Aces Group Build

The Thunderbolt is looking good, nomad!  Nice NMF and invasion stripes!

My apologies gents as I had entered my Mustang here then started posting here and in crossover GB and lost track. Call it a brain fart. Thanks Ken for understanding.

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.

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:[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.

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

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The rear underside actually looks very good.

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Hopefully the next Mr Surfacer coat will show no flaws.

This has been an extremely frustrating build and I would have been pulling my hair (If I had any) but I think I got it under control. It took me 4 putty sessions and 4 paintjobs (and removing them) to get it looking ok. Since the wings were puttied and sanded smooth then painted in aluminum lacquer, most of the panel line detail is gone. I shot the wings Tamiya Aluminum and the ailerons and flaps Floquil bright silver. The fuselage was also sprayed bright silver but I still have to tape up  a few fuselage panels and spray Floquil platinum mist for some panel color variation.

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Alclad produces a better metallic effect but due to this being a putty monster, the Floquil does an adequate job.

The finished plane. I used a very old Microscale sheet for the markings.

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I started on the pilot last night. It's the included figure from the kit which has some very nice deep molded details.

The arm was glued and Vallejo Khaki for the uniform, brown for the gloves, boots and helmet, and flesh were brushed on. The mask and hose got some Vallejo OD. The goggles need painting and will be done after the paints dry.

 I'm not a fan of acrylics but for figure painting, Vallejo Model Color is fantastic as it's very thick and the pigments cover extremely well. Next will be some washes to deepen details and lighter color drybrushing to pop things in the uniform and face of Lt. Fiebs.

What a lot of work,pj.  Looks like you're getting the upper hand, though.

I agree about the Floquil silvers.  They were great and very nice to work with.  Also got a couple of bottles before they went west.  I'll also miss Floquil's clear flat finish.  It was smooth enough to use as a base for decals, and the final finish too.  

Looks great PJ

okay today is 1944 GB  B 24 day. I really need to get it finished

Plasticjunkie,

That is one nice looking 'Stang. Super save and well done. I like it!!

Thanks guys. It was a lot of work evening out the panels but it came out ok.

I'm kind of limited on painting figures but think it came out looking ok. Here's a picture of the completed pilot. I gave it a couple of washes to deepen details and lightly dry brushed light tan to create highlights. For the goggle lenses I used a couple of tiny drops of Future.

Fieb seated in his Mustang showing 6 kills.

Just a quick history on the pilot. Ernest Fiebelkorn was the grandson of German immigrants. He graduated from flight school in August 1943 and was given the rank of 2nd Lt on January 1944 and assigned to the 8th AF.

On November 8, 1944, he and Lt Hayden of the 357th FG teamed up on a lone Me262 jet fighter shooting it down. Later they discovered that the pilot they shot down was none other than the German Ace Walter Nowotny (258 kills).

Fieb finished the war with 9 aerial kills and went on to fly F-82s in Korea. On July 6, 1950 while flying a twin F-82 in dense overcast he was never heard from again. His remains were located 2 years later  40 miles north of Seoul on a mountain top. He apparently crashed into the terrain due to the overcast.

Captain Fiebelkorn was laid to rest with full military honors at Arlington. He left a wife and a baby behind.

Great work PJ

Can you give us a pic of the whole plane with pilot but not a real wide shot.?

Thanks

The Microscale sheet has Miss Miami as Fiebelkorn's aircraft but Miss Miami looks like was assigned to Capt. Jones in the same unit. Fiebelkorn's Mustang was named June Mite. The weird thing is if you google Miss Miami his picture comes up and he is named on the Microscale sheet as its pilot.

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/URG/fiebelkorn.html

Here's the MicroScale sheet info:

Okay all Miss Fire is done. Miss Fire was flown by Capt. Fred J. Christensen of the 56th FG.

With a total of six kills in one day, a feat matched by a handful of USAAF aces.

Hope you all like it.

Doug

4

Ken,

I found a 1/32 scale cat in a kit of German tank loaders so I painted shim black and named him Sinbad.

He is now on the base. Photo below.

Doug

Nomad- Cool, I love it

What picture do you want on the front page?

I'd like to see the whole set up in the photo.

Thanks

Nice P-47, Doug!

Thanks Checkmate.

Ken I will get a photo of the whole thing when I get the chance. Busy this weekend.

Doug

OK Doug I understand

Here ya go Ken. You can use this one for the completed gallery.

Here ya go Ken. Sorry about the wait.

Doug

Nice progress everyone and finnished ones looks great!

I haven´t had much time to spend with Fokker, but starts to take shape. Some little fixing still. Atleast one intake still missing.

Raised panel lines got destroeyd by sanding, so I scribed new ones. Also I carved aerilons to look made from fabric.

There´s some fishy with the fuselage. Looks like that wings are located different hight so tail is tilted bit right when wings are lined together

I went to aviation museum near here to get pictures of flight suit of Winter War period, but that wasn´t on display anymore. Have to find pictures elswhere.

Trabi - Looking good. You're getting there.

This thing died off. I'm gonna build my BF109 F4 for this. Pics to come soon.

No it hasn't died. I have three builds I'm planning once I done with the Indianapolis, and 1 P51.

Okay, this is my Airfix BF109-F4 1/48 bird flown by Karl Hienz-Krahl. He scored a total of 19 kills in all and was shot down during a straifing run near Malta on April 14, 1942. Most of his kills were Hurricanes and Spitfires. His plane will be done in MTO colors.

The kit is very basic and lacks the details of nicer kits but should build up into a decent little kit. The cockpit is simple and mostly molded in so it went together in less than an hour including cutting of sprue and painting. Since I will be posing this one in flight I am not spending any real time detailing up a cockpit that can't really be seen anyway. 

The detail in the pit isn't too bad, better than a Revell kit for sure but sure could use some additional details if one wanted to pose it open.

Here is where I left off after about an hour and a half of work.

My pilot figure that came with the kit may get used as this pit is devoid of any real detail so I may add him in there. I have a Verlinden set of Luft pilots but they are really nice and are only posable standing. I think given the lack of detail I will paint Karl up an seat him in the office chair and make him fly it once more.

Well, I opted to add the pilot from the kit to the cockpit before I close it up so painting on him has begun. I have also decided to add the rather nicely detailed resin pilot as well for a shot of him posing on the wing. Here are the two figures of Karl as I begin work on them.

My apologies everyone. I thought this would be a great GB. I guess I'm not the right person to host a GB. I wont host any more.

I'll watch here for your finished projects, as well as finish my own builds to post them on the finished post.

Please don't feel discouraged, Ken.  Some GB's end up with less than 1/2 of the participants actually finishing anything.  "The spirit is willing, but. . ."

It's still a great idea for a GB.

I've been working along, just haven't had much to post.

Here's the box art for the Spitfire, Airfix 1/72.

Mostly I have the cockpit pieces painted and ready to assemble.  Still have to take some photos.

The box art for the figure representing "Sailor" Malan.

With painting diagram on the back.

The figure on the sprue.

I've been working on painting him.  Still need to finish the arms, otherwise the figure is pretty much done.