French a/c group build 2012-13

Don't sweat it, John. I think I have failed to finish (or even start) twice as many group builds that I signed up for than I have actually completed. I think most of us here have, but we are trying to get better about it (promise!!)

Plus we all understand life happens. Heck, I'm normally gone half the year! Half the fun of these is the social interaction they bring anyway. So buck up, and let's build something!

Budd

Sorry Vance ,

I failed again to finish my builds for yet another GB .

I'm starting to give myself a bad image by not completing things , lucky for me everyone is quite mellow about who finishes and who doesn't . Other wise I probably would be excluded from joining in and tied to the fence post and whipped .

I better try a lot harder to finish my builds !

John .

lol, not surprising, but I'm already set! ;)

I've got a pair of 1/72 Sabres and a DH Vampire that would cover the theme.

RCAF huh? Sounds like it's time for me to go digging under the bed again. Although I may need to get some aftermarket decals...

French GB #2?!?!?  Sacré bleu!!!!  I hear rumblings of an RCAF group in here that I'm likely to get in on, but after that I'd be willing to head up another one of these odd-ball subject builds. And I have probably another 10 kits in the stash that would fall into the French realm as well.

I dunno, Vance hosted Sweedish, then French, I'm waiting to see what he has in store next!

ANyone know if there will be a French GB # 2 soon???

I have a 1/48 P-36 in FAF colors that needs to bee built asap LOL!

Theuns

REALLY impressed with the decals in the Azur kit, printed by AviPrint(?). Super-thin, i dipped them in warm water, they required no setting solution of any kind. Even snuggled down tight over the..... piece of cat hair that made its way onto the surface without my noticing?!?? Ah well, it's on the bottom, I can live with it.

Wing bottom:


Wing top:


Annnnnd started the prop. Need to add the darker-brown wood grain next.

Theuns- That build is simply STUNNING! I have yet to brave NMF myself, but a build like that sure tempts me.

p38- That is probably the most colorful Corsair I've ever seen. Really makes it stand out.

Progress - some more paint & started assembly...

The wing supports & connections are a little fiddy, but I should have this in time for my self-imposed GB deadline...

Magnifique!! Love the striping on that machine Chief!

ok Fellas,,, here's my F4U-7 completed...

Update! Kit instructions... following the map on the upper right left a LOT of space between the seat & instrument panel, and it looked like I was going to have some fit issues with the cocpit assembly, so I trimmed off the bottom of the instrument panel assembly & moved it closer.



Harnesses are BLOODY TINY!!! After a few test fits I decided to leave out the throttle lever & whatever little instrument cluster goes on the other side. I placed the siderails directly on the inside of the fuselage. Control stick added after this pic.



And this was the situation with the fuselage halves. The plastic is quite thick, so I don't think it was a warping issue. Cockpit was already a snug fit, so I decided I'd fill the areas after joining.



So - scrap sprue to the rescue, top and bottom.



And a little shim on the bottom.



Now ready for the fuselage stripe, and some filling around the cylinder head bulges - gaps created by the fuselage-halves issue I suppose. Looking back I probably should have tried to thin the inside of each half first. (yep, that's about all of the cockpit that can be seen!!!)



There - first use of the Tamiya panel-line highlighter. On small-scale stuff with fine details, I've started pre-washing the lines to make it easier to paint.



A quick look at the detail on the forward fuselage, verry nice!



And a quick look - this thing has a rather large upper wing...


And a problem area that I worked on last night. The ridges on the supports... they are sort of visible on some photos, but colour profiles seem to omit this detail. The sprue attachment points run right through the thin area on the edge... I tried to save the detail as I was cutting from the sprue but I quickly decided I could do more damage than good. So - rivet-counters beware - I've gotten rid of that ridge that may or may not actually be there! It'll look cleaner if nothing else.

VanceCrozier

Not sure if I dare look at this one for the GB or not, but I just ordered a late Christmas present...

Apparently I'm going for it!

Small parts count, minimal flash, really nice/fine details, a distinct lack of alignment pics etc. Plastic has an odd texture to it, feels gritty to the touch, but looks smooth, even after a warm soapy bath. I'm calling it "pre-primed" and hand-brushing metallics (aluminum, natural steel etc) as there are some things (ie top wing) that will have to be assembled out of sequence.

Nice little Czech-sized instruction booklet, colour call-outs are for Gunze though, I think. Acetate included for the "instrument panel sandwiches", and the windscreen. PE for IP, harness and other various bits, resin for the bulk of cockpit and a few external details, decals.

This'll give you 1/48 folks an idea of what I'm dealing with here! On the resin block at the bottom, 2nd from the right - the gunsight unit! One mis-fire on the resin, the oval support that sits behind the seat, just need to clean it up a little.

The "larger" IP sandwich.... after that shot I painted the back of the panel with silver so the show-thru areas would stand out without being too bright - but considering the size I'm dealing with, probably should have gone with white.


And THIS is the markings option I'll be going with. Of course, it was suggested to me by Agent 001 that I build the option that includes a black cat of the rudder.Yes, it really did have double-dots. My reading has shown the Spanish Civil War created some very loose regulations concerning this sort of thing.

Decided I'm not airbrushing this one, considering the bi-plane-edness of the thing. (although TECHNICALLY it's a "sesquiplane" according to sources...) Also contributing is the fact that some underside wing decals really need to go on before assembly for the machine that I'm building. So, I've started on the interior bits, which are now more gray than the last photos I shot. Should be assembling the cockpit this weekend, tiny little PE bits & all. Also hit the exterior surfaces with some good ol' Testors glass bottle aluminum. Mixed the (glass bottle) gloss green with white to tone it down, and started the outer wing panels. I actually hit that with a second coat after this pic, but you get the idea.



Trying to decide how much weathering to apply to this one. If I've got "the teams" right, it would have started with the Republicans, been captured by the Nationalists & THEN painted as I have it here. So I don't think it would have much weathering. Some faded paint I suppose from the Spanish climate...

Progress on the choppers!! ;) That Trident, looks like it could claim the "missile with a man in it" title from the F-104. Very cool machine.

Awesome build on your SAAF Mirage , Theuns   

As for me , if there were prizes for the number of times a modeller can change their minds about the same build repeatedly , I think I would win hands down .

I've finally have sorted out my Sud Est H-34 builds ; this next pic may appear to show not that much progress but I have been busy with a lot of preliminary painting and things are ready to glue into place

There is three H-34A builds using the Italeri kit , one will be a weathered overall blue helo using the kit decals , the other two are as I mentioned earlier as a Medevac and armed H-34A .

I made some cabin roof pieces from plastic card and cut some resin block and strip for rotor drive shaft cover pieces

I'll start glueing the interior pieces in place tonight and then the fuselage halves the next morning . Hopfully I will start to make good progress from here on .

As a nice surprise I was given this kit today as a gift

I kept looking at this kit everytime I was on Hannants web site and even had it in the shopping cart a few times only to delete it at the check out . So it was quite excited when I unwrapped the parcel to see what was inside ...

Hopfully more WIP pic's on the H-34's shortly

Thanx mate. I am working on this side to see if I can track down the SAAF pilot who took delivery of thes particular plane, I already have a guy who has a few hours on # 800.

Theuns

She's a beauty Theuns!!!

 Vance, let's just say I beat it into submition!

Here it is completed in SAAF 1963 2 sqn tail # 800

I think this concludes my French birds build for now, thanx

Theuns

Theuns, it may have been a tad uncooperative, but she's looking great now. Beautiful job with the Alclad!!

Hi all my Mirage has been fighting me all the way, but hopefully it will be done soon.

Here it is with kit decals except for the castles and a few stencling.

Last toutchups still to be mada and a few bits added.

Alclad 2 pollished alluminium over gloss tamiya black enamel .I did not put any gloss clear over the alclad for decals, they seem to have gone on well with no silvering sofar.

Theuns

Helo - re:  the Storch… (stolen from Wikipedia)

… In 1942, production started in the Morane-Saulnier factory at Puteaux in France….

Immediately after the liberation of France in 1944, the production of Storch at the Morane-Saulnier factory was continued at the request of the Armée de l'Air and designated MS 500 for the batch of aircraft produced with the remaining stock of Argus engines. Further modification and use of different engines (inline and radial) are known under different type. The use of the aircraft in Indochina highlighted the weakness of the wood in the construction of the airframe; it was then decided to build the wings in metal. Among the modifications, the defensive weapon aiming through the back window was dropped, although some aircraft have then been modified on the field to take a machine gun MAC 34T firing through one of the side windows. 141 aircraft were built before the end of World War II and a total of 925 aircraft were built before the end of the production of all type of Criquet by Morane-Saulnier in 1965.

P38 - the plastic is trés french-bleu!! Looking good!

Excellent detail work on the engine p38jl , I'm looking forward to seeing your 1/48 F4U-7 Corsair come together .

Bsyamato , somehow I missed your finished pic's of the Nieuport 17 . I just looked now and congrats' on a great build

As for me , I've been all over the place with my Italeri H-34 builds and a mini disaster happened this morning when I knocked over the box with both builds and PE onto the floor , scattering everything everywhere ....

I crawlled around on the floor for a while trying to find most of the PE , some of it's still missing along with a nose clamshell door half . I don't know why I can't find the door , it's quite a big piece ???

Anyway , I need to make a fresh start , so I'm going back to my original idea and use two Hobby Boss H-34A kits

I'll still cut out the engine screens and use the PE  along with the PE cabin roof piece  and just a few PE pieces for the cockpit

I'll just add window and door guns like in this next pic

I have these to use

The other H-34A I'll build as in next pic from Squadrons H-34 book

There's a colour pic of the same medevac H-34 in Len Lundh's Sikorsky H-34 book ...

Hannants in the UK have some French letters and numbers decal sheets and I ordered a set this morning to match whats on the medevac bird .

I found some stretches to use

So I'll go with all this . Oh I forgot to mention I'll also use some spare main rotors from the Italeri H-34 kit .

I'll aim for some WIP pic's tomorrow on these two builds .

John

I like copper wires in engines 

Nice kit you get John, i will try the academy one (with kubelwagen) when i'll put a storch on my collection 

did some scratch work on the engine... wiring.. fiddley bits..

ok,, I'll be adding some updated pics from the F4u-7 in a bit..

I picked up this kit a couple of weeks ago off ebay and it arrived yesterday . Am I correct in thinking that France were manufacturing these after WWII .

I found a build review over at modelling Madness

http://modelingmadness.com/scott/axis/luft/storch.htm

Looks like a fun but slightly fiddly build

John .

It is a beautiful bunch of plastic, even without the PE - you'll be impressed. I find that the kit plastic parts are often good enough to start with - but I will certainly appreciate the canopy mask!

Nice the corsair sprues..aaargh!! the BV-138!!! i miss it recently ..sold out 

Vance when i get the eduard 110 i'll try with the weekend edition withouth these PE parts .. 

its the Heller. 1/48 F4U-7 Corsair, in the markings from the Suez conflict..

the Corsair is the blue plastic..

the sprue shot..