Monogram Mafia Group Build

here are some more pics. The first one is a shot of the top, showing off the paint scheme. The second is  a sneak peak of the decals! The revell decals work great, but are a bit see-through.  Finished pics soon!

OWL

Had the same issue with my decals being slightly off-register with that white comin' out past the blue on the Nat'l insignia... Same thing with the Balkenkreuz on the Ju 87D...  Ended up doing all Monogram/Revell kits with VERY close trimming to the primary ink, even if I gotta nip a little off the decal itself to ensure that the white doesn't wind up on the model... That's OUT-standing work blending that windscreen into the fuselage, Owl...

thanks, hammer!  But the decals are not off register. I'm looking at them right now, and there is no white along the edges. I think that the white showing up had to do with the flash on the camera....

You're right.. You got juuust a skoshi-bit of silvering going on there, not white ink...  Can you use a "fill flash" and some indirect lighting instead of full flash, and light-colored background?

...whats "fill flash" ?

Basically, it's a setting on your flash that sends the flash out in oblique angles to the direction of the lens, rather than the flash focusing directly on the object.  It's a "softer flash"...I'm not a photographer but the term is "Flat" lighting, IIRC...

I use an overhead light and the "Fill Flash" setting on my camera, generally, and I also, using WinVista, fix the photos after I download them by changing the lighting (by brightening the photo and and adding or taking away some contrast) and then cropping with the photo-editing program in Vista... The cropping feature also does the phot in a close up, making the cropped area sometimes 3 or 4x the size... I use it for detail shots... That's what I did here with the Spitfire. It was a shot of the entire fuselage, and not a lot could be seen in the 'pit.. Once it was cropped, however...:

This CAF/Monogram P-39 is done with the "Fill Flash" and three overhead (regular 3-bulb ceiling fixture with those cockamamee coiled fluorescents) lights... I used a piece of light sky-blue poster board and sprayed some flat white from a rattle can onto it for a back-drop.. Then I adjust the color of the picture until the "sky" is right, then *Snap*..

 The figure was painted with Testor's enamels overall, with the face done in Testor's Model Master Radome Tan for the basic skin-color (my preferred skin-color for Caucasian troopage), then given a wash with oils (Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, and Yellow Ochre),  and dry-brushed overall with Tamiya acrylics, then sprayed with Testor's MM Dullcoat...

The eyes were just dark slits as the pilot is squinting in the bright, South Pacific sunlight with a small black dot in the center of the slit, and the same thin line was done for the eyebrows and a touch of pink for the lips mixed from Crimson and Titanium White oils.  It's also photographed from the same distance as the figure above, but I used the "crop" feature to enlarge it it to a ridiculous size, lol...

That's why you want to keep your viewers at a foot away from your 1/48 figures..  The un-aided human eye can't focus on anything closer than 4-6 inches anyway...   Having a figure that's an inch and a half tall magnified to the height of a GI Joe is pretty unforgiving too, lol... This guy looks like he had a lip-job and they'll blow above 15,000 feet ASL.. He looks pretty good at scale viewing distances (above) though... 

Tal Afar Dave

Monogram P39: Thinking about it

Just to give ya a little nudge, Dave, since your siggy mentions it... Here's our (CAF CenTex Wing at San Marcos, TX, circa 1988) P-39 getting a little ramp-work done after a pre-airshow flight...  Blew a hydraulic line somewhere under there, and two of our tireless Ramp-Rats are frantically trying to get her fixed & ready to make her take-off time for the actual performance...  With the open panels, big fluid puddle, heavily weathered (for a Warbird airshow performer)I think it'd make a sweet little diorama, either the one depicted (or even better), set in the South Pacific, or N. Africa.... 

This bird had a history of being cantankerous, with little things constantly breaking until someone suggested that they ditch Ivan's paint scheme and change the paint and markings to it's original U.S. Army  Airacobra scheme... I'm not kidding about the thing breaking down either.. Although little ever happened to it in the air (thankfully), the thing would be post-flighted thoroughly after a show, pulled into the hangar, and (with no one ever near it) break down overnight, just sitting in the hangar... It was rather maddening for the P-39 crew..

In 1990, she was rolled outta the paint shop for AirSho 90 with a new Snake-skin and the problems (I called them "Gremlins from the Kremlin") vanished, almost overnight! 

None of the annoying little problems they had with it before have ever re-surfaced, and with just the regular routine maintenence checks and repairs peformed, it's been the "Sweetest little airplane I ever worked on, ever since we got rid of the Red Stars", according to her crew-chief...

I'm huntin' for another P-39 on Ebay right now, even though I've built it about a dozen times...  Built the Eduard kit too, but the Monogram kit is an overall better fit (I had to shim the wing roots on the Eduard kit with styrene strip) and has more fuselage detail than Eduard's...  Eduard's has better intake details, and the landing gear struts and their bays & the wheel-wells are more detailed, but it seems to me that Eduard concentrated on detailing stuff not easily seen, and there're no engine or gun-bay details at all, although one could scratch-build and kit-bash (The Allison Engine from the Arii P-40 would fit with a little minor surgery) those details... But for the price of the Eduard kit, one would think that kit-bashing and scratch-building would be needed only for the smallest of details..

I don't like Eduard's cockpit doors either, since they're molded 100% in clear.  That means you can't display the model with the doors open and windows down, unless you perform some delicate surgery on very brittle clear styrene and cut the windows out of the doors. 

The Monogram kit has only one door that opens (the starboard one), but that's ok, since the left door isn't to be used except for an emergency egress, and it can't be opened frm the outside anyway...

ANYway... Just thought the P-39 might be fun for ya... (And it gave me an excuse to type up another CAF "War Story", lol...)

neat story Hammer...

Hmmm just reading that made me give it a look-see and the P-39 does look like a fun little build Hammer.  Btw, why would you need to look for one on ebay?  Didn't Revell just re-release it a couple years ago?

redraider56

...why would you need to look for one on ebay?  Didn't Revell just re-release it a couple years ago?

I want the CAF Ghost Squadron boxing of the 'Cobra that Monogram released back in around '82...

ahhhhhh....good luck finding that lol

EDIT: now that I look, theres actually 2 on there

The Mustang is finished! I present to you, "Bad Moon"

OWL

Hans von Hammer

redraider56:

...why would you need to look for one on ebay?  Didn't Revell just re-release it a couple years ago?

 

I want the CAF Ghost Squadron boxing of the 'Cobra that Monogram released back in around '82...

Hans are you looking for the complete kit or do you just need the decal sheet?

nice you like the morning usn coming through the window dont you

al i got to say about your build is

I have 2 of those on the bench now.  One is just in need of paint, and the other needs some repairs (cat incident).  Both CAF.  You can usually find them on eBay pretty easily.

redraider56

ahhhhhh....good luck finding that lol

EDIT: now that I look, theres actually 2 on there

the real red baron

nice you like the morning usn coming through the window dont you

al i got to say about your build is

I sure do! If I could, I'd take pictures outside. Natural light gives the best photos, I think.

Working through the weekend, and checking up on the group build.  Hey Owl, is "Bad Moon" an actual plane that you modeled or one of your own design? Like the green trim paint all around.......

Hammer, thanks for the cool Airacobra story. I have not built the Eduard kit, but have long admired the Monogram kit, ever since I saw it hanging from a buddy's basement ceiling back in middle school. Finally getting around to working on my CAF P-39 and am amazed at the fit.  First produced in 1964? Crazy, wish I had held up as well! LOL

Thanks to everyone for showing your work; a great time for comradeship and sharing of ideas. Hope to be building again in a few days. 

thanks, Tal Afar, "Bad Moon" is just a plane I made up.

Owl, nice job !

Nice different scheme, OWL!    Guess that Mustang was worked hard by the looks of all that wear and tear. 

Ken

Wow, cool scheme on that P-51, Owl!

I keep waffling about the second kit to enter with the F-102...keep hanging out in the stash (which is my problem) opening up boxes. A-37? A-4? F-5/20? F-100D? F-105D/F/G? Aaaah! Sooooo many good kits!

What about an F-106 so you can have a matched set :) ?  I'm doing a 102 in my wild wings build.  It's a fun little kit, and I was thinking of doing a 106 as well.

Rich

dupes

Wow, cool scheme on that P-51, Owl!

I keep waffling about the second kit to enter with the F-102...keep hanging out in the stash (which is my problem) opening up boxes. A-37? A-4? F-5/20? F-100D? F-105D/F/G? Aaaah! Sooooo many good kits!

 

hey Marc,, do one of your F-10?'s.. I'm doing the F-100, and someone else is doing the 106... humm... a gaggle of Century series...I also think some is doing a -100 also... so,, more Centuries.. the better right ??

(edit) rich is doing the 106..)...lol.oops

Nice job OWL, what shade of green was that?

Reasoned

Nice job OWL, what shade of green was that?

it was Testors little 1/4 oz enamel jar: flat green.  I lightened it with various amounts of flat white.

Nice job on the Mustang, Owl!  It looks perfectly battered, and that a refreshing change from guys who finish an NMF WWII bird to make it look like it's on the flight line at an air show today--way too clean, if you know what I mean.  Even a bird that was cleaned and polished between missions would have some fading on painted areas, and the panels would oxidize at different rates.  Yours looks like a hard-workin' mount, well done!

Best regards,

Brad

You're right, Baron, she did a nice job of fading on that ole Mustang. 

OWL - it's not a big deal and I'm not trying to be mean/critical, but just noticed that your wingtip nav lights are reversed.  For future reference, the red nav light is on the left wingtip and green on the right. 

Ken

well, whoops!  Thanks for pointing that out. The directions didn't show any of the nav light colors. I just went from memory.

Hammer, thanks for the cool Airacobra story. I have not built the Eduard kit, but have long admired the Monogram kit, ever since I saw it hanging from a buddy's basement ceiling back in middle school. Finally getting around to working on my CAF P-39 and am amazed at the fit.  First produced in 1964? Crazy, wish I had held up as well! LOL

Heh.. I've been active with the CAF since about 1984, and the "Hangar Flying" is one of the greatest benefits of membership... IMHO, the only benfit more worthwhile is the free Space-A flights..  If there's an empty seat on a CAF bird, any Colonel can hop in, as long he/she can get in unassisted (The reason for that is so the PIC (Pilot In Command) is positive that you can get out  unassisted, lol)...  I've gotten quite a bit of "bootleg time" in the right seat of some of the bombers and front seat in three of the trainers).

But the best times are had in the CAF main hangar after the Saturday show.  That's where & when all the pilots, performers, aircrew, and general membership are attending the annual Rompin' Stompin' Hangar Dance & Barbeque... That's where I met all those guys who's names we all know and whose aircraft we've built time and time again: Joe Foss, Gabby Gabreski, Bob Johnson, Paul Tibbets, Bob Morgan, Butch Voris, Tex Hill, just to name-drop a few...

 'Course, the "CAF AirSho Survivor's Party" on Sunday Evening is pretty good too..  Always schedule your return flight or drive from Midland for Monday, lol...  There's even a "Bloody Mary Brunch" on Monday for the hard-core Colonels, though I've pretty much had it by Sunday night and have never attended that one.. But it's the BEST day to get up close & personal to the aircraft still on the ramp (most are still there until around 0900, when they start headin' back to their nests) without throngs of people around taking pictures of their kids & wives standing next to the landing gear.. In fact, many Mondays, around 0700-0800, I was the only one around on the ramp... You can really poke your head into stuff and get good reference pictures... (If you're like me and got the flight gear, it's also a GREAT time to get "Hee-ro Shots" of yourself  with the aircraft. ) However, I digress..

The Monogram P-39 was definitely one of, if not the finest 1/48 single-seat/single-engine fighter kits ever made by Monogram, IMNSHO.  The P-38, P-39, P-40, P-51B (Original "Ding Hao!" version, not the recent release, which is  ProModler tooling; it doesn't count (It was a post-merger release...), Fw 190, & Mosquito all came out in the mid/late 60s and that's when Monogram decided that they were a model manufacturer and not a toy company, and got into concentrating on details, rather than "operating features"...