Post War Era North American AJ-1 Savage .................(Completed 19 Jun 2011)

[lastvautour]

The original 1/144 scale version was scraped in favour of this 1/72 project. The nacelles are attached to the wings and the horizontal plane is glued to the fuselage. More photos to follow.

Lou
1st Attachment 1/144
2nd Attachment 1/72

[dave_t]

I keep a bottle of lighter fluid next to my models too.

Very cool subject, by the way.

[Oceaneer99]

I just thought the lighter fluid was for the realistic flames!  I finally bought a bunch of small dropper bottles for various solvents that I use at my workbench: water, lacquer thinner, alcohol, acetone, acrylic paint thinner, etc.  I use the lacquer thinner to thin out my glazing putty when that starts to harden in the tube.

[dave_t]

I really do have lighter fluid in the shop, just haven't found a use for it yet.

[lastvautour]

I use it to clean my brushes after using enamel paints. It works to thin the paint also. I can't stand the smell of turpentine. Here are two new pictures of the lighter fluid container.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Progress shots.

[Balsabasher]

A very attractive subject Lou.
Barry.

[lastvautour]

Thank you Barry. It is moving along nicely. The glue is now drying on the last major components before final putty, sanding and paint.

Lou

[cliff strachan]

Lou, I'm intrigued by your detailed shot and method of fitting your engines. Very interesting. Represents a lot of planning.
Cliff.

[Mark Braunlich]

This is very interesting Lou.  Thanks for posting your build as I'm learning a lot from these photos.

Mark

PS, I have good D.H.82C drawings from old Model Airplane News.  Do you want them?

[dave_t]

What made you want to build the AJ-1?

[lastvautour]

Mark, yes please.
Dave, the Savage is one of the aircraft in the recognition journal that was given to me in the late 1950. It always intrigued me but I was reluctant to build it until now. I would also like to do the IL-28 someday.

[lastvautour]

I changed the date in the above post to indicate it had been the 1950s. I think perhaps late 1958. Regardless, I have kept this treasure close to me for the last 53 years. The Savage is out of the primer shop and needs just a few spots of putty and some light sanding before the paint shop. I prefer the dark blue finish, however I don't have any white lettering and home made decals are not great when it comes to white lettering. I have yet to figure out Jeff's decal system.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Heavens to Betsy, I forgot the tip thank fins. Back to the production line before the paint shop.

Lou

[dave_t]

I have seen the Savage in light gray too, with a whitish underside.