AIRCRAFT, ARMOR, FIGURES, SHIPS - D-Day Group Build, 5-8 June 1944

Mike I just went back a page. Great builds. I was wondering about the FW in that 2nd pic, but I see you caught it. I love that bird.

Nice couple of builds Liam and Rick. Fine jobs.

WOW! those are incredible builds! Very well done all of you. My WACO was never finished, but the FlaK 38 was. I 'll get some pics of it maybe tommorrow.

nice builds everyone.

thanks joe for the kind words. Had a problem sorting out the paint job as the references for it didn't jibe with the Vajello Acrylics I use. Kept getting a really dark, almost black spitfire.

liam you have done very well. thanks for the peek.

joe

hey, thats a sweet build, especially with Murphy all over ya like that. he's been here too, i lost my plans to my current build and am having to just "wing" it (no pun intended) just to decal the darn thing. later.

Thanks guys....
After losing a lot of time with the gagrage re-build and he shelving accident that claimed my F-84G, I fell way behind for this group build and I guess I wasn't as careful with the paint job. It got on a little thick and made the panel-job difficult. Also, my card-reader went on the glitch and myself and Oggy had a bit of a problem getting an interface working to transfer the pics from his camera to my computer.
Oggy got it sorted, but time was slipping away and it's 02.30am in the morning over here in Ireland.

This is the ICM 1/48 Spitfire and it's not that bad a kit to build up. There was some flash and some sink marks, but it comes with the option to have a completley detailed engine on view and open gun bays.

There are still a number of techniques i need to perfect and the wash is one of them. Getting better, tho'.

Thanks for the kind words and the oppurtunity to take part.
(and now onto the Mustang Ranch { BWAH-hahahahahah)

Liam

hey, sweet spit Liam!! nice weathering job. my only complaint is it seems that the wash wasn't completely removed. but other than that, she's a beauty. later.

Very nice build Liam . I didn't have the heart to dirty up my painfully applied Invasion Stripes, but yours came out great.

Regards, Rick

06-08-04
Hoping I make it in before the closing time, ( midnight of hte 6th, American time, no?) here's my entry.

This is ML407 as flown by F/O Houlton with 485 sqd on D-Day when he shot down the first enemy aircraft of the day , a Junkers 88, I think.



My interest in this lies in the fact that after the war, it was converted into a Tr.IX and flown by the Irish Air Corps as number 162 and is currently known as the Grace Spitfire, to be seen at Duxford!!

Hope you like.
Liam

06-08-04
Ammmm, is the finishing date gone already? It's still 7.50pm here in Ireland ( Friday night) which I am hoping means I got a few hours left ot get photos up and going??

plz???

Liam

a very nice job on the camo and stripes mike!! i've been free handing my camo jobs until i got a british bird and i tried out masking for the first time. i used Elmer's tak and silly putty for a tight, but semi soft demarction line and it worked well for me. i don't know if i'll do many more free hand................what am i talking about, i love free hand camo!! its like alot of people say though, a tad out of scale on some birds. later.

Thanks Joe, wibhi, Chris, and Rick... you know how we can be our own worse critics

Chris-- for the Tempest, I just used plain old 3M blue painters tape. I painted the white of the DDay stripes first...then masked it off and painted the black....then masked them off entirely and used the blue tape (after cutting down on its stickiness).... I kind of freehand cut the tape with my knofe, laid it on top, and sprayed-- gray first, then masked it off and sprayed my green. Was pretty happy with the results, although the Polly Scale Sea Gray I used on top cracked. I fixed up some of it with just a hand brush, but you can still see it a bit on the right horizontal stabilizer.... think its a bit old... oh well LOL

Just used the yellow decals provided for the leading edge on the wings... didn't want to mess up my camo anymore than it was!

Thanks again guys....these were some tough builds with the paint schemes....at least for me starting out...used to do them all with a handbrush, but I'll never go back Luckily next up is a Black Cat Catalina...all flat black! No masking, but I am going to need an industrial paint sprayer for this one...it's HUGE!

Mike, very nice builds. I think you did a great job.

Regards, Rick

mike, those 2 builds are excellent looking friend!! i love the way the tempest looks anyway! you did a nice job on the camo for it being your first time. what did you use for mask on the tempest's camo job? again, very nice looking builds. later.

I dunno mike. I think you did very well with that spray camo.

excellant builds overall

D'oh!!! Sometimes it takes posting them to find more boo-boos My 190 canopy is crooked...gonna go fix that now!

mike you do incredible work. outstanding builds.

to all, this build was fun from start to finish. thanks to all for making it so. now lets see the rest of those finished builds.

joe

Phew.... crunch time!!

OK-- got everything done in time, so here goes. First off is Priller's 190...done much better by others in this GB- but hey -- this is my first time trying to paint the German camo by airbrush Sorry for the quality of the pics...I hope Santa is good to me this Christmas... my digital camera is much lacking...






And next is the ride of Wing Commander Roland Beamont- In 1944 Beamont (now Acting Wing Commander) was charged to form the first Tempest Wing, No 150, in time for the D-Day. Two days after D-Day, Beamont's Wing encountered Bf109s over the beaches and shot down three of them without loss.

Seems like he had more success dealing with the Jerries than I did in modeling his mount. While applying decals, I apparently didn't have one of my exhausts too well glued and it popped off inside the model. This was of course after I had just finished touching up the seam using Swanny's fencing technique. I wasn't about to pop open the seam...and gave up trying to fish it back into place despite Ed's advice for how to do it...so here she is in all her glory :

Miss Detroit will make a very attractive build!! i'll get around to that one oneday, have fun. later.

Yeah, thanks Chris. I'm doing a Tamiya 1/48 D model "Miss Detroit" for the Mustang Ranch GB. AeroMaster recently issued a decal sheet for her. Always wanted to do a model of that Stang cause 1, I live in the Detroit Area & 2, She had the distinction of being the only Bird to down 2 Me-262's on one mission. Never had any good decals until now. Later.

Regards, Rick

sounds like you had it figured out friend, they look very authenic!! the D model "Old Crow" don't have white walls, but all the B models that i've seen of "Old Crow" have white walls. again, nice job on the stang. now, ya gotta saddle up -n- start up a nurdin' over on mustang ranch!! well, if you gonna build a subject over and over, it ain't nothin' like building the stang over again!! later.

Hey, thanks a lot guys for the unwarranted praise. The model has a few flaws, but overall I was happy with it.

Chris, If you ever do Old Crow, I think it also had whitewalls, at least on some versions ( there were several Old Crows). On the main wheels, I painted them overall very dark grey, let the paint cure, then used a plastic circle drawing template & carefully taped the wheel to the appropriate sized circle opening, aligning just inside the tread pattern. Using an AB & Floquil Reefer White I sprayed at as close to a 90 degree angle as I could. Repeated for other wheel, then added the prepainted aluminum hubs. Actually turned out to be pretty easy. For the tail wheel, I painted the entire part white then brush painted the aluminum & the outer tread portion of the wheel. Touched up a few boo-boos on the sidewalls with Vallejo white acrylic. The tail wheel turned out to be more trouble than the mains.

Regards, Rick

BTW, what was the process on doin' the white walls?

Beautiful work, Rick

absolutely stunning, rick. I am almost at a loss for words....

rick, very, very impressive work friend!! i love it!! the ol' stang looks good any way she's dressed!! later.

rick that looks awesome. nicely done.

joe

Nice Pony Rick-- very crisp looking! I better go finish the Tempest LOL...at least the 190 is done!