Project Thunderbolt - Update 1

Enough Nazi bullshit for the time being. It's time for some updates about my Thunderbolt.

I've actually been making a lot of progress on it. I just haven't had much time to share.

Here are some shots of the repair work I had to do.

Some of the parts had some filing and shaving done at a time prior to my ownership. It was kinda sloppy, so I had some work to do. Just some minor filling and sanding here and there. You can also see where I drilled a hole for my mounting rod.


The thing in the middle is one of the flaps from the wings. The flaps were just a bit too small for the wing - probably due to shrinkage when the part was cast. In order to make it fit, I had to cut of the hinges. The flap and the door to it's right are parts I had to repair to my own mistakes when i was being a bit hamfisted.

Handy hint: take you're goddamn time.

For the most part, I used green stuff and some color shapers to fix dings and scratches. But on the end of the fuselage, there was considerable damage that would eventually sit flush against another piece. For this I used some Milliput I had left over from my slate bases. Milliput is a little hard to get and even more expensive than green stuff. But, it drys harder and is sandable.

This is a shot of the reinforcement I added to my mounting hole. Since I'm going to be playing with this model, I wanted it to be extra sturdy. The metal thing is some pipe fitting piece I picked up at a hardware store.

Here's some detail of the landing flap modifications I'm making. The flaps didn't have a single dimension that fit the wing, so I really had to play with 'em. Here you can see me adding some plastic strips to raise the flaps to be flush with the under-surface of the wing.

Speaking of adding spacers, here's a shot of some sprue chunks I glued onto the fusalage to get the landing gear doors to sit right. It turns out they're shipped ready to be build in a down position. Some modification was necessary.


Lastly, some shots of the construction. This is about as far as I've gotten. I've started painting some of the details and such - the engine hoses and the pilot. Overall, asembly took a lot longer than I had anticipated. The model had a ton of gaps and damage to repair and green stuff takes 24 hours to cure.

Nest stop is painting and final assembly.