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

First stage of the NMF port wing is done!

Also got a bunch of fiddly things done tonight - painted the pancake tank, resprayed the gear door insides with Tamiya XF-4, and decaled the prop. After fighting with the Tamiya decals last night on the bombs (I swear they're printed on transparency paper...what the hell?), I decided to use the prop stencils from the Aeromaster sheet - WOW. What a difference. I'll post pics once they're dried and sealed.

Looking forward to patchworking the NMF panels with different shades of Alclad tomorrow!

Hey bish, can i add another build to my list? I just picked up a 352nd mustang...sorta lol. Its the hasegawa egg plane. Is that ok?

Sure, why not. I think i have seen this. Nothing say we can't have a bit of fun along the way.

Got some more work done on the Mustangs front office today.  Im finishing up painting the floor-fuel tank-radio and have a wash drying on the seat.  I dont have the sidewalls sprayed yet though; Im gonna do the interior of the P-47 the same color so Im gonna wait until I have all those interior parts sorted out and then just save the trouble and spray both interiors at the same time

Doogs....is that base layer on the port wing airframe aluminum?  Im thinking I might go with that for the P-51...

red that makes sense for the cockpits. And ye, that NMF wing does look very nice. If thats Alclad, i would love to know how you get that finish Doogs

Thanks red and Bish! Yep, it's Alclad Airframe Aluminum. 

Not quite sure how I managed the results I did. Especially after accidentally slopping medium sea gray all over that wing (thankfully it wiped up). Just...Mr. Surfacer 1200, Tamiya X-1 + Tamiya clear + Mr. Leveling thinner, and then the alclad...

That will be the differance. I just undercoated with Humbrol black gloss enamel before adding the Alclad when i did my recent NMF build. Yours has come up very shiny and looks great.,

redraider56

Got some more work done on the Mustangs front office today.  Im finishing up painting the floor-fuel tank-radio and have a wash drying on the seat.  I dont have the sidewalls sprayed yet though; Im gonna do the interior of the P-47 the same color so Im gonna wait until I have all those interior parts sorted out and then just save the trouble and spray both interiors at the same time

Unless you are building a P-47G built in the Curtiss factory, the interior color won't be the same as the Mustang.  Republic used their own color for the interiors called dull dark green.  Also the innards were painted zc yellow.  Curtiss used zc green for their interiors.

satch_ip

 

redraider56:

 

Got some more work done on the Mustangs front office today.  Im finishing up painting the floor-fuel tank-radio and have a wash drying on the seat.  I dont have the sidewalls sprayed yet though; Im gonna do the interior of the P-47 the same color so Im gonna wait until I have all those interior parts sorted out and then just save the trouble and spray both interiors at the same time

 

 

Unless you are building a P-47G built in the Curtiss factory, the interior color won't be the same as the Mustang.  Republic used their own color for the interiors called dull dark green.  Also the innards were painted zc yellow.  Curtiss used zc green for their interiors.

This. Also, based against reference photos I've got, Model Master Euro I Dark Green is a pretty great match for DDG:

Tamiya recommends XF-5, but I don't know, it's way too...primary green for my taste.

The green I got is more of a match for the P-47 and I just thought it would look good in the Mustang too....I know ALL interior parts werent the same color on either aircraft though...

Underside's done...

DoogsATX: What is the reasoning behind the multi hued finish? Is it just to avoid a monochromatic look or were different panels made of different alloys?

I got the mustang this morning. After looking at my options I might try something like this.

http://www.hyperscale.com/features/2000/p51djg_1.htm

I like that paint scheme, don't think i have seen a Mustang like that before. Looking forward to seeing it built.

jbrady - the reasoning is kinda both. Different panels did tend to age and wear differently - sometimes different materials, sometimes just location. That and it does provide more visual interest. The difference isn't as stark in person...mostly very slight hue and sheen differences. When I do a full NMF Jug or Mustang I'll do a lot more research into panels...this one was definitely a case of gizmology and figuring out how the different Alclad shades behave in context with one another.

ww2psycho - I didn't even know that Aires set existed! Strongly considering it for Petie 3rd (it'd be a way around masking that pesky blue nose, that's for sure!). 

I've got that Aires set in 72nd scale. I plan on useing the engine in one kit and the open gun bays in another. They look very nice sets. You can get coplete sets which include cockpit and wheel bays or you can get them as seperate items, such as just the engine.

Ive never used resin or PE before, and I wont on this one. I have a verlinded set like that for a 1/48 mustangs i'll try out eventaully. I was talking about the paint scheme more or less. I really like it.

Time to start working on the B-17 again.  I just got a message from someone that just joined the forum today and he had looked at the B-17 group build thread and replied to a question that I asked about a year or so ago.  He said his uncle was a top turret gunner on a B-17 from the same squadron of the plane I'm building and said he  could ask him about my particular question, and oddly enough I had received an email from this same uncle a couple years ago after asking a question on the 91st bomb group website!  What a small world this is and what a great forum this is too

It is a small world. And looking forward to seeing the B-17.

I just realized that the link I posted is the same markings in the instructions I was looking at. I'll make a final pick of which markings i'll do when I get that far. but I'm really liking the green paint over the natural metal. Seen one just like it in real life at an airshow.

ww2psycho

I just realized that the link I posted is the same markings in the instructions I was looking at. I'll make a final pick of which markings i'll do when I get that far. but I'm really liking the green paint over the natural metal. Seen one just like it in real life at an airshow.

There's a LOU IV warbird out there somewhere...I think it'd be an interesting scheme to take on. Particularly since there's a school of thought out there that it wasn't green, but blue:

Cockpit is done.  I know the pictures arent that great (the lighting kinda sucked)....I can take good pictures of anything but models

EDIT: I noticed in the bottom photo that the control column was missing.  I remember that I dropped the cockpit when taking a picture, so it was off to the basement to play "find the TINY control column on the dusty basement floor".  Luck was on my side and I found it, so all is good now

I got eh fueslage buttoned up on the Mustang today and have started painting the cockpit of the P-47.  I had a little setback on the B-17 last night so I wont be able to work on that again til I get some parts ordered....I attached the cockpit glass with super glue but hadnt dipped it in Future like I thought I did so it all fogged over.  So I gotta get that new windshield ordered and then order some Alclad for the Mustang too

Well, I FINALLY have something to show!

It's been a long week futzing around with the Ocean Gray topsides in between nights of crappy, drizzly weather that kept me from the airbrush. 

Once I finally got it on I decided to take a stab at freehanding the camo. Yeah, no. I'm pretty confident I could freehand several other camo schemes, but this one is rather intricate and my hand's not that steady. So I spent a few hours today masking the friggin' plane:

I decided to use Tamiya's Dark Green instead of the MM enamel, since 1) it dries fast and 2) I've had really good experience with Tamiya as far as soft-edge work goes.

Once that was done, I let the Jug chill for a half hour.

The refrigerator helped harden up the white-tac so that it came off very easily with no residue.

Wasn't happy at first, since the colors are so far apart. So I thinned the heck out of the Tamiya dark green then sprayed a filter layer over the topside. It toned back the Ocean Gray quite well. Once decals are on, I think I might try it again, or maybe go back and filter over with a gray. Have to see.

Anyway, here she is:

A definite improvement on what I managed with the Monogram kit and silly putty, I think!

white tac? what brand? I need something for masking! btw, looks amazing!

The stuff I used today was called "Simply Tacky" - $2 a box at Hobby Lobby. I needed about two boxes for all the masking...but then I'm woefully inefficient with this stuff!

That's outstanding work. I've been looking forward to seeing that camo scheme. Got to wonder who came up with it.

I will have to pick some of that up for this GB and the StuG GB.

Looking very good there Doogs. That stuff you used to mask looks similar to the white tac that i use.

Looking forward to seeing the decals on.