Well, I finally finished the Banshee... Well, I'm calling it finished, anyhow. I didn't do any weathering or accenting the panel lines or anything like that. I finally got the decals on and just called it done. It's definitely a six-footer -- a model that's best viewed from six feet away.

 The red decals around the canopy weren't put on close enough to the windscreen, so the rest of the canopy decals didn't fit -- in fact, the decals for the front of the canopy didn't fit at all, anyhow! So I left them off.

I guess the other paint scheme (grey over white) would have been easier -- fewer decals. But, all in all, I had fun building this one.

Aircraft models drive me nuts. With a tank, I build it and then paint it. Simple. But with a plane, I build the cockpit then paint the cockpit. I build the engine (I'm working on an F3F-1) then I paint the engine. And then, since I'm working on a bi-plane, I pre-paint the wings before I stick 'em on the plane, etc. etc. It's all way to complicated.

I don't enjoy painting as much as building so I have to psyche myself up to paint. Then I have to get back in a frame of mind to build. I find myself letting the project sit for weeks between spurts of work. I even started a 1/72 Hummer just to get back to basics, but I got caught up in painting the the interior and the undercarriage and stuff all separately. I really just want to build -- and then paint.

So I grabbed an Academy F2H-3/-4 Banshee off the shelf for an experiment. What would happen if I just build a plane and then paint it? I started with the cockpit. I ended up painting it, but it wasn't so bad because I didn't paint anything else. I kept building other stuff as the paint dried. I even put the wheels and antenna bits on.

So far, so good. With the entire plane built, I went to paint it. I chose the all-Dark Sea Blue color scheme so I figured I'd just use a spray can. I will never use a spray can again. I used waaaay too much paint and got a lot of bubbling and drips. Aiyaaaah!

So I sanded the bad spots down and sprayed it again with a lighter touch. Other than some orange peel effect, it turned out OK. Except that I broke one of the landing gear struts. But still, I'm enjoying the process much more than building and painting sub-assemblies separately. If I can get this thing looking decent, I've got myself a new system.

My self-ranking system on aircraft modeling skills is based on the book 'Building and Displaying Scale Model Aircraft with Paul Boyer'. Level 1 is successfully building a snap-together model. Level 2 is successfully completing a basic out-of-the-box aircraft build. The sad thing is, I'm still having trouble with level 2. I'll put up some pics later. Wish me luck.

I'm not happy with the way this one turned out, but I did finish it without a major disaster. I'm 2 and 2 on planes now.

I tinted the canopy with Tamiya Smoke mixed with a little Clear Yellow. It would have looked good if I hadn't gotten impatient and sprayed so much that the paint pooled at the top of the canopy.

I had some problems masking around the jet intake. I really should have painted it before installing it, but then I'd be complaining about the poor fit and being unable to fix it without screwing up the paint job. Speaking of which, the little trick of using black artist pastel to do the pre-shading around all the panel lines worked great. I'll definitely use that technique on smaller scale models in the future.

I used Testor's metallizers for the exhaust and Model Master paints for the body and really thought they were great. Another place where my impatience messed things up was when I unmasked the canopy and exhaust, just to see how it all looked. I didn't do so good a job remasking them and ended up with a big step around the exhaust after the gloss and then flat clear coats. Aiyaaah!

After the first gloss clear coat, I applied the decals, which went down fine. I followed that with another gloss coat and then a sludge wash in the panel lines. That was interesting because it really showed off every spot where I had sanded away the panel lines and then skipped rescribing them. I either need to stop obliterating the panel lines, or learn to rescribe them. Both, I guess.

After sealing everything with a final shot of Testor's Dullcote I did an oil wash on the landing gear, doors and bays (a little too heavy, in retrospect) and attached the gear and antennas.

Hasegawa's F-16C was more annoying to build than I thought it would be, but I did finish it which -- given my record -- says something. I don't know what. But now I have a pretty cool lookin' Singaporean fighter in my display case.

I started painting some crew for my British Firefly (1/48 from Tamiya) and the Australian M113 "Fitter" (1/35 from Dragon) using the technique that Sifu showed me. I gave them all a coat of Tamiya Flat Black and then dry brushed them with Tamiya White. This is a simple way to get a good pre-shade for the figures.

I was disappointed with the Tamiya acrylics for dry brushing. I usually use Andrea Miniatures Ochre to dry brush my armor models and it goes on smooth, but the Tamiya White -- even after thinning it a little with Tamiya's thinner -- was pretty splotchy. I really only got an acceptable result on the last of the three crew members (the bloke on the left) and I'm still not happy with it.

I'm going to have to find an Andrea Miniatures dealer before I do any more figures, I think.

I smoothed out the gritty paint job using some polishing paper -- 1,300 grit, I believe -- and gave the Firefly a coat of Future in preparation for the decals.

The decals were thick. Even after an application of Mr. Mark Softer they stood out from the tank's surface. Me, being me, I just shrugged it off and hoped another coat of Future would blend everything in. It didn't -- and since I didn't bother to check the decals for bubbles, I sealed in some bubbly decals. Aiyaaah!

I know Sifu will be disappointed that I didn't go back and fix it (he's a perfectionist) but life is short and my stack of unbuilt models is large.

So I went ahead and gave the Firefly a wash with brown/black oil paints, which made the whole thing a bit too dark, I think. I need to remember to start with a lighter shade of the base color. It's not too bad, though. Then I did a pin wash with black/brown oils and also added some vertical streaks.

I went too heavy with the pin wash. I guess everything just looked so dark already that I went too far trying to make the shadows stand out. A dry brushing with Tamiya Buff brought out the highlights -- but, again, I was pretty heavy handed. I need to be more patient and work with a lighter touch -- which I tell myself every time I get to this stage.

I don't know why I painted the tracks black. I guess I was just following Tamiya's instructions without thinking, so I went back and did a rust-colored wash on the tracks before breaking out the airbrush and dusting the bottom hull with Tamiya Flat Earth.

Then it was time to get this thing really dirty. I'm getting better with the weathering chalks, I think. Unlike the King Tiger, where I used way too much "dirt" everywhere, this time I only used way too much in the right places -- around the tracks, running gear hull sides and places where dirt would normally accumulate. It's still too much, but I'm getting better.

After burnishing the tracks and some of the hull and turret corners with graphite, I gave the tracks a quick drybrush with silver and black where appropriate and called it done. I picked up Tamiya's 1/48 British Infantry set which includes some tank crew, so I'll add them and some radio antennas when I get around to it.

I loved building this one. It was fun and went together quickly. I'm looking forward to building Tamiya's M26 Pershing -- and I just saw the 1/48 Crusader in the store. Mmm... Even though I'm not much of a WWII modeler, that's next on the "must buy" list, I think. I just love these little kits.