Okay I think I'm done. Some things didn't come out as well as I hoped. Maybe I'll try to fix them, I dunno- I just wanted the thing finished. 

The decals went all wrong, I ordered three sets and liked a set twenty-thirty years old best so I used them. I probably wouldn't have had the same issues if I'd used one of the newer sets. 

The canopy has some sort of krap all over it. It looks like overspray, how it got there I have no friggin' clue. 

I got some silvering in some of the decals, mostly on the bottom. I might try to fix them, right now I just want to move on to something else. 

I think the ANZAC pilot turned out better than the fighter. 

Hey Cliff, it has come out really well, you have a great looking Spitfire there! Nice work on the base and the pilot is looking great too.  But i know what you mean, there are sometimes that you just want that kit off the bench and into the deep recesses of a shelf somewhere. Hope I do mine as well when the time comes.

And as 68GT says, still plenty of time to go, this GB goes till end of March 22, and that's just for sign ups...

And you get a motor with the ICM spitfire too, nice. But as you say, not much point continuing until you locate the top wing, the model won't look so good without it.

Cliff I can tell you're disappointed but I think it looks better than you realize. If you need a fresh canopy I have an extra bubble canopy with an unused mask. It's your's my friend just let me know and I will mail it to you.

I understand that feeling of wanting a project done and off your bench. I felt that way on my Spitfire Mk. II and the Matador, but remember you talked me into repainting them and as you saw they turned out fine, not perfect but good enough to keep.

Harold

Thanks guys!!! 

Just kinda bummed the camo came out great, I was really really happy with it. And then the thing sorta went all pear-shaped at the end. I've still got the other two sets of decals and a couple of other Spitfire Mk IX kits in the stash so I'll take what I learned here and do another Aussie Spit sometime in the future. 

Thanks for the offer of the canopy Harold, but it's okay. I'm going to dig out a few spare ones and experiment trying to figure out what happened here. The canopy of the Bf-109 I did for Bish's other GB I did the same way and it turned out fine. What's going on here I really dunno. 

68GT I really hope you keep going here, I really want to see how she's going to turn out in the end. 

Gamera - looks like a pretty decent Spitfire from here. If you hadn't mentioned the canopy I wouldn't have spent several minutes staring at the photos trying to figure out what wasn't quite right...

Have been on something of a charge (for me, anyway) with the Catalina. Obligatory box shot, showing the emergency tools bought whilst between houses. (The Revell Contacta Special was the only glue they had in the shop and I should have had my glasses with me, as it's most definitely not for basic assembly!)

The plan is to model this as A24-104 in it's WW2 Air Sea Rescue days. There's a dearth of 1/72 RAAF Catalina decals out there, and the ones I've got for this aircraft are from it's post-war years as a JATO experiment and Antarctic base resupplier; hopefully I can juggle the decals and paint scheme to produce something roughly representative.

Fuselage halves are about ready for joining. Mostly out of the box, although I've added the suggestion of some structure in the rear and a scratchbuilt ammo box for the gun positions.

Not quite sure that the interior colour is entirely accurate, as it's the same mix I've used for the Mosquito, not adjusted for scale and looks a little bit dark. However, I did find an old FSM article that suggests that US aircraft interior colours were pretty much a free-for-all in the early years of WW2, and the US navy preferred a darker green interior. Add the purchase and repainting of this aircraft for the RAAF, plus wear and tear and I think I can about justify it :)

Darren: Thanks! I love that Cat, I've never modeled one of those but it's a neat looking bird. I have no idea about the interior, only that considering it won't be that visible so I'm not sure I'd knock myself out about it.

darrenshinn

Gamera - looks like a pretty decent Spitfire from here. If you hadn't mentioned the canopy I wouldn't have spent several minutes staring at the photos trying to figure out what wasn't quite right...

Have been on something of a charge (for me, anyway) with the Catalina. Obligatory box shot, showing the emergency tools bought whilst between houses. (The Revell Contacta Special was the only glue they had in the shop and I should have had my glasses with me, as it's most definitely not for basic assembly!)

The plan is to model this as A24-104 in it's WW2 Air Sea Rescue days. There's a dearth of 1/72 RAAF Catalina decals out there, and the ones I've got for this aircraft are from it's post-war years as a JATO experiment and Antarctic base resupplier; hopefully I can juggle the decals and paint scheme to produce something roughly representative.

Fuselage halves are about ready for joining. Mostly out of the box, although I've added the suggestion of some structure in the rear and a scratchbuilt ammo box for the gun positions.

Not quite sure that the interior colour is entirely accurate, as it's the same mix I've used for the Mosquito, not adjusted for scale and looks a little bit dark. However, I did find an old FSM article that suggests that US aircraft interior colours were pretty much a free-for-all in the early years of WW2, and the US navy preferred a darker green interior. Add the purchase and repainting of this aircraft for the RAAF, plus wear and tear and I think I can about justify it :)

 

My PBY is 1/48 scale and a prewar variant. Jack has discovered a conversion kit that takes Revell or Monogram PBY-5 (no landing gear - 5A had landing gear) back to PBY-2, 3, or 4. My father worked on Navy PBYs at Sand Point and North Island Naval Air Stations before the war and his sister worked on them during the war at Norfolk Naval Air Station in Virginia.

Harold

I have just started assembly of the Eduard brass and resin cockpit and it is very nice. The resin parts are the best I have ever seen. They are clean, perfectly formed, and easy to cut from the sprue. I used the Eduard preprinted, photo-etched instrument panel and seatbelts in my last model and they are better than anything I could do with paint and decals.

Harold

Hi Darren, good to see the Cat off to a start. I think you are spot on with the highly variable interior green. Not sure if the following would help - a decal sheet for the Black Cat RAAF squadron (and a silver postwar bird too) from ronin decals.It came with an Academy Cat, but I used other decals to do a postwar Sunbird Services airliner.

If you want it PM me and I will post it over.

Harold, great to see you modelling something with a family connection. I have made and presented a couple of models and it is great to see their reactions.

And I am interested to see how the cockpit goes - I have the same in 1/72, just not sure if it will shoehorn into a Jays models short run kit.

Buffalo under paint:  Buffalo_1Jan22 by Patrick Nevin, on Flickr

Gamera. A mighty fine work on the spitfire and the pilot is ready for a bar fight. lol.

Darren. nice start on the PBY.

Harold. complex cockpit.

Patrick. Looks very good so far.

I really for the life of me can't figure where that wing section went.  I do have a IX by ICM and that wing casting looks to be the same.  I'll just have to keep an eye out so it can go in the IX box.

I feel your pain GT. I miss placed the center top section of a mig 21mf canablized another mig 21 kit then I found the missing part in my dogs bed all chewed up lol..

Thanks Nick! I did think the pilot had a Popeye thing going on with his arms, I wouldn't want to arm wrestle him.

Harold, Darren, Patrick, and 68GT: Those look great guys, keep the photos coming!!!

68GT: Good luck finding the missing wing section. I've misplaced stuff enough I know exactly how it feels.

68GT, great that you have a spare, hope you find the original piece before the Mk IX comes around.

Cliff, that's just how tough all us Aussie blokes look...

Patrick, good to see the colours going down.

Got a bit more done on the Beaufighter. Added PE parts to the tail for the protective wires.

Next I got the winch body dry fitted ready for after the painting.

A bit more work has got the wings closed up, the resin replacement intakes on, the rear lights blanked over. The Sperry autopilot is on the nose, reshaped and faired in a bit.

lostagain

Got a bit more done on the Beaufighter. Added PE parts to the tail for the protective wires.

Next I got the winch body dry fitted ready for after the painting.

A bit more work has got the wings closed up, the resin replacement intakes on, the rear lights blanked over. The Sperry autopilot is on the nose, reshaped and faired in a bit.

 

Harold

Hi Harold,

The protecive wires are an addition for the target towing version. It was to stop the target cable getting tangled around and damaging the tail.

lostagain

Hi Harold,

The protecive wires are an addition for the target towing version. It was to stop the target cable getting tangled around and damaging the tail.

 

Hi Harold - the PBY-5A is Plan B for the group build, when it became obvious that a nunber of things were going to stop the Mosquito ever getting done in time (still doing it as an Aussie Mossie, so it'll get attached to this GB "eventually"). I like the family history that goes with your planned model as well.

Lost - I'll keep you posted on whether I need the decals, should hopefully have enough already. I've done some research on the paint colours and markings, which is to say I stared at the internet for a while over the weekend. The only thing I can say with certainty is that no-one knows for sure what any of these aircraft looked like in the field, but everyone's pretty certain they had roundels with dark blue edges. Slightly annoying in some ways, but does give a lot of latitude to the final paint scheme...

darrenshinn

Hi Harold - the PBY-5A is Plan B for the group build, when it became obvious that a nunber of things were going to stop the Mosquito ever getting done in time (still doing it as an Aussie Mossie, so it'll get attached to this GB "eventually"). I like the family history that goes with your planned model as well.

I made some progress with the Eduard Brassin Spitfire cockpit today. The assembly will go a lot quicker now that I have a few major pieces together.

Harold

Very nice instrument panel, sir...

Fantastic work all round folks. Gam I think your Spit is awesome. If you want to see a dud model of one, wait untill I post mine. Aircraft are not my speciality!!! Getting back into it today, so hopefully I will have more pics soon.

Piers: Interesting. I didn't know about the protective stuff either. 

Dodgy: Thanks! I'm sure she'll look great! 

Harold: Love the cockpit, the PE looks really good! 

Harold, that is some detail, hope my 1/72 one is half as good.

Dodgy, sure it will be good,

Patrick N

Very nice instrument panel, sir...

 

You can purchase the kit for an Eduard or Tamiya 1/48 Spitfire, and they offer a few other instrument panels as well. These are kit upgrade for about $12.00 to $15.00 USD and some of the dealers are selling them, but you can also order direct from Eduard.

https://www.eduard.com/eduard/photo-etched-parts/zoom-set/aircraft/1-48/spitfire-mk-i-1-48-1-1.html

Harold

The Beaufighter continues on. The last pieces are added with the canopies masked and everything in place. I sould not have put the undercarriage inserts into the nacelles this early; leave them out and add the whole unit later as per tamiya's instructions.

I have started the painting - I have realised I forgot to paint the canopy framing before spraying the white primer. This model is bigger than I am used to - I have used a full rattle can of white primer. I got this far through with the yellow before i had to stop, there was some gunge on the model and the airbrush started to spit condensation. The gear doors at the bottom of the picture are what the colour will be once I have cleaned it up and given it a second coat.

 This is going to be very yellow...

Piers: Ahhhhhh that looks so good in the first photo.

Then I scroll down and almost had a heart attack. I... hate... yellow... But you've done a beautiful job with it! Hope the stars continue to align - good luck and God bless you sir!!!

That Spitfire and base looks fantastic Cliff. Really liked the grass effect and the weathering on the model.

Thats a really nice Beaufighter Piers, great work.

I've done the conversion on my P-40E. It's really a matter of changing some panel lines and spent shell ejection chutes,  and modifying the 'bumps' under the gun mounts on the lower wing, as well as deleting a gun from each wing.

The Academy P-40 kits have a couple of problems. The spinner is too bulbous, and the canopy is the wrong shape. I'll be using a resin copy of a Hasegawa spinner that I've madet, and a Hasegawa canopy for this. I have vacform canopies for when I get around to building my Hasegawa P-40 kits anyway.

Cheers

Tony

Tony, good start. is the Hasegawa your choice for the 1/72 P 40's? Any recommendations for 1/48 ? Most of yours I have seen have been 1/72

Cliff, you may want to look away now, it's getting yellower... I have gone through two jars of Gunze 329 and will have to head back to the LHS...