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Donald Dickson II
OK. This one has been languishing fr a couple years. I had wanted to do it for a bomber build a while ago. So I ordered the interior resin set from Lone Star. I did so not knowing how long it takes for him to do orders. So it took a while to get it. I finally get it annnnddddd, he seems to have mixed the resin wrong. The parts were still bendy. Not at all hardened completely. Argh. So everything got set aside.

Now, I dig into it again half way through doing the Boeing 377. The parts are finally set. All is well. I get the hatch areas opened up. Start painting cockpit parts. Annnnnddddd (yes, another long and) I realie I cant find the @#$%$^)_&* front wind screen. Gone. Who the ef knows where. *sigh* I manage to find someone with a "trash" kit. Already started, deals and box ratty. He lets it go for a reasonable price and wallah, a second kit. With one canopy between the two.

Now, the odds I will need the entire second kit as spares are very low. I hope. So I break out my old Mattel vacu form machine I snagged for cheap. Give this a go for the first time ever. Got it figured out and made a decent copy, but it had slight bubbles from dust. So gonna give that another go later. I used the kit front cockpit parts. The resin was not measurably better IMO. Monogram did a bang up job there. The seat from the resin kit IS much better and fits right in the kit part.

When I do a project, I hang the instructions from the peg board hooks over my work area. Just in case someone thinks its a cool idea.

Donald Dickson II
OK, so I finally got some work done. Got a new puppy as my one dog is 16 and unfortunately not going to be around much longer. My other dog will be lost without a friend, so... Say hi to Odin. He is a Pit, not a dog I would normally get. But I know the lady whos dog had them and I know the dogs are quality, not backyard junk.

So he has been taking up time. But anyway, here are the pilot, nav and defensive officer positions. The pilot area I used the kit panels as they are just fine. Obviously, the two rear positions you have to use all the resin stuff.

Now, if you look at the pilots capsule, you will see it is wonky. A flat spot on the right side. All 3 seats have issues. All the seat belts are really just a pile of spaghetti with not great detail. Thankfully they are not easily seen. Again, the resin was clearly not mixed correctly. I feel like thats the reason for the lack of details that are likely there in the molds.

I got the two tubs in and the fuselage halves together. There is a decent gap as the resin tub does not fit perfectly. I carved out the plastic that was in the way, but I am not a fan of doing a lot of sanding of resin, even with a respirator. I called it close enough and used thick super glue to fill the gap.

Jennifer Franklin
Following, love Odin

James C
Very cool and following 👀👍

Donald Dickson II
Doing little detail things. It has just a few tires.

Donald Dickson II
I am debating on which set of markings to do. An in service plane, or one of the test beds with red tail? I do have the other kit that I could build with no add ons and do the one I dont build. Hmmmm...

Donald Dickson II
I also have several in smaller scales and might have the Caracal set for those. That would make a difference....

Donald Dickson II
Wings together. Landing gear in for the most part. Usually I wait on those, but I wanted them done. Next up should be putting the fuselage on and doing the tail.

gorby
Nice work. This must be a big model.
My favorite photo is no. 4. 🙂

Donald Dickson II
He IS a cutey. 🙂 And yeah, its rather large.

Donald Dickson II
All the major parts are together now. Now begins the seam work, though its not too awful. Clearly the kit was not temp controlled at some point as the fuselage was warped. Made it a pain to get together, but not too awful.

And that is a 12inch ruler sitting on it. Its quite a large kit.

Jennifer Franklin
That is a healthy size.

Donald Dickson II
Jennifer, it certainly is. When its done, I plan on doing a group pic of it and the 1/48 Bone and SR-71 I have done. Take up most of the back porch. LOL

John
I did this as a kid back in the 20th century when it first came out. Want to do it again but need to get better at NMF before paying the $$$ it goes for now! Hey ICM, do us a favor and give a new tool, willya? Nice to see yours coming together. 👍

Nathan Dempsey
Following 👀 This is a huge kit. I remember selling dozens of them in the late 80s and early 90s at the old hobby store.

Donald Dickson II
John, go on Scale Model Graveyard on FB. They come up fairly regularly there and you can get them at reasonable prices especially if you can get a bagged kit. The biggest issue will be getting the Caracal decal sheet for it. Thats likely to cost more than the kit. As would all the after market. LOL

Nathan, it really is a big one.

James C
Looks to be coming along nicely Donald... A Big Beast for sure!

My brother got me a Revell re-boxing for Xmas a couple years ago. I'm not sure whether to thank him or give it back to him as a suppository instead. 😄
I suppose its not as bad as the B1 in 1/48 though. 😉

Donald Dickson II
LOL James, The B-1 is a beast. It was a challenge for sure. B1-B | Album by smokeriderdon (1:48) I say dive into the 58! Have fun with it!

As I have mentioned, I have procured pretty much all the after market resin stuff, along with other stuff, for this kit, and I have been left disappointed so far. I have mentioned all the issues with the cockpit set from Lone Star. With that there are front landing gear doors. Actually not that much different from the kit doors, but I figured Id use em. Nope. These parts STILL have not cured. I could bend them just about double. Complete trash. Thankfully, as I said, the kit doors are pretty good.

On to the SAC landing gears. All pretty good EXCEPT the part that the wheels actually go on. These parts were crooked and getting them back to true was next to impossible. And honestly, not something I should have to do. Again, these are virtually the exact same as the kit parts, so I used the plastic there.

The resin wheels from Armory Models. Absolutely beautiful! Look the part much more so than the kit wheels. That being said, I almost ditched them. The holes for the pins on the model part are WAY to small. I had to drill each inner tire out a substantial amount to get them to fit. This holds true for the kit parts and the SAC part. So I am unsure as to whether they actually had the part on hand or not. Then, you would expect the outer wheels to mate positively and without issue to the inner wheels. Not the case.

So, I hate sounding like I am whining. However, when I pay 25.00 for a set of wheels, I have expectations of perfect fit and no need for modification of those parts. Or having to say to hell with it and blend kit parts where the AM parts fall short. Sorry, but I am not paying money to have to wrestle with modern tooling parts.

All that being said, she is coming along. The tires are on and most seams done. Letting perfect plastic putty dry, then some Mr Surfacer before gloss black goes on. Provided no more seam work.

John
I hear you Donald. It's one of the reasons I like AM sets less and less as I go on. Unless the kit parts are truly execrable, then they're often a lot more trouble than they are worth and can start to turn a build from "fun" to "pain" quite fast. If the kit is that bad, I would probably just skip it anyway.

Of course, if you want a 1/48 B-58, then it's Monogram or bust. In my fever dreams, I sometimes see an ICM (or Hobby Boss?) B-58 cresting the horizon at low level, but then I wake up sad that I have no one to throw what would probably be a ridiculous MSRP at.

Donald Dickson II
John, after the amount of money I have spent on this, I would have no room to complain about whatever ICM would charge. LOL

Donald Dickson II
Got the seams done, so gloss black on top. I shall let that dry a couple days and spray the bottom. Then see if I did well enough.

While that is drying, working on the F-15 egg and the exhausts. The best after market stuff so far! Awesome detail and no issues. Test fit in one of the nacelles. Perfect! So next up, the intakes.

Donald Dickson II
So, all the intakes completed. Very nice! Went together great and look fantastic. Did a test fit. Had to remove a ridge on the inside of the nacelles, but not too bad with the help of the dremel. It seems that the openings are slightly oval, so there is a small but noticeable gap between the intake and the nacelle. I am trying using dissolved sprue on one and see if that does the trick.

And Odin felt it necessary to provide scale in the pics. 🙂

Donald Dickson II
Plane and engines primed gloss black. Unfortunately I cant keep dust from getting on it while its drying. Hopefully it doesnt look too awful when I spray the metal. We will see. Waiting on the .5mm fan spray nozzle kit for my Grex. No way Im trying to do this thing with the regular nozzle.

Casey Beckett
Hi Donald -get a large plastic food or clothes bin from Wally world or Target - place it upside down over your drying paint, lidless - works great at keeping floating fuzz, dust, bugs, and DOG HAIR from sticking in your fresh paint - But that Hustler is going to need a huge one - like the kind you'd put blankets in maybe. Good luck - ruined paint and unnecessary sanding /picking out FOD stinks. i

Donald Dickson II
I had thought of that but none of the ones I have will fit it.

Donald Dickson II
The nozzle for the AB came in. Initial use is very encouraging!

Lost_Erik
Great progress.
(Following)

Cortex
That's one daring project. I commend your work and detailed updates, inspiring!

Donald Dickson II
Cortex, thank you. 🙂

So, whilst working on the 105 I have also been &*^%ing around with these damned engines. I still dont have the top near the intakes done right, but this where they are now.

Donald Dickson II
OK, got the engines mostly where I am OK with them. Attached them to the wings and puttied the gaps there. Now to sand the top side where they dont line up and get that all straight.

Man, this thing is a project. LOL

Donald Dickson II
Got the engine pylon joins as good as Im gonna get em. Engines covered. Gotta hit the nose one more time with flat black, mask the canopy and attach it, then painting this behemoth can commence.

Donald Dickson II
Got some aluminum on. I cant do anything else until I get a paint booth. The new fan nozzle throws a lot more paint than I was expecting. About gagged myself. So one is in my cart at the Zon awaiting payday.

gorby
The Aluminum finish looks great.
I see your furry companion is taking a close interest in your work.

Donald Dickson II
Yep, he is one of my assistants. The other one was just watching that time. LOL

Got the paint booth set up. Its like Im professional or something.

Donald Dickson II
OK, so that spray booth made all the difference. I highly recommend it if you need one. It was only 107.00 on Amazon.

So got all the main coat of aluminum on. Touch ups and figuring the panels for the different shades up next.

Donald Dickson II
Worked on the different shades. Got the leading edge right, but the control surfaces arent dark enough. Dark aluminum wasnt dark enough. Guess I will use stainless.

Donald Dickson II
Got all the bits on the landing gears and doors on. Working on the windows. Its pretty much at the decal stage. I am trying to figure out how to make the pistons for the hatches. One thing that would have been REALLY appreciated in that "upgrade" set but isnt there

Donald Dickson II
Started on the decals. Just the common stencils. Had to stop as I found some spots I needed to sand and now repaint. Both sides. But quickly drawing to a close.

Donald Dickson II
OK, so its done. 99.9% Those of you with good eyes will notice the right wing says USA, no F. I managed to ef the F up and now am waiting on a generic set of USAF decals to get here. I have a lot of those, just none large enough. I am hoping that the largest on this sheet are the ones I need.

So one pic until those get here and then I will officially close this out with my usual mediocre pics. 🙂

John
Looks good Donald! 👍 Bad break on the decal, but at least you didn't ef U! 😉 But seriously...you could always mask and paint the F if needed since it's all straight lines. Color matching might be a pain though.

Desert Marlin
Excellent work!

Donald Dickson II
John, I have no idea how to achieve that deep blue almost black. I'd much rather mask, but that stops me.

Thank you Desert!

gorby
It turned out great!

Casey Beckett
Very nice, Sir - Looks ready to be parked next to the real one at NMUSAF - Worth the trip if you've never been to it!

Maciej Bellos
What a beauty Donald! Well done!

Donald Dickson II
Casey, yes I have. Was just there for the eclipse. 🙂

And thank you gentlemen. 🙂

Its completely done now. There is so much I can talk about. How disappointed in the quality of the LoneStar set I am. How big this thing is and how much of a challenge it is fit wise. BUT, I took on the challenge and it looks decent. I have come to the realization that I am never going to produce these award winning builds that you see all the time. Such is life.

Now, for fun. The pic next to the Cylon raider. The Raider is 1/64. A smaller scale than the Hustler. Those were some big space ships!!!

And some pics with the other two 1/48, behemoths. I didnt do as good a job dusting the Bone as I thought. LOL The F-100 is 1/48 also to give an idea how huge all three of these things are. In real life and as models. LOL

Nathan Dempsey
Very nice work on this huge and old kit Donald. I think you did a great job!

James C
Congrats Donald, nice job taming that beast! 👍

Donald Dickson II
Got some love at the IPMS meeting last night. 🙂

Donald Dickson II
So, after having made the trip to the meeting and back safely, it got destroyed at home. I wont get into how, but I was NOT happy with my daughter. I did manage to get it back together, but it now has cracks that I am not going to attempt to fix. Id likely end up messing up something else. It does still need a new nose pitot though.

Dietmar Bogatzki
Fine build so far, Alberto

Treehugger
It's a little tricky with the clear parts on top. The top "housing" is molded with the big hull, and so if you glue on the big parts, you can't glue on the clear parts anymore, because the clear parts are supposed to be glue on from the inside.

Alberto Traverso
Thank you Dietmar 👍

Alberto Traverso
Yes Treehugger, in this case the clear parts definitely must be glue on before gluing the main chassis

Bruce Huxtable
Really nice looking interior too 🙂

Alberto Traverso
Yes it's practically a full interior kit