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

Well its come out very nice bob. Have you got any more [pics or are you happy for me to use that one. I am in camp this weekend, and as i have a lousy connection, not sure if photobucket will handle it, so i might have to wat until next weekend before i put it on the front page.

Very glad to have you along. I do plan on hosting more GB's. But that won't be until i am certain i won't be going away and i have decent internet. So it probably won't be for a couple of years. But i may well do another 8th AAF GB, or something along similar lines.

Been a pleasure haveing you along. And i will try to find that book, thanks very much.

Owl-nice work.  Looking forward to more pics.

Bish-I agree-for me, the fun part of this hobby is researching a specific plane/pilot and learning the history behind both.

Well, stick a fork in me....I'm done.  Not my best work, but I'm glad that I chose the Monogram kit-a lot of potential there and with a coupon I can pick them up for less than $10.-.  Next one I'll take more time & care.

One upgrade is that I trimmed the gun sight and added a piece of clear plastic from a scrap spruce.  I'm happy with that upgrade and the potential for future builds.

Anyway, here's my build:

In summary, the seams are fair-a lot of filling & sanding.  The aftermarket decals did not like the cowling of the Monogram kit, nor the propeller hub.  Again, that's more of a reflection of my skills-I'm not the most patient person.

Bish-great GB.  I loved the theme-hope to maybe see it again in the future.  Thanks for letting me hang out here.

fyi, a great book on the 8th Air Force in WW II is Masters of the Air by Donald Miller.  Well worth a read.

Cheers

I will bear that in mind next time i need one doing OWl. Nice job on that.

The decals are my favorite part as for me they bring the kit to life. They turn what until then is just a B-17 into a specific B-17 that had a history.

did I mention I love painting cockpits?

Good for you, Bish.  Looking forward to seeing what you did with the nose.

As for decals--eh!  They and I have a love-hate relationship.

Looks like its going to be a busy finish.

 I just got the last decal onto ole puss, i always like that part. I decided to leave the top of the right wing bare. Going to leave it over night now and give it a flat coat tomorrow. Then its just a case of adding the little details and doing a touch of weathering, o ye, and do the braceing for the nose.

 I am not sure if i can get any pics up as i had to leave my camera at home last weekend and i am not home this weekend. Going to see if i can get any pics with my webcam.

Looking good, Owl.  Will be interesting to see your progress, and learn some things about cockpit detailing, since that hasn't been my strong suit.

Very ambitious project, John.  Look forward to seeing it develop.  It's a great idea.

Helo, coming along nicely. Do you build dioramas do you plan on useing the vehicles in their own displays.

Nice start on the P-51B , Owl ; The resin cockpit set looks great

I have the fuselage together on my 1/72 P-51D , along with the wings and stabilizers ;

She just needs a tiny bit of putty along the seems and I'll be ready for masking and painting .

I seem to be going through a bit of a "purple patch' lately with my builds , making lot's of progress on different projects , so i added the 1/76 Airfix Recovery set to the bench ;

like the RAF Refuelling Trucks I cut the chassie and suspension pieces for the Thornycroft Coles Mk.7 crane from the sprue and glued those parts together and cleaned up the cab pieces as well ;

And the same with the Bedford OX Tractor unit along with the 'Queen Mary trailer ;

next I'll airbrush the cab interior parts of both vehicles RAF light grey ;

I was thinking of adding a damaged Mustang fuselage to the trailer unit but after looking at google images and seeing some pic's of Mustangs after landing accidents , I would probably have to do an extensive search for decals to match a photo of a damaged Mustang . So for the time being I'll just make both recovery vehicles and if I have enough time and I happen to stumble across some suitable 1/72 Mustang markings , perhaps I could throw in a vintage Airfix Mustang kit ......... We'll see ?

                                 John .

I will deffinatly have to try that true details set. But don't expect this from all AM sets. But that said, i am rather addicted to adding the odd extra part.

the plastic was thin, but I dont think I was in any danger of sanding through. I think that goes along way to the quality of the resin. In some places it was no thicker than card stock! I really like the looks of the resin additions....I might have to think about doing this aftermarket thing more often!!

that sounds handy. I have not tried one of their sets yet, but got my eye on a P-47 one. The Aires sets i normally use need alot of sanding of the plastic, often to the point where i am close to going right through.

Bish

Thanks OWL, sorry i missed you out. Which resin set are you using. It doesn't look like you have thinned the cockpit walls, have you done some dry fitting

its a True Details set. The resin itself is really thin, and if you look closely at the kit's sidewalls you will see a ridge along where the canopy would be. After sanding down the kit details, the resin replacement lines up perfectly. Granted, I had to sand down the plastic quite a bit!

Thanks OWl, sorry i missed you out. Which resin set are you useing. It doesn't look like you have thinned the cockpit walls, have you done some dry fitting

And Ive begun! I got the Mustang at the IPMS nationals this year, and discovered a nice little surprise inside: A resin cockpit set! This will be my first time doing a full replacement with resin parts, so hopefully I do it right!

Box shot:

I dont have a dremel sanding thing, so all the removal of the plastic was done with cutters, sanding sticks and a knife (much to the detriment of both my thumbs, ouch!  ) I was able to sand away the kit supplied detail and fit in the resin sidewalls. The new detail is much improved!

now, on to my most favorite step, painting the cockpit!!

It does look light grey on the inside. Any idea where that vehicle is. I assume its in a museum some where.

I found this photo of a Bedford Q.L refueller while browsing google images ...

Unfortunatly not an interior pic of the cab but it does look like the interior might be some type of light grey ???

                   John .

Will be nice to see what you make of the B-24. The 3 J kits i got were all the ones with the Dragon and its tail markings. I did like the clear front section of the fuselage, but i found it didn't line up to well, both sides stuck out slightly where it joined the main fuselage. So will be inetrested to see if you have the same problem.

I am not sure on RAF interior colours for that period. Looks to be coming on well.

Hi Bish ;

The extra month extension is grately appreciated

I'm reasonably confident I can finish on time or at least be very close to finishing ; The 1/72 Hasegawa B-24 Liberator kit arrived today ...

I spent most of the day cutting and cleaning up the parts of the Bedford Q.L. Refueller ;

There's heaps of flash on a lot of the pieces , so lot's of sanding . I glued the suspension , axles and drive shafts to the chassie and everything is ready for the spraybooth .

The AEC Matador Refueller went through the same process of cleaning up all the pieces ;

And the suspension parts added to the chassie as well .

Airfix give no mention of what the cab interior colour should be , so I just went with some Gunze acrylic H-332  RAF light aircraft grey and I airbrushed those pieces this afternoon ;

So a little more progress today ....

                             John .

Those hase kits are rather nice. I have built one of the J kits and have two more in the stash, though all have/will be backdated to H models. Though there is only 27 days left of the GB, you might be pushing it a bit.

On that, i know a couple of people are currently building, myself included. I think now is tha last chance to get started on a kit. Though the GB runs until the end of this month, i am going to leve it running until the end of Nov to allow any that have already started by the end of Oct to get finished. At that point, i plan on putting a build log onto the aircraft page. So hopefully everyone will be done by then.

I was looking around at Hannants web site and saw a 1/72 Xtradecal decal sheet for the B-24J Liberator ...

http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/X72082

Two of the three marking options are for the 8th USAAF ,

# Kentucky Belle 446th BG

# Short Snorter 392nd BG

I ordered the sheet along with some Eduard paint masks .

Hopfully the Hasegawa kit will arrive in the next couple of days and I can make a start on her straight away ....

                         John .

I just discovered that a LHS has kits listed on ebay and I saw the 1/72 Hasegawa B-24J Liberator for $44 ....

The price seemed quite good considering a lot of other on line stores were asking between $58 to $80 for the kit , so I just bought the Hasegawa B-24J .

I'm not sure if the Markings are suitable for the 8th USAAF , two decal options are provided , one for the 64BS ,43BG Philippines and the other markings for the 33BS , 22BG but no mention of where it was stationed ?

Anyway if the second decal option is not suitable does anyone know of an 1/72 B-24J aftermarket decal sheet for the 8th USAAF .

I did see the Airfix B-24 VI which comes with 8th USAAF markings but I think the kit might be a little ancient .

TIA ;

                        John .

I used some thinned model master gloss black and carefully applied it to the side detail on the fuselage halves . There was a small decal for the instrument panel , which was just very small white circles ;

Tamiya also include what looks to be some type of radiator but I'm not sure how much of it is seen once the fuselage halves are glued together ;

Much to my supprise cutting the flaps was not difficult and I carefully scored with a No.11 blade in the hobby scalpel from both sides of the wing ;

Of late , I have been building a lot of 1/72 scale vehicles for the Korean War GB  and I've decided to add the 1/76 Airfix RAF Refuelling trucks in with the P-51D ;

I have the correct paint for both vehicles , so I will make a start on the Bedford Q.L and the larger AEC Matador tonight by cleaning up the chassie and suspension pieces . The AEC Matador was mostly used for refuelling the larger bomber type aircraft ; I'm not sure if any bombers were stationed at Leiston Field with the Mustang ???

Anyway a little more progress made today , more tomorrow .

                                  John .

Welcome to the 8th AAF, John.

I have to comment on the neatness and precision of your painting.  It is admirable.  Is that a wash you've put over the instruments in the cockpit?  If so, what did you use to accompish it?  When I've tried washes, they come out kind of messy.

Hope you enjoy the build as much as the rest of us have.  It's been a good experience.

No need to apologiose, these still time for thsi build. I will add the unit details to your build on page 1. I just had a quick look on a couple of sites. The 357th were at leiston from Jan 44 to July 45. And there seems to have been at least 4 Ole Crow's, all with the code B6-S, and all flown by a Capt Anderson. But 2 of them were lost over Europe with other pilots at the controls.

This is coming along nicely Helo.

Hi Bish and everyone else ;

My apoligize's for being a late starter with this great Group Build ....

I would still like to participate with Tamiya's 1/72 P-51D Mustang of the 8th A.F. Aces ;

As for the paint scheme , I have decided to go with olive drab over neutral gray and the markings will be

"Old Crow" , Capt. Clarence Anderson , 362nd F.S. , 357th F.G. , late 1944 .

I have airbrushed all the interior pieces chromate ;

And I have added some black wash to the cockpit fuselage sides and main gear wells in the wing ;

Next I'll glue the tub and cockpit pieces in place and close up the fuselage halves .

Unfortunatly Tamiya molded the wing flaps up , so I'll have a go at cutting them to pose them in the dropped position .

I did a little search on the net for info as to where abouts this aircraft was stationed and I found a site which stated that "Old Crow" of the 357th Fighter Group...." Yoxford Boys " , 8th Air Force , Leiston Field , United Kingdom . I not 100% sure if this was the P-51D or an early version of the Mustang ???

Anyway , hopfully in a couple of days I'll have the fuselage and wings all glued together .

                         John .

Ye, you would have, but maybe this piece on its own would be to small to warrant its own Am part. When it comes to the braceing, unless i can find a pic, which i haven't been able to do so far, i am just going to make the supports just long enough to go into the main fuselage. I can always alter it later when i replace the nose.

That's good work on something so small.  It's going to really enhance the look of the model.

Wouldn't you think with all the Fort models around, and as common as this modification was, that someonw would have made some aftermarket parts for this?  PE would probably be ideal, or a a vacuformed piece could have it incorporated already, and it would save us a lot of trouble.

Anyway, you've done a nice job here.

Heres a pic of the nose cone, afraid it is rather blurred. It ;looked ok on the camrea, but once i trimmed it, it turned pretty awful. But hopefully you can see what i have done with it. Will deffinatly be easier with a vacu formed piece.

Well all we can do is our best with what we have to hand. I will think on it over the weekend as to if i put the BG code on the wing. Either way, whos to say its wrong given the evidence and what the referance material says.

I will have that photo of my nose cone up for you soon, see what you think.