80 Years of Airfix GB

Howdy Bish.  With your permission, I’d like to enter the 1/48 Ju87 R2/B2 to the GB. I’ve been looking for a good excuse to build this one for a while now.

Hello friends. I am calling this one done. I think the first photo would be most appropriate for the front page. 

Frank, you have a masking adventure ahead of you!

A progress report on the TBD-1: The engine is installed and the cowling and exhaust stubs are attached. Since this will depict a torpedo bomber the torpedo rack is installed. I dipped the canopy in Pledge and glued it together before attaching the canopy to the fuselage. There are some places that will need filler between the canopy and the fuselage. The gunner's position is left open. I've done my best to preserve the rivet detail. The appearance really lends itself to the look of early WWII. I have to wait another week for the Techmod decals and paint mask to get here before I can go any further. Masking the canopy will be an interesting exercise because the panels are so small.

Thanks, Mopar. Unfortunately, the second Devastator kit is incomplete. I knew when I picked up the broken box I might be short some parts. I need to visit my friend again to see if he has another kit in his inventory. If I can find another complete kit, that one will be done in a pre-war Navy scheme.

Frank, I used Stynylrez from Badger.   It’s an acrylic that goes on super smooth.  I sure do like those Devastators! 

Mopar, what did you prime the Spitfire with? Enamel or Acrylic? I want to see how you do the topside camouflage.

An update on one of the TBD-1 Devastators I'm doing. I'm impressed with how much detail Airfix has crammed into this little airplane kit. The finished airplane is going to be Spring 1942, before Midway. The interior is painted with MM Interior Green enamel, detailed with Tamiya black panel line accent.

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I opted to pose the wings extended. First I glued the upper wing pieces together then attached the lower pieces. Any gaps where the wing folds are will be filled with PPP so I won't need to sand the ribbed surface.

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All in all, this is a pretty simple build but I think the finished kit will look pretty neat.

Thanks guys!  Needless to say, this simple Spitfire has been a therapeutic little build. Primers on and she’s ready to be rolled into the paint shop.

Very nice there Chad.

Oh wow Chad, those are going to look great. Really excercise your skills.

The Bluetits are coming along.  I refined the beaks by sharpening them a bit and hollowing out the nasal cavity for a little more detail. The beaks didn’t quite fit the birds so I had to do a little drilling to get them seated in properly. Next I will use my Proxxon rotary tool to define the feathers that were lost in sanding. After that I should be ready to seat the legs and start painting. 

I used the one mask supplied with the decals on the prewar Devastator in the picture. On the midwar bird I used conventional masking tape method. The vinyl masks were so much easier and gave me better results.

Thanks, Tomcat, for the info. Since you built two Devastators, were you able to reuse the paint mask or did you buy two decal sets?

Those canopy paint masks alone make the techmode decals worth the cost. I used them for two Devastators I built and the masks worked great...

Just now ordered a set of Techmod decals for the Devastators. The sheet includes seven different airplanes, six from 1942 and one from 1938. The set includes a paint mask for the canopy! The paint mask itself should help me do the job right.

Done.

Bish, I know this isnt the most exciting entry but I need something shake and bake to get the juices flowing again. I’m entering the 1/72 Spitfire Mk Ia.

Surprisingly they did. I was worried about that and i dialed the pressure down a bit and it turned out ok.

Did those antennas hold up well to the primer coat? 

Short update on the belfast. I got the construction done and ready for paint. Quite pleased with how its turning out. That PE is damned tricky though, and got to be very careful of those radars at the top of the masts, very fragile.

The rear upper decaks i was able to leave off.

Its since had a coat of primer and is now in the shed ready for painting. But i have changed my mind about that. Going to get the colorcoats paint, they have all the colours i need apart form the hull red, so just waiting for it to come into stock.

Just done a head count, we have 36 completions in less than 31 weeks. Good going guys.

Yes, now i remember. Sorry frank, i'll get onto that. You guys don't make it easy to keep up when your finishing kits at this rate. Makes for a great GB though.

OK, done.

Yeah, Bish, I finished the Mustang a month ago.

68, frank got you added.

frank, have i missed your P-51 build or are you still working on that?

Chad, real sorry to hear about the S.6, was looking forward to seeing that.

MPC did box Airfix kits and visa versa. I have the MPC boxing of the Airfix Ju 52 and over here the MPC speeder Bike was sold under the Airfix label. This was when Airfix was owned by General Mill's who also owned MPC.

That’s a couple nice additions Frank.  I think MPC was the US distributor of Airfix kits in the late 70’s early 80’s.

Sorry about the S6-B, Mopar. Sometimes a build just doesn' work out and the remnants end up in the recycle bin. Hope you find something else. Me? After finishing the F-80, I just couldn't think of anything else for the group buiild. Just nothing inspired me. Our "build day" today was at a club member's office. He sells models online. Upstairs is his stockroom full of kits of all kinds and in all scales. I went upstairs before the build started and I was rummaging through a large box of unsorted 1/72 scale kits and this caught my eye:

The box is broken and the parts are loose in the box but I'm going to make it work. Before I went back downstairs I saw this:

So, I have two Devastator kits! Both kits are complete. Gonna build them both. One pre-war U.S. Navy and the other Torpedo 8 at Midway. So Bish, I'm back in the game.

Nice, i'll get the F-15 added 68.

Bish, I have this 1/72 F-15E I was going to try and build as a F-15A.  Just looking for the clear parts.

I can envision it in my mind GH, and it looks great!

Got the fuselage glued up on the Mustang, along with half of the wing.  Had to get a couple of clear colors for the recognition lights in the bottom of the port side.  After that dries will give them a coat of silver from the back and get the rest of the wing done.

Now that I have a new camera, progress pics next week.....After the forum gets back up.