1944 Group Build

Jsmyth: That ball turret looks great indeed!

Rob: Tanks for the info on the DH.2. I have Wingnut Wings' Roland in my stash and it looks awesome in the box, so it's good to know that the DH is as excellent as their other kits.

Thanks for pointing out the awesomeness of EZ line. I ordered a roll a few days ago but I wasn't sure if its worth the money.

Rob, welcome aboard. Look forward to your Lanc.

Jsymth, nice to see this started, can't wait to see more.

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Getting started on my AFV UHU. I had a slight panic attack after misplacing the clear sprues, especially  on a kit like this, but I found them in another box and we're back building. I used Clear Purple on one side of each lens and Clear Red on the other that gave it an infrared look.  Every time I build a 251, I have trouble fitting the top. In this case the front and sides were a perfect fit but where the top fits to the back I have a large gap on both top sides. I may have to fill with some styrene and putty it up but it should be all right. I'll see if I have a shot of it, I'm having problems with Photobucket.  

You can see on the top corners of the rear I have a gap on both sides. Everything is a perfect fit except for these areas. I tried a lot of ways to make it fit but the angle is off. It's going to make some minor repairs but it should work.  

Nice to se this under way, and in the right GB . Nice work on the light and lens. has the light been painted black.

I have only built a Dragon 251 so far and didn't have a problem fitting the top half. It looks like the top is a bit to short on this kit. I will have to keep that in mind, I am doing an AFV kit for this GB so will see if it has the same problem.

The light is primed black, I think I'm going with a 3 color camo. This is the third 251 I've had trouble with, and thats exactly correct that the top is to short. It's a good fit at the bottom but not the top corners. I'm pretty happy overall especially with the color of the lenses and happier I found them because one of them I don't think I could have made.

Were they all AFV club kits.

One was an AFV  Stukafuss, that was a real nightmare and the other a Tamiya that wasn't as bad.

I really like AFV's Strykers but no more 251's.

I have most of the AFV 251's in the stash, including the SzF, so looks like I will be getting plenty of practice at fixing issues.

Jibber: Man, I'm liking your 251 uhu. Unfotunate about the gap but, it appears to me that you have done some terrific work so far.

Well, I'm all ready to start cutting the sprue for my Hellcat. I'm rather stoked to build my first Eduard kit. In addition to the usual Profipack accessories I'll also be adding the exterior PE set and a True Details seat. 

Nice looking kit there Joe, like you I haven't yet built and Eduard kit, so wil be interested to see how it goes together.

Thank you all for the comments. Here is an update of my progress.

Now that's some nice work there.

Ye, but I think its a bit like scratch building, something I have recently gotten into. It might not be 100% perfect, but there's a lot of satisfaction knowing your doing it yourself.

Lots of nice detail Joe, should be a fun build.

Jsmyth

Thanks Bish. Hand painting is a lot of work and I still had some mistakes.

JSMYTH looking good. remember the camera will show flaws the naked eye cannot pick out and other people will not see many of the mistakes you see because they aren't as close to it.

Awesome job there!

That's great detail.

JSMYTH, 1/48, gonna be a big bird, eh? Lookin' good thus far.

waynec

Jsmyth

Thanks Bish. Hand painting is a lot of work and I still had some mistakes.

JSMYTH looking good. remember the camera will show flaws the naked eye cannot pick out and other people will not see many of the mistakes you see because they aren't as close to it.

Wayne, I thought the camera would hide your screw ups.

Lookin good everyone.

Ken

Jsmyth: Very nice work. Your brush painting looks great to me. I personally enjoy brush painting. Although I'm not particularly good at I find it to be rather relaxing and fun.

Your painting looks good to me Jsmyth.  I almost always hand paint interiors, I like having the extra control that I can't get with my airbrush.

I just finished my last project so now I'm finally ready to get started on my LCVP.  I'll get some pics posted after I get some clean-up of the pieces done and start making progress.

Smyth: Great work on painting that radio compartment! She's going to be quite huge, isn't she?

Jibber: You're doing one hell of a job on the 251! That short top piece sure is annoying, but I'm sure you can fix it. The lense looks awesome btw!

Joe: If Eduards 1/72 Hellcats are as good as their 1/48 ones you're going to have lotsa fun building that little bugger!

Morning all...

To start, What a great mix of builds going on, and the skill and talent level is obvious by the results being posted! To start myself off, I'm going to deviate from the ETO for this one and do some PTO building.Being my wife is Filipina, and her Dad served with the American Army for 24 years starting in 1940, and having fought the Japanese throughout the entire occupation of the Philippines, she wanted me to do something from that time.Being an old Marine I also wanted to add to with our participation with that effort.

So after doing some research I decided on the following, This will be a F4U-1A Corsair of VMF-218 "The Hellions" a Fast attack/Fighter squadron Flying from the Island of Zamboanga, in the Southern region of the Philippine Island chain. Their main mission was to attack and disrupt Japanese shipping traffic in the Philippine sea and to provide close support for the Army ground troops as they rooted out and destroyed the Japanese.

This will be an Otaki 1/48th kit and other then a True Detail resin Cockpit set will be pretty much OOB.

Thats about all for now... Sorry about the duplicate pictures to start, Photo-Blunder being its usual So-So service.

Doug 

Fantastic work, buddy!

Lots of detail, should look great...

Hey There Doug Buddy, That is some outstanding stuff you have going on there. Love the subject matter and the historical ties. Where did you get the markings for "The Hellions"? Did they come with the kit? I have often eyeballed the Otaki kit and wondered about it's accuracy and molding. I'm aware that they were rather decent kits in their day. It is going to be quite a thrill to watch you bring that Corsair together.

I am currently cutting sprue and test fitting my little Eduard Hellcat. The Eduard line of Hellcats are known for their excellent accuracy and engineering and I am here to tell you that so far it is living up to it's reputation. Just a beauty of a kit so far. I'll get some pics to you all right quick.

Thanks guys...your comments and pointers are always appreciated and welcome!

Joe...

  Well, The Otaki kits are pretty nicely detailed and close to accurate as Ive seen from a relatively inexpensive kit, and serves as a good basis for a more detailed build. Not that a little PE or AM kit or two would be unwelcomed. The one thing Ive noticed and need to work on is the lightly engraved control surface and body panel lines. Raised surface lines and mating areas are far too light to show when detailed. Nothing a body panel engraving tool and some good ole #11 blade work wont cure.

No , no special decals were going to be required, Marine markings and such were very basic on this type of aircraft, and generally available either through extras left over from previous builds or genaric from mail order shops (I get alot from  scalehobbyist.com  or others) I also find alot of useful dry transfers in about any scale or font in my LHS train section.

  I just looked up in google search which Marine units were serving in the PI during 1944 and found a few good choices and began researching. This unit along with VMF 212, (my next build for this GB) were asked for spacifically by Gen MacArthur due to there past achievments and reputation for their close support during the Island hoping campaigns. The General was a bit miffed though when after his "return" he visited the base of VMF 212 on Cebu and VMF 218 on Samar and found a sign reading..." With the help of the US Marines, MacArthur returned to the Philippines." (lol) He ordered the sign to be removed... It never was.

Looking forward to your Eduard F6F... Another amazing aircraft of that period.

Take care...

Doug

Finally got some time to work on my LCVP...and man is there a lot of flash to clean up!  Was able to get the ramp, the bulkheads, and the interior framing assembled.