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

[lastvautour]

There are several schemes to be found at Wings Palette. http://wp.scn.ru/en/helpus


I think the centre photo is a fire bomber scheme.

Lou

[Balsabasher]

Lous solution to fitting complex engine nacelles to the wings is a good idea,we have to accept that to precise fit a nacelle to a cambered wing is no easy matter and this way a good portion of the nacelle is in good glueing contact making a bit of filling and plugging easier,if you look closely at the official ID models you see some interesting ideas for their obvious mass assembly techniques including things like nacelle to wing mating,I have an official  KB-50 done in a similar way.

Lou your pictorials are always interesting to see and study,you cannot beat these in between build shots to help both newbies and oldies to our hobby alike.
Barry.

[lastvautour]

Thanks Barry. The tip tank fins are attached and need sanding and priming before carrying on any further. I expect to have her ready for the paint shop before the weekend.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Ran out of red primer and had to switch to grey. Same difference. The fuselage will be Light Ghost Grey and the bottom white as per late 50s USN colour schemes.

Lou

[lastvautour]

#@%&*%$#@&^^ etc etc. Shook my white primer and approached the paint both while still shaking. Started to spray and droplets came flying out pooling on the wing. Urggggg. I wipe it off and let it sit for a couple of hours and then lightly sanded. I gave the can another good shake did a test run on the side of the of my spray booth. The nozzle clogged up. I cleaned it and it clogged again. I took another nozzle and it worked OK. I then placed the offending nozzle on another can, and it worked OK. What gives. Replaced the original nozzle and it work OK during a test. Approached the Savage sprayed the primer onto the model. A light mist came out and I quit before I really got mad and threw the can through the window. I will attempt to apply Model Master White using my air brush. Not my day in the paint shop!!

Lou

[Balsabasher]

Lou I have had similar problems with those pesky nozzles,get a bad one and they really play up.
Barry.

[lastvautour]

Finally got the white primer to work for me. Now a bit of research to confirm FS16440 being the proper shade of grey for that era.

LOu

[dave_t]

The AJ-1 is quickly becoming one of my favorite planes (the list keeps getting longer). Nice work.

[Mark Braunlich]

I love those prop swirlies Lou.  Yes, I made up that word for your prop disks. 

Mark

[lastvautour]

Thanks Dave and Mark.

Dave, my list is way bigger than my capacity to complete.
Mark, the honours goes to Ken for showing them on his B-25.

Lou

[lastvautour]

The gloss gull grey appears to have gone on successfully. Time will tell. I used "Frog Tape" again. I have two half bottles of enamel gull grey, so I used it up on Savage. Despite it being bad for the environment, I find that Model Master enamels go on easier than acrylic.

[lastvautour]

The North American AJ-1 Savage is completed. I used Duplicolour primers and Model Master paints. The decals are the best I have produced to date and they went on easily.
The colour scheme is from Wings Palette and represents a savage flying from CVA-41 USS Midway.  

http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=5918
I really enjoyed making this one.

Lou
PS. The props were borrowed from the 1/72 scale Yukon build.

[Mark Braunlich]

Very nice Lou!  Are the black lines on the wing painted on or decals?

Very best regards,
Mark

[dave_t]

Have you always used Duplicolor primer or is that something new? Is it worth trying?

[lastvautour]

Thank you Mark. The lines are home made decals.
Dave, the Duplicolour primer is thicker than the usual and covers fine scratches better. It was mentioned by someone else and I purchased some to try it. It works better than my regular primer and comes in oxide, dark grey and white.

Lou