80 Years of Airfix GB

Bish, I would like to submit the 1/600 MPC Prinz Eugen Heavy Cruiser for my next entry.  Unfortunately, it seems I just missed out on a golden opportunity to win a 1984 Corvette! 

After procrastinating for a while I finally finished up the putty, assembling and did some pre-shading on the Eagle. 

Mopar Madness

 

Man, I turned in a lot of those tokens for model kits.

Thanks BK, will get that one added.

Nice one Chad, i had not realised MPC had boxed this. I am hopeing to get some paint on my belfast soon.

You only just missed out, maybe next time.

Ed, thats looking much better after the putty clean up, nice work.

Ed, those were the days!  That Eagle is coming along.

Thanks guys, I cant waite to see what Airfix masterpiece gets completed next.

With glue drying on the Stuka and filler drying on the Crusader, I thought I’d start drilling portholes on the Eugen. 

The Crusader is ready for the paint booth. The kit is pretty crude by today’s standards but certainly easier to assemble than your typical 600 part count Dragon kit. Requires a little filling and sanding but I’m sure when it’s all painted everything will look fine.

Nice work on both of those Chad.

I sure do love the vampire. Nice detail painting on that pilot!

Let's see what happens here. USE.com, the photo hosting site I've been using is going off the air next month. All of the pictures I've posted in the past will now be blank. Oh well. I'm starting a new folder with my SmugMug account for my models. Let's see if the photo sharing works. I finally finished the Devastator. I think it looks really nice. There's a lot of detail crammed into this little bird. I guess the toughest part was masking the canopy! I bought the Techmod decal and mask set to mask the canopy and have some nice decals for the build. The decal set is made for the Valom Devastator kit. The canopy mask didn't fit this Airfix kit so I had to custom cut masking for the canopy. Tedious!

The model depicts a Devastator aboard the USS Wasp, March 1942. It was an enjoyable build. Not real fiddley. For as old as the kit is, it has nice detail. It's all painted with Model Master enamels, a light blue I lightened with a few drops of Insignia White on top and Light Gray on the underside. Pre-shading was done with flat black enamel. The kit instructions said to paint the torpedo warhead red. I've never seen a torpedo with a red warhead. The torpedoes I've seen from the period are bare metal or painted gray, I think, so that's what I did. There's still a couple of things I need to do like fashion a radio mast on the nose  and maybe a little exhaust stain on the fuselage but essentially it's done. Now onto the next build...

Excellent Frank.  I have never seen a red tipped torpedo either!

That, Frank, is fantastic result from such an old kit. Great work on the glasshouse and the finish is super.

Good stuff!

Thanks, y'all. I do have another partial kit. It's missing a wing piece. If I can find another kit to replace the wing piece, I'll build that one too, maybe pre-war with the wings folded. Masking that canopy though, whew! I still have enough of the Techmod decal set to do the pre-war Devastator.

Mmm, Marty Feldman eyes...

Very nice Devastator!

Nicely done frank, thats come out well. Thank you for shareing that.

Nice progress there Piers.

I've been neglecting this group build, things got so busy!

The Vampire is finished, builds up very well. I was torn between the trainer and the Swede versions, but don't have anything representing Sweden in my collection, so went with that. The only trouble I had was with the wing warning decal on the port side. It folded over and in my attempt to straighten it, the decal curled up into a little ball of clear film. I got it straightened out on placed without tearing it, but after it was dry realized I had put it on upside down. So it's more of a white color than the yellow. Oh well! A nice little kit, will have to do another some day. 

Very nice looking Vampire, and it is nice to see a Swedish aircraft.

Thanks for shareing, i'll get the front page updated.

I love the vampire in Swedish markings! I plan on doing one of these someday. I hope it looks as good as yours.

The TBD and Vampire look real nice, congrats to you both!

And, whammo, the 1/48 B-57B Canberra is done!  Well, not exactly.  The model was given a black color coat with Tamiya Flat Black, then a stencil was made for the USAF wing markings.  The Airfix USAF markings were much too large, and in my opinion so were the set from Superscale.  I should have also painted a white background for the stars and bars because the Airfix decals used for those markings were too translucent for the black.  Seems obvious in retrospect.  Several coats of Future followed, then Superscale MS481230 was used for the rest of the markings, and this set worked well.  Next the landing gear was attached, and at that point it was realized that 18 grams more nose weight was required.  A hole was drilled in the bottom of the nose cone and lead BB shot was added.  The model weighs a little over a pound when completed.   After that the flaps, bombs and hardpoints, speedbrakes, and various vents and antennae were added and a final coat of Future went on.  Because of its weight, size, and poor attaching methods particularly for the flaps and canopy, the model requires very careful handling.  The shape of the canopy is too shallow over the back cockpit so I chose to have it open to make that less obvious.  The panel lines are not accurate as to location, but that's all disguised by the shiny black paint, I hope!

 

John,

For some reason I cannot see your photos, not sure if I am the only one having the issue?

UP,

Your vampire is super. Looks attractive in Swedish markings. It is a great little kit, hopefully mine comes out half as well.

I didn't follow the instructions fully, waiting to put the intakes on once the wings are in place. And looking at the photo, I haven't put the ripcord on the seats although I did drill holes for just that......

What a beautiful gloss finish on that B-57!  How many coats of future did you lay down?

John, that looks amazing. I really like the scheme with the contrast between the black and the yellow. And thats a lovely shiny finish. Thank you for taking part.

Front page is updated guys. You lot are really keeping me on my toes, so again, if i am missing anything please let me know.

Thats coming together nicely Piers.

The builds on this thread are amazing. Thanks Bish for the great work administrating this GB, it's one of the best!

Joe

Lots of great work going on here. I gotta get back to the bench.