up. The outer railings were added to the two lower decks; Pyro did it right making them one piece that spans both decks. Even so, due to issues from earlier deck and bulkhead misalignment and some slight warpage these still took a lot persuasion:
Some of those issues, I am not sure how I'll address them.
Still, more progress was made building up the Texas skylights, Texas deck house, pilot house and other minor details. We had also re-sanded and re-shot the main stacks so I decided to dry fit them here for this picture. The Lee is starting to look like a steamboat:
Finally, as we drive by the Motor Pool on the way back to the main lobby, you can catch a glimpse of one of the newer projects to expand the land forces again; we started an Egyptian Su-100 for my Egyptian Army:
Work will commence on that and others after the crew gets a good rest from vehicles.
Thank you again for coming on this latest tour; comments are always welcome!
