1/48 Academy/minicraft Bonanza V35

Beautifully done. Tough paint scheme

Looks very nice.  A gloss paint job is definitely harder to do than a flat one, and yours looks great. I have built several of the minicraft 1:48 civil aircraft.  Good news is that they are doing some new releases (sometimes of their older subjects) with better detail molding and more engine detail if you want to show off engine.

Well done!

Monty, what a pleasure to see your great work here, too!

Looks great!

Looking forward to see their new releases both new and older ones. Thanks Don.

Hi Thomas - Thanks again. Tis is a pretty massive forum, just by looking at the number of topics, sub-topics, members,  threads, et al.

Great job!  I had the pleasure of flying a real one, belonging to a friend, many years ago...Nice aircraft!

Really nice!! My old heart went pitty pitty pat when I saw that paint scheme. I owned N61JT for a number of years back in the late 70's - it's a B33-35. The pic will explain why perhaps --

I got to fly one once- the joke was on me.  I made up one of a foursome flying from St Louis (St. Charles to be exact) to Oshkosh for the fly-in.  Since I was a low time pilot, and the other three were ex-AF high time pilots, once we were in the air, the owner suggested I fly the rest of the way till we reached Oshkosh.  There was some mild turbulence and I had a real hard time keeping all the tail-waggle out of it.  The other guys really ribbed me on that flight.  Someone else flew it back home, and I learned that the tail wiggle was characteristic of that aircraft.  I think they had set that up in advance :-)

Don, getting the wiggle out is a matter of the toes.  Flying V-35B's with yaw dampers taught me that, just like doing instrument approaches with a good autopilot taught me how little input was needed for a good ILS approach.  The motion the tail makes is actually a figure 8, there is a pitch as well as a roll component if the motion is allowed to continue without correction.  Very light pressure with just your big toes (hard to do but still possible with your shoes on) is enough to damp it out entirely.  As usually in flying an airplane, it's more a matter of pressure than movement.

Man, that looks great and brings back many great memories. I worked for a Beech dealer for 10 years and did lots of 50 and 100 hour inspections on V tail Bonanza's. One thing I didn't see, maybe to camera angle, was the addition to the V tail mod that kept the tail from coming off. I installed plenty of these modifications to the later models.

I'm really new to static plastic models, I fly Rc stuff, but I know detail is what modeling is all about. After they found out V tails went so fast the tails fell off, they came out with an AD to add a cuff to the leading edge at the fuselage to hold the tail still. I could see where that little detail could be a real points winner in a contest! Hope this  helps someone.

this looks better than the real ones, which are real pieces of ....

wow, that's a really nice bird @Bick. Aside from the S/N, looks like the pin striping is identical!  Thanks for sharing your story.

It's just so great to meet modelers who had real experience on this aircraft - for better or worse. Again, thanks for sharing all your stories!

Cheers, Monty

Hi @DeafAviator - Hope yours will come up just as great. Perhaps I can share you a couple of photos from my WIP

Interior shots
Not much you can see after all the clear plastic windows go up.

Putty Galore
Some nasty gaps and steps to handle. Surface detail is great but fitting was rather a mix in the lower fuselage and nose section. Tamiya epoxy putty works wonders here.

Masking Mayhem
Lots of masking to do. Did everything with Tamiya masking tape. Really works like a charm

Thanks for the build pics :)

Hi @DeafAviator - Its some dio technique that i took over from the railroad folks. This has been my standard base for taking pics of a/c on turfs. Pretty simple and easy.

Here are a few work-in-progress photos. Hope this helps!

Getting Started

- Styrofoam base. I taped some masking tape on the edges so to get a nice border
- Turf materials which you can buy at your local railroad shop. I bought two types.
- Some very fine sand. different colors are preferred.
- Some fine saw dust. also in different colors.
- White glue, a container to dilute the glue in water
- Ice cream stick to stir the glue.
-mesh, to help filter the saw dust and fine sand.

Shake it

I kept a few plastic bags of sand in different colors. This one is a light yellow color. I used a mesh for cooking to make sure that I get only the finest grain.

Completed

Here is the completed turf. I did not want to make my turf looking like a soccer field, so I mixed the groundwork up with different colors of sand, and sawdust.

Works with 1/72

Here is a different angle with a 1/72 P-47D 'Razorback' Thunderbolt. You can see the turf's coverage and thickness.

Beautiful build!  Clean and crisp.  And great choice on the livery too!

Monty---awesome build and great tutorial on the base!  I built this kit way back in the last century and just found it in a box a couple of weeks ago.  Thought about a restoration since it's in pieces and you have provided inspiration. Again well done!!

That looks great Monty!I've always been a fan of the Bonanza series of aircraft.

I have one waiting to be built problem-its missing the top of the right wing :(

So is the V-35B a new mold that is in the stores now, or is it the Entex/Otaki/been around for awhile Minicraft  mold still?

Thanks, DA.

Hi Freem - Thanks for the comments. I wish you good luck on the restoration project and hope it goes well.  

All the best, Monty

Sorry to hear that @Heepey. The surface detail is excellent, despite its age. It really went well when I did the washing.