Floatplane/Seaplane Group Build 2012

Thanks, Ordie!

Wonder wire is a thin ceramic wire that is made in my home state of Vermont. It is only available directly from the manufacturer - just call 'em up and let it ring.

PRECISION ENTERPRISES - springfield, VT 802-885-3094

They take credit/debit cards over the phone.

Thanks, JTB!  I may well get me some of that.  I'll take full advantage of following your build through the rigging process, too ...

I really want to join...I just picked up a Revellogram Albatross in 1/72...just have to clean up a few other GB`s 1st. So, sign me up for the Albatross and possibly an old Matchbox He115...been looking for a reason to build that one...lol.

troublemaker66

I really want to join...I just picked up a Revellogram Albatross in 1/72...just have to clean up a few other GB`s 1st. So, sign me up for the Albatross and possibly an old Matchbox He115...been looking for a reason to build that one...lol.

Albatross ... tasty pick   I'll sign you up for that one, and later, if you still want to do the Heinkel, I'll add that one on, too.

Welcome aboard! 

Feel free to grab the badge.

In case you missed it...

cs.finescale.com/.../148610.aspx

cs.finescale.com/.../148610.aspx

JTB,

It looks great, it does. It's just upside down is all ... LOL ...

Hahaa...A minor inconvenience...

JTBuckley

Hahaa...A minor inconvenience...

Yes, it is, really.  Modellers like you, who post a lot of pictures, even of your mistakes, make us all mindful that, though we want to - and strive to - make it right, it is, after all, just for fun that we build models, and we shouldn't be taking it too seriously ...  It's a pleasure to have you on this gb.  Rock on ...

I would like to join in this group build, if I may.  I have a box of Trumpeter's 1:700 scale US Navy OS2U-1.  I need to make them for fitting out models of the USS Wisconsin and the USS Alabama.  Thanks.

checkmateking02

I would like to join in this group build, if I may.  I have a box of Trumpeter's 1:700 scale US Navy OS2U-1.  I need to make them for fitting out models of the USS Wisconsin and the USS Alabama.  Thanks.

checkmateking02 - Welcome aboard!  I am very curious to follow your build on the thread - I think 1:72 is small ...  Feel free to grab the badge.

Ordie

Thanks, Ordie.  1:700 is pretty small; the hardest part is the masking.  I built about 17 Douglas Devastators for the "1942 GB," to fit out my USS Lexington.  It was a challenge.

Below is the requisite photo of the box. 

I am building the USS Wisconsin, BB-64, using the old Fujimi kit.  When I took a look at the observation planes they included, they appeared to be Seakings, not Kingfishers.  Wisky had Kingfishers as shown in the photo below.  This plane is said to be rescuing a downed pilot from USS Shangri-la, CV 38.

Next is a shot of the spures.  There are twelve aircraft in the box.  I need three for Wisky, and, looking ahead, a couple for the USS Alabama--so I'll probably build six and use up the sprues.

Last is a close-up of two of the planes.  First order of business will be detaching them from the sprues and cleaning up the sprue points and mold lines.

Thanks for looking and the opportunity to join the group.

Whoa! Those are tiny. I can't believe they come molded in clear styrene...Any idea why?

I guess so the canopy looks clear.  Several ship model companies are doing their planes this way.  Others still just do a solid casting.  Not sure what I like best.

With these thingies, the first coat of paint I apply is an interior one.

Just in case you can see through the canopy.  

Actually, masking the canopies is the easy masking.  It's the camouflage and demarcations that get tricky, trying to go under the horizontal stabilizers, around the wings, etc..

I used masking tape and MicroMask on the Devastators.  Of course, the MicroMask pulled off paint so there was a lot of brush touch-up.

This time I'm going to try poster tacky as a mask.  A great experiment.

Interesting- I can't wait to see your progress. Personally I have trouble with clear styrene so I'll hopefully learn a thing or two here...

Also, the USS Wisconsin is a beautiful ship- be sure to include a couple build photos of her.

I don't really like the clear styrene.  It's hard to see the imperfections, mold lines, etc.  What I thought I'd do this time is to mask the canopies, paint the interior color--and then clean up the seams and sprue points.  That ought to make them show up better.  We'll see.

As for Wisky, the build is posted over at the "Force of Nature" group build.  The ship is named for the state, but the state was named after the river, and the river is a force of nature after the spring snow melt and a lot of rain.  A few years ago, the river massively flooded at Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids.

I've got the floats assembled, last coat of black on the fueselage, and am starting to pre-shade the inner wing panels with red and yellow enamel washes, (brass wing radiators on the actual plane), and mixed the colors for the tail stripes.  One of the flaws with this model is that the red and blue on the tail are reversed on the decal, so I'm going to paint the tail stripes.

BTW The Arado is looking nice Buckley!

Thank you, sir! This is my first time posting any of my work online and I've appreciated the postitive comments immensely.

As for you.. A biplane, eh? Any rigging involved?

Progress on the Kingfishers.  First a photo of three of them, all cleaned up and ready for masking.  For something so tiny, Trumpeter achieved quite a respectable level of detail.  You can discern the canopy frames pretty well, especially on the rear ones.

These next three shots show how I am masking the canopies.  I used narrow strips of regular old 3-M tape from Walmart and outlined the canopies first.  Usually I trim the excess at this point, but I thought I'd experience this time, and fill in the center with MicroMask, then do the trimming.  I figure the liquid mask will hold the tape in place better.

When the MicroMask gets dried, I'll post a couple of pictures of the results.

Thanks for looking.

And--kudos to the other builders; nice progress on your projects.

M9130 - Looking real good so far.  Your red and yellow washes are creating great patinas on the wings.  Real nice.

checkmateking02 - Man, those are tiny!  Can't wait to see 'em painted up.

JTBuckley, M9130, checkmateking02 -  You guys are making a great "first wave" of builds through this gb.  Your builds are all interesting and off the common track ('exotic' is what I'm driving at there ...).  You gents are making a good opening run for us.  I haven't started mine yet, so I'll be in a future 'build wave' myself, with a Tamiya Rufe, which is a more typical kind of build, to my mind.  I'm really enjoying following along with all three of your builds.

Thanks, Ordie.

Well, near disaster happened.  The cat got among the planes, and knocked four of the six onto the floor before I got the liquid mask on them.  I only found three, so my build is now down to five.

From now on, I keep them where the cats can't go--although they can go a lot of places.

Those Kingfishers look awesome. Good luck on the tiny masking it looks good so far.

I tried my hand at rigging the floats together on my arado.. As I said before -  I won't be using wonder wire as it is too thin and looks out of scale on this huge 1:32 plane. I found some thin metal wire with my scratchbuilding supplies and it looked about right so I gave it a go.

Also-- I didn't drill any holes prior to painting (bonehead move) so while the holes look rough I plan on touching them up with some white glue and paint.

Here's a close up..

Here's a shot of the cockpit of the plane..A couple pieces apparently came off with the masking - I'll figure that out later..For what looks like wooden 'armrests' on the side I stained wooden popsicle sticks and cut them to size. For the 'wooden' backrest in the rear of the cockpit I simulated it with testor's wood paint and raw unber streaks.

this is a better picture...

The reason I was so concerned over the size of the rigging wire was just about every reference photo I had the rigging was thick and prominent and one of the first things I noticed.

Oh, that plane is looking great, JT.  Good job.

JTBuckley

... I tried my hand at rigging the floats together on my arado.. As I said before -  I won't be using wonder wire as it is too thin and looks out of scale on this huge 1:32 plane. I found some thin metal wire with my scratchbuilding supplies and it looked about right so I gave it a go...

Buckley,

By your estimation, how would wonder wire look on a 1:48 and/or 1:72 biplane?  What do you think the best scale would be for a realistic look, re: the diameter of the wire?

Your build is coming along fine - the rear seat cushion looks absolutely real to me, nice and used.  Great look.

Ordie

Greetings,

Getting ready to start my Kingfisher. It's the 1/48 Monogram "high tech" version with PE detail parts, which will be a first for me. I built the original issue of this kit back in the late 60s, but actually picked this one up a few years ago at a model railroad show for 5 bucks. Seeing it on the sale table rekindled my long-ago interest in model planes and, well, here I am.

The kit hadn't been started when I bought it, though it looked like a few pieces had been twisted off the sprues. I sprayed the interior with Tamiya yellow green a while back when I had the airbrush loaded up for something else, but that's all I've done. The decals are toast, of course, not helped by the fact that the box got wet at some point.

Building this one will definitely bring back some of those teenage memories. Looking forward to it.

Good to see it Stoutfella. I built that thing a while ago but with wheels, not floats, in a pre-war scheme.

By the looks of the painting on the box, the Kingfisher appears to be from the USS Wisconsin ca. 1945, Stoutfella--unit marking is for VO-9.  Too bad the decals are a lost cause.  Wish they made the little Donald Duck tail emblem about ten times smaller.  I'm looking forward to seeing your build.