Monogram Mafia IV Group Build

SB

I built this a couple of years ago for the Do-335 GB.  Yours looks great! I see the familiar white filler pieces. Had to do the same on my kit plus some putty work. Otherwise it's a good looking plane when done. Keep up the good work!!

For enough CB, besides, the photos that did most recently post look great. A real beauty!

SB, that Dornier is taking shape nicely now. Makes me want to build one... 

Well all the striping in done on the P-47 (you know, fuselage stripes, wing strips, tail stripes...) . Only things let to paint is the wheel wells. Don't think I'll be posing any more progress pics until it's all done. Must stay on target...

She looks like an airplane now, although I needed some filler here and there.

Ok youse guys. Maybe youse thought I wuz sleep'n with duh fishes? Well I wuzn't. Here is a progress update. Got doze fuz-lahz stripy things done and work'n on plum'n the fule tank.

Congrats on getting those cars together GM. Shoulda done a Diorama with one of those, sitting abondoned on the causway, poor Polly slumped over the wheel.

On a serious note, I suck at cars as well. Working on my 1st one now-AMT chevy impala ss '67... I think... It's a nice break from military stuff though..alll those pretty paints I get to choose from (good by olive drab)!

cbaltrin

Welcome back SB. Looks like you will be getting lots of bench time in the near future.Just enjoy it while you can. 

 

Yea, what Stik said!

Welcome back SB!

Bill, that is a nice pair of cars. You did them up right. Thanks for being a part of this GB.

Ill work on getting them onto the front page in the next bit when I’m home and can access my laptop. The site works terrible for editing posts with Apple mobile devices... but my words about that to the powers that be here get no reply.

The Sherman is looking really good. We need clearer pictures though. 

And, we are done. I need to build more car kits; not very good at it.

AMT Studebaker Avanti. The theme here was for "High Design" cars, and I'm a big fan of Raymond Loewy. The kit has a lot of promise, building up as stock, custom or salt racer. I went stock as I like the round headlights better than the square ones. I looked at a bunch of these 63's online, as well as some fansites. The exterior is "Avanti Gold", the interior is "Fawn" and "Elk".

Fit gave me trouble. I ended up chopping off the oil pan and trannie to get the hood to sort of fit. 

The Monogram Lincoln Futura. This is a great kit, although it's curbside and has maybe ten parts. But I had a lot of fun with the painting and that big Dubble Bubble. The interior is pretty zootie too.

Thank you Don for another fun GB.

MK, The Screamin MiMi. Great choice in Monogram kits. I remember building that years ago but not as good as yours.

Welcome back SB. Looks like you will be getting lots of bench time in the near future.Just enjoy it while you can. 

I've finally made enough progress to post some pics.  I first put down paint on January 12, and then my odyssey in the hospital began.  But, I'm off from work for the next three months so I should be able to make up for that lost month. 

The first pic is the cockpit and the second is the radar operator's station.  There might be some sloppy paintwork, one of the side effects of the meds they have me on is causing my hands to shake.  I think I caught all the slip ups, but if you see something let me know and I'll get it fixed.  Once the glue sets I'll get them in the fuselage.

I see the photos just fine and you did a great job

Well I thought I had the new photo hosting sight figured out. Back to the drawing board.

MK, none of your photos are showing up for me here.

Well gentleman, I have not posted anything for over a month now. So here is an update. I changed from the Paddy Wagon to the M-4 Screaming MiMi. I asked if it was OK and I did not see anyone say no so I switched, anyway here is the progress

This build went pretty fast. The only issue I had was with the rocket tubes, that is attaching them to the turret. I ended up having to cement the main gun in position because the rocket launcher kept depressing the barrel.

Decals were next and they went without a problem.

Then I began the weathering. This is one area that I feel I need to work on.

During the process of weathering I used rubbing alcohol to thin the craft paint I use. That is a big mistake if you use future for the gloss coat. The alcohol attacked the future and caused the future to cloud up. You can see a little bit of this on one of the rocket tubes. I used a large flat brush and applied a thin coat of future and the cloudiness went away.

I went to the spares box and found some goodies I thought would look good on the front of the tank. The plank is a popsicle stick cut to size and distressed.

The kit came with three figures. I modifed one to occupy the left hatch, he is the one that had the M-1 carbine. To me he looked goofy in that pose so I figured he would look better in the tank.

Here it is completed. I just realized that I did not muddy up the entire track. I will go back and do that and add that picture. Over all this kit was fun and easy. 

VF-41 was off USS Ranger. VF-42 was on USS Yorktown until after Coral Sea, where they were replaced by VF-3. And some pilots such as McCuskey were reassigned for the upcoming battle. 

His story is told in more detail in the book “No Higher Honor”. It tells the story of USS Yorktown from December 7th until her sinking at Midway six months later on June 7th. An excellent  read.

VF-42 Ranger. Yes, even by early 1942 squadrons got moved around. Sounds like the destroyer that rescued him was the USS Hamman, sunk with Yorktown at Midway.

GM, the conversion sets I have are both old, from the early days of AM. One set is the early non folding wings for the -3. The other set addresses all of the kits true shortcomings: spartan cockpit, engine molded into the cowl front, and the wheel wells. That set includes white metal gear struts, engine, prop, and in resin comes with the cockpit details, firewall and engine mount, new cowling & wheels, and the underwing oil cooler scoops. I have the Three Guys Replicas Fit’s Team Wildcats decal sheet which has markings for McCusky, Thatch, O’Hare, and a couple of others. 

McCuskey is an interesting subject: originally flying with VF-42 off of USS Yorktown, his first kill was a share of a flying boat snooper. He later had to ditch off Guadalcanal during the Tulagi strike just before Coral Sea due to fuel exhaustion on that raid. He was rescued by a destroyer and returned to the Yorktown. He then got his next kill on the main day of Coral Sea flying escort and recovered on Lexington, where that aircraft went down with her. He was then assigned to VF-3 for Midway, where he made ace flying CAP during the Japanese strikes on Yorktown. After Midway he was one of the Navy’s leading aces with 6.5 kills.

I finished the Avanti last night but I’m not happy with it. All the innards won’t fit right in the body and the front end looks jacked up.

Messing with that and stuff like the exhausts and the rear bumper started breaking off so I put it aside. Going to finish after work tonight.

Maybe it’s my memory or this kit, but I don’t remember AMT being like this. Between the poor fit, the poor instructions and some poor part castings, not a kit for kids.

I love that Cobra. I didn’t know Monogram made 1/43. Always liked that scale.

Stik I would like to know more about your project. I had forgotten about Elbert  McCuskey, fun to look him up.

Do you have a decal sheet? An F4F-3 in VF-5 would be Coral Sea, right?

Wiki says he landed on Lexington and was evacuated when she sank.

GMorrison

Cool!

Butch O’Hare?

 

Scott McCuskey. He flew off Yorktown at Coral Sea and Midway, becoming an ace at Midway. O’Hare flew off of Lexington and I believe that he was already stateside by the time of Coral Sea.

Cool!

Butch O’Hare?

Tony, your Cobra is gorgeous! Beautiful work! I’ll get it up on page one shortly.

GM, my workbench is usually around the same level of chaos....

CB, respirators?!  We don’t need no stinking respirators!!!

And here is my entry #2 for the family. The Classic 1/48 Wildcat. Which I will be using some Medallion Models sets for the engine, cockpit, landing gear/wheel wells, and non folding -3 wings. 

Wow, Eveyone's work is looking great.  My Respirator went MIA for like 7 days (yea, I have kids). Now that I found it I can get back to work...

Tony, people who model in organized fashion are my goal, As for me, there's an Avanti in here somewhere...

4

48 hours to finish.

"Hey Mikey, you ever cook meatballs?"

Nice looking Cobra!

Thats looking good 68.

I've got my first 'job' done. Monogram Ultimates 1/43 289 Cobra.

539 FIS F-106 is ready for some paint to see if the body work is where it needs to be.  I've seen the orange flight suites mixed with green ones but since the 539 was an early squadron it gets the orange.

That’s looking very sleek and beautiful there Tony. Very nice!