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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Scorpiomikey This is the Mustang i take it. Not sure about the mounts, only thing i can assume is are the mateing areas flat.

Yeah my 32nd scale mustang. It has the main bulhead (firewall) with the oil tank. The 2 triangular spars and then a U shaped peice in the middle making a box. But everything seems to be slightly out. Its frustrating.

Not sure, does anything look warped. I ain't done a kit with an engine as yet, so not sure i can be much help

Im sorry to say I may not be able to do this GB. Even though it doesnt end until October, my mind is already shifting to paintball and loosing interest in modeling for right now. I'm not saying i'm 100% out of this but theres a chance I may not be able to do it. Work is deffinatly a big factor too. Overtime most weekends, and with working mostely 3rd I dont have the motivation to do any modeling on those days. Hope I can still make it, but no no promises.

OK, we had some warmer weather in Louisville which gave me the opportunity to get a primer coat of Mr. Surfacer 1000 on the P-51D.  Of course, the primer showed that I have to re-visit one or two seams but overall, it looked good.  Will so some additional smoothing, then paint the blue nose.  I'll post a few photos after that.

Don

No worries psycho, fully understand. I may have to pull a build out of a GB myself as somthing has come up a few weeks after i get home from here. But i will leave it on the front page and if you can make it, great.

Looking forward to seeing some pics Don, and getting some ideas on doing that blue nose.

Bish

Looking forward to seeing some pics Don, and getting some ideas on doing that blue nose.

Well, the overall plan is to paint the blue nose over the Mr. Surfacer 1000 primer after I smooth seams and give the entire plane a sanding with very fine grit paper to remove any grit, etc.  The blue nose will then be masked with Tamiya tape and the body given another priming coat of gloss black in preparation for the Alclad.  We'll see how that goes.  I'll post pics so you'll see just how sound a plan that is.

Don

Will be very interested to see how that come out. I was thinking of doing mine Alclad first and then the Blue on top. When i masked the Alclad on my 1101, i had a bit of an issue when it came to the panels, i think i had not waited long enough and some of it started to lift, but i manage to get it back down and its hard to tell. But when i masked to paint the red and green bit it was fine. But that curve on the blue nose is going to be the challenge.

Bish

.... But that curve on the blue nose is going to be the challenge.

Bish, looking at the photos on the littlefriends website shows that there was some variation in the curve of the blue painting.  Some aircraft like Waldron's P-51 had a fairly sharp curve whereas others showed a more sweeping curve on the blue nose.  You could almost do this free hand and not be that far off.  But I'm planning to cut a curved piece of tape...  See how it goes.

Have fun in the Falklands.

Don

I managed to paint the B-17 this past weekend.

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I used AeroMaster paints, OD and Neutral Gray.  They are no longer available.  The vertical stabilizer is painted with old Floquil military enamels, also no longer available.  I used to like it when several manufacturers made the same paints; you can see how different these two companies' interpretations were of the same colour.  Floquil Bright Silver was used for the NMF de-icer boot locations.

The colours appear off in these pictures--the photos picked up way too much blue.  Neither the neutral gray nor the silver is anywhere near this blue.  I guess I still don't have the hang of this digital photography.

 Next up will be the decaling.

I will bear that in mind. I am planning on building one from each squadron. I now the decals i have mention different shades of blue, but i think its all the same pattern. So i will check little friends when i get round to building mine.

Fun, Falklands, you must be joking lol. Not much to do down here, especially as a none drinker. But hopeing to go and see some penguins on Sunday,.

The B-17 is looking good. I can see what you mean about the photos, in fact its hard to tell the difference between the de icer boots and the grey underside's. I have the same problem with photos as well, my kits look alot better in the flesh than they do on camera. I still haven't got the hang on it, i think lighting is the key. I do like the different shades of OD you have got, and isn't it funny how different companies have different shades of the same colour. But i think thats how it is in the real world. I recall reading how a museum was stripping a 251 halftrack and found something like 9 different shades of dark yellow.

Is this the 91st or 100th BG aircraft.

I'm sure lighting has something to do with it.  In the old days of the 35mm SLR cameras and film, I kept a filter on the lens always.  But it's my daughter's camera, and I have not a clue about it.  She even has to do the settings for me; then I just aim and shoot.

As for the different shades of OD, somewhere I have a book that claims that the vertical stabilizers were often made by a subcontractor, and were prepainted before shipping to the assembly factory.  Hence, the colours often didn't match up.  On some previously built Forts, I used medium green.  I think the reference source was a book on the 381st Bomb Group, put out years ago by Squadron. 

Aeromaster made a separate shade of "faded" OD, and that's what I used on the cloth-covered control surfaces.

This will be the 91st BG craft--"Just Plain Lonesome."

checkmateking02

I'm sure lighting has something to do with it.  In the old days of the 35mm SLR cameras and film, I kept a filter on the lens always.  But it's my daughter's camera, and I have not a clue about it.  She even has to do the settings for me; then I just aim and shoot.

I wrote the following in another post a few days ago. Might help...

Thanks for the suggestions, Doogs.  Are those incandescent bulbs in your lights?  I shot the pictures in the kitchen under these new-style flourescent bulbs, and with the camera flash.  I wonder if that makes a difference. 

At any rate, I've lost the use of the camera for the next month.  My daughter took it with her to Canada.  Any pictures I post in the near future will be with the camera I got at Barney Rubble's garage sale.

If your going to be shooting anything under incandescant (sic) make sure you set the white balance on the camera for that lighting or at least set it auto white balance. I won't bore with the temperature of different lights but that can make all the difference in world.

checkmateking02

Thanks for the suggestions, Doogs.  Are those incandescent bulbs in your lights?  I shot the pictures in the kitchen under these new-style flourescent bulbs, and with the camera flash.  I wonder if that makes a difference. 

They're CFL bulbs...the biggest difference they make is the color temperature.

Color temperature can be really complicated, but here's the basics: Human eyes are really good at naturally white balancing, but camera sensors get confused based on the color temperature of the light source. As an example, incandescent bulbs have a much warmer temperature than sunlight, so if you have your camera set for sunlight, and shoot indoors, your pictures will come out with a nasty reddish cast to them. Vice versa, if you set the camera for incandescent and then go shoot outdoors, your pictures will be blue.

CFLs tend to be "cooler" than incandescents. Personally - my method doesn't work for everybody - but I shoot in RAW format, then manage the color correction on my computer, where I've got it dialed in for the lights and the backdrop.

Bish, I was sitting around the other (snow) day thinking of something to build, and decided to start up a P-51B.  After hashing around a couple of bagged kits I got on ebay, I decided to build them both.  I'd like to include them in this group build.  I don't have details on exactly which aircraft I want to represent, but I believe I'll do Duane Beeson's "Boise Bee" for one.  I'm still looking at my decal stash to determine the other.  I'd like to find something that would require some NMF.  Thanks.  Rick

Here are some pics of my primitive scratch building on my Marauder.  I think I have dropped every piece of photo etch on the floor so it takes me five times as long to complete just searching for the parts. 

I have a question about painting interiors.  Do you use a primer coat or just shoot the your base color?