Pearl Harbor 2014.....Thank You

The cockpit and exterior paint came out very well, Joe.  Looks good.

Nice-looking cockpits, bob and Travis.  What's the interior color for a Zero?  I've never built one.

Thought I'd look in on this year's build.  Last year I did USS New Orleans, but I didn't have anything at hand this year.

Nice looking progress on the Fortress, Joe.  Since I'm a fan of the B-17, I've also built this kit.  It is a good kit, and yours is looking great!

Well, she's painted.  My first time airbrushing Tamiya acrylics and I like it.  Certainly a better smell than enamels.  The paint looks a little too green to me, but it says it's Japanese Navy Gray on the bottle.  But then again, this is my first Japanese plane so I could be wrong.  Unfortunately, I can see where I made some mistakes scribing panel lines.  For some reason this kit had both raised and recessed panels.  The raised lines were lost when I primed it so I figured I would try to scribe them myself.  I probably should have practiced on some scrap first.  Luckily, most of my mistakes will be covered by decals.  Oh well, I'll chalk it up to a learning experience.  I'll use this as a practice kit so I know what I'm doing when I get my hands on a more detailed kit .

Nice.

Looks very good to me.

Joe

Travis, I thought I posted about your cockpit, but I don't see it anywhere.  That's looking fantastic.  Hard to believe it's 1/72!

I finished the major assemblies, primed, and preshaded.  I was also able to paint the engine cowling.  The flash on my phone makes it look more gray than black.  I also added a touch of blue to the black.

Many thanks.

Please take a look at the badges that have been presented.  I believe that either will work.

Joe

That paint job looks great!

Many thanks for tagging along.

Well here we go again.

Here is a brief update to show where I am with this. 

First up is the cockpit. It is together and ready for installation.






Next is to show off something I am pretty proud of. Because of the many pieces of clear that are in the fuselage I had planned to paint the body prior to installing the clear. 

There were several steps here. First is the primer coat. For this I used Rust-Oleum Flat Black. After this dried overnight I then used Model Master Olive Drab (Not handy so I can not tell you which one) and sprayed very cautiously, avoiding the panel lines. This part of the process took approximately two hours. Like I said I was being very careful. After this dried I then added Rust-Oleum Flat White to lighten the paint. I then concentrated on the panel centers. I wanted to get a definite different shade. 







I am very happy with the way this turned out. However my plan has a serious flaw. I cannot spray a flat coat over the fuselage without masking off the clear parts. I will have to think on this. I may have to see about finding a liquid masking agent as some of these clear parts may pop off with traditional tape/foil masking.


But there she is so far. Hopefully there will not be major seams to deal with.


All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.


Joe

Well my bad luck turns into your luck,  dog jumped on the bed and broke the cockpit open. No damage just needs to be glued back together. But I did get pictures this time.

Travis that is looking sharp.  

Psycho no problem.  I have done that many times.

Joe

I finished the cockpit, got so excited that I forgot to take pictures before closing it up. I'll see what I can do tonight to get some pictures of it.

Here are some WIP for my Zero! I have added a Eduard PE set. Lets just say it is a lot of start and stop so I don't burn my eyes out. This kit has been in the stash for some time (probably from my fear of using PE!!!) I wanted to show the Prepaint pics to give an idea of just how many little bits there are! The Hasegawa kit was pretty bear on detail. The PE set really helped. I have a Squadron Canopy to cap it off when it is all done!

I'll throw in my two cents with a couple of badges I just put together.  My first time making a badge, hopefully they're not too bad.

Well shoot.  I thought I had responded to this.  

Looking good for sure.  I am of the same opinion with the decal on the flat surface for the ip.  That part drives me a bit nuts.  Have the same for the fort.  Now considering it is 1/72 and it will not be seen I can deal with but it is one of those things that drives me up the wall.

Now for those with the notion to do so, no badge has been submitted for this build.  I am going to save myself the embarrassment and leave the construction of said badge for another.  

Joe

I've started on my Zero.  So far I've painted the engine and assembled the cockpit.  I'm a little disappointed that the instrument panel is just a decal on a flat surface, but it actually doesn't look too bad.

Here's the box art:

The engine:

The cockpit assembly:

And all put together:

Well folks to prove that I am actually working on this.

The instructions call for the cockpit construction first. So that is where I start.

There is some decent detail in this kit.



First thing to notice was the god awful machine marks. They are everywhere. So first out came the putty.




You will notice that I began the painting process by starting on the floor forward of the Instrument Panel bulkhead. I started with Testors little square bottle of Light Tan. When that was tacky I then went over it again only this time trying to leave brush strokes. After that dried I then used Burnt Umber Oil Paint to give it the grain look. Did not turn out quite as I hoped on the floor but wow it sure did on the table. I then brush painted Model Master Euro Green on the parts that required it. I am told this is pretty close to what was actually used in the Fortress. While that dried I started on the other pieces that would make up the cockpit. The seat cushions were first painted Model Master Dark Yellow, in part as my yellow selection is very scarce at this moment. I then painted some of the bits and bobs the same Euro Green as seen in some of my reference pictures. As one set dried I moved to the next. On the whole they came out like this...









And that is where we are tonight. The seats and control stick are not finished. Note also the cockpit floor and the bulkheads received a oil wash to try to bring out a little of the detail.

Next session will be to finish the detail painting and start to put this all together. There will not be much time or effort put into the interior as in this scale not much will be seen. I will not even be installing anything past that rear cockpit bulkhead. 

All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



Joe

Greg somewhere on the net they have some very interesting pictures of both the mortar emplacements and the disappearing gun as well.  the gun was one of two in the us arsenal at the time.  i believe it is now a display piece near Seattle.   the second of the guns was in the Philippines.   there were, if memory serves, seven mortar emplacements around Oahu.  there were two of them at the entrance to the harbor.

joe

Joe: great pic! Now if I can locate the Academy kit I have.....

i have it somewhere.  but it was the honey stuart.  the company was the 11 th tank.

this is the only picture i have of armor from either dec 7 or dec 8.

joe 

Was it an Army or Marine tank co? Do you know the specific unit? Which type of M3 Stuart?

silent bob no problem.  wanted to actually start mine today and had a setback.  hopefully tomorow.

joe

greg there was a company of "stuart" tanks on oahu as well as several mortar batteries and a "disappearing" gun battery.

joe

fightnjoe

-subjects include naval, air, army (armor, arty, and soft skinned), civilian, marine, and coast guard.

I'll be starting mine in the next couple of days, I just have to finish up my HMMWV first.

well let me kick off the "build" portion of this thread with a picture of the box art.



i will be doing one of the birds from the 38th recon that were inbound during the attack. more on this later.


joe

well folks, as of about 8 hours ago, we have begun.

joe

Thanks, we since my work went to 12 hour shifts i've more or less just been browsing the forum and seeing what other people do. Its hard to get motivation to build with hours like this, at least for me anyway.

Ww2psycho, so good to see you back on!! I look foward to seeing your work again.

you have the green light.  

folks we are but three days away from the "official" begin date.  if you so choose you have the green light to begin.  

i look forward to viewing your works.

joe