Modelart P-51d

[Ron0909]

Hi everyone,

I've actually managed to get a working computer, a ton of ink and even a camera again so we're back in business I started Fitter's Albatros W4 and Marek's Albatros CXII when things went on the fritz but had to unfortunately put them on hold. During my building hiatus, I picked up W.E.B. Griffin's 'The Corps' series and got right into the spirit of building an American machine. I know this particular one is not from anywhere near the South pacific but it was there in spirit as was I when I read those fantastic books.
I build things sort of bass ackwards from the diagrams so hang in there with me So far I've gotten from the nose back to the cockpit, the cockpit itself and now working from the tail forward. I love the modelart kits as they were some of the first kits I ever attempted in paper. The layout is logical, the design is very precise and everything fits! Hopefully I'll finish this one and get back to the others. Age is starting to set in and my eyes aren't the same anymore.....
One thing I'm going to do is change up my paper again when this one is done. This stuff delaminates just by looking at it. I've had to cut apart some assemblies that would normally just require folding. Anyways..here we go

[B-Manic]

looks pretty good - a very nice clean build. I look forward to seeing the sections put together.

[John Bowden]

Hey Ron! Great to see you 'back in the saddle' again!

Looking forward to seeing the Stang coming to life!

john

[Ron0909]

Thanks Guys :)

Not much to show today other than the joining of a few segments. My cat Luna decided to drool a bit on one of my pieces so I had to rebuild it. No major problem and only a little time. You'd think it would teach me to use a fixative :)
More tomorrow hopefully

Ron

[redhorse]

Only drool? You have a pretty well behaved cat!

The model looks really good so far.

[Ron0909]

Thanks Jim
I got lucky! If it was my other one (Nala), she'd have delivered the piece as a gift to me at the other end of the apartment. I have to get her on camera as she will actually bring me something to throw and then retrieve it (her furry mice toys etc). I can imagine one of my models in her mouth!
This is the devious one sitting where the other one was posing today.

Ron

[jagolden01]

Ron, very neat and clean joins on the skins. How do you do it?
Is it just experience?

[John Bowden]

He's THAT good.............

[Ron0909]

They don't look so good really close up All of the Modelart kits use joining strips.
For me the trick seemed to be to roughly form the section and then attach the needed strips. Even though the strips are only 20 lb bond paper, they will almost emboss their shape into the piece if the piece is formed after gluing them on (from rolling, pressing etc). Join the two segments together and insert the former after they've been joined. For the most part, the formers slide perfectly in as long as they are correctly positioned and the sections were properly formed.

Ron

[Wily]

Ron -

Firstly, I'm a ModelArt fan - Emil is a genius.

But, you mention the use of joining-strips...do you have a better recommendation? I always thought joining-strips were the best way to go.



Thank you for the post - I'll follow it!