Subject: Re: Gallery Article - F3D Skynight
From: "Steve Bamford" <[email-masked]>
To: "Aibara Darius @Consult" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2003 16:25:28 -0800

----- Original Message -----
From: "Aibara Darius @Consult" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2003 12:14 AM
Subject: Gallery Article - F3D Skynight

Gallery Template #05
"1:48 Douglas F3D-2 Skynight"
by "Darius Aibara"
--------------------
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This is the Collect-Aire resin kit built as an F3D-2 night fighter of the US
Marine Corps VFM(N)-513 operating out of K6 Airbase at Pyong Taek in Korea
circa 1953.
This is the second resin kit that I have attempted (the first being Magna
Model's Blackburn Firebrand) and was similar in that there are relatively
few components.  The wings and tail surfaces are solid resin castings and
the fuselage is split vertically into two halves.  The cockpit, seats,
wheels and other details are in resin, whilst the undercarriage legs are in
a soft metal - possibly pewter.  All the parts need to be washed with
detergent to remove mould release oils etc.
The fuselage halves are quite thick - 4 to 5mm in places - and I had to
remove a lot of material to get the cockpit tub and engine intakes to fit.
The halves did not match up in that their depths differed at mid fuselage,
so I lined up the top edges and filled the undersurface to get a smooth
join.  I used cyan glue throughout and Humbrol grey filler which worked
quite well on the resin material.  I reinforced the wing to fuselage joints
with steel wire located in holes that I drilled into the resin parts.  The
metal undercarriage units were too soft to carry the weight of the solid
resin and so I reinforced them with hard steel rod, the source for which
were steel map pins with the heads and points clipped off.  Two vac-formed
clear canopies are provided and one was painted and then secured in place
with tape whilst diluted white glue was run around the join with a small
brush.  Left overnight for the glue to cure the canopy was secured and the
advantage of this method is that if you are not happy you can peel off the
canopy, remove the glue and start again with no damage to the kit or
paintwork.

Click on images below to see larger images
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I primed the model with grey acrylic auto paint sprayed on from a can and
then gave it a few coats of satin black auto paint.  The excellent kit
decals were used and sealed in with Johnson's Clear (similar to Future).
The whole aircraft was then given a matt finish to complete the job.  I
refrained from heavy weathering (chipped paint etc) as I think this detracts
and distracts one from the final appearance (if you disagree, head for the
discussion forum).

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Photos and text © 2003 by "Darius Aibara"

 <<F3D Skynight.zip>>
Regards

Darius Aibara
TPS Consult

Tel:  020 8256 4090
Fax: 020 8256 4082

www.tpsconsult.co.uk

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