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).

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!

Some minor progress:

astrodome, nose canopy and little windows installed and masked:

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.

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.

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!!!

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.

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

You mean something like this.

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...

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.

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.

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

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.

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

stikpusher

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

*Casually observes and munches on a food pellet*  You guys are right.  Something needs to be done to inject some sort of violence and excitement into that "sport." 

That's hilarious Bish!!!

No biting is a good rule but I'd be more worried about hamsters going for the eyes.

Again great progress there SP, I'm waiting for the fuzzy dice hanging from the rear view mirror.

The no biting rule especially applies to Hamsters from Uruguay.

Your not S American are you BB.

Nice work on the Marauder, stik.

We all do realize that this website is constantly monitored by PETA, don't we?

Anyway, some progress shots:

more masking of openings into the interior, so I can apply dull dark green to the canopy frames:

dull dark green applied, which revealed some flaws in the white glue I used to fill the gaps; now I'm waiting for more white glue to dry before I can proceed:

Last, I applied a very thin sort of filter to the wings with airbrush--lightened neutral gray; apparently so thin it doesn't really show up very well; so much for my latest voyage into weathering:

Bish

The no biting rule especially applies to Hamsters from Uruguay.

Your not S American are you BB.

No, but my name is French so I'm not above headbutting! 

Thanks CMK! I spent most of today nickle and dming more progress on this project... Gotta remember to build OOB next time I have a deadline...

PETA... doesn't that stand for People Eating Tasty Animals?

OK, another full day's worth of work here with a couple of time out breaks. And today's progress is...

I completed the lower forward seam clean up by sanding up some Squadron White Putty

second engine wired up

and with the first wired engine already glued into its cowling

second bombrack drilled out. This time I barely used a pin vise, used my motor tool to grind out most of the solid stuff and then cleaned it all up with needle files

with the first one... using the motor tool I did not break and have to replace any of the cross members... score one for the good guys!

I painted up the side package gun housings and tail gun mount, and added the flex ammo feed chutes to the tail guns- still need to paint those, and the detail work on the tail gun mount

and I touched up the OD and Neutral Gray on the fuselage seams

as well as painting the tail gun compartment OD

and that's all for today...

Congrats all around for a great GB. I think it fit the subject matter very nicely.

Thanks for good words about the Italeri C-47. I've read up on the kit more and the consensus seems to be clean build but spare on detail. OK - that's my kind of kit. I doubt I'll ever be a super detail fan because nobody ever sees my kits except me and from five feet away, a clean kit looks just fine. (I can't really explain why I can't give my ship projects the same mellow attitude, but I don't.)

A while back a did a 1/48 Revell JU-52 and it worked pretty well. However, the thing was bloody huge and storage space is a serious issue with me. So after my AM B-25 is done, I'll be doing all multi-engined planes in 1/72. I've got the Italeri/Academy B-17C and the Italeri Sunderlund and both look terrific. Also picked up the Minicraft B-24: it's good enough for Eduard, so I'm hoping. The Hasegawa B-26 sounds like a serious project: we'll put that on the bottom of the list and hope someone comes out with a "new tool."

(Let's not get the hamsters into the World Cup. I'm very distressed to see the US luck into the second round and hope for a prompt exit. There's too much globalization as it is, and I think we should at least play our own games. I personally willed the Spurs into the NBA championship and was proud to be an American - even if the only American Spur was the coach. But at least they score and don't have ties or shoot-outs. Now if the perils of the NFL require us to cave in and adopt what Aussies call "round ball" we must feign indifference and negotiate until shoot-outs are eliminated at least in the World Cup. They might think of free substitution too. I was told by old Brit soccer fans in Leeds in 1974 that Italy ruined the game during the 50s - I guess there was a time long ago when scores frequently looked like 5-4. It's just a matter of marching backwards a bit.)

Thanks again everyone.

Eric

bitbite

Bish

The no biting rule especially applies to Hamsters from Uruguay.

Your not S American are you BB.

No, but my name is French so I'm not above headbutting! 

bitbite

Bish

The no biting rule especially applies to Hamsters from Uruguay.

Your not S American are you BB.

No, but my name is French so I'm not above headbutting! 

Oh là là.

Nice work on those planes guys, both great looking builds.

Thank you sir... I am trying

Apparently yesterday I forgot to add a couple of photos that I took at the end of the session. Let's just say that between some refershing beverages the night before and all day at the bench I was a bit on the tired side... so here they are:
I had read that the fir of the nacelles tot eh wings can be problematic on this kit. True. But nothing a little effort can not fix, especially knowing that ahead of time. One nacelle fits quite well, and no work needed to correct that. The other- well there is a bit of a gap- But, a simple shim of sheet plastic added where needed and sanded to match the countours ahead of time and that is corrected.

I also built up the main gear struts and l placed (not glued) them into position for drying overnight.

and that's where things stood when I sat down this morning... First was mor Neutral Gray. Landing Gear struts, bomb racks, bomb bay doors, wheel hubs...

after the NG had a while to dry I added a dark gray enamel wash on the wheel hubs and landing gear struts

I masked up where the white needed to be re done for the fuselage invasion stripes, airbrushed the white portions, the touched up the black by hand brush to give the not so neat appearance of the real things

and I airbrushed a custom mix metallic color onto the front portion of the package gun housings. Once it had dried I glued them into place. I will add the Quick Boost barrels to them at the end of the build.

and I actually did some gluing today as well... first I scrath built the final portion of the tail gun ammo chutes that channels teh flex portion near the tail gunners armor plate, and added them to the flex chutes.

then I glued the horizontal stabilizers in place... talk about a tail sitter... you would think thaty I hgad stuffed ot full of something the way it altered the balance

and then I glued the landing gear into place on the wing and after that the engine nacelles. Again, after test fitting, I learned that if I glued the front portions first, let them dry, then the rear portion, it would reduce if not eliminate most of the fit problems in that area

then I had to do it... test fit the wings...

starting to look like a B-26 now...

Sweeeeeeeet.  Now add more guns!!! 

Very nice SP, glad to see it all together.

A lot of people say I am trying, but that's a different story.

let me rephrase that- I am working on it... ;) It's just nice to be at a point where lots of little bits are finally being glued in place, instead of just being painted and sitting there, ready to be added, but waiting on some other step of assembly. .

That is coming along really well, stik.  Exceptional detail work!

Yesterday I painted some OD on the wings and tailplane.  I used WEM's OD 41, which turned out to be a very pleasing color.  After the out-of-the-bottle color, I lightened some and thinned it out, then oversprayed the whole thing in a sort of cloud pattern.  It's barely discernible in the photos; a little more so in real life.

Those rudder pieces have two very "nice" ejector pin marks on each, so I used black electricians take to try and preserve the details while I filled and sanded.

Today I masked the fuselage for painting the undersides.  The open bomb bays might be tricky.  I didn't want to knock any bombs off, trying to stuff paper inside, so I used the doors for the closed position, and stuck 'em in place with poster tack. 

Hopefully they'll work to keep paint out of the bay.  There is a second set of doors to be used when the bay is open.

Great idea for masking the bomb bay CMK. I have used that on a few kits for wheel wells when they have landing gear doors for that will work for that purpose. That OD shade looks pretty good. I can barely make out the cloud pattern that you are talking about.

Well last night before bed I finished gluing the engine nacelles down in place and added their tail cones. By carefull planning ahead and effort, I had minimal gaps/seams in this area to contend with that I have read more than one person complain about online... I sanded that smooth in the midday, then used Squadron White Putty to take care of any remaining gaps

Later in the afternoon, I sanded the putty, and am satisfied with the results of that work...

I also finished painting and built up the wheels

and masked up the canopy with Tamiya masking tape, then glued it in place.

Now it's time to enjoy a Saturday evening out...