Aces Group Build

Well, I'm moving very slow here. We are getting the house ready to put on the market, so I'm doing more work on the house than the build.
I received everything except the decals "Moonbeam McSwine" with the 352nd Fighter Group, 487th Fighter Squadron. One of the "Blue Nosed Bastards of Bodney" 
I started with cutting the flaps out to show them extended. There are some modifications needed here. The 51's flaps tucked under the wing fillet when retracted so I will have to scratch that little piece to fill where I cut it out. Also I needed to at the leading edge of the flap which shows while in the extended position. I need to thin the plastic some to simulate the wing skin and a few more items need to be done. Most of the major stuff has been completed and the rest can be done after the wings are attached.
The flap is obviously taped on to simulate were it will sit.
This my first real attempt at scratch building.

 

 
I will also be scratching some detail for the Packard Merlin. Although there are thousands of pictures of the engine, 99% are of no help. What I really need is a good picture of the rear of the engine including the firewall tank, (oil?) and the plumbing and linkages. Hard to find a good, clear detailed picture under the bonnet, of a non-racing pony.

Steve

I got a spray booth ordered today and it should be here by the 27th. Then I can get started on the Alclad paint. I have the plane shot in gloss black lacquer, which was done in warmer weather, so it is ready. Now just to get the rest of the parts ready.

I will post photos soon.

Doug

I think all the work you put into the Spitfire paid off, Brandon.  The finished product is excellent.  Congratulations on your perseverance and skills.

Nomad

That seems to be the only two options, unless you can go to a business with a paint booth or warehouse that they'll let you shoot in.

I shoot my stuff in the garage in the summer, but I wouldn't try Alclad below 40f.

Hey all,

Got the Alclad paints in so it's full speed in getting the plane done. The only problem is that I do not have a spray booth and the fumes from the paint will fill the house and I have two small grand kids living here. I do not want them to get sick as it could put the chances of my son loosing them to their mother.

The weather is cold here and windy so painting the airframe and other parts outside in not an option.

Any ideas on this is welcome.

Doug

BrandonK: Nice looking Spit! Good work!

Some update with Fokker.

Cowling ring also made from mustard tube. Needs still bit fitting:

Cockpit was "bit" spartan, so I added some details:

Awesome job Brandon. Your paint and weathering is superb. Love it.

Doug

Steve, that is an Airfix kit from the 70's re-boxed as new. It's not.

Nicely done Brandon, I think it turned out well. For all the issues you stated, you apparently fixed them right up.

Who was the manufacturer for that kit?

Steve

At this point I am calling this one done. I am not going to spend more hours on this kit. There are much nicer Spitfire kits out there and pouring tons of love and time into this kit just isn't worth it to me. I did not pour any real love into this kit. I built it quick and dirty just to get it done. 

So, to recap what I did. After painting and assembling the very basic cockpit with no instruments I closed the fuselage halves and discovered that the fit there and at the wing roots and other places was just horrid. I sanded, filled and sanded more to get it closed up. Fortunately there was not much detail to loose so no real harm done there. The details that were there were VERY raised and quite shoddy looking to I sanded most of that down to a much lower level and removed some altogether. On the parts I sanded off I re-scribed them back in and added some missing rivet details to give it a bit of life.

Once all that was done I primed and checked for flaws and decided I could live with the minor ones I found so I began to paint it. I painted the underside in MM Enamel Azure Blue RAF and the top side in MR Color Middle Stone and Dark Earth, both cut about 35-40% with gloss white from Mr Color as well. This toned down the colors and it looks better to my eye now. I then applied, liberally, Alclad Aqua Gloss for a nice smooth surface. This went without a hitch, I am very happy with the paint.

I have to mention here that the decals for this kit were absolutely sublime. They were utterly fantastic decals. They went down very well and settled down with no need for Microsol. I can't say enough good things here about them. I used every single stencil the kit offered and I am very pleased with how they turned out. 
I then hit it with Aqua gloss again and just touched the recessed panels with Flory dark dirt. I then shot a coat of MM flat clear and began to highlight the raised panel lines with earth tone pastels just to give the surface some interest to the eye. I also added some soot via the Tamiya Master weathering kit and sealed it all down with Fixative for the pastels and then again with MM flat clear.

I looked over numerous photos of Vb's and decided to use the side aerials rather than the upper one often modeled as I found no photos of Spit's done like that in real life. I used fine fishing line colored with permanent marker and attached with white glue. I drilled small holes on each side in the roundels as I found a few photos of that anchor point and there was a hole there with a connector, so that made attaching the leads there easy.  I used Tamiya tape to hold the wire in place until the glue dried and no further work was needed. They fit great. Now to find a place to display it.

The pilot is nearly done. Another day or two and he will be here for his photo op. 

Looks great Brandon I'm not sure I'd like the pilot looking over my shoulder like yours is

Looking good Brandon,

I like the way your ace is checkin out your build.

Things are going pretty decent on the build. I managed to get it cleared and decaling done today. I will clear it tomorrow before I start the wash. 

For those that are curious, I painted the kit in Mr Color Middle Stone #21 and Dark Earth #22 lightened up about 40% with Mr Color white #1 with the belly painted using MM Enamel RAF Azure blue. I cleared the whole thing using Alclad Aqua Gloss sprayed slowly and at two medium coats. It gave me a pretty good surface for mounting the decals and I managed to stencil the whole plane and I feel pretty good about how they came out. Thanks for looking.

And the pilot, Neville Duke, showed up to survey the progress as I have begun to get him painted now as well.

Got all the major colors knocked out today. It didn't come out too bad and I still have a few spots to touch up with my super fine Badger; a few spots where the mask lifted and left too much of a feathered edge, no biggie. Should be in decals by Sunday, fingers crossed.

Thanks Nomad.

Looking great to me Brandon. Looks like you got the major issues fixed. Keep it up.

Plasticjunkie: I wish I could get my IPs looking as goods as yours. Great work. Stunning IP.

Doug

I got the wind screen and canopy filled and attached. I inspected the overall kit and decided to go ahead and hit a coat of Tamiya grey primer over the whole thing. Now I can see a few small flaws left, but given where this kit started it looks 10x better now. She is no show winner but I think I am done fiddling with it and will settle for the body work as is. I will get the Azure blue on the belly, likely today and perhaps one of the upper colors as well. Again, given where this kit started I am not un-pleased with where it is at now. I just shrug my shoulders and call it good enough. 

That's interesting about the flaps. I also thought it was due to hydraulic pressure loss as with the Phantom's air brakes drooping down a bit after being parked for a while.

I suspected a great parts fit from Hasegawa and you just confirmed it

So far the fit is great and the detail in the skin is superb, granted raised. The rivets are microscopic bumps. They are going to be a challenge to replace after I do the inevitable filling and sanding. I did some work on the flaps tonight and cut out the left wing flap. I am filling and contouring the leading edge of the flap as they are visible with the flaps extended.

Curiosity caused me to do some extensive research as to why the flaps are down on some parked Mustangs and are raised on others. I always thought it was because the hydraulic pressure lowered to the point that the flaps dropped as do the landing gear doors. Actually I found some old P-51 and P-47 training films on YouTube which explained that the flaps are lowered to prevent anybody from stepping on them while mounting and dismounting the aircraft. One did use the wing fillet as a step however. Apparently the flaps were raised after landing to prevent propwash debris from damaging them and were lowered again after the ship was parked. Huh.

That is quite a GAP there Brandon! Hopefully you can seal that  mess up.

Steve

How's that Hasegawa fit on that Mustang so far?

I got some work on my ancient Monogram mold.

Got the office painted up.

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Painted the IP then drybrushed to pop the instrument faces. A drop of Future on each instrument replicates the glass face.

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Did a little research on Ernest "Feeb" Fibelkorn, the subject of my build. He was actually a little big for a fighter pilot at 6-4 and 220 lbs. He was the top scoring Ace of the 20th FG. On Nov.8, 1944, he and Edward Haydon from 357th FG teamed up on a lone Me 262 eventually shooting it down. The pilot never bailed out and was killed. That pilot was Walter Nowotny.

Feeb went on to fight in Korea where he was killed while flying an F-82.

OK, here is what I'm going to start on. The 1/32 Hasegawa P-51D. My plan is to display in in a diorama with the pilot, William Whisner, along with a mechanic discussing the maintenance to his mount "Moonbeam McSwine" I want to lower the flaps, which will require some surgery, so this is the start of that process.

Steve

Wow, what a gap. I know you will get it worked out. Looking good. Keep up the work.

Doug

Well, so far I have managed to get most of the fuselage and wing areas fixed and the gaps are filled, sanded and all that. I have removed all the round raised access panels and re-scribed them all back in and the look sooooooo much better. I went ahead and added some rivet detail to give the panels a little definition and that helped also.

Here is the next little nightmare I am facing on this kit. What a wonderful fit on this canopy. Ugh! Break out the Miliput and go to work. Once this is done and cleaned up she will be ready for primer. More pics soon.

modelcrazy

Ken,

I've added 2 more aces, but I guess I'm informing you on the wrong forum.

Anyway,

#2 1/24 Revell Fokker Dr1, the Red Barron with a figure from kit.

#3 1/32 Hasegawa P-51D, William Whisner with a generic 1/32 figure.

I've added the info on my original post on the Aces forum.

Steve

Steve - I have you updated. Sorry I didn't get to it yesterday. Life interferred with it

Ken

Thanks Ken.

Doug

I don't have any issues with posting either. I am running Windows 10 technical preview and it is really nice. You can get the preview, free from MS and it will give you the option of converting back to you old OS if you want to. It is a cross between Win 7 and 8.1. Best one they have had in years. Go here to read about it.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/preview-iso

If you have any understanding of computers you will have no issues installing this. It is worth it. It may help you with your posts. 

I don't seem to have any problems with 8.1 and my posts. I switch to the desktop, but I don't know if that makes any difference.

I know I had a "compatibility " issue with the website at first.