Battle of the Coral Sea Group Build 4 May, 2017 - 8 May, 2018

Thanks guys. Stik your build will be interesting to follow.

Ok, I’ve chosen this kit for my entry into this GB. Monogram’s Classic F4F (actually closest to a FM-1) that I will be enhancing and backdating into a F4F-3 using these Medallion Models sets. I will be marking it off USS Yorktown at Coral Sea.

That is one super job on this classic kit. 

I really dig the torpedo setup.  

More impressive work, pj.  Outstanding!

Small update on Kate. Got her prop painted and striped.

Finally got that long telephone pole strapped to the bottom! I also made the small glass window using clear parts cement.

Another view

Added some wear on the heavy foot traffic areas

The greenhouse is next and she's about done.

Scott:  no audits, I hope!

I'll go over to Midway and take care of things.

Check,

I just noticed this AM I put the Akagi in the wrong GB.  OPPS!

I was multi-tasking yesterday morning between working on my taxes and adding updates to GB's.  Hmm, better go recheck what I did on my taxes!

I'm adding it to the Midway GB.

Thanks check. Kate is slowly getting close to completion.

That's a great looking torpedo, pj; nice metallic finish.  Pretty creative use of the fibre discovery.  You never know what you're going to find in the junk drawer!

stikpusher

PJ, that looks very sharp! 

 

Thanks stik

PJ, that looks very sharp! 

A quick Kate update....... Attached the Torpedo racks. I need to make a glass for the bottom window. Nichimo failed to include the glass in the kit.

Found the perfect material for the fish sling, a thin braided cotton/poly line found in my junk drawer. Colored it steel with Alclad paint. Wrapped it around at the top with a drop of thin ca which will go into the tiny hole in the fuselage and bingo!

Next will be thinning and painting the contra rotating props and then arming up Kate.

Great work, Scott!  Great accomplishment, well-done!  Very lifelike and realistic!

Do you have a preference for the finished build photo?

Scott:  just noticed that Akagi is signed up in the Midway GB, not Coral Sea.

Thanks check. Wow the Akagi is just awesome Scott!

The Akagi is complete.

Nice work all around; especially good looking wheel wells!

Thanks again check!

Looks like Kate has her legs on and some light wear on the wing walkways and the blue/black nose area.

Getting ready the torpedo mounting points.

The torpedo got some Alclad dark aluminum and had the fins thinned down using a sanding stick.

Nice job all around, pj.  And painting frames by hand!  

Back to work on lady Kate. She got some Flory dark grime wash over Future and when dry was wiped off leaving traces of the wash in the recessed areas. A coat of MM flat clear acrylic was sprayed and when dry did a dot weathering job starting on the wings.

Using a wide brush with a tiny bit of thinner the oil paint is streaked and blended. Most is removed leaving subtle streaks and fading.

The effect is noticeable to the human eye more than the camera can capture. The rest of the plane will get the dot technique along with minor chipping here and there.

The vac formed canopy was a bit of a challenge to mask having VERY faint frame lines. I had to mask the horizontal sections and paint by hand the frames.

tape removed

and finally all the frames done, some were painted freehand.

More to come...

Thanks Check and scott!

Scott get the Hasegawa Kate if you can, much better detailed in the pit than the old Nichimo.

Yes the color is very interesting and pleasing o the eye. Quite different than the solid green and grey squeme.

PJ, this color scheme looks like it will be a fun one for me to try.  I am planning a Kate and a Val someday.  

Excellent work, pj.  That is a fine-looking aircraft; very pleasing colors!

Thanks check.

All righty then, Miss Kate has her makeup on. I put 5 drops of MM Dark Sea Gloss and 4 drops pf MM Flat Black enamel in my paint cup and about 12 drops of thinner for the black/blue nose. It looks black in the picture but to the human eye there is a hint of blue in there.

Kate then received about 3 hand brushed coats of Future 10 to 15 minutes apart in prep for decals and washes.

I brushed several coats of Superfilm liquid to make sure the decals would not fracture upon separation from the paper. It takes over 10 minutes for the water to release these decals from 1972!

The Ameiro color is very attractive. Notice the colorful Aotake shade in the gear wells.

My biggest concern were the tail letters and numbers fracturing. I made a photocopy just in case I had to cut out my own masks for them but the decals held together thanks to Superfilm. Not many decals on this one , just what you see here.

Next will be more Future to protect the decals, some washes and then clear flat acrylic followed by some filters and dot weathering for tonal changes.

Forgot about masking and painting the canopy that has a ton of small panels.

That is one sharp looking aircraft, pj.  You're doing a great job with it!

Thanks scott!

 A lot of nice mods and airbrushing work PJ.  

I saw a 1/32 ZM shinden at the Nats back in 2012 and it was an awesome detailed model. It looked so futuristic.

I finally was able to get the mottling done on Miss Kate yesterday evening. I used Tamiya IJN Green thinned with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner and it sprayed just like my enamels thru my xtra fine Badger ab tip so I'm very pleased with it. I was gonna use my MM enamel paint but it dried up inside the bottle.

The Ameiro changes tone and looks greenish grey once the overspray goes on.

I couldn't find a date anywhere on the Nichimo print so I did some web surfing and the kit was realeased in 1971. The decals looked ok but I figured being 47 years old something bad was gonna happen once the decal saw water. I cut out the Japanese lettering at the bottom of the sheet and dipped it water and kaboom, it desintegrated into a bizillion bits.  My next option was to attempt to save the old decals so I brushed some Superfilm on them. This product is a life saver cause it kept them together and is very thin even after 3 brush applications. I always gloss up the model prior to any decal application but I had polished out the paint getting a semi matt smooth finish and decided to add the hinomarus at this time to make sure the decals were ok.

Next step will be to spray the black/blue nose and then to gloss up the model for the rest of the decals and washes and more weathering.

Here is a picture of the Superfilm bottle and the Colorcoats Ameiro paint tin.

I used my UMM razor saw to cut the kit canopy to open up the pit but it's way too thick not allowing proper placement of the opened sections. I had the Squadron Vac formed canopy handy so I used silly putty as a filler inside the canopy to support it and sliced the sections with the UMM saw and trimmed out the rest. This vac formed canopy is very thin and will allow the canopy sections to slide over the others. This will be a hair puller trying to mask that long greenhouse.

The top one is the kit's thick canopy and the bottom one is the vac formed canopy.

Thanks check!

Got some paint on miss Kate today. I used Tamiya metallic blue and added a few drops of Tamiya clear green and aluminum to fine tune the Aotake color. I read that Aotake shades can range from blue to green. For those not familiar with Aotake please read this:  http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2010/02/aotake-part-one.html

I sprayed the entire Kate with Colourcoats ACJ17 Nakajima Amber Grey. This is a really cool looking caramel color. I read that Kates were sprayed with this Ameiro color by Nakajima and then the greens were applied in the field by the air groups.

Masking removed from the wells shows the groovy Aotake color.

As I cleaned the ab and was about to switch to my xtra fine detail Badger for some green mottling I noticed something wasn't right.

My Badger air hose that I bought at Orange Blossom Hobbies in Miami back in the mid 1970's finally gave out after 43 years of off and on use. The fitting came loose and came off with no way to keep it in that fitting.

Thank God for Hobby Town a few miles from my house! They had a new hose for $18 so off I went and got it along with more MM enamel paints. By the time I got home it was a bit late so to be continued tomorrow.

A good day's work, pj!  Outstanding details on all the dials/instruments!