I think
this kit is pretty well documented, so I won't go into that much detail. I built
this one straight from the box. I saw lots of flak from people about the dent
just forward of the windows....it isn't a big deal at all, sand it down and a
little putty and it is fixed. I didn't even use the filler, just sanded it down.
Once the window section of the canopy is on, it isn't really noticeable IMO. I
did a very basic cockpit painting, because with it closed, you can hardly see
anything inside. I used the kit decals to represent "Greased
Lightning" which set a speed record from Tokyo to London of 8 hours 35
minutes.
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images below to see larger images
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Building
it was straight forward, just lots of dry fitting to make sure it was as good as
I could get it. Knowing I was going to foil the whole plane, it took a lot of
time and patience to get the putty filled and sanded smooth. One part I deleted
from the kit were the grossly oversized probes on either side of the nose. Since
it was going to be foiled, I wanted to be able to make it flexible...so I glued
small magnets inside the plane as well as both pods, so it can be displayed one
of three ways. I also didn't glue the long nose probe on as that is just
begging to be broken off.
Now the fun
part...foil! This is the 5th plane that I've foiled now and I think I've gotten
the hang of it. Through all the dry fitting, the inner engine pod on either side
had a terrible fit, so those were Tenaxed on and filled with putty. The nose and
wing sections were then masked off and the flat black paint was put on, as I
wasn't about to paint those after the foil. I got the landing gear doors first,
and then proceeded to get the plane, working from centerline out so the small
pieces on the edges of things were last and (hopefully) least damaged from
handling. It was a chore to foil around the inner pods already attached.
The outer pods were foiled and then Tenaxed on. After major sections of foil
were put on I put a layer of Future on to seal them. Finally all the foil and
pieces were on and a coat of Future were put on and set for 2-3 days. I was
finally able to decal it, which really turned it into a Hustler. I stopped
counting/lost track of the hours as I just build for pleasure and don't want to
keep track of all that...but if I were to guess, it would probably be about 100
hours worth of work.
David, aka archybean
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images below to see larger images
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