E-2C Hawkeye (WIP)

1
October 23, 2023
2
October 29, 2023
Preparing the cockpit for paint, some scratch on the seats according to reference photos
3
October 31, 2023
Decals settle well but they are not a bit aligned with the plastic relief and they have the most terribly simplified drawings I have ever seen! The yellow was painted by brush with Vallejo, based on pictures of the real cockpit.
4
November 1, 2023
Covering ejection holes and imperfections with Evergreen strips
5
November 3, 2023
Started adding lead weight - everyone tells me this is a notorious tail sitter
6
November 5, 2023
Tail assembled
7
November 5, 2023
Fuselage closed, puttied and sanded
8
November 12, 2023
All clear part have annoying lines running right through the middle!!! ?
9
November 12, 2023
Starting to erase the lines: first sanding and then polishing from Tamiya; a real pain! ?
10
November 12, 2023
Work so far
11
November 14, 2023
Painting the gold tint with a thin mist of Gunze MMC 217.
12
November 14, 2023
Clear parts glued in place; fit is… poor.
13
November 18, 2023
Engine nacelles parts pre-painted and ready to assemble
14
November 18, 2023
Typical older Kinetic molds fit
15
November 18, 2023
Some squeeze needed here
16
November 18, 2023
Wings assembled; fit is not great
17
December 7, 2023
This is now a huge mess of putty and sanding and it's taking its time...............
18
January 20, 2024
Putty, sand paper, putty, sand paper, putty... I believe it is ready now... I think...
19
April 7, 2024
Started to apply Gunze H315 (FS16440)
20
April 7, 2024
Started to apply Gunze H315 (FS16440)
21
June 8, 2024
Lost one of the propeller bases; due to awful support from Kinetic, I had a friend make me a resin copy of the piece
22
June 9, 2024
Lost one of the propeller bases; due to awful support from Kinetic, I had a friend make me a resin copy of the piece; filling the bottom with Mr Surfacer to level it
23
June 9, 2024
Lost one of the propeller bases; due to awful support from Kinetic, I had a friend make me a resin copy of the piece; filling the bottom with Mr Surfacer to level it
24
June 9, 2024
Both propeller are ready
25
June 24, 2024
Plane painted with Gunze H315, with some marbling effect
26
June 30, 2024
Red going down, Tamiya X-7
27
July 4, 2024
Black applied, using MRP-005 and metallic parts of the engine painted using brush Vallejo Gungrey 71.072 (front) and airbrush AK Xtreme Dark Alluminium AK 480 (rear); varnished gloss with Tamiya X-22
28
July 9, 2024
Discovered the front decal is too large. so had to mask and paint; in fact, I believe most of the decals for this plane are oversized...............
29
July 9, 2024
Moving forward with (oversized) decals
30
July 11, 2024
Oversized numbers in the propeller blades
31
July 11, 2024
Numbers removed
32
July 12, 2024
Moving forward with the numerous stencils; decal quality is very good, but relative sizes and placement instructions are awful
33
July 18, 2024
Some brute force needed here
34
July 20, 2024
Bits and bobs
35
July 20, 2024
Progress so far
36
September 10, 2024
Correcting the red stripe decal to be back on topo of the green and yellow stripes
37
September 10, 2024
Done... but there's the inevitable overspray 🙁
38
September 10, 2024
Overpsray corrected, all ready here
39
September 10, 2024
Wheels glued in place, fit seems solid
40
September 23, 2024
Everything is glued in the bottom, except for a transparent part; everything varnished with Hataka Satin Lacquer Clear Coat (XP08)
41
September 26, 2024
Applying Tamiya's Panel Line Accent Color (Dark Gray)
42
September 27, 2024
Glueing antennas, pitots, etc; from now on, the plane is almost impossible to handle, due to the combination of huge size and weight and number of tiny antennas everywhere
43
September 29, 2024
Started rigging; using Ushi’s 0.03 string, because the aerials are very visible on the real plane
44
October 1, 2024
Finished!

James C
Looking fantastic 👍

Oversized decals in 1/48 appears to be a common problem with Italeri aircraft kits in 1/48. Despite the printing quality (Cartograph) it appears that Italeri are incapable of accurately measuring them for fit before sending off to Cartograph for printing. I have encountered similar decal fit issues with their 1/48 F-14A, Mirage III, Mig 21, S-3 Viking etc. Given that most (if not all) of their kits released these days are reboxings of older tooled kits; having to replace the decals as well is just a no go for me and so I now avoid the brand completely.

19 July, 18:45

bughunter
As you may know I love wooden propellers by I must admit that your propellers looks fantastic 👍

19 July, 19:34

Ricardo Reis
@James, I was not aware of this issue; I only started noticing when I started to apply the first decals and looking at the reference photos - there are 2 or 3 photos of this specific aircraft; now it's to late to go back, but I am alert for the future; @bughunter, I love this typo or propeller, like the ones we can see in the A400M, they are very beautiful and elegant and powerful at the same time!

20 July, 12:02

Ben M
I agree with the propeller lust. This kit is just the way I like it, nothing fits.

11 September, 01:09

Ricardo Reis
@Ben, and the instructions have some mistakes and omissions 🙂

11 September, 08:04

Desert Marlin
Looking Great!

26 September, 21:48

Ricardo Reis
Thank you @Desert, almost finishing this one

26 September, 22:31

Luis Cabeças
How will you mangage the place where it woulb stay?

27 September, 13:53

Ricardo Reis
It will go to my basement when ready... to join the other finished models in storage! 🙂

27 September, 18:41

Ricardo Reis
And that's a wrap! Terrible modelling experience, very glad it's over; final photos can be found here: E-2C Hawkeye | Album by RReis (1:48)

1 October, 22:47

Nicolas
Looks very good. 👍

2 October, 05:07

Ricardo Reis
Thank you 👍

2 October, 09:29

Guy Rump
Looks great, congrats! 👍

2 October, 14:13