AIRCRAFT - "Prototypes and Paper Projects" Group Build - Still Open.

well, as promised what seems like years ago, here is a pic of the "orrid" airfix P1127, not finished yet but i am further on with this model than i ever thought i ever would get.



hope you like,

Greg

Sorry, not much progress to report here I do need to get some pics up of what I have done, though! Great job on the Ju290Z, Lucien! That would be really something to see in person! I do hope that I can get some work done on the XT-2 over the Labor Day Holiday! - Calvin

That would be awesome. If you can, thanks.

Hopefully I can get the RLM 70 on the right fuselage tonight. We'll have to see.

Lucien,

That looks like a lot of progress on your Ju 190Z, nice paint job!

Today at work on my lunch time I was reading one of my aviation books and came across a picture of one of the He 177's that was used as a low level ground attack a/c on the Eastern front, it had a light base color with a dark color sprayed in a scribble pattern camouflage over that. A very interesting looking airplane! If you are interested I will attempt to post that pic.

Matrixone

Always good to hear progress, matrixone. I actually have pics of the (almost) completed wing:

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/LHprs/wing1.jpg[/image]

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/LHprs/wing2.jpg[/image]

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/LHprs/wing3.jpg[/image]

I just need a bit more time in the paint shop for the other fuselage, and more time for decals, and this baby's done!

Lucien,

Glad to hear you have all the parts you needed, looking forward to seeing pics of the finished model.

This week I have one extra day off from work so my models should also be finished by this next weekend if things go well.
My Monogram Me 262 is shaping up nicely, I spent extra time lightly sanding off some of the paint to just barely expose the AlcladII and the effect is just about right.
The X-4 rockets are now mounted under the wings of the 262 and looks pretty good. Can't wait to get this one finished.

Matrixone

The wing is painted, and all the major decals (national markings, wingwalk stripes) are on. About 90% of the "stuff" (RATO pods, Hs 293s and Bv L10s) is also on. All that's left, really, are two more Hs 293s, and all 16 (!) gear doors. The remaining fuselage sits with it's basecoat of RLM 71, waiting for the RLM 70, 65, flat black, and decals. The aboslute latest all painting should be finished is next weekend, if not sooner. Basically, everything's going smoothly!

The wing is glued up, primed, and all the little aleron hinges are on. Some of the antennas, too. Now, to not break them off while painting!

I'm saving my money for some PE radar for the noses, but that won't be for a while.

I received the swastikas too, Calvin. They're just fine. Two of them are on the finished fuselage, with the other waiting for the other fuselage. Thanks again for those.

Good news- replacement prop shafts and spinners arrived in the mail yesterday. As of right now piant is drying on them, and as soon as I'm done here, I plan to mount it permanently with the motor. That was my last major obsticle on this bird, so after this it's all downhill! Now, barring the threat of running out of paint, the Zwilling should be done very, very soon.

Ok, everyone! I finally have a kit ( or actually, kits! ) to work with! My household goods shipment did not arrive yet, but I did manage to find another XT-2 on Evilbay. I also managed to get in the same shipment a 1/72 Supemodel Fiat G.55S! I won't be doing anything fancy to the T-4 but the G.55S will need something of a cockpit. I may be able to modify a old Academy P-51 seat to look like the seat & make something of an instument panel for it. Anywho, I hope to make some progress this week. - Calvin

There really is no late with this GB. It's open-ended, so your entrance is welcome. It's been a while since we've had new members, and most of the existing members have prior obligations to finish. Besides, the Ho 229 is a wonderful bird. I need to add one to my stash, eventually.

I've gotten in all the motors I can right now- seven. The last stands empty because the prop shaft is broken, and I'm waiting on a replacement. I need to also find a way to mount the battery holders securely to the other fuselage. Then it's off to the paint shop for that one!

phule,

Please join us and keep this GB going.
The 1/48 scale Ho 229 would be an ideal a/c for this GB, I had hoped to build the nightfighter version of the 229 but don't even have the kit yet. But there are other Luftwaffe paper projects in my kit stash I hope to build soon.


Matrixone

I would like to join the group build... albeit late.. I would be building a 1/48 Ho229 by DML.

Lucien,

Your Ju 290Z looks great so far, when this model is finished what will be your project?

Friday turned out to be a very good day for me, my order from Squadron arrived.
I got another Amtech Ta 183 and a 1/72 scale Me 1101 Nachtjager from DML, but the most wanted items are the three books included, the Luftwaffe Im Focus special color edition, the Kagero Fw 190 Vol 3, and the Jagdwaffe Colors book that deals with the last months of the war in the east.
The Kagero book is not as good as Vol 2 and 4 was, but the Luftwaffe Im Focus and Jagdwaffe book are excellent! Well worth the money.

The only bad news this week was when I called Historic Aviation to find out when my copy of ''Luftwaffe Camouflage and Markings 1935-1945'' by Ken Merrick will be sent to me and was told it won't be sent until June. I placed my order last November. :(


Matrixone

Okay, I don't think I posted them here, but here's a few shots of the 99% finished left fuselage:

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/LHprs/JUdone.jpg[/image]
[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/LHprs/290det3.jpg[/image]
[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/LHprs/290det2.jpg[/image]

Much work was done on the other fuselage, mostly soldering. Like I said, I'm up to four motors (half way there!) installed and working, and one of the four upper wing panel was glued in place. Now to start work on the ugliest seam I have ever seen in my life- the one where I put the two airframes together.

Frosty,

Very glad I did not miss the pics of your finished Horten flying wing, since I do not always check in the forum as much as I used to before I became ill I figured I may have missed it.

My current group of models are nearing completion, all decals are on them and all canopies and wheels are painted. Final assembly will start this weekend, the Do 335B will take a little longer to finish because it will get some weathering before the final clear coat.

The cockpit on my 1/32 scale Hasegawa Fw 190A-9 is finished and the fuselage halves were glued together. The resin spinner, prop blades, cooling fan, and armored cowl ring were cut from the pouring blocks and cleaned up and dry fitted and everything looks good so far.
My only complaint about this kit is they should have included both the early style flat canopy and the later bulged type. Only the early style is included.
Some of the more interesting camouflage patterns and cool markings of the Fw 190 a/c had the late war bulged canopy.

Today I started work on my Luftwaffe airfield start carts, they are resin and PE kits from Verlinden. They are very detailed for their small size but are very different from anything I have built before. They are expensive so I hope I don't mess them up too bad!

I have not been able to take any new in-progress pics for a couple weeks now so here are some older pics of some other Paper Project models...





Matrixone

allez, Lucien !
the me-328 looks great, really nice paint job !
glad 2 hear u got all 4 engines working on the big
zwilling, too...
as 4 me, i put some more paint on the Ho 229,
in an attempt 2 simulate soft edge camo w/o
using an airbrush, i used a flat brush, a foam brush
& some sanding 2 feather the edges... i don't think
it's totally awful, but i mite just have 2 redo it now
that the weather is turning nice enough 2 spray
paint outside.... so, no pix 4 now, sorry...
but i am still working on this.
seems like the fewer parts in the kit, the longer
it takes me... LOL !

frosty

I've wired up a connection for the switch on the roof of the right fuselage with a headphone jack. That way I can disconnect the roof when I need to replace batteries without a bunch of wires getting in the way.

Four engines now work, but not without a fight. Engine No. 4 just wouldn't go in! I finally got it to work, but it runs a bit rougher than the others. The vibrations make a bit of a racket when all four motors are running, but I can live with it. I kind of like it, actually.

This week of warm weather has allowed me to paint like crazy, and as a result the left fuselage is about 98% finished. I'm in the decalling stages right now with that, and I was able to get some solder today, which I'll be trying to get to work for the forseeable future. Unfortunately I'm still waiting on parts, so the most I can wire is seven of the eight engines.

Lucien,

That little Me 328 looks great! That is not an easy subject to try and paint for your attempt at airbrushing, very good work.

I have been trying pre-shading on some landing gear legs and the inside of landing gear doors with some success and will be doing this on all my 1/32 scale models from now on. It works good on 1/48 scale models too but the airbrush must be able to spray a very fine line to get the proper effect. Extra thin paint and slightly lower air pressure works very well for spaying tight lines with little spatter where you don't want it.

I thought I was on the way to getting better but this nasty cold is making a major comeback! Working extra hours does not help matters much.

All decals are on my three models now and have been slowly working on the wheels, props, and canopies. The Do 335B is shaping up nicely and might be the best model I have ever done, but it should be since it is a great kit to start with. If it looks like crap I can't blame it on a poorly designed kit.

Matrixone

Sorry you're not feeling too good, matrix. I hope you start feeling better soon.

The Me 328 is finished, and I posted some pics in the Aircraft section. But, I'll put one here, too.

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/LHprs/328-3.jpg[/image]

The RLM 65 is a little sloppier than I'd like it, but I'm still really getting used to my airbrush. It's finally warm enough to get out and paint some!

Sorry about not posting more in this GB, have been very sick the last few weeks. I thought I was getting my health back but can't shake this cold yet!
I am trying to avoid going to see a doctor since I am really concerned about being placed in a hospital.

Most painting is done on my trio of models and am adding decals right now, hope to post some WIP pics this weekend.

Matrixone

Another update, just to keep this place alive- I was able to get some spray enamel primer, which in turn lets me get some actual paint on something! If the weather is correct (cross the fingers) it should be warm enough to get the base coat of RLM 70 (71? whatever's lighter) on the Me 328. The primer also allows me to see seams I need to rework.

I'm still waiting for replacement prop parts, and one of these days I'm going to get my butt to Lowes to look for some solder.

Okay, slight update- If the badge suddenly got really small, it's because I'm doing my best right now to conform to the newest guidelines on forum sigs. If this rubs anybody the wrong way, I apologize. The image hosting site I use isn't that flexible in the realm of resizing images. Just FYI.

One more thing- Because of this I'm more than likely making a new badge. I hate to do it, but it's better than a tiny, unreadable badge.

Alright, here it is, as promised, my latest mini-project on this monster:

[image]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/LHprs/Heinshel.jpg[/image]

(It's the best shot I could get with the lighting and whatnot...)

Right now I have three bomb racks finished and glued to the airframe, two more sanded to shape and awaiting the clamps, and one final one needing to be sanded. These two are for the innermost Hs 293s. The others are going on the outside, and the two Bv L10s are going under the fuselages. (But you knew that, right?)

Long time no post, sorry guys.

Glad to hear everyone is still making progress, albeit slow.

Mine is no different.

The Ta183, is gathering dust on a shelf in a cuboard.

A little more progress, has been had on the Ju287, though not without incident!

The engines and landing gear are all built and painted, they just need to be installed.

The cockpit glazing is proving somewhat of a nightmare, not fitting at all well. In my efforst to make it fit, I cracked it .

Hopefully in the next week or so, I'll get around to installing the cockpit glazing properly, and making good the damage.

Karl

update:
i finally got the canopy faired in 2 the fuselage on the Ho 229,
tried masking it but didn't do so well...
have started applying grauviolett paint 2 the undersides, nose
& wings... i think i'm going 4 an 'conjectural' operational scheme
based on markings i saw on a Bf-109 model awhile back...
probably will need 2 airbrush the paint, not easy 2 do in winter
since i usually spray paint outside the house.
sigh...

frosty

matrixone- Glad to hear some things are happening, despite a bunch of hurdles. I can't wait for some photos.

I don't have the Bv 155 right now, but would like to get one. More than likely the Special Hobby one, just for the fact I'm not that comfortable working with resin. Besides, they tend to get pricey (although the Special Hobby kit isn't that cheap!).

I've started work on the actual scratchbuilt bomb clamps, and using some sanded sprue and paper clips I've gotten a pretty good likeness. I'll get some pics of it soon enough.

Lucien,

Not much modeling done lately on any of my models, extra hours at work and catching a cold has taken most of my time and all of my energy normally reserved for the models.
Feeling much better now and hope to get back to building this weekend for sure, last Sunday I did finish painting the splinter camo on the Do 335B and it looks good so far with the RLM 81/82 over the NMF. Almost want to leave it as is and finish it with no markings or weathering.
My Me 262 is also painted but the thinly applied paint over NMF did not show the putty lines as well as I had hoped. This was something I had never tried before and it almost worked, if the putty lines would have been a darker gray it would have worked good enough. I will try this again on a Luft'46 jet next year, probably on a 1/48 scale BV 212.

Hope you decide to build the BV 155, is it the Special Hobby kit or a resin kit from Planet Models? I have the Special Hobby kit and it looks like a good one, although I don't like the vac-form canopy at all. Not all that easy to get those vac-form canopies to fit well. On Special Hobbys other new kit the Fw 187, it has an injection molded canopy and says so very clearly on the box.
It might be difficult to motorize the BV 155, sort of a slender fuselage with not much room for an electric motor.



Matrixone