Vought Kingfisher
AZ

* First use of Mr Surfacer 500. Will try the use of laser-printed decals to replace the missing "102" (FAILED Can't print White!. Montex masks, the first time I decanted spray paint, first use of two sizes of rigging wire (Float and VHF antenna).

* Hacks: Lost the rear beaching gear tire to the rug monster. Made a new one by slicing a rod of styrene. However, I couldn't figure out how to attach it due to the poorly illustrated instructions and lack of pilot holes. So I made my own. Also made a stand out of putty to take the load off the beaching gear as they can't handle the weight of the bird.

* Blunders: Attached rear beaching gear , then I found the photograph showing I missed. I also lost two of the "102" decals on one side (they fold up). So I'm going to try using decal paper in my laser printer. Biggest blunder was using the wrong white to try to mist the blue and lighten it. It does look weathered, by a snow storm and this is a Corpus Christi based bird!

* Paint: AS-6 Tamiya Blue on top, Mission Models on the bottom. Rest of the plane is a mix of acrylics. Same base colors as the PBY.

AZ Model. Lots of opportunity to use my growing modeling skills as this puppy had malformed parts, no location pins/holes, parts not on the instructions, and decals that would fold upon themselves and die (not to mention very thick if you can get them onto the airplane). I tried a white overspray but the paint I selected was too blotchy. It looks good from a distance but not up close. See Gallery for details of the many challenges, solutions and goofs that remain.