AUSSIE/ANZAC GB 2006 Jan 26 to Sept 21st

I think the cowls can stay the same then, the cockpit etc I may have to think about......

I just had a look at the stewart wilson book on the B-25 for the rear windows as well as the Aussie Decals sheet A48017. The rear windows are visible on A47-2 / KO-Z on page 80 and not readily visible on A47-34 / KO-E on page 81. The  profiles on page 88 have them both marked but not neccesarily as windows (black squares when windows are marked as white). I think that Aussie Decals accidently neglected to put them on their instructions as KO-Z definately has them. I think it all comes down to how far you want to go with your detailing, most people wouldn't realise that the rear windows are there. If you don't have the book I can scan and send the relevant profile page to you if you want.

Well got the c/p finished on the Magister and glued the fuse halves together and totally forgot to take a happy snap

After the glue dried I realised I hadn't lined the forward section of the fuse up with the front cowl ass'y, meaning the fuse is ALOT narrower than the engine cowl, so gotta split the fuse again and adjust to suit.

Guess it helps to pay attention every now and then

Not to long now and I'll be able to lay down some BMF!!!

harvs73 wrote:

I think the cowls can stay the same then, the cockpit etc I may have to think about...... I just had a look at the stewart wilson book on the B-25 ...<snip>...If you don't have the book I can scan and send the relevant profile page to you if you want.

Excellent work on the B-25 Carl really top notch. Not much to report on the Matilda I've been busy with my halftrack for the Battle of Germany GB, the dang turret conversion i ordered is still on backorder so thats holding me up as well.On a lighter note my Tasman Models Boomerang arrived but i have other GB priorites before jumping in on it TTFN!

BTW has anyone heard from Jules lately from what i have seen he is MIA from the forums lately,I hope he is alright

I'm baaaack!  After finishing my Battle for Germany build I decided to take a day off from modeling and get my priorites straight.  I've been so rushed at home, work and everywhere else I rushed through this Do335 I just did in like 3 weeks, and realized later it suffered for it.  So now I'm back for the Aussie/ANZAC build with a renewed vigor and enthusiasm not seen by many!   

I decided to wait on the RNZAF SBD after looking through my stash and seeing the almost completed Malta based Spit I started on last yr and put aside.  I suddenly got a yearning to do a Spit so I will do the Hasegawa RAAF Spitfire Mk. VIII in 1/48 with an ultracast seat, and if I get froggy I will get the resin propeller and wheels from Ultracast as well.  The cockpit looks well done on this one, actually better done than the Hase Spitfire Mk.Vb so I will stick to the kit offering.  It actually looks to be as well done as the AccMin SBD interiors..

I had to cancel on last yrs Aussie build so I am determined to stick this one out...

Ok some progress today, I got home from work and after looking at the interior bits I decided the interior green I used look too green, so I tried a custom mix of that color plus minute amounts of Medium Sea Grey until it looked right.  I resprayed the pieces and they are drying.  I also got all the small bits attached to the sidewalls of the cockpit.  This is a very nicely done cockpit, with enough seperate bits to glue on that it almost looks resin in quality.

Tonight I will review my "Spitfire in action" and other references to get a feel for the cockpit.  I hope to have the cockpit assembled tomorrow and possibly sealed in the fuselage Sunday.

Tom I'm glad to see you back on board and I think we're at the same stage.  I spent the afternoon doing microsurgery on the cockpit of my P-40 removing all the bits and pieces that Mr Eduard doesn't want there.  It always looks sooo easy in the instructions sheet and then turns out to be a pain in the .  Anyway it's done now so I'll move on to painting the whole cockpit tomorrow.

Also, I picked up a great reference for $10 last week at the monthly IPMS meeting



so if you need anything for the Spit just let me know.

Cheers

Darren - it's good to be back!  Even now I have to purposefully slow myself and remind myself that there's no race when modeling.  I think I was starting to model like I was doing in the rest of my life.. rushed.  Today I got some future on the innards and should be able to do a wash in an hour or two.  I got the Ultracast seat all prettied up.  It was wierd but the texture of this one was different than the one (from the same set of two) I was doing for the Malta Spit.. the paint looks a little duller/rougher on this seat but I think futuring it up for wash will make it all level out.

Actually if you could get me a decent overhead camo shot of the green/grey disruptive pattern I would appreciate it Darren.  I'll blow it up and use it to cut my frisket when time.

tho9900 wrote:

Actually if you could get me a decent overhead camo shot of the green/grey disruptive pattern I would appreciate it Darren.  I'll blow it up and use it to cut my frisket when time.

Tom you have incoming email

DM

Darren, do they have much info on the P-51A Mustang in that book.

I got the kit and a bundle of A/M gear for it, but I don't have alot of research to base the build on.

F4U1A  complete.  Hasegawa 1/72 scale, need to dullcote the tires.  By the way Jules, I realized that in a previous post I did not give you the credit for a top notch build...Darson count the comment for the BoB Build...

tweety1 wrote:

Darren, do they have much info on the P-51A Mustang in that book. I got the kit and a bundle of A/M gear for it, but I don't have alot of research to base the build on.

You know what I hate.  It's when you read your previous post and realise its empty .

Joe that's a neat looking Corsair you've got there, nice job.

Sean I have checked out the book and there are only a couple of pictures of the P-51A that were operated by the RAAF in England.  I'll send them to you if you want but they are nothing special.

Cheers

Carl I know what you mean about most RAAF Mustangs, but I'm actually doing an 3 Squadron RAAF P-51B at the moment which is cammed up, but has a red nose and a blue tail with a white Southern Cross on it.  

It's a kit that I half finished from about two years ago and I suddenly got the urge to finish it off.  Although it's not part of this build I still planned on posting a couple of pics when it's done.

Cheers

Bandha Boy wrote:

Tom, You've probably seen the Temora Spit but it's the best current example of a Grey Nurse around. I'm hoping to get down to Temora this year & will try to do a walk-around of it. I think it's paint job is from the New Guinea days though, not sure. http://www.aviationmuseum.com.au/aircraft/ (Does everyone else find the 'Create Link' button doesn't work in this new Finescale site, not to mention a lot else?)

Carl - thanks for the photos!  I wonder if the original was glossy like that one... the paint call out calls for flat colors but kitmakers are notorious for errors... although so are reproductions and refurbishments.. any comments on that from the group?  And it's odd, but the kit decal call letters show of ZP*Y, and Darren's reference show's the same RG*V call letters as the Temora Spit.  I need to check on that....  Might be hard to find white letters such as those to correct it if it is totally wrong...

-=edit=-

I found the discrepancy.. it is the Grey Nurse flown by Glen Cooper of 457 Sqn that is depicted in the decals... the other is a different plane altogether...  ::whew:: do I feel better!  The other markings are of Clive Caldwell from said 457 Sqn. on the same sheet.

I tried the create link thing the other day and it worked with IE 6 SP1, I'll try it with firefox to be sure...

Here's a few photos of the Spitfire Mk VIII at Temora that I took a few years ago.

http://www.aussiemodeller.com/pages/History/Harvey_SpitMkVIII.htm

I am actualy up to painting the RAAF P-39 finally. I'm doing it as P-39 FA*F that was in OD/Dk Sea Grey/RAAF Blue. I am just waiting to see if anyone has any updates on the accuracy of the scheme colours.

Dave - thanks for the link... I've looked at the kit and it's spot on for that spit... I got worried about the tail but finally found the correct one on a separate sprue from the rounded one...

Sorry I haven't been around the last few.  I've got in laws staying the week and there's too 'active' boys who would do grevious harm to my models or my computer if I let on what was in this room, so I just close the door and pretend it is a storage room till they leave haha...

tho9900 wrote:

I wonder if the original was glossy like that one... the paint call out calls for flat colors but kitmakers are notorious for errors... although so are reproductions and refurbishments.. I found the discrepancy.. it is the Grey Nurse flown by Glen Cooper of 457 Sqn that is depicted in the decals... the other is a different plane altogether...  ::whew:: do I feel better!  The other markings are of Clive Caldwell from said 457 Sqn. on the same sheet. I tried the create link thing the other day and it worked with IE 6 SP1, I'll try it with firefox to be sure...

Dave: I just did my big annual order from Eduard (free delivery if >$80) & ordered a P-39. Which one did you build?

Nice repair job Carl.

Well I have to say I'm having an absolute BALL with this Magister!!

And I'm not being sarcastic, this is really doing 'it' for me, in some weird 'twilight zone' kinda way.

So far I've had to shim every single glued joint, from the fuse halves, to the wings, the nose piece, wing root, rear flaps.................everything!

A couple of snap shots for ya's...

Heres why.

I managed to get the fuselage done and covered it in BMF as I planned.

It looked OK, but had a rough as guts finish.

When I tried to attach the wing section to the fuse, the gap stuck out like all hell under the foil layer.

Foil is great, but shows joins like there's no tomorrow.

So I pulled the wing off, sanded out the glue mark, and started shimming everything to make it all an air tight fit between parts.

That way the foil won't show anything.

I've also had to get some Gunze super fine polish and go over all the parts to remove any 'rough' finished surfaces, cause the foil makes them stick out something fierce also.

Good fun so far.

Carl, I used the Eduard P-39Q kit, this has all of the bits in it that I need to do the RAAF kit. In combination with the Red Roo decals it should look ok.

Sean, it should look great when you finish it. Mine is rough but survives the 1 - 2 ft inspection criteria except for that damn crappy paint job on the engine cowl.

harvs73 wrote:

Sean, it should look great when you finish it. Mine is rough but survives the 1 - 2 ft inspection criteria except for that damn crappy paint job on the engine cowl.

Your Magister looks fine from where I sit Harv.

And I sit pretty close to my screen

I do wish there were locating tabs on this kit though, been a hell of a time lining things up!

The engraved location marks for the wings had to be filled in cause they made 1 wing sit 5mm higher than the other and even if I did follow the markings it woulda looked there was a pontoon in the middle.

I love these short run kits!

Sean - I'm not masochistic enough to get that far into a kit that has issues.  I threw away the Pegasus Boulton Paul Defiant away after 3 hours of trying to mate the wings... there was about a 4mm offset on the wings which left the outer leading edge overhanging and trailing edge too far forward.. sanding just messed up the profile of the wing... I figured I would wait for the Classic Airframes offering.  I still haven't got it but it's in my mind still... one day!

Dave - I have to agree with Sean... your build looks great!!

Well got some progress done today.  The airframe is primered, I did a bit of preshading on it... I found out today was not a good day for it as I had a consistant wobble in a few lines I had to go back and correct... never had that problem before...  (too much beer last night??? )

Then I went to the paint stash to pull out my Ocean Grey... it was nowhere to be found.  I even dug into my enamels as I bought an RAF camo set of MM enamels in a decorative tin awhile back, and again found everything but Ocean Grey...  I ordered it and a few other colors from www.greatmodels.com, and decided to pick up another Fi-156 by Academy to get it over the minimum shipping price as well.  (The Academy Fi-156 is a decent kit, it can be done as the Fi-156 or Morane-Saul "Criquet" with the radial engine, it's sparse on interior detail but at that size only a kid could make out any detail inside with the naked eye!!!)  So I will be working on my FUERZA AÉREA EXPEDICIONARIA MEXICANA P-47 cockpit till they arrive.  (It's for the Latin American Aircraft GB) -=note=- had to copy and paste the name of the squdron in as it wouldn't let me insert extended ASCII characters to do the accents...

Geez Sean you're a braver man than I am but I sure it will turn out fantastic knowing you.

Carl the touch up on the decal looks great, but you must have got a nasty surprise when you took off the tissue from the other wing.

Also, I've heard a lot about fighter crews polishing their aircraft to gain extra speed, but to be honest I don't think I've ever seen a reference photo that looks glossy to me.  Usually they look like this Morotai based Spit.

I made some decent progress last night and painted up the cockpit of my P-40 with my colors of eagle’s paints.  Tom I must say they were brilliant, a cou0ple of drops of Vallejo Air thinner and I got a lovely smooth coat.  Next job tonight will be to detail paint all the bits and pieces.

Cheers

Darren - glad to hear you're an addict now!  They don't work the greatest on dry brushing, although they do work for it.. but every thing else they are pure gold!!!  And as far as the glossy coat, I think I might go for a semi gloss.  If a dull coat were waxed I think it would be more of a semi gloss.  My grandmothers old Dodge Dart for example.  From 1976 when it was bought to about 1983 it went without a single coat of wax... about the time it turned a pastel shade of pink I volunteered to wax it... definitely semi gloss but a much darker shade of pink when I finished. (almost red)  hmmm... maybe darken the color just a TAD then semi gloss it.. worth a try...

Oh yeah I will post pics tomorrow of my progress so far... greatmodels shipped my order with Ocean grey today so I will probably spray the Medium Sea Grey tomorrow and it will have time to cure before the paints arrive..

Darren... just curious, what is shipping to your neck of the woods from great models?

Here are some in progress shots of the P-39.

The instrument panel isn't correct in that it is in fact black with recessed instruments but I wanted some colour in there.

Since these photos I have painted the olive drab on the upper surfaces and am in the process of masking for the Dark sea Grey.

Finally a photo of the completed Magister. The complete article is on Aussiemodeller

http://www.aussiemodeller.com/pages/Reviews/acft%20kit/Harvey_M14aMagister.html