Pete's Matchbox/Revell Skyraider

[stillp]

Made a bit of progress, after a lot of filling and sanding that I wanted to finish before adding too many sticky-out bits. The bomb pylons needed a lot of cleaning up but they're on now:

Followed by the flaps, and the mountings for the external fuel tanks.

The clear parts had a couple of visible moulding lines, but looked a bit better after a coat of Pledge:

So, on with the masking

I needed to sand down the partition in the middle of the cockpit to get the canopies to sit down on the cockpit sides. The rearmost section doesn't fit the fuselage very well, and all three canopy sections are slightly wider than the fuselage so gluing them will be tricky. I'll need to use something with a bit more 'grab' than my usual Gator's Grip.
Soon be painting!
Pete

 

[boatman]

HI Pete she's comin on an will the wings fold up an down when she is finished ? as i like her in both postions as ive always liked the ole skyradier an carries a massive load of munisions more please when you can ?
chris

 

[stillp]

Hi Chris, yes, the wings are movable, as is the rudder. There aren't any details on the wing fold, but with the wings extended they're a poor fit, so I'll just leave them movable. Yes, apparently this plane could carry more than its own weight of bombs for over 1 000 miles, as well as having 4 x 20mm cannons.
Be patient, grasshopper, painting should start in a few days!
Pete

 

[JR]

I'm in Pete. No matches, so relax !

 

[stillp]

Hi John, I bet you're just waiting for the napalm bomb!
Pete

 

[stillp]

I'd thought this model had a centreline fuel tank as well as two wing-mounted drop tanks, but it seems it's a napalm bomb. Does anyone know what colour this should be?
Pete

 

[Archetype]

Does anyone know what colour this should be?
Pete

I thought they were silver.

 

[stillp]

Thanks Chris. Revell suggest same colour as the fuselage, but I found a video of planes being bombed up with napalm in Vietnam, and it looked dark grey. A Google image search shows them in grey, silver, pale blue (possibly intended for use on aircraft painted pale blue underneath) and olive green, so it seems hard to be wrong! I'm leaning towards grey but could be persuaded otherwise.
Pete

 

[Archetype]

I had a quick look myself out of curiosity and found the same. Although I was still not sure that the ordinance I was looking at was a fuel tank or a napalm bomb so unable to determine the colour!

If it were me, I’d choose a colour that suited the build. After all, it’s yours and whose to say otherwise.

 

[stillp]

Always nice to get the canopy on, as it looks more like an aircraft:

The three parts fit together well but don't fit the fuselage too well so I have some gaps to fill (again).
Pete

 

[JR]

Good progress Pete.
Love the bench, have your nicked mine, looks a lot like it.

 

[adt70hk]

Hi Pete

Coming on nicely. Keep up the good work!

ATB

Andrew

 

[stillp]

Doesn't look too bad after a whiff of Halfords rattle can primer:

The bombs are another matter. I struggle to find a way of holding them so I can get an even coat of paint. I'd stuck them with Maskol on the end of bits cut from coffee stirrers but I can't get the a/b all round them with out some falling off. How does everyone else paint small bombs?
Pete
Pete

 

[boatman]

HI Pete well when im building my planes to paint the small bombs an such i drill a very tiny hole in the back of the bomb an then stick a bit of half mm brass rod into the hole an vallay you can hold an paint the bombs an such with ease how's that
chris

 

[stillp]

Seems like a good idea Chris. What do you stick it with, and how do you remove it afterwards?
I did consider drilling into the recess in the bombs that's there for the pylon to fit into, and drilling a matching hole in the pylons, which would let me glue some wire into the bombs to hold them with, and I could leave the wire in to give a stronger join with the pylon, but I'd have to drill the holes in exactly the right place on 12 bombs and 12 pylons.
Pete

 

[boatman]

Seems like a good idea Chris. What do you stick it with, and how do you remove it afterwards?
I did consider drilling into the recess in the bombs that's there for the pylon to fit into, and drilling a matching hole in the pylons, which would let me glue some wire into the bombs to hold them with, and I could leave the wire in to give a stronger join with the pylon, but I'd have to drill the holes in exactly the right place on 12 bombs and 12 pylons.
Pete

HI Pete you dont stick the brass rod i meant i drill into the bomb or missle an then just push the rod inside it an as its a tight fit the bomb or whatever wont fall off an then paint it an when the paint dry you can then with draw the rod out of the bomb thats how i do it hav'nt you got any half a mm drill bits ? as you can buy the tiny drill bits in a pack with about 20 different sizes hope that helps you Pete
chris

 

[boatman]

BUT i'll say one thing Pete you are like me loads of tools an such on the bench that you can hardly move thats how my bench is at the moment but i can find things an the big ole girl is comin on great what the lenght an wing span as she looks a biggee

 

[stillp]

Chris, I have a couple of sets of those small drills, I'll have to look for some wire and a matching size of drill.
I use a Humbrol workstation, which replaces my keyboard when I'm modelling, so my workspace is limited and gets very cluttered. Hat to think what it'll be like if I build something bigger. I've got two Lancasters and a Shackleton waiting to be built, don't know how I'm going to manage them!
Pete

 

[stillp]

After a light sanding it needed another coat of primer. The wingtips and rudder/fin tip will be white to take the VMA332 Polkadot decals, so I thought I might as well use some white primer. It's made by Hycote, and seems to spray better than the Halfords primer.

I found some 0.8mm brass wire, so drilled all the bombs as suggested by Chris, and gave them another dose of olive green.

Then while I was in an airbrushing mood I put some yellow on the prop tips:

I've decided I'm going to follow the Revell instructions - the yellow prop tips might be wrong, and they want the undercarriage and gear bays to be white whereas some people say they were navy blue all over, not just the drop tanks and napalm canisters but including the undercarriage, bay interiors, and wheels. If I do that though it'll just look as if I was too lazy to change the colour in the airbrush!
Pete

 

[Mini Me]

Good progress on this Peter.
Rick H.