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

I am still undecided which group I will do for my B-24.  I am leaning towards " Suzy Q "  of the 67th BS 44th BG.  I would like to depicted a Ploesti  survivor  from the 44th but my nose art options are pretty much limited because not many returned from that mission.   I love the R.A.F. identification marks for the tail, I think they call them fin flashes.  So it will definitely be from the 44th, 93rd, or 389th, I just  cannot make up my mind : /

I head home for Christmas break tomorrow so I'm gonna start the P-47 and then continue to putz around with the Fort

hehe, nice pair of jugs, hehe thats funny. (sorry my immature child comes to the fore sometimes)

This ones up next for me when i finish my bearcat.

Little J

That is a nice pair of jugs.  

LMFAO do you wanna re phrase that.

Glad you have been able to get started. Be nice to see some pics. have you decided on a unit for your B-24, or did i miss a post.

That is a nice pair of jugs.  Hopefully my builds will look half as good.  I might have some pics of my Marauder interior by next week,  this scratch building takes a lot longer than I thought plus I have been working on my B-24 a little.  I just cannot stay focussed on one thing for too long. 

Sweet!  That will be a tough act to follow.  I laid the OD paint on my Jug today.  Tomorrow I'll mask and paint the white. 

Rick:  magnificent, stunning Thunderbolts.  The Luftwaffe will tremble.

Rick - wow, that's a great looking Razorback! I can only hope my second attempt at Hairless Joe comes out this nice.

I did spot some slight silvering on the stencil just above the port wing (first shot), but other than that, flawless!

It took a little while, but I've finished up Don Gentile's "Donnie Boy" from the 336 Squadron of the 4th fighter Group.  It is the Tamiya version of the P-47 Razorback.  As I mentioned in an in-progress post, the Tamiya kit, to no one's surprise, was a dream to build.  I used very little aftermarket, Eduard seat harness and a few cockpit placards.  I scratchbuilt hydraulic lines and the engine wiring harness.  Kit details like blast tubes, sway bars, gear covers, engine cylinders are excellent and assemble very well.  Paint is Model Master OD and Neutral Grey.

I did cut out and reposition the rudder and elevators to add a little visual interest.

I sat "Donnie Boy" with Red Norley's "Red Dog" another 8th Air Force 4th Fighter Group P-47 that I built in Hans Von Hammer's "Before they were Aces" Group Build earlier this year.

I used Aeromaster 48-389 for the main markings and kit stencils. this process will inspire me to ask for a little debate in another thread on decal quality.  As you can see, I like to dirty em up. I preshaded panel lines, used raw umber washes and dry pastels for exhaust and gun stains and general grime.  There is always room for improvement, but there is also a time to stop futzing and set it on a shelf.  It looks pretty good there.  Rick.

Bish

Took you long enough . You got plenty of time to do the build. I am assumeing thats 1/48th Scale.

Sorry.  You are correct.  Scale is 1/48.

Don

Hmm.....lots of P-51s and P-47s.  I'll have to post some pics of the B-17 when I get home to just to change the scenery

Took you long enough . You got plenty of time to do the build. I am assumeing thats 1/48th Scale.

Hey Bish,

Better late than never but I've got a 1977 vintage Monogram P-51D (kit 5207) and Bluenose Bodney markings are in the mail.  This will probably be an OOB build (well, I can say that now) of Karl M. "Waldo" Waldron's Goliath of the 487th FS (352nd FG).  So add me to the list and I'll take a quick read of the GB rules.

Don

Spent most of last night building bombs and drop tanks. Yawn, but I'm procrastinating getting started on the sanding/filling process.

Also did a ton of test fitting on the Jug last night. Happily the wingtip lights fit perfectly. So did the Master brass blast tubes...which look 100% awesome...

ww2psycho

I bought the AM P-51A over the weekend, and out of the 3 Mustangs I have by AM, the Tuskegee Airmen is the only one with a 4 piece fusalage. I havent test fit any of it. I'm waiting for me to finish my Korean War F-84 before I build my Mustangs.

 If you look at the Tuskeegee Airmen kit you'll see that there is a sprue with parts to build a merlin engine version. Its the spue with the three bladed prop. The cockpit parts change the floor,  the sidewalls, and the rear deck. You can also add the carberator intake on top of the nose. No mention of any of this in the instructions.

I bought the AM P-51A over the weekend, and out of the 3 Mustangs I have by AM, the Tuskegee Airmen is the only one with a 4 piece fusalage. I havent test fit any of it. I'm waiting for me to finish my Korean War F-84 before I build my Mustangs.

Doogs  The Jug's looking good. I do like the choice you made for the red and yellow.

jbrady  I have had a couple of Dragon kits with seperate tail sections and both have bad joins. But in those cases it was more filling than sanding.

jbrady

I plan on doing a Tamiya P51 B just to compare. The worst part of this build was attaching the tail. I know why they designed the fuselage in four parts They wanted to offer as many versions as possible without making entirely new molds. The thing is that, at least on the kit I got, the tail to fuselagage join was really bad. I had to do so much sanding on side of the fuselage that you can see through the plastic if you hold it up to the light. Definately one kit that won't get moved around much when it's finished.

The separate tail's weird, though, because as far as I know the B/C had the same tail profile throughout its entire production run. 

Maybe if they were doing it with the P-51/P-51A/A-36, but as far as I understand those have separate lower cowls, but everything from those back to the tail is one piece.

The separate tail section would actually make the most sense for the P-51D, since it added the tail fillet to improve stability. 

But in my experience Accurate Miniatures has a history of bizarre engineering choices. I know there were a few with the Dauntless that seemed like complexity for complexity's sake...

I plan on doing a Tamiya P51 B just to compare. The worst part of this build was attaching the tail. I know why they designed the fuselage in four parts They wanted to offer as many versions as possible without making entirely new molds. The thing is that, at least on the kit I got, the tail to fuselagage join was really bad. I had to do so much sanding on side of the fuselage that you can see through the plastic if you hold it up to the light. Definately one kit that won't get moved around much when it's finished.

Main assembly is done! 

Overall this kit has been an absolute pleasure to build. The dorsal spine is maybe the one stupid thing I've encountered throughout the build. 

Flaps are just dry-fitted. I won't glue them in until after they're painted.

The wing root. Why can't all kits do this?

jbrady

After all the fit issues I've had with this kit, I was amazed by how well the four pieces of the canopy fit. They fell inot place with only a little putty needed at the top of the left rear window. Here it is ready for primer.

Lookin' good! 

I'd strongly recommend that you give Tamiya's -B a try at some point in the future. Talk about canopy fit! I was able to fit the open version of the canopy in place, and have it hold up on its own, without having the glue the windscreen down! Wish all canopies fit like that...

ww2psycho: Don't know about Squadron and PayPal. I think they accept your Amazon.com account if you have one of those.

After all the fit issues I've had with this kit, I was amazed by how well the four pieces of the canopy fit. They fell inot place with only a little putty needed at the top of the left rear window. Here it is ready for primer.

Cool thanks! Doesn anyone know if squadron accepts paypal? I seen sprue brothers does but I cant seem to find anything about it on squadrons website, and the only contact info is for orders.

ww2psycho

jbrady:

ww2psyco: On the B it a little lower than that, but yeah that's it. The easy mask is the only way to g with this kit. You have to mask the windscreen twice. The first time to paint the interior color AND the rubber gasket that ran around the windscreen. The second time to paint the camo..

 

I painted the interior before I painted the camo, both from the outside. Never painted a rubber gasket before.

Yeah I've never seen pictures of a mustang with the gasket around the windscreen. Since there were detailed instructions, though I thought I'd give it a shot. I'll post a pic when the first mask comes off later today.

jbrady

ww2psyco: On the B it a little lower than that, but yeah that's it. The easy mask is the only way to g with this kit. You have to mask the windscreen twice. The first time to paint the interior color AND the rubber gasket that ran around the windscreen. The second time to paint the camo..

I painted the interior before I painted the camo, both from the outside. Never painted a rubber gasket before.

How is squadron on shipping? I read on one topic that it took someone like a week or more to get what they ordered and he lived less than an hour away.

All this talk of AM's Mustangs inspired me to bid on a P-51A and an A-36 on eBay yesterday. I bid $18 on both. Since they usually go up into at least the high $20s, I figured it'd never happen. 

I won both. Around $16 each. 

And the stash grows by two...

ww2psyco: On the B it a little lower than that, but yeah that's it. The easy mask is the only way to g with this kit. You have to mask the windscreen twice. The first time to paint the interior color AND the rubber gasket that ran around the windscreen. The second time to paint the camo.

DoogsATX: I was afraid to complain about squadron's site. It seems like it's kind of a sacred cow on other forums.

ww2psycho

So since we got on the topic of mustangs for a bit, does anyone know if an Easy Mask for a Tamiya kit will work on an Accurate Miniatures kit or vise versa? I found everything on squadron but it seems people have problems with them so I'm looking at sprue brothers, but one is sold out.

I've had bad experiences trying to use masks from one kit on another. 

If Squadron has what you need, by all means order from them. I've had my problems with them (I HATE their site navigation, not a fan of how long they tend to take, etc), but they're all more annoyances than anything really bad.