TigerShark Progress

Finally got some progress done on the cockpit pieces. Pretty happy with the progress that I got done, a bit to clean up and still add but a good start for the build. 

Pretty happy with how the control panels came out. Tons of room for improvement, but definitely my best one yet.  

Hard time getting the camera on my phone to focus optimally. But they came out alright, wanted to capture some pictures before locking him away for eternity. 

Pilot turned out pretty good! The paint was definitely too thick on the first coats. I did end up smudging the face and helmet a tad on accident when locking him into place.

Overall I’m happy with my level of details for the most part, not sure if the pics really do it justice. The face however is the worst part but the first time ive ever tried adding details. Really happy with how the uniform came out, tried to match my reference photos and even added the squadron art to the jacket! 

Didn’t add any form of depth or weathering to the floor but not super noticeable once locked in. The walls and control panel look pretty good 🙂 

The main body of the fuselage is now glued together. The fit was not perfect so I had to take it slow and be quite generous with the glue. Nothing that can’t be sanded away! A couple small mistakes (hopefully) when glueing, got a small finger print not realizing my glove had cement on it 🙁  

Cut the pieces so that it’s configured with the landing gear up. Tail wheel was pretty easy to do. 

Got almost all of main construction done today, always love when a model starts to come together  

Last major goal in the assembly is figuring out how to landing gear the way I want them. It’s designed to have them down but I want to hang this TigerShark up as if it’s flying. Should be fun 

First time putting a lot of effort into masking the canopy correctly. So far I’m happy with it, definitely not perfect, but I think I’m also being a bit too picky? The goal wasn’t perfection, but rather completion… I was avoiding this meticulous job for too long. I feel very relieved to have finished it, and with a good look. 

Canopy is now on! Pilot is now locked in there. Again I think the masking looks pretty good, but I’ll have to wait and see if it does its job! Next step is priming, and my first attempt at preshading. 

The P-40 is primed with some preshading done. 

Again this was my first time doing preshading and so far it looks alright. I decided to use a grey green acrylic for it. 

Any Advice or Comments are welcome. I’m very much a beginner. With this step done and even more motivated for the next steps! 

First coats of the paint on the top are down. Also the “tan” parts also look much more tan and less green irl. Definitely too thick… a bit disappointed as I thought it was pretty thin. Well you you live and learn, I’m definitely still learning. Will try to do better on the bottom and on future coats. I usually struggle to replicate that sky color but well see