Battle of Midway Group Build, 3 June, 2017 - 7 June, 2018

GMorrison

Be careful with tape on Alclad. It can go south quickly.

 

Be careful with tape on Alclad. It can go south quickly.

I decided to go Alclad White Aluminum for the silver. After spraying the Alclad black primer and silver, I remembered I wanted to paint the DARK blue cowl and red tail. Oops, oh well, I'll mask of the cowl and tail and respray the silver once everything is dry.

Welcome to the GB, jj.  I've updated the build roster with your Avenger.  Glad to have you join us.

Scott - looking good, beginning to look like a carrier.

MC - beginning to look like a Kate.

Jug - having seen both the 'Cat and an Avenger side by side at Erickson's, yours is going to be a monster.  The Big ED kit will really set her off.

Getting the 'Cat's interior green painted later today.

I will be building Trumpeter's 1/32 Avenger with the Eduard Big Ed Set. I will be starting as soons I have finished 1 other project.

That is a big parts count, Scott; good for a few hours entertainment at least.

Impressive photo showing the three ships side by side.   

That'll be a great looking plane, Steve.  Very colorful!

goldhammer

Yeah, she is 272mm long and 360mm wingspan.  Almost going to have to break out my old automotive 1qt. paint gun.

The 10 klutzes most call fingers don't play well with anything much smaller.

 

This kit is nice.  The hull is fitted up and ready to glue.  I have it along with my other two builds I have going on to see what the Akagi looked like in size as compared to the other two American classes.  Its with the Lexington and Enterprise.  

stikpusher

The red tail was for Fuchidas aircraft, as strike commander. The three yellow stripes denote command status. The IJNAF had a system of stripes on the tail to denote various leader positions. The fuselage bands denote the carrier division by color and number of bands.

 

Stick knows his stuff. I defer to him on Japanese expertise. I did learn that the tail is red instead of my original erroneous orange thinking. I also found out that the tail number AI is for the Akagi, AII for the Kaga, EI for the Shokaku, EII the Zuikaku etc.

I'm thinking I want to paint the Hinomarus but I need to find the correct color, this would also match the tail color.

Bish, that is what I was thinking regarding the non-chipped markings. Since from what I understand their main problem was the primer, or lack of it, they probably touched it up. The stripe isn't fairing as well so that's probably the ticket.

I have read somewhere that the Naval aircraft had exceptionally good paint so extensive chipping like this was rare, at least at the start of the war. The Army aircraft had the horrible paint and chipping issues due to field applications and again, lack of or poor quality primer. The source could have been incorrect though.

Hello all, I'm New to the forums here.  I have been wanting to build Midway aircraft for several years now.  I just got my GWH TBD-1 Devastator.  I also purchased the Edward aftermarket kit.

I am sure you will doa cracking job on it GH. And thank you for the compliment.

Looking it over, pretty well detailed engine for a plastic kit.  Will get started on the interior in a couple of days.  Got VA appts. today on an AO claim.

MC - Will be waiting on the paint job you do on Katie..I know I'll learn something.

Scott - Don't know how you guys do 1/700 ships.  Got an Enterprise in that scale I started and never got back to.  Looks daunting.

Thanks Bish, hope I can approach some of your standards in build and finish.

goldhammer

Here is the project in all it's boxed and un-boxed glory, along with the goodies.  I will be doing the companion F4F-3 at the same time in another thread in the aircraft section.

The -4 will have Montex masks for the canopy, Eduard PE for the office, and Starfighter decals to represent Thatch's ride from VF-3, Yorktown.  Will mount on a carrier deck base (still in transit).

The -3 will be strictly OOB, and will get a paint scheme that I have never heard of, let alone see any reference to.  That will be the surprise as that build continues on the other thread, as this is the last mention of the -3.

Pics of both boxes, the sprues of the -4 (only major differences are the guns and folding wings), and the extra goodies.

Happy (at least for now) to be a part of this GB, my thanks to CK02 for hosting.  Was 75 years ago, and the turning point.  Good that it is not forgotten.

 

This should be an interesting one and going to have tow atch the WiP thread as well to see how the other one comes on.

scottrc

I started on the Akagi this weekend.  There sure are a lot of parts. 

 

Does look like a lot of kit for the scale you got there Scott. Will be nice to see a Hase ship kit being built.

I started on the Akagi this weekend.  There sure are a lot of parts. 

Steve,

Looking forward to seeing this paint scheme as well, she is coming along very nicely.

Damian

Thanks Stik, its a bit confuseing until you know the basics. That makes perfect sense.

The red tail was for Fuchidas aircraft, as strike commander. The three yellow stripes denote command status. The IJNAF had a system of stripes on the tail to denote various leader positions. The fuselage bands denote the carrier division by color and number of bands.

I like the scheme your going for Steve. Were the coloured tails particular to a Squadron or were they carried by all on the ship. I would imagine the Hinomarusare either painted with a harder wearing paint or more likely touched up regually.

And you can deffinetly see why you want to use the Airfix weapon.

Thanks Bish and Check.

Bish, as you know Airfix is doing a great job with their new kits.

I assembled the fuselage, wings, stabilizers and filled the gaps. The gaps wern't too bad and I filled them with Mr. Dissolved Putty. Once Dry, I'll use 600 grit whetted with denatured alcohol. The alcohol helps thin the putty and aid in smoothing the seams

Here is the Hase gun on the right compared to the Airfix gun

I'm also going to use the Airfix canopy that wasn't used on my earler build. The Hase one does not show the gunner's canopy in  the open position.

I don't think I mentioned it, but I will bepainting and marking this build as AI-301. There are some pictures of it landing on the Akagi during a mission in May 1943. I will try to copy the chipping pattern as best I can.

There appears to be massive chipping except for the Hinomarus. This is reflected on the painting chart. The paint on the port wing looks to be almost completly removed.

The tail is also orange.



Steve

Yeah, she is 272mm long and 360mm wingspan.  Almost going to have to break out my old automotive 1qt. paint gun.

The 10 klutzes most call fingers don't play well with anything much smaller.

Looks great, goldhammer!  In 1/32,even a small aircraft is going to be pretty big.  Looking forward to seeing this!

Here is the project in all it's boxed and un-boxed glory, along with the goodies.  I will be doing the companion F4F-3 at the same time in another thread in the aircraft section.

The -4 will have Montex masks for the canopy, Eduard PE for the office, and Starfighter decals to represent Thatch's ride from VF-3, Yorktown.  Will mount on a carrier deck base (still in transit).

The -3 will be strictly OOB, and will get a paint scheme that I have never heard of, let alone see any reference to.  That will be the surprise as that build continues on the other thread, as this is the last mention of the -3.

Pics of both boxes, the sprues of the -4 (only major differences are the guns and folding wings), and the extra goodies.

Happy (at least for now) to be a part of this GB, my thanks to CK02 for hosting.  Was 75 years ago, and the turning point.  Good that it is not forgotten.

Looking good already, Steve. 

Nice to see you started Steve. That says somthing when your useing left over Airfix parts on a hase kit. There was a time that was purely the other way round.

Yep, the -4 came yesterday along with the pit PE.  Only thing left in transit is the carrier deck base.  Will get some pics up of the kit come Monday or Tues.