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

DantheMan85: Nice to see some paint!  I'm surprised it's darker than Tamiya XF-63,  I've struggled with that color in the past.  

I forgot to mention it earlier in your finished build pic's:  Your tracks seem very tight, I don't see any sag at all, can you still add a link or two? 

OK guys, here is an update on the P-40. I sprayed the light gray on the underbelly and the brown on the upper surfaces. Once this is dry I will use some Silly Putty to mask off for the green. The kit has gone together well.

That's very nice paintwork, Dan.  Very smooth finish.  

I've taken to thinning MM paint 50-50 with lacquer thinner for airbrushing.  Seems to be working better for me.

Modelcrazy: Your off to a great start on your P-40.

On Thursday I airbrushed model master enamel Panzer Schwarzgrau #2094 on the Panzer IV, this is really the first time I've used this color and it looks to be a bit darker than Tamiya's German Grey XF-63. Model master enamel paints tend to be thicker than other brands, so for airbrushing I mix the paint in a pallet with about four to five drops of enamel thinner. I've found that if you mix it in the airbrush, the paint that is nearest the front in the head area will not get thinned, so when you add thinner the first five to ten seconds of paint that comes out is thick.

Today I plan to airbrush Model Master Afrika Dunkelgrau '42 #2103, this is there DAK color. I'll be going for a 80 to 20 ratio of Afrika Dunkelgrau '42 over Panzer Schwarzgrau #2094.

That looks nice Steve. I belive this is one of the new Airfix kits, seems to be the odd one out from al the otehr new kits.

Sounds good, Steve.  Sometimes you just have to call a halt to the research, and to with what you've got.

Steve:

I haven't looked at the instruction sheet closely enough to figure out the Airfix-recommended paint, but this site:

http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2004/02/stuff_eng_interior_colours_us_part2.htm

says:

"The cockpit of the P-40 was Curtiss Cockpit Green, which was the Berry Brothers' (a local paint vendor) approximation of Interior Green. Reportedly it was a little browner than Interior Green."

What I've wondered about is whether this was close to RAF interior green, since the planes were pulled from a line originally slated for Britain.  Since exterior colors were supposed to be equivalents of RAF's Dark Earth, Dark Green and Sky, I've been questioning whether they specified the interior color be close to the RAF's version, too.

The Osprey book reports that interior panels and landing gear doors were zinc chromate yellow.

Research sometimes makes ya --maybe I'll just take a best guess and go ahead with it.

Check, 

Thanks for that informative reply. I'Lloyd go ahead and apply the decals as shown. 

As far as the interior, the instructions show a Humbrol color of flat yellow or something like that.  Airfix just showed the Humbrol color code and had to look it up (I don't have the instructions near me right now). I am using Testers interior yellow. 

Steve:

The blue "V" and the tiger were two distinct pieces of the decal and were applied separately.  The "V" was "seldom used," according to the author of Osprey's American Volunteer Group:  Colours and Markings (Terrill J. Clements), p. 78.

The color photos of "68" on pp. 62 and 64 show no "V."  That plane was assigned to Third Squadron Flight Leader Charles Older.

Plane "47," also assigned to Third Squadron (Robert T. Smith), carries both the "V" and the tiger.

The book makes the point that markings were inconsistent due to lack of time and in some cases material.  Even the shark's mouths show a lot of variation in design and execution between the squadrons and individual planes.

For the "Hell's Angels" figure, the book says that no two angels were alike, even the ones painted on both sides of the same aircraft. 

Airfix's painting and decaling instructions on the box back match up with the photos and color profile in Osprey's book--at least on the port side, so I think you're OK building it with the markings provided.

I'm looking forward to watching your progress.  It'll be a while before I can get around to mine.

By the way, have you run into any information about the color of the cockpit interior? There's a lot of information and speculation about what Dupont paints were used by Curtiss for the exterior, but I haven't found anything on the cockpit.  I don't know if Curtiss used their version of U.S. "interior green," or tried to match the RAF interior grey-green color.  If you find anything, I'd be very interested.

Thanks!

checkmateking02

Check references for the markings in 1941, though. The leaping tiger and blue "V for Victory" he's jumping out of didn't appear till March 1942. It was actually a self-adhesive decal (not water-slide), based on Disney-designed art and sent over to the AVG.  Osprey published a good book on the subject.

Hmm, Ok that's no problem. The question I have is the decal sheet's tiger is missing the V. Did they have a tiger without a V in 41 or were all tiger decals only supplied in 42?

Steve

Sharp build, Dan. Looking forward to see it dressed up in paint.

Modelcrazy: I've updated the front page. I'm planning on doing this up, too.

Am presently cleaning up parts. There's a lot of mold seam on the landing gear that's not very easy to get at. And the pitot tube is very fragile. I've broken one already and will have to replace it with some styrene rod. But the kit does look nice and accurate.

Check references for the markings in 1941, though. The leaping tiger and blue "V for Victory" he's jumping out of didn't appear till March 1942. It was actually a self-adhesive decal (not water-slide), based on Disney-designed art and sent over to the AVG.  Osprey published a good book on the subject.

Stick,
I’d like to change my entry to the 1/72 Airfix Curtiss hawk 81-A-2. It looks like a quick build and will be OOB.
Steve

Thanks Checkmate: the bottle of thinner did help but there was a small gap all the way around.

Thanks Bish: I think there is about five parts per suspension, on the Dragon kit. Looks like a great start to your Whirlwind, always think that add-on seat belts add to the aircraft. Some kits just have them molded on. Those bomb trolleys are looking sharp.

Finished assembly on my Panzer IV yesterday, this Dragon kit has a lot of parts but the detail is excellent. The instructions were not clear on the placement of the rear exhaust, but I was able to get it on. I had silly putty holding on the road wheels for the pictures, the return wheels would not stick so that is why they were not on. The idler wheel is placed in the forward position, and getting the DS tracks on is a tight fit. I plan to wash the Panzer IV down with soap and water, then get her primed up.

Thanks check.

Thanks Rob.

Well, this is only the second SH kit i have built, and thats a good question. After some thought, i would say Dragon and the slighlty older Revell kits. The one Plus of SH over these other two is the addition of resin and PE. But it does have more of a Limted run feel than the other two. The only location tabs were small ones for the wings and horizontal tails. But i have just fitted those and they go geotehr nice with a litle clean up and a touch of filler.

Airfix do one, but i think that dates from the 70's. SH also do a fighter version and one kit with civilian and prototype markings.

I really like where you are going with this Bish. Questions, i've never seen a Special Hobby kit, what other mainstream company would you rate the quality against? The Whirlwind has been a underappreciated plane that I'd love to build as part of my growing RAF collection. I'd like this kit, but, I'd like your review.

Well, whilewaiting for those figures to finish off the Arado, it was time to get started on the Whirlwind. Its been a lng time, about 15 years, since i built a WW2 British aircraft, so well overdue. And this is my 4th build in my long term project to build aircrfat from all the military airfields in Norfolk. I started on Thurs night and its gone pretty good so far.

This is the kit. I am growing to like Special Hobby kits. Some nice subjects and despite the lack of location tabs they go together well and have some nice detail.

The kit includes resin and PE.

I also have a set of resin wheels. This are flattened out and do have some raised detail. But at this scale you can't really see it and the kit has a nice pair of resin wheels anyway. So this were not really needed, but seeing as i have them, might as well use them.

So first, the pit. There was not much to put together before i set some paint down, the rest, mostly PE and resin, was painted on its frets.

After that a coat of black primer and painting useing Humbrols interiour green. The Xtracolur for this, my normal choice, has been out of stock for a while, somthing thats getting prety common with that brand, so i went for the Humbrol paint. The instruments were done with Humbrol flat black.

Also got the wings together, just a bit of cleaning up left to do.

And after painting last night, i was able to get a couple of bits of ground equipment together. These are Type B bomb trolleys from the Flightpath bomb train set. I'll also be ading a Flightpath tractor.

And in case your thinking didn't he just do a bomb loading dio on the Arado, you are correct. Pure coincidance.

And thats it for now. I am planning to get the pit in and fuselage together tonight. Once i have the wings on i can start sizing up for the base.

Bish

 

 

DantheMan85

 

Those are some sharp looking decals for your P-40 Checkmate.

 

Made some good progress on the Panzer IV, got the turret put together, upper and lower hulls glued. There's quite a lot of parts that go inside that are not visible, so I'll be leaving those off.

 

 

 

 

 

Some nice work there Dan, though i have to say there is somthign odd about your turret i just can't put my fingur on.

 

Isn't that the infamous Flak Panzer variant where they tried to put a Flak Tower on top in place of the turret?  It ran into some serious problems, as it was too tall to pass under most bridges... and too heavy to cross them.  I think it's top speed was something like 1 kph... downhill. 

DantheMan85

 

Those are some sharp looking decals for your P-40 Checkmate.

 

Made some good progress on the Panzer IV, got the turret put together, upper and lower hulls glued. There's quite a lot of parts that go inside that are not visible, so I'll be leaving those off.

 

 

Some nice work there Dan, though i have to say there is somthign odd about your turret i just can't put my fingur on.

checkmateking02

P-40's from Airfix and decals from KitsWorld arrived last week, for my revised project.

Decals look pretty much the same as their 1/32 set.

Then, I noticed that Sprue Brothers had the new Blenheim's in stock again, so I ordered one of those.  Going to try and include both in the '41 GB, if I don't run out of time.

 

Sound slike your on an Airfix spree, will look forwrad to those.

DantheMan85

 

Excellent work everyone, a few days ago started my Panzer IV. Will surly not be breaking any personal records with this Dragon Kit, the first step along has 131 parts.

 

 

You just got to love those Dragon suspensions.

Lots of sharp detail on this kit, Dan.  And I appreciate your method of weighting the parts down while the glue dries! 

Those are some sharp looking decals for your P-40 Checkmate.

Made some good progress on the Panzer IV, got the turret put together, upper and lower hulls glued. There's quite a lot of parts that go inside that are not visible, so I'll be leaving those off.

P-40's from Airfix and decals from KitsWorld arrived last week, for my revised project.

Decals look pretty much the same as their 1/32 set.

Then, I noticed that Sprue Brothers had the new Blenheim's in stock again, so I ordered one of those.  Going to try and include both in the '41 GB, if I don't run out of time.

You can say that again Checkmate, I'm gussing the finished model with have about 400 to 500 parts.