Construction in the freezer (F-102, Eurofighter, Gamma)

So, it is one of the coldest days of the winter, with ice on the streets. The city is basically shut down. Even the trash trucks aren’t running. So what happens? The furnace decides to go belly up. Never a dull moment here in 72 Land.

It is not easy to use fine motor skills when your fingers are numb and the house indoor temps are around 50 degrees F. Still, I was able to do some work on the three kits that have just entered the construction queue.

The first was the relatively new Northrop Gamma from Frrom/Azur. So far construction has been trouble free. The cockpit is painted and installed, and the fuselage is together. I am in the process of getting the wings and horizontal tail attached. I’ve decided that in the absence of a masking set, I will fill the passenger compartment windows with Kristal Kleer. The cockpit canopy will be masked freehand.

Next comes the first of the Italian special markings Eurofighters. The Italeri kit is not the best version of the Eurofighter (the two main contenders being latest new-tool Revell for price and Hasegawa for fit). But that is where I got the four sets of decals, so at least the first two (there are two kits in this box) will be from Italeri. The cockpit is in and the fuselage together, so the next task will be to finish with the wings and other major airframe construction.

The third is the Meng F-102 as part of the Complete Century Series project. I have already built a Hasegawa F-102, but that is quite an old-tech kit and the Meng is far superior. So far the cockpit is painted up. Next I’ll apply the cockpit decals and then close the fuselage.

Waiting in the wings are the Valom B-45 and the MPM Trent Meteor. The Special Hobby SR-53 and Valom Harrow are in the deeper queue. 

I am also adding the landing gear to the RAF Eurofighter and prepping to do decals on the Arctic Rose DC-3. That is if the water I use for soaking the decals doesn’t form a layer of ice while I’m using it.

Once I get the furnace sorted (to the tune of $3500 – yowtch!) it looks like I’ve got a good spring planned for the 72 Land production lines.