Thank you everyone for your encouraging comments!

I am going to go ahead and call this one done. The markings on this vehicle represent one that had relatively little use compared to others so weathering was kept to a minimum.  I think the first picture would be most appropriate for the front page. Bish, thank you for hosting another wonderful group build!

Really like the look of this vehicle, great model like to do one of these myself. 

WOW, our first completion, and what a beauty. Thanks Chad, will get that posted up. Think i am going to have to add one of those to the wish list.

And she's done.  Had a few issues but overall it looks the part.  The truss is way out of scale but ends up looking like a Sioux

A little better pic (with the rest of the parts...)

And then tehre was 2. Nice job John, she came out well. Thank you. Front page is updated.

Chad and John, really great finishes on your respective builds.

regards,

Jack

Nice looking Sioux John, you made good time with what looked like a very intricate model. 

I take a day and a half off for travel and look what happens!

Nice work, guys, great looking models.

Chad: Whoa!!! That's beautiful! Love the shading and the slight dust without too much! Love her!

Keavdog: Wow!!! Beautiful work there too! All the delicate parts in the tail spar and the skids came out perfect!!!

Here are a few pix og my revell/aurora cammel. The moldongs are quite chunky and lack detail. The rib detail however was way overdone so I sanded it down a little.

IMG_20200120_081546 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

IMG_20200127_071311 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

To try simulate the clear doped linnen on the bottom I first sprayed the bottom with tamiy tan and then masked toe tapes.

Then mixed some hu 93 into some of the tan to give it a little more dark tone.

The effect works well I think.

IMG_20200127_102052 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

IMG_20200127_115959 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

This is all paint practice for my WNW SE5 I will still do oneday LOL

Theuns

Looks nice Theuns, i think you have pulled that effect off nicely.

Theuns: Yeah, that looks good!!

Wings are looking much better, Theuns.

Got the decals on the Horsa,  Now I have to start putting on all those little bits that will get broken off right away.

Wow John! Looks like you can see the finish line.

Chad, your Saladin  looks excellent! That came out perfect.

John, the H-13/AH.1 is a beauty as well!

John, I can’t wait to see that Horsa finished. 

Chad and John, you both built some mighty fine looking kits. And fast too. Well done!!

BK

That looks great Jeaton- so close- almost there! 

Loving that with the decals on John, can't be far from done.

I think it's done.  I didn't put all the antennas on it that Italeri called for as I couldn't find any pictures of operational Horsas that had any more than the pitot mast and venturi on top.  Hope you can see the tiny venturi, I'm real proud I got it on there.  You'll also have to look pretty close to see the two wires that hold up the ramp, but they are there and reasonably tight.  I drilled some holes and bent some fine wire to attach the ramp to the fuselage.  The rudder counterbalance is .032 wire with a drop of white glue on the end.  I put the aileron mass balances on opposite to the instructions.  No where in nature or aviation will you find an aileron that needs additional aft weight, you need it forward to prevent flutter.

I don't think I mentioned much about the decal process, but the out of 3 sets of Italeri and or Testors decals, I was able use the tail markings and the lower wing roundels.  Everything else on every sheet literally shredded to slivers when it loosened from the paper.  So the upper roundels are from the spares bin and the side roundels I made with a laser printer, as I had already painted on white backgrounds there because of the black undercoat.  I also made the serial numbers and ended up with some silvering there.  Way under the tail and only seen in the proper light which I will not be providing save in a couple of these photos.

With a General Aircraft Hotspur from the old airlines kit

With a D-Day C-53 and CG-4A.

And with the Messerschmitt 321.

Turned out great John.  Details make it pop.  I like the collection pics, great for scale comparison and really cool to see and the invasion stripes.  

John, great job on the Sioux!

Chad, your build is amazing!

John, great photos of your other builds with your glider.

Well done guys! It will motivate me to keep going on my D.H. 2.

Jeaton: She looks friggin' perfect from here. If you hadn't said so I'd had idea that you'd had such issues with the decals. And those balances on the aileron etc, I'd have broken them off and lost them about a dozen times each. 

Hello John, that Horsa looks right on, excellent work!

regards,

Jack

Well done John!

Thats a lovely bild there John, thank you for shareing that here. I will get it added to the front page.

Great line up of gliders.

Thanks, everyone!

Finally got a chance to get in an update. Been a bit of a struggle with parts fit, buts its getting there.

Got the insids painted with some light wear. The instructions say to paint NATO green, but from my memory and pics i could find, these were darker than that. On the Airfix forum in an old thread about British Army colours, some one claimed that vehicles in Ireland were painted darker to distinguish ones used for internal security duties from conventional warfare. Not sure if this is true, but they were certainly darker. I made my own mix useing Tamiya's NATO green, Dark Green and a touch of NATO black. Seems pretty good to my eye. I addd some wear to the flor, mainly where the top cover would stand as well as in the front foot wells.

The upper body was also painted and just got a light dry brush.

Then the seats and belts were fitted. I also added a bergan on the ECM frame. Someone on Britmodeller mentioned that they used to put there ECM in vehicles like this and that remindd me that we did as well. easier than trying to scratch a bit of kit. Also addd a set of rocket pouches. I went for the early 90's single colour packs rather than the DPM ones introduced later. I added some wire from the ECM pack which will be run up to the roof. This shows the colour much better than the previous pic.

I then got the roof on being careful not to completly fill in the join.

And the front of the cab with decals added.

With all that, the body was fitted to the chassis, followed the the forward bulkhead, after front wind screns were added, and then the front of the body. Fit was tight, had to do some sanding, bending and clamping, but it got there.

Got a bit of clean up to do before masking and painting.

That is a cool looking Landy :-)

I got the basic scheme on the camel, this is one of those where one can do a top colour from almost chocolate brown to olive green and it will be right.

I took the green a little arround the bottom edges of the tail , fuse and wings to look like the tapes that would have been doped on all the joints. The SE5 in our local meusum has it the same.

IMG_20200201_095625 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

IMG_20200202_063117 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Theuns

Bish, is that control stick in front of the instrument panel the steering mechanism?  I've never seen anything like that before. So much detail! 

Thats what the steering wheel attaches to, i just had not fitted it in that pic, it did get attached before i put it together but you can't see it in the last 3 pics.

From what i can see, they have not missed anything out. It doies include a very nice engine. I didn't fit it as its a bit of a squeeze and as you can't see it, i didn't see the point. But its all there. Would be a nice scene with the bonnet raised.