mustang1989

...........and I'll add my 2 cents in there as well. Get it on in here Ben and welcome to the Group Build!!! I'll get you entered on the intro post.

................and the build continues! On with the matte bare metal foil we go. The port wing first, followed by the starboard wing and center section and then some decal action. ( don't worry about that nasty film. This'll clean right up and you won't notice a thing!) more tomorrow folks!

BTW Ray, your build is now entered in on the intro post. Let the building begin!!

Cobraman says:"I should also add that I am not one of those who are a stickler for exact detail. I don't care if the trees I may use were in the areas where my models actually were or if something was never painted that color of gray. I do try and be close but I am just happy if the finished product is pleasing to the eye. First off I will be getting you posted in the intro post and glad to see you in here. Secondly...............you aint gotta worry bout no rivet countin', color correctin', gotta be exact as history doofus's here. I get it as close as I can to replicate history but I don't run away with it either and I know the type you are talking about. Just get in here and have some fun at this and don't worry about the "rivet counters". Lookin forward to your build bud, Joe

Lookin' good Wayne!! Learning more every day here.

Man you've definitely found your nitch in armor building Wayne. I'm looking forward to more of that build. Got the elevators painted which almost turned into a boo boo. I had marked the camo demarcation lines with a pencil on the already primed surface which initially I thought was a good idea until I painted the elevators. After I thought I was done I took a closer look and saw the drawn lines through my "finish coat" of paint. Sheesh!! Out the AB comes again and I finished it off! That would have been cool to overlook that and see it AFTER I had finished the whole thing! Any how here's a pic of the elevators: and now to what I consider to be a cool part of the build. The first pic is after I had applied all decals onto the main fuselage/ wing assy BEFORE the flat/ sunbleached coat. This is the AFTER pic with the wash and all flat coat/ sunbleaching coats applied: Whadda difference that makes. The crudely field oversray on the Gruppe numeral on the fuselage is clearly visible in the pic as well. Now we are off to other stuff like the bottomside bare metal surfaces and landing gear fellas................

Amen to that brother! A quick recap of the color scheme that I'll be going with here. It's gonna be "Black 10" of JG26 as it was just before capture in May 1945. For some reason the greens aren't quite as bright and colorful in these photos out of Jerry Crandalls book! Anyways...on to where we are now.......... Managed to get the Defense of the Reich bands, a gloss and decals for this photo. She's starting to take shape as a plane I think!!!

Thanks Wayne!! At first the colors were kind of gross to me but they ended up growing on me. As far as the acrylic paints go I've gotten used to the downside of using them but the upside is that I get to paint indoors in the comfort of the spare room and the A/C.

A little bit more progress here. I applied the border with the AB needle barely open at all and with the air pressure at around 30 psi. Using acrylics required constant cleaning of the tip throughout but overall I'm happy with the results. The "hump" in the middle of the paint is for the Gruppe numeral that will have a slight oversprayed condition. Stay tuned and I'll get to that. and the yellow tail that's prevelant on Staffel leaders birds. Will be fine tuning all of this down the road but this is where its at.

Mark: Good recovery on the drop man! Whew! I'm in a group build on another site and a guy dropped his plane after having the fuselage together. I'll say it here like it was said there, "Better to happen at this stage in the game". Like the build and progress. Wayne:What can I say? Your work is astounding down to the base. Can't wait to see this and more builds here and abroad!

It felt good to actually put color on this thing finally. I'm using Vallejo Air acrylics and those DO NOT clog up the AB like MM does , thank God! Here she is so far: and to the sides: if anybody is wondering about the ridiculously large gun barrels in the wing, that's electrical heat shrink that I masked the metal gun barrels off with. lol

You know Wayne I have the same problem with MM acrylics clogging up the AB. Sometimes I'll cut it with 70% ISO and that helps out alot but its just something with that brand of paint. I'm constantly cleaning the AB but I guess that's the price I pay to be able to paint indoors in the A/C. LOL

Can't wait to see your build too Ray!! Wayne......................................looking good dude!!!

Prime coat on.................finally!! and a little pre-shading to go with that!! Now this here next is what kicked my tail (no pun intended) for a while. The rudder to tail fit due to all the stuff that's inside of the tail. Starting pics are scary............ and the next one is after about an hour and a half of sanding, re-fitting and tidying up........... Not ALL the way that I like it but dramatically better! Good ol' AM stuff sometimes.......................

It's looking good from every angle I can see Wayne!! Man you really know your way around an armor build. I've seen some folks that seem to take forever with a bulld like this.

Come on with it!!! lol

Pic's posted in the intro post Wayne!!

Like all that PE Wayne. This one's gonna look killer!!!!

Well this is just going to be alright Wayne! Can't wait to see this one come together as well.

Fellas.............it's time to start layin' primer n' paint!!!!

The latest pics of the port wing cannon assy in the works. I had to sand the upper and lower halves of the wings "potato chip" thin and carve some off of the thickness of the gun bay to get this sucker to fit between the wings!! Lotsa work but payin' off: test fit after sanding the "you know what" out of it! I thought it was never going to work at one point!! a little gap at the front of the wing but I think we can manage.... ...........aaaaaaaaand...........we got it!! Got everything masked off to include the gun barrels with electrical wire heat shrink.

That....Wayne sir.....is an excellent build. And that's what I was talking about about some of the armor stuff. It's one thing to build a model as it rolled off of the assy line ,wether its a car, boat, plane or armored vehicle. Its an entirely different approach to make a model look worn (by use and weather) such as this build here. It didn't seem to take you all that long either. Let me know which picture you would like to see in the intro post and I'll get it posted there bud. I look forward to the other build that you have in store for all of us here Wayne!

Thanks Wayne. You also have to remember that this thiing has the Aires update set ;for the added detail. Speaking of detail, yours is looking good. Sometimes I don't know how you armor guys do half of the stuff you all do. I've seen some pretty crazy stuff out of the armor section on FSM......and now here!

Well here's the Aires wing root 20mm cannon bay just after a base coat of RLM 02 and all nice and trimmed up to fit between the upper and lower wing halves: and here it is after being painted, weathered and with the Master Models brass gun barrel installed. I'm going to display the port side cannon hatch in the open position. The starboard side will remain closed up.

That would be a small craft to turn into R/C!! Looking forward to more pics!