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

Hutch. so far so good, very sharp camo.

Eaglecash. those are some fine engines.

been away from the bench for a bit. My latest pics

Sounds like it's fighting you, Eaglecash, but those engines are looking great!

I've not done much with the Beau this weekend, just a couple of minor touch-ups to the paintwork, and started on the dangly bits -  rockets & launch rails, auxiliary fuel tank.  Nothing really worth taking a picture of yet, so I didn't

Great looking builds guys!

Been slowly closing up the fuselage and ended up having to wait for tooling to help me flex and twist it to get all the panel lines to align properly.  So, while waiting, I started getting the engines done.  Still have tons of engine accessories to tack onto the outside of them, but I'm pretty happy with how they're looking so far.

Thanks, JBRaider, I admit it hadn't occurred to me how odd that might look.  Hmmm - a "what if?" mottled scheme could be interesting, maybe a Luftwaffe-style desert one?

Looking good Hutch

that is an interesting way to do the preshade although I was a bit confused on your paint scheme when I looked at the pictures before reading your post. 

Got a bit more bench time in today, so I continued with the Beaufighter's paint job.  It's a simple two-colour scheme, and the upper-surface grey has had a week to dry thoroughly, so I masked it up and airbrushed the black (Vallejo Model Air with a couple of drops of home-brew thinner).

I used the "wheels-up" option gear doors as masks, the ones I'm using were painted on the sprue -

The blobby bulges aren't a case of extreme flash, I used blu-tack to mask the already-painted interiors.  Anyway, off with the masking tape - 

Cowlings dry-fiited in place, and canopy masks removed -

I'm always nervous when removing the masking tape, but I was well pleased with this result - not too shabby at all, I think.  The black seems to have brought out the colour modulation in the grey, and I'm not going to bother using a wash on the panel lines, as I think they look fine as they are.

A close look at the observer's position will reveal some bad smudges on the canopy.  I use Pmask vinyl masks, which normally cover the whole area to be masked but, in this case, they only covered the inside edges of the framework, so I used my usual masking tape to fill in the rest.  The residue actually came from the tape, not the vinyl masking - I have some sticky stuff remover somewhere, so I'll give that a try (trial run on a piece of scrap first!)

After that, the next job is a coat of Pledge floor polish, attach canopies & engines, then decals.

Thanks for looking.

Robert, the P-47 is superb, I really like the paint job!  Also, lots of other nice work being done here, I haven't popped in as often as I should have lately.

I've been away from my bench for quite a while, for various reasons, but finally got back on Sunday.  My last post showed the Airfix Beaufighter in primer, and that's where it stayed, until I got going again and decided to try my hand at pre-shading, to break up the otherwise plain grey top surfaces.  I wasn't drawn to the usual "pre-shade the panel lines" approach, so decided to try mottling instead, in black -

I've never done pre-shading before (or mottling with an airbrush, for that matter), so I was quite pleased with my first effort.  Next stage was to apply the main colour over the top.  I really over-thinned the paint far too much and, as a result, almost flooded the model's surface by applying too much.  Fortunately, I realised in time and stopped.  Very carefully using kitchen paper to wick away the excess liquid from the trailing edges of the inner wings - where the pooling had occurred - just saved my bacon, but left a very scrappy result -

Thankfully, no remedial works were needed, so I let it dry, and carefully re-applied, using a more normal paint-to-thinner ratio.  

It doesn't really come across in the photos, but the colour variations are definitely there, but subtle, which was exactly what I wanted.  Hopefully, this will be a good base for the limited weathering I intend to apply a bit later.

Incidentally, the paint is Vallejo Model Air Medium Sea Grey, with my home-brew thinner (about 60% de-ionised water, 35% Isopropyl alcohol - the 99% variety - with the rest being flow improver and retarder (both Winsor & Newton)).  

More to follow, probably next weekend.

Up date on mig21.

and some test fitting.

Thanks again guys!  

Pic choice is fine John, that was my preferred shot.

Andy. fanstatic..

Bob. cool looking 109E.

Robert. Great looking thunderbolt !!

I started on basic cockpit on this mig 21.

Great job on the Jug.  I've got you on page one - let me know if you want to use a different pic.

Well done, Robert!

Thanks guys!  I agree this kit was quick and fun, went together cleanly and I had no issues, except one operator error.  (I forgot to pre drill the holes for the rocket holders so left them off)

JBRaider

That Razorback came out great Robert. It was a fun easy kit.

How were the checker decals? they look like they went down good.

 

They laid down perfectly for me, I pretreated the areas with a fresh bottle of Micro Set and another coat afterwards.  They set right in to all the cracks and over the raised areas.

That Razorback came out great Robert. It was a fun easy kit.

How were the checker decals? they look like they went down good.

Great looking Jug Glamdring!!!

To Lewbud

I will post some progress pics of my Breguet 693 shortly.  It's been a crazy busy summer.

I can now call this Razorback finished!  

This one's for you LewBud, I would never have built this one without your GB idea.

Great job on the SBD castelnuovo

Bob - Very nice plane!  I keep meaning to build a German aircraft, but always end up finding something else instead.  Maybe 2022 will be the year!

The Razorback is done, I just don't have pictures yet. Here it is before the decals though:

The light gray splotches were paint touch ups, for some reason the paint dried lighter that before.  I shook the bottle more vigourously and touched up a 2nd time and that resolved it.  You'll have to take my word, I don't have a picture of it yet.  

Robert-the Razorback is coming along nicely-looking forward to progress pics-I've not tried 1/72 yet but I'm thinking I need to.

Steve-thank you-I think weathering will lighten up the camo-or a very thinned coat of RLM 76.

Decals on-at least the 'major' ones-from a Ministry of Small Aircraft Production sheet-nice selection of options but the decals themselves are very thick-think old Tamiya thick-or thicker.  They have received a heavy Solveset bath-hopefully that will help.  Another coat of Future should take care of any silvering.  Other markings/stencils will come from the Hasegawa kit.

There are some great builds going on here!  These are the planes I love.

I started my 1/72 Razorback over the weekend.  Not much too the kit, I had 2/3 of it assembled after one session.

I have since installed the wings, stabilizers, and cowling.  This one ought to be done by the weekend!

bobbaily

slight difference in coverage but I'm hoping I can 'weather it out'

Yeah, you should be able to. It looks good and I really can't tell from the pics except all but the slightest diffrence.

Nice work all-sorry I haven't been posting as I read the new post-but still, great work.

Making progress...not happy about the yellow fuselage stripe...changed my mind about which plane to build and it required a wider stripe....slight difference in coverage but I'm hoping I can 'weather it out'...if it were armor, I could just add mud....anyway, happy about the camo scheme overall-camo target is on the Lego stand-hope to get a gloss coat (Future) on tomorrow and then decals early next week.  The 109E-7/B (the 'target') in the pic is Georg Doffel's 109E on the  Stalingrad Front in 1942.  Found enoug pictures online of planes in 5 SchG1 to give me an idea of the mottle effect.

Fantastic work everyone! Made some progress on the SBD. Sorry for the lack of in progress photos but it went together pretty quickly and painlessly so was in a groove. Paints are MRP with a little tamiya thrown in...

I don't know how they do it, but Eduard masks are spot on. Thirty minutes after I retrieved to package from the mailbox, the canopy on the Pro Modeler F-84G was masked. Ready to move on to the next step. Oh yeah, I moved the windscreen mask to the correct position.

I's been a little bit since I posted my MiG 27 but I finally received my Akan paints from Russia. I finished it's three tone camo and it's ready for the underside, a little touch up and then the gear and weapons.

Thank you Eaglecash.  Been using the Legos (actually our son's Legos) for quite a few years-he has since married and moved on, leaving a 20 gal. container of Legos collected over the years....so I 'borrowed them' for a bit....

Thanks Bob!  The 109 is looking good.  That's a really cool idea using Legos as a jig.

Nice work Eaglecash-it's coming together-looking forward to more progress pics.

I worked on the wing/fuselage fit-looks better (I hope)-used Tamiya spray can grey primer.

Picked a camo scheme so I sprayed the Vallejo yellow-will be interesting to see if it holds once I tape it off for the rest of the paint.  Also got the canopy masked-took the easy route and used Eduard masks-well worth the price.

Final test fit to make sure everything comes together the way I was planning it, and to give me a mockup to study so I can determine the best sequence to put things together as I close up the fuselage.  CG is currently far enough forward of where the main gear will be, so I think this one will manage to not be a tail-sitter without any extra weight up front.  Still might add a few tungsten weights just behind the cockpit though, since closing up the fuselage is a one-way street...not gonna hurt having a little too much weight up front.  The gaps that are visible in the pics all come together with light pressure, so the fit is actually going to be pretty good.

Nice builds all-sorry I've not been posting but I have been following.

Finally got started on the Hasegawa 1/48 bf109E4/7 'Jabo' kit-it's the older JT series but still looks like a 109 and is a bit cheaper at model shows....

Anyway, I still need to so some cleanup and address the wing root that really didn't look as bad as it does in the pics......but I hope to get some primer on it tomorrow or Friday.

Question for the resident experts in the group-anyone seen pics of a Romanian 109E carrying a bomb?  I've read several accounts of the Romanian Air Force providing ground support with 109E's but can't find any supporting pics?  If not, I've got several other paint schemes to choose from.

Cheers