Israeli Lockheed Lodestar C-60

Finally....And no weathering. May add some dust later. 

Alignment on engines, struts, nacelles, eveything on this kit a chore. 

She WAS a pretty plane 

Opening the door was not easy kit panel lines are for rounded top Hudson style door - I added a handle and hinges at the last minute with.020 guage music wire  

I think the engines came out so-so, added some details to the props 

THAT gear assembly, and THOSE Nacelles will make you a want to bin this whole thing from time to time, but patience rewarded. Much of the gear assembly is also steel wire. Stronger but very time consuming. 

Stumbled upon afresh stock of Tamiya Rubber Black for the deicer boots. Tough color to find here in the Colonies. 

 

 

 

 

Weird- put gear in very early  

 

 

 

 

 

Big subs coming along. Sand, sand. sand. 

LOTS of filler needed on both nacelles 

Skinny wing meets FAT wing root. 

Skinny wings.....watch out for FAT Wing roots at fuselage... 

Almost got'em round.... Just a bit more 

The fix? Make the wing thicker. Carefully. Darn near split them both open! 

Cockpit glazing needs shimming at top, fit to nose is very good. Just waiting on my KV Mask set all the way from Kiev now! The internet IS good for some cool stuff,yes? 

Now it's workable.... Both wings epoxied on, fit is not awful now.  

KV Masks - very nice,bought two sets, one for interior. 

Glazing on, slight gap to fill. Looks like I let some sanding dust get inside! gotta get the vacuum out..... 

Kit included PE trailing edge on, challenging to get straight - go slow!  

PE fit is good, got a bit of super glue to clean up. Exhaust ducting on engine nacelles is not a good fit, requires slow work and tape. Kit has no exhaust pipes to speak of, will add some brass tube shortly. 

Sanded entire airframe to 4000. (yikes) Masked, wiped down, finally ready for primer 

THOSE nacelles.......lots time, lots of filler and sanding. The cowlings are good, but the engines require sanding to get them to sit evenly inside the cowlings. 

Hardest parts to blend. As you can see, I just went ahead and cut the landing gear off before I broke them off while sanding. They will get metal reinforcing rods inserted when reassembled. 

And yay! Finally time to do some painting! 

Drilling out props and domes for aluminum shaft...props needed a lot of clean up.  

Dome and shaft on, time to add some lost detail back, most notably lost were the badly misaligned blade collars. 

Blade collars are wraps of 1mm Tamiya tape, sealed, rod stock added. 

Belly antenna farm. Inexact locations shown in instructions, went by a few blurry old photos of in-service aircraft. All were drilled with a.080 bit to accept rigging later.... 

Getting there, time for decal prep coat. 

Masking deicer boots. 

More deicer boots...