Is this still a 'work in progress' or a no-work, no-progress project? I have a lot of long term experience on the 'no-progress' projects to potentially recognize one.

Well, I got side-tracked trying to get a build done for the TMF 50's group build, which is due at Feb's meeting. I was about to start a Javelin, when I realized the canopy was mal-formed, and after purchasing a replacement Javelin (by another manufacturer, only to be disappointed), I decided to pull a Fiat G.91 out of the stash and build that. Just about finished painting it, but will still be a miracle to get it done by Feb's meeting.

In the mean time, I have masked the under-nose glazing of the Privateer and glued it in place, and have added all the lumps and bumps underneath and faired them in with Mr. Surfacer. I need to now glue the nose section to the main fuselage section and it'll be ready to accept the white bottom paint. I had decided to paint the fuse section white prior to adding the wings, and painting the wing bottoms separately, to try to minimize the amount of masking, and because I may even paint the wing sections before I glue them to the upper half of the wings, due to issues with how the wheel bays and engine nacelles look when in the "wheels up" position! It is really rather like a jigsaw puzzle trying to figure out how to save myself from grief as I proceed though the major assembly process! I'm also a tad stymied by how to detail out the nose ball turret, and am kinda revising the plan for that as I go. Just picked out a spares box pilot to be the nose gunner (kit did not supply one). Once the G.91 is done I'll be back on this, as I want it finished by contest time!

I did plan to bring the fuse section to the meeting to show basically the waist turrets and cockpit area. I did some detailing behind the crew seats as it was kinda blank back there.

Ok - finally got to the point in my G.91 build where I could spend some more time on the Privateer. Since I finished the blister turrets, I closed up the fuselage, cut down the nose section to accept the vac form canopy, added all the bumps and bits underneath and faired them in, added the vac form nose glazing (masked) and faired it in a bit. My plan is to spray the white with rattle can before I attach the wings, to make the masking job more simple. I'll spray the wings separately, then once attached and faired in, I'll touch up the joints. Tail stabs are already attached and will be sprayed with fuselage.

Here are a couple of close-ups of the cockpit section - before I mated the nose area with the main fuselage, I did some detailing behind the seat as the space was pretty blank. Not sure how much of it will be seen once closed up, but you never know...

Here is some detail work I needed to do on the wheel well area, with retracted wheels. I kinda made up that I thought the attachment points for the wheel legs would look like, as they'll barely be seen once closed up, but since the doors don't completely cover that area, you will see something. I also wanted to blank off the section of the well that is in the nacelle area as that will be visible - again since there are no doors to completely close it off. I'm not finished with it: once painted, I'll add some hydraulic lines for additional detail, then attach the nacelle. By the way - those big white strips are to lift the half of the tire/wheel I'll be inserting to what seems like what is appropriate when the wheel is retracted.

As I was prepping the nacelles to receive the resin cowlings and engines, I realized looking at reference photos that there were some exhaust vents underneath the nacelles that weren't molded in. I couldn't find any tubing the right size so I took a sidewinder from the spares box, drilled it out hollow with a micro bit and cut into segments with 45 degree cut, then drilled into the nacelles at 45 degree angle using a larger bit in a pin vise, and using a toothpick, inserted the segments into the holes. Couple of examples here, along with bits used. I'll use a little mister surfacer to clean up around the hole, but looking at references it wasn't necessarily a tight fit!

That is what the term, Modeler-Up, is all about! Nice going.

FFL

Got all the appendages stuck together, and needed to fill a few divots in the wings (meant to do that before I attached...). Got some more paint on it this morning, but no updated pic yet.

Paint is on - gloss coat is on (just waiting for it to harden) and almost ready for decals. I've done some work on the nose turret detailing (pics soon), and also added some detail to the canopy. I used some thin plastic cut from a dental floss bubble pack to create sun shields (painted with Tamiya clear green). Then I created a center console using some styrene. From reference photos it appears there were some manufacturer placards facing up from the canopy, so I used some Mike Grant instrument decals to depict that. I also added some wires with painted copper wire. I forgot about the thickness of the plastic possibly being an issue to hide the styrene ribbing when I paint the canopy frame, so I may have to pull the console out, repaint, then reinstall. I'm hoping not...!

Don't you really like digging-out the details and applying them to your projects!!

Kurt - I do enjoy adding detail!

Speaking of, here are a few pics of the detailing I did for the nose ball turret. What's still missing is the slanted clear piece of plexiglass that sits right in front of the gunner. I assume that is a gun sight, as there is already a piece of armor to the starboard side of the pilot. I'll wait until I'm done spraying dullcoat after weathering to apply all those last-minute clear pieces. I'll also add the gun barrels after I actually put the top on, so everything gets lined up nicely. I grabbed a pilot out of my spares box, as no gunner was provided.

Aircraft painted and decals are on – now begins the many-layered process of weathering and detailing. Got the engines painted and washed, started the chipping around the nacelles, wings and leading edges (to be finished once all panel lines are drawn), and now working on adding panel line detail. Tedious – using tape and chalk powders. I also used Tamiya Weathering masters to lighten the control surfaces, but in hindsight wish I’d done it differently – I won’t do that again! But after oils I’m hoping to tone it down differently. What I’m learning here I plan to apply to a PBJ build in the near future.

Come on now Mr. Hold-Out, let's see some overall pictures. Do we have to wait until the contest to see the finished item?

Unfortunately, it won't be done for tomorrow's show!

Ok - almost there - here's a quick snapshot of the panel line work done on the underside, just before I laid down an oil filter to knock back the brightness of the white. Panel lines were made with .02 pencil and pastel chalk powders. I've added some additional oil staining since these pics with Tensocrom, and darkened the exhaust staining, and some other detail work.

I was a bit disappoint how much the panel line work disappeared on the dark blue of the upper surfaces. I'm now going to need to work a bit more to bring some "life" to those huge slabs of dark area...I'm hoping to have this ready for the Branson contest, but it will be a race!

You can see that I unfortunately had a bad case of decal silvering. They looked like they were going down really excellently, and I had really prepped the surface (I thought), but after everything dried - well, it speaks for itself. I'm still messing with them, trying all the tricks to make more of it disappear. They were all aftermarket, and sometimes you just never know...

Greg, one thing I've done and had good results with for getting rid of decal silvering. First with a pin or knife make some holes in the decals at the slivered areas. Then wetting the decal with Micro-sol, go ahead and let it puddle a little bit, then adding Future to the puddle. What I've had happen is as the micro-sol evaporates it seems to act as a wetting agent and pulls the Future into the air spaces under the decal.

I like that finish on the underside.

haven't heard of adding the future the the mix - I may try that!

This is probably the last update prior to me finishing this monster! I'm painting the canopy frames, turret frames, adding the final aerials and rigging, and finishing up the props - then will pop the turrets in place, blister gun barrels and the props, and call it done! Although I made my usual few mistakes, I'm pretty happy with this one... Here's the last pic I'll show prior to reveal - now that I'm done spraying, I added the bullet proof glass to the blister turrets (using the clear packaging plastic from dental floss - it was more thin than any other clear plastic I had on hand).

Ok, inquiring minds want to know, did you get it finished in time for the Branson show? Do you go? If so how did you do? Don't keep us hanging.

Well mister Inquiring Mind, I unfortunately didn't get it finished in time for Branson! It WILL be done by Soonercon - probably finish it up this week.

TMF did have a pretty good showing at the Branson Regional - I took a couple of 2nd place, Kurt took I think 3 awards, including the Theme award, and Kenny also took several, including a 1st place in the non-historical figures class! Not bad for just 5 of us being there, and 1 of the 5 didn't enter anything. More importantly, it was an enjoyable trip and some good camaraderie at the event. The turnout was less than expected, but still a respectable amount of models on display - it just looked sparse because they had more tables set up than they needed. Some great vendors and a very nice location.

Finished the Privateer just now! Here are a few pics from the workbench. After I return from OKC show I'll do better pics using my white backdrop, and more detailed shots. The last work done was adding all the gun barrels, rigging the various antenna (upper and lower), adding the extra antenna on undersides and upper area, and then using stained tissue to cover the gun ports in the nose turret, finished with thinned white glue.