Julez--I saw a review of the Italeri AR 196 in the Sept. FSM and thought it looked fantastic.  Please build one so I can see how it goes.

Stickpusher--Very nice precise work.  Keep the pictures coming.

Damon---Love the finished Fulmar. 

Well, I got a note from the postman that I think means the pit for my DO 17Z is here from Eduard.  They emailed that it shipped on 8/9!!!  Vacation time in Europe?  I will be starting it as soon as I finish the D-13 in RD III GB.

Hugh, i've cut sprue and hope to have the office done and wip pics up by the end of the weekend

Stik the Spit is looking great so far!!! Looking forward to more pics!!!

Julez-

Next week on my days off. I work till Monday so my hobby time is minimal for the next few days. I ahd it all placed together jsut to get an idea of the size. Almost to the point where things really start coming together!

Stik, looking forward to seein some more of your work...Hook into it

Sim, thats right your a floatplane fan eh, you should like this one then....I've studied the instructions and parts and even cleaned all the parts up for the office, hopefully i'll shoot some RLM 02 on it tonight and start detail work tomorrow...I think i'll build paint and weather the floats seperatly and join em on just before the final coat...

Hi, darson:  it is late "in the day," but I have been admiring the work in this group build for several months--and then I ran across two partially finished Airfix 1/72 Hurricanes I didn't know I had.  It looks like the paint pulled off when I "de-masked" them a couple of years ago, and I put them away and forgot about them.  So, I would like to join up with this group build and finish them finally.  I plan on marking them for 310 Squadron during the battle.

I've also go an Airfix 1/72 Spitfire to do, just started--which I plan to mark for 610 Squadron.

Please sign me up!  Thanks.

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Damon- wow the Fulmar looks terrific! Really love the great weathered look you did on the camo.

Checkmate- nice Hurricanes, looking forward to seeing them done.

Checkmate, to the GB, looking forward to seein some of your work

Julez72

Checkmate, to the GB, looking forward to seein some of your work

 

good to see some of the unsung heroes!

Thank you for the welcome.  I have repainted both Hurricane undersurfaces (Sky), and spent today making some cutout masks.  Both were painted in the "B" scheme.  I hope to apply the dark earth this weekend, but we are in the process of moving the youngest daughter to college, so this might slow the process.

I have the Spitfire interior and cockpit painted--which is sparse:  a seat and floor; no instruments represented, not even a joystick; but you couldn't see much through the canopy if I did detail it.  There was a hole in the seatback, for a tab attached to the pilot figure, that I filled and sanded--a little tricky where the back and seat came together.  I don't plan to use the pilot.  Now I will need to attach the wings to the fuselage and fill the join seams.

I am looking forward to seeing more of the work produced by this group build too.

I am behind on some progress pics but work is continuing on the D0-24. First up was the underside  RLM 65

Then came the overall coat of RLM 73 let dry for a few days then it was masked off for the following colour of RLM 72

Of course I broke off a machine gun in the process, never to be seen again. Then last night I got the RLM 72 on and the masks removed

I was not too impressed with the contrast between the two colours. They blend very close together and I was expecting a bigger difference. Going to let it dry for a day or so then I might spray a very highly diluted buff overall for a weathering and blending effect and hope it brings out the two colours better and give it a worn and used effect. I am building this like a biplane doing all the work in subassemblies for easier access to weather and paint then put it all together when done

Steve

Steve she's looking good mate!!!! Know what you mean about the contrast. I have some color chips for 74 and 75 and the same thing. Going to try and seperate them enough to contrast in color, then overall spray to blend.

Steve your doing a smashing job, looks very nice so far

Nice progress on the spitfire stikpusher, look forward to more soon.

checkmate, please post more asap.

Damon you did a lovely job on the Fulmar, top marks!!!

Keep up the good work chaps.

Cheers...

Steve:  looks great so far! Afraid it's kinda hard for me to tell how much contrast you're getting from the photos but I think she looks really good.

Gosh, I am so tempted to pull out a BF-109 I picked up a month or so ago and start on it though I'd be doing it on my own since I'd never get it done under the deadline here.

Steve, looking good to me It's hard to spot the contrast in the pics but i know what you mean..

Steve the Do looking good. I can't wait to see it come together.

After a long delay I have finally made a bit of progress on my old Hasegawa E-3. This kit is a real dud. The wing to fuselage fit took a bunch of fiddling to get the upper wing surface flush with the fuselage joint. I had to break the upper wing free from the lower and jam some shims on top of the wheel well roofs to push the upper half of the wing up to meet the fuselage. Now lots of sanding to smooth out all of the seams.

Soulcrusher

SC she's looking good mate!!!!

Steve - The Dornier looks scrumptious!!!   What manufacturer paints did you use? I've used the Pollyscale acrylics before and the 70/71 colors were very close to each other. MM enamels have a much greater contrast between 70 & 71... I like them better. In many old color photos I've seen, it's hard to see the different colors in the splinter camo. The planes usually look all one color until you look closely.

Check out this link if you haven't seen it... very interesting! 

http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2002/11/stuff_eng_profile_luftwaffe_bomber_camo.htm

SC - Glad to see you got a start! Sorry to hear this kit has troubles. I built the Hasegawa E-4/7 and it went together beautifully.

Thanks Richie. She does not look like much yet but it will soon if I can get my bum in gear!

Jeremy I have the Hasegawa 1/48 Me 109 E-4/7 in the stash also. I just took a peak in the box and there are the same molds. I really do not like the way the parts break down on this kit. It makes for a flimsy fit in some areas like the lower cowl and wing assemblies. I gave the wings a good squeeze before taping them together and it might have crushed them a bit. After adding filler to alot of seams and letting it dry I went at it with the sanding stick last night. Right of the bat I broke one of the wing cannons off! After a little sanding and shaping all of the seam went away nicely. I really though it was going to be worse. The only area that I spend alot of time on was the lower cowl. I wanted to get the right look to the oil cooler opening and all of the small openings so I thinned them out and drilled out the front of the exhaust sheilds to get the proper look. I am much happier with it now.

Soulcrusher

Same mold huh?   That answers the question I posted over at Swannys. At least you've got it sorted out. Fit problems or not, you'll make a gem out of her for sure!

Crusher, Nice progress so far, looking forward to seeing that one built up, always good to see you in action

Thanks Jules! It just seems much harder to get my rear into action these days!

Soulcrusher

I was able to mask and repaint my two elderly Hurricanes yesterday.  Here's one ready to get the new paint job.  I used masking tape, cut to match a similar commercial offering no longer available.  The color of this photo seems to be a little off, maybe because of the flourescent lightbulbs in the kitchen.  This is painted in the standard RAF Dark Earth from Model Master.

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Airfix must have produced two variations of the Hurricane.  This one has pronounced rivets and was boxed for a Mk I/II.  The other version has raised panel lines and is boxed for a Mk I.  Even the propellor attachments differed.  This one pictured had to have the propeller installed before closing the fuselage; the other doesn't.

I finished painting last night and pulled the masks away.  But since the colors in the photo turned out so unusual, I will try taking them in natural light and posting the results.

Thanks for looking.  Enjoy Labor (or should I say "Labour?") Day.

I build three Hurricanes for this GB the last time. One was the 1/48 Airfix Mk I It went together pretty nice and looked good when done even with the raised panel lines. I replaced most of the Airfix small parts with the ones from the Hasgawa kit that had been robbed of some of it's other parts.  It really help bring the looks of the kit a notch.

Soulcrusher

Ouch, SC. I feel your pain on that wing root problem but it sounds like you have the fix in hand. Looking forward to seeing it with some paint on it.

Jeremy, I am using MM enamels and have always loved them for their accuracy. The thing I liked about this scheme is that its uppers are RLM 72 and 73. I knew the colours were going to be close to each other but I wanted to see a bit of contrast. Your right about the pics of these birds in action and all the colours do start to blend into each other even the 70 and 71. I have now lightened the 72 with some white and put it on hap hazardly to show some wear and then post shaded the panels with Tamiya smoke. There will be a lot more weathering done on it as I have decided to give it a very worn look. I just gloss coated with testors and its taking its time in drying. hope to have pics soon

Steve

Yup Steve I gave it a real dirtty look and it got so scared the wing joint lined itself up all on its own!

Soulcrusher

Here are my two (1/72 Airfix) Hurricanes demasked.  The green still looks to me to have a bluish tint in the photos, but this does not come through in "life"--the RAF Dark Green looks fine.  Now there is some touch up from airbrush overspray, and other fine points.

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I'm not planning on adding an extra stuff, except the decals and perhaps the wheels.  The kit wheels are pretty weak, and I will either have to buy commercially produced wheel masks or replace the wheels with aftermarket, just to simplify painting them.

Checkmate, good looking set of hurricanes you have there. They are comming along nicely. Decals should be interesting to see.

On the Do-24 front I am progressing into the decal stage of the build. Here are a few pics of the weathering and bashing up I have done. Think I went too hard on the panel shading with the smoke but I hope to blend it with some more weathering. I took a lot of pics to try show the the contrast of the colours and these two were the best I came up with.

I have decaled the wing but had to stop as the glosscoat wasent fully cured and hope to get onto the fuselage this weekend. Hope you guys can see the effect I am going for, a well used and worn seaplane

Steve

Nice work everyone and sorry for not posting in so long..Here are some WIP pics of the Spitfire and 109 (both 1/72 "older" molds from Airfix). First the Spitfire..

This will be displayed in flight, hence no prop..

And the 109

I'm also working on Airfix's Defiant (well named - it's a shocker of a kit!) and trying to give it a new nose, courtesy of a Hurricane...more on that again.

All the best,

Dermot

I am always impressed by the tiny detail work in 1/72! Very nice!

Here are a couple shots of the progress I made in adding detail to the wheel wells. All I need to do now is create the dividing bulkhead between the wheel and strut portions of the gear wells, then I can get it all glued together.