scratch hunt

With silver paint being applied to the three Saabs at the moment, I decided to hose some on the ol' big-wing as well.

Nothing reveals surface flaws like a coat of silver. Actually I was pleasantly surprised with how little of seriousness I found. Of course there are going to be scratches on a project like this. Those areas got a squirt of thick primer and will be sanded smooth yet again.

A bigger setback was the case of the nose. It's a resin piece from the windscreen forward and I stuck it on a long time ago. Don't know what I used to align it originally, but examining it now, I found it veering noticeably (to me) to the left. Sitting her on a sheet of graph paper confirmed this. Since I don't plan to do another of these things, I think the one I do produce should be as good as I can make it. That meant hacking into the joint with a razor saw and snapping the front end off and re-setting it correctly. Got a mess to deal with there at the moment, but big-wing does continue to inch forward.

Comments

[Tory]

Good to see 'ol big wing back on the bench Pat. Been waiting what seems like forever for you to finish her. I nearly fell off my chair when i read you snapped of the nose for better alignment. You're a better man than I Gunger Din!

[Pat Hawkey]

The old beast sits on a bookshelf behind me as I work. Sometimes I hear her whisper my name. "Pat. Pat. What about me? Don't you love me any more?"

If you saw her bent nose (what the hell was I looking at the first go-round!?!) you may have reset it too. Small job compared to most of the rest she's provided.

[Douglas]

Which kit is this Pat? I know that there's a Mach 2 kit of this aircraft but I'm assuming this one isn't it.

[Pat Hawkey]

It's the DB vac/resin conversion on an Italeri fuselage. I've got the Mach 2 kit and it's obviously based directly on the DB effort. The Mach 2 rendition has its own set of significant problems to deal with.