ALL SUBJECTS - Aussie Group build (ends 10/31/04)

G'day Bob,

Your welcome with the photo, I put my bit in on the reverse build and I'm an ex ground pounder jockey. I found a couple of shots of HMAS Brisbane if your interested.

Rob.

Thanks for that Rob.

So, you are ex Cav. Good to know you! The shots of HMAS Brisbane would be much appreciated.

Thanks also for the tip on Hobby HQ - have not looked there before but I certainly will now. I am on the Gold Coast and the LHS scene is pretty dim here so I finding more and more the need to resort to mail order. Trouble is it adds about 10 bucks to a kit for postage. Don't get me wrong, I'm not tight but I'd rather put the 10bucks into extra details for the kit or the next kit. Don't guess I have too much of a choice though.

Thanks again Rob!

Bob

G'day again Bob,

I understand what your sayingabout the LHS, I have a mate in Gympie, when I worked at Vic Hobby Centre, if he phoned me with his order's I used to give him my staff discount. When I take over the shop I'm waiting on, I've bourght this up with the other 2 'Pirates', we'll get around it.
The shots of HMAS Brisbane one's B&W about A4 the other is in colour and about A5, I'll email em to you.

Rob.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bob Raymount G'day all. Well....here are the pics I promised of my 1/48 MKV1 Mossie. This particular bird 'Chief Sitting Bull' was based with 1 Squadron RAAF, Labuan, Borneo in August 1945 and was mainly deployed in ground strafing operations. It is finished in Tamiya gloss aluminium and Aeromaster Decals set 48-553. It was only after I completed the kit that I located a photo of this actual plane in Borneo but it shows the markings as BONA as opposed to the LONA decals that come with the Aeromaster set. Aeromaster quote their reference as RAAF Camouflage and Markings 1939-45, Vol 2 by Geoffrey Pentland, Kookaburra Technical Publications Pty Ltd. Anyway, the Aeromaster Decals are excellent again and I now have another 3 sets for British Mossies - might have to build a few more! Overall, the Tamiya kit was excellent to build and I am pretty happy with the result bearing in mind that it is only my third model for about 20 odd years. I didn't attempt any weathering exercises on the Mossie - I would rather it look pristine than wreck it with a bodgy weathering job. Weathering will come as I get a few more kits under the belt. I have learnt that I need to pay more attention to seams and concentrate a bit more on filling and sanding. Thanks for everyone's help with all my questions. Regards, Bob PS. One more question...can somebody please tell me what I have to add to the URL to center my pics on the page? Thanks!

Nice job on the Mossie Bob the NMF came out looking great.
Both my Spits are nearing the painting stage i'll stick up a couple of pics after i preshade them but for now it's back to sanding,more so on the Hasegawa Spit 8 the parts fit wasn't as good as the Tamiya Spit 1,but still i only had to use filler on it's wingroots.

Well there's alot of nice pics on this page,and i have a Question about the P51 CVP built by Dave,i have a decal sheet for what appears to be the same unit based in Italy 1945 but the roundels are the Aussie blue and white not the British style and the finish is NMF,the serial no's are KH616 and KH716.
Thanks J.S.

Rob, thanks very much for the shots of HMAS Brisbane - they are excellent! I particularly like the black and white shot! All you have to do is replace the 39 with a 38 and you have the Perth (the second love of my life after the wife of course!).

Thanks for the comments on the Mossie Julian, much appreciated. I have a bloke going to do a job in Kingston on Tuesday - I will get him to drop the bottle of Pledge off at your place on the way through. He'll leave it in a prominent position somewhere if that is ok with you.

Well, it's the long weekend! Though I am working from home all weekend I am going to find time to do some more work on the Merkava tank and get a few airbrush lessons in. Have fun everyone!

Bob

Bob, I can get my contact to get some shots of HMAS Perth if you like, yes I chipped in on the reverse build, I'd like to submit my Centurion Mk V and M113A1 FSV into that build, so far you and I are the only 2 from here that have joined in.

Rob.

G'Day Rob,

A couple of pics of HMAS Perth along the same vein as the HMAS Brisbane shots would be great but don't go to too much trouble!

Hopfully there will be more interest in the reverse build when a list of participants is posted in the Aircraft Forum. I have put my hand up for the M1A2 Abrams but I also saw the Academy IDF M113 Fitter kit at the LHS the other day which can be choice made to Aussie or Israeli versions so I might do it as well. Have you had any experience with this particular kit Rob?

Bob

G'day Bob,

Yeh that Acedamy M113 Fiter's Track will build the Aussie version straight from the box, their one of the best M113 kit brands on the market, they have an option of seperate track links or the rubber band type. I don't know about the kit having Aussie markings or not. With the photo's of HMAS Perth, my contact has got to get me some aircraft photo's for a couple of the other's with their subjects in the GB so it is no trouble to add a few more.

Rob.

Thanks for that Rob.

By the way, had a look at your workbench pics over in that forum. Looks like you could set up a shop in your own Unit!!! Nice setup and nice stash! I myself have five kits in my stash and one that I am working on (the Merkava). I may, however, add another kit to the stash today (the M113). Have a great day.

Bob

Thanks for that Rob.

By the way, had a look at your workbench pics over in that forum. Looks like you could set up a shop in your own Unit!!! Nice setup and nice stash! I myself have five kits in my stash and one that I am working on (the Merkava). I may, however, add another kit to the stash today (the M113). Have a great day.

Bob

G'day Bob,

Thanks, yes gets to be a shop at times, there are some interesting kits behind the door, it keeps them out of the way, especialy when clients call round to pick up their made up models. I'll track down some photo's of the Fitter's Track for you. Changing the subject, the QMHE people have been in touch with me about putting my stuff on their web page, I've got to get back to them later today. As I'll be at their Model Expo.

Rob.

Bob,

This the Bradley you're doing, or is it the earlier model.

This is the upgraded Tamiya kit, with the Iraqi Freedom unit's as one of it's or a NATO cammo job.

Rob.

G'day Rob,

The Bradley I am doing is the version prior to yours (not the ODS). Another excellent job you have done there mate!!!

Bob

wow nice bradley - i've neva done armor - if i ever do, I would like to do somethin distinctly australian

Luke,

You ever get around to building Aussie Armour, Academy have two kits on the market one will build the Aussie M 113 APC's kit #1389 and the other is the Fitter's Track. AFV Club have the M 113 FSV and later this year they are releasing the Aussie Mk V Centurion. Heller make a Leopard A4, that will do an Aussie version. The M 1 Abrams which is the latest acusision, by Australia as a Leopard replacement there are several kits of that on the market.

Rob.

Trev,


Is this the kit your trying to convert

T50 turret sitting on hull roof.

The Firestorm conversion has a few bits missing to make the Vietnam era APC, the T50 turret shown here and a V6 Detriot engine are surplus to me, if you wish to make the above kit into an Aussie one let me know.

Rob.

Picked up the Academy M113 Fitter today (suprise, suprise!) Rob, for $49.99. Think I might do it in the Israeli version to go with my Merkava.

Bob

Here are some shots of two of my (many) in-progress acft, a Mosquito FB40 and a C-47. The mosquito interior looks odd as it is done in (hopefully) RAAF interior green. I have just started on the cockpit of the Mosquito and intend to weather it and put in some wiring. The C-47 is getting closer to finished, it just requires weathering and the attachment of the last few bits and pieces.

Dave,

Nice builds you have there, the RAAF interior green seems a bit bright, grass green Humbrol #80 is the closest match, the C-47 A65-120 should have a US Green 42 covering on the leading and trailing edges of the wings, tailpalne and fuselage and a civil registration of VH-RGH on the rudder, [all Allied cargo aicraft opperated with them], as a hospital ship it was one of the first converted to such, but crashed about a year after the war. Are the decals the Roo Decals for the C-47 Dakota.

Rob.

Rob,

with the interior green, I thought the same until I saw a rebuilt Hudson and the interior colour used. I intend to give the interior a coat of matt varnish when I have completed inside so it should tone it down a bit. But I will try Humbrol 80 on the next kit I do needing the RAAF interior green.

The C-47 suffered from a bit of shattered decals :( the decal sheet had the tail codes but one of them shattered way too much for repairing. So making a 'command' decision I figured it would survive without it until I can find replacement markings. I was wondering about the US Green markings on the edges but I have only the Instruction sheet as a colour reference which only shows overall Olive Drab. Do you have any good photos of the scheme? I would like to fix up that little technical error so any help would be appreciated.

Dave,

I reckon that you've captured the green shade quite well on the Mossie, it looks like a good match to the samples I picked up when I worked at CAC.

Let me have a look thru my Dakota pics to see if I can find the Meduim Green 42 splotches - my Dad helped crew these a/c for their POW repatriation flights.

A few other trivial comments about some of the aircraft on the group build:

- RAAF Bostons. The first 22 Bostons were ex NEI a/c, and as such were neither RAF Boston IIIs or USAAC A20As. Describing them as DB7Bs (the Douglas Desigation) helps differentiate them from the later A20As suppled to 22 Sqn.

- RAAF Beau 21s and rocket rails. There are semi-decent pics of A8-186 on the AWM photographic database, which show this a/c fitter with bomb racks rather than rocket rails. This doesn't mean that it wasn't later fitted with rocket rails, but there are no photos to show this. The "zero length" stubs as fitter to the AARG Beau were introduced somewhere in the 200 series of serial, earlier rocket armed aircraft had the RAF style blast plates and rails fitted - photos again on the AWM database as well as Stewart Wilson & Pentland books.

- Saw mention of a WW2 museum in Western Victoria, very interested in further details?

Some really nice models here, it'd be great to see 'em over on the "Aussie Modeller" site.

to FSM Dave!

Dave,

Something like this for the US Green 42, the decals if you can track a set down, cover them in a clear coat while still on the paper to stop the grenading effect. Roo decals had a major problem with their decal paper for the Dakota decals.

Rob.

Dave Edwards,

I'm the guilty one with the World War II Museum in Western Victoria, I'm their contracted model builder.

Rob.

Guys, as another alternative match to RAAF Cockpit Green a good match may be Gunze H26 Bright Green. In his book "The Modellers Guide to the RAAF Mustang", Gary Byke recommends this as a very close match under a coat of Matt clear. The book also comes with a colour chip of RAAF Cockpit Green for matching purposes. I haven't tried the Gunze colour but there you have another alternative.

Cheers....Snowy

Guy's,

The candie apple green for the CAC Mustang was a different colour to the interior green used on the Mosquito, Gary Byke in his books follow the samples given him by Dick Hourigan and Peter Malone. Ian Baker does a set of colouring books for RAAF service aircraft of WW II which have all the paint chipps in them.

The Mosquito aircraft first supplied by Britian to the RAAFwere finished in the temperate European land scheme cammo, but in tropical conditions the timber veneer on the Mosqito [whichused a Formelderhyde based glue] seperated until the so called Aluminium dope was applied, which was an oxide base or 'Rocket Fuel' over the canvas.

Rob.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Lobbie Dave Edwards, I'm the guilty one with the World War II Museum in Western Victoria, I'm their contracted model builder. Rob.

More info? Western Vic is a big slab of the state....

Dave Edwards,

Where are you located, the WW II museum is in the old Water Tower in Portland.

Rob.

this is my 300th post - gee a long time coming (esp since I joined in 2002 )

I've finally decided my entry for this GB. After all the debate on past nominations, I have decided (and bought) Heller's 48th Mirage & Roodecals. I'm planing an ARDU bird int Fanta Can Scheme, so any info would be greatly appreciated (thanks Rob for your help so far). I've ordered spare decals from Hawkeye Aust, and I'm waiting on resin conversion bits from Sandle Hobbies.