Bomber GB ' 18 - '19

Done and dusted....eventually

It represents a F1AZ of the South African Air Force lalt Angolan war scheme, note there are no national insignea.

Italeri 1/48 F1 Az by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Italeri 1/48 F1 Az by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Italeri 1/48 F1 Az by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Italeri 1/48 F1 Az by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Italeri 1/48 F1 Az by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Theuns

This model has been fighting me all the way and I am now just beating it into submition so I can enjoy another build 

 

The decals also were delayed in the post for months, when they got here they were the wrong size so I had to make another plan. Lucky that the SAAF at this stage of the bush war flew with almost no markings on the planes and those few that were on were heavly "ghosted"

IMG_20181109_151341 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

IMG_20181109_151326 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Theuns

I went to my local shop to see if they had any correct decals available for my SAAF F-1 az, none so I will have to scrounge  in my decals spares to see what I can come up with.

Luky for me I have pix of the F-1

s of the same Sqn (in the same pic) one with insignea and one without....so it looks like I have some room to maneuver LOL

I need to get this model dome now, it has fallen off the shelf already breaking off the nose and other bits so I am pushing my luck with it not securely stored away....

Theuns

Looks good there AA.

Well, she is just about done.  I just need to do some custom-made decals in Photoshop and print them ( wanted to try my hand at making my own decals), apply those for a custom nose-art design, then an overall spray of Dull cote, and it will be done.  Pretty happy with how it has turned out, so far:  

https://pin.it/56z2dhtiejcmma

https://pin.it/bf2t3l7jxk3pne

I must say that I have also made that very same mistake once...I was not impressed with myself!

Theuns

So, work continues on the B-25G, as I narrowly averted a catastrophe.  In the previous post I showed a picture of the lead weights in the nose.  Well, in a major brain fart moment, instead of using something safe to attach those weights (like CA glue or epoxy putty, etc.), I absent-mindedly just used regular model glue, and a lot of it!  Of course it started to melt the styrene, until the nose was heavily deformed!  In this first picture you can see a tiny bit of the deformed nose (the other side also had a LOT of damage, and more was done before the glue finally cured).

https://pin.it/25uwvhpepfs44z

At that point I had two options: either use a lot of putty to try to reshape the nose and sand it smooth, which is no easy feat; or, as another fellow modeler suggested, just take a Dremel to it and call it flak damage!  This seemed to be the easier route to go, plus I liked the idea of adding some battle damage:

https://pin.it/eof7y6am2siqts

https://pin.it/nmln2g3aerhnk6

It’s not perfect, and I’m still not done with it yet, but I’m liking it!

Progress so far on the B-25G by Italeri, 1/72 scale:

Finishing the cockpit:

https://pin.it/f2gzbqqedqa7mx

Joining the fuselage halves:

https://pin.it/xxx32udpg7sht3

Weighting the nose (with split shot lead fishing weights):

https://pin.it/lsnx3hokeof6sm

Attaching the wings.  using the aircraft jig, the wings bowed outward too much, so weighting them down with a tin of paint on each wingtip brought them back into proper alignment:  

https://pin.it/bdp2idnragkxrb

Look forward to seeing that PJ, and as Theuns said, still plenty of time to go.

Theuns your Panther came out looking great. I also fold up the wings when possible to save shelf space and it has a different look anyway. I love the look of those early jets. For a sencond there it looked somewhat like Harry Brubaker's 209'ner Panther from "The Bridges at Toko Ri". But that's just me I guess cause every time I see a Panther I think of that movie. Some years back as a younger police officer I worked for a sergeant who served on the Oriskany while the movie was being filmed and got to meet some of the actors. He was quite a colorful old timer but sadly passed away about 4 years ago.

Theuns and Bish, I signed up for this GB a while back but have been slammed with comissions but I see the light at the end of the tunnel so I will be starting on my Thud soon. I also wanted to take a break from planes for a while and switch over to my other stash with armor subjects just for a change of flavor.

Very nice there Theuns, i can see what you mean about the folded wings.

My camera works quite well, but I lent it to my father for his trip to Europe.

Sorry to hear that, I also bought a dud camera from someone so have to use my phone now :-{

There is stil alot of time left for the GB so hopefully its not a total loss.Hope you get your camera sorted :)

Theuns

My camera is LOA for the next month, so I will not be building for the site as I can not show my work.

I must say I am glad this model is completed and off the table :-)

IMG_20180929_085955 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

IMG_20180929_090032 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

IMG_20180929_090100 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

IMG_20180929_090125 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

With the wings up it kinda looks like an Imperial Shuttle ;-)

Theuns

Oh no, that is bad luck. Glad you can fix it though.

I have been working on my F9f and will put the final toutches on this weekend, atleast 1 of my projects for this GB will get done lol

Theuns

An update on my build:

I finished construction and am working on filling. I took a few weeks off to finish up some other projects, but when I took to 25 of the shelf, it took a nose-dive 6 feet and landed in several pieces. I can repair it, but it will take awhile.

I use Flikr, works great

Register an acc. Then if you want to upload click on the little cloud icon upper RH side, choose the pix from your hard drive and upload.

Then if you want to post go to "you" next to Flikr icon top LH. go to "photostream" and your album will appear.

Then click on a pic you want to upload , it will give you a little arrow icon in the bottom RH corner, click it and the pic code "share it to" page comes up.

click on the top long code , it will go blue and then simply right click to grab it, click on "copy" and then go to FSM and right click where you want to paste.

when your done close the page and go back to the main pix page.

Hope it helps

Theuns

So I’m finally getting around to adding the progress on the British Royal Air Force (RAF) Mosquito. It appears I didn’t have the proper colors for the RAF, so I used the German colors from the previously completed JU-88 bomber I finished couple weeks back. (Pics added for comaprison) Maybe I should have used Luftwaffe markings instead of RAF for the 'Skeeter...maybe a good 'what-if" concept.

I did collect the letter from the PO yesterday, needless to say it was open so someone must have thought there was money in it, its a common thing for some staff to "help themselves" to money sent via the PO.

The decals were there....only hassle it that it is 1/72 and not the 1/48 I ordered .

Theuns

Theuns

I sent an email to the sa post office to hear where my letter with tracking # was that was mailed abour 4 months ago and after waiting 4 weeks for a reply I was told they are at my local post office....so lets hope they are actually still there.

Then I can complete the F-1 

 

Theuns

 

Lets hope you can finally get your hands on them Theuns.

That's ridiculous Theuns, how disheartening.

I sent an email to the sa post office to hear where my letter with tracking # was that was mailed abour 4 months ago and after waiting 4 weeks for a reply I was told they are at my local post office....so lets hope they are actually still there.

Then I can complete the F-1 

Theuns

Hi George.

I have learned that sometimes the "feeling of impending doom" that something might go wrong must be listened to. If the problem on the model is small and does not detract from the model's good looks I have found to just live with it and walk away.

Toe remove a glued on canopy could maybe crack ,then you eed a replacelant :-(

Just my own 2c imput.

Theuns

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the feedback! I am still debating if I am going to do anything or not. If so, my plan is to completely strip the paint off the center canopy and start over. I don’t feel that I can do it that carefully in sections since I treated the canopy originally with future and think that will just make matters more complicated compared to the full strip and start over. There is also the feeling of dread that something else might go wrong so that is where I am right now. I have a new set of canopy masks arriving today so will have to make my mind up soon. 

Thanks!

George

I like your Stuka George, it's very good. If you hadn't called out the issue you had with the masking residue, I wouldn't have noticed. if you are going to attempt cleaning it up some more, test it first so that you don't upset the Vallejo acrylic accidentally.

Cheers

Tony

George, i agree on the marking, i find myself more look at putting together my own schemes of aircraft i see in books. I have both of the Airfix 72nd 87B kits and i don't plan on useing the kit decals for either of those.

Front page updated.

Thanks Bish! I appreciate the feedback! I struggled with this kit overall but I do like how it found a way to look nice in the end. I also am always on the lookout to find markings that are not part of the Kit usually since I feel those have already been done by others. My wife actually gave me some input on that since I trust her artistic judgement as well.

Thanks again!

George

Thanks Theuns! I appreciate the feedback. I also usually use enamels but decided to use Vallejo acrylics this time. Combining that with the future treatment on the canopy, I felt that I did not want to risk trying to clean individual frames do to pot paint damage and having to start over anyway. Still debating what to do if anything. I enjoyed being a part of this build. Thanks again!

George