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

Bish

Doogs, so do gator make those masks to order. And whats the process of getting them. Would be very interested to see how they work out.

Yep - I had the good fortune of meeting Kenny at the San Antonio contest back in February. Picked up a few camo masks for some P-40s in the stash. Haven't tried them out yet, but they look fantastic. But he told me that if they didn't have something I was looking for, they could make it. Just have to send along the proper profile/paint guide/etc. 

Frankly I don't see much use for camo masks if they aren't hard-edged, but for things like national insignia, letter codes, or something like the blue nose, it seems perfect. I'm actually considering trying the insignia masks on my Spitfire, too, since the underside insignia overlaps one of the underside wing lights, and I imagine it'd be much cleaner painting that than fighting the decal and cutting it out after.

Just head to their website - gatorsmask.com - and look around. Payments are done through Paypal, etc.

Richard, it would be a real shame to toss this. Even you just finish it as it is, and you can put it dlown as a lesson learned.

Doogs, so do gator make those masks to order. And whats the process of getting them. Would be very interested to see how they work out.

Bish - I'm planning on using masks on the 1/32 P-51 (for nose and possibly for insignia too), so I want to use the little guy as a testbed. Gator's Masks (same people who make Gator's Glue) are making them for me. $5 per. Not bad at all! I just got around to sending him the profiles today, so it may be a bit longer.

Richard - sorry to hear it about that Mustang. If nothing else, I'd recommend finishing it and keeping it on hand for some cool forced-perspective photography. With an airfield dio, you could position it behind a 1/48 or 1/32 kit to give a better sense of depth.

checkmateking - I agree about decals and invasion stripes. The best (albeit tedious) way to deal with them, in my opinion, is to apply the decals first, then mask and paint. That's what I did a few months back with my P-47, and it came out quite well.

Richard, you're build looks good--it would be a shame to trash it now.  One thing you can try is putting a second decal over the first, which might conceal the invasion stripes better.  Or, if you can remove the present decal, maybe mask over the stripes (using a mask cut to the shape of the insignia bottom), reapaint just that area, and re-apply a decal.

It's been my experience that no decals, even aftermarket ones, are really thick enough to conceal the black color of the stripes.  It's probably because they need to be thin enough to conform, so they are not thick enough to hide underlying paint.

Anyway, I think the Mustand looks good, and I hope you can fix it up.

Bish, Guys,

I am truly sorry but i am finally pulling the plug on my 5 euro lump of plastic... I just tried starting the decal process but guess what..... even those suck on this kit... The roundels are not opaque enough to mask the invasion stripes...

Been wanting to see this one through... just to not give in and the painting process went just fine... NMF worked out great (talon acrylic with aluminum powder buffing). I just hate this. My apologies to you all but this one is going in the bin!

Richard

The canopy is still giving me fits but I wont worry about that right now.  I just got a nice smooth coat of gloss black down on the P-51 in preparation for the Alclad tomorrow.  If all goes well I may be able to get the painting and decaling done this week/weekend

Seems everyone is haveing problems on this GB. Must be jinxed.

Doogs, thats looking nice. But haveing masks made, now thats just cheating.

Who is doing them for you.

Well, it's been a running battle with the natural metal finish...but the battle is won!

After some nightmarish dusting from the Krylon gloss black...

I sanded everything down and applied some Alclad microfiller primer. Then Tamiya X-1 with 25% X-22 (clear), thinned with Mr. Leveling Thinner:

Much better!

Polished the black down with micro-mesh polishing cloths, then applied Alclad semi-matte aluminum to the wings to represent the aluminum lacquer paint. Masked those and sprayed the fuselage with Airframe Aluminum, then went back over with Aluminum and Duraluminum. The AA is semi-transparent, and thus darker than the other two, so in effect this was similar to shading work. Came out pretty well, I think.

Still need to mask and spray Magnesium to represent the darker panels in line with the exhaust stacks, then it's mask-and-paint the blue nose time! I'm having some vinyl masks made so I can use this as a testbed for the masks I'm going to use on the Tamiya 1/32 kit, so this one may grind to a standstill while I await those.

Bish

And fun (apparently)

Oh yes! I knew i forgot that part.....

Richard

And fun (apparently)

I guess thats why they call it modeling

O bugger, not going well mate. So much for tamiya kits building themselves.

 I been haveing a few problems with the 17. The PE wheels wells are to big and i had to thin the inside of the wings. But even then it was still to big and had to really press it hard so the inside necells are a bit of a funny shape, and one of them split open on the top. But a bit of filler and sanding and i think i have got away with it.

Ugh, the P-51s canopy is giving me fits.  Since Tamiya's canopy doesnt sit right, I tried thinning the frame and carving a little bit of the fuselage around the cockpit to make it fit, but that ddnt work so I orderd a vac-form canopy from Squadron.  I got that cut out, went to fit it, and the darn thing doesnt sit right either!  Worse yet, I cut apart the kit frame to get the brace out of it and it isnt the right width for the Squadron canopy.  On top of that I finished stripping paint on the B-17 only to have most of the major seams pop open when  I was done .  Bottom line, I havnt been saying nice things to these kits

Doogs, just noticed the date on that photo.....the mission I'm modeling the Fort returning from was on the same exact day, April 11

Thanks again guys, that stuff does make sense with the assignments being day to day

At first I thought the white stuff in that photo was snow but now it appears to be fire retardant

Awesome, thanks, ill post pics of what im faced with tommorow. Ill definatly try sheet stock though, thanks.

Scorpiomikey

Hey guys, sorry to change the subject so suddenyl, but im having issues with my stang. I test fitted the now complete wing sections (Seriously, im never buying AM wheel bays again unless theyre specifically designed for that kit) With the fuselage and there is about a mm gap either side where it should blend smoothly into the wing. Whats the best way to fill this? keep chucking putty at it? stretched sprue? (which im not very good at) sheet styrene? or styrene rod? Its got me a little concerned. Im not overly worried about losing detail because its hyper exaggerated on this kit anyway. Any tips would be awesome thanks guys.

Strip styrene, hands down.

I actually had this exact problem with the Monogram P-47 I started for this GB many moons ago. 

You can see the nasty gap on the port wingroot here:

I fixed it by taking a thin, flat strip of styrene (Evergreen sells 'em like this), tacked it with Tenax onto the edge of the wingroot starting at the front, tacking and bending, so that the styrene matched the contour of the wing surface. Since using a plastic solvent melts the plastic, it's pliable enough to shape pretty easily. After that, give it a quick sand (on top and from the side), then viola, gap gone!

Well, you may have to sand to taste if the gap varies, but it's a far easier fix, IMO, than trying to putty it.

redraider56

Thanks guys, that really helps.  One last thing....would I be correct in assuming that fighters would fly escort for bombers based nearest them?

Honestly, I doubt it. At least not on a regular basis. My reasoning is that that would probably lead to some nasty airspace problems, and I know the bombers from multiple groups would rendezvous and form up before heading on anyway.

One thing you might want to research is the 355th's role in the Scouting Force Experimental during the summer of '44. Fascinating program of putting some bomber pilots in fighters to scout the way ahead, report back on weather over the target, etc. Added incentive if it's a bomber pilot heading over to welcome crews back.

http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/mustang/scouting-force.html

red, i would imagine it would not be a hard and fast rule. If you look at the B-24 bases in Norfolk, they had no USAAF FG's close by. There were only 2 in the county, Bodney and wretham, both in the South close to the B-17 bases. So the B-24's would have to get their escorts from FG's based further away. So i guess it would be what ever groups were assigned that day. And, given the faster speed of the fighters, i would imagine they would catch up with the bombers once they had formed up and were over the sea. So it wouldn't really matter. I don't know what the ratio of fighters to bombers was for a mission, but there seems to have been less FG's than BG's so a FG would not be assigned to a certain BG.

But theres nothing to say the local FG would be assigned for that day.

Scorpio, i would sday for a gap that size, styrene strips would be the best bet. But not having built a 32nd kit yet, i haven't come across this, so will be nice to hear what those who are used to that scale have to say.

Thanks guys, that really helps.  One last thing....would I be correct in assuming that fighters would fly escort for bombers based nearest them?

Hey guys, sorry to change the subject so suddenyl, but im having issues with my stang. I test fitted the now complete wing sections (Seriously, im never buying AM wheel bays again unless theyre specifically designed for that kit) With the fuselage and there is about a mm gap either side where it should blend smoothly into the wing. Whats the best way to fill this? keep chucking putty at it? stretched sprue? (which im not very good at) sheet styrene? or styrene rod? Its got me a little concerned. Im not overly worried about losing detail because its hyper exaggerated on this kit anyway. Any tips would be awesome thanks guys.

ye, thats what i was thinking. You see footage of jugs after D-day, but usually in the ground attack role. But i keep forgetting tehre was more than just the 8th in the UK.

Bish

I have also found that most FG's seemed to have switched over to the P-51. Though i guess some must have stuck with the P-47.

The only one I know of in 8th is the 56th. Also the top-scoring fighter group of the war. Go figure...

Jugs remained plentiful in the 9th and 15th air forces, though, increasingly in the jabo role.

redraider56

Time period would be April 1944.  All I can find on the P-51 combat history is that almost all units switched to it in 44.  The original target for the mission was clouded over and they had to bomb the secondary target of Stettin which is on the far eastern side of Germany and is actually today part of Poland.....this would be a long trip for a fighter

The 355th was flying P-51Bs by April 1944 (many of the FG's transitioned in March, and then moved to D's in June and July).

Here's a crashed example. Photo dated 11 April 1944.

Also found references to them still flying Jugs up through late March, so it seems likely they transitioned end of March/early April '44. 

I have also found that most FG's seemed to have switched over to the P-51. Though i guess some must have stuck with the P-47.

Your scenario deffinatly works. Looking forward to seeing this very much. Will bring back memories of my days at Bassingbourn 20 years ago. Had lots of fun running around that airfield.

Time period would be April 1944.  All I can find on the P-51 combat history is that almost all units switched to it in 44.  The original target for the mission was clouded over and they had to bomb the secondary target of Stettin which is on the far eastern side of Germany and is actually today part of Poland.....this would be a long trip for a fighter

I don't see why not. I am not sure what time frame your aircraft is from, but if its from the period when P-47's operated from Steeple, i would assume these would return before the bombers. And i would imagine that even P-51's would speed back once the enemy coast had been cleared. Steeple village is about a mile from Bassingbourn airfield, so it would be easy to do.

Yes that does help, thanks.   Just been toying with the layout of the dio for my Fort and since I got a couple of figures that are meant to be fighter pilots (not in flight gear) I just wanted to make sure it would be realistic for a couple of guys to drive over to Bassingbourn via jeep to greet bomber crews on their return., which is why I wanted to see if there would be any fields in the vicinity.  Not sure if this actually wouldve happened, but ya never know....its my dio

Off the top of my head i didn't know for sure. Most of my research has been on the Norfolk airfields. My intial response would have been no, as it would make more sense for them to be closer to the coast. But i just did some checking on the 8th AAF site. There were 4 FG airfields in Cambridgeshire.

78th at Duxford

339th at Fowlmere

361st at Bottisham

but the nearest to bassingbourn was the 355th at Steeple Morden. The village iotself is only a short distance from Bassingbourn. The Steeple Morden aircield doesn't show on Google maps, i assume its been plowed under, but it would have been close to the village. Heres the link to the 355th page.

http://mighty8thaf.preller.us/php/1Unit.php?Unitkey=355

Hope this helps.

Hey BIsh, do you know if there were any fighter fields near Bassingbourn in Cambridgshire?

Look good as always Doogs. Nice job on filling the wings.