AMT A-20 done(dio)

I would be happy to be in the same leage as you Fermis. Well done my friend and congrads on a fine build or should I be sayin BUILDS. I dont think I will live long enough to catch up with Chucks awesome talant. I hope this sounds like a complement to both of you as it is ment to be.

 Thank you MASTER Chuck!!!!

Someday, I hope to be good enough to be able to compete with your work!!!!! You set the bar real high. Gives me something to reach for. I'm commin for ya!!!!!

This really is a piece of work- beautiful work!   I love the way your pilots came out looking so darned cocky-

Cheers!

chuk

Thanks very much everybody!!!!

I appreciate all the tips Hans, I completely understand the overhang thing. I had slapped together the base out in the garage out of scraps while building some cabinets, and it was kind of an afterthought to put it together with this build. I'll build another, a bit bigger, I've got almost three months til the next contest(region IV, in Warren MI, April 30-May 1) I'll take a little more time on this one and fix all the points I missed the first time around.

Rob, it was up in Bay City, I found out about it on Tuesday. Will you be going to the Warren show??? Hope so.

      FERMIS

Hans von Hammer

Heh... Druther have the cats poopin' in m' house than the dog or the wife passin' gas... (I got one each of them, too... An audibly flatulent pug with digestive problems and a wife that doesn't react well to my chili...)

If I was so inclined, I could buy a self-cleaning litter box...  Can't even get the wife to shut the bathroom door anymore..

TMI Hans!  

Nice job. Congrats on the award.

Congrats Fermis.  Very well deserved.  Where was the contest?

Congrats Fermis!  You know how to turn out some excellent finished products.

Brian

WELL DONE MATE!!!!!!! Just placing is an achievement in itself!!!! Well deserved!!

Was it at night? 

Seriously, congrats... You really  (pardon the pun) hammered that one out, and just in time, eh?

Now... Just my opinion, but you might have placed better if you'd had a bit bigger base to avoid the dreaded "over-hang"...  When I judged dioramas, I took points off for over-hang... Some would argue that criteria with me, but I remain unswayable on that point (and "cropping" aircraft & vehicles as well)...  That is, unless it's specifically noted in the judging criteria that it's to be ignored...   Over-hang makes it look like you tried to get away with making the story fit the base rather than the base fit the story... 

     I once gave a big goose-egg to a guy that duplicated a photo of a Luftwaffe pilot painting a kill-marking on the tail of his '109, even had the photo next to the model...  In the photo, it looked fine...  You could see enough of the tail to know it was a '109, but on a land-scaped base, with just a 1/32 scale tail section standing there on it's tailwheel, it looked ridiculous... A piece of an airplane and a guy painting somethin' on it... There were a couple other issues as well, too... Although his figure was really, REALLY well-painted, with beautiful blending of shadows and highlights, and really good work on the facial features & blending...  BUT... He painted the whites of the eyes white, with the inevitable "pop-eyed" results...  Ker-plunk again...Had he entered it in the "Small-Scale Figures" category, he probably would have done far better, or if he'd put it in a shadowbox...

     ANY-way, Kudos to you again, Pard... Be sure to send that sucker into the mag's Reader Gallery... You deserve some more recognition than what's available here in the Forum, IMNSHO... Even if you can't read a tape measure, lol..

Thank you very much a6m5!!!

Well it went to a contest today and took a Bronze in dio's!!!

Pretty awesome baby steps-I would be OVERJOYED if anything I ever built turned out this well...

Much thanks again SIM and Rob!!!

 I got her all done last night, all the dio work is over in the dio section, but since her came into life over here, I'll finish her off over here as well. A couple things could have been a bit better, mainly with the base, but whatever, I learned a thing or two......baby steps!!!!

Added a touch of smoke to the "Brass" and pilots cigs with a bit of stuffing from an old comforter.

B'DEE B'DEE B'DEE....That's all folks!!!

Furnace that is some great work Mate!!!!! Sorry couldn't resist!!

 Oh, that makes me laugh!!!! I'm pretty immature and find farts to be about the funniest thing on earth!!! All my friends have changed "Fermis" to "Furnace" on account of all the hot air being blown out!!!!!

   SICK!!!!!!

     Furnace!!!

Heh... Druther have the cats poopin' in m' house than the dog or the wife passin' gas... (I got one each of them, too... An audibly flatulent pug with digestive problems and a wife that doesn't react well to my chili...)

If I was so inclined, I could buy a self-cleaning litter box...  Can't even get the wife to shut the bathroom door anymore..

 But they still poop in your house!!!! If anybody poops in my house, it's gonna be me!!!!! My dogs go off into the woods, I don't even have to clean up the yard!!!! If you like cats, that's OK, I aint mad atchya!!! I just haven't met one that I liked yet.

One of the many reasons I won't ever have a cat. Evil little bastards!!!!

Actually, I like cats better'n dogs... Low maintenance, much quieter, practically born housebroken, vermin-killers, and EVIL little bastards...

It's just THIS particullar evil one I don't like much...  He's too high-strung and gets wound up at the drop of a hat.. But that'll change soon enough when he goes to the vet and I gets his marble-sack emptied...  Then he'll get fat & lazy like the th' other one I made a slipper out of..

WOW Fermis.  WOW....  You are a master.  Wish I would have seen this from the beginning.

Cheers

Hans von Hammer

Technically... I made a pair of slippers out of him...

 Awesome!!!!! One of the many reasons I won't ever have a cat. Evil little bastards!!!!

 Got a bunch of work done last night.

  As promised, details on how I make a turret cover.

 I started by thermo-forming the top piece.

I cut it off around the edges of the fuselage and up high, where the crewman will be lifting it up. I cut an eye shape out of alum foil.

I cut the foil in half, to make it easier to work with. It's a real PITA because everything is so flimsy. I then cut out the middle portion, about  1/8" inside the ring, and cut little tabs to glue inside the top(thermoform)piece.

After doing the other side, I stuck in my wire gun barrels(lost the real guns, bent wire to a "U"shape. I used small rectangle pieces of foil to make the gun sleeves, and built up glue where they meet the main part of the cover. I painted the inside, and added some fibric "ripples" with testors clear glue.

After painting, some more riplles were needed.

Installed!

For the rest of the dio work, I'm gonna start a new thread over in the dio section. Hope to see you there!!!

    FERMIS

Technically... I made a pair of slippers out of him...

Hans? The cat still kicking? lol

ww2psycho

Hey Fermis, I'm hoping to get the fusalage together this weekend. Did you cut off the machine gun barrels before masking the turret?

I never installed the guns. Then I lost them. I just used some wire for the barrels. With a cover on it, you wouldn't see the guns anyway. I'll have more pics up in the A.M.

Hey Fermis, I'm hoping to get the fusalage together this weekend. Did you cut off the machine gun barrels before masking the turret?

Heh, just keepin' ya honest, my friend...  

I did something similar, posing the armorers transferring 20mm linked from the crate to the mags for my Tigercat while a couple more were hand-pumping fuel into the left wing tank from drums.... Used the Tamiya 1/48th fuel drums an' a scratch-buit pump & hose assy with solder fuel hose...  Didn't get to finish it though...  My housecat knocked out my Tigercat...

I forgot to mention a ladder, and figured you'd be the first to catch that Hans!!!

 It's in the plans, I'm also gonna scratch a couple ammo crates. Maybe a couple fuel/oil drums off in the corner somewhere also.

Gonna need a step-ladder or workstand for those ground-guys up on the aircraft...  

 Awe, come on Psycho, put the dog in the kennel and get building!!!!!

Sim, believe it or not, I first tried to cut off the end of my drill bit ti use for the oleo, couldn't find my hacksaw and the steel bit I had in a skillsaw didn't even scuff the drill bit. The nail is a touch undersized, but close enough for me!!!

 Got the figs all done and painted up, using Testors enamels.

I wanted the pilot figs to have wool lined flight jackets(I love them things!!!). So, Monograms pilot figs needed altering. I used testors clear glue around the cuffs and collar and skrinkled on some model RR turf.

I thinned some white(half n half, paint/thinner) and touched it to the "wool", allowing capilary action to pull it through the wool.

This worked so well, I just left it as is for final painting. I copied a couple ref pics that I took a few years ago at a local airshow.

I added the rest of the straps for the May West using thin strips of Tamiya tape.

And the rest of the guys all painted up.

  Now, I'm under the gun, there is a local(ish) contest comming up on Saturday. The last three shows I've gone to have seen a build finished late the night before or in the wee hours the morning of. Three days!!! I aint scared!!!

Fermis, That ,again, is looking AWESOME!!! Just looks "RIGHT"!!! Mate of mine built a 1/32 F-14 and used cut off drill bits for his oleos. I must say, after seeing it in person, was just speechless!!! IT ACTUALLY HAD THE MOST REALISTIC HYDRAULIC RAM EFFECT I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!!!!!! When you use real metal to achieve the metal look......need I say more? You r nose oleo is spot on!!!!