AUSSIE/ANZAC GB 2006 Jan 26 to Sept 21st

The Skyhawk always seemed to be a bit more impressive than the F18, perhaps it was due to the size and the sharpness of the moves...the Van Halen video doesn't hurt either (I am showing my age?)

great video i agree i loved the song DREAMS i actually have most of the album 5150 in my MP3 library as for the skyhawk i haven't seen an aircraft i like the looks of better and TOP GUN the movie didn't hurt the skyhawk fans either with them running rings around the tomcats most of the time

back to buisness the lower hull is complete still waiting on my turret conversion the one im building is the one with the 3in gun not the frog shown in the pic posted by jules which had a flamethrower

Oh God i remember that Van Halen clip, I must be gettin old.....

Joe Nice looking Skyhawk, the camo job looks fantastic

Speaking of the Skyhawk i remember a while back one of our current affairs tv shows did a story about the Aus Gvment selling the Kiwis our old Navy Skyhawks for ultra cheap and just to rub salt in the wounds they showed footage of a Kiwi A-4(ex RAN A-4) getting a missle lock on a RAAF F-18......

j.s.harrison wrote:

Oh God i remember that Van Halen clip, I must be gettin old..... Joe Nice looking Skyhawk, the camo job looks fantastic Speaking of the Skyhawk i remember a while back one of our current affairs tv shows did a story about the Aus Gvment selling the Kiwis our old Navy Skyhawks for ultra cheap and just to rub salt in the wounds they showed footage of a Kiwi A-4(ex RAN A-4) getting a missle lock on a RAAF F-18......

Thanks !

The clip is "Van Haggar"  I remember buying the true Van Halen "Diver Down" on vinyl!  UGH!

You're right on the "cheap"  the first batch was picked up for something like $150 Million NZ, don't know what the conversion is but considering a service span of 30+ years I would say they got thier money's worth and then some...

When I was researching the Kahu I came across a debate in the NZ Parliment that there is a bit of a stink that they have yet to sell them off going on five years after retirement...oh but for that winning lottery ticket!  I could have a 1/1 scale submission for this GB...of course flying it would be the trick!

The toughest thing so far has been the fin antennas.  I cut them from stock styrene, took about 5 shots, just got up from the bench, I think I got it this time.  Will be shooting the Future tomorrow and weathering on Saturday in between the Corsair start up...

Hi guys, Just stumbled on this Group build..... can I play too?

My entries will be:

1/144 Revell C-130H 36SQN
1/144 Revell A330 MRTT 33SQN

I must say the the stuff I have seen so far is great..... and Hello Wayne, how is very sunny SA. The ACTSMS misses your wit and knowledge of all things figure like and military

Cheers

Well first of all to the build Ray, it's always great to have another Aussie on board.  I'll look forward to seeing some of your work.

Joe, I had a New Zealand mate at work a while ago who used to delight in telling me stories of NZ Shyhawks getting the better of US F-16s.  All round they are (were) a superb little combat aircraft.

Panzer, well sorry mate but I have searched everywhere that I can think of and none of my references actually say what color the Matildas were painted.  I think you are just going to have to use the old Mk.I eye ball and base your build on that restored Matilda in the photo.  Put it this way, no one's going to say you're wrong now are they.

Progress
Well not much in the way of progress unfortunately.  The Colors of Eagles (Vallejo) paint arrived the other day and I was all ready to start when I weakened and ordered the color PE set for the P-40 on Squadron, it was actually the external gun sight that swayed me in the end.  Anyway the Eduard set shouldn't be far away so I should be able to make a start soon.

Cheers

Thanks Darren,

Here are some shots of my progress so far.

I did some clean up on the Aeroclub props I am using for the C130, here is a pic of C130 as it is at the moment. As the transparencies were crap I have painted them over and will paint the cockpit windows in. Then decalling and finishing painting the gear doors, gear and attaching the external fuel tanks. At the moment it just looks like a green blob.  I am using the Hawkeye decal sheet for it

The A330 is again at grey blob stage.  I used the Hawkeye 707 refueling pods and scratch built the boom using a KC-135 one as the basis. Since I built it pictures have been issued of the real boom so I will modify it a little to make it look more like the real thing. Agian hawkeye has come to the resuce for the decals, once I am happy with them they will be issued as a production sheet.

I am also working on a 1/96 Glencoe Vickers Viscount that will be in 34SQN markings.  I have used a Sasquatch -800 fuselage and scratch built some slipper tanks to make it like one of the machines used by the RAAF. Again decals by Hawkeye.

Cheers

Looks great Ray although I have no idea how you are going to be able to paint the cockpit windows back in.  What are you going to mask it with?

Also, I just sent you a Personal Message so you should have incoming email.

Cheers

Good evening chaps. It's been a while since I've been around, but I'm back up and running for at least tonight.....

Haven't started any builds for this yet, but My current build is getting some time put into it again so I might be able to start something one day.

I noticed there is alot of talk about the Kiwi A4's lately. I live near HMAS Albatross (and work there now) which is where they were based when they were in Aus. I used to go out and watch them alot at airshows. They're a great looking aircraft and very loud (especially when I was 8 years old). I'll build one some day. One of my modelling mates from Nowra actually used to work with them (he came over from NZ when they were moved here) and he's got a website with alot of info on it. www.gibstuff.net/a4_alley

hey Daniel I have seen and used that site...it was FANTASTIC!  Loads of Kiwi A4's as well as RAN jobs as well...it was a great help on my meager build...speaking of...decals are on.  They are a mix of kit (Fujimi) and Flying Kiwi.  The Flying Kiwi were very disppointing.  Very thick and off register.  Hopefully the amount of Future and Dullcote used will remedy this, initial results are okay.

I should be able to drop some photos in within the next week or so.  Total time to this point on this build is right about 20 hours.  Most of it spent on painting, decals and fidlly bits.

Now I remember while I typically stick to single engine props!

The ordinance and fuel tanks are being finished now and the landing gear is about 50% done.  This is the test bed for the 1/48 Hasegawa A4K that should be in the mail this week.

The RNZAF Corasair (1/72 Hasegawa) will be submitted later on in the build.

Well here  is some progress on the C-130.  To answer Darren's question I used Tamiya tape cut into very thin strips to outline the windows as below:

I sprayed the nose section with Model Master gunship grey. I thought about doing it black but then realised that all the decals are black. So I though grey would be better to break things up a bit.

I sealed the grey area  in Future and will have to respray  most of the fuselage due to some overspray and scratches on the paint.  I am quite happy with the way it turned out and I only had to make one attemp (which I am very happy about!).

Cheers

Hey guys my matilda is coming along nicely the lower half is built & basecoated i mixed up a color similar to the pic previously posted but I'm still waiting on the DANGED TURRET CONVERSION

BTW anyone know of a kit of a Commonwealth Boomerang fighter was browsing and thought it looked neat

Hi Chris,

Depends on what scale you are after, there is a 1/72 Boomerang from Airfix and a couple in 1/48 which are hard to find these days.  I think one used to be available through NKR models in Oz.

Perhaps someone more knowledgeable on WWII Aussie subjects can enlighten us?

Cheers

PanzerWulff wrote:

Hey guys my matilda is coming along nicely the lower half is built & basecoated i mixed up a color similar to the pic previously posted but I'm still waiting on the DANGED TURRET CONVERSION BTW anyone know of a kit of a Commonwealth Boomerang fighter was browsing and thought it looked neat

There was a 1/32 Boomerang made years ago which you will be lucky to ever find for sale.

In 1/48 there is only one stillavaialble and that was made by Tasman I think. I have seen them for sale for between $30 - $50+ on evilbay. There is also supposedly one being produced in eastern europe by special hobby or a company along those lines but we shall see.

In 1/72 there is the Airfix kit and I can't remember any others in that scale. If you want to see a well built model of this kit, go to www.aussiemodeller.com .

Aussie747 wrote:

Well here  is some progress on the C-130.  To answer Darren's question I used Tamiya tape cut into very thin strips to outline the windows as below: I sprayed the nose section with Model Master gunship grey. I thought about doing it black but then realised that all the decals are black. So I though grey would be better to break things up a bit. I sealed the grey area  in Future and will have to respray  most of the fuselage due to some overspray and scratches on the paint.  I am quite happy with the way it turned out and I only had to make one attemp (which I am very happy about!). Cheers

What can I say except WOW!!!!!  Fantastic work Ray, please consider me suitably impressed.

About the only progress I have to report is that the Eduard set for my p-40 has finally arrived so I'm hoping to make a start on this build soon.

Cheers

Thanks Darren,

I hope to get some more done on this this week.  I have been checking out the refs and realised I can add a few detail pieces to it like air con intakes and antenna. So off to the bench

Here is a couple of shots of a RAAF BBJ I did about 18 months ago. The Challenger in some of the shots is not mine (built by another ACTSMS club member).

Cheers

Hi Daniel,

Yes I know your Uncle, he actually built the Challenger in the pictures I posted with my BBJ!  Small world.

Hope to see you at the comp!

Cheers

Chris, you might want to have a look on the net to find an article about building the kit. The instructions and the kit are not bad but it can be a little tricky in spots. But it does turn into a nice looking model, if you don't like the markings provided there are a number of aftermarket decal sets by Red Roo etc.

I have seen an article somewhere, either on the net or in a magazine so if you can't find one give a yell and I shall see what I can find.

Well she is done...never mind the canopy, it is just set on there.  1/72 Fujimi A4F with my attempt to convert to A4K RNZAF "Kahu"...

All in all it was fun...the weathering did get away from me a bit.  The decals are a mix of Fujimi, Flying Kiwi and Hasegawa.  The kit was a relatively easy build.  The Flying Kiwi decals were a disppointment.  Very thick and virtually impervious to solvents and setting solution.  They were so bad the squadron markings for the tail were not even worth the continued effort after three different attempts. 

Thanks for the look and all feedback would be appreciated...

The decal sheet is correct, the gun positions on the RAAF B-25Ds are in fact different from the positions supplied in the Accurate Miniatures kit. Apparantly Australia was supplied with late model 'D' models that were hybrids and had bits and pieces of other versions. In the Stewart Wilson book on the Boston, Mitchell and Liberator in Australian service it mentions this difference. If you have a look at the article by Peter Johnstone you will see what is required to do the modification.

http://www.aussiemodeller.com/pages/Gallery/Hamilton_models.html

http://www.aussiemodeller.com/pages/Gallery/Johnstone_B-25D.html

I have the accurate miniatures kit but don't particulary want to chop it up, but I also have an old revell kit of the 'B' which I may just convert and update a bit as it only cost $20. How do you find the Eagle edition parts for the AM kit? I like the B-25 so I may just build a Brit or american version of the C/D anyway instead of converting it. Whichever way you go with your kit I hope we get to see a few photos of it as it looks good from the image you posted.

I did the same thing with the 1/48 Seaking I started a while back, put the fueslage together then had a look at my reference photos and discovered the window on the port side was in a different spot. It also has only one window not two as per the kit.

Great build Joe and that's a really eye catching camo scheme, nice job .

Progress: Finally I have some progress to report, it's not much but I have removed all of the styrene details from the cockpit that will be replaced by Eduard PE bits, next job is assembly and painting.

Cheers

harvs73 wrote:

I have the accurate miniatures kit but don't particulary want to chop it up, but I also have an old revell kit of the 'B' which I may just convert and update a bit as it only cost $20. How do you find the Eagle edition parts for the AM kit? I like the B-25 so I may just build a Brit or american version of the C/D anyway instead of converting it. Whichever way you go with your kit I hope we get to see a few photos of it as it looks good from the image you posted. I did the same thing with the 1/48 Seaking I started a while back, put the fueslage together then had a look at my reference photos and discovered the window on the port side was in a different spot. It also has only one window not two as per the kit.

Really, the corrected cowls are so subtle it's hardly worth the trouble. I'll get a photo of them side by side for you. The Squadron canopy/nose is a much bigger change, it moves the windscreen substantially forward. It's a bit of a challenge working with acres of vacform (the cockpit right down to the bombardier is cut out & replaced, including a few millimetres of grey plastic below the cockpit windsill). I ended up with three brands of canopy masks (don't ask!) & none of them where a very good fit.