Pearl Harbour 70th Anniversary GB

very nice.  would love to be able to pick out type for the a/c at ewa.

joe

Nice sites Bondoman, 

Now that I've finished my helldiver I can start work on my Zero. But I'm going camping today so I won't be able to start for around a week.

Here is the Official new badge!

Off on the wrong foot already.Took the parts out and found a busted machine gun.Easy fix if I can dig up some brass rod.

Simple kit,but the parts fit was great.Especially the canopy!

Nice!

I finally got back from my four night fishing/camping trip.

So I can finally start work on my Zero tomorrow!

Current progress.

Mo' progress.

This is the part I hate about warbirds.

Got Tape?

I've started work as well, but am waiting to get more pics before I upload them. The cockpit is looking awesome, btw!

Can't wait owl!

Nice progress TD, what are you using too paint?! A rattle can with a overspray amplifier?

Rattle can and bristle brush.I'm un-hightech.

It's getting there.

I hope these meatballs lay down,but I have serious doubts.

TD4438

It's getting there.

 

I hope these meatballs lay down,but I have serious doubts.

 

did you use any setting solution? (vinegar works too) Much of the time, the decals settle down overnight. So Id wait until tomorrow to see if they're going to behave.

Best of luck with the decals!

I use model master decal solvent solution. And it works great, never had a problem with it.

Im going to bid on a Val dive bomber today. I doubt I'll be able to build it for this GB. Though Id share. The Val is my favorite Japanese plane.

It has begun! My first Japanese aircraft: an A6M2 Zero

The kit is originally Fujimi, but was reboxed by Testors. I got the kit from a vendor's table and the box was pretty beat up. This kit features in interesting mix of recessed panel lines and raised rivets. Some panels are also raised above the surface, giving the plane a lovely 3D exterior. I like it!

I did a bit of work in the cockpit: adding wires, drilling out the lightening holes, adding seat belts....I also attempted to replicate the "aotake" lacquer that is supposed to be on the inside of these planes. I painted everything with a base coat of silver, then mixed some blue and green acrylic paints together and thinned it with future to get a semi-transparent coat. It took a few different mixing ratios to get it right, but I really love how it turned out!!

I was building this kit with a friend, with her building Tamiya's Zero. Her kit came with two cockpit options and since I was detailing up the cockpit, she gave me the open set. The front windshield didnt fit the Fujimi kit, so I was forced to use my windshield to get the best fit. But since my canopy was only one piece, I had to do a bit of sawing! Yikes!!

My fuselage and wing halves had a bit of a warp to them so a bit of creative gluing and clamping was required to get it to go away! And there were massive gaps and steps at the wing roots. Im going to have to do a bit of careful sanding....

more soon!

Looking good.My Testors Zero has nowhere near that amount of detail.

But,thanks to Micro-Sol and Micro-Set,those decals did lay down nicely.It took all night but the stuff worked.

More pics later.

Looks great! I haven't built a Japanese plane before either, my tamiya Zero has so much detail. I can't upload pics either because photobuckets being retarded

Cant wait for more TD and Owl.

Nice work, TD.  Glad the decals turned out right.  They can be troublesome, sometimes, and absolutely refuse to do what they should do.  I usually use MicroSet (blue bottle) and MicroSol (red bottle)--and still encounter problems.  I find it often works to put a little MicroSet on top of the decal before sliding it off the paper and on the model.  Then, after its set up enough not to shift, I press down on it with a cue tip, or, starting at the center, roll the cue tip toward the outside edge.  That usually also squeezes air pockets out.

If necessary, I use Micro Sol (which is pretty potent) sparingly, applying it with a small paint brush and only to the areas needed.  Again, it can be pressed down with a cue tip, but Sol really softens the decal, and can mush it up irredeemablly.

Good looking cockpit, too, Owl.  Very vibrant and eye-catching.  Interesting tip on vinegar for decal setting.  I've not tried it, although I've noticed the vinegar smell from the proprietary solutions.  Is vinegar a strong solvent?  Do you have to be careful how much is applied?

Also started my project, Trumpeter's USS New Orleans CA-32 in 1/700.

Here's the box, with an interested observer, Sergeant Saunders, my Jack Russell terrier. 

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And here's the mess of sprues to sort through for parts.

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I've started the process now of cleaning them up.  It'll take a while.

Hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year.

checkmateking02

And here's the mess of sprues to sort through for parts.

Yep, that sounds like Trumpeter. They are pretty hard to beat for details, but that is a lot of sprue! I just got three Trumpeter kits for Christmas and had about the same reaction!

checkmateking02

Good looking cockpit, too, Owl.  Very vibrant and eye-catching.  Interesting tip on vinegar for decal setting.  I've not tried it, although I've noticed the vinegar smell from the proprietary solutions.  Is vinegar a strong solvent?  Do you have to be careful how much is applied?

Thanks checkmateking.

The vinegar isnt too strong. I puddle it where I want the decal to go, and once its down, I add a bit more over top. The decals normally snuggle down nicely after that. Its probably equivalent to MicroSet, though I'm not 100% on that because I havent actually used  Micoset/sol.

Thanks for the information, Owl.  I just ran out of MicroSet, and it's an hour and a half drive to the nearest hobby store that might have more.  Vinegar sounds like a good substitute.

No problem checkmate, glad to help!

Update: In which I do a bunch of sanding.....the gaps/steps at the wing root were pretty bad. All the red stuff is the putty

while the putty was setting, I put together the engine. The Fujimi kit has a wonderful multi-piece engine assembly, and I didnt feel the need to add much more detail.

sub:  this is my first Trumpeter kit of any type; I've built a couple of older Fujimi ships in 1:700, but they had nowhere near the parts.

Anyway, last night I tidied up the NO boat's hull, waterline plate and decks, then dry fitted them together.  Sleek-looking craft.  The penny is for size reference.

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This morning I got started on some assembly, and lasted till half the afternoon.

In the middle of those two sprue ends is the little part that goes on each side of the gun turrets. 

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Once off the sprue, it's only a little bigger than Mr. Lincoln's nose.

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It took a tiny, tiny drop of Micro Weld in the locator holes in each turret, but they fit well.

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Not being a nautical type, I don't even know what these "horns" are; but they seem to appear often on naval gun turrets.

And by the way, Owl, nice looking engine.  Did you get that effect with washes and dry-brushing?  Currently working on a Gloster Gladiator for the Airfix build, and it would be nice if I could get that look on the engine.

I got the look of the engine from painting everything black, then dry brushing the cylinders and tubing steel, then following with a light dry brushing of a rust color. The center area where the prop shaft comes out was dry bushed grey over the black. The whole assembly was then so very lightly dry brushed with silver to bring out only the highest detail. A thin black wash was slopped over the entire thing and left to dry.

Things are shaping up nicely around here.

Here are a few updated pics of the decals.

Those decals have settled down a bit, well done.

Ive done quite s bit if work on my Zero, but my Internet & photobucket is playing up, so it's hard too upload pics. But I have thought if a new way too upload them!

Stick them on a USB send them too my iPod touch, upload from iPod touch too snapbucket, (mobile version of photobucket), then use my iPod to post pics. It will take a long time but it will be worth it!

checkmateking02

Also started my project, Trumpeter's USS New Orleans CA-32 in 1/700.

I have been working on the Trumpeter USS San Francisco, which is essentially the same kit, only with different assembly instructions (And different kit parts are used).  It would be cool if I back-dated my USS San Francisco to Pearl Harbor (It was there), but it is about %60 of the way done, so it wouldn't be eligible for this group build anyway .  So far I have spent a lot of time touching up on parts with paint because I didn't realize that one side would be visible!

Well after a two hour hassle of uploading pics with a slow computer, but my iPod is still faster… so I used that.

I started a several days ago so I've got quite a bit done. I started where most model planes start, with the cockpit. The cockpit is OOB except for seatbelts. I made the seatbelts out of masking tape, and copper wire for belt buckles.

I decided to airbrush the cockpit and wheel wells instead of the usual hand painting. Then dry-brushed the side walls with bare metal coloured paint.

I also decided to cut out the air brake flaps out, I've never done this before but I think it turned out pretty well for my first time. Then i thought the flaps looked too bare, so cut out some plastic strips from a large ice cream container, and glued them on.

I painted the engine a dark grey colour then dry brushed it with silver. I also wired up the engine with copper wireing. And then after seeing Owls awesome engine I thought I would dry-brush it agian with brown.

While the engine was drying I assembled the model, perfect fit! it only needed filler in the wing roots.

This is just a test fit with the flaps, I'm not going to glue them on until it's painted.

More pics on the next page!

Oops, I forgot too post pics of the wheel wells.

Im not sure if I should dry-brush the wheel wells, or which colour too dry-brush them in.

More pics on the previous page!