Thanks, if anyone's interested in a lamp like that for themselves you can get it from Amazon.com, here's the
LINK.
OK, so after I got home from work I headed out to the hobby shop with the Mrs and picked up a few new toys and doodads for the bench. A new self healing mat, sanding sticks (got lazy and didn't want to stop by the beauty supply store), paint palettes, and my favorite: Tamiya x-tra thin glue. WOW. I thought Tenax was the business, but this stuff is great! I can see where each one would work better in specific situations, but I'll try to do the majority of my building with the Tamiya stuff.
Tonight I focused on the engines and all the needed sanding, fitting, filling and, well, more sanding. The engine pods are together now, but they took all night, basically. I used my typical Squadron green putty thinned with Testors liquid glue (the stuff with MEK in it). I've managed to get a bit more efficient with the stuff, avoiding putting it on too thick or getting it all over the place. I also try to wipe off the excess with my putty spatula to reduce sanding and filing time.
So to fill in the lovely gaps between the halves, I thinned the putty to a consistency that was pretty close to a runny milkshake.
I then troweled it into place from the backside of the assembled halves, taking care not to push too much putty in, as it will pool up on the other side and cause you to clean up the mess.
Now we place the intake onto the engine pod and. . . What the *)$# is THIS?!
OK, let's start puttying up this badboy. I swear kits like this could singlehandedly keep Squadron in business thanks to their voracious appetite for putty. I think I'll have to call this kit the puttymonster from here on out.
After the first round of putty and sanding, it's getting a second dose after this one!:
OK, those are drying - time to move on to the wings:
*Messes with wings for a bit, filing, sanding and making little progress for the time spent*
Uh, you know what? Let's just skip that for a while! Back to the engines. I took care to make sure my engine thruster nozzles were going to be placed in a symmetrical order. Laugh all you want!
And of course, the back end needs attention from the putty brush and spatula as well. Not as bad as the front, however:
And that's where I'm leaving off for the night. Not bad for today's effort. Tomorrow I'll finish sanding the putty on the engine pods and will tackle the wings afterwards. Yeah, I'm not looking forward to them. I think once I get some acetone from the hardware store I'll start experimenting with the Bondo spot glazing putty I've had sitting in my toolbox.
As always, comments and suggestions are welcome! Sorry for all the pics, but I want to give people who may want to tackle this kit a head's-up regarding what's in store with them. The kit seems very simple, but it's correcting all the gaps and poorly fit parts that ups the challenge. I still suggest if anyone has an interest in the kit to get one and give it a shot! If I can do it, anyone can!
