Floats and Boats: Amphibious Aircraft Group Build

Thanks scott.

WELL!!! At long last I have a post of my floater lol. After sevral years.... ok this was my shelfless queen. Feels great to get some progress done on her again. Got the greyed silver on and some color. Will try to shoot the floats tomorrow hopefully. Here's a couple pics anyways. The silver doesn't really show in the pics. Gotta touchup a couple overspray bits as well.

S34, NICE !! The colors on this kit will make it stand out for sure. It does feel good to make progress on kits that seem to lanquish at times. Definately watching this one come alive.

BK

Very colorful, did do some work on the PBM-5 glued top wing and stablizers some putty the  boring stuff no pics yet 

Hello GB gang, well, its been extremly hot today so I am in the old basement man cave and the following pictures are what I have accomplished.  My wife and friends have seen the project and they all agreed that I need Jake and Sara in the scene.  Jake was no problem, thanks to Verlinden, I was able to find the perfect figure in 1/48 for him.  Sara, well, there are no 1/48 petite brunettes in 1940 dresses in 1/48.  But a lot in 1/35.  So, what I did was get a 1/35 "childrens" set and used the face off a 1/35 nine year old, then take the torso off a 1/48 scale B-17 gunner and manipulated the sheepskin collar of the jacket into wide lapels common on dresses in the early 1940's.  Milliput up some hair, a flowing dress, and now experimenting with legs with a combination of toothpicks and Milliput.  I will warn you, this is my first forray into figures.

Here is Jake Cutter in the making.  His head and arms will be adjusted many times by the time I am finished.

Now Miss Sara, she is a challenge.  My Wife said she needed to look a little "pouty" and have here arms folded.  With luck I found a child with folded arms.  I sanded them down to look more feminine.

Here is the happy couple.  A lot left to do as far as refining the figures to scale and proportion.  I am just starting to position them.  Then the fun part of painting them begins.  This is my one of my first forrays into figures, so its been a major learning experience.  The project has been full of challenges and if it wasn't for my commitment to his GB, I wouldn't have never gotten this far, so I extend a great thanks for those who put on these Group Builds.  

Scottrc, you are far far far more ambitious that I am. I hate painting figures and making them turns my stomach just a pinch. Hats of to you for your stellar work on this dio. Amazing stuff.

BK

Thanks BK and Crown!! Shooting the Future on now. A bit of a process as I have to really give it a wet coat now, has a good base and starting to shine. The upper wing has to be done in stages as well because there is no where to hold it. Got the topside cleared now doing the bottom side. Was going to shoot the floats with the color specified Mr. Color 131. Assuming it was an enamel I got the low odor turps out and put some in the cup, then dropped the paint in.....and nothing. Was not mixing with the paint! Quickly grabbed the enamel thinner, that too did nothing. Quick teardown and clean of the AB done, I then regrouped my panic and did a lil more reading on this paint, IT'S A LAQUER!! So went to the local and got a small bottle of Mr. Color Levelling Thinner. WHEW!

Scott I'm loving what your doing with this build!!

S34,

Mr Color is my fave to use. Gives a semigloss finish and really lays down nice IF you use Mr color leveling thinner. Once you get the mixture figured out its wonderful to work with. Looking forward to seeing the results.

BK

scott, i do like what your doing there. I have only just got into basic figure alteration, so you have my admiration for diving right in to this.

BrandonK

S34,

Mr Color is my fave to use. Gives a semigloss finish and really lays down nice IF you use Mr color leveling thinner. Once you get the mixture figured out its wonderful to work with. Looking forward to seeing the results.

BK

 

BK you were not wrong mate!! This stuff lays down beautifully!!! hehehe helps when I have the right thinner Bit smelly but the ease of use makes up for it. Floats are painted.

Got the gloss on the Fuse and wings to a point that it's ready for decals after it cures overnight. Not much to see but a few pics anyways.

I've been frizzled and frazzled since I started decaling. First time ever I have had shattering. Probably won't be the last either as alot of my kits are old enough to drink . Luckily awhile back I had purchased some liquid decal film, which saved the remaining decals and they layed down beautifully. However I lost my fuse Hinomarus, so had to paint them on. A foot away you can't see a jagged edge but I'm happy with it considering what was avoided and then what happened. When I removed the Hino mask from the left side it tore off the forward bit of the black marking that overlapped the fuse band, so had to touch up paint it and then managed a decent save on the top wing decal damage as well. The stripes ont of the floats....well we won't go there as they will be painted. Just don't trust such a large decal over compound curves and laying down properly over detail. Here's a few pics.

What an amazing save on those decals!

S34

Things are looking great with your build. 

Solvaset has never let me down when applying stubborn thick decals over compound and difficult areas. That product is awesome.

Decal fracturing is a bummer specially when they look just fine on the paper. I have found that if you hold up the decal sheet at an angle to the light and continue to gently play with the angles, most of the time the fracturing can be seen on the decals. 

S34, nice work there and a great save on the delicate decals. Good call also on painting on some of the others. That is one area I am forceing myself to change my style and paint as many of the markers as I can and only decal what I must. I know it's more work, but I think the final results are far better looking overall.

BK

Thanks guys! Yeah it's really more of an annoyance than anything. The float stripes are done. Got a shot of the decals I avoided using. I mean when they actually print a split to conform to the curves, makes me a bit nervous lol. Couple of bleeds but nothing major. Here's a couple pics anyways. Slowly but surely licking this thing lol.

Oh-oh, look what showed up at my door!

https://flic.kr/p/KUvBiy][/url]Be-10-01 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/K8cwyb][/url]Be-10-08 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

Despite being from Amodel, I can confidently say that it is a remarkkably nice kit.  They do seem to get better with each new release.  And no fiberglass fuselage this time.    The Mach-2 Seamonster looks like dog poo compared to this!

I was surprised to read that the Soviets actually put a small number of this aircraft into service.  I can imagine the thirsty turbojet engines conferred poor range and loiter time, and the massive fuselage and small wings probably put a lot of stress on the structure during takeoff and landing.  Still, a fascinating subject and a promising looking model.

I've never seen that plane before. 

modelcrazy

I've never seen that plane before. 

I didn't either until this kit was announced.  Amodel also did a 1/144 scale version about a year ago.

The new 1/72 kit has two marking options:

https://flic.kr/p/L21ucQ][/url]Be-10-02 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/KUvxVG][/url]Be-10-03 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

The decals have that dreaded flat finish, but the kit comes with a small fret of PE detail bits and a die cut masking sheet for the clear parts.  Clear parts are reasonably clear.

https://flic.kr/p/L21qaS][/url]Be-10-04 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

RG, that's a very cool looking sea creature you got there. I really like the version with the red stripes but they are both darn cool. Looking forward to this one for sure.

BK

http://www.beriev.com/images/a40pic.jpg

Whoops forgot to add this

So, anyone working on their float planes?  I am still plugging along on painting my figures and trying to make them look somewhat proportionate to the rest of the diorama.  I never knew it would take so long with base coats, shading, washes, etc.  Then again, 1/48 is so dang small to get a figure to look somewhat human.

I should post some pics, but at present, I don't think I should show Sara with no makup on, Jack still needs a nose job, and I am procrastinating on painting the blood chit on the back of Jakes flight jacket.  

Cheers,

Scott

At the rate I've been builing this year I managed to complete one of my kits for this, but I've had to get going on another GB kit. I haven't been able to apply as much bench time this year as last and I've fallen behind. At this point I will most likely do this build again next year. I like that we see kits that don't normally get built.

BK

Well, I think I am finished with this project. It was such a challenge that I really cannot go much further.  Here it is........

I guess this can be the photo for the front.  I wanted to say I had a lot of fun with this project, and with this Group Build.  I tried new things and learned some new skills.

scottrc

I guess this can be the photo for the front.  I wanted to say I had a lot of fun with this project, and with this Group Build.  I tried new things and learned some new skills.

 

BK