South Pacific Group Build 7 August 2006 to 7 August 2007

I tried to post a thank you to everyone from home earlier this week, but my old Mac was not working well with the Finescale Web site and I am now at the library.

Thank you all for the kind words regarding my plane. You are too kind.

The camera was also kind to it, as many flaws are not evident in the photos. I must say that Polyscale Flat finish is a wonderful product, and did a great job of hiding the decals. I did a soft edge camo, but according to a local IPMS guy, the camo should be hard edge.  I went by what looked correct in the photos I had. The grey was done in hard edge however.

With regards to research, there seems to be much info on Richard Cresswell and this plane on the Web though some of it was contradictory. A good source was the hyperscale.com Reference page which had much info on this particular plane.

I hope to join you all, my GB buddies, on future GB's as I think they make model building even more enjoyable.

Jerry- Your P-40 came out very well. I also did not realize it was 72nd scale. Very impressive. I also like the history included. Thanks for a nice build.

Great work there Jerry.

I really like the RAAF birds and that's a very interesting nose art too.

You've done an amazing job.

Well done.

Mark

JerrynFrog wrote:

There are many errors and flaws, but wow did I ever learn a lot building it.

Errors???  Flaws???  WHERE?!?!?!  You did an excelent job on the P-40E!

You say this was just your third aircraft.... NOT BAD AT ALL!!!  And you did a great job on your research as well.  Makes me humble in light of my work.  Nice to see a P-40 in another nation's colors and without the shark mouth for a change of pace.

That's 1/72!?!?! It's more detailed than my 1/48. Mr. Cresswell would be proud.

I have finally finished my contribution to the South Pacific Group Build. The kit was the 1/72 Academy P-40E and was done OOB except for masking tape seat belts. It is my third airplane.

The plane is a Kittyhawk IA as flown by Richard Cresswell of the 77 Sqd out of Virginia Air Strip, Goodenough Island, off the eastern tip of New Guinea.

In 1942 Cresswell's mount carried his personal insignia of four flags: Australia, England, the U.S. and the RAF. Richard Cresswell was the first pilot to shoot down a Japanese bomber at night over Darwin, and later he commanded several Kittyhawk squadrons in the South-West Pacific area.

From the three original squadrons who fought in New Guinea in 1942 and 1943, five other squadrons were formed to all be part of No.85 Fighter wing under the command of Wing Commander Richard Cresswell. These squadrons campaigned throughout the Pacific Islands until the Japanese were defeated. 77 Squadron was part of the Occupation Forces in Japan and served in the Korean War. 75, 76 and 77 Squadrons are the only fighter squadrons still commissioned in the RAAF

There are many errors and flaws, but wow did I ever learn a lot building it.

Thanks to all of you who helped me over the hurdles with advice and tips.

Finally got some time this past weekend to try to get my P-38 done.....

Putty work was not as bad as I had feared, but I had some sanding issues (supply sergeant went AWOL).  Then, went to paint, and what do I find - out of Oive Drab paint!  I am going to throw that supply sergeant into the brig for this one.......

...Oh wait, I am the supply sergeant!  Well, payday is this Friday...Hopefully the account offic ewon't see a little line item in the expense report.....

Mark- Sorry to hear of your mishap. I dropped a bi-plane on a carpeted floor just after attaching the top wing and tail feathers. The wings and struts and tail pieces came loose at the joints, but nothing was actually damaged. The re-assembly went okay.

Joe- I agree with the others. Thanks for hosting a fun GB. This is my first GB and I have enjoyed the chatting and 'meeting' other modelers.

...And a progress report- I did some weathering and filling of panel lines using watercolors (from cakes, not tubes) and will try to add a little more using pastel chalk and then airbrush the Polyscale flat clear.  Hope to finish this week.

Yes, Joe, thank you. This was one of my earlier GB's and I must say I enjoyed it. Between the great people and the great airplanes displayed, this was exemplary of what a GB should be like.

THank you, Joe!

Thanks for hosting this GB Joe, it's been fun! 

I should be able to finish up my P-38 over the next week or so.  I'm just about done with the seams then I can lay down some paint. 

Well here we are one year later.  Thanks to all of the participants, there is some real talent out there and it was great to get some of it together for this build!

GB's never really end so if you are finishing up or want to keep going keep on posting!

I will update the front page today and put something in the aircraft section as well as in some other forums.

Jerry: Looks great so far! Can't wait to see her finished!

Mark: Ouch..I feel you pain! I've not dropped one yet (knock on wood), but I can imagine the helpless feeling and anger that follows quickly afterwardss. But regardless, great save! Like yuo said, as time goes by you'll realize that not many have challenged this subject as you admire it in your display case.

Finaly finished.

It was a close run thing though as last night when I was placing the model down I broke one of my stretched spruce guy wires.

In the process of re-attaching this I then dropped the whole thing.

Lost both the floats, the tail wheel fell inside the body and I can't get it out. Some of the cabin seats have broken off, one of the elevators broke off and I lost both of the elevator

 counter-balances.

This is the how it looks with what I could fix, fixed.

It's a real pity but a fitting end for a model that fought me tooth and nail the entire way.

It will look better as time goes on and as I forget all the troubles.

Thanks for the build guys.

Your encouragement has meant that this goose got to see the light of day.

Mark

A progress report-  The decals are on and additional clear coat is applied. I was able to fix the goof up where I poured the clear coat over the wing.

I just noticed some sort of reflection or something in the dark green on the left wing. The color is actually uniform. Next I will be trying out some wash techniques and some general weathering.

Ya, those shark mouths on the front of the booms are pretty cool looking, so I was stoked when I found that decal set.  Those decals are pretty much the only South Pacific aftermarket decals I could find for a P-38F but it worked out great that it is a very cool scheme.   

I'm just about done with the seam work, then I can move forward with painting and weathering. 

Looking good guys, looking very good!

Scott

Vac canopies are a trial.  I just botched one ENORMOUSLY!  The -38 is looking great! (cheeky monkey is rhyming!)

Jerry

Keep swinging guy!  Looking forward to seeing the finished product!

MPH34

Lightning strikes twice!  Looks good.  I wish I had the space to display a P38, then I would certainly build one.

Hard to believe it has been a year!  Where does time go.  A big thanks to Scott for covering for me during my hiatus.  And a big thanks to all of the contributors...great work all the way around!

Holy Crud!! Are those Shark mouths on the engine pylons? I'm not a P-38 guy but that is really great!!

Hey espin.I've got a question and I am not getting any traction with it on the originating GB. I signed up for the SAC GB (my first) which really only got a couple of entries but a lot of traffic and then kerplunk!! Is that SOP? ,only I've got a C-54 with about 100 hours into it that I will be finishing soon. Does this happen?

I finally found two photos of the actual P-38F "The Flying Dutchman" that I'm attempting to model!  They're small, but at least it's something for me to aim at. 

bondoman wrote:

espins1 wrote: Believe it or not, I found my Squadron vacuform canopy all by myself!    It had fallen behind my dresser in the master bedroom.  After looking it over I'm thinking "How the heck am I going to cut that thing out without messing it up!"  Time to learn something new!  I've done 2 so far, just cut it out with a scissors, carefully.

Wanna make a quick $10? 

espins1 wrote:

Believe it or not, I found my Squadron vacuform canopy all by myself!    It had fallen behind my dresser in the master bedroom.  After looking it over I'm thinking "How the heck am I going to cut that thing out without messing it up!"  Time to learn something new!

I've done 2 so far, just cut it out with a scissors, carefully.

Scott and mph- Those P-38's are really looking good. Will the gaps between the fuse and cockpit get filled?? Or maybe with the canopy installed, they won't be seen.

Progress report- I have another lesson learned to report. I was shooting clear gloss over the decals to help hide them and provide a suitable undercoat for weathering and I wasn't being sufficiently careful and spilled some clear from the color cup onto the wing.......rats!! I tried to do some clean up with a paper towel wetted with Windex and made a mess of the paint underneath.  In 20-20 hindsight, I should have left it alone. I think after curing, a little sanding would have made the fix much less difficult. As it is, I think I can repair it okay....hope to do so tomorrow.

Awhile back I went to Michaels to get one of those fancy green with white marking 'Display bases' some of you guys used to display your finished models. . Whew, they were expensive, so I picked up one of those el-cheapo wooden thingies and glued on a picture of the actual plane. Unfortunately, I got some wrinkles in the pic, I think due to the plain paper I used when printing the pic. I will apply varnish anyway and will have a decoupage display base for the finished plane.

Believe it or not, I found my Squadron vacuform canopy all by myself!    It had fallen behind my dresser in the master bedroom.  After looking it over I'm thinking "How the heck am I going to cut that thing out without messing it up!" 

Time to learn something new! 

espins1 wrote:

"Oh honey!!!  Can you give me a hand in the den for a few minutes?"    My wife seems to have the uncanny ability to find everything I lose.... even the stuff that's right in front of me!

I think all wives have that ability....just some choose to use it for the betterment of mankind...and modeling...

I took a break for a couple of days on the P-38 to do some repair work on my Bf109G-14. 

I'm slogging away at the seam work.  It's not too bad, but there are seams to be dealt with especially where the booms attach at the wings.  Once that's finished this baby is ready for some paint, however I need to find my Squadron Canopy.  I found the masks, but not the canopy.... now, where the heck did I put that thing.

"Oh honey!!!  Can you give me a hand in the den for a few minutes?"    My wife seems to have the uncanny ability to find everything I lose.... even the stuff that's right in front of me!