Minicraft 1/144 Pan Am Stratocruiser

[Graeme H]

Hang in there Kev, it's all coming together now, don't let the dark side prevail

[kfutter]

Hang in there Kev, it's all coming together now, don't let the dark side prevail

Thanks, Graeme. I'm getting there slowly!

Kev

[kfutter]

Well, I've been spending as much time as possible with this one over the last week or so, but I've still managed to apply only a few decals. I took this photo partly as a token show of progress, and partly to test the replacement globes I ordered for my studio lighting rig:



One thing that really surprised me about the Liveries Unlimited sheet that I'm using on this model, is just how many decals there are on it! More than pretty much any set I've used in this scale, including lots of tiny stencils and other markings. This, plus my lack of available time and energy at the moment, has slowed things to a real crawl. But I'm inching along, and will hopefully have all the decals applied by the time I post the next update. I'm starting a 3-week break from work at the end of this week, so my plan is to finish it off before Christmas.

Wish me luck!

Kev

[RayS]

Looks great Kev,

Most of us would not know if a decal was in the right place for most of these schemes so i would not worry too much about cheat lines and such.

[tor lives]

Looks bloody awesome to my eye.....enjoy your Chrissy break Kev, and get into that modelling
TOR

[hrtpaul]

That looks fantastic mate. All the hard work in coming together. Really like this mate

[kfutter]

Thanks, lads. I haven't managed to finished a build since my Polar Lights Enterprise from early in the year, so it'll be good to get this one done.

Kev

[kfutter]

While executing some touch-ups to the aluminium paint around the nose and wing roots, I managed to pull off a minor disaster:



This, despite a couple of decent coats of clear gloss to protect the area! Luckily, the cheat line decal is longer than necessary, giving you some excess sections to fall back on. I cut these to size and repaired the damage:



Once the repairs have settled in properly, I can resume applying the rest of the decals. I may touch up the windows before that, though. Mustn't forget!

Kev

[RayS]

Nice recovery Kev,

I find that 9 out of 10 times that I will lift decals when doing touch ups if I mask on them. I don't think it matters how many coats of clear go over decals, if the masking material is tacky enough it will take some decal with it.

[tor lives]

Excellent recovery there young Kev!!!.....clearly the gods of modelling wanna see this one finished, and are on your side
Isn't she looking just so sweet in those Pan Am colours
TOR