75th Anniversary of 1945 Group Build (World at War)

Robert: Very nice panzer hunter. Looks really menacing..

The undersurfaces Red/White, I think, was used because the  Germans shot at everything non-jet that moved around their Me-262 airfields , so they had to distinguish the FW-190s that protected the jets during landing & take-off

Hello Check. Lots of nice builds going in here. I would like to join with this. It has been sitting on the shelf for some time now, screaming 'build me'.

Nice work, Robert.  Just by looking at the photos, you'd never think this was 1/72.  Lots of detail packed into a small scale.

The road wheels look like a good idea.  I haven't built a panzer in years, but I remember they were a challenge even in 1/35.  I had a few of those motorized kits by back in the day, and it was a challenge to glue the wheels together so that they would roll with the tracks, but wouldn't fall off.

Good job!

What a fascinating paint scheme on that plane.  I assume the red bottom was for ID purposes on the ground?

As usual, I did NOT finish over the weekend, but I came very close.  Camo, decals, clear coat, and a Vallejo European dirt wash were added.  Dragon tells me this is from the 665th Heavy Panzer Battalion in '45 Germany, but Google tells me nothing about this unit...Like if it even existed.  But all the other generic Eastern Front vehicles, and I generally always go with specific unit markings.

After viewing the pictures with my HD camera, I realize that additional touch ups are required on the side skirt brackets.  Not sure how I missed those!  The old  Mark I eyeballs aren't what they once were... 

Beyong the touch up, really all that is left is adding the aerial, and then I'm calling it done.  I may add another filter as well, but I am yet undecided.  

Here are the roadwheels I was describing.  They were great for the 1/72 scale! I wish more 1/35 kits used this concept as well.

All the clean up that was needed was clip the wheel off the tree, cut the tongue down off the part in the bag, cement in place.  Pre painted before assembly of course.

Thanks check. Ye, i like those 2 greens. I wasn't to worried about keeping the lines nice and straight, there are a couple that are out and there is a touch of red over spray in a couple of spots. But as these were painted in the field with the aircraft sat on the crown by the ground crew, i can imagine they were not perfectly neat.

Spectacular, Bish!  What a color scheme!  I like the 82/83  greens; nice change from the usual.  The red undersides made me think Richthofen had returned from the dead!

You did very well with the stripes keeping them parallel and evenly spaced.  Probably not an easy task.

All around impressive!

Now for an update on the 190. It was primed and the RLM 76 blue added at the same time as the 109. But of course i had some more colours to add.

The top was done with RLM 82/83.

On the underside, i did over all white, then used a set of P masks before adding the red. The mask strips came in 4 sizes, but you have to work out for yourself which one to use. After looking at a couple of pics, i went for the smallest ones, 1mm.

There are 8 sets of markings for this, but 2 of those are for the same aircraft. Before it was Red 4, this aircraft was marked as White 58. This was over sprayed with RLM 76 but still slightly visible under the new markings. So i added those decals, over sprayed with blue then did the mottling. The marking is only just visible on the left side. You can just make out the chevron beind the wing.

Its less visible on the right and does not show at all on the photo.

Then the rest of the decals are added. The decals are numbered on the instructions but not on the decal sheet. So a few of them you have to guess which ones to use.

I have just given it a coat of clear gloss, so should be able to get a flory wash on tonight.

I just got a response from this GB today - first since January. Let's check this again and see if there will be more.

Eric

checkmateking02

Very good, Robert.  Nice paintwork.  All those little wheels must have taken some time, effort and work!

I know what you mean about finishing.  I've got some I'd like to be done with this weekend; but lethargy is a terrible thing!

 

Dragon threw quite a softball with the roadweels in my build.  The pair pairs were molded together into one piece, and the "hub cap," for lack of a better term, was a separate piece that just popped into the hole inside the rubber rim.  In my next update, I will take a pic of the extras to show what I mean.  All told, it was maybe 45 minutes to paint, clean up, and install everything, ncluding the paint drying time.

That is a great 190!  Always wanted to build some Axis fighter planes, but as a brush and rattle can painter, their intricate mottled camo schemes always chase me off.

Thanks for the rundown, Bish.  I haven't built any night fighters ever, so I'm not familiar with any of the paint schemes.  But it's always interesting how the different air forces had different ideas on handling the same issues.

Thanks Check. I know, doesn't seem right does it. Early war German nightfighters were black. But they started to introduce dark greys, then light grey with mottling and then this at the end of the war. Apparently, a black aircraft was easy to spot at high altitudes. I guess the Germans had more experiance than most with dealing with night time bombing raids.

Very nice, Bish.  I've not see this camo scheme before--all RLM 76.  Why a light color for a night fighter?  I'd have thought they'd use black or something darker.

Update on the 109. Paint went on quickly as its an all over RLM 76 with just some black along the wing roots.

And then the decals, these did not take long either. The only stencil is the fuel triangle above the 4 on the left side.

A couple of years ago, jack bilt a similar aircraft, can't recall what kit, he also used H Model decals. he pointed out a couple of errors and gave me a great link. One error was the fuselage cross, which is to small in the decal set. So i used one from my decal stash. Another error is the rubber, which the decal set shows is white. This seems to be from a photo taken from the rear right where the rubber is at an angle and the sun is catching off it. Other images clearly show it blue. They seemed to have used this one photo rather than use several which could have put them right.

Not got much left to do before this is done. I will have to restrain my self as to the weathering as the images show the aircraft is spotless. They were apparently kept well polished to help increase speed. Important as their main prey was Mosquito's. So it will just be some light exhaust stains. I also need to scratch shrouds for the exhausts which were bigger than normal because of its night fighter role.

More soon.

Very good, Robert.  Nice paintwork.  All those little wheels must have taken some time, effort and work!

I know what you mean about finishing.  I've got some I'd like to be done with this weekend; but lethargy is a terrible thing!

Made some progress on the Jagdpanzer and have the dunkelgelb base coat started:

All that is really left is attach the sideskirts and gun, picking a camo and decal scheme, and doing a light weathering.  

The goal is to finish this weekend, but I feel like I always say that and rarely do!  

Very much looking forward to seeing them, Bish.

Thanks Check, yes, they both went together reallt nice. There are no location tabs on the 190 so i had to be a bit careful, bot no issues. And the pits fit in nicely as well. Going to be getting the decals on the 109 tonight, the 190 still needs more painting.

They're both looking good, Bish.  It appears that the fit of the pieces is well-designed.  

The 109 cockpit is also sparesely fitted out. The AM PE set from Fine Molds is, like the kit supplied one in the 190, not very large. I added the fuel line with some wire painted yellow.

And fuselage went together and wings on.

And again, this has since had the final bits added, prime and paint applied. Unlike the 190, this is a single colour all over, RLM 76. So this should be getting the decals on tonight.

More soon.

First updates for my 2 fighters. Not muc h to show as these have gone together very quickly. First off, the 190D-11. This kit comes with a smal PE fret and some resin. The latter is all external. The PE for the pit is limited, certainly not as much detail as in some other kits, but acttually, i think it works on this kit. I have spent a lot of time adding PE and resin into 190 and 109 pits knowing damn well you can't see it because its to small. I think this is well done.

And the fuselage went together and the wings on. Afraid i forgot to get pics of the underside. It does have a nice resin wheel well. This made the fit of the wing tops and bottoms tricky, needed some sanding, but it got there.

Since i tok these on Sun, its had the final bits added and a coat of primer and the first paint. More soon.

Excellent, Scott.  Love the look and the camo measure.  

I know what you mean about small holes.  I finally just cut the pins off the 20mm on USS Iowa, instead of drilling the holes bigger.

Great work!

Got all the assembly done on the 1/700 Acedemy Missouri.  Every hole on every part was too small and have t obe re-drilled, and it took some trimming to get the superstructure to fit.  Overall, its a fun kit to build. 

EricB

Just got a reply from the British Army build - first post since January. Wonder if this one has been reborn?

Eric

Just got a reply from the British Army build - first post since January. Wonder if this one has been reborn?

Eric

Well, that just might work! 

checkmateking02

Good luck with the painting, Mark!  I hope you find something helpful.  I have an Paasche H airbrush, which isn't really fine-tuned enough to do this kind of work, especially in 1/72, my scale of choice.  I managed to do it about 30 years ago, but recently it has defied me.

As for "tail-sitters," I've done a couple of B-24's over the years, and gave up trying to load them with weight in the nose.  I ended up drilling a little hole in the rear fuselage, and inserting a stick pin as a support to keep them upright.

 

Yeah, I have the Paasche H as well, good air brush. I have also acquired an Iwata Neo double action brush. I think this will be able to do the job. And as Bish suggested, I'll have to watch the paint consistancy and practice, practice practice.

As for the tailsitting issue, here is my plan so far. There is room forward of the cockpit for weight. Here I added some just to see how it'll fit. Its not glued in yet, just sitting there so I can check for clearances...

Then with the exposed gun bay added. There is still more room forward of that...

then the forward nose installed. I think It will be ok with this amount of area I can fill...

I like those CMK figures, i have used a few of the German ones.

Those look awsome Check.  And in 1/72 too, I'm impressed and want to try them someday. 

So here's what I finally decided on for '45--US Navy pilots from CMK.

Here's a better image of the painting guide that comes with them, although there is no suggestion for specific paint.  I'm going to use Vallejo, which I've not tried before.

And a photo of Butch O'Hare wearing his Navy khaki's, for reference.  I'm assuming that the uniform didn't change much by 1945.

Progress with painting is well-done, Scott!