Looks good to me Greg. I tried to do some detailing on my Tempest but the cockpit hole is so small you can barely see anything down in there. 

I'd better move forward with my Tiffy or I'm bound to miss the April 1 finish:

I started with more of the fiddly PE bits inside but found them to interfere with the cockpit cage, so no more more of that. Time to see if the fuselage halves will go together with the cage installed. 

I'd so far found Eduard PE cockpits to be fairly trouble-free, not so much with this one. Though I did enjoy all the cage detail which nobody will ever see.

Please excuse pic. I'm lazy.

Happy New Year everyone.

Thanks guys.  That's what interested me about the plane, it showed what was coming up with the Hurricane.  I found pics online of the still flying planes and used them for the details.

That is a lovely looking Hawker Fury Steve, well done. You can see the later lines of the Hurricane in it cant you? We are lucky over here in the UK that a preserved example is at Duxford and flies at airshows.

 

Nice-looking two-winged bird, Steve.

Well done.

Wow, really nice work there Steve!

 

And Happy New Years to everyone!

Nice looking buld there Steve, i like the finish on it. Fills in the gap between the wars nicely.

Thanks for joining the group, got you posted on the front page.

 

I finally finished my Hawker Fury.  Turned out pretty good.

Painted, waiting for everything to dry.

Done!

It's a nice represenation of what happened between the wars. 

Nice progress Mark, look forward to seeing more next year.

ANd happy new year to you and yours and all the great chaps here.

Hello all,

Thanks Gamera, Well this will be my last post of 2017, with 2018 only 5 and a half hours away. I have managed to get a few hours in today on the Spitfire. I have attached the cannons, gunsight, opened both radiator vents and the armour plate behind the cockpit.

I also primed the area behind the cockpit sprayed it Alclad Aircraft Aluminium and hand painted the canopy brace and head armour Humbrol Gunmetal.Tomorrow I will wash the model down affix the windscreen and canopy and prime.

Thats it for now, Id like to wish all this GB a very Happy and Healthy New Year. Till next time, thanks for looking in!

Mark: She's looking pretty darn close to perfect. That NM finish is going to look fantastic!

The Spit will look neat in NMF. Easy to forget how long Spitfires were in front line service - the last marks barely got a try-out during the war. Great design. Let's see: that's a 1/72z: so is the Sunderland. I could get a 1/72 Spit and tie underneath the Sunderland - self-contained fighter escort. There was precedent I think. As I recall the USN experimented with the idea of carrying a very small fighter on a rigid airship in the 30s. Went though the same drill with the B-36 after the war.

I interviewed some flying boat crews years back - including  RAAF Air Vice Marshall William Garing who started the war piloting a Sunderland. The men liked them - the PBY was petite compared to the Sunderland but was plenty big. They could stay up so long and were designed for pretty low altitude work so the men didn't face the brutal cold found on a B-17. Guys almost talked about them as though they were boats.  Flight engineers could get very accurate readings on their engines - useful for mega flights. They had a galley; and during the long lulls crewmen could walk around, read books, play chess or poker. 12 hour missions were common and they could be longer. Kind of like home. Unless the war intruded, then there was risk galore. It was a huge risk to land in swells to pick up downed pilots (our PBYs saved over 500 airmen - mostly in the Solomons.) It was common enough for a plane to get down and then have to wait several hours for the weather to moderate and allow a take-off. And PBYs were used regularly in the "Slot" at night where they flew very low. Sunderland's had early radar, the PBY wasn't fitted until later. Sunderlands sunk about 20 Uboats: the far more numerous PBYs were credited with 40 so they must have had radar at some time. So a recon Catalina could fly right into a IJN ship formation at maybe 2,000 feet: that woke people up.  Add the Catalina to the long list of US airplanes named by the Brits: we were happy with PBY, English like Catalina.

Eric

Hello everyone,

Just a quick progress update on the build of the Eduard Spitfire XVI. Ive had a free day today so I got the elevators on, and the second radiator together, plus the chin air intake section. One of the radiators and the join in the bottom cowling needed a little filler, but nothing much.

Next was the extra filling on top of the cowling to even out the join that shows,  as the real thing had a fixed one piece fit. I aslo sanded any cement spills with varying grades of Micro Mesh prior to when I have to prime the whole kit. As this is going to be overall High Speed Silver every little mark will show (gulp!).

I also took the opportunity to prime the wheels and seperate hubs, prop, spinner and back plate. Tomorrow I will fit the hatch door closed, add the PE wheel springs and add the cannons and mask the canopy and windscreen.

Thats it for now and thanks for looking.

G, i have only had to do those yellow leading edges once, on the Whirlwind. It is a bit trickier than German wing tip's.

So, thats most war movies then.

Mark, i didn't realise Alclad did that. I used Xtracolours on the wheel bays on my Canberra. I'll have to grab a bottle of the Alclad. Thanks for the heads up.

I didn't know the Blenheim was from Duxford, in fact i thought that was CGI. I just looked it up and realised its only been flying a couple of years, probably why i didn't see last time i was at Duxford. Will have to see if i can catch it.

Hey thanks guys! 

Eric: Very cool, one thing I've never built is a giant seaplane. Love that kit! 

And yeah, I'm a little surprised Airfix hasn't announced a new 1/48th Tempest since 75% of the parts would be the same for a Typhoon- basically two new kits to sale with almost the same molds. 

The only 1/48th Tempest I know of is the Eduard kit I'm building. It's old and probably not that easy to find anymore. Decent kit but Spartan, I should have added a resin Typhoon cockpit but not much can be seen inside so I skipped it. The exterior is decent but not that detailed either. 

Lewbud: Cool, love to see the Whirlwind built too! 

Bish: Yeah, those #$@%%@ yellow leading edges... Funny two of my favorite subjects- the RAF and Japanese  both have them.... 

'Dunkirk' was a pretty fine movie, haven't picked it up on Blu-Ray or DVD yet just because I like movies where the Allies win better.  

Eric, fantastic progress on the Sunderland, I would love to build one but i just dont have the room to store it! The "Flying Porcupine" is a real favourite of mine and I am always impressed by the size of it when I look at the survivors at Duxford and Hendon. My late father had a soft spot for them as well, even though he remembered having to unload them during the Berlin Airlift on Lake Havel.

Bish, thanks mate, Im going to do it a mixture of Alclad High Speed Silver and Airframe Aluminium/Polished Aluminium on selected panels, hopefully! I also treated myself to the Dunkirk BluRay having been to the cinema to see it, great to see the Duxford Spitfires and Blenhiem doing the RAF proud. 

Lewbud, enjoy the Airfix Typhoon mate, it is a beauty. I have one in my stash and am looking forward to doing it.

Good, really looking forwardto seeing that. And that Whirlwind sound like a nice idea, i am sure it would have found itself in that role if it had stayed in service.

Hopefully yes, its release date has been pushed back a couple of times, not sure what the issue is. But from what i gather its meant to be released at the end of next week.

Bish

Got it added lewbud. I can't remember if you mentioned it, are you still doing the Sabre?

 

I am.  I also have plans to do a what if using the ancient Airfix Westland Whirlwind as a night fighter.  I may take a break afterwards.  I've already started thinking of builds for the Commonwealth GB.  Maybe by the time you get to the FAA build, the new Airfix Phantom will be on this side of the pond.

Got it added lewbud. I can't remember if you mentioned it, are you still doing the Sabre?

Mark, 

The Spit is looking good.  I'll have to find me a silver one someday.

Gamera,

I'm liking the Tempest.  Looking forward to seeing it done.

Eric,

There's something about a big lumbering flying boat.  I got to go aboard Kermit Weeks' Sunderland at his museum many moons ago.  By then it had been converted to civilian use and was supposedly the last airworthy four engined flying boat. Got to admit, it was something even in civilian trim. Weeks has one heck of a collection, I hope he reopens his doors for the entire collection soon. I thought I had pics of it on my Fotki page, but apparently I never got around to uploading them. I've still got them, it's just that the computer they're on had it's motherboard die and I've yet to have them recovered.  

Bish,

Put me down for the new tool Airfix 1/72 Typhoon Ib.

Eric, that is a big looking aircraft, looking forwardto seeing thiscome together.

I got Dunkrik asa pressie as well.I had seen it at the cinema and so the family knew that i was planning on buying it.

G, that is really well done, nice work getting that yellow leading edge.

Thats fine by me Mark, will be interesting to see that in silver. WhatAlclad are you useing for this, youcan get High Speed silver in enamel at least.

Santa brought me a DVD of Dunkirk. I've cobbled together a pretty neat 5.1 system (my left/right speakers have 18" woofers) and was rattling the walls watching it. Very good flick in my view. I've spent a lot of time thinking about WWII and I still can't think of an ad hoc military operation in history conducted with the skill and elan of Dynamo: one miracle that was a miracle. And came as Halifax and others in the British War Cabinet was talking seriously of asking Italy to arrange peace talks with Hitler. We'll never know if Churchill would have stood the pressure if Gort had surrendered the BEF on May 28 - as seemed almost certain. (I've heard the Gary Oldman Churchill flick "Darkest Hour" is based on exactly this time frame as explored brilliantly by John Lukacs in "Five Days in London. Well worth watching if so.) A whole civilization dodged an ugly bullet then. Salut RAF/RN and Winston Churchill.

It will be a nice build when done Gamera because you know what you're doing. But still. why fight it? It's hard to figure model companies. The bread and butter for the hobby for fifty years has been major WWII fighters and German tanks. I don't think it's possible to offer more German tanks, but there are odd gaps in the WWII fighter market. Because the RAF followed continental doctrine and sacrificed range for performance, it sat on the sidelines while the fighters and bombers of US 8th AF fought the biggest sustained air war in history over Germany in 1944. (The RAF did bring all of their magnificent planes over to the continent after Falaise and were there to make life interesting for German fighters - especially jets - after about September 44. The great late model Spits were doing hourly patrol over almost every field in northwest Germany making landing and take-off risky.) But the Brits did come up with the splendid Typhoon and Tempests - arguably the best solution for a top-notch fighter/fighter bomber. (Jug fans might disagree.) Yet, unless I've missed something badly, there isn't a high quality kit of either the Typhoon or Tempest. Add those planes to the "who's going to make a good P-38" list. (Seriously guys: if Tamiya announced a new tool P-38L in 1/48, don't you think it would sell? I'd pay $70 without a thought. I bet the 1/32 scale fans would pay $150.) Eric

 

Holidays were very good and my wife and I came down with nasty colds for penance. Anyway, I haven't done as much as I should on the Sunderland. Best get moving because this will be a project and the real world is going to interfere shortly.

 

As noted earlier, this kit is large. It's clumsy just moving around the sprues. This is my first Italeri kit and so far it's pretty good. And it's not Tamiya. (The one problem of doing Tamiya models is that you become accustomed to smart engineering and good fit. Spoiled I guess, but I don't quite understand why other companies can't get closer than they do. I've heard new tool Airfix compared with new tool Italeri - I hope that's not the case because I have five of them.) For instance, parts are not placed on the sprues with any definite order. In a three part assembly, the parts might come from three different sprues. (The sprue map provided is very helpful - it's hardly necessary with Tamiya.)

 

The sprue gates are often much too large. Last Xmas I bought myself a pair of "God's Hand" sprue nippers. They're very delicate and I try to use them only when needed, but the smooth cut given is exceptional and is very handy when a bad cut could give you a damaged part - especially a clear part. (For most uses my Tamiya nippers are just fine. They're very well made double bladed cutters. God's Hand and competitors like Gundam Planet and DISPAE ST-A have only one thin cutting blade - the second one is thicker and much less sharp and serves to hold the plastic. If both blades cut, they push the plastic together - usually no problem - unless it is. The single blade type greatly lessens this squeezing of the plastic. Phil Flory has a fine review of the DISPAE ST-A cutters and you can see the idea in action. A luxery, but worth it to me. Very handy when a model ship is in front of me.)

 

The interior is just fine. In one area Italeri appears to have done very well. The rear turret can be applied at the end of the build - very good news because the mg barrel has "wreck me" written all over it. It appears that it will fit very well. The front turret can be recessed a good distance for the plane to be in "anchored mode." This also can be done later and is well fitted. (From what I can tell from pics, the front turret is always retracted unless the plane is in flight. That way crewmen can move around the front end of this very big plane.) If luck holds, I'll have a water base and a little cord will come out of the bow attached to an unseen anchor. It may still end up on a kind of trolly. We'll see.

 

docked2 by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

 

So it's possible that a little of the interior will be seen - but as usual, not much. The parts provided are more than adequate for me. I am very pleased with my color for RAF interior green.

 

interior by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

 

If the front turret was assembled deployed there would be no reason for any interior beyond the cockpit. Instead for reasons I can't understand, there's a "sort of" interior. A walkway leads to the side guns where it is barely visible. Beyond that, I don't think you could see anything inside even made a complex diorama of groundcrew readying the plane. And because this kit is not Tamiya, the pieces are just a little too wide. I junked everything below the walkway, but didn't quite trim things enough for a perfect fit. (I'm not sure that was going to happen regardless.) But some acrylic putty will do the job I think. Here's the fuselage before and after assembly. (There's a Com.Art black wash to dirty things up.)

 

kit3 by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

 

fuselage by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

 

For assembly I'm following a very useful online quick build. The Sunderland has lots of windows - dozens of them. The quick build recommends using Micro Klear. I found the clear parts went in easily and used them. They do look better than Klear windows and they don't leave residue which Klear most certainly can.

 

That means I'll have to mask all of the windows. And mask a lot of other things. In my experience Eduard canopy masks have never been perfect, but on a kit like this, with a lot of glass, I'm glad I've got some. Indeed, that's what I'm doing now. Masking. Masking aircraft clear parts reminds me why people like armor modeling.

 

More later.

 

Eric

 

 

 

 

 

She's looking great so far! And love the natural metal, I've done plenty of Spits but none of the unpainted variety so far.

Hello all,

Well post Crimbo festivities, and attendance of the British traditional Christmas institution that is the pantomine, with our grandaughter, I got a little bit more done of the excellent Eduard Spitfire XVI.

The fuselage, apart from the nose air intake has been assembled.

There was a notable gap on the two piece cowling, but I think that was my fault more than the build of the kit, and I have filled that with putty, and smoothed it, but I may have to keep adding to it. There was a very slight gap on the rear stabilisers and I have filled them as well.

I have had a change of heart on the markings of this Spit, so sorry Bish, it wont now be the Bentwaters based Spit as I cant confirm the markings that were on the decal sheet from Hannants. So as a Londoner, I have gone for a kite based at North Weald with 601 (City of London) Squadron. Its in High Speed Silver, and as Ive never done a silver spit before, the Alclad will come out the box!

 

 I have made a start on the 3 piece underwing radiators by painting the interiors Airframe Aluminium. I have also previously painted the wheel wells RAF Interior Green and added a Flory Dark wash.Tomorrow will be clean up and adding the elevators and chin air intake. Will post again then.

Thanks for looking.

Hey thanks Mark!

BTW: Fixed the leakage on nose and streaked the plane, then peeled off the rest of the mask. Pleasantly surprised no leakage or overspray and only one issue. Somehow when I masked off the yellow leading edges I left the portside about a mm wider on the wingtip then the centre of the wing when it should get narrower toward the tip instead. There's a slight ridge there from the mask that I'll have to carefully sand and then remask and cut down the leading edge a tiny bit. Overall I'm thrilled that's all I have to deal with.