OFFICAL NO AFTERMARKET Group Build

Ok, I think I've finished with the cockpit for now. I made covers for the instruments out of some masking tape painted Olive drab.

I've sewn the bird up but there are a lot of cracks. Lots of Miliput needed for this one.

Cheers

Nomad68 Hey bud glad to see you back at the bench Sometimes one has to walk away from a frustrating build, its  the best thing to do really. Then as you did you come back and make a fine repair . I can see nothing wrong with nor a lack of scratch building skills in the least. The Calypso is looking mighty fine, been missing seeing her here too.

Capser your build is on the front page, but I am beginning to worry about you my friend. Now you are scratch building ejection seats in 1/100 scale ? Did I get that right ? And doing a swell job of it to boot.  Ya have it bad man ya need help. You are addicted to that terrible scratch building bug and we are NOT here to help, We are here to promote that addiction to the fullest

Casper the Chihuahua

Fiddly painitng that looked just passable. It wasn't until I'd given it a heavily thinned oil wash that the details popped!

Cheers

Wait !!!! Thats a pin ??? Oh buddy you do need help

Oh my time to get this group off of page 2 with some WIP pictures

The Seahawk is coming along now that I can paint again.

Got it all masked and preshaded, figured I would give the method another try.

The preshading is looking pretty good to me.

Next up will be decals and there seem to be a million of them. But first ................

These rotors look a bit boring and well lacking so ...........

A bit of wire and a touch of paint helps them out a bunch I think. Hope you like

vetteman42,

Nice work on the pre shading & rotor details. I really like the tail rotor, excellent application of the yellow. 10x more decals than parts kind of is intimidating to say the least. Oh well everyone has their favorite aspects of model building.

Decals make me nervous unless there are plenty of spares! Nothing worse than mucking one up and realizing there is nothing to replace it!

Have made a humble start on scratch building a building. I will try and get some WIP's posted later today.

Time passes...

Two firsts! Actually three for me. 

Never built a building before yet alone scratch built one & first time modeling with drywall.

First lesson is use the side that is white, the brown paper side has way more 'bubbles' entrained so I resorted to Tamiya putty filler to correct some. Used a flat razor to lift the paper off & scrape away.

Here is the rough draft with approximate dimensions given the Hetzer is 30mm tall:

*Note: Drywall sucks up paint! Get a rattle can of cheap sandable primer.

Cut up a old hair clipper guide to make a dry wall line cutter. The tips are 5mm across after removing every other one, I would have preferred 4mm but heh whats 1mm? Well 72 in this scale but must soldier on...

Expect lots of mess! Drilled holes then used the burr Dremel tool bit. It worked very well and care was taken to keep away from edges as it liked to 'walk' around.

A large metal file helped speed up clean up. Always push and not pull as it chips the dry wall. Made a custom tool to clean out the recesses shown in white. Will re-paint and fill some more holes, interesting that Tamiya putty is the exact color of light gray auto primer...

Anyhow the momentum is begun so I will try and keep the WIP's fresh!

Supressionfire looks to me like you are headed in the right direction so far. I will be watching your dio with great interest, I haven't done one yet either.

Actually the kit decals were the easiest part of this build, there were a bunch of them but they behaved beautifully. Even the long fine stripes didnt give me any trouble at all. Decaling isnt one of the things I love to do to be sure.

Ok so I am calling the Seahawk finished. My very first helicopter build ever, there are some mistakes but it came out well I think.

I like the way the seat belts look through the windshield.

The rotors were well worth the effort of adding the hydrolic lines I think.

Randy,

a very nice helo, I like it a lot. Maybe a little too clean, but it's a very personal question. Congratulations on the completed build and have a nice day

Paweł

vetteman42,

Great job on the helicopter!

How hard was the bright orange to paint? I be thinking you had a base coat of white to get the color so vibrant.

Ruffled some feathers by model building this weekend, hormonal & emotional woman stuff. All good as she starts school on the 31st and I have Mondays off! he he, yet I will try and sneak a hour in now & then during the week.

great looking Helo, vetteman! 

OWL

Thank you Pawel, Suppressionfire and Miss Owl for the complements.

I do wish to thank Pawel for a great idea finishing the ALQ-144 CM beacon with the metalic tape, that one had me banging my head against the wall trying to figure a way to do that.

Supressionfire actually there is no undercoat under the red-orange paint. In fact I was a bit worried about it as there was black preshading under most of it. Was one of those ruhrow moments to be honest.

The paint I used was Talon Florescent Red-Orange. Like the NMF paints it wants to be misted on in a number of coats, at first it looks like you get no coverage, then by the 4th coat you have color. I sprayed on the 5th coat I had great color but the preshading was showing way too much. The 6th coat came out perfectly to my eye. The preshading was still showing panel lines but is very very subtle. For my setup I spray Talon at 14psi and just barely crack the needle on my airbrush.

Ok I'm going to call this F-14 Tomcat done!

I'm also a bit annoyed with myself, some crappy decaling (thanks Academy, me thinks there quality control doesn't crossover to the 1/100th and smaller scales) and very bad misalignment of parts. Notably the canopy fit so badly I had to do some Miliput and some when wet seeped in under the gap into the cockpit Grrr... If only that was it. I must remember the mantra "any bird with a nose wheeel MUST have weights installed in the nose prior to sealing the fuselage. I again forgot and the only place it could go was cut up lead balls being pushed in between the front seat and the front instrument panel to the nose (in a vertical position) and then supa glue being carefully squirted in the same direction. That went fine except I think I rushed the plane back to horizontal without allowing the glue to set, got the masked canopy on, heard some rattles and assumed they had just shifted a bit.

When I removed the canopy mask I found that one bit had wedged against the roof of the canopy on top of the front seat and another had gotten in under the front windshield covering the HUD. Without looking too closely it looks like a pilots helmet but I spent so much time scratching the cockpit its a bit of a disappointment! And last but not least the super glue on the wandering weights then fogged up parts of the very carefully painted and Futured canopy. Apart from that I thought the paint job came out nice...

Ok back to 1/48 scale now. Thanks for taking the time to read my rant!

Cheers

Randy - glad I could be of assistance!

Casper - the Tomcat looks good, pity about the cockpit. Your story reminds me of this 1/144 Revell Tomcat my little brother wanted me to build for him - the very model my E-2C was a follow-up to. Well this Revell model was really bad, and it's worst part was the canopy. It was so thick and distorting, you couldn't see the crappy cockpit through it anyhow, and to make it worse it didn't fit neither. To put it all together I was forced to glue the canopy in place, putt/fill and sand it and then paint the windows dark colour airliner style. My bro was happy he got the model, I was happy the struggle was over... But every model is a learning experience, and learning is good, to put some optimism in the ending... Good luck with your next project and have a nice day

Paweł

Casper the Chihuahua,

Nice job on the Tomcat. 1/100 is gaining a foothold again as I notice more new releases in this scale, mostly WWII armor from the Eastern front more specifically the Battle of kursk. Possibly war gamers have taken a interest in this scale.

I would like to see more variety in 1/144 scale armor and HO (1/87 scale) is detailed enough to be interesting and a large scene will not take up 1/2 a room!

Progress on the Post office:

'It hit me like a diamond bullet shot through my forehead...'

I had realized the struggle filling drywall with plastic filler, not to mention the waste of precious Tamiya putty. Drydex to the rescue! Now the parts were together there was a nasty seam in the corner, Drydex is drywall filler! So I went ahead and filled all gaps including the over scale ones between the stone layers:

It applys light pink and cures in about 15 min. (depending on thickness) to a off white. I dry sanded with 400 grit wet paper on a sheet of glass, going lightly replacing the paper when dust built up. After the paper was rinsed off to be reused.The stone layers were re-scribed with a straight edge + a fine saw blade using the old ones as a rough guide.

'Chopped top' The reference pictures show the building in good shape yet it is 7 stories tall! I only wanted to model 2+ and decided to chop at a angle vrs anything else to have the illusion its not bombed out and continues skyward.I figured a 'thought bubble' cut-out would imply damage and not intact.

Another thick layer of light gray primer is on, hope to get the scene together this weekend!

Casper sweet Tomcat you have there I like the way you weathered it and the fact that it is from VF-41. I'm surprised to see so much detail in that small a scale not to mention the detail you added to it. The wash really made it all stand out nicely. Well done sir

I will get the front page updated shortly with your build Casper. I am really impressed with that little Tomcat.

Supressionfire I would never have thought of using dry wall to make the building with, looks like it is working out very well for ya. I will be keeping this in mind for my first dio. I have heard of some using dry wall patch as a filler, like putty on their models, but think it would be way too corse. Any thoughts on that Supressionfire ?

vetteman42

I am really impressed with that little Tomcat.

Supressionfire I would never have thought of using dry wall to make the building with, looks like it is working out very well for ya. I will be keeping this in mind for my first dio. I have heard of some using dry wall patch as a filler, like putty on their models, but think it would be way too coarse. Any thoughts on that Supressionfire ?

Drywall is interesting to work with, here are my learning's so far :

Pros: Inexpensive, easy to sand / shape, manufactured in various thicknesses with realistic texture for larger scales ie stone walls, rock & debris.

Cons: Messy, brittle, removal of backing paper.

Far as the filler goes I learned use plastic filler for plastic, while drywall specific filler works better for drywall!

The Drydex filler spreads easy as the photographs show, it cures fast and sands easy to the point I would call it delicate. Not recommended for handling until a coat of paint to seal & set the surface. I have not used it for modeling applications accept for what you see, yet the small tub is now in the materials quiver for future use!

Thanks for the praise guys!

Although I am aiming for a 'mistake free' Mirage 2000 NMF II build. So far the Zero and the Meteor have been the only builds without a mistake.

Oh well practice makes perfect (one day)

Cheers

Randy very cool helo buddy i like the look of the rotor and the cool decals on the tail, well donenever seen you do a preshade before, the affect looks great...

casper, nice job on the little Tomcat mate...one of these days i'll get around to doing a jolly rogers tomcat.

Jason, Very interesting stuff your doing there, i'm leaning towards vignettes for my builds, just need to clear all the GB commitments first

Julez72

Jason, Very interesting stuff your doing there, i'm leaning towards vignettes for my builds, just need to clear all the GB commitments first

Well I tend to beat to a slower drum... almost a coma pace! I have signed up for a few GB's yet my speed of building will not enable completion in most. Here are the current ones I am signed up in:

'Weathering GB' ~ Ambitions to model a knocked out Jagpanther almost OOB

'Automotive GB' ~ Have a 49 'Merc with the top chopped band plan on a 'motor switch' vignette

'NMF II' ~ May beg vetteman42 for a extension into NMFIII LOL

Never started 'Reich Defender III 190' ~ Have a F-8 and decals to Canadianize a captured unit.

I feel shame and like I let the group(s) down yet I prefer taking my sweet time tinkering with scratch built bits. Although the GB's are motivation to build and complete.

Did complete:

'No AM GB', '38(t)', 'Defenders Me 262', '1/144 scale GB', Battle of Britain' (just a figure for that one) and of course 'Weekend Madness'

Progress on the vignette:

Scratching away on the post office, have a balcony 90% complete for the upper door, I will show this on a later WIP. Shown below is the Tamiya putty peeling off the drywall! Removed and filled with Drydex.

Clobbering the cobble stone! Because the scene is based on a Grannet tile which is polished smooth I needed something with 'grip' to build from. Millputty to the rescue! Old carton which was not fun to knead. Used it up, flattened out and coated with Gold Bond medicated Talc powder (for sore fingers) lol actually my regular Talc (baby) powder was in the shed. Once happy it was flat I pressed a regular window screen in to the putty to make the cobble stone pattern. A hole will become a sewer cover as sewers were a big part of the success of the resistance.

* Figure this would be a good technique to model Zim in 1/48 scale *

Yeah it's very easy to get overcommited with Gb's, i can find a subject that i like for most of the current Gb's here but even at a fairly respectable build rate i still have trouble getting it all done...This year i'm going to only join a few Gb's i think

WIP PICS

First up is the Eduard 190 A-5, this is a tricky little kit with very fine tolerences, everything has to be put in the right way or it leaves large gaps

Next up is the Tamiya A-8...Randy i releived my Eduard BF110 of it's seat belts for this one but if it's a no go for this GB i'll just do the eduard one for here

Both of the FW 190's have the black and white engine cowl denoting staff aircraft of JG1

Thats all from me for now, i'll have some more WIP's in the next couple of days

Julez72,

Your Fw-190 is looking great, will note this build when I get around to building my Edward F-8

Not getting enough 'bench' time as of late to get any noticeable amount of progress on the vignette. Have made modest gains and hope to post some WIP's tonight or tomorrow.

SuppressionFire

Julez72,

Your Fw-190 is looking great, will note this build when I get around to building my Edward F-8

Not getting enough 'bench' time as of late to get any noticeable amount of progress on the vignette. Have made modest gains and hope to post some WIP's tonight or tomorrow.

Tomorrow arrives...

Just getting a few details together for the Post Office:

Tried CA glue to form round posts for the balcony corners, either I was impatient or should have done in several thin layers it never worked out.

Instead I turned a few out of sprue frame with a B+D 3/8" chuck variable speed drill and a coarse triangle file. Made a few and matched up the two that were closest to each other:

Here is the balcony with purple styrene details! Actually the purple is a pen 'donated' to the cause and cut apart with above said drill & a hobby saw. The figure will be modified in a sitting position and a bit of battle damage done to the hand rail & right post:

* need to pick up more stock styrene next time @ LHS, its so much nicer to work with than household plastic bits...

Very cool SP, the round posts certainly look the part...It's all in 1/72 scale isn't it???

Julez wow you are really moving along on that 190 build, lookin good bud . Oh and yes the seat belt swap is ok, came from another kit and was not AM I am using a figure from the 1/32 Academy F-16 kit for my Revell F-16C build a form of kit bashing, well sorta

Supressionfire looking great man I love the rail caps you made and the cobble effect you got with the putty and screen. I am learning quite a bit from watching your dio as I did watching the Chwat come to life.

Tanks Julez & vetteman42!

Here is one of two photographs the vignette is based on. Will add the large wire reels and the other miscellaneous debris assembled to make the crude barricade.

Unfortunately there are three items that look like large gray plastic garbage bins that I have no clue what they are and may keep them out of the scene.

There is another picture at a more direct angle, it shows some furniture piled close to Chwat on the driver's side.

Once again lack of bench time is holding this project back! Hope to login more hours and get this one done before spring!

Supressionfire those look like the old metal ( tin) garbage cans. The one in the foreground looks like the lid slightly off with a piece of maybe wood sticking out of it.

vetteman42

Supressionfire those look like the old metal ( tin) garbage cans. The one in the foreground looks like the lid slightly off with a piece of maybe wood sticking out of it.

Tanks vetteman42!

Would the WWII era garbage cans be corrugated & galvanized like the ones I remember as a kid?

The picture is little help to figure them out, any help (reference picture) would be greatly appreciated and bet your last dollar if I can identify and get them scratch built close to the picture I will!

Mmm they look smooth, if i were to hesitate a guess id say galvanised....

Supressionfire  this picture may help you out.

The detail of the cans in your picture isn't very good but the profile is what makes me think they are trash cans and this style trash can goes back as far as I can remember. Have even seen them in movies from the early 30s.

Ha, the things you see on this site eh i can't beleive i was googling period pictures of Paris last night looking for rubbish bins

Jason,

I think I can help you on this one! You would probably never think about it before (look how model building is developing our minds!) but the shape of garbage bins is one of them small cultural differences. For example if we take a look at this picture:

we can see a typical polish garbage can. It amazes me a little, because I've seen lots of such cans around and I'd never say the design is so old. As for the details - you can see a little "stud" on top of the can, which is used by the garbage men as a bearing for rolling the can on it's lower edge. There's also a handle on the lid made of stamped metal, for opening the lid. The rod we see in front is used to power-unload the can into a garbage truck, it's a grip for the power-loader hooks.

I have this photo from this web page, you probably know it, but if not there are more than two photos of the Chwat.

I have some more photos of post-war trash cans, you can see the similarity:

Czech cans (from a Polska street, seen by Polish tourists as defamatory):

Modern comercial design:

Note: Only the newest commercial designs are corrugated. Historically the cans were always smooth, and often dented.

Hope this helps

Paweł