Hi Carl (@clipper): The cool thing about having 3 models, each prepared the same way, is that I can try different things on each and see what I like the best.

Hi John (@johnb): We have had some pretty good rain today, with the next 4 days supposed to have more rain. We really need it, so I am not complaining.

I didn't get as far as I wanted on #3. My wife and I spent most of the day at my daughter's house, so not much bench time. I got all of the small bits cleaned up and ready to add. I started painting the props for the last two planes, and then I decided to give my 3D printed props one more try. I cleaned the prop blades and then shortened them by about a millimeter. I will get the painting complete on all of the props tomorrow.

I was cleaning some of the stuff off my work bench, including the Flory Wash from my trial use yesterday. That's when I realized that I had mistakenly used Vallejo Wash instead of the Flory Wash. In my defense, both bottles are similar. I decided to give the actual Flory wash another try, and this time it worked perfectly. I plan to use it on the other planes.

That's it for today. I should have a lot more time to work tomorrow. Cheers.

3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Thanks, Matt (@matthewfdyer). It turned out I had grabbed the wrong bottle. Both Flory Wash and Vallejo Wash are in similar bottles. I grabbed the bottle, shook it up, and brushed it on, not realizing that I had used Vallejo. I used the "real" Flory on plane #1 and it worked great. I plan to do the other planes tomorrow. Very easy to use and very effective.

I was stationed in Arizona for 3 years in the early 70s. First at Luke AFB, just west of Phoenix, and then at Williams AFB, which was just east of Phoenix near Chandler. Williams closed years ago, but I spent an interesting year there in Pilot Training. I don't remember it raining at all the year I was at Williams. I do remember my car overheating a couple of times waiting at a red light during the summer. It was a really old car that didn't run well even on good days.

The real Flory wash seems to work really well, George @gblair
I always use the Vallejo wash but I am definitely going to search for a bottle of Flory as well to give it a try.

@gblair, thanks for the warning, George. For removing the Vallejo wash, I mostly use moistered q-tips. I think this is a bit
more controllable but you need a lot of them to clean the entire surface.

I spent my time today getting all of the small bits attached to all three planes, as well as making sure all three were ready for some clear flat. I am in a precarious place, because all of these planes now have all sorts of little bits sticking out that are just begging to be knocked off. The pitot on my last plane has been knocked off and re-glued four times. The amazing thing is that I have been able to find the pitot in the carpet all four times. I really want to move on tomorrow, so I hope the weather cooperates with some nice, low humidity. It is supposed to rain tomorrow, but maybe I can get done early?

I also wanted to give my 3D printed props another go. The resin pin on the prop that glues into the hub is very small and requires a deft touch to get it cleaned up. The pin is about .5mm in diameter. This is why I lost three props because I managed to break the pin off. Obviously I don't have a deft touch. But I managed to reshape and shorten the prop blades and create two sets of propellers for one of the planes.

6 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Hi Carl (@clipper): The resin blades were basically the correct shape, just a little too long. I just took a sanding stick and sanded straight across the tip until the length matched the kit blades, then I rounded the tips on the resin blades. They won't bear a close inspection, but I think they will be OK. Of my three planes, two of them had spinners, so these resin props without a spinner will only work for one plane. Also, the actual plane used several different types of props during their history, so maybe props that are shaped slightly different between versions might be OK.

Very nice work, George @gblair
Propellors do look perfect, painting them this way makes it a lot easier.
Being able to find that pitot four times in a row must be a record, usually the carpet is not that forgiving.