AIRCRAFT - Battle of Britain Group Build (Jan 1st 2005 - May 31st 2005)

I said it in the other psot Tanky but I'll say it again here... congradulations on the new camera and great progress on the Do17. Hope you get the paint peel all fixed up.

Darren - personally I would be honored if you headed up the next BoB GB... this was a smash up crew we had here this time.. I must say I found myself wishing the workday would end so I could come home and hear about Kremps latest exploits a lot! (oh yeah... and see the pics of the progress ) (I wish she would come back, this Lunchalot is a total loss!)

Yeah I love this camera, but now you understand the learning curve a little, everything is backwards of the 35mm world... my last camera was a Nikon FM2n 35mm so it has been a little bit of a journey into the digital world... slowly but surely I say! (and I promise I wont call you Shirley again! ) ok sorry, a little "Airplane" comedy...

Whenever you are ready I am ready for the next BoB GB! I just ordered the Grumman F56-M2 Gnu from a site Kremps sent me... she says these were the mainstay back in the big war!

Actually while I am typing, I painted my Typhoon seats tonight and will submit them for you and Rick to evaluate as I think the seat pad was done too red., The first seat I used as a trainer as I have not done the ultracast seats yet... still have the second one for the final one. All the same I don't think I could do a kit without them in the future.. they are top notch!!!

OK Tanky. The Do-17 is coming along well. Congratulations on the new Camera.

Regards, Rick

Tanky - Way to go. Great photos, great build and great table cloth

Cheers
Darren

Tom I like the idea of a reverse BoB GB during the actual battle dates, but not starting till 2006. That would give everybody from 10 July to 31 October, which is plenty of time. I'd be happy to run it if nobody objects we can get enough interest up.
Also, I checked out your camera at Sony's web site and all I can say is WOW nice camera. I have little Sony 3.2MB camera that has served our family fantastically. I think at last count my wife has 5000+ shots in the database on the PC.

Sean As Rick said they cost about $12 US but on the bright side I've got them ready to use again on my next Spit. I've got to admit I was very pleasantly surprised with how the camo masks worked. I followed the instructions and stuck them to the palm of my hand first to remove some of the tackiness and then just put them on and painted. Oh and they peeled off with no residue left or paint lifting either.
If you wanted to soften the edges on your camo all you would have to do is lift the masks off the model with some blu tack blobs.

Cheers
Darren

As long as you don't beat it up like you did the printer.. poor thing, it's probably just misunderstood, not misbehaving...

Looks GREAT Tanky!!! especially being an older kit adds more merit to your work, great jobon those seams... I have built a few older kits and did not enjoy the fill job one bit!!

you might try adding a reading lamp or something close to where you shoot to help the light bring out the pic more... and some light construction paper or even white typeing paper will help bring out detail as well...


BTW: nice job using the press and seal... I have thought about using it as masking but haven't tried it yet!

OH MY GOD IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! REJOICE FOR I HAVE TRIUMPHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE MY NEW DIGITAL CAMERA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK last minuet change: we got a different camera! Still sony, but this one is 5.1 MP!!!!

Well theoretically these should be pictures!!!





My do-17!!! sporting rlmo 70/71 splinter camo. If you look carefully you can see the pee;ling in places. The stuff is glad press and seal, applied so I can respray the peeled areas.

wooHOO!!!!!!!! way to go Tanky, I'll be pulling for ya... BTW: let your mom know to expect a padded envelop addressed to "Mr. Tank Meister VII" ... don't want her to throw it away haha... (didnt know if she knew your screen name) I just took a look at it and it seems to be a great camera! I have the Sony DCSF-828 and love it... except for the Mavicas I like Sony cameras... make sure yall get plenty of memory too... those come with a 32MB memory stick, which at 7.2MP will net you a whopping 9 pics or so... a 256 MB Memory stick runs about 59.99 and will get you about 65 pics on it at full resolution, the 128 MB one will give you 36 or so like a regular roll of film and will run you about 45 dollars... (its worth it to get the 256 one as it is also faster memory which means less time waiting on it to store for the next shot)

Good luck!!!

that would be cool. BTW, keep your fingers crossed guys!!!! If I play my cards right we might be getting another digital camera today!!! A Sony dscp150- 7.2 MP!!!!!!!!!!!

hmmm maybe we could schedule another BoB GB during the original dates that it happened? that's a bit away and would give us room to finish some of the other GB's!

Bob, looking forward to the pics.

Regards, Rick

Tom-Great job on the Martlet. Makes me want to research to find more 'oddities' in the various major battles. Also like the 'inverted' BoB GB for next year. Either that or the folks that did bombers have to do fighters and vice-versa. I've got my heart set on doing a BoB bf109 with a night camo scheme. But I can always add another Spitfire to the mix.

Making progress on the He111-need to attach some minor parts and apply a wash to the landing gear & bombs. Not going to do much weathering-maybe some exhaust. Haven't decided yet. Will wait to post pics until I get out to get a lamp & bulb. Maybe today...maybe not.

Darren, the Spit is looking really good. Nice job of painting.

Mike, you can order the Black Magic masks directly from Cutting Edge @ Meteor Productions site. I think they run about $12.00 USD.

Karl, I don't use Milliput, but have filled the gap using "Porc-A-Filler" with Nail Polish remover, which includes some acetone. Got the primer coat on yesterday & see I need to do a bit more work. Oh Well.....

Regards, Rick

TomThat Martlett truely is impressive mate!!!
Have to build one one day me tinks.
DarrenWhat did those masks set you back??
Am I right in thinking the RAAF demarcation lines were pretty clean??
I'm used to doing German splinter, which had fuzzy edges, so doing a clean edge would be great, and 10 minutes masking would be SENSATIONAL!!!!

Now I realise there are 3 months left in this build, but I am certain that If I order my Defiant, the postage would stuff up, and I'd run out of time to build it.
BUT, when the Nth African build starts, I've already got the 2 kts I plan to build, the PE for one of them, and the decals for both.
This will be a no brainer.
Are there any key dates of combat that we are going for in the Nth Af GB??

QUOTE: Originally posted by madmike Darren they look awesome. Where do I get the masks from. I really do not want to order them from the local hobbyshop and have to wait for ever for them to arrive! cheers Mike

Mike I picked up mine from Great Models http://www.greatmodels.com/ I believe they sell both the Eduard and Cutting Edge masks. For ease of use I would have to give them 10/10 as they make the camo on a Spit a no brainer.

Cheers
Darren

Darren they look awesome. Where do I get the masks from. I really do not want to order them from the local hobbyshop and have to wait for ever for them to arrive!

cheers

Mike

QUOTE: Originally posted by darson Karl, you're Hurricane looks great, what brand of paint are you going to use on it? Sorry but I'm just curious to see what stuff others use. Question, how come you added styrene fillets to the ailerons, weren't they the right length? Also, the shot of the cockpit is a tad blurry, try taking the shot a little further away and then zoom and crop the shot either on the camera or from a software package like Photoshop Elements. Cheers Darren

Darren I'm using Gunze as per usual. These really are the best acrylics IMHO, and the new buffable metallics promise to be good fun. I'll be using those on the undercarriage.

The ailerons were about 1.5mm short when compared to the ones molded onto the kit. Of course I didn't realise this until after I'd cut the first one out. Still styrene, CA and a little sanding have resolved that.

I need to have a play with Photoshop, my other half uses it lots as she's a magazine writer for a couple of craft mags, so I'll just have to pick her brain.

Razor I thought the ailerons would be a cut and fit job, but due to the depth of the wing I had to add a styrene fillet at the front of the aileron cut out, both to provide strength, and as an attachment point for the resin replacements. The edges of the wing also had to be heavily thinned, otherwise you end up with a very noticeable step between the wing and the aileron. This makes it sound like a hassle, but the whole lot, including adding the fillets only took me around an hour.

Rik Are you going to use the Miliput and Acetone trick for the joint between the rear of the wing and the fuselage? I've not used it before, but looking at he shapes involved it looks like it might be the easiest option.

Thanks to everyone else for your encouragement.. Now to take little people to rugby.

Karl

Tom, great job on the Martlet you must be well chuffed with the results and the photos look great too. I have updated you as completed on the front page of the build.

Mike, here are a couple of shots of my Spitfire Mk.II (TAM) that I just finished painting with Cutting Edge masks. They work great and should fit any 1/48 Spit without any problems. The whole aircraft took me about ten minutes to mask and now once finished the masks are back on their backing sheet until next time.





The spinner in the foreground is the Ultracast item that I'm using on this build.
Sorry about the color on the photos but I was in a hurry and didn’t want to waste to much time getting color settings spot on.

Cheers
Darren

Beautiful work Tom - looks absolutely beautiful.

Also, I love your idea for next years BoB GB - I would happily swap ... might have my shelves full of RNZAF linked aircraft by then

Tom: those are some nice photos of a really nice build. Your Photo booth appears to be working well for you.

Karl: Nice progress, other than the fit problem are those resin control surfaces worth the hassel?

I am busy trying to finish my first entry into the SciFi Ground Assault GB, but have got the filler on the fuselage of the Spitfire now. For an old kit, it looks like there is not a great deal of filler to do, although it is early days yet.

Are those Eduard camo masks worth getting at all or would it be a problem getting the fit right as they probably been designed for the excellent Tamiya kit?

cheers

Mike

Nice work Tom

Thad

Thanks Rick! actually I would love if you creatively nit-picked.. seeing some of your work is something to aspire for. I just got back into this this year and have picked back up where I left in no time thanks to all the great people here! I have a long way to go but hanging out here will only be a catalyst for me!!!

---edit---

about the pics... Kremps showed me how to manipulate the color and that has really helped me get better ones.. I think I need to work with the white balance and tomorrow I am going to play with it... problem is it looks ok in the viewfinder once I adjust it, but inevitably they come out red... manipulating the color and hue in my paint program has helped them a LOT!!!

Much better pics Tom. Now I can really nit pic . Just kidding, a very nice build. Great work.

Regards, Rick

I did it masked Daniel... used low tak frisket and blew up the pic in the instructions to scale and had at the sheet with a sharp exacto... the brits used rubber mats to lay down their camo so it was fairly sharp edges. These particular Wildcats came from a shipment destined for the French but diverted after the fall of Paris in the blitzkrieg. Therefore I assumed they had to be hurriedly repainted into FAA camo right away.

Later models of the Martlet came with a hodgepodge of colors and camo methods as they were done in the US factories using Dupont paint at times instead of the RAF colors, and at times freehanded. I want to try one of those later (using US WWII equivalent colors and freehand camo..) just for contrast.

hmmm.. after going back and looking at the pics I am tempted to shoot one more coat of dull on the fuselage sides as they still have a good deal of shine...

edit: here is a decent shot as I was finishing where you can see a little more definition in the color pattern... it's not real noticable to the naked eye or in pictures, I had to enhance the green and blue to get the demarcation to show up...

Karl That's some great looking progress mate. Can't wait to see it finished.

Tom I like your "cross-dressing wildcat" . How'd you do the camo? Freehand or masked? It looks good. Thanks for the pics.

Tanky, a martlet is a cross dressing Wildcat... it likes to wear British clothing... but underneath that Dk Sea Grey and Slate Grey is an F4F....

Nice work!!!!! martlet's look very much like wildcats. Is there a difference? I hope to have the majority of my do-17 done by tuesday so i can take it to the IPMS meeting. They like to see that I've been keeping busy (being the only kid and all). I hope to have it glosscoated by then. I wanted to be further, but because of the paint peeling thing, it's going to set me back.

hmmm... spent the night taped to your forehead... aren't you worried it won't sleep well? We've all been there Tanky... keep up your chin and keep plugging! Actually although feeling your pain, I feel a tad better as I looked at the newly postaged envelope on my cabinet today and realized that was the mail lady passing by... still haven't got the decals off to ya... and to Jules and Sean neither... ::Sigh:: I'm falling down on the job here!!!

here are my two final shots... while not great, and actually I need to trim the antenna a bit as I overshot the mast by a millimeter almost when I glued it. etc... I consider this build done, and a bit dusty already as well as I noticed on a wing after I shot them... also I've posted enough shots of my build... time for Tanky to show us what he's got!!

p.s. I realize the decals aren't on the prop, neither the kit nor the AM set had them on the cards!!! I couldnt believe it... so today I found some in the SBD kit and I am snitching them and will put them on later...







this has been fun, we should do this again next yr... only everyone who did a RAF/FAA craft does a German one and vice versa... just a thought...