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

looking good Rick! same cockpit cage as the Typhoon! Seats are a tad different though... I just started my seats on the Typhoon tonight and am already overjoyed at buying the Ultracast seat. It is tons better than PE I think... not so 2D looking...


hmmm... actually a bit more excited about building... I've been in a modeling slump all week and I am thinking Sat will be a good day. I can see the Has cockpits don't look that bad at all!!! (especially with the Ultracast)

Thanks Tom. As you may have guessed, I'm a fan of Ultracast. I much prefer painting to wrestling with PE. Most of the later Hasegawa kits have pretty nice cockpit detail and with careful painting can look good. I build a lot of models & can't afford to put a lot of AM stuff in every one.

Regards, Rick

well I am a newly converted fan... thanks to you and Darren talking about them... just ordered the radiator and dust filter for my desert Typhoon's intake, as well as tires for both it and the Martlet for the N. Africa build, as well as a seat for the Martlet as well.. they had some really nice diamond tread tires for the martlet but they were special order... well as it is a bit off maybe I will go back and order them with the Vallejo paints from Greatmodels...

oh yeah I posted it in the painting section but Color or Eagles paints are available on Greatmodels.com now... they are made for them by Vallejo. They specialize in WWII colors for aircraft... they are also a tad bit toned down to diminish the scale effect of smaller craft... (I did the Martlet here in them and LOOOOOVE them!!)

[:0] I was walking out of the hobby room and happened to have my 1/24 Spit laying on the Futon... I've seen the pic of the Wildcat on the side 1000 times but it just hit me...

I want to build a 1/24 Martlet!!!! those kits are fairly detailed... no idea bout the fit though... anyone build one of the 1/24 Hobby Crafts? or what do yall think about Hobby Craft in General???

The roundels I can get from the Spit AM decals I saw on Squadron, the codes I can either make or find generic for 1/24.. (I think I saw them)

Anyway... it was a religious moment almost... I have a mission!!!

That looks great Rick. The instrument panel looks very realistic. Thanks for sharing.

thanks Daniel.

Tom, I don't know of any 1/24 Wildcats. The Hobby Craft kit is, I think, a rebox of the Trumpeter 1/32 kit.

Regards, Rick

I had to go back and look Rick... it is the 1/32 on the side... all the other pics are the other 1/24 HobbyCraft kits so I assumed this one was.. oh well... a 1/32 Martlet it is then!!! (too bad they dont have it in 1/24 ) those are big kits!!!

QUOTE: Originally posted by jboutin Karl, why cut the ailerons out of the upper wing halves, why not the bottom too. are you going ot reposition them? I just cut the edges in to give them a "separate from the rest of the wing" look.

JayI've already done the lower wing ailerons, that's how I discovered that the Ultracast replacements were 1.5mm too short just need to get around to doing the upper wing panels, as well as removing the elevators from the horizontal stabilisers. The latter will be fun as these are extremely thick!!!

I'm hoping to get all this done this weekend, hopefully allowing for some painting next weekend.

I'm at work so can't see any of the pictures that everyones posted, dreaded red Xs, have to have a good look tonight, especially Riks Hurri cockpit, see if I can't pick up any extra ideas.

Karl

Thad your III is coming along nicelykeep the pics coming.....

Rick Nice job on the pit The instrument panel looks great

Tweetymate i'll have a couple of pics of this Stuka up tommorrow, i just wanna clean the nose up a bit.........I had to order a Scribe from VIC today, for some reason my LHS doesn't carry them, it should be here by the middle of next week so i'm gonna have to busy myself with the little things........

Darren It's here, i got the package in the mail today, i havn't yet had a chance to look at the discs but I'll load them up later tonight.......
Thanks again buddy

Tom How are ya mate i figured seein as though i made comments to all of the above i couldn't leave you out so How are ya mate.........
BTW Not another Martlett / Wildcat, this time a big one, sorry mate but i'm gonna have to give Old Kremps a call againHmmm havn't you ever had the urge to build a nice ME 109G or something

I might have another entry for this GB. I picked up Tamiya's 1/48 BF109-E3 from the local toy store. They had 40% off so I grabbed it while I had the chance. Should look good next to the spitfire when done.

One question though..... What RLM colours were standard for the camo at the time of the BoB? And seeing as though it's an early war 109, would the cockpit be RLM 02? Or would it be the later RLM 66? Thanks in advance.

Sean, I'm not worried about Kremps... see I am making the Martlets for her.. she sells them out in front of the park and thats how she is getting money to eat... Actually I do plan on doing a 109 soon... not sure when with all the other stuff I have going on between real life and group builds...

you ought to stop by the battle of midway GB... same cast of characters pretty much... if you behave yourself I'll even allow a CAC Sabre or 109 in the build... only probs you have to do them in two tone US camo 1942 scheme...

Daniel, the interior would be RLM 02, it's early in the morning and I haven't had coffe but I think the 65 underside and 66/70 uppers would be about right for the splinter camo if you are doing that..

QUOTE: One question though..... What RLM colours were standard for the camo at the time of the BoB? And seeing as though it's an early war 109, would the cockpit be RLM 02? Or would it be the later RLM 66? Thanks in advance.

PintangThe cockpit would definitely have been 02, however camo colours varied greatly using combinations of 65/02/70 &71 though I have also seen reference to 74/75 being used in 1940 as well!

See links below:

http://www.hannants.co.uk/search/?FULL=EAG4866
http://www.hannants.co.uk/search/?FULL=AMD48582

Think good references might be needed on this one.

Karl

Daniel, MOST of the pits were in 02, but it also depends on how much service the a/c did during that time.
The typical 'whatever is lying around' attitude really fits well with 109's, and the camo colours has alot to do with the JG group the a/c served with.
While the RLM had an outlined plan for the splinter schemes, artistic license played a large part.
Best to a little research on the topic.

Well, the PE I ordered for the BoB 109 arrived today, only took 2 1/2 months.
But, I will use it on the Nth African 109!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gotta love the 109's.
So any idea when the Nth African GB starts??????????

Rick, nice cockpit, those ultracast seats are really nice, I wonder if I should try one for my next build, zero or kate, not sure which GB I'll do first (pearl harbour or midway).

I love the show Survivor!
Reason: my wife is a huge fan and she has watched all of them, what it means for me -guaranteed one night a week to work on my builds!!! rock 'n roll!

QUOTE: Originally posted by tweety1 So any idea when the Nth African GB starts??????????

Wedding anniversary coming up in March-something for the wife to buy for me-another model!-Acc. Min. F6F Mustang. (I think).

Start time on the Nth Africian GB is not the problem-it's the end date that could be an issue!. However, I'm very flexible.

Jules, Jay, thanks for the comments on the Hurricane pit.

Daniel, during the time frame of the BOB, 109 interiors were RLM 02. Rlm 66 became standard in early 1941. Airframe camo was either RLM 70/71/65 or RLM 02/71/65. The RLM 74/75/76 scheme was adopted also in 1941, after the BOB time period. When the RAF realized the RLM 74/75/76 scheme was superior camo at the ever increasing altitudes where combat was engaged, Fighter command also switched from the Dark Earth/Dark Green/ Sky & adopted the Grey scheme seen throughout the rest of the War.

Regards, Rick

I hope to get the top coclor Ab'd on my d0-17 today. I hope I can. No school for the next week anyway, so i should make good progress.

Rick: nice pit! How come my 1/72 scale pits don't look like that? LOL

Jay: Know what you mean, my wife is hooked on CSI.

Now... more questions? I apologize for asking for so much advice but I am in unchartered territory these days and its all your guys' fault anyway so now you have to answer my questions (did that make sense?)

Anyway, finished putting the decals on but I want your honest advice on the home made ones. In particular the red C. I'm very happy with the homade H and I'm okay with the Group badge but I'm not sure about that red C. I really don't have anything to compare it to for color correctness. What do you guys think? I put the the homade red C over the white C that came with the kit decals. I was trying to get a white outline around it but as you can see it doesn't quite line up. I'm thinking of tossing it and leaving the white C and replacing the N with M for a hypothetical marking (not sure what staffels were in I/KG 26)

Honest opinions please!




One other note: for those of you planning on doing this build, be sure to leave off the rudder push arms until AFTER the swaztikas are on!!!!!!!! What a pain!!!

personally I think that looks fine. excellent looking build.

Dave, Where were you three days ago. I just installed my rudder push arms (lol). I guess I will learn your pain.

Thad

I have roughly free handed the rlm 70 areas onto the do-17. it's pretty cool, free handing with the 155 turns out pretty good even at 16 psi and I wasn't even trying very hard!!! tomorrow I'll mask and spray the toher top color- rlm 70.

Looking forward to seeing some progress pics Tanky!

Thanks for the info on the 109 paints everyone. Sounds like I'll have to do some research. Can anyone recommend a good site or book to look at?

razordws That looks very nice. The camo looks great. Thanks for sharing.

Dave, the "C" isn't perfect, but doesn't look that bad in the pic.

Tanky, one pic is worth a 1,000 words. Lets see some progress pics.

Regards, Rick

Razor, looks good to me. Unless you have a bunch of serious modelers with magnifying glasses and reference handbooks hanging around pointing out all the inaccurate details, I say don't worry about it. Keep up th egood work.

Tanky (dito for ricks comment!)

Quick update on my Hurricane build. Got the pit installed, the fuselage halves together, wing assembled with all of the fiddly pieces provided by Hasegawa. Dry fitting of the wing to fuselage shows some very careful filling will be needed on the underside join between the wing rear & fuselage. Right in the middle of the fabric skin detail . Hope to have all the seams cleaned up tomorrow & into the paint shop for a primer coat. I'll post more pics when there is something to see .

Regards, Rick

Thanks guys for the comments, sometimes you get all wrapped up in a project and its nice just to have a second opinion. I have to wait a day or two anyway before I can put a top coat on so I will see if I can live with it the way it is.

Thad: I cut a slit in the decal to get it around the pushrod which worked fine except I poked and proded the second one too much trying to get it to match the first one and ended up ripping it. Sometimes I just don't know when to leave it alone!!!

Well, unless my sister comes back soon with the digi camera, it's a 1000 words you'll be getting!! lol. I really like the 155 though. This was my first time vaguely attempting anything even close to free handing, and it actually came out ppretty good. Mind you it's splinter camo, so I have to mask the whole thing and spray it with rlm 71 anyway. But i have one BIG problem with the 155. I usually paint at rather steep angles, and the paint keeps spilling out of the color cup!!! It's a disaster waiting to happen!! Any siggestions for fixing?

Tanky, 1: don't fill the color cup to the brim, 2: spray at a shallower angle, 3: use the cap on the color cup.

Regards, Rick