80 Years of the Mighty 8th GB

Hey gang, just a quick update on the progress of my Lightning. As of today, it's 99% done. I just need to add the belly's colored formation lights and the gun barrels. I have a set of Master Model brass barrels, but they're the "smooth" jacket type for later Lightning variants. I've ordered the "early" types with the perforated jackets. They should land on my porch by the week's end. Once they're here, it'll be a matter of slappin' 'em on and snappin' some photos! Anyway, as a teaser, here are a couple of shots of where my build stands.

Of course, comments, questions, and criticisms are welcome. 

Cheers!

-O

Very nice, Frank.

Impressive work there frank.

Thanks fearless, sorry about that. Nice work on the Spit.

More progress on the 5th ERS Thunderbolt. I have the Xtracal decal set for this build but I'm trying to paint as much as I can. I finished the underwing insignia yesterday and I think they look terrific! I had to go with Tamiya Flat Blue instead of the Tamiya Royal Blue. The royal blue just didn't work. I'll try to finish the national insignias this weekend. The tough ones will be on the waist with the supercharger vent doors open.

Hey Bish,

I hate to be "that guy," but you misspelled my name in the roster. It's fearlessfarless, not fearlessfairless...

Thanks!

Here is a pic of the progress on the Spitfire:

Going out back to paint the under wing insignia. I'm painting the blue first to try to avoid having a white outline. I tried it out on my paint mule and it seemed to work pretty well spraying the white second. I'm using Tamiya X-3 Royal Blue for the Insignia Blue. The paint color looks dark enough and on the gray and O.D., the blue should appear dark enough to the eye.

O, really like the look of that. Love the finish you guys are getting with the OD.

Nick> That's a nice fortress!  All paint looks good.

Nothing to report on my P-51, just cutting out and sanding parts.

Gary

All the olive drab paint jobs are gonna be sweet! The pre-shading, wear, and weathering really looks good. 

Hey gang, I just wanted to post some proof of progress. I haven't have much bench time as of late, but I have been plugging away at my Lightning. I was able to get it flat-coated and demasked. Unfortunately, I found that there's a small blemish on the interior of the port window. I'm not sure how that got there. I considered pulling the canopy off and seeing if I could fix it, but I didn't want to run the risk of making things worse. I was able to get the Lightning up on her legs. My biggest complaint with Hasegawa's Lightning is the main gear door attachment. It's terrible! Not much left to do. Hopefully, next time I post, I'll be showing photos of my finished build.

Sorry for the quality of the photos. These were snapped in a hurry. I promise to post better photos next time.

As usual, comments, questions, and criticisms welcome. Thanks for looking!

Cheers,

-O

fotofrank

 

 

cbaltrin

Hard to say it looks good at this stage Frank. ... but I am sure it is going to look good!

 

 

fotofrank

More progress on the 5th ERS Thunderbolt

 

 

 

 

Yeah, kinda looks like a bad patchwork quilt. Here is the Thunderbolt with O.D. and Gray paint. I clear coated the airplane with Tamiya X-22 Gloss Clear. I'm going to try to paint everything I can: National insignia, theater markings, invasion stripes, tail number. I've scanned the Xtradecal sheet so I can make stencils with my Silhouette. Stay tuned.

 

Nice work there frank, i was never able to get the hang of pre shading.

fearless, roster updated.

Nick, thats looking great, i really like the effect on the OD. Looks good with decals on.

I have made a start on my Liberator. Will get some pics up next week as not to much progress yet.

Thanks crown . The Fortress is looking marvelous!

P.J.  Good luck with that canopy thing..maybe the 3rd time a charm.

Frank. thats fine work on the P-47.

F.F. Beautifull work on the P-51 and good choice on the Spitfire.

Latest pic on hells angels B-17. The decales on and sealed some drying time and weathering.

Bish

Thanks fearless, and yep, you sure can. And i'll make sure i add it this time.

 

Thanks!

i reckon I'll go with the 1/48 Spitfire from the Eduard "Eagle's Call" boxing:

Specifically Don Gentile's Mk Vb

Thanks fearless, and yep, you sure can. And i'll make sure i add it this time.

Bish

fearless...could you remind me of the kit and scale.

 

fearless, awsome job there, really well done. And got you added to the roster, but could you remind me of the kit and scale.

cb, thank you, not sure how i missed that off. Will catch up on everyone else progress during the weekend.

Frank> Nice work on the Thunderbolt.  The paint work looks great!

Fearlessfarless> That's an outstanding job on the Mustang.  Hope mine turns out as well!

Gary

I usually use Tamiya TS-15, decanted of course. It's close enough for me.  MRP also makes an insignia blue.

fotofrank

What I really need is the correct color blue for the insignia out of the bottle or the correct proportions to mix the blue. The Tamiya Insignia Blue is too light. I guess Google will be my friend again.

cbaltrin

 

 

fotofrank

I've scanned the Xtradecal sheet so I can make stencils with my Silhouette. Stay tuned.

 

 

That looks much better Frank!  I have a svg file I can send you for the National Insignia if you like. just PM me with your email.  A tip for making masks , make sure you make one or more edges of the mask line up with a panel line or trailing wing/stab edge to make alignment/placement easy.   

 

Thanks. I have several files I can use to output the national insignia, so I'm good there. What I really need is the correct color blue for the insignia out of the bottle or the correct proportions to mix the blue. The Tamiya Insignia Blue is too light. I guess Google will be my friend again.

cbaltrin

fearlessfarless,  That's a bang up job you did. Beautiful work!

It's a real shame you are not on the Roster though! 

Hey Bish, you might want to add fearless to the Roster 

 

Thanks for the kind words, and mentioning the roster as well.

fotofrank

I've scanned the Xtradecal sheet so I can make stencils with my Silhouette. Stay tuned.

That looks much better Frank!  I have a svg file I can send you for the National Insignia if you like. just PM me with your email.  A tip for making masks , make sure you make one or more edges of the mask line up with a panel line or trailing wing/stab edge to make alignment/placement easy.   

fearlessfarless,  That's a bang up job you did. Beautiful work!

It's a real shame you are not on the Roster though! 

Hey Bish, you might want to add fearless to the Roster 

Well...she's done!

Final thoughts,

Big Beautiful Doll turned out alright. The cockpit was, EXCELLENT. The glass is super clear. The rivet and panel lines were deep enough for easy panel wash work after the various coats of, primer, paint, clear, etc were added. Otherwise, for the money, I was not impressed with this kit. Don't get me wrong, it's got a lot going for it, window masks, PE, many build options, etc, but I probably should have built the Tamiya. I've heard so much about this Eduard release I wanted to try it. The fit was mostly OK. However, for a new mold from a major manufacture, "mostly OK" ain't gonna cut it. Oh boy, there were sink marks too, 4 pretty bad ones. Also, there were some inexplicable design decisions made. For example, the landing gear was so unnecessarily weak, that sitting on the shelf finished, I wouldn't be surprised if this thing collapses under its own weight. The PE connection points for the drop tanks are super dumb. You need three hands to have a hope getting those things right. The decals have that ridiculous clear film that works "OK" on the large decals, but trying to pull that crap off the relatively thin font of the "Big Beautiful Doll" decals nearly caused me to have to pick another paint scheme. 

So, be aware of what you're getting into with this one. You can build an absolutely gorgeous Mustang, but it's got more warts than it should for the money.

(IMHO) 

cbaltrin

Hard to say it looks good at this stage Frank. ... but I am sure it is going to look good!

 

 

fotofrank

More progress on the 5th ERS Thunderbolt

 

Yeah, kinda looks like a bad patchwork quilt. Here is the Thunderbolt with O.D. and Gray paint. I clear coated the airplane with Tamiya X-22 Gloss Clear. I'm going to try to paint everything I can: National insignia, theater markings, invasion stripes, tail number. I've scanned the Xtradecal sheet so I can make stencils with my Silhouette. Stay tuned.

Hard to say it looks good at this stage Frank. ... but I am sure it is going to look good!

fotofrank

More progress on the 5th ERS Thunderbolt

 

Lightning is looking good oortiz!

More progress on the 5th ERS Thunderbolt. More pre-shading. Since these airplanes were labeled "War Weary" I'm trying to show some real wear and tear. I sure hope it works. I'll shoot some O.D. later today. The underside is already painted. I don't have any Neutral Gray paint, so I mixed 2 parts Tamiya Flat White to 1 part Tamiya RLM Gray. The resulting gray color is a little light but it looks good to my eye.