The Official 1942 70th Anniversary Group Build

Great work on the Nate Ninetalis !! i did the little one from ICM :)

Well done on the sherman Smash 

Hope to get back with the 111 soon :( to busy at work and at the workbench too!!

Nine, I do like the looks of that "Home Defense" Nate. I did mine as one in Thailand/Burma in early 1942 that fell prey to a Flying Tiger off an Aeromaster decal sheet. Cant wait to see yours all done. Your IJA Gray does not seem to have the greenish tone that the bottles of that paint I have do. Or perhaps it is just the lighting there.

Lt, your Sherman is gorgeous! One other color option I may have suggested you could try would have been US Olive Drab, and nobody with knowledge of Lend Lease tanks in the Western Desert could say was not possible. Since US built AFV s were delivered in their factory color of OD and painted in theater by the British, prior to issue to units,  OD was occasionally incorporated in to their desert camo schemes.

here are some progress photos of my TBD up to now:

wing bomb rack panels with corrugations removed- as they should be

Seams and sink marks filled with Gelsuper Glue and cleaned up on the lower wing join

and the shims that I added into the wing fold area above the flap wells.

I use Gunze for my models, I only use Gunze, Tamiya and Revell.
The Revell ones are used for the interior.

I don't know about the Greenish tone.
I often hear that Gunze is probable the best you can get for those colours out of the bottle.
I don't like to mix colors unless I really have to
(not because of laziness but because I don't want to have 15 different tones of IJA Grey on my 15 different models, maybe I'll change on that part later)

I like most Jap flyers, beeing it homeland defense or from the Japanese-Soviet conflicts.
Actually, can't think of any jap flyer I don't like, except from some anoying shemes.

Anyway, I'm really happy that I'm starting to get the hang of the airbrushing, apart from some mistakes I'm really proud of myself!
I'm hoping on finishing this project before friday (it's my IPMS chapter meeting by then).
Gonna post pic's when I'm done with it.

Btw, nice work on that TBD so far!
With regards, Ninetalis.

Have a little update for now,
I just airbrushed the arrow between the vertical lines on the fuselage and the jap markings on the wings.
this is what she looks like for the moment.

I really hope that for once the paint hasn't crawled under the tape like the last two times.
I tried a new way of applying the paint and I think it helped.
Fingers crossed for now!

With regards, Ninetalis.

Nine, it's hard to believe that there is a model airplane under all that!

Lots of little bits of progress today on my TBD-

first up, I cut the gunner's .30 cal. off its mount and changed the mount so that it will sit stowed rather than in ready to fire position. Then from that generic Tom's Modelworks USN Aircraft PE set,  I added the sights to the .30 cal. I also "grooved" out to separate the spade grips and cleaned up the mold seam lines with my needle files.Then I added the ammo can after clean up and reset the .30 in its' mount.

and since no photos that I have seen of TBDs showed flaps down with the wings folded, I installed the flaps up

and here is the shim work on the rear of the wing folds

and finally I glued on the horizontal stabilizers and tacked the engine in place. 

almost ready for paint now....

stik - What's that thing that looks like a weathervane on the barrel of the gun?  Is that glued to the barrel?  I can't tell, what with fading eyesight and all, lol!

Some kind of fancy front sight post that the PE set provides like on this one.

Yes, I do see the resemblance.  That is a fancy front post.

yes it is... probably some sort of sight to aid in leading a moving target.

OK, all assembly before major painting now done-

last night I installed the landing gear- the wheels are just pressed on for now. They still can be taken off to ease painting them

and I drilled out the wing fold armatures lightening holes using a pin vise and various size drill bits last nite.

and finally how it all looks as of this morning  I placed the canopy in closed position just to see if it is how I want to go. Aside from painting purposes and masking the cockpit I am thinking no. Most likely I will display it open.

I have also as of now dipped the canopy in Future and it is drying now... but nothing worth taking a photo of there...

Lookin' good, stik. I love the detail you've put on this bird.

Thank you sir. Your Alamein Sherman looks most impressive. You really did that one justice.

Excellent work by everybody!

Sorry, I haven't been around much due to work. Everything looks good though!

Thanks, Budd

Today was spent masking that "greenhouse" canopy. All Thirteen 1/48 scale feet of it. Now she is ready for the major painting to begin. Running out of daylight here to do any serious airbrushing today.

Well I did my airbrushing in the night with my workbench lights & lamps. First up I redid the black that will go under the windscreen. Then the lowers in Light Gray. And finally some of the Blue Gray for the uppers- the tail area, gunners sliding canopies that will be glued in place tomorrow, touch ups on the cockpit upper decking, the lower portions of the outer folding wings, the cowl area, the fiddly bits needing Blue Gray...

fiddly bits

wingfold

cockpit decking

tail w/Light Gray demarcation

and overall upper as of now

My progress from the midday session:

Some quick airbrushing of Black and Aluminum on the prop and a couple cockpit parts (Target scope and DF antenna)

then it was time to install (bombardiers stick, cockpit rollover brace, DF antenna) and or paint (fire extinguisher, gunners cockpit deck radio gear) the last cockpit fiddly bits that I will not be able to before the canopy is glued on.

front cockpit

middle cockpit

rear cockpit/gunner's station

Then I installed the sliding stowed portions of the gunner's canopy

and finally the entire canopy

now here is my Dirty Harry paraphrase, "Ah ah, I know what you're thinking... why did he install that rear canopy unmasked?"

simple- it is my mask. Since I will have the rear portion open and it is already installed under the center, I am using the end portion as a form fitted mask and will dispose of it after painting.

Great work.  I'm taking notes, Stik.  I have a couple of Airfix's Devastators (1/72), and your build log will be helpful when I get around to them.

Thank you sir. Although I do not know how much of this will translate over to the 1/72 Airfix TBD. I remember building that kit eons ago... And now that the afternoon airbrush session is done, I have accomplished my main goal of getting this bird painted.

here is a view of the lower surfaces in Non Specular Light Gray

a few views of the upper surfaces in Non Specular Blue Gray

and since photos show some TBDs had the Blue Gray carried around onto to the lower surfaces of the leading edges, I went with that on mine.

I'm sure there's not as much in the Airfix offering as in yours, but I was impressed with your work on the torpedo, and some of your cockpit work might be helpful.  I haven't opened the boxes yet, so I don't know how they interpreted it.

More impressive work.  Nice paintjob.

Looks great, stik!!

Stik,

NIce work on the Devastator, my friend.  I'm looking forward to seeing the finished model.

Ordie

Coming along nicely :)

Thank you guys. My TBD is on the sidelines for these days off while I finish up another build. Then I can turn my full attention there.

Hey Guys,

Seems I may be out of this GB as of last night...Sandy destroyed my modeling room, along with the F2A3 Buffalo I had ready to photograph for the finish...spent an hour rigging up the antennae wires, now it`s under a bookshelf, probably smashed to bits. Hurricanes suck!

Sorry to hear this.  From the news, things are pretty bad there.

Trouble, expect the worst but hope for the best during clean up

Well I did a little bit of work on the TBD today. Since I needed to paint the wing cannon barrels on my Ki-84, I figured that I may as well do the nose gun and flex mount gun for my TBD. I used Humbrol Metalcote Gun Metal. Out of the tin it looks like brand new parkerizing. Those paints are enamel and buffable, so I started buffing the flex mount .30 before I took some photos.

both guns

unbuffed nose gun

buffed flex .30 with handles painted. I still need to paint the ammo can and mount framework

Thanks stik! You`re correct...while picking up my destroyed model area, I found my Buffalo, intact...and the antennae wire was still there...amazing to me because if you would`ve seen where I found it, you would not have believed it. My "night Lightning " also survived, rigging and all, the Albatross I built for the Seaplane GB, sans front gear and my Betty Bomber....all were under a ton of crap but still made it. Many more complete builds were not as lucky...had a few "hard to find" kits bite the dust. I`ve only scraped the surface in there, who knows what else may have survived...I`ll keep ya posted...lol.

Good to hear! I was going to give you an "honorary" completion anyway. Glad to know at least some stuff survived. How's the rest of the house?

sub revolution

Good to hear! I was going to give you an "honorary" completion anyway. Glad to know at least some stuff survived. How's the rest of the house?

Len

Classy move, Sub.

I'm sorry to hear about your trouble, trouble.  Good luck with FEMA.