5TH ANNUAL SECRET SANTA GROUP BUILD - Santa's Ace

Got mine opened and THANKS!

Two of m' favorite words on ONE box! Revell and Monogram!

Nice Hurricane, I need to build one of those too. Is it 1:32? The box seems a bit big for 1:48.

Well, first Merry Christmas to all.  Special thanks to my Secret Santa for the AMT 1/48 A-20 Havoc!  I almost finished one of these a few months ago but had a devastating weathering incident that made recovering the kit near impossible and it ended up scrapped.  I'm really thankful that I'm getting a second chance to build this kit!  Thanks!

Hey Scorpio, dude....you ok?  I heard on the news that another earthquake hit almost exactly where you are.  Hope you're allright.

ww2psycho

Nice Hurricane, I need to build one of those too. Is it 1:32? The box seems a bit big for 1:48.

Ya, she be 1/32... Monogram put out a 1/48th Hurricane though, back in the 60s... Got a couple hangin' around here in various stages of construction...  Revell originally put out the 1/32 version back then as well...

I'm thinking  "Sea Hurricane Mk IA" with this one though... Maybe one of the "Hurricat" fighters... Those Hurricanes were to be launched from a catapault mounted on the bow of a ship called a "CAM Ship" (Catapault-Armed Merchantman) and would launch when a Fw 200 Kondor was spotted snooping around the convoy... 

The plan was then for the Hurricane pilot to go shoot down the snooper, then return to a land base if one was within range, or ditch the aircraft near a ship to be rescued... Each CAM Ship carried two 'Hurricats' and two pilots who alternated watches,  As a group, the 'Hurricats' scored a total of Seven confirmed Kondor kills...  The Fairey Fulmar was also given the same mission, with a total of 35 Merchantmen ships configured as CAM Ships.

It was a Stop-gap measure, with only about 50 airframes configured to undetake it.. A definate Early World War 2 "Deparate Times Call For Desparate Measures" scenario...

Mounted on the catapault would make for an interesting method of displaying it... What say y'all?

That would be very interesting! If you do it good luck, would be a very cool and probably more rewarding build.

Hard part is gonna be knowing where to stop... It has to remain on the "base", and be recognizable as a ship-monted catapault, but stop before it becomes a "ship"..

If you are scratch building, you could always use some heated sheet styrene and scratch up the aft end of the mothership.  I am not that good at scratch but it seems to me like it would be pretty simple.  Set up the base with a backboard or like a 4 sided box, then build out the aft of the ship from the wall of the box.  Hard to exxplain/describe, but I am sure you know what I mean.

Hans von Hammer

Hard part is gonna be knowing where to stop... It has to remain on the "base", and be recognizable as a ship-monted catapault, but stop before it becomes a "ship"..

No choice but to scratch-build. Ain't many 1/32 scale Liberty Ship kits I'm aware of... They'd probably cost about 229.00 anyway...

Actually, I'm thinking "Shadowbox" and just a section of the deck that would have the cat-mounts conneccted to it... I've built "carrier-based" dioramas before and stopped at modeling a section of flight-deck... I was just being facetious earlier, Sparrow...

A shadowbox is about the only way to do it, in order to get it lit properly into an "Atlantic Ocean" mood, with a "cold, grey, overcast skies"-feeing y'know?

Anyway, that's what I think of when I think of action in the North Atlantic convoys... Kind of a "Sink the Bismark" feel...

Actually, that's exactly the idea I was trying to put into words.. LOL   I know what you mean about the North Atlantic.  I grew up near Boston and had several friends with boats.  So I have been out as much as 80 miles or so on some occasions.  I can't describe what it's like to sail into a squall, especially at this time of year.  It's scary as heck and gray and overcast.  You really have to see it first hand.  Okay..  Now I got myself homesick again.. LOL

Good luck on the project and Happy Holidays!

Rich

Hans von Hammer

No choice but to scratch-build. Ain't many 1/32 scale Liberty Ship kits I'm aware of... They'd probably cost about 229.00 anyway...

Actually, I'm thinking "Shadowbox" and just a section of the deck that would have the cat-mounts conneccted to it... I've built "carrier-based" dioramas before and stopped at modeling a section of flight-deck... I was just being facetious earlier, Sparrow...

A shadowbox is about the only way to do it, in order to get it lit properly into an "Atlantic Ocean" mood, with a "cold, grey, overcast skies"-feeing y'know?

Anyway, that's what I think of when I think of action in the North Atlantic convoys... Kind of a "Sink the Bismark" feel...

 

Sprue has been cut! I decided to start a little bit of work on the P-39 since my Mig15 is pretty much stalled. Once I get some paint applied and a few pieces together I wil post pics.

Why is your MIG15 on old?  Missing parts?

ww2psycho

Sprue has been cut! I decided to start a little bit of work on the P-39 since my Mig15 is pretty much stalled. Once I get some paint applied and a few pieces together I wil post pics.

Im waiting for a canopy mask I ordered. I've put everything together except the landing gear/small bits which are in the painting process right now. I'm also waiting to see if the decal sheet will be bleached from the sunlight by leaving it in the window for awhile. I havent been able to find any replacements for them.

yeah im ok, just really hot, and pretty stressed. we had like half a dozen yesterday. one of them centered within 2 blocks of my house. kinda fully over these quakes. One of mels bisc (fired unpainted ceramics) fairies fell down and broke a wing. My bearcat fuselage ended up on the floor. books fell off the bookshelf, candle holder came down, my computer screen fell off and smacked the desk pretty hard (chip out of the desk, big mark on the monitor)  luckily no damage to the screen itself. lost power for a couple hours.

As for my gift, i posted to bguy, hope he likes it. was all i could get in the price range (and i corrected for NZD) that was in his criteria.

As for who posted to me, konigwolf13. I love it, itle be interested to build a tank. He sent me a 1/48 Tamiya Tiger 1 Early.

I love it, but i have one complaint, it doesnt fly lol

Ill post photos tommorow maybe, ive got 2 weeks off but its too hot to do anything. 

I Know.  Bash the Tiger with a 1/48 F5 Tiger....  Then it'll fly.  May look weird but I bet it flies...   LOL

Rich

Scorpiomikey

yeah im ok, just really hot, and pretty stressed. we had like half a dozen yesterday. one of them centered within 2 blocks of my house. kinda fully over these quakes. One of mels bisc (fired unpainted ceramics) fairies fell down and broke a wing. My bearcat fuselage ended up on the floor. books fell off the bookshelf, candle holder came down, my computer screen fell off and smacked the desk pretty hard (chip out of the desk, big mark on the monitor)  luckily no damage to the screen itself. lost power for a couple hours.

As for my gift, i posted to bguy, hope he likes it. was all i could get in the price range (and i corrected for NZD) that was in his criteria.

As for who posted to me, konigwolf13. I love it, itle be interested to build a tank. He sent me a 1/48 Tamiya Tiger 1 Early.

I love it, but i have one complaint, it doesnt fly lol

Ill post photos tommorow maybe, ive got 2 weeks off but its too hot to do anything. 

Good you hear you're ok scorpio!

WOW, Thanks Brian! I was drooling just looking at the box, then I opened it and all those A/M goodies fell out in my lap! And the card was awesome, I almost passed beer through my nose when I read your copyright license on the back. Sorry 'bout being so late posting but our daughter, her hubby, thier 4 kids AND The Outlaws were here for 4 days. And everyone seemed to need the comp more than me, you know how it goes. Well, I hope y'all had a good Xmas. Now let's go out and make it a great New Year. Cheers all

Dennis

Looks like everyone got some great gifts this year!  I'd like to add myself to that list with the F8F Bearcat that I received from Sparrowhyperion.  Things have been a little hectic here lately.  While Mikey has been dealing with the heat and earthquakes (glad you're ok Mikey), here in the Philadelphia area we've been dealing with a Nor'easter that just dumped a foot of snow on the area.  I was supposed to be on vacation this week but then my brother called me and asked if I wanted to make a little extra cash.  I left the house Sunday afternoon.  I've had two naps and it's now Tuesday evening.  Plowing, shoveling, and salting are a pain in the butt sometimes.  I'm off to take a little snooze now.  See ya guys!

Mike

I'm glad you liked the kit.  Now go get some sleep... lol

Sparrowhyperion

I'm glad you liked the kit.  Now go get some sleep... lol

That I did.  Thanks again.  I'm glad that your kit finally made it to your place after it's unexpected detour!  lol

Still cant find the wings, but im sure ill enjoy it lol.

Geeze thats a tiny tree.

I know it doesn't have wings, I thought it might challenge you a bit, make you spread your wings as it were (ok bad pun).

Australia Post is being very tardy at the moment, still waiting on mine to arrive (along with some other stuff that should of arrived before santa came)

Andrew

Lol it will, thanks andrew. Im looking forward to doing this.

Maybe santa's making a second delivery in the new year?

Sorry about the delay.  I took my picture on Christmas but been caught up in a lot of stuff this week.  Anyway, here's my awesome gift from ScorpioMikey:

Fits right in with my WWI persuasion (it even has an option for Billy Bishop), and I *love* Roden's box art.  Always wikid to look at!  Thanks dude! 

p.s. How's the household/city doing after the aftershocks?

Yeah things are holding up good. The city has had some pretty serious damage, but the new years celebrations last night apparently went down a treat (i slept through it lol)

Im a bit gutted about the amount of damage to the box, is the kit inside still ok? I shoulda packed it better. Sorry.

I got it for you because of the Canadian link. 

Firstly, New Years is in six hours or so, not yesterday.  Sheesh.  Secondly, the kit's still in great shape, ready to go. :)  thanks again!

Okay, so it being the 1st. of the year, I decided to take care of some preliminary stuff before starting my actual build.

Step 1 open the box and familiarize myself with the parts since I have never done this kit before.

Here is what I have to work with.

And inside the magic box we have...

and ...

and...

As you can see it is a fairly straightforward kit which looks like it is going to be a lot of fun to build.  While going through the parts and instructions, I made note of the colors I will need if I do it as per the box instructions.  Does anyone know which paint is best for the three primary colors of the fuselage and wings? Dark Green, Green Gray, and Black Green?

The box calls for specific colors and a few companies seem to have them, but I am not sure if they produce them in a can or if I am going to have to hold off for a new airbrush.  I need RLM70, 71, 65, 22 and whatever the number is for the Green Gray since the sheet doesn't list the number for that one.  I don't see any cans for these colors on eBay so I need to find another source for these.

It looks like it's going to be a fun year since I am doing two group builds at the same time. lol.

Good luck everyone!

Rich

Well I should be in good shape to get going on my A-20 Havoc.  Last week I ordered some aftermarket goodies from Great Models.  These included:

• Squadron's A-20 Havoc in action
• Zots Decals, these have markings for several aircraft and I'm really at odds about which one I'll do.  Guess that will come a litle later when it's painting time
• Eduard masks, 'cause lets face it....I'm a lazy, lazy man
• Eduard Photo etch details.  The last time I attempted to do the A-20 I scratch-built most of the cockpit,  I'll do that here too, but I felt a little Photo-Etch couldn't hurt.  When I got the set it turned out I got one of those statistical anomalies that goofed.  Instead of getting fret A and B I got two Bs.  So no seat, no IP, no cockpit details.  And it was the last one at Great Models!  *Sigh*

So since all my modelling supplies and tools are bundled up in the garage I'll be building this Havoc bit by bit as timing and baby allow.

Sparrowhyperion

As you can see it is a fairly straightforward kit which looks like it is going to be a lot of fun to build.  While going through the parts and instructions, I made note of the colors I will need if I do it as per the box instructions.  Does anyone know which paint is best for the three primary colors of the fuselage and wings? Dark Green, Green Gray, and Black Green?

The box calls for specific colors and a few companies seem to have them, but I am not sure if they produce them in a can or if I am going to have to hold off for a new airbrush.  I need RLM70, 71, 65, 22 and whatever the number is for the Green Gray since the sheet doesn't list the number for that one.  I don't see any cans for these colors on eBay so I need to find another source for these.

It looks like it's going to be a fun year since I am doing two group builds at the same time. lol.

Good luck everyone!

Rich

Glad you like the kit.  Having never built a 110 before either, I look forward to watching your progress on this one.  Are you planning on building OOB, or are some extras planned?  As far as the colors - I recommend the Tamiya color line.  They have a range of different greens, but their Grey-Green might be a bit light for this plane.  Worth a try, add a little black to darken?  Most of their colors are available both in acrylic jars and spray cans.  If you can't get them locally, you can order from Squadron.

After looking around at AM prices, I can definitely say that this is going to be pretty much an OOB build.  I might scratch some details but I am not sure yet.  I once did a kit in this scale and wanted to add some bits of wire between some of the componennts in the cockpit so I hit on the idea of using the tiny little spent needle tips of my insulin pen.  I have new ones every night. lol and it looked pretty good.  It did take two weeks though...

I like Tamiya colors but they don't have a lot of colors in enamel compared to other brands.  I usually prefer enamels for the primary paint job since it makes it easier to use acrylics for any weathering without worry about taking up any of the main coat where I don't want to.

Once I get started, I will post some wip images.

Rich

mph34

 

Sparrowhyperion:

 

As you can see it is a fairly straightforward kit which looks like it is going to be a lot of fun to build.  While going through the parts and instructions, I made note of the colors I will need if I do it as per the box instructions.  Does anyone know which paint is best for the three primary colors of the fuselage and wings? Dark Green, Green Gray, and Black Green?

The box calls for specific colors and a few companies seem to have them, but I am not sure if they produce them in a can or if I am going to have to hold off for a new airbrush.  I need RLM70, 71, 65, 22 and whatever the number is for the Green Gray since the sheet doesn't list the number for that one.  I don't see any cans for these colors on eBay so I need to find another source for these.

It looks like it's going to be a fun year since I am doing two group builds at the same time. lol.

Good luck everyone!

Rich

 

Glad you like the kit.  Having never built a 110 before either, I look forward to watching your progress on this one.  Are you planning on building OOB, or are some extras planned?  As far as the colors - I recommend the Tamiya color line.  They have a range of different greens, but their Grey-Green might be a bit light for this plane.  Worth a try, add a little black to darken?  Most of their colors are available both in acrylic jars and spray cans.  If you can't get them locally, you can order from Squadron.