Eye In The Sky GB - January 2010 - October 2010

Art, B-17 and Randy, Excellent work there guys!!! Looking forward to more!!!!

Mr. Porter gets teeths.

Up front I want to say that I cheated. The kit came with sharks teeth decals that were white, black & red. The a/c that I'm doing had black teeth with a tan mouth. I scanned the decal sheet and taped it down on top of some masking material and started carving. Below are the results.

In this pic you can see where I cut out the mask.

Art

Can't wait to see Mr. Porters dentures!!!

Hello all,

I am declaring myself officially complete on the Storch, with a * beside my name. The plane is done to my eye (in person) and ready for shelf duty. BUT, I plan to keep working on a proper diorama base to display it on. A few of my earlier pictures show a fuel drum & some access panels piled near it. I'll be doing that, with maybe a workbench & some ski marks laying in the snow. And once I get it on the base I will likely do a little more weathering to blend it in with the surrondings, but that is for a later date. Some final (for now) pics:

OK, so what was added to finish it off - rear gunner's glass & gun in place, auxiliary fuel tank, pitot tube, access door, landing light, wingtip lights, hand painted repairs to swastika + cross decals as mentioned earlier, a pair of blade-like items underwing near the cabin (not sure what they are?), some more light weathering. When I finally get the base done I'll have to post some more pics.

Aggieman, thanks for running the group build and allowing me to pull a cross-build with the Storch. I've had a great time sharing pics & keeping an eye on the others in progress. Now that I can take a breath I need to run through the thread from the start because I know I've missed some pics along the way. Keep up the great work guys & thanks again,

Vance

VanceCrozier I really like your build ! Love the paint job and the fact you left the lower cowling off to show the engine. I do hope you will be posting a picture or two when you get your dio finished I am looking forward to seeing that.

Time for .........well past time for some WIP pictures, heres where I am at so far.

Got the fuse glued together but found the turret had to go in before gluing sooooooo I am expecting to have troubles masking it when it comes time for paint.

With the help of my trusty heat gun, a bunch of clamps, and careful gluing I got the warp out of the outer wing panels. Me thinks it was more a case of luck than skill.

And finally I just had to show off my figures again before they are hidden by the canopy. Hope you guys like this old kit build.

Vance the Storch looks awesome Mate!!!!! Really like the paint job!!!!!!!! Very very convincing fiels applied winter wash.

Randy your Avenger is coming along fine, looking good!!!! I would hate to be the turret gunner and have that thing going off right in my ear!!!!!!

Vance, you have done awesome work with your Storch!  Thanks for sharing your build with all of us.  I love the weathering that you've managed with her, and I can see the appeal of putting that bird into a diorama.  (I recently did that with another Luftwaffe build I did, a Tamiya Me262, which is a kit I highly recommend, btw).

Randy, just looking at your pics, I am reminded of my childhood when I built that Avenger kit probably half a dozen times.  It's a great kit that was always a lot of fun to put together.

Yeah Aggieman I built one of these once way back when also, only had flat black and silver paint and the tube glue LOL. I do admit to living out a second or maybe even 3rd childhood at times in this hobby Hopefully this one will be looking better than the first one I built.

vetteman42

 Hopefully this one will be looking better than the first one I built.

 

I have no doubts about that Randy!!!!!

Thanks for all the comments guys, and keep up the great work. For anyone that has mentioned it, yes, I will be dropping the Storch into a diorama, likely over the summer as I have a group build obligation to finish up first. The removed panels, fuel drum, a figure or two, probably a work bench & tool box etc. out in the open. I'll post some pics as it starts forming up. It'll be my first so I'll likely be asking some questions along the way.

But back to the "eye in the sky" theme for a moment. I was digging through the stash over Easter and spotted one I had forgotten about: 1/72 Henschel 126 from Italeri. Anyone have any experience with this kit? Raised panels & fabric control surfaces actually look quite good; interior detail is zero and the included pilots are horrible. Anything else I should know? Will there be another "Eyes" group build in the future?!

Vance that might be a reboxing of the old Matchbox kit which I built back in the '80s sometime, and from what I remember, it fit nicely but had a very thick canopy. HTH 

Thanks simpilot - I love being able to check the backgrounds with those who've already cracked a kit open! I'll have to check inside the fuselage halves, see if there is any evidence of a matchbox stamp.

Vance,

Will there be another "Eyes" group build in the future?!

Someone informed me there had already been an "Eyes" GB prior to this one, so I'm sure a third (?) will pop up at some point.  As for your forgotten kit, there would still be time for a second build in this GB if you have the time.

Aggieman

 

..... As for your forgotten kit, there would still be time for a second build in this GB if you have the time.

No time, no time!! I've got a couple of 1/72 birds in the works now for a "pacific" GB, that'll take me into softball season so I don't dare commit to anything until October, if all goes well! I'll keep an eye open (insert groan here) for the next installment though.

Vance

^

I thought that might be the case Vance.  Perhaps someone will run another Eyes GB ....

I have been somewhat busy at the desk recently although I've not managed to take any pictures.  The Arado has received its first coat of paint, licht blau on the underside surfaces and tonight I put down a coat of Future.  I am hoping to get enough time to finish the initial painting by the weekend and get some pictures posted.

Guys thought I would give you a bit of an update on my Avenger build. I kept looking at the turret and thinking about the masking I will have to do when I paint it. The more I thought about how I was going to mask it the more nervous I became sooooooooo. I spent a couple of days splitting the rear of the fuse apart again removing the turret and hand painting the frame on it.  So here is a pic of my wobbly handed frame painting should be worth a giggle or two LOL

Now that I have gotten over this worry maybe I can get on with the build

I know how you feel Randy!!! I spent a few weeks just pondering masking the greenhouse on my Jake in 1/72 and then spent a couple sessions over a couple days masking it all out. I purchased a dvd from ebay awhil back that I would recommend to everybody!!!! It is titled ' Realistic WWII aircraft finishing techniques". In it Geoff Illsley explains the easiest way to mask and spray a canopy I have ever seen. Makes an He-111, Ju-88, or Ca-311 look easy!!!

Hey guys... sorry I've been absent here for awhile.

Steven - The Arado is coming along. Nice work on the cockpit!

B17 - When are we going to see some paint on that Mosquito?

Art - The masking for the teeth is amazing. I have to try that someday... great tip.

Vance - What can I say? The Storch looks wonderful. I love the weathering and the winter camo. Well done!

Randy - Good work on the Avenger. I once had that kit and it ended up being donated to the spares box due to the horribleness (is that real) of it. You have your work cut out for you but you always seem to make something beautiful out of those nasty old kits.

Richie - One of these days I'm gonna see you build something... maybe!

I finally finished my little Taifun. 1/48 Eduard Bf-108 just to refresh your memory. OOB, no weathering, no nuthin'. Nice and simply and fun. Here you go...

Hope you like it and thanks for letting me be a part of this group build.

Jeremy, congrats on the Taifun. She looks great.

My teeth came out alright.  I hope to post some pics tonight or tomorrow.

Art

Mods, please delete this post.

Art

Well, here she is. I still have a little touching up to do and add the wheels & decals.

I'm not real happy with the paint. I have a LOT of flaws. Being the first kit that I've done in a couple of years, I suppose that I coulda done worse.

Art

Jeremy you are correct on that!!! hehehe Gotta dullcoat my Jake in the War in the Pacific GB and that should be done soon, and have just started a 262 for the DOR GB II,hopefully will get that one done by the end of May.  Your Taifun is just stunning!!!!! Very clean and proper build as if restored for museum display!! BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!

Art your teeth and paint look great!!!!

Jeremy, your Taifun looks great!

Art, fabulous painting on your Peacekeeper.  Especially like the teeth and eye.

jmabx

B17 - When are we going to see some paint on that Mosquito?

Actually been wondering that myself!  Been extremely busy at work the past two weeks.  And have been gone on the past two weekends.  When I try to get her painted, something else draws me away.   I should have her painted this week!!  Or at least that's the plan.  She's been sitting on the bench waiting to be painted, starring at me saying, "Well?"  In the mean time I did get the landing gear started. Hopefully have an update this week.

Hey on another note, excellent work on your Taifun!

Progress pictures of my Arado:

Aggie she's coming along fine!!!! Looking forward to seeing her on floats soon!!!

simpilot34

Aggie she's coming along fine!!!! Looking forward to seeing her on floats soon!!!

  Nice work on that canopy framing too!

Jmabx Very very well done The Tailfun looks fantastic, a beautiful restoration subject. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Artabr What do you mean not happy with the paint job, your Peacekeeper looks great. Love the camo and the sharkmouth.  Hurry up I wanna see decals and wheels.

Aggieman your Arado is coming along well and looking good. Just wish my canopy masking worked as well as yours does. May I ask what color yellow you used on the wing tips ? It looks very close to a Cub yellow which I have been looking for but havent found yet for a J-3 Cub build I will be doing soon.

Made some progress on the Avenger today and will have some pictures tomorrow evening.

Randy, it's simply German yellow (Gelb).