Mighty 8th GB 1-Nov-2010 - 31-Oct-2011

Great work all round guys. I hope my big bird stacks up.

Speaking of which, i started her the other day. Engines almost done. About to assemble the engine mounts, but i have a small question. Whats the easiest way to true up the engine mounts? No matter what i do something seems a bit out. Its frustrating me greatly.

Ill post photos tonight of what it all looks like. Hopefully i havent screwed up the colours too bad lol.

Excellent looking Mustangs, Don and redraider.  As an aside, I've noticed that trying to polish silver paint with toothpaste also turns the color black and tarnished looking.  I was using Floquil at the time.  I wonder why?

redraider:  the yellow looks very good; and you applied it over silver?  I have applied it over a base of white in the past.  I will have to try the silver idea.

On the Revell/Germany B-17, I will be interested to see it in person.  Publicity says it has a lot of options for nose, waist and tail. 

Progress on my build is that I've painted the neutral gray undercoat, which revealed some areas needing work yet.  When I get the OD on, I will take and post pictures--if the results aren't too embarrassing.

Not seen any reviews on it yet, but manny has put a post about it on the Aircraft Forum. I think someone has just oredered it, so we might get a first hand account soon. But it seems to have a full interiour plus engines and looks like its at a good price to. I have gone for the acedamy B-17's as i had read these were the best around. But maybe this couldtop those.

Hi All:

Just cruin' this morning ...

Got an e-mail last night re the new Revell 1/72 B-17G ... looks like a good kit ... has anyone built one or even seen it yet ? ...

THanks,

pepper

Alot of effort there Don, but seems to be payibng off. I seem to recall doing a silver kit or two years ago and the black coming through when i sanded. I think it might have been an Esci kit. I guess they must coat these rather than mold them in that colour plastic.

Red, looking great with that yellow added again. Glad you managed to get it sorted.

Yea it was -25 when I woke up this morning and that was with no wind

Finally got some pics of the paint.  I finished off the yellow on the nose and have the flaps foiled.  Next step is to do the OD anti glare panel and then the black for the theater stripes and wing tips

I wish it was only 15 here! with the wind chill it was -30, even without it, it was still negative.

Hey Bish and others:

Just a quick update on my P-51B Bodney *** flown by Karl Waldron.  As a reminder, the kit is a vintage Monogram with only about 45+ parts but I swear that each of the 45 seams needed filling and sanding.  Here is where she is so far:

The wing root required special attention and had to be filled with plastic strip prior to putty and sanding.  In the end, I think it came out OK. 

The shrouded exhausts were molded solid so I drilled them out:

The kit had an option to show engine detail by leaving the underside access plate off.  But to be honest, the engine detail was not all that impressive.  To make matters worse, the fit of the access cover was terrible and had several step joints that required attention.  (Nothing is easy)

Interestingly, the kit is molded in silver, but sanding the plastic turns it black.  So the joints in the photos above are smooth to the touch even though they may look to be quite rough.

Next step is a coat of primer to assess my filling and sanding.  Unfortunately, the high temp in Louisville today was 15F (-11C).  So priming will have to wait  a day or so until warmer weather arrives.

Don

Well I found out why spraying the yellow the other day went so badly.......I forgot to tune up the air pressure after the previous paint session.  I got it back up and this time sprayed it over a [rimer of Testors metallic silver and it went 1000 times better than last time and I got a nice smooth coat with excellent coverage.  I think one more light coat and it will be done. 

I got started on the wings too.  Since I decided to fill in and sand smooth the panel lines I used the same metallic silver to simulate the silver lacquer applied to the wings.  To break up the NMF I foiled the flaps and ailerons and shes really coming out good.  Pics tonight possibly

I read about that. Ive got his Autobiography at home. He pestered the higher ups until they told him to go away so he went over their heads right up until he got to Eisenhower. He was a straight up man and told Eisenhower exactly what he wanted and exactly what he thought. I don't have the book handy, its at home and im at work. But he basically caused such a stink about not being able to fly again that they just let him fly. 

Chuck Yeager. 357th FG, 363rd FS. One of the Yoxford boys. (Im doing Frenesi from 357th 364th.)

He Recounts in his book while flying in a B model mustang. His Flight Leader (not sure of a name ATM, will find out tonight) was flying a D model that was to be handed down to chuck after the flight and he specifically told him not to get shot down because he wanted that aircraft.

AWWWWWW good point, hadn't thought of that. Makes alot of sense.

Regarding the British pilots-dunno....the thought was that there was too much risk to allow a pilot to return to action over Axis territory-if a pilot were forced down again in Axis territory and captured, he might reveal the French Resistance resources that helped him to Spain the first time.  Seems that the Germans had good records of who was forced to bail out over enemy territory.

Another good book to read about the air war over Europe is Masters of the Air by Donald Miller. 

http://www.amazon.com/Masters-Air-Americas-Against-Germany/dp/0743235444

Right, so he sort of got off on a technicalaty.

When you said he was the first Allied pilot to return to combat after coming down in Ffrance, was that meant to read US. Surely British pilots had been returned before then, or had they not returned to combat.

Bish-If memory serves me correct, he was held by the Spanish.  The way I read his (auto)biography-Yeager-once you made it into Spain you were taken into custody but then 'released' to go back to England.  I'm sure that I'm missing a lot of details-it was a library book so I don't have it handy. 

Yeager so wanted to get back into action that he petitioned Gen. Eisenhower to let him stay in Europe making the argument that it was after D-Day and the French forces that assisted in his trek to Spain were now free with the Allies controlling the area.

hmmm....might have to pick up a P-51B kit and change my build.....or not.

Interesting fact bob. I am assuming he wasn't held by the Spanish and so doesn't come under internment rules.

jbrady

Bish: Rules of internment varied from country to country. I guess it depended on where their loyalties were. Sweden facilitated the return of allied personal through diplomatic channels. If you went down in Switzerland you were stuck there for the duration Spain would hold allied personal but looked the other way for Axis personal. According to international law, however, personal that were interned were prohibited from returning to combat regardless of whether or not they returned to their respective forces.

As a side note, Chuck Yeager was the first allied pilot that was allowed to return to flying in combat over Europe after being shot down over France (I believe) and making his way to Spain with the help of the French Resistance.....and he was in the 8th AF.

Wee trick that helps me when i can be bothered. Get some stockings (you know the kind old ladies wear to hide the leg wrinkles) and stretch a single layer over the flash. Softens the flash ALOT. Only problem is you get a slight yellow tinge to it.

Redraider: Thanks I just went a little nuts at some point. Unless you knew where to look you'd never know that the model spent two weeks sticking out of the sheet rock in my work room... took me that long to find all of the pieces that flew off.

Doogs: I'm still getting used to digital cameras. Got the color balance set for tungsten... work lights, normal lamps,and incandescents... still trying to figure out how to balance a fill flash that wont wash out colors. Happened on the Thunderbolt also.

Jbrady- I agree with Doogs, I'm glad you stuck around.....that P-51 is a beauty

jbrady - so happy that you stuck with the 'Stang - it came out very well. I really dig the wear and tear along the lower cowl and by the wing root!

For lighting, I use actual lights...I've tried flashes (on camera, remote, bounces...) and can't seem to get the look or consistency I want. 

I've added some slightly better photo lights more recently, but for a good while my lighting rig was two $5 clip-on work lights clipped on to whatever came to hand. Duct tape, mini-sledge...

That makes sense. Switzerland has always been neutral so i assume they held on to Germans who ended up there as well. Spain was facist and had been helped by Germany in the civil war, so that makes sense. I guess the Swedes would have returned any germans who landed there as well, after all they were selling Ore to Germany.

I guess being returned home you could still contribute to the war even if you couldn't return to combat.

Bish: Rules of internment varied from country to country. I guess it depended on where their loyalties were. Sweden facilitated the return of allied personal through diplomatic channels. If you went down in Switzerland you were stuck there for the duration Spain would hold allied personal but looked the other way for Axis personal. According to international law, however, personal that were interned were prohibited from returning to combat regardless of whether or not they returned to their respective forces.

That is a real beut J. The white stripes, now what was all the fuse about. The chipping looks very nice.  Thank you very miuch for adding a great looking plane to this build, and thanks for the history as well. I never knew that interned air crew could be returned home. I assumed they had to stay in the country of interment until the war ended.

I will use the first pic as soon as i get a good enough connection. Feel free to come back when ever you fancy. After this can't wait to see what you do with a heavy.

This P 51 B was flown out of Debden by Capt Nicholas Megura. "Ill Wind?" was lost May 9th 1944 flown by Capt Vincent Burroughs. Megura was downed by a P-38 (not so friendly fire) on May 22, 1944 while flying QP-F. He was interned in Sweden and returned to Debden on either June 9 or June 28 (sources cite both dates). Because of the rules of internment, Megura was not allowed to return to combat.

Got to get a better lighting setup. The flash washed out the color quite a bit. Thanks for all the help.

Bish I'm going to work on a couple of other GB's for a while but I'd like to add a "Heavy" to this build. I'll let you know what group, squadron, and station when I get started

O yea, we're only 5 miles from Lambeau Field so there are ALOT of Packer fans....I even wne toto my first regular season  this year.  You wouldnt believe the number of bears fans that go to college here tho.....it should be interesting sunday during the game

redraider56

checkmateking02:

redraider:  congratulations on wiring that engine; it's why I stick to 1:72 to avoid that kind of thing; my eyes would cross and my head would ache; on another note, do you attend college in state (Wisconsin)?  I attended UW-Whitewater (Go Warhawks) and Concordia University--Wisconsin (Go Falcons). 

 

Yup, I go to St. Norbert College in De Pere

Good for you!  That's near Green Bay, so I imagnine the Packer fans will be in high form around the area.

Red I'm with you when it comes to thinning small amounts of paint. The only thing i can suggest is to have a piece of scrape plastic to hand and test spray on that first.

jbrady Like you i mainly use Enamels, xtracolor, the long drying times don't worry me as i use that time to do other things, usually the base board, figures etc. ut i also have a large selection of tamiya Acrylics. Once you know how to thin them and use them, i don't find them any harder to use than any other paints. They do have a quick drying time to touch, but i find that if you want to mask, they still need to be left at least 24 hours, if not longer. But they are alot easier to clean up and safer to use. I would deffinatly recomend them.

jbrady

Doogs: I like the Mustang and is that a Lovochkin? The Soviets sure had different design philosophies. For the staining I'm going to try a very thin dark grey. I don't use acrylics except for washes and have a very limited supply on hand. None of them are Tamiya. I've read that they can be tricky to spray... I kind of like the idea of short drying times though. Using enamels it seems that every paint session is 15 to 30 minutes of painting and 24 hours of waiting.

Yep, it's Zvezda's La-5. Wonderful kit. It's definitely a challenge, but if you take it slow, do a lot of test fitting, it goes together perfectly. Best fit of anything I've built that hasn't been a Tamiya.

I hear you on acrylics. I usually find they're more trouble than they're worth. BUT...thinned with a quality lacquer thinner, Tamiya's paints are amazing things. Minimal tip dry, spray beautifully, and you can clean up with Windex. I usually thin Smoke down pretty well before I use it, so tip dry and those problems are never an issue.

In terms of non-acrylic substitutes, I think Gunze makes a smoke-like paint? And Alclad has a translucent-ish smoke shade as well. I think I might have even picked a bottle up. Haven't tried it yet, though.

I use a Paasche H with Model Master enamels.  I used the H5 tip today when I shot the yellow.  I have been using a gray primer, but I think its mostly my lack of experience that is the problem.  One of these days I just need to set aside a day to work with the airbrush and be able to tweak everything and what not and learn the tips and tricks and become familiar with it, but I got back to college this weekend for spring smester so I'm gonna have to wait til spring break or summer to do that.

  Like I said the yellow is ok so far and I'll shoot another coat tomorrow and see if everything goes good

RedRaider: I've got to agree with Doogs the key is uniformity and a solid even primer for yellow and red.

Doogs: I like the Mustang and is that a Lovochkin? The Soviets sure had different design philosophies. For the staining I'm going to try a very thin dark grey. I don't use acrylics except for washes and have a very limited supply on hand. None of them are Tamiya. I've read that they can be tricky to spray... I kind of like the idea of short drying times though. Using enamels it seems that every paint session is 15 to 30 minutes of painting and 24 hours of waiting.