Thanks for all the good wishes for Jill folks. Much appreciated.

Ferg, sorry to hear about your missus, hope she is getting better. The aluminium, that was too rough - I had not prepared it well enough. So sand it back down and try again.

Harold, the Cat is looking superb. Great masking on all the glasswork, and super work on the camo

Cliff, it looks like the gloss coat has done it's trick. I have been using Vallejo Metal varnish - sems to work well. Now to get an acrylic flat coat where i can get a consistent result.

darrenshinn

That's a very nice Catalina there, Harold. And thanks for posting the link to the Vallejo varnish instructions - I've had some very odd results previously with their gloss varnish, which now look to be entirely "operator error" (as usual!)

Dodgy - hope Mrs Dodgy is feeling better soon.Also hope that none of you guys down under are caught up in the flooding round Sydney.

 

 

Harold

That's a very nice Catalina there, Harold. And thanks for posting the link to the Vallejo varnish instructions - I've had some very odd results previously with their gloss varnish, which now look to be entirely "operator error" (as usual!)

Dodgy - hope Mrs Dodgy is feeling better soon.Also hope that none of you guys down under are caught up in the flooding round Sydney.

Wow Harold, that is one good looking model.

She looks fantastic Harold! Looking forward to seeing you get the rest of the camo painted. 

It's been a while since I posted a progress report and as you can see, I have completed the hull camouflage painting, decals, canopies and started on the parasol wing. Most of the wing assembly is done and the primer is dry, so I'm ready to start camouflage painting. The top surface of the wing will be done in the RAF Temperate Sea Scheme (TSS) like the hull, the lower surface including the floats will be the RAF Sky colour.

If you recall this model is meant to represent RAAF PBY Catalina A24-17 at the time it was assigned to 20 Squadron in 1942. It remained in TSS camouflage until early 1943. 20 Squadron had bases in New Guinea, Queensland, and the Northern Territory. The RAAF Catalina's primary purpose was search-and-rescue, mine-laying, anti-submarine and bombing missions against Japanese targets in the Pacific Theater.

A24-17 is believed to be the first Catalina to be repainted in the new RAAF dark blue camouflage. During its first year in service A24-17 saw heavy combat action including being accidentally attacked by a US Navy fighter aircraft. This event is what prompted the RAAF to change the red wing roundel colour to white.

Harold

Today is Independence Day in America, 4th of July and I believe it's important to remember what that means to our citizens. We celebrate by raising our flag, gathering with friends and family, watching fireworks, cooking hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill, and giving thanks to God.

For those of us who love freedom independence means sacrifice and responsibility. You have heard it said that freedom is not free it will cost you everything you have. Those words are true, many have paid for our freedom with their life.

The picture below is a dedication of our Veteran's memorial performed by the local Scout troop. Most of the adult men and women in the photograph are combat veterans and their wives or husbands.

Harold

Dodgy

Hi fellas, sorry but I have been absent due to some health issues for my wife and troubles with my internet connection.

Harold: Your cat is looking superb!

Piers: The Winjeel looks fantastic. What happened with the silver??

Bob: Definately looking forward to seeing more of your P40.

Cheers

Dodgy/Ferg

 

Harold

It's good to see you back Ferg, I hope your wife is much better!

Hi fellas, sorry but I have been absent due to some health issues for my wife and troubles with my internet connection.

Harold: Your cat is looking superb!

Piers: The Winjeel looks fantastic. What happened with the silver??

Bob: Definately looking forward to seeing more of your P40.

Cheers

Dodgy/Ferg

Piers: That looks amazing! I hope the gloss coat made the masking vanish, I'd hate to see you have to sand the orange and respray it again. 

And now the matt black is on and the masking is off. I must have masked the orange too soon as it is marked up where the tape is. Let's see what it is like under a coat of gloss clear when I can get to it on the weekend.

Sounds good Bob, looking forward to seeing it.

I have got the aluminium better the next time round

Piers-great job on the masking & Day-Glo orange-really stands out.

Bummer about the aluminium-but it's gonna be a stunning build when complete.

My P-40E is sitting at the 85% complete phase-canopy painted but masks not pulled off yet-undercarriage bits painted but not installed.  Probably needs a oil dot wash for a little wear & tear followed by panel line wash-just gotta make my self do it.

Dang! And she was looking sooooooo good, best 'o luck with the repainting.

Thanks Cliff, I thought I was getting closer, masked up and laid down the aluminium, but I was not happy, so had to sand it back down.

Looking forward to seeing how the other builds are going

Piers: So happy to see your victory over those bleeping pin holes. Hate those darn things. Love the Day-Glo orange! She's gonna be a real eye-catcher!!! 

I got the pinholes filled and a couple of spots sanded down. Then another coat of white primer. Let it set for several days before masking. Three hours of playing with tamiya tape got me to this point:

Then building up the Gunze H14 orange to get good coverage and gloss. Four coats all up got me to here. Reading other builds, some people added a touch of brown to dull it down, others added fluoro orange to jazz it up a bit. Next will be the masking for the painted silver surfaces.

Finally a bit of white on the Winjeel. I have used Tamiya white primer spray can as it covers so well. After letting it set for a few days I have had a look at it and there are more pinholes around the wing fillets and leading edge that need to be filled. So filler is in and drying overnight before a hopefully final white coat.

Harold, that is a super look on the Catalina fuselage. You have done well getting the flat finish there, I will go through the link you posted too as I always get such varied results when varnishing - matt or gloss.

Not surprised you are really really happy with the finish on the Catalina, great work.

Bob: I'm looking forward to more of the P-40. Hope you have some more photos soon.

Harold-thank you for the link for the Vallejo article-it was very informative and will be helpful for future projects.  With the demise of Testor's Model Master acrylic, I've used Vallejo and am happy with the results but I will start looking on their website for articles like the one you referenced.

Again, thank you.

Bob

bobbaily

Piers-I feel your pain-seems that I see more things that need to be fixed after each coat of primer-looking forward to seeing future pics.

Harold-I have to agree with Gamera-The Cat looks great!  Really can't add any more than that.

The P-40 is sitting on the back burner-sprayed a coat of Vallejo Matt Varnish and have to say I was pleased with the results.  I need to finish up another project and then get back to the Kittyhawk-maybe by the end of this weekend?

Cheers

 

Bob, I use Vallejo acrylic varnish too. Recently I found a great article which you may have already seen, but just in case here it is mate. https://acrylicosvallejo.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/vallejo-stepbystep-using-vallejo-varnishes-EN.pdf

Harold

Piers-I feel your pain-seems that I see more things that need to be fixed after each coat of primer-looking forward to seeing future pics.

Harold-I have to agree with Gamera-The Cat looks great!  Really can't add any more than that.

The P-40 is sitting on the back burner-sprayed a coat of Vallejo Matt Varnish and have to say I was pleased with the results.  I need to finish up another project and then get back to the Kittyhawk-maybe by the end of this weekend?

Cheers

Piers: Ack, I hate those awful tiny pinholes. They're such a pain to catch every one.

Harold: Looks great! Always loved the RAF temperate scheme and it looks great on the Cat!

It's been nearly 2 1/2 weeks since my last progress report. The camouflage painting and decals on the hull of A24-17 are completed and there is a coat of varnish on the hull. Canopy masking and wing assembly is in progress.

The camouflage is RAF Temperate Sea Scheme (TSS) this aircraft was delivered to RAAF service with in January 1942. A24-17 would retain the TSS camouflage during combat operations in the South Pacific until soon after its first major overhaul at Lake Boga, Victoria, Australia in August 1942.

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/pacific-strategy-1941-1944

Finally got back to the bench after holidays, Covid and work. After putting on and black basing the canopy, I gave it all a grey primer coat. This showed what a rubbish job I had done filling in the pinholes, so the filler came back out. Plenty more on the underside as well.

There was a bit of filling needed in other places as well, should be dry and ready tomorrow.

Super result on the Spitfire, nice weathering very suitable for a plane flying in the pacific off the rough runways there. Good to know that you have not been scared off the planes by this one.

Harold,

I didn’t think the paintwork could be improved, looking very sharp.

I like your musings, modelling definitely is a bit of both, on the one hand working solitary on the models – which I find to be quite meditative as I focus on the model and forget about work frustrations, and on the other hand the social side online of seeing what every one else is doing, picking up ideas and tips and being inspired to push ourselves further.

Thanks Bob for the close-up. That's some cool nose art!