The 1:144 Convair KingFish

 This latest kit is another to add to my prototypes/experimental/ or never was planes. It's the Convair KingFish in 1:144 scale from Fantastic Plastic. The kit comes in 29 resin parts, and is patterned and cast by Anigrand Craftwork[1]. Good to see they they are sort of still in business.

In 1957 there was a contest to replace the U2 spy plane. The contest came down to Convair's KingFish and Lockheed's A-12, which would eventually became the SR-71. Giving this little piece of the story away, you know how it ends up.  Work on the KingFish continued for a few more months, but when the money ran out, the project was cancelled. 

With no real cockpit, the work started with the two engine nozzles that were embedded in the fuselage. Since they will be buried deep in there, I got out the silver paint right away.

Next there was a "spacer" mid-fuselage that I had never seen on an Anigrand kit before. It fit in there perfectly, and yet still left enough room for me to add some "Liquid Gravity" on each side as close to the cockpit as I could get.  Nothing was mentioned in the instructions about adding weight, but anytime I do not have a wheel in the tail, I add weights. 

*A is that spacer.

 Then came what seems to be the typical Anigrand landing gear. The cockpit had a lot of room and only one  tiny seat. I would have thought The cockpit windows were small as well, but no, it was wide open. So I did the best I could to add instruments with paint. Oh well. Looking back I should have added more to make it look "busier."

 

The paint scheme is an overall black. But black leaves me no where to go if I wanted to add some shadows, so out came V's Black Gray. Having a second thought that the jet was never completed, so it never did anything to get weathered. The decision was that except for a few chips (because I couldn't resist) I left it alone.  The decals went over the dark paint with not problems and with a layer of satin poly over the decals I was done... Or maybe at this scale a coat of matte is needed.  Anyway, thanks for looking. 

 

[1] I've included Anigrand's website for reference. It seems the site has not been updated since 2019, and emails bounce back.

Douglas Sky Streak part 2

 It's been a while since I had the oomph to get back to the lair, But I got there and did a little more opn the Skystreak. 

My first fully (almost) successful elimination of seam lines on resin I gave a light coat of primer. 

There's a few Euro guys building models on You Tube where they paint a dark primer, and then some white squiggles on top of that which mimics an uneven topcoat spray. So I tried it.

 

Doing research, I read the color was Insignia Red, the write up also said Tamiya's equivalent was Flat Red. I don't have Tamiya, but Vallejo also has a Flat Red.  After the spray which covered and yet still showed a hint of the squiggle, the color dried... not the right color. So I ended up giving it a mist coat of V's Scarlet (a *tiny* bit more orange). It looked good, but that coat was enough to hide the squiggles. Dang it!!

The next day I came back and added the decals. evidently there is a few versions with both red and white color schemes. Being this is probably one of the oldest kits I have, I wasn't too sure about the decals, so the day before I put some Decal Film over them.  So today I cut them out and added them. Besides coming off the backing paper a little slowly they all came off in one piece. The stars and bars went over a little raised area, and with the film on they were a little thick. Before calling it for the day, I added some setter, to see if they snuggle down. Check back for the result. After that is add the canopy and the wheels and I'll have another done. Thanks for looking.

Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak

 The new year starts off with a look back to the NACA days and the aircraft D 558-1 Skystreak built by Douglas. From the website:

The D-558-I "Skystreaks" were among the early transonic research airplanes like the X-1, X-4, X-5, and XF-92A. Three of the single-seat, straight-wing aircraft flew in a joint program involving the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the Navy-Marine Corps, and the Douglas Aircraft Co. from 1947 to 1953. In the process, the Skystreaks set two world speed records.

This is another very nice albeit old 1:72 resin kit from Anigrand Craftswork.

Not taking any chances of it being a tail sitter I added a lot of the Liquid Gravity beads to most of the open spaces forward of the landing gear.

The cockpit panel was just bare, and there was no decals for one, so I just added my own white dots. I should have looked first as all the instrumentation is black, but no one will be easily able to see it anyway...

The session ends with me closing up the fuselage with probably the best fit I've ever encountered with these smallish resin kit companies. Also on the drill is the seat. I tried something a saw where a tissue is white glued to the seat so it can be manipulated and form folds or creases. In this case it didn't appear to work. I just used one ply from the tissue. I'm thinking the tissue was too thin. Next time I'll try some toilet paper. Who knows- maybe 1:72 is too small to try it?  The final thing in the image is a line of sand color paint. Under the paint is a .5mm tape that will be the seat belts. But that's for next time. Thanks for looking.

The Luft '46 Finale

I've had both these planes sitting around about 95% done for a week or more. The part that I dread the most - installing the canopy -  was what was left. But I just had to get these things off my workbench. 
     Since the last time the Me. 1092 got painted a simple dot pattern that I saw on one of SAMI's builds. Originally I thought I ruined it as I felt the dots were too dark compared to the background. Then I had a brainstorm and lightly misted the base color over the whole model and the dots were nicely toned down. 
     The other chore was that I had to remake the panel lines. member the old ones were like Grand Canyons all over the model. My plan was to just draw them on with a graphite pencil. A member of my model club told me to just scratch them back in. Big mistake. There are a number of spots that I botched and basically just gave up.  The landing gear and wheels were from a 1/72 scale Me. 262, but the back wheels were way too big. For anyone paying attention if they were raised they would never fit in the wells. :P  Anyway this is what I ended up with - 

The Lippish 13.B went a bit easier. My main problem with this one is that I didn't want all my German plane camo to be the same, and while I forget the numbers now, I basically lighten the lighter color and darkened the dark color.  The problem came when I tried to mix more of the lighter color. I used a flesh to lightened, but could remember which one, I have about 10 flesh colors. It wasn't until I had 4 or 5 false starts that I found the right paint color and finished up around the canopy.  I also stretched some tube sprue and created two guns that fit in either side of the cockpit. 
Here's this one. Thanks for looking, but don't look too close  ;)  - 

Lippisch Li.P. 13B part 3

This time around the paint is finished and the decals are on - 

 After the pics were taken I also installed the seat and then formed a stick with stretched sprue.  I took another look the the windscreen. Even though I gave it it's Future bath,  it's a clear resin part and I never removed the little stub. That needed to be sanded off. Then it needed another dip to get rid of the sanding marks. Installation of that next time. Thanks for looking.

Lippisch Li.P.13B part 2

Moving right along with the Lipisch I finished painting the rest of the camo colors and also added the vertical stabilizers.  

I also needed to add a skid ski to the bottom of the craft. This apparently replaced any wheels on the plane. 
This was easier said than don't because it installs at an angle, and there was no easy way align it correctly without sitting the plane done and letting it find its own angle.  But when you do that the back of the skid wants to lift off the ground. Ugh.  But in the end I did get it to sit flat on the ground, albeit with a slight twist. But I wasn't going to mess with it any further.

A little tough to see the skid, but it's there. ;)

Next is to gloss it for the decals. Next time. Thanks for looking.

Lippisch Li.P.13B

Needing a breather from the Me. 1092/3, I opened up Anigrand's Lippisch 13B kit. Having previously looked at it, I knew with minimal parts it's should be a fairly simple build. 
From Anigrand - 

In early 1944, due to the fuel shortage in Germany at that stage in the war, Dr. Alexander Lippisch and his design team though to use other kind of material be the alternative fuel for the power of his ramjet fighter designs, such as P.13a. They tried "coal" powder and designed a hexagonal / round shaped chamber which was suitable for coal combustion, and was refilled from top center. However, the fuel chamber could not fit into the P.13a fuselage. It was led to the follow-on design, the P.13b which was started in November 1944. It also featured a delta wing plan design as Lippisch's favorite. The cockpit was moved forward for better pilot's visibility. The double rudders were chosen to provide steady flight. The main landing gear was the retractable landing skid, and rear rested on the reinforced wingtips. No actual craft was built as end of the war. It only stayed in stage of concept sketches.

Here are the minimal parts - 

Fitting the two main parts together to see, before I applied glue, it's noticed that there are no engines. So the first thing to do is to darken the openings to make sure no ones looks in and notices no engines - 

One thing I did miss, was the opening at the other end. It wasn't obvious and just an oops.

Gluing the two parts of the fuselage, the kit was essentially just about done. Looking at the instructions, there was no specific color callouts (b/c the plane never really existed) so I used the typical RLM 81 and 82 for the top, and RLM 76 for the bottom. The camo shown had hard edges, and it was at this time that I noticed the painting images looked to be the same size as the model. I then cut up the painting image to make stencils for the model. But first I airbrushed the darkest color in to the approximate locations - 

You'll notice I also painted the cockpit (which is just a seat and stick) a dark gray. After this I sprayed with a matte poly, and left it to dry. 
Thanks for looking.
 

The Sky Flash - Just one More

I thought I was done with the Sky Flash. While cleaning the work area, I discovered the landing gear doors that I never put on.  So I got out the CA glue and installed them. Since I'm really finished, I took out my air field "set" and set up the plane on it - 

Thanks for looking.

Douglas Skyflash (part 2)

Well, I didn't get it finished, but I am still progressing forward.  
I added the landing gear and then realized the wheels were a little wonky. They had to be broken off and realigned to the jet. 

While the wheels were drying, I turned my attention to masking off the canopy. It was then I noticed I never even touched it. So I dipped the canopy in Future. While *that* was drying I went back and had a look at the wheels. Looked good.  Then it suddenly struck me that I never put any weighs in the nose. Oh boy, I hope it's not a tail sitter. Turning it over while half wincing, I gave it a try. Whew, it rested on its wheels - 

Now I turned back to the canopy. Now in the past 3 planes I did, the vac form canopies gave me fits. So I started my cutting, sanding and fitting with some trepidation. After about a half hour, I gave it it's 3rd fitting and Holy Moley, it looks good!

I was very happy and with that fit and decided to not press my luck and call it a session (BTW that piece of dust is not in the paint and easily wiped off). 
Check back for the finale. Thanks for looking.

The Douglas Skyflash (part 1)

This kit has been on my desk since the before the IPMS Nationals. I started out to be the easiest short run resin kit I ever worked on. Then when I started messing with seams to get them perfect it became a monster. I should have remembered what I was told years ago "Don't ruin a good (fill in the blank), by trying to make it great..."

But first here's a little history: 

In  the early 1950's, high-speed flight research was being done by different agencies, the NACA's hypersonic research, the Air Force's Project 1226, and the Navy's D-558 program. In 1954, a Langley team from NACA gathered those similar researches from military services and aerospace industries, combined with the Air Force and Navy to launch the new "Project 1226" competition. As the Navy liked to keep in the 'space race' and Douglas was interested in building future manned spaceplanes, the D-558-3 Skyflash (Model 684) design was sponsored by Navy to enter the competition. The D-558-3 was designed to be able to  install whatever rocket engine was selected by NACA, and to be air-launch from a Boeing B-50. In 1955, while the Navy decided to save the development cost and no longer participate,  NACA and the Air Force chose the North American proposal as the winner of the competition. This aircraft became the famed X-15 while the D.558-3 disappeared into the dust of the past. 

Here's the kit box art and parts - 

The cockpit and seat have also been painted

While there is an instrument panel, there is no detail to it. There are no decals for it, so I just added a few dots of white to mimic instruments. It looks like there's not a lot of room in there so this should suffice - 

Not a lot of room seems to have been an understatement  ;)  I also added some Tamiya tape seat belts -

Nose cone added. This is going well - 

The fuselage is mostly complete - Time to fill in the seams.

I applied Tamiya filler for the seams. While I'm waiting I painted the landing gear, wheels, and landing gear doors.

 Added primer to see where I am re: the seam lines. Not bad, but I'll give a few spots a second go round. This is where I took my "Going to the Nationals" break.

Upon my return I looked at it and a few spots still need attention. So I added more filler.  Check back for Part 2. Hopefully seam filling will be done. Thanks for looking.

Blue Gemini part 3

In this session I got the hatches on --

Blue Gemini Part 2

I managed a few more hours in the hobby room and continued with the Blue Gemini. Taking a good look at the clear parts that are the Gemini doors, I decided they needed a dip in Future.

Anigrand's Blue Gemini

Finishing the X-19, and still having some free time I picked out another kit that I thought would go quickly. So I chose Anigrand's 1/72 Blue Gemini. 

From Anigrand's site:   In 1961, after success of the Mercury spacecraft launch, NASA contracted McDonnell to design a larger two-man Mercury mark II for longer periods in orbit. This bigger spacecraft which soon renamed Gemini that require a larger launch vehicle, a Titan II missile. The Titan II was Air Force missile and naturally required close coordination with the Air Force. The Air Force was interested in the Gemini program because it would be ready much earlier than the Dyna-Soar space plane while Russians already had men in orbit possibly carrying nuclear bombs. In 1962, the Air Force had designated the spacecraft as Blue Gemini. It would essentially be an off-the-shelf NASA Gemini vehicle. In January 1963, Air Force and NASA officials went to Pentagon to propose DoD participation in Blue Gemini, but was rejected and cancelled by Secretary of Defense. 

X-19 Done

I finally got around to putting the decals on the X-19 and I'm calling this one done. The decals didn't line up exactly with the drawing on the directions. I don't know if some of the decals were too big or the guy drawing the illustration was doing so out of scale. But they went mostly where they belong. ;)

One thing I learned was that I should have left the nacelles with the propellers OFF until the decals were complete ...

One other thing I learned is that I put some of the decals over the windows to get them in place before cutting them.  These windows was the Microscale Kristal Clear. Once the wet decal went over the window, the moisture instantly re-wetted the glue and turned it White.  OH NO! But not to fear as the water dried that "glass turned clear again.  Here's the pics - -  

 

A Step closer to Finishing the X-19

Whew we're getting close to the end. I painted a few details on the plane, after redoing the canopy frames, I got those to look - OK. My next step was to paint the transparent green on top of the canopy. Not having ever painted transparent colors, I didn't know what to expect. Spraying it went from not enuff paint to too much in a fraction of a moment. >:-( 
I was going to redo it, but with the troubles I had, I decided to leave well enuff alone. Next time, I'll do better. After painting the green and attaching the canopy to the plane all that's left is to add the decals.  As a prototype, I can't see it getting really weathered, so I'll just leave it clean.

X-19 - Moving Along

I got so more time in the hobby room and continued with the X-19. First thing I had to do was get the plane on some sort of base. The easiest thing I could think of was to just insert a rod ino the plane and then have another rod attached to a base.  I bought a bag of different size rods at a hobby shop a long time ago, so I went looking about found two the went into each other fairly tightly, those were installed.

Moving along, I wanted to use the new Vallejo Aluminum paint. That needs to be based with some of V's Gloss black primer. It sprayed of effortlessly. This is going too well. Once dry the Aluminum was next. I have to admit that V's metallic paint is terrific. It went on effortlessly with no additional thinner added to the airbrush cup. (I spray at ~ 18-20 psi), and went on nice and smooth. 

Finally I had to tackle the canopy. Typical for Anigrand, the frame marking s are barely there - I guess that makes sense for the scale - but Whoo boy they are difficult to mask. On spec I bought some Humbrol Maskol to try. While it went on fine, not being able to see where the edges are, I had a hard time with the lines.  The last shot is the canopy painted and masked removed. Its just sitting on top of the fuselage for now. I'm going to need to do some touch ups to get it to look a little more realistic. Here's the pics, and as always -- thanks for looking.

 

More of the X-19 and a Snag

I made it up to the attic and quickly became aggravated. I have been using those rectangular plastic Chinese take out containers to hold all the parts of kits I'm building. We'll, one container per model. So I go in to the container because I wanted to get the landing gear doors on before I painted. The doors were right out in the open, but ... one wheel, one landing gear and ...  the other is gone. Both the wheel and gear is gone. Then I look for the front one and that wheel is gone too. I go to the box where I still have the clear parts and the decals, and that's all that's in there. CRAP!! 

I tear apart my desk, cursing all the way that I never went out to buy more shelves to get the stuff off my desk -- no parts. I crawl underneath the desk - and no parts. 

The only thing left for me to do is to show the plane with the landing doors closed. I really don't like that look, b/c to me "The door is closed because the modeler f##ked something up."  But now here I am with the doors closed. The first door went on with a little difficulty. It was slightly warped, but once I got it glued in place I was quickly able to even things off with a sanding stick.  The other door was put in place and Holy Moley it is TOO warped. I could have taken the part down and did the hot water dip, but in my state of mind I tossed it in the garbage and got out the Aves. I mixed up a ball of it and pushed it into the opening. I went in fine and with a wet finger and toothpick it looked fine. When dry I'll go at it with some wet superfine sandpaper and it will look good.
 

The resin door is on the right, the Aves door to the left.

 Same for the front gear. A little press to the edges with the Xact-o knife to insinuate the panel edge and I'm done. Sorry for th blurry pic. Here we have the front door Aves'd closed. 

Now I have to let it dry. Which is good b/c it's time for me to get some lunch. Now what to have? 
Thanks for looking.
 

Cleaning up My Desk with the C-W X-19

I don't even remember why I pushed X-19 aside. But I think it's time to get back to it. Today I started off easy by dipping the canopy in Future and setting aside under a cover.
Then I turned to installing the props. There must have been a little problem with the mould as the two front nacelles had the locator holes already drilled. The back ones, however, were covered over with resin.  I just simply eye balled the location and drilled away. 

Back to the F5-D

Okay, enough is enough.  I have to get this model off my desk already.  ;)

It was just a fair kit and I need to get it finished.  

The first step was to mask off all the white parts in prep for the "red" paint. I have read" because in all photographs of the jet in front of the Armstrong air and space Museum it is distinctly orange. Going to NASA's own website and looking up the plane, they mention a couple of times, and have images of the plane and it is distinctly red. So I decided to split the difference. Vallejo paint- Scarlet color looks like a happy medium of red and orange (a little to the red side).

A quick F5-D Update

Things are progressing slowly, but forward. I got the canopy on after really having a hard time cutting out the vac form piece. It seems that for whatever reason there was almost no edges to any of the detail on the canopy.