EF-10B Skyknight
Hi All, Just completed the Douglas EF-10B Skyknight Sword's 1/72 kit
Actually went together quite well my only moan would be that there wasn't much in the way of locating points when fitting the cockpit and the instructions are a little vague here and there,
the drop tank pylons were a case of studying photos to try to get something like the correct location and the other big problem with the kit was the canopy which is in three parts and when put together the whole thing is slightly to wide, so i had no choice but to fit it centrally
and start sanding and polishing afterwards the down side is that you loose a little of the bulged appearance of the forward canopy which is quite pronounced on the Skyknight.
After assembly on to my favourite part the painting and weathering, i decided on the China Lake weapons testing aircraft because i liked the red and white finnish, over the other options which were the standard 60's Marines/Navy finnish.
the painting starting with a bit of pre shading on with the white all over then the trouble started with the red bits firstly i used completely the wrong red/orange but thought ok i could live with it then because the pre-shading was now gone on the red parts i decided to try my hand at post shading BIG MISTAKE mixed a bit of darker red went on ok but just to to dark at this point i was gonna shelve the whole thing but was persuaded to persevere by my mate Dave Foxall from the 580 modellers, and after a few pointers i thought one more go and it was at this point i discovered i had a pot of Model Master International Orange which is the correct colour, so i re-masked the whole bloody thing again and tried to spray a lighter colour over a dark one i know what your thinking about that "Good Luck With That One Mate" but after i dont know how many coats i managed to get the colour more to my liking unfortunately i had filled most os the panel lines with paint to so they were only just discernible so i tried to re-scribe some of the lines back in with only mixed success,
i had also messed up the white here and there what with re-masking and over handling so i touched up here and there, but as is my usual shortfall where modelling is concerned (impatiens) i didn't leave the Tamiya white Gloss long enough completely dry here comes Finger Print number one! this proved to be the first of many School Boy Errors you know the ones where you advise everyone else about but completely ignore yourself or the times when know as your doing something you have told yourself dont touch it there or be careful of the pitot tube that you have just re-glued for the fourth time in truth i spent more time trying to put things right after god knows how many little Faux Pas but eventually i finished it, its by no means a show quality model and to be honest if you picked it up and looked at the underside you would see one or two finger prints and scuffs where to be honest i couldn't be bothered to put right its one for the display cabinet unless Mr Foxall from the 580 Modellers can persuade me to pop it on the show Table at our next show.
Any way hope you like it (the top side at least)
I am hoping this will come out in a newer 48 kit sometime before I die. This looks awesome.
Hay Paul, Thanks for the comment mate,
this kit has been done in 1/48 by Czech Models Master (i Think)
i missed out on getting hold of one at a show two weeks ago the guy wanted £60 or $100 in your money for it so i left it when i mentioned it to one of the guys in the club he said i was crazy not to buy it so i went back to get it and as i got there another guy had just bought it AAAAAAA ah well some you win some you dont! Paul Check out the US eBay i saw one there last week it sold for $95 i would have tried to buy it but the seller wouldn't ship to the UK
Thanks
Mark
You don't want to get the 1/48 kit, unless you are seriously masochistic. NOTHING FITS. Not. One. Thing. The interior is too big for the fuselage, the engine covers are too small for the fuselage, and those are just the two most obvious fakaktas.
Welcome to the clan Mark.
A very nice first posting.
Cheers Simon, this is the first modelling site i have actually posted anything on and as it all went pretty much trouble free i look forward to hopefully putting some more up even the disasters i dont think it hurts now and then to show them off warts and all, after all we drop the odd BOOBOO
Cheers Simon
Mark
what a terrific scheme...i don't understand not shipping to Europe...some guys are just terrified of a customs form
Hallo There Bob, Thanks for the comment,
Your right mate some guys flatly refuse to ship to Europe and others charge so much it puts me off buying from the US eBay and im not sure if its the customs thing that puts them off and to be honest i dont mind paying the customs charge its our Royal Mail Handling Charge that winds me up
but luckily there are one or two exceptions that do all they can to help
Cheers Bob
Mark
that does it,i am going to have to pre-shade my next effort.
Hi Michael, i swear by it when remember to do it sometimes i get carried away and just start spraying away then wonder why iv not quite got the effect i wanted and then realise i haven't pre-shaded
thanks
Mark
Very beautiful work!
Sincerely, Vlad.
Thank you Korolev
I've been wanting to do one of these in a larger scale (I prefer 48th), ever since I saw that episode of Dogfights entitled "Night Fighters". Don't think I've seen one in your scheme, though. And yours looks pretty good from here. Nice work.
Cheers Craig,and thanks for the kind comment, about the Skyknight there is one available if you can find one its by Czech Master Models or something like that its supposed to be a pig to build im hoping Hobby Boss will produce one as they seem to be slowly going through some of the early USAF/US Navy jets,
i see your in Florida my youngest daughter is there right now working for Mr Disney and loving it, we are flying out to Las Vegas in July and she is flying to meet us there then we are off on a road trip to try and visit as many National parks as we can and on my to do list is to visit the bone yard near Tucson and as usual try to find model stores.
any way thanks for the kind comment
Regards
Mark
Be sure to visit the Pima Air Museum just outside Tucson as well. Canyonlands Nat'l Park and Zion are (in my opinion) nuthin' special, but be sure to visit Bryce Canyon and, of course, the Grand Canyon. We took a flight from Vegas to the west rim where that Skywalk is - that's worth your while as well.
Nicely done.
Thanks Jack,
Regards
Mark
Some strong work on the Sky knight. Anymore photos? they'd be appreciated and a inspiration for those of us who like to study other folks gifts and talents.
Hi Stephen, thanks and yes i hope to get some more up soon i need to dig out my camera and try to take some descent shots the photos of the Skyknight were done using my iphone they are ok but a bit limited in what you can do i also need to find something descent to use as a good backdrop looking at some of the photos on the site they seem very professional.
Cheers
Mark
Pretty impressive for a first posting. A lot of people (read that me) would have put it back in the box or worse when faced with having to do things over. Glad to see you finished it.
Thanks for posting & I will look forward to more.
Thanks a lot AL, i will try to get more up in the coming week.
Cheers
Mark
Simon: nice model. Take everything you said about the story as the perfect demonstration of what you claimed is your biggest modeling problem: impatience. A dollop of patience and five minutes spent checking things out before committing to doing them (maybe six minutes with the paint, since you already had the right color available), would likely have saved all your grief. That's something everyone learns sooner or later.
Nice save on the canopy - cutting in the middle was the correct decision, and the final result seems to have saved the bulged sides without problem.
Sorry for posting a positive reply Tom, I am not blessed with your knoeledge and will never probably will have so shallI go back to just reading about it instead!
Well, I'm sure we'll see more nice stuff from you. I was reminded by your story of the build of the fact that all my "less than successful" models have been the result of impatience.
Nice one Mark. Welcome aboard!
Cheers Gregor,
Mark
Very nice looking model, Mark, and thanks for sharing your experiences in building it. Welcome to iModeler!
Thanks George,
Regards
Mark
Hi Mark,
beautiful Skyknight. When i saw it for the first time i really think that it is a 1/48 kit. I like your weathering specialy on the red dayglo.
Wonderful job Mark. Best regards, Eric from France
Thanks Eric, considering the trouble i had with red colour it came out ok in the end
Thanks for the kind comments
Mark
Hey Mark, Welcome aboard. Great story and a fine looking model in the end...think of the finger prints as a sure fire way to ID it if it gets pinched! Look forward to seeing more of your builds.
Cheers
Erich
Cheers Erich, yes theres nearly every finger print from my right hand on there somewhere i dont know what it is about our fingers i think the grease/sweat or whatever is like the best etching solution there is a millisecond to apply an hour to remove
no worries about it being stolen theres blood sweat and tears oh and probably a bit of hair for DNA purposes so no problem identifying the owner
Thanks for the warm Welcome
M
Mark,
This looks absolutely great to me. I love the airplane and I love what you have done to make it come to life. I really like the interesting scheme and how you have weathered it. If this is but one example of your modeling skills then I look forward to enjoying more of your work. You will love this site and welcome aboard.
Hi Frank, Cheers Mate to be honest a lot of it turned out like it did by accident i made so many booboo's on it i had nothing to lose just went for it here and there where if all had gone to plan i may have hesitated trying some of the things i did to pull it back it was one of my club mates who made me persevere with it and pointed me in the right direction on a few things.
Thanks for the Welcome and kind comments
there are a few more to come but i need to find the photos or get a descent camera and re shoot some snaps
Regards
M
Nice clean build, great effort on the paint scheme..
Thanks Mike,
Mark
Looks damn nice to me, Mark. I have this kit and the sea blue Korean War boxing in my stash.
Hi Jim, And thanks for your kind comment. I was very close to giving up on this one! the build went as to be expected from a Sword kit i had a big problem with how vague the instructions were, and the model suffered from not very well defined locating markers for interior details THANK GOD FOR GOOGLE IMEGES! once i got over that it wasn't too bad then came the Canopy problems! but all were solvable and i got through it in the end.
And i did eventually put it in a few competitions and managed to get the odd Silver or Bronze and quite a few Highly Commended but it never managed a Gold, and you dont see many of them at model shows.
I too have a couple more in the Stash and now i know the pit falls i will one day build another probably a all over blue or black one from the Korean war.
Cheers Jim
Regards
Mark