JOHN THOMAS Hey Guys, I started a new project of the Italeri YF-23. I have had this kit seating around for many years. The kit dates back to 1994. I will all so be building Italeri's YF-22, X-32 and the X-35. They will be built mostly out of the box with a few added details and using the kit decals. Their were two YF-23 built and the kit gives you decals for both aircraft. I have two kits and I may build both one in the Gunship Gray and the other in Light and Dark Ghost Gray.

Ferenc Sarka I made the same kit this year. There were a few fitting problems with the kit. As i remember problems were at the end of each wings and at the tail of the plane. If you see the pictures of the real plane there are numbers both side of the tail fins, but the decal sheet has just for the outside. Following

JOHN THOMAS Ferenc, I did see your build and it got we excited to pull out mine and build it.

Cuajete Following.

Julian Herrero aka Yuri Follwing too

Dave Flitton Watching!!!!

JOHN THOMAS Cuajete, Julian and Dave Thanks. More photos up soon.

JOHN THOMAS New photos up today. As Ferenc said the kit does have fit issue big time. After some test fitting I will try to hide or fill in all of the seams and gaps I can. I made some plastic baffles in the aft exhaust area to hide some nasty gaps and used some putty on the main bay doors. More seams and gaps to fill in to come. when I glue the top and bottom wings / fuselage together.

Daniel Klink Will have to watch this.. Difficult Kit though.

JOHN THOMAS Daniel, Thanks. Yes, a little more work than I would do but it's the only nice kit of this aircraft at 1/72 scale.

JOHN THOMAS Cuajete, Thanks

JOHN THOMAS New photos up today. I started the weathering with a Brown Clay wash, after drying two light coats of Future clear coat to get ready for decals. I like to do my panel line wash and some weathering before decals.

Greg Baker It's looking really good John. How did you find the Future? I laughed when I saw your pic with the caption "light coat of Future" and the ENTIRE bottle on the workbench...

JOHN THOMAS Hey Greg, I had better luck airbrushing the Future This time around. I am going to let it cure for 48 hours before starting any decals. One more day of drying to go. BTW, the Future bottle in the photos must be 3 or 4 years old that how long I have I waited between tries so far so good and it's a brand new bottle just opened.

JOHN THOMAS Hey guys, new photos up today. I have finished decaling and starting working on the small bits and detail painting. The Hasegawa Decals were thin and went down well with setting solutions. I did have one problem with the Parrot Head decal it tore in seversl places but I was able to get them back together. Now working on the wheel, prop and landing gear.

Greg Baker Those decals look murder to put on. I'd never be able to recover from several tears... it'd just end up as a ball of plastic film. ;P

I'm intrigued by the canvas in the wheel wells. Was that common? It's the first time I've seen it.

JOHN THOMAS Greg, the canvas was common on P-40's of all versions. They had snaps and could be removed in the field. The canvas was used to keep dirt and mud out of the wheel wells. When the tear of the Parrot Head decal first happen I though it was over. I had only one decal of the head so I had to fix it. But after trying to place them back together I was able to save the decal. I had to paint a few spots on the head to hide some small gaps. If you look close you can see them. I was able to hide a few tears under the exhaust stains.

JOHN THOMAS New photos up today. I have the P-40N up on it's landing gear. Most all small bits are done. Just need to paint the canopies and glue them on.

Greg Baker I'm with Bryn on this one. I actually use Future (aka Pledge Floor Gloss) for all my clear coats. Perhaps there are better ones, but the fact that you can airbrush it right out of the bottle, it's a no-fumes acrylic, it self levels and, if all else fails, you wipe it off with a bit of Windex (or some other amonia-based glass cleaner), I've never found the need to stray any further. It also doesn't hurt that one bottle ($5) bottle is basically a life-time supply... or that your models smell likes spring cleaning afterwards.

Greg Baker I always assume everyone knows about Future, as it seems to have been around since... long in the past. But if you're not familiar this article and the associated links should tell you everything you need to know - finescale.com/how-to/tips/20..-future-gloss-has-a-new-name

JOHN THOMAS Bryn and Greg, Thanks. I have used Future in the pass but did have some issues with decals setting solutions eating into the Future. That was some time ago and may be it's time to try Future again. I need to solve my clear coating problems before I can continue working. I will have to do some testing on water based or Acrylic clear coats on some old models, Thanks everyone.

Bryn Crandell I think the big key with using PFC is to ensure the paints and decal setting solution have completely off gased(cured). Some modelers actually use PFC to set decals. Haven't tried that yet. I use Micro Scale Set and Sol for decals.

Greg Baker I've never had that problem, however I only ever use Tamiya's Mark Fit. Although, given that most of my builds are WHIF I don't use many decals at all... so truth be told, I'm not even 100% sure what the Mark Fit (or Micro Scale Set/Sol) are supposed to do?

JOHN THOMAS Bryn, Thanks again. I need to revisit the Future and decal setting solution and do more testing.

JOHN THOMAS Hey Greg, Micro Sol/Set and others decal setting solutions are used to apply decals. They help them stick and conform to the model shapes. The solution is a mild acid much like vinegar. I will try to do some sanding over the weekend on the F-8. I only have one sheet of decals of markings for VMF-333, F-8 so I must be sure the Future clear coat and decal setting solutions will work.

Ekki Following.

JOHN THOMAS I guest the more mats the better. I am looking for a larger mat to increase my work area.

John Hoffmann I know this thread is older, but it made me smile. I have a corner desk and 3 or 4 tables in my basement hobby space, and my cutting mat is something like 30" x 36" but I still almost always end up doing all the work on about a 16" x 16" area at the front of the mat. All other flat surfaces are just places to place things I was just using, will get to soon, or might need again on one of the several ongoing projects.

JOHN THOMAS Hey John, you are right about the cutting mat. I cleaned my work area a few weeks ago and added a Fold Up Spray booth and move some of my plastic storage bins around. I still need to do something about all my kits to make some more room. I have a 1/32 scale A-4E/F I need room to work on it.

JOHN THOMAS I have cleaned up my modeling room some and moved things around and added a fold up spray booth. I will take some new photos and post them in a few days.

Siegfried Mühlnikel That looks somehow familiar.

Timothy Heimer Please don't clean it up! I have seen posts to where they are so organized it makes me sick! Hate to say it John but...I thought my area was bad! LOL

JOHN THOMAS Hey Siegfried and Timothy, I did a little cleaning to make room for a new fold up spray booth and moved some plastic storage bins around. I added some new photos of today's 2018 work bench. I also show my new 1/32 scale A-4, will it fit, stay tuned.

JOHN THOMAS BTW guy's, my modeling room is just 7 feet x 7 feet or around 35 square feet

JOHN THOMAS Hi all, first project completed for 2018. It was a little fight with some minor problems but I got thru to the end.

Spanjaard nice job

JOHN THOMAS Spanjaard, thanks

JOHN THOMAS Just added a few new photos. The A-4 won a Bronze metal at IPMS Three Rivers Contest last weekend

Konrad Limmer Congrats John for both the very nice scooter and the contest price

JOHN THOMAS Thanks Konrad

Ekki Lovely work! Well done.

JOHN THOMAS Ekki, Thanks again

JOHN THOMAS My second project done for 2018. This project was started back in early 2017 and then sat for many, many weeks. In early 2018 I started back to work on it to finish it and now it's done.

JOHN THOMAS Just added a few new photos. The A-1 won a Bronze metal at the IPMS Three Rivers Contest last weekend.

Ekki Great Work!

JOHN THOMAS Ekki, Thanks

JOHN THOMAS Hi all, I just finished installing a new fold up Spray booth in my work area. For years I just sprayed into a cardboard box and wore a dust mask. Not the best way to paint but I made it work. My work bench is in my basement. I have two windows for light but they do not opening. I do have the basement door to the outside that I do open in the summer but it's to dam cold in the winter to open the door. I stop using Enamels and Lacquers years ago. I spray Model Master Acrylics. So this year I used part of my Tax Return Money and got this fold up spray booth at my local hobby shop. The set up was easy and fast. I also got an 9 inch under the counter light that I mounted on the inside of the spray booth. I have not mounted any vent hose to the booth to vent to the outside, it would just be to hard to do. So I will let the filter do all the work. I did stuff the vent hose adaptor that came with the booth full of furance filter material to help clean the exhaust. So far so good the few time now I have used it.

Cortex Thanks for pics and feedback, congratulations for your new spray booth : )

Alexander G. Great, congratulations! What did you pay for this thing?

Olly If you have no hose to the outside, please be careful and wear your mask.

Alexander G. Or add activated carbon filters!

JOHN THOMAS Cortex, Thanks

JOHN THOMAS Alexander, I paid 130 Dollars US at my local hobby store. I have seen them cheaper online for around 80 Dollars US but you have to pay for shipping. So paying more and no shipping I thinks it's a fair price and I can add the hose in the future for little cost. The carbon filter is a good idea, I will have to look into it, thanks.

JOHN THOMAS Olly, Will do, thanks

JOHN THOMAS I needed to make some bases for a contest I was entering. I like to give some context to the models that I build, so I did a little demo on how I make simple wood bases.

Patrick Hagelstein Wow! Those look really cool! And by the looks of it, they seem simple to produce. I like it!

JOHN THOMAS Yes Patrick, the bases took less than a day to make and you can make as many as you like. The photo coping of the Verlinden's cards makes it a very simple way to make a base. I do think they also make them in 1:48 scale. I have not done any Snow, Dirt, sand or Mud but will add them whem I need them

Gursel Kona Nice and simple. I like it.

JOHN THOMAS Gursel, Thanks

JOHN THOMAS Part two of LOST and FOUND up today. The collections are part of the Blue Angles Model Fest from 1995 to 2000.

Spanjaard Nice

JOHN THOMAS Thanks Spanjaard

JOHN THOMAS I have posted some found old snap shots of some contest photos from back in the mid 1990's. Not the best of photos. The contest is the Blue Angles Model Fest held at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola Florida in the mid 1990's to early 2000. Saddly the contest tis no longer held at the Museum. The collection is of Grumman Aircraft, the F4F, F6F, F7F and the F8F all at 1/72 scale. the kits used for the collection were Academy, Hasegawa and Monogram. I used a very cheap single action airbrush and hand painting using the old Patra and Testor's first Acrylic Paints. This collection is from around 1995. Most all of the planes are out of the box with a few with folded wings and some posed in flight. The first photos is of my work bench which is my kitchen table, it's a good thing that I am single. This was my work bench from 1991 to 2003. All of the models where built on this table. I will also post parts 2,3, and 4 in the next few days. THe photo are scan you need to scrow down to see them, please do.

JOHN THOMAS Sorry scroll drown

Greg Baker That's nice work! I love the F7F with folded wings! Too bad the images aren't larger... guess I forgot what it was like when you had to wait for the end of the roll before you could get some pictures.

Spanjaard when you scan, you can probably place the picture on top and limit the scanned area to just the picture instead of a full page (It will also scan faster since it will not scan a complete area). If the software does not allow that, you can always crop the pictures to the right size then they will look better.
just trying to help

JOHN THOMAS Thanks Greg and Spanjaard. I am going to rescan, crop and repost them. I should have done this before. I said I was going to have parts 2,3 & 4 but now I will just post one large part 2 stay tuned. Greg you are right, all of these photos are before I got a digital camera. Sadly none of the models have survived, I only have the bases.

JOHN THOMAS I have rescaned and crop the photos way better, Thanks Spanjaard for the help.

Greg Baker Oh, heck. Yeah, much better. I'm sad to hear none of the models have survived... there must have been quite a massacre though, 'cause there's quite a few there.

JOHN THOMAS Greg, It is sad, After moving around several times most of the planes got broken. One of the dum things I did was to glue them to the base, Bad Idea. In part two up soon I gave away most the the planes. And I wish I had did detail photos of the builds. I cant remember how I did the wing folds. Will have to reinvent

Spanjaard pictures look much better now. sorry to hear about the fate of those models.

JOHN THOMAS Spanjaard thanks. It is sad but now I dont know were I would place them. Thanks again for the help with the scan info.