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

I'll try to work on it today, but the new episode of 24 will probably keep me glued to the TV. woohoo, that's 1002 posts!!

Sean, you might try going to a sewing shop and ask if they have "invisible thread" It's clear polyester and it is the thinnest thread I have ever seen... smaller than my stainless wire I usually use for antennas... bonus is like ricks fishing line, a little heat will snug it right up!!!

No prob on the future, make sure you mix it with something first because drinking it straight always gives me a headache the next day!

Nice looking pit for the Stuka Jules.

That 109, does it have any PE in the pit?
I know the seat belts are PE, but can't quite make out the rest!

Tom, thanks again for your help with the Future mate, it is muchly appreciated by us all.

Hopefully tonight I'll have the 109 finished, just gotta get the antenna on. Jules, I trieed using the EZ line, but it is too big, and looks out of scale for a 1/48 109.
Would be fantastic on a larger subject though.

that looks very nice so far j.s!! as far as my build, it's the weekday again so I won't get any progress done.. wahhh. as for optivisors, I refuse to use any, even when using the tiniest of PE parts. But that's just me...

Oh yeah. toot my own horn time!!!!! Happy 1000 posts to me!!! Yay!!!!! Now I'll go post this on the odds and ends forum before joe gets there. I will have defeated the mighty toastmaster!!!

Jules, the Stuka is looking good.

I have 3 Optivisors, each with a different degree of magnification. Seems like I use the strongest one more & more .

Regards, Rick

Darren - great!!! I was starting to get nervous about it... in afterthought since I sent it USPS the customs info was right on the form I filled out to send it to ya... I guess thats the part that had me worried... The foam board was my idea to have a rigid backdrop for my models... I was always looking for things to prop up the paper background against and due to the height I was always having to modify the shot to get the background at least in the edges of the frame. This is portable as it folds up when done, and the two side panels are removable if I need to get in one side to shoot up close. There is no front which is where most of the shots will be taken from. Also because the model is surrounded even one lamp works pretty good I have found. Cost was about $2.13 US so it wasn't a big thing...

oh and on the canopy thing, I always tack mine on with a few spots of white glue now so it can be removed for flat coating. Walked in those shoes too many times before (removing the masking before flat coating)


Jules - thanks! It did turn out to be a treat, I wasn't expecting the end result to look much different from a Wildcat but it does! It has a lot more "Pizazz" in the FAA markings... really brings a sleeker look to it than its American brother.

Like the Stuka! The cockpit looks nice!! seems there is just enough detail to make the interior look realistic. I never like a cockpit that was TOO busy, although they were in real life at the smaller scale it tends to make it look too crowded due to space limitations..

Bob - understand about the reading glass thing. I have a visor with 3 different lenses to do my work with, all the way from 1.5x to 3x magnification. I couldn't live without it now!! Good going on the 111... can't wait to see your progress!

Got the greenhouse 're-masked' and applied some flat black acrylic by brush last night. Hopefully get to peel the mask off this evening (valentine dinner with the wife, you know...nudge, nudge, wink, wink...). Also discovered that detail work late in the day requires the Walmart reading glasses....don't see how folks do the 1/72nd thing...

Ok Fellas here are a couple of progress pics............





I wasn't that impressed with the job i did on this pit especially with the amount of PE that went into it but i guess it isn't too bad.......

Here is one for Tweets, i wasn't sure where to post this so i just figured i'd stick it here
It's that red nosed 109 F

No worries Darren Thanks mate........
BTW how are you going with that Spitfire I've just taken some shots of the Stuka's Pit before i joined the fues halves together, once i get to this stage i pick up the pace a little so i should be finished within 2 or 3 weeks............

It's cool Jules, I got your emails

I'll try and post the suff off in teh next couple of days.

Cheers
Darren

Tom love the Martlett mate a very unusual machine, good choice of build

Darren I recieved both of your Emails and i replied to both as well, didn't you get my emailsI'll send you one now...
OK i just sent you one mate can you let us know whether you recieved it or not

Darren That would be great. Thanks very much for offering. I'll send you an email with my adress. Just let me know if you want anything in return. Thanks mate.

Thanks for the kind words on the 109 guys, I appreciate it. I actually did a satin finish on it because captain stupid removed the canopy masking before flat coating canopy. I couldn't have a satin finished canopy with a matt aircraft, well you know the rest...

Tom, IT"S HERE!!!!!!!. I just got a call from my wife who said the parcel has arrived. Also love the Martlet, it has turned out an absolute treat, I really looking forward to seeing the final shots. Tell me though, exactly what is the foam board and a photo box all about? I am like Tweets, I just use a piece of blue cardboard as backing to cover my incredibly messy workbench.

Daniel, check out the following link http://www.eaglestrikeproductions.com/cgi-bin/amddecals.pl?scale=48&setid=680&dbs=aeromaster&pgs=2&currpg=1&dclimg=ad48680
This is the decal sheet I am working off for my Spitfire and if you want you can have WQJ as I have that one spare

Tweety, Can you send me an e-mail to confirm your postal address please.

Jules, I have sent you a couple of e-mails over the last few days, did you receive them? Also, Can you send me to confirm how long you are at your current address?

Cheers
Darren

Tanky - and you doubted the 155 would? nice airbrush huh???

Tweety - yeah I bought two pieces of foam core poster board, cut them into sections and have a 2 or 3 sided (depending on my needs) box with the front always open to put my plane in... it really help get the light to diminish shadows... also I never have to hunt for an angle where the house doesn't show too much in the back ground (distracting) (P.S. Kremps helped me with it... she even gave me some tips on proper lighting!)

Dave - yeah was playing around with a filter called "mirage" and kind of like the effect it gave, might play with it some more and see if I can try to get the bottom to look like pavement with the heat shine to it...

Rick - agreed! this one is awesome, the Sony DSCF-828, a real jewel! But normally I do nature and outdoor photography, shooting at full zoom for an oddly colored woodpecker is my normal... snapping pics 6 inches from my subject, wide open and no flash is kinda strange still...

Daniel - I still plan to build another SBD n RNZAF colors one day... if I have to I am going to reduce the pic of the stomach holding the beer and whiskey bottles and print it on Testors...

Sounds like some good progress is being made here. I probably won't start my spit for a few weeks yet.

Tom The martlet looks great. Something different to the normal USN schemes. Thanks for the pics.

so I got the bottom color sprayed on my do-17. This has led me to believe that the 155 atomizes spray better than an aztek. Got a really smooth spray.

Nice Tom, very nice indeed!!
But, I expected nothing less!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Photo cube huh?
I just use a piece of flat card, white or blue, and matte in tone to cut out reflections.
Hopefully by Tuesday night I'll have pics of my 109 finished.

Jay: welcome to the digital age. Looking forward to seeing more progress pics from now on.

Tom: That first pic looks like its sitting in a puddle of water. One of your digital experiments? I know what you mean about the learning curve though. One of the happiest days was learning my camera had a light source correction setting. No more having to color correct in photoshop

Bob: After spending most of yesterday trying to get the greenhouse to sit properly I can relate. I had to take it apart and start over. Look forward to seeing some progress pics (gave mine a base coat yesterday) and save that bf109 for either the North Africa group build or for the staffel GB idea later we've been kicking around.

Any new camera comes with a warranty & a learning curve .

Regards, Rick

thanks all.... Not the best build I have done, but definitely one of, if not THE funnest kit/details I have had the pleasure to put together!!

Rick - yeah I know it is... I am playing with my camera trying to even it out.. this new digicam has been a bit of a learning curve for me... there's all these buttons and knobs and settings you can make... moreso than any of the others I have had...

on those, I realized after I posted them I had the autowhite set to flourescent light so it added too much red... gonna reshoot one or two later and if they come out good, post them. this time I gotta remember the little pic of the light bulb is what I need to see in the viewfinder haha...

Tom, excellent build of the Martlett. Looks great, but I think the White Balance on your pics is a little off. I am getting more inspiration everyday.

Course, inspiration doesn't equate to perspiration .

Regards, Rick

[b]Tom[/b} The Martlet looks great, the photo cube makes a big difference. Might have to have a go at one of those myself.

100 round trip complete, I ended up spraying various components of my Ju287 and Do217K, neither of which are for this GB. Still the evening lies ahead, so once I've bathed the kids and been for a run I' ll settle down to a further spot of detail painting.

Karl

Good to see everyone making progress-a lot of good work posted in this forum. I keep fighting the urge to get a bf109 and complete for this build. Only so much time in a day...

Assembled the interior of the He111 last night-either I was having trouble reading (which is possible) or the instructions were less than clear-a lot of second guessing going on. Kinda doesn't matter (other than the fact that I am a perfectionist)-the greenhouse is thick enough to distort any detail present. And the fit is none too good either. Next time I tackle a project like this, I'll complete the interior first, attach the greenhouse and then putty as necessary. Ended up putting some thick super glue in the cracks and will touch-up paint later-which I need to do on the greenhouse anyway. By painting the greenhouse seperate, I have managed to 'mis-match' paint shades. Luckly, I still have the mask sheet, so the masks that I used from the main sheet will provide a nice template to cut the masking tape as needed. Another interesting thing I learned-tried using Testor's 'clear plastic' cement (looks like watered down Elmer's to me) and that was not holding the greenhouse in place. I had read (not sure if it was here or elsewhere) that if the canopy had been Future'd, then it wouldn't fog up if regular cement were used. As frustration set in, I gave it a try and viola, it worked. Ahhh, this is such a learning and growing process.....

Well, I have to go and complete the bi-monthly bill paying rituial and play video games with my son-might get to model at some point today.....

you better get to spraying haha... been hearing all this talk and no sign of you being any closer to done!!

kidding.. looking forward to that 17... hopefully one day they will come out with a good kit of it...

that's very nice. you have inspired me!!!! I am off to spray my do-17!!!

here's just a few whilst I play with my new photo box thingy and some stuff in my editing software:

Tom, really looking forward to pics of the Martlett. Think I may have to try one.

Regards, Rick

well been out and about a bit this weekend so haven't posted much... got some foam board to make a suitable photo cube to get the lighting right on my model pics... going to take better pics of the Martlet today... also a mere smidgeon to finishing on my SBD... just dullcoat and glue the glass and hoisting cable in...

I am modeling it without ordnance with canopy closed, flaps open... as if it were sitting on the tarmac somewhere... Every SBD I have seen so far has been modeled canopy open, dive brakes at full and a full load of ordnance. While I may do one like this with gears up to hang (would make an interesting looking ceiling thingy) I think this would be more appropriate to what you would see at the airfield or on the flight deck after landing etc... I know I know I know a different GB but I like talking with you all a lot better!

Bye for now! going model!!!

Karl, looking forward to seeing your Hurricane. I got the base colors painted on mine, now to do the detail work. Will post some pics in a day or two.

Regards, Rick

Jay, that's a pretty nice bench. The Hurricane is looking good, as is the Tiffie. Thanks for posting the pics. Looks like the new cam will pass muster.

Regards, Rick