Floatplane/Seaplane Group Build 2012

As I promised, here are my Kingfishers installed on USS Wisconsin.  There is no particular order to them.  I used the decals that came with the Trumpeter kit.

One thing I did see in the photos, that I can't even see with the unaided eye, is green color of the interior, evident in the first photo.

Thanks for looking.  Again, it was a great experience with the group build.  I appreciate the opportunity, Ordie.

Good luck on the rest of you all's builds.

Fair winds and following seas. 

Brave move John, does it actually fit together ?

Great choice of subject.

Cheers

Tony

Sleek looking jet, John.  One I've never heard of even.  It'll look good.

Some progress on my Mach 2 YF2Y-1 Sea Dart

Sprue shot ...

A hobby saw is best for removing most of the parts from the sprue with Mach 2 kits

Lot's of sanding to clean up all the pieces

Mach 2 supply a nice tub , seat and control stick  as well as an instrument shroud , no decals for the cockpit though .....

The instruction say the cockpit interior is flat black so I airbrushed the cockpit pieces accordingly and I also gave the insides of the two long intake pieces that fit onto the upper fuselage sides a few coats of flat black as well

With the wings and tail fin halves glued together , later tonight I'll glue the cockpit tub in place and close up the fuselage halves .

John .

I will continue with my build shortly, I'm currently unpacking as I just got back from my summer job.  Expect pictures soon.

Thanks, Helo.

WOW , nice work on that fleet of 'micro' Kingfisher's

Today , I'll have a little more bench time than I've had for quite a while , so I'll start sawing the parts off the sprue of my Mach 2 Sea Dart and hopfully get a few things glued together .

Something else I discovered last night while catalogueing some Wolfpak decal sheets I recently purchased , was that sheet #72-045 has a gloss sea blue over light grey HU-16B Albatross from the 37th RQS , Danang 1966 .

I have several Monogram 1/72 SA-16 Albatross kits in the stash , so I would like to add one in with those Vietnam era markings along with the Sea Dart build .

WIP pic's to follow shortly .

John .

Thank you, stoutfella.  I look forward to tracking your build of the bigger brother Kingfishers.  I don't go any bigger than 1/72 when I do aircraft, so I'm always in awe about the detail incorporated in the larger scales.

Good luck with your build.

checkmateking02: I agree with Ordie. I can't imagine doing that kind of work on something so small. Well done!

Thanks, Ordie.  When I can get to it, I'll post a photo of the planes on the ship.  You've been hosting the group build nicely, and it was a pleasure to be part of it.  I will be checking in to see everyone's progress.

checkmateking02

So that concludes my contribution to the group build.  Thank you, Ordie, for hosting the build and providiing an enjoyable experience.  I will be looking forward to seeing how the larger scale Kingfishers come out in this build--along with everyone else's efforts.

Thanks for viewing.

checkmateking02,

Thank you for giving us so much to view of such little airplanes.  You are the first to finish - congratulations!  I put photos of your planes under your entry on the roster on the first page of the thread. 

I think 1:72 aircraft are challenging, and can't imagine building a plane any smaller.  Great work!  Please check in with us as we go along.  I think I speak for everyone in saying that we'd all be glad to have you with us. 

Again, thanks for sharing!  And you're very welcome.

stoutfella - Good to see your Kingfisher coming along nicely.

Ordie

Looking forward to your completion, JT.  I admire all the detal you "big scale" builders can put into something.

Wow. Those look awesome. The masking in such a tiny scale is truly impressive. My build is on the other end of the scale spectrum so I can't fully appreciate how difficult your tiny planes were. Good stuff.

My arado should be done a few days to a week - be sure to check it out.

Here is the finish up of the Kingfishers.

First photo shows the undersurfaces.  Decals and wing floats are in place.  I used a dark gray acrylic wash to bring out some of the details.

Second photo is of the finished group.  I used a dark blue/black wash, but it doesn't show up too well against the sea blue.

The three aircraft in the foreground will make their way to USS Wisconsin. I found photo evidence of number "1" on the web.  Numbers "2" and "3" are hypothetical.   The planes were from VO-9, but a search of the web yielded no information about that squadron at all.

Third photo is of the top and bottom of the two planes that will be placed on USS Alabama, currently under construction.  A search of the web provided no information at all about the seaplanes stationed on Alabama during WWII.

Fourth photo shows the planes posed with a penny, to keep things in perspective.

Last photo is a close up of number "1" from USS Wisconsin, based on an existing photo.

So that concludes my contribution to the group build.  Thank you, Ordie, for hosting the build and providiing an enjoyable experience.  I will be looking forward to seeing how the larger scale Kingfishers come out in this build--along with everyone else's efforts.

Thanks for viewing.

I've finally finished my project for the group build--at last.  It took a lot longer than I thought it would, for such small models.

First is an underside photo, with the main float attached.  I used white glue (Aleene's and Elmer's) to attach the floats (and the wing floats too).  This also helped to fill in some of the gaps.  These little planes were too small for me to fill and sand as usual.

Next is an upper surface shot, showing the three-color paint scheme.  When researching contemporary photos on the net, I noticed that there was a considerable latitude of interpretation when the scheme was applied.

On some Kingfishers, the sea blue from the spine dipped down and connected with the wing.  On others, the sea blue simply ran from fore to aft, leaving the intermediate blue running along the full fuselage.  This was the style applied in the one photo I found of a VO-9 plane from the USS Wisconsin, so I painted three of the planes in that style, and the other two with the sea blue interrupting the intermediate blue.

Last photo for now shows the wing floats--very tiny.  I airbrushed the white color, then painted the upper by hand with a brush. 

Despite some profiles, showing the three colors applied to the wing floats, most of the actual photos I found on the web (some in color) showed only the sea blue applied to the top and sides of the wing floats, omitting the intermediate blue altogether, so that's how I proceded, as subsequent photos will show.

To keep from making this post too long, I'll resume later.  Thanks for looking. 

Yeah, the picture quality is fine. Nice looking wash btw.

Nice looking cockpit.  Pictures appear fine, too.

Greetings,

A tiny bit of progress on the Kingfisher cockpit. Not really much to describe, as there's not a lot to start with in this kit. I added the PE rudder pedals, trim wheel and belt buckles. Apologies for the quality of the close-up. I'm having a terrible time getting good focus with my camera closer than a few feet.

All - PaperPanzer has marching band commitments from now through November, and won't have time for modelling during this period.  I am, therefore, extending the time limit for this GB a month to 1/31/13.  This extension applies to everyone.  Enjoy!  And, Paperpanzer, good luck to you and your band this season.

Ordie

stoutfella

What they said!

(aka "ditto")

JTBuckley - Very nice engine, I do agree.

All - I was out of action for a few days.  Thanks for keeping it rolling along.

Thanks, guys

What they said!

I agree, very nicely done.

Cheers

Tony

Sharp looking engine.  Well done.

Some pictures of the engine...I hand painted almost everything with different metallic shades of testors square bottle enamels. Then an acrylic rusty/burnt umber-ish wash. The piece of toothpick is gone now.

The backside..

All wrapped up..I'm only going to pose one engine cover open. All paints not associated with engine metal are tamiya acrylic

I don't know about the color I chose for the exhaust pipes... But what's done is done and I'm not painting them again!

JTBuckley

Ordie- Sorry for the late reply- IMO wonder wire would be perfect for 1:48 & 1:72 planes- it's pretty thin stuff I just felt it wouldn't be noticeable on my build.

Thanks, JTBuckley!  That's what I wanted to hear.  I build mostly 1:48, some 1:72.  I'll have to give the Wonder Wire folks a call.

M9130 & checkmateking02 - Thanks for the updates, gentlemen!  I look forward to them .

taxtp - The world needs more seaplane kits in 1:48 and 1:72.  Like a Martin Mariner, for instance ...

stoutfella - My first four plane builds (modern era) have been Revellogram kits.  I'm not getting much better at filing and sanding, but I am getting lots of practice ...

Keep on keepin' on,

Ordie

Ordie- Sorry for the late reply- IMO wonder wire would be perfect for 1:48 & 1:72 planes- it's pretty thin stuff I just felt it wouldn't be noticeable on my build.

I've just found out that Italeri are releasing a new tool 1/72 Sunderland in September. Wowwee.

I won't have time to get it done for this GB, but I like it. Photos on Hyperscale if you're interested.

Cheers

Tony

M9130

checkmateking02

You have to click on "Use rich formatting," then click on the word "Quote."  It's colored in green above the light blue bar. 

Got it, Thanks! 

And it does feel good to know something! 

Old Ordie

checkmateking02 - Your Kingfishers are looking good .

 

Thanks, Ordie.  Progress has been slow.  I've been waiting for a day or two between paint coats, to let them dry and cure.

I applied the white undersurface color first.  Actually it's MM Camouflage Gray, which is so light it looks white to the eye.  Unfortunately, the flash washed out most of the detail.

Next photo shows how I masked the undersurfaces with poster tack, so I could apply the Intermediate Blue, also MM.

Then I masked the Intermediate Blue so I could apply the Sea Blue.  Due to the tiny size of these, I'm doing the fuselage spine and horizontal stabilizers separately from the wings.

Next, I used masking tape to isolate the wings, and painted them Sea Blue.

I have to say that using poster tack as a masking agent hasn't been all that easy.  It tends to stick to fingers better than it sticks to the planes, and it has an annoying habit of pulling loose from the side of the model you're working on, necessitating a continual back and forth re-doing.

Finally, a light bulb went on and I stuck them down on some old bottle caps, so I didn't have to handle the little devils themselves.  That made things somewhat easier.

And having gotten this far, now I'm thinking that these might be easier to paint by going against conventional wisdom of painting from light to dark.  It just might work better to paint the Sea Blue and move through the Intermediate Blue down to the white. 

I still have six of these left in the box, so if I still have wits about me after these five, I might give that I try.  I know I'll need more of these for future ships.

Nevertheless, I foresee a lot of brush touch-up in the future.

Now I need to move on to masking the floats under the fuselages--and they're a lot tinier than the planes, of course.  I was studying them today, and there almost doesn't seem to be room enough on them for three colors.

Joy. . .

Thanks for looking.