Larry Wolf Memorial Close Air Support Group Build 2021 Needs YOU!

lewbud

 

 

Bish

 

 

lewbud

Alright guys, got you on the list.  This is an auspicisious start indeed, although I was hoping Bish would step out of his comfort zone and do a bomb laden Spit.

 

 

 

 

You have more chance of me standing on my head in a Tu-Tu singing La Marseillaise.

 

 

 

 

I'd pay good money to see that. How about the rest of you?

 

Right there with you lewbud - the Aussie dollar is still worth something

Nice photos!  I didn't realize that the stabs fell that much when at rest.  Noted.

The OV-10 is from Academy and the A-7D is the 1/48th  from Hasegawa.  Both will be based from Korat.

Here's a few inspirational Vark' shots I took back then:

Closed up the fuselage today. Despite its age, this is a nice kit. Simple. Pretty small parts count. Fit is very good. Raised panel lines are very petite. I'm pretty impressed with it. Now just to sand and polish the seams then I can add the canopy and wings.

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Edit: Broke off the nose gear just now. This plastic is old and brittle, just like me. Have a new landing gear set coming from Scale Conversions.

Thanks Lewbud!

Got the front page updated with your builds Caveman, RealG, Boris, and Tomcat.

I'd like to throw my hat into the ring with two builds. First, an antique Monogram boxscale B-26 Invader and a Revell 1/48 A6E Intruder.

lewbud

Boris,

I'd say a predecessor of the A-10 definitely qualifies.  Welcome aboard and I look forward to your build.

Cool!   I'm super excited for my first GB and first Aircraft in a long long time.  As soon as I'm off the 24-hr posting delay, I'll get some photos up.

Boris

Tim,

The Aardvark is more than welcome!  Bring it on!

Drums,

Thats some good work you've got going on.

Boris,

I'd say a predecessor of the A-10 definitely qualifies.  Welcome aboard and I look forward to your build.

So, I am leaning towards the A6E from revell in 1/48th, but, since I only get the bench time on the weekends, we will be surprised what comes up at the next session....

As promised, here a a little update...

First is the correction to the minigun vents (above the windows) and the addition of the wind deflectors (to the front of the window openings):



While showing the fuselage I might as well show the beginning of the cargo bay structural reinforcements. Just a note that the first one here is solid (without holes), just like in the real photo:





Continuing inside, I created the stairs from the cargo bay to the cockpit (it can be seen through the front door):



And here we (Jarrod and I) are starting to drill out the reinforcement ribs that will be seen through the flare and illuminator doors. Even with the clamshell doors closed, these can be seen:



Keeping with the work in the cargo bay, here is the modified night sight that will reside in the front door. I replaced the support bracket with brass. I drill the holes and angled the NOS sight in a more realistic pose:

parts


assembled


And for something completely different, I used the following method to make spinning props:



I believe I spun them on the sandpaper too much and I have to tone down the red just a little as well, but here is my first ever attempt. Perhaps once I clear coat the disks the sandpaper grooves may look better and the prop wash a little darker (?).
They are shown in the photo behind the standard prop, but if used will have thier own central hubs. Basically, either the props or the disks with central hub(?):



Some other things I've noticed are half the door hinges on the side of the fuselage even when the door is removed (notice the kill marks beside the door and the white wiring):



Another deflector by the illuminator door, also notice the black wiring from the illuminator to the illuminator control panel:

And here is another type of vent beneath the fuselage by the front landing gear:

Much more to come on this one.... As always, comments are welcome.

Ben

Hey Lewbud!

Does this fit your criteria?  Lots of plastic and some aftermarket too.  Need a little more than 48 for this one.  Like Real G, I wanted to pick something that wasn't on the roster yet.  Let me know!

P1012055 by Tim Bowers, on Flickr

P1012056 by Tim Bowers, on Flickr

I have failed at finishing every GB entered, but have wanted to build this kit for a while now.  Plus there is no "Scooter" on the roster yet.

Here is the box top:

And a shot of the current state of the kit:

Aside from a Hasegawa F-86 and Revell MiG-21 I built in middle school, this will be the only other 1/32 jet I have ever attempted.  Typical of Trumpeter, I think the box art shows an A-4E, not an F.  I don't know a lot about the A-4 Skyhawk, but there was a built 1/32 Hasegawa kit that resided in my LHS many moons ago that I never got tired of looking at.

Plodding along slowly but surely. Finally finished the cockpit and pilot. Getting ready to install and close up the fuselage. Painting 1/48 scale figures is something I haven't mastered yet. Not sure if I want the canopy open or closed.

PhilliePhan79

Got my kit off the shelf.  Ready to dig in.  Updates coming soon

 

 

Not quite finished in this picture.

John

Got my kit off the shelf.  Ready to dig in.  Updates coming soon

Sorry for not having a new update just yet... all I can say is life happens.

I am reworking the gun vents above the windows as I think the first ones I made are too long and large. I'm also going to add the wind deflectors to the leading edge of the 7.72 window openings (not provided in the model). Below is what they should look like and what I have done.







I've also found a couple other vents I need to add beneath the fuselage. My next major scratch build will be the internal wing and fuselage reinforcements. Not sure just how much of this will be done, but I would like to show the ones by the windows.





More photos very soon.

Ben

ikar01,

Got you on the front page. What scale and who makes the kits?

Looking good Ed.

It's not much but it's a start. I assembled the cockpit and sprayed it gray along with a bunch of other things that will need to be that color.

How about a OV-10A and probably a A-7D.  I have to make sure the A.F. is well represented.

Lots of good stuff early on. This is promising.  Keep it up!

Decided to pose the Panther on a carrier deck, so I added fishing weights and epoxy in the nose.

John, that Shrike looks very similar a Ki-45 Nick. 

EC, excelent looking IP.

After waffling back and forth between the stock cockpit and the Aires cockpit, I think I'm going with the Aires cockpit because it looks so much better than stock.  Some of the finer details are a little fuzzy, but I think a coat of primer and paint will smooth it out.  Working on adapting the Quinta Studio 3D decals to fit, since they were designed for the stock cockpit.  Started cutting up the Aires instrument panel to modify it so it looks like the modified panel that the Su-25M1 has.

Here's the box art and the kit contents for my entry, the Curtiss A-18 Shrike II.  You get two pages of instructions, but take a look, they are identical.  No, I didn't mess up, I couldn't believe it when I was setting up the images and double checked, that's the way it is.  The resin looks pretty good, completely unlike a 1/48 LF Models YP-37 kit I have.

Time for an update, actually I have spent the majority of the time researching many little things. While some turned out to be nothing that would be added, others represent small details, mostly external. As I said previously, I am not going to go crazy and super detail everything, rather focus on what will be visible. Of course, none of this would be possible without the help of my little man (my special needs son, Jarrod).



OK, here we go... first thing will be adding scratchbuilt cooling vents for the 4× GAU-2/A 7.62 mm (0.30 in) miniguns. According to the photos I could locate, they are visible just above the window openings (above the guns).





After two attempts with plastic I have what I am going to use with soft aluminum. It is as easy as bending the extruded hollow aluminum tube 90 degrees, cutting it flush at the angle, sanding it semi-flat on the side going against the fuselage, cut to length, glue on fuselage, and repeat three more times. They looked OK when making them but now perhaps they are a little too long and even too large when compared to the photos(?). I may fix that.....





As you can see on some of the previous photos I've also added some of the kit on the fuselage to include the AN/APQ-133 side-looking beacon tracking radar and AN/APQ-136 search radar. There were minor gaps and sink marks that were corrected with Tamiya putty.





During the same period I also added the smoke evacuation scoops on both sides of the fuselage (the come in the closed position). While adding these items I was thinking about just how much or little I was going to add to the cargo area to "fill in" what was not provided with the kit, such as the APU, Fire Control Computer, 20mm Ammo Container, and the 7.62 Ammo Storage Rack, and the control panel for the illuminator. I have already decided to make the APU unit since it could be seen behind the NOS through the front door of the cargo bay (on the opposite side of the cargo bay). That means it would need the intake and exhaust ports on the right side of the fuselage too. Here is the intake vent for the APU (I've also added the exhaust port using brass since the photo):



While that sounds like a lot of stuff to make from scratch, I am looking through the windows and doors and can see quite a bit, even if the clamshell doors are closed and she is in flight. So I said, "why not", and started on some of the cargo bay auxiliary equipment. While some of it comes from photos and drawings, there was a little artistic expression added too because of a lack of pictures for certian items.

Here is the pile of things made so far:


And this is how I plan on adding them (still much more to do):


Given the scale, many of the kit parts are basic. For example, the rear booms are only two pieces and the central rear wing (?) only two. Initially I was going to remove the control surfaces to pose them. I still may, but I'm not sure just yet. 
So far they were cleaned up, assembled, then set aside.





Likewise, the main wing spar was a total of seven parts which were put together and awaiting final assembly to the fuselage and main wings. In this photo the engine cowlings are not yet attached, just fitted.



It may not look like much just yet, but I hope it will be the "bees knees" or at least somewhat convincing once painted and added inside the cargo area. 

I've also ordered pilots and crew, new mini-gun barrels, as well as other decals that might be repurposed for this kit. 

More next update, till then....

Ben

That is a rteally nice start oortiz10, looking forward to seeing more of your work.

DRUMS01

OK CASers, I got started on my AH-1G. I've kitbashed one before, so I knew what I was up against. This time, I decided to start with the hard stuff. I scratched the M28 turret, cut up the doghouse to fit the rounded canopy, and tried my best on a set of Fireball PE XM-158 launchers (cringe).

I started with the easiest and worked my way up to the most difficult. First thing done was the chin turret. I used the existing opening to create a template on tape, then cut out the second opening. I used some styrene sheet, various pieces of rod, and a spare minigun for the assembly.

In the second picture, everything is just "dry-fitted" together.

Next came the dog house. Funny, it scarier doing it this second time than it was doing it blindly the first time!

Not perfect but pretty darn close. The port side will need a little more TLC than the starboard side.

Next were the rocket launchers, which I have no idea how they ended up in my stash. Anyway, I've never worked with PE before. The most PE/resin I've used is a seat in a single-seat fighter or some wheels. I have to admit, I was pretty intimidated. 

They're not perfect, but I think I can hide a few of the imperfections under some paint and weathering.

Anyway, now that the "hard" stuff is behind me, I can focus on the "easy" stuff. I still need to address the kit's horrible exhaust, but I already know how I'm going to handle that. 

Thanks for looking! Comments, criticisms, and questions are welcome. Stay tuned for updates on the -G and the upcoming AH-1J.

Cheers!

-O