DoogsATX

Reasoned:

BTW Doogs, is the 1/48 Academy P-47D worth $20?

 

IMO, no. The only Jugs I'd buy in 1/48 (excluding -Ns, where the choices are different) are the Revellograms and the Tamiyas.

Revellogram = cheap, good shape, builds up well. Cockpit's a bit wanting but not Lindberg-bad by any means.

Tamiya = excellent detail, brilliant engineering and probably one of the best 1/48 kits ever produced.

The way I see it, the Academy and Hasegawa kits dance in between, but it's kind of a pointless middle ground. Why spend $20 on the Academy when you can get the solid Revellogram for like $10-12, or the amazing Tamiya for $25-30?

 

Great, thanks for the recommendations, figured if there was anyone who knew Jugs, it'd be you.

Sorry for the thread sideshow, back to the Imperial Japanese Air!

Reasoned

 

Gamera:

 

I should have joined the Italian GB

 

Got my Val mostly repaired, should have done w/pics this weekend.

BTW Doogs, is the 1/48 Academy P-47D worth $20?

You guys still have plenty of time to join in. A/C take less time then the typical armor kit. The GB ends May 31.

I still don't understand GB procedures here. Why is this message here  "RE: Japanese GB" and the one above "RE: George Progress"? I thought I was putting my Val pics into the Japanese GB which I thought was an ok place for them: guess they're in with the George. I'm getting too old if I can't figure out a mailing list.

If I was going to look for a cheap P-47, I'd think Arii Razorback. They're in print, cheap, have recessed panel lines and are a clean build. (I've found out that the Arii/Otaki Japanese aircraft kits must be older: they've got raised lines, lots of rivets etc. I know the old school has its fans, I'm just not one of them.) Hyperscale gives the Arii 47 good grades for shape. I used it for weathering experiment. Would be just the ticket for the first metal finish. But if you're only going to have one kit of a major plane, saving $15 is a false economy. I've got the Tamiya 47M (can be a D) and it's a lovely kit. I was on the look-out for a Tamiya razorback, but got torpedoed at GreatModels and filled my Japanese stash with Hasegawas. So we'll have to wait for a few months for appearances. Need a Razorback and a Stuka and I think that's it for a decade. (Although the Lionroar Devestator looks interesting.)

Eric

EBergerud

I still don't understand GB procedures here. Why is this message here  "RE: Japanese GB" and the one above "RE: George Progress"? I thought I was putting my Val pics into the Japanese GB which I thought was an ok place for them: guess they're in with the George. I'm getting too old if I can't figure out a mailing list.

Hey Everyone,

My computer seems to be cooperating at the moment so here`s some pics of the Betty I`ve been working on. Started it for the "Way Too Many Props" GB but also works well here....

...Made sun shades from rolled up tissue paper,painted XF-71 Cockpit Green...

 ...Nose section...

...dorsal gun position (gun is in stowed position)

...side gun blister...

Thanks for looking!

Len

Len that is one sweet Betty. Well done job my friend.

tigerman

Len that is one sweet Betty. Well done job my friend.

Len, great close-ups on the Betty gives better the idea of the work you did.

The only disappointment is on the pictures colour that seems too red/yellow influences.

mmm 4:42 you beat me..

Eric: Well, what Len said, I guess I could change the title line back when I post but I'm lazy and forget to do it. Your photos are welcome here wherever you may post them

Tigerman Eric: Finish a model in two months??? Do I look like Trey or Femis to you??? April Fool's Day come early this year? Really, I've got two GBs from last year that I haven't even touched this year. Sorry, I wanna start the kit esp after seeing how well Doogs' model came out but I'm really trying to concentrate on a few kits now to finish them.

Len: Good to see you got your photos up. Nice work there, love the extra detail like the sun screens. Looks like she's close to done. Hope your son feels better soon.

bsyamato

Len, great close-ups on the Betty gives better the idea of the work you did.

Len, I'm truly impressed with the canopy frames, got a Betty in the stash and it inspires me.  BTW, want to redo my Val canopy for me?

Reasoned

bsyamato:

Len, great close-ups on the Betty gives better the idea of the work you did.

 

Len, I'm truly impressed with the canopy frames, got a Betty in the stash and it inspires me.  BTW, want to redo my Val canopy for me?

I did all that masking with Tamiya tape. I never had much luck with mask sets and seems easier just to cut my own. My hands and fingers really did go numb on me several times while cutting them out. The real test will be the glass on my Peacemaker...if I ever get to it..lol. Thanks for the kind words!

Len

Gamera

Len: Good to see you got your photos up. Nice work there, love the extra detail like the sun screens. Looks like she's close to done. Hope your son feels better soon.

Len

Gamera

Tigerman Eric: Finish a model in two months??? Do I look like Trey or Femis to you??? April Fool's Day come early this year? Really, I've got two GBs from last year that I haven't even touched this year. Sorry, I wanna start the kit esp after seeing how well Doogs' model came out but I'm really trying to concentrate on a few kits now to finish them.

I extended the deadline an extra month if that helps?

tigerman

 

Gamera:

 

Tigerman Eric: Finish a model in two months??? Do I look like Trey or Femis to you??? April Fool's Day come early this year? Really, I've got two GBs from last year that I haven't even touched this year. Sorry, I wanna start the kit esp after seeing how well Doogs' model came out but I'm really trying to concentrate on a few kits now to finish them.

 

 

I extended the deadline an extra month if that helps?

Lol. Eric thanks! I do appreciate that but I still shouldn't enter anything else right now. Sorry, please don't take that the wrong way.

well, wings ended wrong on first attempt so i break it again and redo

After i drilled some hole into underwing and glued plastic rods to give more strengt to the wings structure (the gluing surface was few after i cut the flaps) and closed the flaps zones with evergreens pieces

and starting to put details in 

EDIT

Finished to detail this area, now need some cut and adjust

FINALLY, done with the model from !  Eh, it wasn't that bad really, this is in fact a VERY good kit in the hands of a skilled builder..... which I'm not but here is the 1/48 Hasegawa Aichi D3A1 "Val"

and lastly, a pic with her fighter escort.

I like it a lot Reasoned. What solution did you use for the Great Early War Zero Color Problem? Resembles my witches brew more than a little. The only thing I see we did different was that I gave the plane a little glossier finish. What wasn't clear to me was whether the glare deflector had been waxed: intuition might argue matte whereas I left it satin. Millman said that the Val color was quite close to the Zero in hue - just a little lower on the grey scale. But the green is supposed to be very subtle - which yours is. (I still think there'd be a bucket of exhaust stains near that engine, but every plane was new once.) You've got those decals down nice and proper: you spray the national insignia? I think my decals had white circles which was probably right when using a green color scheme. (Although I guess the IJNAF loonies argue about that too.) A very clean build and certainly looks like proper early war garb.

Eric

Reasoned from your words i expected a messed Val not this "great finished" VAL LOL more pictures needed is the only criticism i can do on it

Thanks guys.  Eric, yes I also used a "custom" color mix of IJN grey and a little khaki in it to give it a yellowish-greenish hue.  Mine is probably a little more matte than it should be (helps to hide the sins).  As far as weathering, I remember your plane had a very realistic exhaust stain under her, as well as a glossy finish.  In my reading, they say the PH Vals (as well as many of the Jap a/c had little weathering since these kicked off the war for US at least.  However, they had to have some wear just from flight ops.

Reasoned - "not a skilled builder" ?  You could have fooled me. Those are awesome!   Damn good job on both.

My Ki46-III has sat impatiently waiting for the first spraying for close to a month now as I work on other projects.  And so many awesome builds have been completed.

Mike

Reasoned

FINALLY, done with the model from !  Eh, it wasn't that bad really, this is in fact a VERY good kit in the hands of a skilled builder..... which I'm not but here is the 1/48 Hasegawa Aichi D3A1 "Val"

 

 

 

and lastly, a pic with her fighter escort.

Good eye trouble, that was painted on the fairing since the decals were for another plane, plus I think it's easier than getting decals to set on curvey stuff IMHO.

Reasoned

Good eye trouble, that was painted on the fairing since the decals were for another plane, plus I think it's easier than getting decals to set on curvey stuff IMHO.

flaps details on the wing finished

and gears on , i inserted a metal pin inside to make a strong fixing

now just some putty work and sanding and the maty ready for the paint [:D (] or not? forget something? but don't remember)

One thing the Japanese plane fanatics agree on is that early war Japanese planes were waxed. Other air forces did the same at one time or another - should tabulate that. Wax provides it a little finish protection and a slight reduction in drag. Down side is that an enemy could pick up the little glint of sunlight that showed your presence before you saw him. (Several pilots described exactly that when I was writing about the Pacific air war.) Early in the war the Japanese weren't trying to hide: they termed the greenish grey the "offensive scheme." During the slugfest in the Solomons the IJNAF adapted the "defensive" green/grey scheme across the board. Opposite happened in the USAAF. Later in the war the USAAF dispensed with camo altogether to save a little weight: and they weren't hiding either. But I don't think a waxed plane would have been gloss: more like a satin. Personally, I think few airplanes were a true matte - and if they were, I'm not sure a really dull finish emulates it on a model. Yours looks fine to me: I'd guess that the glare deflector was matte. The planes on the way to Pearl would not have been "pristine." They'd been put through months of hellish training - Yamamoto personally declared that every man killed in training should be have the honor of being termed "killed in action." That said, you can just imagine those nervous ground crew on the hangar decks polishing and cleaning their airplanes for hours on end just to relieve nervous energy. And there were no flight ops during the journey to Pearl. When I described my build, I said think of a plane as it might have looked on the way back from Ceylon - April of 42 - after weeks of frantic operations. But even that required a restrained hand. Carrier planes never flew the number of missions that was typical on land. (If nothing else, they were often in port.) Now if you were painting a USN plane class of 1944, things would be very different. They were at sea so long and in the air so often that they were nearly as messed up as land based planes - and in the Pacific theater that was really messed up. Russia too. Actually, I think WWII planes are usually under weathered. But everything was new once, and every combatant had hundreds or thousands of planes in the "pipeline" to replace lost, damaged or worn-out planes at the front.

I didn't even try those fancy decals. (I didn't notice whether you put on those little thin stripes worn by squadron leaders. We think Akagi's Val group leader flew an orange plane for ID purposes: I've seen a model of it. The "grunt" planes had simpler markings.) Except for the ID marking numbers, I masked everything. Actually, I'm trying to get away from decals to the extent possible. Unfortunately, except for the Japanese and perhaps Soviet planes, it would be really tough to do a national insignia. But ID markers can be done. (I think one way you can tell a model aircraft fanatic is to see whether they put on some of those miniature warning messages. Some jets have dozens of them. Must take hours. Another reason to stay with props.)

Eric

Good info Eric, It's kind of funny when you start to research Jap a/c there is still many details of various planes not agreed upon (e.g., color, schemes etc.) I suspect much of this has to do with the fact so many of the pilots and crew were killed thus not able to provide first hand account info. Since my subject was not a flt leader it didn't have the stripes on either the horizontal or verticle stabilizer.  I did come across info on the surprising gawdy color scheme of several leader a/c.

I ran into this problem all the time writing history. If something is obvious at the time, there's a good chance nobody will write it down, or it will be present in some manual that people will forget. I daresay that among Japanese pilots the issue of Zero color rarely, if ever, came up during the war. Why would it? Go look at the plane dummy. When people are close to something they rarely see the need to record it because everyone in the universe must know what they do. Vets were sometimes startled when I'd ask questions about things that to them were matters that were self-evident: like, what did the Navy serve you for breakfast? And technical stuff can drive you nuts. I had a beastly time trying to find actual data on blast patterns caused by bombs and artillery shells. It was there, but it took a lot of digging. Had you been manning a gun during the war, you would have known it. So why write it down? These matters of detail concerning color or weathering cause modelers to squabble in almost every genre I can think of. So we just have to live with a little uncertainty. Something like color has the factor built in - every factory made a slightly different color, every vehicle was looked at under slightly different conditions and every eye sees the color itself a little differently. Actually, I wish we knew less. I don't like Olive Drab: I want to paint Sherman tanks British Racing Green and give them white stripes up the middle.

Eric

Very nice Reasoned, I have no idea what you messed up but you are a skilled builder, it looks great!!  And with that I give you my Val, she needs a little more touch up paint and I think I'll be ready for the decals.  The tail was not fun to mask and took a few applications with some annoying over-spray to clean up.  I free hand the grey and green for the soft edge.  Using rolled up tape and paper seemed too complicated. 

Len great looking Betty,do'nt envy the canopy masking you had to do but very nicely done!

Reasoned great looking build! I think you did a masterful job on it!

Bsyamato wow thats some serious surgery you had to do .looks like the hard work paid off nice fix!

That Val looks great David.