Hello all, I'm moving at lightspeed now, for better or worse!!!

Rivets:

After two intense 10 hour days of non stop riveting, I have a very realistic airplane - and bloodshot eyes! I was shooting for doing a rivet every second, and so I probably averaged a rivet every two seconds if you include refilling, unclogging, positioning etc..... So that brings me to upwards of 30 thousand rivets! If you want to experience the process which is anything but riveting, just set [link=http://www.stef.com/Albatrosspics/update 8_20_07/riveting.mov]this[/link] movie clip to loop and watch all day long!



Grooves:

I used a combination of masking tape and striping tape to create my lines. I found that the stripe tape adhesive was so strong it was lifting some of my delicate finishwork. I think my poor quality spray can primer is the culprit. In any case I just decided to leave my hatch lines as positive (sticking out) and the masking tape access panel lines as negative (grooves) I figure once you are a few feet away its hard to read the difference anyway.



Here she is all ready for priming



Priming:

I had almost disastrous results with this low quality spray can primer I'm using. I ran out of the automotive lacquer primer and this stuff comes out of the can quite unpredictably. However I found that after a pass with a dry sponge to remove rough areas the end result was acceptable. I figure it will just add to the rough antique aircraft look anyway (At least that is what I am telling myself) Lesson learned, don't skimp on materials in the final hour!! My primer coat is just light enough to hide my notes/scribbles and to read the masked grooves when the tape is removed.



Aluminum color applied:

I'm excited, she is looking good! Now on to yellow, black, silver, decals, weathering, final assembly, testing, crating for transport to America..... etc... etc...






'Till next time..... -stef