US CARRIER AVIATION GROUP BUILD 2013

Thanks for the explanation of the canopy, Joe. I might get back with you later on this, not sure I quite understand why the sacrificial canopy. Maybe it will be clear to me in a day or so, though. :)

Hey Greg. It was out of the spare kit that I had. It sacrificed itself so I could use it as a mask. lol

Updates guys. I managed to go ahead and throw the fuselage roundels on. Won't be able to order my squadron identifiers for the side of the fuselage until Friday. Money you know. Here's the latest. I couldn't resist taking a picture even though the Microsol has the roundels all wrinkled up.

Nice work there, buddy! Looking forward to more eye-candy!

Man I have to say that these are the crappiest decals I have ever worked with. I mean I'm making them work, make no mistake, but they are trying on one's patience. Additionally the rivet detail likes to trap air bubbles and I had to pop anywhere between 3 and 10 per decal and hit them in the upwards of 6+ coats of Microsol.

I do thank you for your comments Clemens. There will be more on the way after I get my squadron numbers in the mail. Until then--it's off to the prop and stabilizers!

Are those the Hasegawa kit decals? Keep up the solvent applications and eventually you will get the upper hand ;-)

stikpusher

Are those the Hasegawa kit decals? Keep up the solvent applications and eventually you will get the upper hand ;-)

Are all Hasegawa decals that bad? I'm kinda scared of the spinner spirals on my Hasegawa 190s now...

I don't remember them being tough to deal with when I built my Hasegawa SBD Dauntless back in 98 but the decals I'm working with now are aged and getting them off of the backing was one battle and getting them on the plane without bubbles and then settling down into the detail were the second and third battles. In the end they do ok. Given a do over I would go AM with the decals all the way!

You gents warned me about the Hasegawa decals on mine in progress. I didn't find them all that bad, Clemens. A bit thick, maybe?

Joe, got it now re the fancy mask. I hadn't believed the explanation could be that simple. :)

Amazing how much character decals add, even just partially decalled up. Looking very nice, Joe!

I think the big difference between the old and recent usage of the Hasegawa decals is teh surface that you are putting them on. The Hasegawa kit has just recessed panel lines, and fewer of them at that. The Monogram kit, by contrast has all those raised rivits following the panel lines in the appropriate places. That is where most of the decal issues come from.

Thanks Greg. I got home around 4:45 this after noon and still had to pierce some bubbles and apply more Microsol. Slowly but surely they are laying down.

Finally got more time to work on my TBM, took a pic of the interior so far.

After I took this, I realized that I forgot the bulkheads, so I painted those up and I'll add them in as soon as they're dry.

once again, I'm amazed at how photos highlight spots that need more paint, I'm fixing most of those too.

Still can't figure out how to get the torpedo in too, I wish the instructions for the weapons kit were better.  Any ideas?

That interior is coming along nicely, Ghost. Very much like the figures. They add quite a sense of scale. After having built one of these, I didn't really have much of a sense of the interior scale until seeing your figures!

Wish I could help with your aftermarket torpedo. I had to get help here just to get the stock bombs in. :)

Hey Ghost. That interior looks sharp man! I know what you mean about pictures. I now use photos as a tool. What I don't catch in real life is frozen forever in a picture and I always see my mistakes VERY clearly then. I also hear you on the AM instructions. I know we are modelers and we are supposed to figure stuff out but I think the AM world relies on that a little too much sometimes. Either stickpusher or pzl66 (now known as Luftmodeler) are the guys to talk to on the AM issues I think. I know Luftmodeler has built a number of these things and may have run into this already. I'll see what I can do about rounding him up on this, Joe

I dont know if I can be of too much help here. I have yet to build one of these beauties. Both of my AM Avengers are still in my stash- and in a storage unit to boot, so I cant just go pull them off the shelf to have a look. But I suspect that it is going to be an issue of the attachment shackles. The bombs being carried in one manner, and a torpedo in a different manner. The torps attachment lugs being different than those of the bombs, except for perhaps a 2000 pounder type.

Not sure what the problem with the kit is---like Stik, mine's still packed away---but if shots of the real thing would be of any help, there are some super-large, super-clear b&w photos to be found on the Naval Aviation Museum's website. They show the specially-shaped brackets used for mounting the torpedo in the Avenger's bomb-bay. Just click on any of the thumbnails along the bottom of the page.

LINK

Hope it helps.

Not much to report on this day. I've got all of the stenciling on and am now waiting on my squadron letters/ numbers from Yellow Wings thanks to stikpusher. I am now working on the prop and wheels. Looks like I'm robbing the wheels from the Hasegawa kit also as the box wheels in the Monogram kit SUCK. The prop is coming along nicely so far and will post pics of that over the weekend. Right now it's just odds and ends until I get those decals hopefully by next week.

LOL! yes the Monogram wheels are bad. I used some resin ones from True Details on mine.

Thanks, those pictures were exactly what I needed to place the mounting rack.  Unfortunately, I've had another setback, my airbrush is having issues.  It's spraying air just fine, but it won't feed any paint, no matter how much I tweak it.  I'm soaking all the parts of the brush in thinner in the hope that it'll clear up whatever is blocking it up.  I'm in a race against the weather here, in a couple more weeks it's going to be too cold and wet to spray and it won't warm up and dry out again till May or June.

Oh, one more thing, I can't for the life of me figure out how to mount part #36,  the frame that the stinger gun attaches to, it just won't fit.  Does anyone have any pictures of that by any chance?

If your airbrush is an internal mix, check the seal rings, needle, and tip. If those are damaged, it will affect paint flow.

Ghost, is the the rear gunner turret assy? I'm WAY out of town, or I'd run downstairs and check part #36 to make sure what you are talking about! If it is the gunners turret assy, that took me about a month to figure out. It is very finicky and the Academy instructions are useless.

I can't remember, did I ever get my copy of the old AM instructions to you? They are quite helpful.

Nice work, Ghost!

I don't know if it's of any help, but here's what the AM instructions tell you to do (the Academy instructions are the AM drawings without the text, and AM uses text-based instructions):

"Carefully align and glue the flare chutes (34) to the forward side of the ammunition bulkhead (36). When properly aligned, the tubes should protrude through the bulkhead and point down slightly toward the rear of the fuselage. Glue this assembly to the right fuselage half against the forward edge of the forward locator rib and behind the two locating ribs"

The corresponding diagram for this ste is number 3 in the Academy instructions.

Well since todays bench session was airbrushing modern aircraft interior colors, I pulled my Scooter off of the sidelines and first airbrushed a coat of Humbrol Gray Primer, and then a coat of Humbrol Dark Gull Gray. Not very exciting, but the ball is rolling again here.

After this has dried overnite I will begin detail work.

She's looking nice so far!

I wasn't able to work on my Wildcat, but I should be able to squeeze some bench time in for her on Tuesday.

ok, I think those instructions helped a lot, thanks, the way the drawing was laid out it made me think the piece went in backwards, with the flare chutes pointing forward.  so it should look something like this?

Clemens,

Can you change my entry to the Academy F4F-4 in 1/72?  Going to finish an already started kit, rather than start one fresh.  No pics yet, just the interior (what little of it there is) is painted and the wings glued together.  She will be in the Atlantic grey and white scheme.  Thanks.

Sure, I changed it for you.

Ghost, I found a pic of mine for you to compare. If it's wrong, then we are both wrong. :) I think we both have it right, though. If I recall, the bottom of the chutes sort of line up with little indentations on both fuselage halves which I assumed represent the flare chute.openings.

Greg and Ghost: I have an Accurate Miniatures TBD-3 in the stash...........and you guys are making my want to drag it out! It won't be in time for this build but in the future after a couple of more Luftwaffe builds I see something happening. Good work on these....both of you!!