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

OWL Sorry bud, seems i missed your post yeasterday. Sure, you are more than welcome. I know i and i am sure a few others would like to see this. I think a few are not to sure about how to do the Blue nose's and these birds. Is this 72nd scale. And yes, crossovers are fine.

Doogs Those invasion stripes do look a bit awkward. You can see from the way they are divided that the surfice isn't going to be easy to mask.

I have just noticed i still have you down for a 352nd P-51D. The Hun Hunter is the one that replaced that, is that correct.

And the Jug is looking really really nice.

Bish

OWL Sorry bud, seems i missed your post yeasterday. Sure, you are more than welcome. I know i and i am sure a few others would like to see this. I think a few are not to sure about how to do the Blue nose's and these birds. Is this 72nd scale. And yes, crossovers are fine.

Thanks for letting me join bish. The Revell kit is in 1/48, sorry about forgetting that detail. 

here is the customary box shot with the decals I will be using.

The cockpit in this kit came with an assembly I hadn't seen before: the sidewall details were separate pieces that you have to glue to the fuselage halves. a hose and a couple of other levers were separate as well.  I added seat belts from masking tape.

OWL

Bish

Doogs Those invasion stripes do look a bit awkward. You can see from the way they are divided that the surfice isn't going to be easy to mask.

I have just noticed i still have you down for a 352nd P-51D. The Hun Hunter is the one that replaced that, is that correct.

And the Jug is looking really really nice.

Thanks Bish. I'm not sure which P-51D I'm going to do. Probably Hun Hunter, but I've got the Aires engine set coming and was thinking to use that with the 352nd. So who knows! I'll probably make up my mind when I pull the -D off the shelf.

And yeah, the invasion stripes are going to be a nightmare. I'm not particularly worried about them up where they hit the lettering and national insignias, it's where they wrap around the fuselage and travel over the exhaust bulge, etc. If you look at the reference pics, you can actually see the real invasion stripes were even a bit off, something I know was common, but don't see as so obviously "off" in many pictures.

I decided to give the Future some extra time to cure last night and played with the Eduard 109 instead (awesome, but not as good as I'd hoped so far...). Will get back to it either tonight or tomorrow.

OWL I don't recall that as part of a kit before. The only cockpits i have done like that are resin AM ones.  Those Eagle Strike decals certainly seem popular. Doogs also has the 48th set and i have a couple of 72nd ones with 352nd markings.

Doogs Thats it, that will be why i didn't change it. I will put a question mark against it as a reminder for myself.

I have a question I hope you guys can shed some light on. I have found some images online that show Lambie II with a blue rudder, but the decal sheet and other images show Lambie with a silver rudder. Which is correct?

OWL

The two sets of decals i have show aircraft both with and without painted rudders. I think i am correct in saying each Sqn had its own colour, Blue, Red or Yellow.  It might be that the rudders were painted later. I am guessing some time after D-day, the sheets i have don't give dates for all aircrfat. Does the photo you have show kill markings, and if so is it more than those on the decal sheet.

Bish

The two sets of decals i have show aircraft both with and without painted rudders. I think i am correct in saying each Sqn had its own colour, Blue, Red or Yellow.  It might be that the rudders were painted later. I am guessing some time after D-day, the sheets i have don't give dates for all aircrfat. Does the photo you have show kill markings, and if so is it more than those on the decal sheet.

Yeah, pretty sure it's a date thing. Meyer's Petie 2nd had a bare rudder, but Petie 3rd had a red rudder...

re: cockpit sidewalls - the 1/32 Eduard Bf-109E-7 I started last night has the same "sidewall plate" thing going on. Interesting concept. The only other experience I have with separate sidewalls is the many cockpits that build up as a "box" and then install into the cockpit (Tamiya P-47, Academy P-38...).

Doogs I thought the 328th used red and the 487th Blue, or is my decal sheet wrong.

Owl: Squadron colors were painted on the rudders in August 1944.

Bish

Doogs I thought the 328th used red and the 487th Blue, or is my decal sheet wrong.

Nope, totally my bad. P3 had a blue rudder. Haven't looked at the decal sheet in awhile and my mind is playing tricks!

LOL, you had me worried then. I know what you mean though. So many kits and decals, easy to lose track.

The date on the decal sheet just says 1944, no month is given. The decal sheet has more kill markings than the blue-rudder image does. The sheet also shows a black stripe on the wings that the image does not. Most pics of Lambie II with the same number off kill markings show a silver rudder. Should I just go with what the decal sheet says?

OWL

OWL. I can only thing of two reasons for that. Either the decals sheet is wrong or the rudder was replaced and either wasn't repainted, or hadn't been painted at the time Eagle Strike is representing. Decals sheets can sometimes be wrong, even AM ones. But eagle strike seems to have done their home work from what i can see. Tough call.

Owl:

littlefriends.com has this plane being lost on June 7, 1944, before squadron colors were applied to the rudder. Note the black ID stripe on the wing.

Hah! Just realized that Lambie II was Meyer's plane! 

According to Little Friends Meyer was back stateside when the plane was lost on June 7 '44. The pilot flying it - Lt. Clifford Garney - was KIA.

So obviously when Meyer came back is when he got his first -D, Petie 2nd.

I'd also note that it's around this time that the 352n started moving from PRU blue nose markings to the deeper blue seen on the -D models and some of the B/Cs.

Given that...and that I couldn't find a single pic of Lambie II with a colored rudder, personally I'd say go for bare.

thanks for all the help guys!!  A bare rudder it is. 

OWL

Anyone here tried to lay a line of clear gloss or flat along masking to prevent paint from bleeding under the tape?

jbrady - the one danger with that is building up a "ridge" in the surface. A better bet is to spray a light coat of whatever color is under the tape along the edges. That way, if anything's going to run under, it'll be the same color...

Bish: Please take me off this build. If I continue with the P-51 I'm working on I'm going to go nuts. I honestly think this whole modeling thing was a mistake.

Don't give up just yet, we all go through phases like that.

Tell you what, put it to one side. Maybe try somthing simple or even step away from the bench for a bit. I will leave you in the build and if and when you feel like trying again, you will be more than welcome. Theres plenty of time yet, alot of us, me included, haven't even started our builds yet. maybe try a simple kit without stripes or awkward markings. Somthing qucik and easy.

jbrady, hope you'll stay.  Frustration is part of modeling--I've had my share, and a lot of parts in the spares' box to prove it.  Even the "less then desirable results" are learning experiences.

I hope to post some pictures of my also somewhat-frustrating progress with my Fortress.  Lots of doing and redoing, and still not sure how it'll come out.

Hang in there.

jbrady

Bish: Please take me off this build. If I continue with the P-51 I'm working on I'm going to go nuts. I honestly think this whole modeling thing was a mistake.

That's tough to hear. I really hope you decide to stay. Your Razorback came out great. Fantasically great for a first kit. 

I came across something a few months back that talked about meditation. There's the whole eastern meditation where, extremely broadly speaking, the goal is to concentrate on nothing. But this also mentioned "western" meditation, and described it as intense focus on a single problem. Speaking personally, it's a big part of why I came back to modeling. It allows me to concentrate, for a bit each night, on something that's not work, or the kids, or the wife wanting to move and get a bigger yard, or any of life's other stresses.

Whenever I start getting stressed out about a kit I'm working on - and believe me, I'm awful about it - it's usually because I'm trying to rush things. I want to get on to paint, or on to weathering, or the next, and it ends in disaster. That's when I spill medium CA on a 90% finished model. Or when I set another in a stupid place and watch in horror as the dog accidentally destroys it. 

But...when I can remind myself that this hobby is about decompressing, not stressing myself out further, just reaffirming that makes it easy to lean back and let go a bit. Not sure if it'll help - but I know it helps bring me back down and either find the wherewithal to push on, or the put the trouble kit aside to work on something else.

Sounds like the P-51 family has gotten into your head a bit. If I may...try something else. Either another plane, another type of finish (do a NMF Razorback or an all-black Mosquito night-fighter...), maybe another genre of kit altogether. I've found armor is kind of a welcome change of pace, and there's nowhere near as much masking or seam work....and kits like Shermans or gray or dunkelgelb Panzers are a snap to paint.

Sorry to get all long winded - just...hope you stick with it. It's been a pleasure having you on board and I hope to see more of your builds in the future!

jbrady, dont go. we'll miss you!

Revell's mustang builds pretty quickly. There are little gaps at the wing/elevator roots, but nothing too bad. Oh, And watch out for a company stamp and ejector marks on the elevators!  Here is the B alongside Tamiya's D mustang I am building along side it. You can never have too many Mustangs!

the B is on the right of the frame

OWL

oh, p.s. How do you pronounce Tamiya? Is it "ta-ME-ya" or "TAM-ee-a"  ???

Bit of a silly place for a company stamp. You makeing good progress there.

I pronounce it ta-ME-ya, but not sure if thats right.

Don't all Revellogram kits have the company stamp on the underside of the stabilizer? I know the Dauntless, P-38 and P-47 all do...very annoying.

As for pronunciation, I've always said Ta-ME-ya, but I've heard others pronounce it Ta-my-ah.

Got the first half of the invasion stripes done last night.

Well I must say this Mustang is coming along better than I expected.  Lots of filling and sanding going on right now with the panel lines on the wings, but I may be able to get some paint on this week depending on when that Ultracast spinner gets here...