Five months for this?

I’m not certain it took five months, but it was around that long. Not working continuously, of course.

Lego Batman contemplates a possible replacement for the Batplane.

I don’t feel like going into too much detail right now. It’s the Revell 1/72 F-101B Voodoo, this version was made in 1992. Decals are from Experts-Choice (which is the company that makes Bare Metal Foil). The kit decals were out of register, which means the red stripe in the insignia was noticeably off-center.

Fun fact – the XF-88, which was the prototype for the F-101 Voodoo, was one of the inspirations for at least one version of the comic book version of the Batplane.

The only other aftermarket part is the pitot tube, from Master Models. (Is a decal sheet considered a part? Most contests allow aftermarket decals in basic kit build categories, but not brass or resin bits.) I used a canopy and wheel mask from KV models, but that’s definitely not a part.

The exhaust weathering didn’t come out quite the way I wanted, but the very light preshading of the panel lines is about what I wanted.

The instructions, which I found somewhat vague, have you install the finished cockpit tub up through the missile bay after the fuselage halves are glued together. I broke parts off doing this which had to be reattached from above once the tub was in place. The front landing gear well was also rather fiddly, as you have to build a box with the gear strut sandwiched between the sides. The main gear attachment points were simple butt joints that I suspect will cause me problems in the future.

The cockpit, which I advise you to install before gluing the fuselage closed.

Otherwise a pretty decent build. The aftermarket bits — pitot, mask, and decals — all worked well for me. Paint is mostly Model Master Enamel, with Alclad for the exhausts.

One of the first kits I ever built was the old Monogram box-scale F-101, probably the 1970 or 1973 boxing, molded in blue plastic. So when I saw this at a show, I had to pick it up. (Well, okay, I didn’t have to, but I did anyway.)

One last photo.

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Done, but not Good

Has it really been seven months since we’ve posted here? Not that anyone can tell, what with approximately one visitor to the site in that whole time.

So, that Klingon D-7 took a trip to the IPMS Nationals in Omaha back in July, where it was deservedly ignored. Sometime after that, it got accidentally knocked off a shelf and the boom popped off. Since it was only held on with CA glue, it was a clean break and easily repaired.

In the meantime, I finished this Eduard 1/48 Sopwith Camel:

Harley can fix it. She’s got the right tool.

This is the old 2003 boxing, not the new one from 2021. I received it as a gift in 2011, so it’s only been in the stash for a bit more than ten years. It represents the plane of Cat. Ronald Sykes, DFC, in 1918.

Drawers

I finished putting drawers in the workbench back in November, but neglected to post anything about it at the time.

Oh, I do not like this new WordPress editor. Ah; found the old one. That’s better. I prefer to see the controls available to me, thank you very much.

I guess this is done, since I’ve been using it for six months and it’s covered in junk.

Bass, completed enough

It’s as done as any mass-market instrument you’d buy in a store, only more expensive and lower quality. Materials info after the jump.

front view

the side no one looks at

What I’ve been doing, sort of

Here’s one of the reasons I haven’t done anything much lately.

Well, also I’ve been putting baseboards in a closet, but this is more interesting.
Dark wood is bocote, the light is cherry. Spray lacquer finish. The dinosaur is about six inches long, to give you an idea of size. The others are a bit smaller, but perspective and junk.

Carousel repair

Not much on the bass recently, but I finally got this thing rebuilt.

(Original post about it is here.)

Those are 10″ candles.

It’s really rather bulky. Here’s a closeup of one of the snowmen – their hats needed touchup, and this guy got new buttons.

Will it go round in circles?

I replaced the hub at the top with a thinner piece, built a new spinning deck, and added a bearing to the top of the shaft. It still doesn’t work as well as I’d like, but at least it’s functional.

Calling it Done

Well, I need to adjust the action at the nut a bit, but otherwise I’m calling this one complete.

Ignore the foot.

Yeah, it has some flaws. But you can’t really see them in these photos.

The saddle is compensated. It’s supposed to look like that.

First sound sample is available here. Pay no attention to the crummy playing; I was tired. Recorded straight into the computer via dynamic microphone; no filtering, reverb, or anything.

Enough with the shellac, already

I am not 100% happy with this (I never am) but I’m not going to do more on it.

The back isn’t too bad, for the most part. There are a couple of dull patches and lumpy areas, but if I mess with it more, it’ll just get worse.

I finally got the spot on this side to take shellac. I ended up just wiping it on with a very small bit of cloth, instead of the traditional muneca, which was taking off as much as it was laying down. Need more practice, obviously.

I removed the tape from the fretboard and as expected, there is residue all over it. I’ve cleaned the first three frets here, but not the rest.

The top has one area I’m not at all happy with, but I can’t fix it without sanding everything down to bare wood and starting over. And I’m not about to do that. I don’t much like working with spruce tops, so it may be a while before I use the rest of the ones I already have.

 

Out, out damned spot!

or smudge, or smear, or whatever you are. And the rest of your family, who are living in various parts of my finish.

More polishing

Progress, but slow.

Headstock is looking okay.

The neck is not bad at all.

Sides are building a bit of a shine.

Still some leveling needed on the back.

Color not yet evened out on the top.