Hey, maybe that's gonna be the next thing for World Cup... Hamsters in the game balls!

Bish

You mean something like this.

Ooooh, that's really funny.  Let's all pick on the rodent.  It's easy to be a tough guy when the hamster is imprisoned in a plastic ball. Big man soccer hero.  Oooh, scary.  Let that hamster out and he'd show that "futball" hero who's who.

lol Actually, that is pretty damned funny. 

Once my new workspace is completed I'll be back to torment you all in another group build.  I still haven't found the last project I was working on (German halftrack) before I moved.  Still more boxes to unpack.       For now I'm stuck with working on my Combat Garden Gnomes.

Bish> Thank you!  And thanks for posting the C-47!

And Stik just continues on with detailing.  I'm surprised he hasn't added miniature gas tanks in the wings...

Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that...

Gary

Mostly to do with masking on the stripes and particularly the windows. I do not have much faith in the clear parts glue holding those windows in place if if have problems with masks after the fact. I have had a few fall inside before. So this way masks can be applied to the fuselage itself. Not a big deal if the windows are installed from the outside, but from the inside it is a consideration.

Yeah, BB is fun to have... He has certainly helped morale on here.

Its nice to see some of that silly fun back. He is more than welcome in any of my GB's.

Looking very nice stik. I have been meaning to ask, but what's the reason for painting so much before putting the fuselage together.

Oh BB, just brought back some of the silly fun that used to be prevelant on this site. 

As for me, I have not had too much bench time this week due to work and other commitments. So here is what I have done.

completed the wiring on one engine

and with the unwired engine for comparison- I will get this one done in the next day or two

better photos of the modified nose flex gun

bottome seam sanded and then gel CA on top to fill imperfections- except bewteen the bomb bay and nose wheel well where there was a wider gap that I filled with some triangular strip styrene, a VERY easy fix!

and the rear fuselage area CA sanded smooth- as you can see the mismatched stripe meet points were obliterated, so touch up paint will fix that issue.

and thats where it stands for now. I am off for the next three days and I should get some substantial progress done then. Barring no unexpected taskings from my family...

You mean something like this.

Awww... just stuff BB back in his exercise ball and punt him down the field...

Thanks, but I am not sure I was actually hosting it, more trying to hold on for the ride. Having BB in your GB certainly livens things up a bit.

BS204: Looking forward to more photos!

CMK02: Great job masking there, gives me a headache just looking at her.

Bish: It's been a fantastic GB, thanks for hosting us!!!

Was just checking the front page and its looking amazing, 26 completed builds. Thanks a lot guys.

Some may remember, in the past many GB's ended with a roundup of the builds in the appropriate section. Aircraft GB's in the aircraft section etc. I plan on doing this in the general  modelling forum so everyone can see the great work you guys have done and what a tribute you paid to all those who fought in Normandy. I want to include as many completed builds as possible but not leave it to long. I know CMK, SP and BS are still building. Is there anyone else who is still plodding along and likely to be finished by, say, the end of July.

Look forward to seeing that Jug BlackSheep.

Coming along nicely there CMK.

Eric, that's a good point, the build running over time is rather appropriate. Although as Gary says, the GB is officially closed.

Speaking of Gary, bugger, I haven't added you C-47. Sorry buddy, will get on that now. That's a great looking build and love your idea for the nose art, very appropriate.

Some minor progress:

astrodome, nose canopy and little windows installed and masked:

Tonight, I finally managed to get in a little bench time with resuming my P-47for this GB. Added the decal to the cowling and in the process of doing the invasion stripes.  Couldn't post pics due to camera batteries went dead on me.

I'll probably won't get a whole lot done Tuesday morning since I'm working the polls for the GOP Primary. But hey, at least I'll have a good 3 hours to myself. Too bad the wife has to work and kid has school. LOL!

CMK02, Gamera, Jack and SilentBob>  Thank you gentlemen for your sentiments.  I must admit that I'm not as enamored of this build as I should be considering all the work she put me through.  Oh, well.  I've already decided that before I put the diorama together I'm going to change and touch up a few things on her.

CMK02>  Any progress is good! 

Eric>  The group build is closed, but our Host did stipulate:

Please Note, I am going to be fairly strict on the end date. For several reasons there will be no extension. But if your build was started before the end date, you can still post your progress pics here and claim your badge.

So what you're seeing are some people trying to finish up what they started.  Should be finished soon.   

And about the Italeri C-47....  Boy, are you asking the wrong person for advice!  I can tell you something about the Italeri model (and you can check your own kit), but try as I might I could find no review or build for the new Airfix C-47, so have no idea about its quality.  Guess it's too early yet.

The Italeri kit is not difficult to build, but it is lacking in detail.  The interior is "sparse" to put it bluntly.  The engraved panel lines are "too deep and too wide", but if you use some surfacer to fill them in, its not bad.  While the fit is good, some have complained about the wing to fuselage fit, though I didn't notice anything bad about it.  I did have a complaint about the trailing edges on the stabilizers.  No matter how I pressed and used Tenax, a small gap remained.  I finally used a file and filler and got them reasonably into shape.  Minor things about the exterior made me go "hmmmmm", such as giving you an astrodome but no hole in the fuselage for it to fit over, or no navigator window on the left side of the aircraft, or leaving out the gun-port holes in the side passenger windows (a compromise in the kit for when you wanted to build a non-military version).  Minor things, such as exterior antenna wire connections.

Without information on the Airfix kit, and only knowing it from images of the older release, I can't give you any advice about which one I would prefer.

On the other hand... if I were in your position, I would go ahead and build the Italeri kit.  Let's face it, if it becomes too much of a chore you can just dump it and buy the Airfix kit.  $40 (about the price of the new Airfix kit) can buy some nice aftermarket stuff.  But if you're going to open the cargo doors, you might want to scratch build some interior detail in the cargo hold.  The cockpit and radio/navigator room will never be seen again after you close her up, so any detail you want in them is up to you.  Since I was building a closed up aircraft, it didn't matter to me.

And second, without a build review of the new Airfix kit, I'm leery of buying a kit that might be just as much or more trouble to assemble as this one.  If you want to buy it, I would wait for some reviews to come out.  And if you know of any, post them as I would be interested in reading them (though I doubt I will ever build a 1:72nd C-47 ever again).

That's not a great amount of help, but "And it is also said, 'Go not to the elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.'" - Frodo

Gary

PS>  Right after writing this I found this!

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234962362-airfix-c-47-from-upottery-over-dropzone/

Looks like a great kit.  Has some details the Italeri kit is lacking (such as the open side cockpit door).

Great job Gary!  As others have said, I love the difference on the control panels.

Thought the GB was over. Clausewitz claimed that uncertainty was at the center of war. Ike bet Monty $5 (in 1944 money) that the war would be over by Christmas 44. Monty won. So extending the story has good pedigree. Very good stuff coming in over the wire and congrats to a fine build.

Gary: now that you're done maybe you can give some advice.  I've got the Italeri 1/72 C-47 and it's pretty high on the construction list, although mine will be flying out of Dobodura in New Guinea about 1943 where air transport was relatively more important than any theater in the war. Airfix has just come out with a genuinely "new tool" 1/72 C-47 (has 160 parts - about four times what their old 1/72 has). With a couple of exceptions I'm going to build all multi-engined planes in 1/72 so I'm not interested in Trumpies or Revell's 1/48. Question is what did you think of the quality of the kit? Lot of fillers? Scratch build needed? I'm not a detail fanatic, but have learned that a good kit, even with more parts, is better than an old one that's simple. (The very humble  Piper L-4 had 40 parts I made and took nearly a month - I'd bet that the more elaborate Minicraft would have taken less time if things fit.) So, given the chance, would you advise that a new kit would be worth it? Money doesn't matter really although I have the Italeri kit now.

Best

Eric

Gary - great job!

This really is a fine rendition of the C-47.  The added backdrop from history completes the picture, really appreciate the extra time put in there.

regards,

Jack

Gary: That's a beautiful job! Love the different colour fabric on the control surfaces, the invasion stripes, just a great job on the whole durn thing!

Exquisite detail on the B-26, stik.  It's art in 3-D.

First-rate results with the C-47, Gary.  Until you mentioned it, I thought it was 1/48.  You've done exceptionally well matching it up to the real thing.  Nice work, nicely done.

The B-24 is still inching along--a part here, a part there.

It's not very exciting but I painted the nacelles and ball turret pieces in their neutral gray.

masked the astrodome ( actually installed it but haven't got any photos yet)

started to paint the tires with some lightened up black paint, brushed on

I'll need to do the other side, then a second coat.

Hopefully, maybe, I can get painting on the fuselage this week.

stikpusher

pyrman64

stikpusher

Oh that C-47 just keeps looking better. Actually the aircraft numbers on the fuselage sides are called "chalks" (after how they are written on, using chalk) for the "stick" of jumpers.  A "stickpusher " is the last man out , pushing out the rest ahead of him... something I know a little bit about... The photo below is "chalk 19" of the 101st Airborne, 502nd PIR Pathfinders.

In the words of Gunny Highway, "Jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft is not a natural act."

No it is not...

It is too.  Given the amount of fire coming up at those planes, I think my first instinct would be to jump the hell out of it.

Thank you folks for the kind words.

 
Okay, stick a fork in her... she's done in all her mistaken finery.

This C-47 represents an aircraft of the 301st Troop Carrier Squadron, 441st TCG.  Although having dropped paratroopers the previous day (June 6), this time she was designated to tow a CG-4A Waco glider in Mission "Hackensack", the last glider assault mission of Operation Neptune.  Except for crew, the glider carried no infantry, but contained supplies for the 82nd Airborne, 325th Glider Infantrymen Regiment.  Based at Merryfield, this squadron started taking off at 7:17am, June 7th in a light rain.  Dropping her glider,  she returned safely to Merryfield.
This aircraft, 42-101031, went on to serve through the rest of the war and afterwards until May 19, 1948 when she was involved in an accident at Rhein Main AB, Germany.  She was repaired and then sold as surplus to Turkey (Number 6021) in August of that year.  Her final fate is unknown.

This is an Italeri 1:72nd scale C-47 model.  The model went together fairly easily, although the windows are a problem to get in without fogging them completely up, and I didn't do such a great job.  Trailing edges on wings and stabilizers are not great, and you should file or sand them down with some filling.  I finally managed to get everything pretty well adjusted.  Detail is fairly well done, though recessed panel lines seem a bit deep.  Fill 'em with paint and it will be fine.

Some things to note about this build:  Added a tail cone for the tow line hook up point at the rear for a future diorama.  The decals were the biggest pain.  The "Z4" code was done using strips of white decal paper.  I just could not get yellow and light gray letters printed to my satisfaction, and  I might have finished her on time if not for this problem.  Antenna aerials are 1mm rubber bead string line, and is probably too thick, but it works okay.

Note:  The 4 in the squadron code is a bit different.  It appears from all pictures I've found that all the aircraft in the squadron had this 4 with the high middle bar.  I replicated it as such.

The nose art is my own invention, and I named her "Bless 'em All" in honor of all the D-Day veterans.

And another 2 videos to close this out.   Thanks to Bish for running such a great and very successful GB!

Thanks for reading!

Gary

At this point, once I get the other engine wired up, the only bit of extra detailing that I plan to do is at the tail guns. Otherwise I intend to wrap this all up in the near future... Enough I say!!!

Gary: She looks great, looking forward to the completed photos!

SP: Wow, you are on a rampage-awesome work so far.

GAF

Okay, Stik... that's enough!  You keep going like this and you'll be cutting the back fringe off the engines and building cylinders, carburetors, and crankshafts!  You are a sick man!   

That is some impressive work!

Yes, those are "Chalk Numbers".   However, this particular aircraft doesn't have a "stick" of parachutists.  It's set up to tow something (and you'll have to see the 1944 GB to find out what).    My use of stack may have been incorrect, but I was referring to how the aircraft were "stacked" up for take-off.  Mea culpa!

Thanks!

Gary

My guess would be a CG-4A.... Gliders had "chalks" of troops as well. I am not overly familiar with Glider troops procedures, but an educated guess says that the glider would be assigned a tug with the same chalk number.

pyrman64

stikpusher

Oh that C-47 just keeps looking better. Actually the aircraft numbers on the fuselage sides are called "chalks" (after how they are written on, using chalk) for the "stick" of jumpers.  A "stickpusher " is the last man out , pushing out the rest ahead of him... something I know a little bit about... The photo below is "chalk 19" of the 101st Airborne, 502nd PIR Pathfinders.

In the words of Gunny Highway, "Jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft is not a natural act."

No it is not...

Bish

gary, very nice indeed.

Ken, now that's not good, better get them found. I can change the pic on the front page.

Okay I'll find it today Bish Sorry

Okay, Stik... that's enough!  You keep going like this and you'll be cutting the back fringe off the engines and building cylinders, carburetors, and crankshafts!  You are a sick man!   

That is some impressive work!

Yes, those are "Chalk Numbers".   However, this particular aircraft doesn't have a "stick" of parachutists.  It's set up to tow something (and you'll have to see the 1944 GB to find out what).    My use of stack may have been incorrect, but I was referring to how the aircraft were "stacked" up for take-off.  Mea culpa!

Thanks!

Gary

stikpusher

Oh that C-47 just keeps looking better. Actually the aircraft numbers on the fuselage sides are called "chalks" (after how they are written on, using chalk) for the "stick" of jumpers.  A "stickpusher " is the last man out , pushing out the rest ahead of him... something I know a little bit about... The photo below is "chalk 19" of the 101st Airborne, 502nd PIR Pathfinders.

In the words of Gunny Highway, "Jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft is not a natural act."

Oh that C-47 just keeps looking better. Actually the aircraft numbers on the fuselage sides are called "chalks" (after how they are written on, using chalk) for the "stick" of jumpers.  A "stickpusher " is the last man out , pushing out the rest ahead of him... something I know a little bit about... The photo below is "chalk 19" of the 101st Airborne, 502nd PIR Pathfinders.

Well the past couple of days have been busy for me, so not too much bench time to get at this puppy... but I have made some progress anyways

I got the upper fuselage seam sanded and filled and rescribed the lost panel detail. I am starting to get things masked for the touch up painting of the OD

one bomb rack completed removing the solid portions that should not be there. Some of the work ended up thinning the kit part too much and they broke so I had to replace those cross members with some strip styrene. With the un modified rack for comparison.

I added the Quick Boost barrel to the ball mount nose gun- apologies for the poor focus. hopefully tomorrow I can get a better photo before work

and now I know that I have gone insane- I have decided to wire up the engines after detail painting...

Thats all for now...