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

I took the "recipe" from an FSM article... I used 2 parts Poly Scale Acryl flat black, 5 parts water, and 3 or 4 drops of dish soap. I made sure to gloss coat all of the parts before the wash. After twenty minute the wash was rock hard and just wouldn't come off. When I scrubbed it with a tooth brush the wash and the under coat came off. I'm going to try more water and dish soap and I am going to try it on scrap this time.

Bish I know I told you picture would come today, but I can't find my macro lens. Just ordered a cheap macro from e-bay. I should have it later this week. will post pics as soon as I can.

Right now I have to work up the courage to drill out the clear gunsight so I can attach the ring sight that was on Johnson's plane... Anyone who is modeling a bolt should check references to see if that was a feature on the plane you are building. A lot of bolts had these attached to the reticulated gunsight.

With all this talk of weathering, I think it might be a good time to mention that I'm going to be running a weathering group build in 2011. Planning to kick off in February.  

Hopefully it'll be a great place to practice and refine various techniques...

jbrady - What did you use to thin the acrylic? Can't speak for Poly Scale, and without seeing your results I can't even guess what happened, but I know a lot of acrylics can have separation issues if you thin them too much. Dishwasher soap is supposed to help, but I get around it by not using acrylics for washes.

I'm actually just coming off my first attempts at using oil washes on aircraft, and it came off really well. I'm using Winton & Newton oils with Mona Lisa Odorless Thinner over White Ensign enamels. Had zero problems with the base coat. Raw umber works very well for dirtying up undersides and lighter colors, and I found transparent white had a very nice fading/streaking effect on the topside. 

jbrady:  hearing about your experience with the thin wash is unsettling, since I've never heard of this happening--but the potential for disaster is the big reason why I don't even try weathering anymore.  I was just beginning to build up the nerve to consider weathering for this group build, but now I may rethink my rethinking. 

Could the thinning agent be responsible, maybe?  I've heard about using plain water with some dish drops added; also heard that denatured alcohol can be used for thin acrylic washes over enamel paint with no harm to the undercoat.

Yea, what Bish said....just upload your pics to photobucket or imageshack and then paste the direct link under the "insert media" button found on the tool bar when you write a reply

I used Poly Scale acryl over Model Master Enamel. Looking at the result, I think I'm going to leave it the way it is. It's sort of a distressed look. Pics of the cockpit later today. As soon as I figure out how to post pictures that is.

Next up... The planes of the Cactus Air Force AM SBD 3, AM TBF 1-C, Tamiya F4F 4, AM P400, and Classic Airframes J 2F5 Duck

Ok, i have not heard of that happening before, not sure why it woul,d have caused problems. I assume you have photobucket or somthing similar. When you write your post theres a symbol two to the right of the smiley face, looks like a film strip. Select that and add the link from your pictures.

I used Poly Scale acryl over Model Master Enamel. Looking at the result, I think I'm going to leave it the way it is. It's sort of a distressed look. Pics of the cockpit later today. As soon as I figure out how to post pictures that is.

Next up... The planes of the Cactus Air Force AM SBD 3, AM TBF 1-C, Tamiya F4F 4, AM P400, and Classic Airframes J 2F5 Duck

Did you by any chance use an oil wash over enamel paint. I did that last year. I just scrapped off the bubbeled paint and started again. But that was on armour. Looking forward to seeing some pics.

Hi all,

I just finished an F4F and am starting the Johnson P-47. I Think I'm getting better, the first kit (P-47 D) is a five footer The F4F is a three footer. Still struggling with this new world of plastic kits. Got to stop taking advice and putting that advice into practice until I try it out. Just destroyed all of the paint in the cockpit of the Bolt by trying a wash technique I hadn't used before... oh well. Anyone know how to remove setup enamel paint so I can start over?

Next up... The planes of the Cactus Air Force AM SBD 3, AM TBF 1-C, Tamiya F4F 4, AM P400, and Classic Airframes J 2F5 Duck

DoogsATX No need to apologies, when it comes to stuff like that, the morethe better, really helps anyone else who might want to do somthing similar. Awsome work, somthing i think we are coming to ex[ect from your builds.

Thanks gents! I'm pretty happy with the way it came out myself!

Something else about playing with an old Monogram kit - it builds FAST! Earlier today I was messing with the cockpit, now I'm just about ready for filling and sanding!

The gaps at the wing roots are atrocious. I Tenaxed a strip of styrene along the edge to act as a shim. Worked like a charm.

The underside's a bit nasty, but I'm hoping to clean it up a bit as I go.

Lastly, here's the gap between the IP and the dash I was referring to. I'm going to just push it back and tack it down, but that's for another day...

Great job on replacing the tubes Doogs

Doogs:  that's a very innovative way to handle the problem.  Looks like your surgery will e successful and the patient will survive.

Rick - the pics are showing up for me now (maybe Photobucket was down?) and I see what you're talking about with the Razorback IP hood. Yeah, the Monogram's not quite as thought out. The hood's already molded with the fuselage halves, it just doesn't cover the IP. That said, I trimmed down the back of the panel and once the fuselage is together I think I can probably just take it in place without things looking too ridiculous. Should be getting around to that later this evening.

I've also been hitting the bench hard today. Wife and kids are in Houston for my mother-in-laws birthday, so outside a few honey-dos I have all the free time I can handle.

Been poking away at the two Russian planes, but I also performed surgery on the Jug's blast tubes.

First thing was measuring distances. The kit's "tubes" extended out 9, 6, 3, and <1mm, and the Tamiya barrels are right around 15mm. God I love digital calipers!

Next I snipped off the kit tubes, taped the wings down tight, and drilled out the holes. Turns out my largest micro bit was too small for the Tamiya tubes, but my smallest regular bit - 1/16" - was too big. I needed 3/64. Went to Lowe's, where everything starts at 1/16, but I finally located a Dremel bit set. Overpriced, but it had what I needed. Back home, I drilled the holes out and everything fit beautifully.

Once that was done I opened the wings back up, measured and marked the distances inside the wings, and glued some snips of angle stock in place as barrel stops.

Double-checked to make sure the distances were right...

Then did a test run with the wings taped again. Sure enough, they slide right in until they hit the stops. I'll still have to do some minor alignment, but I'll certainly be able to install them after painting the rest of the aircraft. 

Apologies for all the pics and depth. This is some of the first significant surgery to a kit I've ever done so I'm a bit worked up about it!

Some really great work there guys. Both those cockpits look awsome. You have really kicked this off well, thank you.

Wabashwheels

Doogs, there is an opening on the fuselage in front of the IP on the Tamiya kit also.  On this kit it appears that there is a small triangular "dashboard" that fills that space later in the construction.  It might be an easy fix with a scratchbuilt bit of styrene.     Rick

Thanks Rick - your pics aren't showing up, but I've got two Tamiyabolts in the stash so I think I may pull one out and see how they tackle things.

Not much progress today...had to go to a wedding in San Antonio and didn't get back til 11:30. Eyes are fried from the high beams and unlit Hill Country roads that comprised the drive back, so no bench time tonight!

I've had a good week at the bench.  Outdoor stuff is slowing down and modeling time is going up.  I had mentioned that I had separated the elevators and rudder from the 1/48 Tamiya.  I carefully scored the cut lines with an Xacto blade.  The plastic is pretty thin here and did not take that many passes.  The rudder hinges had enough bulk to save, but the elevator hinges were too thin.  I cut them out and inserted sheet styrene and sanded to fit. 

With the fuselage closed up the tail appears to have a pretty decent fit with the dry fit.

Tamiya makes a very nice cockpit.  The detail does not really need much aftermarket stuff.  Tamiya provides a decal for the IP.  I was skeptical. but the dial faces laid down very nicely on the raised panel face.  I chose to stay with the kit panel instead of an Eduard PE panel.  I did use a seat harness set from an Eduard set.  I did not trust the kit decal for the harness.

I have become quite fond of "wiring up" the big radial engines.  Here's the front of the P47.

So, things have started out well.  I've closed up the fuselage and wings. I've got a few glue blems to clean up, and then may attach the wings

Doogs, there is an opening on the fuselage in front of the IP on the Tamiya kit also.  On this kit it appears that there is a small triangular "dashboard" that fills that space later in the construction.  It might be an easy fix with a scratchbuilt bit of styrene.     Rick

Bish

You have one hell of a work rate when it comes to kits.

And here I feel all slow and ponderous! Get about 2-3 hours a night of bench time. Don't ever feel like I get too much done unless it's happy fun airbrush time, but little steps add up I guess!

Speaking of little steps...the Jug's cockpit is painted and detailed. All that's left is some minor touch-ups (White Ensign enamels run away from adhesives...even CA. Not happy about that discovery.) and a brown wash to weather up the seatbelts a bit more, but it's basically done.

Everything in here is straight OOB save the Tamiya tape used for the seatbelts and one of the lap buckles. The concrete monster ate the kit one, so I grabbed one off a Waldron buckles set and painted it in Floquil Old Silver (love that stuff) to match the others.

Also didn't even see the mold seam on the control stick until I was processing the images. Oh well!

And a better view of the IP. 

Looking forward to trying to close up the fuselage soon. One curious thing about this kit is that the instrument hood doesn't actually cover the IP. Stupid 60's fit tolerances!

I have been looking in on your Russian builds on the Ostfront GB and some great work you have there, i am sure this build will be just as good. Those gun tubes deffinatly need replaceing. You have one hell of a work rate when it comes to kits.

Been jumping back and forth between the Jug and the two Soviet planes. The cockpit's getting close to done, so I'll definitely be posting it up when it's time!

In the meantime...the Monogram's molded-on blast tubes suck.

I've got a set of Master tubes to go with my Tamiya Razorback, so I'm going to steal its plastic tubes (nowhere near as slick as Master's turned brass, but worlds ahead of Monogram's) and retrofit them.

The Tamiya uses staggered plastic blocks inside the wings to help with location. I'm planning to do something similar out of some Evergreen, but I also want to rig it up in such a way that I can just slide the tubes in near the end of the build (so they don't interfere with sanding and such). I'm thinking about using either brass or plastic tubing extending from the backing blocks up to the openings, all installed and locked in place to act as guides.

Here's hoping I don't ruin the plane!

Nice collection of flight and ground crew, redraider.  The lack of personnel for aircraft is always disappointing.  There doesn't seem to be a whole lot in any scale.

This is how I patched together my crew....Teknics (TEK), Verlinden (VER), kit figures, and CMK

BTW, none of them are done yet

Bish,  My P-47 Razorback is going to be the Tamiya 1/48 D version.  I'm a Don Gentile fan.  So, I've rounded up a set of decals representing "Donnie Boy".  This is a follow up to his Eagle Squadron Spitfire that I built last winter.  I've managed to cut off the elevators and rudder, so that I can reposition them to add a little visual interest.  I've also finished the cockpit, and am "wiring" the engine.  I'll get a couple of pictures in to really kick this off.  Thanks. Rick. 

And guess what i just realised. I haven't altered the GB badge, it stills says it ends in July, even though i extended it until next Nov. Seeing as i did that before the build started, i should really re-do the badge. I will get on that this weekend.

Little J Welcome aboard, and welcome back to the hobby. Glad to decided to re start with my first GB as a host. can you confirm your B-26 is from Earls Colne prior to Oct 16th 1943.

Edit: on second thoughts, it doesn't matter, we don't have a B-26, so lets assume its during the 5 months it was a part of the 8th at Earls.

Bish,   put me down for the fallowing.  Revell  1/48 B-26C-10-MO  "Wolf Pack II"  S/N 41-34856 call letters VT * X

323rd BG 453rd BS Earls Colne.  Pilot  Lt  Jerome F. St Peter.

Revell  1/48  B-24D (TBA)

Tamiya 1/48 P-51K-5-NT  S/N 44-11682 call letters WZ * I_   78th FG 84th FS  Duxford.  Pilot  Lt  Kenneth J. DeMaagd. 

It has been over 20 years since my last model so I hope I am not bitting off more than I can chew.  This will be the first time for me to use a airbrush, photo etch, scratch building,  and filling seams so wish me luck.

Bish,

Both kits will be the Academy 1/72 P-51B and D.  The Tamiya kit I have is too far along to consider.

No prob...will do...Once I get the kit and start the build, I will post all the details....I am looking forward to this one.

checkmateking02 ye, i have a few of the 72nd CMK sets. but if, as red said, you want to do a full crew, its bloody awkward. Thats why for my current B-24, i am just doing a few crew members about to climb in, giving the impression some have already got on board.

hutchdh Your more than welcome. As the first post says, as well as a build, i am looking for a background on the unit and station. And for the guys like you, what your personal connection is, thats if you feel happy telling us all. So, that a 1/72nd Revell B-17G, 303rd BG, based at Molesworth.

checkmateking02

Bish and redraider56:

maybe you are familiar with them already, but there is a Czech company (CMK)

Yes I am aware of them and bought a set from them too ( I model 1/48) but again, like other companies, their "Bomber crew" set consisted of only 3 figures, not the 10 you need for a B-17 or B-24.  Any way, I was able to piece together a B-17 crew for outside the aircraft by using Revell kit figures, Teknics figures, CMK, figures, and Verlinden figures