French a/c group build 2012-13

good work PaperPanzer .

GB was not starting 14 of this month?

The pumas and Allos we used in the SAAF were all made by Aerospatialle in France before the joined with Westland among others to become EuroCopter :-)

As a matter of interest I have one of those "wrong direction" H-34's....maybe I'll build it as is and say the French built it LOL!

Theuns

VanceCroizer: well, the SMER kit I have has no interior detail to speak of, so out comes the styrene and extra bits!

Full on painting today, and it's looking great on it's own legs...

Painted the underside surfaces.-

Then masked in prep for the top.-

And base painted with Model Master Euro Green.-

And painted the tail skid MM Gunship Grey.-

MM Italian Dark Brown will follow tomorrow for a RAF style camo, but with French markings.

More coming!

PaperPanzer

taxtp

taxtp

Nice work on the Amiot, PaperPanzer. I had to go back to page one to see what it was. I don't think I've ever seen one built before.

Cheers

Tony

It's a Dewoitine D510...

Thanks Vance, I think the Amiot will take more work than these though...

i search the whole gb to find the amiot that Vance posted!! some mess i performed  

PaperPanzer

taxtp

taxtp

Nice work on the Amiot, PaperPanzer. I had to go back to page one to see what it was. I don't think I've ever seen one built before.

Cheers

Tony

It's a Dewoitine D510...

Thanks Vance, I think the Amiot will take more work than these though...

Ahhhh the Amiot! I still need to track down one of those beasts! That greenhouse slung underneath could be lots of fun to add detail to. (Or an absolute pain in the butt, I can't decide which!!)

DoogsATX

Say Vance - any early starting allowed? I'm awaiting some goodies for my P-51 and B-25, and so have an opening to play with the D.520.

If justification's needed, tomorrow is July 4th, which, while an American holiday, would have gone all of nowhere without French assistance...

As much as we all like to have target dates, I refuse to discourage someone from building anything! As Benevolent Dictator of this group build, I hereby accept your flimsy July4 reasoning and approve the D520 for building. Tributes to the Dictator may be sent via courier to...   Looking forward to it. That 520 must have been a bugger to move around in on the ground.

taxtp

taxtp

Nice work on the Amiot, PaperPanzer. I had to go back to page one to see what it was. I don't think I've ever seen one built before.

Cheers

Tony

Thanks Vance, I think the Amiot will take more work than these though...

Say Vance - any early starting allowed? I'm awaiting some goodies for my P-51 and B-25, and so have an opening to play with the D.520.

If justification's needed, tomorrow is July 4th, which, while an American holiday, would have gone all of nowhere without French assistance...

Looking good, PaperPanzer!

Nice work on the Amiot, PaperPanzer. I had to go back to page one to see what it was. I don't think I've ever seen one built before.

Cheers

Tony

taxtp - updating your info on page 1. Nice to have a sleek Mirage in the mix here.

PaperPanzer - busy?? Yes, looks like you could have one of each of those Heller kits finished up before I get started!

I am mostly working on another project, and this one is at a slow stage, the tricky rear wing assembly. I had to get creative with clamps on this one.-

A  couple of interesting things I recently found out about French designed helicopters ;

Eurocopter is a French company with manufacturing plants in France , Germany and Spain and they produce the Super Puma / Panther / Couger along with the NH90 (joint venture) and the UH-72 Lakota (US. Army's newest light utility helo) . Also the HAP Tigre

I recently won off ebay a Super Puma and Couger from the same seller and checking through my stash of Helicopter kits , I already have some UH-72's , HAP Tigre , NH90 , HH/MH-65 Dolphins .

Something I didn't know was that on Eurocopter helicopters designed and built in France the Main Rotor turns clockwise when viewed from above , in common with rotorcraft deriving from Russia . Eurocopter products developed in Germany have the Main Rotor which turns counter-clockwise when viewed from above in common with American Helicopters .

This may not interest too many other people but as a rotor-head I thought it was valuable info and probably explains why Hobby Boss (China) molded their main rotors going in the wrong direction on their UH-34 kit ; Either the Russian influence or perhaps the fact that Hobby Boss also make a lot of Russian Helicopter kits and no body picked up on the difference .

Last night I glued the wings on my previously started Nord 2501 Noratlas , Israeli version . I'm hoping to have this one finished by the July 14 start date and use her as insperation for the French Noratlas build from the same 1956 Suez campaign . With a bit of luck and a lot more concentration on my part , I'm hopfull that the IDF 2nd Noratlas build won't suddenly become airborne and fly out of my hands and for a very brief 1.5 seconds and gracefully glide through the air before hitting the concrete driveway . The worst part about that maiden flight was I had just finished the build and went outside to take some photo's out in the sun light .

Anyway I look forward to the HSS-1 helicopter and Noratlas French transport builds .

John .

Well, I have'nt found a Smer Cauldron, either online or in the hobby shop, so I picked this up instead. I'm going to be very busy in this GB!-

Hi Vance,

Here is some further definition around the Mirage I've committed to. It's an Aussie one, in 1/72.

Cheers

Tony

sub revolution

Vance- I brought that point up on one of the feedback threads, and have not gotten a response to it yet. Not sure why, since people who posted after me have been responded to by site mods....

I posted up on that thread too last night. I expect they are dealing with the quickest fixes first, or maybe the angriest people first! I'll check to see if there was any response.

Vance- I brought that point up on one of the feedback threads, and have not gotten a response to it yet. Not sure why, since people who posted after me have been responded to by site mods....

Thanks for the comments guys!

Yeah, she seems very interested in what I am doing at the bench, I think the box smelled funny to her, so she sauntered off after the second picture.

VanceCrozier

Medicman!!! Build-ez vous français?!?!?  So level with me, what does the HobbyBoss kit look like?

I've been looking it up on the other forums. It's supposed to be a good kit. Wolfpack makes a resin update to make it a current naval version. I'll have to do more research on it before I start so I can figure out what i'll need.

Medicman!!! Build-ez vous français?!?!?  So level with me, what does the HobbyBoss kit look like?

Hey Vance! Look at this!

I may join in after all. It's gonna be a while though. Gotta finish the ones I have on the bench. 

in the void could be put even a song 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7NqaU6E_yU

lol. Agents are everywhere... !! and I love your Mariner and want to cuddle it !

PaperPanzer

Ahhhh - feline agents keep an eye on your work as well I see!  That Dewoitine is on my "watch list", neat looking machine.  Some of these early Heller / Airfix kits kind of force me to get better at pilot figures because you have to put SOMETHING in that big void.

Helo H34 - so you are also a Mach2 specialist! I had no idea. They may be challenging, but they seem to have turned out quite well. Maybe I should keep my eyes open for one of these.

Nice piece PaperPanzer, this kit is in my sight!! wishing one 

Helo!!! you have no weak points 

Wow John, you really do have a lot of those! You don't happen to live in France, do you??

Anyway, yeah, from what I can see it looks like your description is pretty accurate for these kits. I also thought the detail looked a little sparse, but I haven't looked really closely yet. That being said, you have done an excellent job with yours!

Not sure when I will get started. I was going to do the Draken for the Saab GB next, but it isn't here yet! The other contender is my IL-4 for the NMF GB, but that lasts until next summer, so I may postpone that build.

Thanks,  Budd

I've built a few Mach 2 kits Vance and they are all quite challanging ;

Super Frelon and SeaBee

AJ-1 Savage :

PBM-5 Mariner

RB-45C Tornado

Other on-going Mach 2 builds

Stash

The plastic can be a little rough in places and the are lots of lugs on the inside of a lot of the pieces , so there can be a lot of sanding with course sandpaper just to clean up all the parts first . Also the sprue frames are quite thick and often blend into the pieces as well , so you reall have to saw the parts from the sprue frame as not to damage the wing edges of planes and the like .

Fun builds but awefully time consuming .

John . (Mach 2 Madman)

VanceCrozier

Updating the front page for you Budd. Nice looking machines, you bargain bin raider!!!

PaperPanzer - you just couldn't wait could you!!!! Post up your start pics for now, just to get the gang interested.

So far I'm onto basic assembly, so I have made some progress already, but due to my enjoyment of the subject and the simplicity of the kit, It didn't take long, though some additions were needed!

Now of course, the cat had to make her inspection...-

But in the end she decided I would be better at building it, "Now rub my tummy human!"-

Anyway... the cockpit detail is sparse, so some extra details from the spares bin and a figure should hide the areas devoid of details.-

While the paint on the interior walls dried, I tackled the lower vent. This and the fixed landing gear will be the hardest parts to build.-

All the major bits ready for assembly.-

Initial construction and then filler.-

Prop and hub added.-

That is the stage I am at so far. Decent kit overall, I added a spare instrument panel decal as well to the interior, and the figure required leg amputation in order to fit properly. (Ouch!)

I have been looking at a third possible entry to this GB, a Smer (essentially Heller rebox with better decals) 1/72 Caudron C.714C.1. 

More to come!

Ahhh, I've met some of those French models where I live, love the accent but they can be pricey. (Oh wait, you're probably talking about model airplane kits aren't you?!?!?   I have quite a little pile of 1/72 Heller kits now, haven't laid eye son a Mach2 kit though. How do they look "in the box"?