75th Anniversary of 1941 Group Build (World at War)

CMK02,

Yeah, I've seen that site and there are those who don't completely agree with the conclusions printed there.  But what else is new? 

Anyway, work continues on the P-40.

Cockpit is being painted, along with the pilot.  The exhausts have been painted black, and I will give them a nice wash of rust before inserting them.  Started on the instrument panels, such as they are.  The metallic stuff beside the pilot is aluminum duct tape.  I'll cut a strip of it to use to fashion some seat belts, then paint it.

As I said, this must be an AVG bird, though what "ZhongShan" is I have no clue.

Meanwhile, I've been looking at Witold Jaworski's 3D P-40B model for reference.  Easier to see if you can rotate the model and see things from a different perspective. 

If you know how to use the Blender 3D program, you might download the model and take a look.  The program and the model are free. 

http://airplanes3d.net/index_e.html

Thanks for looking!

Gary

Thanks, CMK02!  I'm trying!

And after a bit of thought, I may go back to that RAF 403 Squadron scheme.  It will add a whole lot more masking to my task, but I think it will look "spiffy". 

Here you can see a version of it (though I will probably do my own color choices for some of this, and I'll give reasons for doing so as I progress).

Thanks!

Gary

Things are progressing with the P-40B (Tomahawk II).   I have the cockpit, such as it is, painted; the exhausts glued in and painted; the fuselage is together, though I still need to go over the seams for some fill and sanding.  Work is being done on the wing wheel-wells by cutting out some cardboard fillers to go inside.  I need to do the wheel-bay as shown in BrandonK's WIP thread here:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/169117.aspx

Mine will not be as elaborate as Brandon's, but I'll show something inside rather than the bare plastic that's there now.  I'm wondering if I should do the canvas covers rather than the bare metal well?  Not sure how the British handled that one.

Meanwhile, I'm replacing the kit provided pilot with one from the Monogram Mosquito.  The "American" pilot looks like he's seven feet tall next to the British one.  Maybe so!

A shot of the instrument panel, which is totally wrong for this P-40, though it does resemble later versions.  Needs some touch up work.

Finally, I cut the kit cooling flaps off of the fuselage and will be making my own.  I've also installed some radiators inside to help cover up how blank it is on the inside.  Not sure what color these were.  Maybe Zinc Chromate Yellow instead of interior green.  We'll see before I close her up.

That's it for now.  Thanks for looking!

Gary

PS> One other image of the 3d model shows the flaps and how the fuselage is formed underneath them.  May need to get out the saw for this.

I hope everyone is settling into the new year well, and the smell of glue and paint is in the air (unless you're using acrylics).

Thought I'd get started showing my so-far miniscule progress.  The old Airfix Blenheim is kind of "sow's ear" sort of kit.  Test-fitting showed that the side fuselage windows were going to be a problem--especially the port side, so I thought I'd start with them, and if I couldn't get them to work, I could move on to something else without too much waste of time.

There was a kind of "shelf" around the windows that looked like it should attach to the fuselage so the window itself could protrude through.  Naturally, the shelf wasn't deep enough to allow this, so I filed and sanded away the shelf so the window could be attached directly to the frame.

Here are the windows, filed down to the frame size.

And they are supposed to fit into the little openings just above and forward of the wing roots.

In order to have time to move them into place, I used Testors orange tube cement on the bottom edge of each window and maneuvered them into place.

The next step will be attach them permanently with superglue, then sand around the windows to blend everything in.  It looks like Airfix molded a solid frame line around each window, which I'm guessing is supposed to distinguish the clear part of the windown from the frame.

That's it, and:

Be seeing you.

Thanks, CMK02!  I was beginning to feel kinda lonely in here. 

Good work on the side windows.  It seems as if once a mold ages, the things that used to be there to help position a part now become more of a hinderance than an asset.  I had to cut a couple of the locating pins off the cowling for the P-40 for that reason.

Gary

Some nice work there Gary. Thats an interesting site as well, i do hope he adds some more to it.

Check, got to love those old Airfix kits. Looks like your getting a grip of it.

Bish

Some nice work there Gary. Thats an interesting site as well, i do hope he adds some more to it.

Thanks, Bish!

You mean Witold Jaworski's site, I take it.  Yes, I was glad he had a copy of the P-40B for Blender as I've been learning Blender for 3d work myself.  I can actually load the model up, hide sections and move them about to see what's underneath.  I suppose I could also print out sections or part plans if I really needed them.  I'm not into anything that elaborate yet! 

Gary

CMK02,

Bummer!  Perhaps you can wait until the fuselage is together, sanded and painted?  It looks like you could fit them in through the canopy opening.  Don't know if anything will be in the way as I have no idea of the cockpit layout.

Gary

Here is the result of fiddling with the canopy on Airfix's old-mold Blenheim:

It's atrocious and awful and just--bad!  I have no idea how those gaps could be filled around the canopy and windows, and still leave a presentable appearance.   

With Airfix's new mold of the Blenheim, I don't think I want to waste any time trying to make a silk purse out of this.  So I'll wait till the newer one becomes available again.  Both Squadron and Hannant's say they'll get them in.

I've placed an order with Hannant's for Airfix's new P-40's and Kits-world's Flying Tiger decal sheet.  I'll get back to the Blenheim when I can get the new one.

Looks like it's you, Gary, and me and Dupont paint in 1941.

Now that don't lok good. I hate gaps in canopies and those are the worst. This is one reason i stopped buying Airfix. I don't blame you for stopping this now and waiting on a new one. On Hannats it seems they have had the new one but are awaiting more. these new Airfix kits seem to be flying off the shelf. I see Sprue Brothers are out of stock as well.

CMK02,

That is a rather bad fit.  In order to fix it, you would have to break out the plasticard stock and cut out the bad frame to make a new one to go around the canopy. In the end, maybe not worth it.  Too bad!

OTOH, the new Airfix P-40 should be a much better fit.  I didn't know they had released it yet.  I did see the Airfix JU-87B 1/72nd version though.

Guess that means I'll be plugging along alone for awhile.  Been filling and sanding on the fuselage, and started on the wing wheel wells.  Nothing worth posting about yet.

Gary

GAF

CMK02,

That is a rather bad fit.  In order to fix it, you would have to break out the plasticard stock and cut out the bad frame to make a new one to go around the canopy. In the end, maybe not worth it.  Too bad!

OTOH, the new Airfix P-40 should be a much better fit.  I didn't know they had released it yet.  I did see the Airfix JU-87B 1/72nd version though.

Guess that means I'll be plugging along alone for awhile.  Been filling and sanding on the fuselage, and started on the wing wheel wells.  Nothing worth posting about yet.

Gary

 

has the Stuka been released yet. I have had it on back order with hannants for months. It was supposed to have come out in Dec, but Hannants still don't have any.

Sprue Brothers lists the Ju-87B-1 as having arrived Jan. 7, along with the Shackleton, Lightning, and 1/24th scale FB VI Mossie.  It also says they're out of stock on the Stuka!  Guess it was pretty popular.

The Shackleton and Lightning seem to be in stock, however.

Gary

Oh, and the 1/24th scale Mossie is in stock.  At $140 dollars, it had better have engines that run on gasoline! 

The old-mold Stuka wasn't too bad. Was the "B-1" variant still being used in 1941?

CMK02,

I do know the Italians were supplied B-1s and they were using them up to 1942.

Gary

For the Panzer IV I'll be building, I decided to practice airbrushing the scheme on a old Tamiya Panzer II. Starting with a base coat of Tamiya XF-63 Germen Grey, then running tape down the center to divide the two scheme's. First is a light XF-60 Dark Yellow over the germen grey, the other side is a more heavy amount to cover most of the germen grey. I think it turned out ok.

It makes for a very visually interesting paint scheme, Dan.  Which one of them are you inclined toward?

The new Airfix Stuka arrived yesterday and it looks a really nice kit with some very nice detail. And ye, they were still being used into 41.

Interesting test Dan. Which finish are you thinking of going for.

Bish

The new Airfix Stuka arrived yesterday and it looks a really nice kit with some very nice detail. And ye, they were still being used into 41.

 

I had mine on Pre order with Hanants, but they only got them in at the start of the week. So i imagine it won't be long until they wing there way ove rthe water. I would thing Airfix are having a hard time keeping up with orders.

Checkmate...I got the new, gorgeous 1/72 HE111 P2 from Airfix for Xmas and she's decked out for a 1940 scheme...so, reading through the first page, I see you've re-opened the 39/40 build, so, please allow me to get in on this with this pretty Luftwaffe bird....got a big build going with an aircraft carrier atm, so, I won't get to the 111 for a bit. 

I also got the new 1/72 Airfix Wildcat and Beaufighter. They are mid/late war, so, I'll keep my eyes open where to slot those in.

Think I'm going with the light dark yellow over germen grey scheme.  Also have many shades of grey for the StuG III.