2010-01-20 17-41-22 - IMG_4750 2010-01-20 17-43-17 - IMG_4755

2010-01-20 17-45-46 - IMG_4761 2010-01-20 17-46-48 - IMG_4762

Some big mistakes I did while building this kit:

  1. Scribed the panel lines too deep, and without a proper ruler (freehand)
  2. My first attempt painting with lacquer paints left a lot of webby residue – I didn’t thin the paint properly
  3. I didn’t spray a layer of clear lacquer before using the ProModeller weathering wash
  4. I didn’t seal exposed seam lines properly, especially near the cockpit and on the fuselage / fuel tanks

Well, since my Harrier II kit from Hasegawa contained two Harrier kits, I guess I’ll have a second chance at building this.

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My Finished F9F-8 Cougar

by Ace on January 23, 2010 · 0 comments

in Model Aircraft

F9 Cougar

About the same time I completed my P-51D Mustang, I also “completed” my F9F-8 Cougar. This was another “practise” model kit so I’m pretty ok with the results. Although the model is off balance and the nose always gets lifted up, it was a real learning experience doing this kit. It’s wasn’t the highest quality kit, but i had a good time.

Some of the mistakes I made with this model:

  1. Bad color mixing meant that many parts of the model were of a different tone that the other parts
  2. Again, the canopy is fogged up, probably due the wrong type of glue
  3. The yellow markings are all decals, and I broke many of them trying to fit the contours of the plane
  4. I forgot to put a ballast in the nose, so the balance is way off

F9 Cougar

What I like about Hasegawa models kits though is the decals. They are really easy to use and not so easy to break, as compared to decals by Tamiya or Italeri.

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My Finished P-51D Mustang

This is one of my first modelling projects with aircraft – the P-51D Mustang by Italeri. Although it looks pretty ok in these pictures, I know better. I made a lot of mistakes with this model kit, including:

Using the wrong combination of acrylic / lacquer paints
I fogged up the cockpit / canopy clear parts
I [...]

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Hasegawa F-15E Strike Eagle – Iraqi Freedom

This is my new Hasegawa F-15E Strike Eagle modelled after the Iraqi Freedom versions. I’ve always wanted to own a F-15 model aircraft and the one by Hasegawa looks great.

The model kit itself is of excellent quality, good details and over 190 parts so you know it’s pretty detailed. I can’t wait [...]

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Tamiya F/A-18E Super Hornet Model Kit

I never bought a Tamiya aircraft kit before, so I was pretty excited to get my new F/A-18E Super Hornet. The Tamiya kit looks to be of much better quality than most of the Hasegawa kits I’ve bought so far. To start with the plastic feels much smoother and solid. The seam lines are [...]

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Excel Plastic Clamps For Modelling

A couple of weeks back I got two plastic clamps from Excel, which cost about $2 I think. Initially I thought it would be great to use them to hold two pieces together when I glued them.
However, I found them to be quite flimsy and I think it’s way better to use a tape of [...]

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Masking and Painting the Harrier ll

Since I was doing some work on my F-11 Tiger I decided to take out the assembled Harrier II kit and work on that as well. The Harrier looks much more difficult to paint than the Tiger, as it has three different shades of grey. The darkest grey (on top) was the most difficult [...]

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Masking and Airbrushing My F-11 Tiger

I now have more model kits that I can handle, including the P-51D Mustang, Black Hawk, F-9 Cougar, F-4 Phantom, F-14 Tomcat, Harrier II and a few others on the way. So I thought I’d better get on with it and really learn how to use my Aztek A470 airbrush and Revell compressor.
The F-11F [...]

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My 1/72 Scale P-51D Mustang by Italeri

I usually buy only Hasegawa model kits, but the good thing about buying from LuckyModel.com is that for every purchase you also earn points, which you can redeem before checkout. In this case, I redeemed an Italeri 1:72 scale P-51D Mustang. So it cost me about $3 to get this kit.

I have never tried an [...]

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Promodellers Weathering Wash

One of the biggest challenges in building scale model aircrafts is making your models look weathered and real. From my research and from watching YouTube videos, it seems like the easiest way to weather your models is by using ProModeller’s Weathering Wash.
This is a clay-based solution and comes in a few colors – Light Dirt, [...]

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