Eric, she looks good.

It's been almost two years since the release of this Airfix kit, so would have to brush up on what has been said about this kit.   Just quickly found that the trim tab on the rudder is not scribed on one side:

Easiest fix would be just to cut the tab out and replace with some plastic card.  Also the hinge at the top should be removed on the starboard side.

There was also some talk about two panel lines below the cockpit should really be rows of rivets.

 

regards,

Jack

Gamera: Yea, the P-40 and F4F/FM2 were in service throughout the war, although production of P40s halted in late 44. The P39 also served throughout, although in other people's air forces. The Rooskies famously found a good role for it in the low altitude air war in the Ost. Free French and "our" Italians had P-39 squadrons. When I wrote Fire in the Sky I stumbled on a very neat document published in an obscure aviation journal. In 1944 Lockheed did an internal study about the production of the P-38. They concluded that the development of the P-38, began in earnest in 1939, had put a big hole in Lockheed finances. When the war in Europe began the French and Brits thought they could convert the Lockheed Electra air liner into a light scout bomber which the RAF called the Hudson. The allies would buy every Hudson Lockheed could produce. Lockheed decided to make a profit and dedicated their limited facilities to Hudson production and put the Atlanta (what the US would have called the 38 - the Brits called it Lightning: didn't matter though - US pilots that I talked to always called it the "38" just as I never heard Warhawk or, worst of all, SkyTrain: it was "P-40" and "C-47 or Goony") on the backburner and worked on the plane's many bugs. Lockheed concluded that had they told the RAF they'd have to do with way fewer Hudsons in 1940, and put full effort into getting the 38 into production it would have been appearing in US squadrons a full year earlier - that would be April 1942. Bad business too. The 38 was costly to the USAAF because of its twin engines so profits were high and Lockheed ended up selling a lot of them. (Production stopped just before war's end. The P-38L was a wonderful plane - Germans must have thought we were piling on by late 44 as the 38 flying from Europe had the same effective range as the Mustang and were widely used. Postwar production wasn't considered because a twin engine plane had so much extra maintenance) I'm sure the Japanese were glad Lockheed made Hudsons or they would have been facing Army 38s on Guadalcanal. And with a year's extra production something like the P38L could have been escorting B-17s well into Germany by mid-43. Eric

Eric, nice work on the P-40 and some great info, thank you.

I am about to start on the Phantom, hopefully 3rd lucky in this GB and it goes together with the issues of the otehr 2 builds.

And in case you were woundering, i have asked one of the guys from the model club if he can help with the Apache canopy. He does a lot of reviews on Brit Modeller so i am hopeing he can get one through his contacts. I won't see him until Oct so will have to wait until then.

Ok, a week (or two) later than I'd hoped to, but I finally got the 1/48 Airfix Hurricane into paint. Isn't that always the way?

This kit's fit issues at the leading edges of the wings meant I took off a decent amount of plastic. Not enough to notice, but enough to make the landing light lenses stand proud. So I installed them, then sanded them down to fit th eprofile of the wing, then polished them and masked them.

I used to be terrified of sanding clear parts, but it's actually really easy, and you can buff out the scrathces really well. Unfortunately no pics, so you'll have to see it on the final build.

So that's it all assembled and primered. It's not perfect, as the front wing root and cowl join is less than ideal, but fixing it would be a nightmare, and it's not too noticeable.

I started paintwork with Model Master Azure. And honestly, I hated working with the paint. I think I'm going to trash my remaining enamels after this build. I've just gotten too spoiled off Tamiya, Gunze and Mr. Paint.

I shot the top colors with Gunze Dark Earth and Middle Stone. I masked the blue but shot the rest freehand. For colors, I was going off a Berna Decals color guide, but it only has the left-hand side on it. For the right, I hunted and hunted for a right hand color guide but couldn't find a pic of the particular aircraft or guide, so I based it on another French plane I found in the same scheme.

I remember when I started modeling again, I thought the desert scheme looked stupid, and figured I'd never build one. But here I am building two in this group build - this Hurricane and my 1/72 Spitfire - and one of my favorite finishes of all time is a 1/48 Spitfire in US markings in this scheme. Who would have thought?

This thing is far from finished, as now it's time to clear it, decal it, and then get to weathering.

-BD-

Looks fantastic to me BD. 

That look real god BD. I must admit i do quite like that scheme.

Ok, confession time. I did start the phantom just over a week ago and yesterday i posted the first update in my WiP thread. Only i completly forgot about posted in the GB i had it entered, you know, the GB i am hosting. OPPPS

So, best do that now then. To start off, here is the kit, released at the start of this year. Which is my first new tooled Airfix kit.

I will be putting it on a base from Coastal kits, which replicates a section of the deck of HMS Ark Royal. I'll also be useing a deck tractor from F4 models.

And before the build pics, a couple to show anyone who may be thinking about getting this kit of what they have to look forward to. You can see from the decals that the kit does include one or two stencils.

But no problem, there is a nice handy location guide.

Easy peasy.

Now for the build, pit first of course. Pit is not bad OOB, with decals for instrument panels. But of course i had to enhance it with some Eduard PE. Unfortunatly i neglected to take builds while putting it together. But one nice feature is that each seat is in 3 parts, one of which is the cushions so these can be painted seperatly before fitting them into the seat.

Also got the air intakes installed into the fuselage halves. One nice touch is the length of the intakes.

The intake pipes are each made up of 2 pieces with a 3rd being fitted to the outside after the pipes are in. You can see that this pieces joins at some very fine recessed rivet detail. To that end i added this parts earlier than the instructions indicate so i could apply the glue to the inside.

With the cockpit fitted i got the fuselage halves together and these joined up well. But you can see that the fuselage halves do not join up along the top, instead there is a seperate piece which fits in there, i am woundering if this indicates other variants to follow. But the fit of this part was not perfect, it did need to clamping.

And inside with the induction fans, which here has come away on one side and was fixed after, along the the internal part of the exhausts.

And then to fited the lower portion of the fuselage which includes part of the lower wings. Again, there were fit issues. I always worry when i have a problem with fit woundering if its somthing i have done or the kit, especially when i can't find anyone else with the same issue.But after checking a checking i could see what was stopping the lower portion going into place at the front and this needed clamping as well.

There is a slight step where the lower setion joins just behind the intakes, i thought i had a close up but seem to have deleated it. Again, not sure what the issue is. There is some engraved detail tehre and its not huge, and it is underneath, so i plan to do a bit of sanding without removing the detail and trying not to creat a curve.

Thats it for now. A bit of sanding and seam sorting to follow.

Holy cow that looks like an excellent kit Bish. What a set of decals, man. Great work on the pit.

These are my next 2 projects in line.  I should be done them both by the end of the build date.

Interested to see how the Airfix Spit builds up. I would like to update my Tamiya spit I built years ago.

Griffin25

Holy cow that looks like an excellent kit Bish. What a set of decals, man. Great work on the pit.

 

Cheers Griffin, its all starting to come together now.

Cdn Colin

These are my next 2 projects in line.  I should be done them both by the end of the build date.

 

Will get those added to the roster Colin.

Looking good Bish, I was wondering how well it would go together.

Wow, the decals! that's enough to keep you busy for a while.

Cheers Steve. There are a few fit issues, but from what i can see on reviews, i think its soimthing i have done rather than the kit.

Ye, they will a bit.

Oh that looks like a fantastic kit Bish, love it when they actually provide the intake trunking etc so it's not just big gaping holes behind the intakes. And really nice work on the cockpit there. I don't envy you all those stencils though, another thing I prefer armour over aircraft for. 

Colin: Looks like a nice pair there. 

Gamera

Oh that looks like a fantastic kit Bish, love it when they actually provide the intake trunking etc so it's not just big gaping holes behind the intakes. And really nice work on the cockpit there. I don't envy you all those stencils though, another thing I prefer armour over aircraft for. 

Colin: Looks like a nice pair there. 

 

I am pretty impressed with the intakes. And there a lot of nice features such as several options, in flight, ready for take off, wings folded, nose folded. It does not however include crew figures so this would have to be found for the in flight and take off options.

Its dffinetly been well thought out. And yes, armour certainly does have an advantage when it comes to decals. And modern aircraft do seem to like having a lot of stencils.

Just a quick update. Got the construction finished minus the wing tips which i am putting in the folded position so have left off while i get the final bit done and everything else will be painted before fiting.

I wanted to get the rear bare metal areas painted first. So after getting some tips from PJ, i primed the rear and then added a couple of thin coats of Alaclad Aluminium.

And that will be it for now. The better half and i and off to Italy on Mon, visiting the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum and climbing Vesuvius. So i'll be able to mask and finish off the bare metal next weekend and then geting to the scheme.

Looks good! Last F-4 I built I went the same way, it's much easier to paint the NM areas and then mask them instead of the other way around.

 

Good luck and have a fun and safe holiday!

Thanks G. yep, had a nice break, just got back this evening so will be getting back to the Phantom soon.

Excellent build Bish, the last F4 I built was over 30 years ago... Keep up the stellar work. Damian

Cheers Damian, i plan on getting right back to it and hopfully will be ready for painting by the end of the weekend.

I havent done much on my build recntly, new job and life in general.

But should be able to do updates soon...

I've really been enjoying the Defiant.  So much so that I haven't taken any pictures!  I was going to get a shot before closing the fusealage up but go too excited and closed it up without taking the picture.  

Detail and fit are excellent.  There are some unique rectangles that fit inside the wings to give them shape that i appreciated.  There are some sink holes in some of the bulkier parts, like the wheel hubs and the ends of the landing gear struts.  Seatbelts would have been nice.

 

Colin, i know that feeling well. I often get to a certain stage of a build and realised i should have taken pics before getting there. Glad your enjoying it and looking forward to some pics when you can.

damouav

I havent done much on my build recntly, new job and life in general.

But should be able to do updates soon...

 

Life does have a habit of getting in the way, but lookinbg forward to those updates.

I have now finished the bare metal areas, and i did remember to take some pics. Just got to mask off tonight and can start on the scheme.

Colin: Sounds good! I know what you mean, I've gotten in the goove before to the point I forget to take any photos too. 

Bish: Hope the holiday went well, I really need to get over and visit Italy someday myself. Looking forward to more work on the F-4.

Been popping in to see the work in here, and it has been exceptional.  So, I thought I should join in.  Received this not too long ago:

IMG_E0863 by Dwayne Munk, on Flickr

I am in the last stages of a kit for the Pride of the Luftwaffe GB, and this will be my next project.  Planning to do the box art New Zealand Air Force version.

Cheers Bish, with your kind permission, I would like to add this kit to the GB.

Ohhhhhhhh, cool Dwayne love that Buffalo!

Hi,

I'm looking forward to seeing your Buffalo build too. 

PF

Nice subject Dwayne, glad to have you on board.