75th Anniversary of 1941 Group Build (World at War)

Ok guys, time to wrap this build up. Forst some pics of the finished thing before i added it to the base. The final touches was simply to add the canopy, propellers, cannon and wires. I also added a bomb under the right wing. Its a metal bomb and rather heavy, so it fell off a couple of times before i was finally ableto secure it.

And the finished ground vehicles.

I based the dio on some pics i found. In a couple of them the guys are useing a wooden carrier to move the bombs to the aircraft. So i made one from some balsa wood and gave it a brush with some oil paints.

Here is acouple of the pics i found.

And this is my take on it. I found some figures which were close to what i wnated and either altered them or fitted different arms than intended to get the pose i wanted.

Thanks all for your comments and a big thanks check for the chance to build this.

Now its time to a slight change of tac and build some armour.

Thanks check. Ye, they were not in service for long. And this only just makes 1941 as the first FB versions, converted form the original fighters, only appear at the end of that year.

A few Hawks never did receive the shark mouth, according to Osprey's AVG book, probably because they were in maintenance at the time, and there was no opportunity to add it later. Unfortunately, the fuselage number in the Airfix kit wasn't one of them.  There's a profile of Number 3 from First Pursuit Squadron in the book illustrating this.  Nope; it doesn't look right--but there's history for ya.

Bish:  great work on the Whirlwind; fine job with the assembly and painting.  It should make a really attractive diorama.  It's not something you see everyday.  Looked 'em up at wiki; didn't know that they went back to 1938.  Article says they were withdrawn from service in '43, but had equipped three RAF squadrons.

Always good to learn something new!

suomi:  nice progress with the Hurricane.  Looks like it's going to finish up very well.  It looks great with the decals in place.  

Thanks suomi. One of the past members on here got me onto those washes a few years back and i really like them. I find them easy to use and after a litle practice can give results from just a panel wash to a really dirty look. It can depend on whether you are adding them to a gloss or flat surface. On this one i added them to the gloss so it was easier to remove,

Really nice work on the Hurricane, that good to hear about the joins.

I can sure sympathize with the decal issues. My Ms.406 build was set back by tail number problems until I gave up and made a tiny mask and painted the dang things.

The Whirlwind is looking awesome! How do you like those Flory washes? Looks good from here. I have been experimenting with homemade ones and with "the detailer" and am still unsure. 

Love the color moderation on that armor, too. Looking forward to weathering. 

Buttoned the Hurricane up. Luckily the fit of all of this was VERY good. Almost no gaps left over, and there will not be much filling/sanding to do. 

Steve, coming on nice, i can see why you would have troubles with those decals. I hope you can find another shark mouth, would not look right without it.

DantheMan85

Thanks Checkmate.

Modelcrazy: Nice brown color on the top, the green camouflage looks great. Silly putty always comes in handy.

Thanks SMJmodeler: Yeah I was surprised so see the color darken up after drying.

Suomi39: Nice looking photo-etch, looking forward to your Hurricane build.

Bish: Camouflage looks great on the Whirlwind.

First color I airbrushed on my Panzer IV was Model Master Afrika Dunkelgrau '42 #2103, wanted to post shade with MM Sand #2053 but that turned out to be to light. So I mixed #2103 with Light Gray #1732, the result turned out to be just what I was looking for. The areas where the germen gray show's, I misted over them so that color doesn't stand out to much.

 

 

 

Thnaks dan, i like where your going with the IV.

Just a short update as i am almost at the end of this build. With the decals on, i use some flory wash top give a slightly grubby look, Tamiya XF-19 for some exhaust stains and a coat of clear matt.

The base got some grass added once the celluclay was dry.

And the ground equipment was painted and dry brushed and just needs a bit of wear and some dirt.

Just got a few bits to add, sort the figure sout, the fun part, and get it all on the base.

Hunter

Dang decals...I did that on my Zero build. Had to order a single sheet to replace the one decal I messed up while working on. 

Yeah, it happens to all of us regardless if you've been building for 1 month or 50 years.

modelcrazy

Thanks Check, I will take you up on that if Airfix doesn't respond. I emailed them and cried on their shoulder. 

The boo boo was my fault. I grabbed the nose to touch up the canopy and FUBARed them before they were dry. I noticed my error after they had dried and set.

 

Hello Steve -

Dang decals...I did that on my Zero build. Had to order a single sheet to replace the one decal I messed up while working on. 

Thanks Check, I will take you up on that if Airfix doesn't respond. I emailed them and cried on their shoulder. 

The boo boo was my fault. I grabbed the nose to touch up the canopy and FUBARed them before they were dry. I noticed my error after they had dried and set.

That is really impressive paint work, Dan.  I like the variations.

Looks sharp, Steve.  Sorry to hear about the shark mouth.  I wondered about it and the squadron stripe.  With the curves involved, decals can present a real headache.

If you want to PM me your address, I can send you a shark mouth from the Airfix kit--no charge.  I bought three of them, plus two Kits World decal sheets, so I have more than I need.

Thanks Checkmate.

Modelcrazy: Nice brown color on the top, the green camouflage looks great. Silly putty always comes in handy.

Thanks SMJmodeler: Yeah I was surprised so see the color darken up after drying.

Suomi39: Nice looking photo-etch, looking forward to your Hurricane build.

Bish: Camouflage looks great on the Whirlwind.

First color I airbrushed on my Panzer IV was Model Master Afrika Dunkelgrau '42 #2103, wanted to post shade with MM Sand #2053 but that turned out to be to light. So I mixed #2103 with Light Gray #1732, the result turned out to be just what I was looking for. The areas where the germen gray show's, I misted over them so that color doesn't stand out to much.

Bish

Coming on well there Steve. Any water in this one.

As much as I tried, I couldn't come up with a good reason to put water in it.

Check, I believe the reddish brown was MM Military Brown, the green I used was MM Interior Green and the grey was MM Light Ghost Grey. Everything seems to look fine on it no. The Military Brown and Interior Green just clashed. kinda like certin shades of red and blue do.

Coming on well there Steve. Any water in this one.

suomi39

I am ashamed to admit that I was totally ignorant of the Westland Whirlwind until I saw it in this post.  An hour of Wikipedia and internet reading later, I'm much better educated on the subject. Very interesting aircraft, if a bit "unbalanced" looking. But you gotta love a nose full of cannon.

Thats ok suomi, so was i. In fact, i am pretty clueless when it comes to most things RAF. I got the kit because i have a lng term project to build aircrfat from all 37 military airfields in the county of Norfolk, where i am from. I want as wide a range of posable. when i realised this kit had a Norfolk based option in the markings, and it was somthing a bit differant, i just had to add it to the project.

Some nice work there, and only lseing 2 or 3 PE parts is an achievment in itself.

Excellent work on the cockpit, suomi.  The detail work is looking great.

Know what you mean about scribing.  Turned and F4F-4 Wildcat into an F4F-3 a couple of years ago, by re-scribing the wings.  It was a challenge.

Still looks good, Steve.  With all the debate and controversy about the Dupont paint, I think your Tiger will turn out looking fine.

I finally settled on MM's Military Brown, Medium Green, and Aircraft Gray; but I'm still stuck on cleaning up the parts.

I am ashamed to admit that I was totally ignorant of the Westland Whirlwind until I saw it in this post.  An hour of Wikipedia and internet reading later, I'm much better educated on the subject. Very interesting aircraft, if a bit "unbalanced" looking. But you gotta love a nose full of cannon. 

Here's a small update on my Hurricane. I'll be posting a full WIP in the Aircraft forum as well.

Cockpit is basically done. Only lost 2 or 3 PE parts in the process.  Then painted the sidewalls (the Eduard cockpit green color didn't match) and used a toothpick to scrape the paint off the instruments/controls.  I had to modify the seat back/bulkhead to remove some extra armor. Glosscoat, black wash, flat coat, dots of future on the instrument faces, then a brown dirt pastel dusting. 

Sprayed a gray guide coat on the filled and rescribed wing panels, and found some clean up was needed. Scribing lines is hard -- use a straightedge! Re-did these but forgot to take pics. 

Then cemented the wings together. Fit is not all that great, sadly -- and very much depends on how you assemble the landing gear bays. Should clean up pretty well though.

Thnaks check.

That's a slick, streamlined aircraft, Bish.  Nice work on the camouflage, too.  Very eye-catching!

A bit overdue, but here is my next update. Got the bulk of the construction done, only needed a little filling and sanding.

And then time to get some paint on. Underside was done in Med Sea Grey. On top, dark green and then mixed grey. I did some reading up and found this last colour was an interim colour which later became Ocean Grey. So i mixed 7 parts Med Sea Grey with 1 part night black.

Also got started on the base. I sandwiche a piece of chip board between some 5mm plywood and 6.. MDF.

The balsa surround was added, then staine and varnished.

And i have just added the Celluclay. This has now been brought in to dry.

And next up, my favorite part, adding the decals.

Steve

Good looking paintwork on the Flying Tiger, Steve.  Looks like you achieved a close match to the color on the box back.

Welcome to the GB, suomi!  Glad to have you with us.  Nice to see a Hurricane here.  I've got a couple in the stash, but haven't started any yet.  

Thanks for the detailed photos of your progress!

Hey all, too late to join the party? Really interesting subjects here. I'll be watching those armor builds especially as that's an area I've yet to dip into. 

I've just started a Hurricane build that'll be done up as Finnish Hurricane MkI HC456 in August 1941, just after the start of Barbarossa, but early enough that it still had Hawker factory paint on it. 

I'm using Airfix's A01010 MkI 1:72 kit, and adding details from the Eduard 73501 set (will not be using landing flaps as they were not parked with flaps down). This is my first time using photo etch.

There is a known issue with this kit -- there should be metal panels in front of and behind the wing MG bays for crew access. Pic below shows the fabric texture in those areas. A pretty big flaw in an otherwise really nicely-tooled kit. So some filling and sanding and scribing is in order right off the bat. 

There is lots of fun detail on this kit, and cool 3D shaded instructions. Here are the gear bays, before PE parts or paint. 

More pics soon, as I've made a little more progress.