Bomber GB ' 18 - '19

I have decided to add this late entry to keep the GB going ;-)

Airfix 1/72 Swordfish, this time not the torpedo bomber but used in the role of a bomber during the invasion of north Africa by the allies.

It is a nicely detailed little kit, just the fit of the bottom fuselageto the two top halves didnt work for me.

I painted the inside of the fuse to look like the inside of the red doped linnen

IMG_20190215_113324 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Cockpit is good for this size aerie

IMG_20190215_114023 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

IMG_20190215_114041 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Fuse wrangked into place and after filling abd sanding primed.

IMG_20190221_114411 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Bottom was painted HU 90 Sky (not very obvious in this pic)

IMG_20190224_092146 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Basic camo on

IMG_20190225_161639 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Next I had "fun" with EZ line rigging LOL

IMG_20190226_082938 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

IMG_20190226_083049 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

I have brushed on 3 coats of humbrol clear gloss to prep for decals, hope they are as good as other new airfix stuff....stay tuned

Theuns

Looking good Theuns.

Work on the 188 slowed down a bt for a couple of reasons, but i hope to have a new update soon.

Very nice cable work!  

I had forgotten that I still had planes on my to do list for this build that I haven't finished.   here's a pic of the B-58 getting some Alclad on!

John

I managed a little work on the A-7 the other night.

Good work lads.

Theuns

Latest on the He-111, man body paint work is done...

Got some white on the A-7.  I think I'll have to get some more white on there as it isnt covering well.

Some nice work there guys.

I just love the wing plan  of the 111 ;-)

Nice job Theuns, really like the look of that. Must admit i did a double take when i saw the US markings. Then when i read it, it made sense.

Front page updated.

Excellent job Theuns!

Theuns, magnificent!

Finally the sanding and filling sessions were concluded, not because the result reached perfection, but because I got tired.

WHole kit was airbrushed with a custom made ligh ghost gray and then dark green squiggles and patches were 'field' applied, as per available photos.

Also the tiny bits were also assembled and painted  (props, bombs, bay doors, etc).

Nice job on that scheme Zvezda.

Theuns that turned out really cool! Loved watching it come together.

Zvezda those hand done squiggles are the bomb! They look pretty random which personally I think it hard to do.

Thanx

I can just imagine the "order" that went to the paintshop on that russian bomber read "go crazy" with the lines LOL

Theuns

Well, after several months of laying dormant, I decided to go ahead and finish the Italeri B-25 with stock decals.  I was going to make some homemade custom printed decals, but lost my m_o_j_o, and with the kit sitting idle for this long, needed to finish it up.  So the B-25 is now DONE!  Here's the final reveal:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7f/22/e8/7f22e8b1bd20d47f7eb0cfbb933270f9.jpg

Oops, forgot to peel the mask off the side windows!  Here is the FINAL final reveal:

Nice job on that AA, good to see it finished. Got the front page up dated.

Thanks, Bish.  Also made some progress on my Heinkel 111 over the weekend, may not get it done by the deadine, but it wil be close:

Thats a nice looking Mitchell you built there, I like the staining 

Theuns

-- Theuns: "Go crazy or go to Siberia". Then all the spray-guns went berzerk

-- AA: Very nice job on one of my favorite and most beautiful aircraft. Very nice weathering stains indeed, the sharkmouth is veeery cool and maybe I cannot make it out clearly in the photos, but this O.D camo would be even better with some extra fading. You inspired me to build a 48 kit I have in stash ASAP (but with some naked lady sunbathing on the nose art)

Yesterday was decals and clear parts time for the small Tupolev.

Kit decals were few and good to apply, after a thin coat of Gunze gloss clear.

The little round windows and the nose triangular ones, were made with Humbrol clearfix. Impossible to make the bigger ones, so I had to use the kit clear rectangulars, trim and fit them with the assembly and painting already completed (that was a challenge)

Masking of canopy, windshield and nose was done with the (invaluable) assistance of Eduard. After test fit (good), they were painted and will be installed at the end.

The time has come for this build to be proclaimed as completed.

After all the remaining bits were assembled (landing gear, clear parts, bombs, doors, propellers, machine guns, etc), I spayed a thin coat of clear flat (Gunze acrylic).

As I was drilling the tiny hole for the pitot tube on the leading edge, the drill bit broke, so it was condemned to serve as the pitot tube itself. Looks better than the thick kit part.

Dry pastels were applied for exhaust stains and some earth-tone dusting of the lower surfaces.

And finished...

Markings are for a machine stationed in Mongolia, in 1940.

The ICM kit was tough for my skills and in retrospect I would have done some things differently, but the whole procedure was a good modelling education.

I also learnt some things about a plane that was designed as a champion of its era, but changing and turbulent times caught up, it was soon outdated and eventually most of its kind were wiped out in the Luftwaffe shooting gallery of operation Barbarossa

I wish to congratulate and thank all fellow bomber crews for their magnificent builds and the inspiration they provided me with.

Finally, a big, 4.000 Lbs thanks to the hosts and commanders of this motley bomber squadron, Theuns and Bish.

Really nicely finished build. Awsome job on the camo, i admire anyone who can pull that off. I keep putting off doing a similar scheme on German aircraft.

Front page updated, thanks for taking part.

You did a good job on that ICM kit, sometimes little "lssues" like a broken drill bit in the LE works in our favour and looks better than a kit part ;-)

Well done 

Theuns

Can't believe its been over 3 weeks snce i posted an update. My modelling slowed to a crawl for a couple of weeks but its picking up again now. And i did have a couple of issues with the build. So here what i have got done.

I got the main construction finsihed off. I did have one issue, with the forward part of the canopy. The fuselage was slightly wider than the clear piece. So i used some white glue as normal and clamped the fuselage and left for 24 hours. But as soon as i released the clamps it popped back open. So i repeated but this time useing super glue. I know thats normally a no no on clear parts, but i have found its ok as long as its not a colpletly sealed clear piece. As the rear of the canopy was off it was not a problem, and this time it held.

I made a tarp to fill the hole in the front gun position and some wiring for the upper panel.

Then after masking, some primer and paint. I started on the top with the RLM 70 and 71.

Then after masking with white tac, some RLM 79.

I'll leave it to dry for another day then mask and paint the black underside.

Working on the engines for the He-111...

Nice progress guys :-)

Theuns

Cheers Theuns. Got the black undersides done last night so will be starting on the decals tonight.