MONOGRAM MAFIA II GB

Those wings look smooth in that pic.

Colin, have you read the book The Cactus Air Force? I forget the authors name, but I do recall it being a very thorough account of the air battles during the Guadalcanal Campaign, including all the carrier battles and the Japanese views.

Today was a bit of progress on my TBD. Early on I got the upper inner wings glued on, which of course traps the folding outer wing panels in place. After the glue dried  I did the seam clean up on the leading edge. With all the associated needle file work in the corrugated area...

Then it was time to begin painting the Mk.XIII Torpedo. I used Humbrol Brass for the body as color photos show this was a good choice

And then I used Humbrol Oak for the "orange crate" wooden box around the fins. I will mask off and paint the warhead light gray after letting the Brass color dry overnite.

In that case I'll try extra hard not to foul it up!  How many of these kits have you built over the years?

The whole Cactus Air Force stroy is fascinating, especially the ArmyAir Force's role in it.

Yet another LIFE magazine photo I'm stealing from you, lol..

Cdn Colin

Here's the third of my hatrick...  I'm doing it up as the P-400, 'cause I gotta put the shark mouth on it!

Just a little trivia..

My uncle, then Captain John Thompson, was the pilot of that P-400 depicted in the kit..

CPT John A. Thompson-67th Fighter Squadron, 347th Fighter Group. Cactus Air Force at Guadalcanal, 1942..

Thanks boss. I think I first built this kit when it was newly released, and it is still one of my favorite Monogram kits to this day. Especially the folding wings part. But I do wish that I had found that LIFE photo a couple hours ago. Different angle and the best one I have yet seen of the wingfold detail. That's OK though, I still have another one of these beauties in my stash...

Not a fan of folded wings, but "WOW!" Stikker... Out-freakin'-STANDING!

Nuthin' wrong with the angle.. Good shot there..

Just talking about getting the light behind you... The other stuff can be taken out later, if needed..

Rough example..

A bit more work before calling it a night at the bench for me tonite.

The real TBD had four little braces on the inner surface of the upper outer wing panel between teh two hinges that are visible in this photo that are not molded in the kit.

No worries, some strip styrene to the rescue. I guesstimated their size based off of a few photos in books, then made four triangular braces for each wing. a quick hole drilled with my pin vise for the lightening holes and cleaned out a bit with a twirled x-acto knife. Glue into place based off the same reference photos and done.

and then placed (I did not want to glue) for a test fitting on the build so far and some quick photos.

I also sanded the puttied up sink marks smooth

Hans von Hammer

CallSignOWL

I present my second completion, Don Hammer!

Revell's 1/72nd scale P-47  (date stampped 1999)

 

 

Shoot that one again, Owl! Just make sure the sun is behind you to light the Jug and the cars and the big tree (far trees are OK) are outta the frame!  I LOVE that pic otherwise!

Well done, especially for a Brail-Scale kit!

That actually is the best angle. The other way is an even closer parking lot, a parking garage, a picknick table and a basketball court!! There arent many good places to get pics on campus....

Minor progress so far today. I added the shim for the left upper wing last night and cleaned it up today. And then it was time for some Squadron White putty into a couple sink marks.

Here's the third of my hatrick.  I've got the cockpit put together, and this is the first time I've scuffed up the floorboards.  I'm doing it up as the P-400, 'cause I gotta put the shark mouth on it!

i47.photobucket.com/.../DSCF1146.jpg

i47.photobucket.com/.../DSCF1152.jpg

i47.photobucket.com/.../DSCF1149.jpg

troublemaker66

Wait a minute...you skip out on us without so much as a "kiss my ***" and think you can just waltz right back in here and act like nuttin`s wrong.......

...`bout time ya showed up slacker.....

Slacker??? Why,  I oughtta...

The early P-40s had a fuel tank that was filled through a hole in the port side window and period pics show lots of streaking from spilled fuel under the glass so that needs to get done before I close that area up.

Good eye.. That's a detail that many folks overlook.. Kudos for mentioning that detail.. Proof that research pays off.

CallSignOWL

I present my second completion, Don Hammer!

Revell's 1/72nd scale P-47  (date stampped 1999)

 

 

Shoot that one again, Owl! Just make sure the sun is behind you to light the Jug and the cars and the big tree (far trees are OK) are outta the frame!  I LOVE that pic otherwise!

Well done, especially for a Brail-Scale kit!

vetteman42

Don Hammer will this one fit in for a second build ?

Hell yeah..

Here is the shim on the most offending wing upper half, the right wing. Sanded down a bit.

Then placed on the lower wing/fuselage to show how it mates up for this photo...

and the left upper wing placed so that it is showing the much thinner gap in that side that will need a shim.

I hear ya. I am working on some shims along for the mating surfaces of the inner upper wing halves to the fuselage. No gaps this time!

The Mustang has received it's coat of gloss white. I haven't bother ed to photograph it as itlooks just the same, or , at least, will photograph just the same.

Cheers

Tony

Well I got caught back up last night on what all is going on and checked when I started the Ha-81 A3, which was mid March so it has gone over on time. Like I said I still am going to finish it here even if it may not count. As far as the decal masking experiment that was a great success, even better than masking tape for a brush painter like myself. The decals are thinner than masking tape so there is no raised "lip" for the paint to pile up against to create a thick spot at the mask line. The decal I was worried about did take a bit of work but nothing major. On this one the film wanted to peel up leaving the pigment behind. A bit of scrapping with a toothpick removed all but a few spots of pigment that I just touched up over with paint. For this technique I would recommend forcing yourself to wait until the decals almost float off the backing. For the side that I gave more time to it peeled up with no problem although I did have to exercise some care painting around this one as the decal wanted to lift. Also not only were the decals thinner for less of an "edge" they also conformed to the raised rivets MUCH better than masking tape and there was no creep under the decals.

@ Vetteman42  The sprint car turned out great. I have been watching that one since you started it and was wondering whatever happened with it. Shame it went over on time, as it is a very nice build. I need to find me some of those 1/48 Stukas; that is one of my girlfriends favorite planes and if I find one I will have to get her one too.

@ Owl  Killer job on that jug. Looking at it it just screams 1/48 scale, very well done.

@ Fly-n-hi  Looking forward to seeing how that F-20 turns out.

@ Stik  I have a soft spot for the early war Navy schemes, something about that blue gray with the red in the markings.

@ taxtp  Another one I am watching since I can't build car kits, to me, mine seem to look like car kits. Plus I am a gear head and a Ford guy ( I have a 1970 F100 with the 300 6 and a granny 4 speed.)

Really good looking Thunderbolt, Owl.

I'll be interested to see if the decal masking technique works well Big_Dog. I've always cut out circles of masking tape with my P-Cutter for that purpose, but maybe your way will save some time for the same result.

I've finally got a primer coat onto my 1/32 Mustang. This is a very basic little kit, and is also another attempt at the very first car kit I tried, back in the late seventies. I don't have the original kit any more, but as there are only four car kits that I built and didn't retain, I am going to go through the process of adding them to the collection once more. BTW, the original builds weren't of a standard that I would accept these days anyway.

Anyways, here is the first progress shot. I'll try the gloss white coat tonight if all is well.

Cheers

Tony

Well I finally was able to return to the bench yesterday and got some good progress made on the P-40. I figured since the real things had the location of the British Roundels masked out in the camo job using the decals of those for that purpose would work. This is a progress hot after the dark green was completed. The first coat took about 3 hours or so to do to get the pattern right. I went by the profile drawings in "Colors and Markings of the AVG" for the most part and referred  to prototype pics for the tail since these varied greatly.

I am about to see if I can remove the decals like I hope and finish what touch up painting needs to be done during today's NASCAR race. I think I may not have soaked one of the decals quite enough and it has more glue on it that I desired, hopefully it will still release without too much fuss. I want to get this to the gloss coat stage today so I can get the weathering and such done before adding the canopy. The early P-40s had a fuel tank that was filled through a hole in the port side window and period pics show lots of streaking from spilled fuel under the glass so that needs to get done before I close that area up. I also have the stuff I need more or less for the dio base. I need to go back and see when I started this one as it may be over on time but I still want to finish it here.

vetteman42

CallSignOwl love your P-47, but have to ask how you make such a small, tiny kit look so good and so much larger, I would swear its a 1/48 kit.

Magic

CallSignOwl love your P-47, but have to ask how you make such a small, tiny kit look so good and so much larger, I would swear its a 1/48 kit.

My Stuka will fit in  copyright is 1968.  So this one will be a simple OOB build, I need a relaxing build at this point. I have the pit in and the fuse closed up, and the wing is glued. Just need to clean up the seams, as you can see I have filler on already. Then its time to fit the canopy, I am going to close it on this build, and get the wing attached to the fuse.

I am going to try a winter camo for the Russian front on this one.

thanks guys! :)

OWL....Nice P-47 !

Stik.....TBD is coming along nicely.

Nice work!

You wern't kidding Owl,

That Thunderbolt came out great!

I present my second completion, Don Hammer!

Revell's 1/72nd scale P-47  (date stampped 1999)

Tonite's update:

Instrument Panel all ready for installation

The lower inner wing glued in place

And then the IP glued into the front cockpit