1945 GB

Well, after what seemed like endless frustrating hours, I finally have my spinner and prop painted.  The third time was the charm.  I'd paint, peel my mask, see it badly misaligned, strip all the paint with airbrush cleaner, try again.  In the end, I painted the spinner, masked and then painted the blades, and found I got the results I'd wanted. 

I won't say I'm totally thrilled with the painting, I think a lot of the tonal variation gets lost in the contrast and the small size of the colours on the spiral, it took a bit of careful post shading, but I think there is a bit of shading that shows through, and so in my mind, it wasn't a loss to have painted it vs. decal.  I probably learned a new trick or two along the way, worked a lot on patience, and at the end of the day I can say 'I painted that spinner spiral on'.  I can also say it almost drove me bat poop crazy.

A couple of things to do before sealing up the fuselage.

I drilled out the exhaust stacks. Left  one is drilled out with my mini drill bits which add more detail as compared to the undrilled stack on the right.

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The tail wheel got boxed in with a couple of small plastic sheet pieces. I save those junk advertisement plastic cards in the mail just for something like this.

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Next will be attaching the stacks and painting the tail wheel bay before attaching the pit and gluing the fuse halves.

Since we can do crossovers put me down for Trumpeter  1/35 K-5 RR gun. I have a picture of one firing in 1945, I won't be doing that picture but have some in mind.

Andrew, great work with the painting and masking, can't wait to see the finished product. Masking a spinner spiral - not for the faint hearted (including me)

Stik the tiffy is looking a treat. Must try pencil on the raisd panel lines of my shinden.

The Shinden is coming along slowly in my motel room. the cockpit is mostly together and getting ready to go in. Tape seat belts, the stick and pedals and then close it up.

Great looking pitty lost...I always like a standing pilot too.

Thanks, Lost.  I'm hoping this morning brings a little more masking amd some rlm 65.

Liking the look of that spiral Andrew. I tried doing that on my 1/18th spinner but gave up. I think I need to practice that.

PJ, that exhaust certainly looks a lot better, looking good.

Nice looking pit lost, nice to been able to keep building while your away from home.

Thank you, Bish.

This morning, I laid in a shaded rlm 65, and just now peeled the masks from my weathered Balkancruz.  Much to my amazement, I've not broken any fiddly bits!

I'm going to have to leave her at this point for a week.  Tomorrow morning my girlfriend and I have to take a road trip to visit her mother, who is ending her battle with liver cancer. 

Once I get home, it's onto rlm 71.  I hope you all have a good week, happy building and keep up those beautiful looking builds.  I imagine once I get home, Stick will have his finished product on the first page at the rate he's going!

Wow, Andrew, those marking look friggin' cool!!

Thanks, Rob

Andrew, those markings you painted on yourself look superb! Really top notch work!

As for my project, I don't see completion before Monday at the absolute soonest. I won't have any possible bench time before Saturday morning for less than an hour at most...

Thanks for the compliment, Stick.  I'm pleased so far with my masking, I just have to keep that level of weathering consistent.  The big trick I'm working at is getting my shading better, so I use more of a 'mottling' technique to my high and low lights, and of course a very light, thin top blending layer.  Shading has always been a bit of a mystery to me in terms of technique.

Really nice there Andrew.

Exceptional job Andrew. Those markings look great.

This old Monogram Mustang has a few fit issues with big gaps and parts that are troublesome to even up the join. I'm using Perfect Plastic Putty to fill in some of the gaps. This stuff is great.

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I ended up with large gaps on both wing roots. I closed up the gun doors which left small gaps. I filled them with PPP and let it dry a couple of hours.

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Then I use a wet Q Tip to smooth out the filled areas. I actually have more control when its dry than when wet and soft. Then just wipe the area to remove any grit.

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The bottom fuse was sanded cause of the ill fit in this area.

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The fit is really bad and it's probably better to leave this panel off to expose the bottom of the engine but I wanted a clean look of the pony. More PPP was used to fill in the gaps.

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Since this build is requiring filler, I won't be using Alclad cause any tiny imperfection will be magnified under the Alclad finish so I will be using Floquil Old and Bright Silver along with Platinum Mist. I managed to grab several bottles from a couple of LHS as it was being discontinued. It's a shame as Floquil is just a joy to work with.

I'm having a bit of a fit issue on some parts. I shot some Mr Surfacer 1000 and found things I didn't like. It's better to leave the panels open than to close them as their fit is just miserable. I'm really trying to save this build from going into the trash can. [View:]

The wings on the late war Mustangs  had their panel lines puttied up and sanded flush to cut down on drag. They were painted in aluminum colored lacquer except for the flaps and ailerons that were in NM.

I sanded off most of the wing panel lines and left just a hint of the lines. I also had to fill in the uneven gun access doors with more PPP and sanded smooth to even the surface.

A little more PPP in a few areas was needed to even up things.

The rear underside actually looks very good.

Hopefully the next Mr Surfacer coat will show no flaws.

PJ, you may have some challenges here, but I have no doubt your end results will be top notch as usual...

Today was adding lots of little fiddly bits and such as I am trying to finish this one up...

pitot tube

the landing gear- I filed some flat spots on the wheels to give a weighted look

I added some retraction struts from my spares bin to the outer gear doors

the Ultracast bomb racks have resin sway braces I am not too keen on, so I matched some copper wire to the proper diameter and length, cut it, bent it, and glued them in place...

lower surfaces overall with oil wash in recesses

and the upper surfaces, again with the oil wash... I am really liking oils for washes... they flow great and are quite forgiving in clean up

Tomorrow I will do the flat coat, final dry brushing, and add the last bits such as the landing lights. I ought to be able to wrap this all up then....

Thanks stik. Your Typhoon is looking fantastic. That's a great touch with the small wire parts for added details. I love using oils for washes and other weathering as in DOT filters on armor. You can make gallons of the home brew  for what a single bottle of the commercially mass produced ones cost.  

Epic thus far stik!!

That looks great Stik, some nice additions on the bomb racks.

Stik

that is one very Spiffy Tiffy...I had to say it. Nice weathering and details.

Andrew it is looking great, keep developing that technique.

Ah PJ, the joys of old styrene, fill, sand, prime, repeat... but it looks like you are dragging it into line whether it likes it or not.

Great to watch others do work that I can copy later on.

The Shinden cockpit is together and I am closing her up tonight.

Side view showing some of the surgery and added levers, bottles and knobs.

And a view of the added seat belts from tape and wire.

Thanks lost. This little feller is taking some doing to fix up things. Great job on your belts and the pit.

Some nice additions there lost. Good work.

Lost, your Shinden cockpit mods really look great! That looks very sharp in there!

And thank you all for the kind words on my Tiffy as she nears the finish line. Almost there now...

Humbrol Matt Coat on...

I'm gonna head to the LHS for some supplies and give it time to dry, then will do the final bits of weathering, add the landing & navigation lights, remove the canopy masking and call her done around nightfall here...

Sweet work Stik, be nice to see this done and our first completed build on the front page.

Sweet work indeed. Looking great stik.

Thanks guys, I am very happy with this build...

OK, it's sundown here along the Pacific Coast... all done...

when I got back from my hobby store run I added the MV lens substitutes into the landing light wells

then I added all my final bits, weathering, removed the masks, etc... all done now

My completion for the 1945 GB is the 1969 vintage Monogram 1/48 Typhoon IB kit. As those who kept track here know I modified the kit with PE parts from Eduard, Reheat & Airwaves, resin from Ultracast and Cooper Details, and stuff from my spares bin and odds and ends such as wire and sheet plastic, decals are from Super Scale. 

Half the fun (for me) on a build like this is the research. I decided upon this aircraft because it was part of two major events in 1945; Operation Bodenplatte and Operation Varsity. From what I have been able to find PD608 5VG came into 439 Squadron RCAF after the previous 5VG MN345 was lost in November 1944. According to 439 Squadron's war diary PD608 was lightly damaged during Operation Bodenplatte, but I was unable to find if 608 was damaged as part of 439 Squadron's "dawn patrol", or if it was damaged on the ground at Eindhoven. The next mention of this aircraft was when it was damaged on landing in Feb 1945, nosing over and pranging the nose. And finally I was unable to learn that she partook in Operation Varsity, the largest single day airborne operation of WWII in March 1945. That day was a "surge" effort for 2nd Allied Tactical Air Force, with 439 Squadron flying multiple missions in support of the Airborne landings on the East bank of the Rhine. As PD608 had been in service with 439 Squadron for roughly 4 months at this point from a forward airfield at Eindhoven in Holland (B-78) involved in some heavy close air support operations as well as the European winter of 1944/45, I wanted to portray her as well used but not too abused.

Thanks for looking, comments and critiques are welcome

Stik - congrats on the Typhoon,  very fine work!

All those extras really bought this one forward to today's standards, and beautiful finish too!

regards,

Jack

Lovely looking build there Stik. Great job on the detailing and I really like the paint job and the wreathing is really nice.

Great work all round.

Bish and Jack, thank you. This was a build that I really enjoyed doing as a remembrance of those brave airmen.