African Group Build - The Official Thread

The one thing American drivers could not complain about was the lack of office space!

T

I was thinking the same thing - just your head sticking out, but actually looks like a fair amount of room once inside the cockpit.

I might have to park the Corsair for a week or two. I've agreed to build a Mosquito B Mk IV for a club event, and I have exactly 4 weeks to complete it. Hence it gets priority for a little while.

Cheers

Tony

Not a problem Tony.

The full size SAAF Puma I moddeled was interesting as it flew into Angola to support SADF and 32 Bn forces. Just before landing they lost the tail rotor but the crew managed to land safely.

A replacement tailboom was flown in and manhandeled into place in field.

The aircraft # is 156 while the new boom wore # 143.

Humbrol 29 and 30 enemals. More pix in the French GB.

Theuns

I've just returned from some business travel to Spain. I'll get back to the Corsair immediately. Before I went,  I let my dissatisfaction with the kit engine get the better of me. I pulled it out and bought an aftermarket resin one.

Problem is, as the cowl is now mounted to the fuselage, I'll have to do some surgery to get it in place, but I think it'll be worth it in the long run.

Cheers

Tony

taxtp

I've just returned from some business travel to Spain. I'll get back to the Corsair immediately. Before I went,  I let my dissatisfaction with the kit engine get the better of me. I pulled it out and bought an aftermarket resin one.

Problem is, as the cowl is now mounted to the fuselage, I'll have to do some surgery to get it in place, but I think it'll be worth it in the long run.

Cheers

Tony

lol, a little "Corsair Rhinoplasty" in your future then??

Now there is a fun word, 'Rhinoplasty'. After it's done I'm going to stuff about 3 miles of bandage inside it, just like the real thing.

I actually wasn't happy with the positioning of the kit engine,not sure if it's the kit or myself at fault. This time I'll set it a little deeper inside the cowl.

Cheers

Tony

Err, I've excised the nose of the Corsair, and started prepping the Pavla resin engine that I bought to replace the kit  item. It's pretty ugly at the moment.

Cheers

Tony

I have to resurrect this old GB to finish off my build. Better late than never ! It's almost ready to prime, after I fix up a couple more things and give it a wash. I'm vacillating between using the kit 'Suez Crisis'  stripe decals for a quick finish, or painting them myself.

Cheers

Tony

Ready for masking and priming, hopefully tonight's job.  I think I'll mask and spray the stripes.

Cheers

Tony

Primed with Tamiya Acrylic XF-16. There are only a couple of minor fixes to be made before I re-prime. I've seen some really good finishes with this paint, but for me it's always a little grainy. Perfectly fine as a primer though :)

Cheers

Tony

Changing from Suez markings to this one, Bata Airfield, Equatorial Guinea, 1952.

(Edit 3 Dec - fixed the link to the photo below)

Cheers

Tony

I've gone for a different aircraft rom 15 Flotille, under the assumption that it was also located at bata at this time. 15 Flotille also had there F4U-7s and then AU-1s at  Algeria later in the 50s.

Cheers

Tony

taxtp

Changing from Suez markings to this one, Bata Airfield, Equatorial Guinea, 1952.

Cheers

Tony

Uh-oh... what happened to the Suez markings???

Hi Vance,

There's a couple of reasons, the main one being that I have a multitude of GB commitments that I don't want to let anyone down on. I try to get at least one model done for each GB within my areas of interest. That being said, I think  I still have 7 or 8 to get done this year so I'm looking for quick finishes.

Then, I found that I had already attached the hard points for the rockets, and found that the Suez stripes intersected with many of them meaning that it would be a complex masking job that may not end up with the best result. Being time poor, as previously described, I opted out.

Finally, I really liked the look of the aircraft in the colour photo above, and decided that I really wanted one. Having now nearly got one, I'm glad I did. I love the look of it.

I'm a colours and markings kind of guy, so I have already planned to get another F4U-7 and do the Suez thing, but I'll paint the stripes BEFORE fixing the hard points. I'll just need the right GB to get it onto the list. Maybe I'll run a Suez GB at some stage.

Cheers

Tony

It seems like I've been building this thing forever, anyways, spent some time on it over the weekend, and it's edging closer to completion. The prop is just positioned for the photo, it's not attached yet. I need to add the undercarriage bay doors (again), do the exhaust stain, some wireless rigging, detail the guns and some other minor things, and attach the ordnance.

The weathered appearance is created by scratching the paint to reveal the bare metal finish underneath, and use of chalk pastels for panel shading, although it hasn't shown up well in the photos.

Cheers

Tony

Here's my F4U-7 Corsair, Algeria, 1952. It's taken a while, but it's done at last. Eventually I detaile d out the cockpit, added a resin engine, scratchbuilt the pitot, added rigging and built the thing.

Cheers

Tony