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

great Bob! good to see someone is making progress! I am doing the decals for my SBD for the Nav Av GB today... plan on working on the martlet tonight. The wife is layed up with a cold so I have free reign in the hobby room today!

Bad gaps you say? That's bad news to hear, I had such high hopes for the one I am going to build either for this or just for fun... yours is the Hasegawa kit right? Oh well, not like I haven't been up against them before. Still have 2 half finished Grumman Widgeons I was doing for my dad with about a tube of putty used between the 2 of them! (gotta love those 1970's Airfix kits!)

What I found most interesting about your pics isn't the build, which is looking good so far, but your stand! It's one of those "why didn't *I* think of that" type things... instant stand, readily conformable to whatever shape model you want to put in it! Might go to the store later and pick me up a set of them just to play with!

Well, going to go back to the decals, the microsol whould be dry by now...

Hey all-haven't gotten any masking done, but I have made progress. Interior has been painted and the He111 has been glued together. Gaps are terrible, but I guess it goes back to that "you get what you pay for". Minor disaster during the assembling of the fuselage-one of the side windows 'poped' out and hit the floor-lost. After panicing, I thought...'what would the rest of the group do in this situation?' Then I saw the clear plastic from the Testors liquid cement for clear parts and the light went on..I cut a small window out of that, opened the fuselage back up, glued it in and then put everything back together..Probably could have made more progress, but spent Sat. am out with my son & dad shooting a potato cannon for a science fair project. Amazing what you can do with hair spray and pvc pipe.

Senility ? What is that ? I used to know but I forgot .

Regards, Rick

happens to lot of us... I had one of those moments the other day.. was gluing a seam with a capillary pen, lifted the pen away from the seam and I guess I held it at just the right angle and DRIIIIP! out came sone tenax right in the middle of the wing RIGHT on top of a panel line...

And then there was the 3/4 bottle of RAF green that I spilled on the floor... not thinking of it being acrylic I quickly took a bit of enamel thinner on a rag and tried to get the most up... which made a bigger mess you know... finally got 99% of it up with some windex...

maybe it's early senility for me...

An ARGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH! moment -again!

Maybe I'm getting to old for the hobby. After dropping a nearly finished model a couple of weeks ago, yesterday I spilled 3/4 of a bottle on Tenax-7 glue and completely covered my Hurrcane's newly sanded and drilled out exhaust stacks and the ventral radiator assembly. They've dried out but I'm goint to have to rescribe the panel lines on the scoop. I'll try to have my first 'as-of-now' pictures by tonight.

Well, I don't know what Zero's have to do with a BOB GB , but The Tamiya kit is one of their older, first releases & is not up to current standards. Still builds up into a nice model, but the newer Hasegawa release is much nicer OOB. I am pretty sure Aires or Black Box did a resin interior for the Tamiya kit, but may be hard to find.

Regards, Rick

The Hase c/p was lacking in a big way, hence I got the PE for it.
Kind of a shame, seeing as how the rest of the kit went together so well.

Jules: Thaks for the info, Foxtrot it is tonight! I'll wear my best polyesther coveralls! The baby blue ones maybe...

As far as cockpits for the Zero I didn't find any, but the Tamiya kits cockpit is lacking, at least for the A6M2 kit... in fact a bit dissapointing to be honest.. You might wanna check out one of the Hasegawa kits, or maybe someone has built a diff Tamiya kit with a better cockpit. I hope there is one because usually Tamiya has such nice interiors for being OOB. I have built the 1/32 Zero by Tamiya too though, if you are willing to spend a few dollars the interior wasn't too bad if I remember right.

Tweety, watch out for nurse Kremps, I stole her breath mints again and she's looking for us.

How was the cockpit on the Hasegawa kit? I hope good because one day I am sure I will end up building one.

I know the K1N1George I built by Tamiya had a pretty good cockpit to it... hopefully one of the other Zeros does too..

Oh yeah, cant make FOXTROT night, lost my cane AGAIN!!!!!!

I swear, if my hips weren't screwed to my body, I'd lose those too!!

QUOTE: Originally posted by j.s.harrison Hey Sean a The Zero you have ( which i still havn't seen ) is it the Tamiya kit, if so do you know if there is a replacement AM c/pit for it.........Jules.....

Jules, this is the Zero from the Pacific GB
http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?page=18&TOPIC_ID=29871
That paint was a mission to do I tell ya!

It's the Hasegawa version, and I got the PE set for it.
I dont think I ever managed to find a resin cockpit set to suit. So long ago now I don't remember.
There is a PE set for the Tamiya Zero,
http://www.squadron.com/SearchResults.asp?ScaleList=48&TypeList=2&ManuList=everything&Key=A6M
One of those suits.

Not alot I know, but maybe one of the engine detail sets would be a bonus!!

Wonderful!!

incoming email

cheers and many thanks

Mike

QUOTE: Originally posted by madmike Darren Thanks for the offer! Would either QV-K on 48-679 or LZ-I on 48-680 suit? I have a Spitfire Mk11a, but am prepared to be a little historically innaccurate! cheers Mike

No problems at all Mike. I only have 48-680 so LZ-I it is. Send me an email with your address and I'll mail them off to you.

Cheers
Darren

Hey Sean a The Zero you have ( which i still havn't seen ) is it the Tamiya kit, if so do you know if there is a replacement AM c/pit for it.........Jules.....

Don't worry about the metho boys, it doesn't mix well with the vege juice, besides i've already tapped into the happy gas lines running under the boiler room

Oh and don't forget, tonight FOXTROT night in the rec room and tommorrow straight jacket wrestling, East wing Vs West wing, should be fun

Darren

Thanks for the offer!

Would either QV-K on 48-679 or LZ-I on 48-680 suit?

I have a Spitfire Mk11a, but am prepared to be a little historically innaccurate!

cheers

Mike

haha great Sean!!! (the REAL Sean ::shifty look around::) I'm glad to hear from ya again... was worried I would have to become sane to finish the build... which wouldn't have happened... (sane people don't model, a recent conclusion I've come to)


as for Jules, maybe we can leave him in the sack and not wake him... we'll enjoy the entire bottle of Isopropyl to ourselves!

And yeah, they just released like 50 episodes of Benny Hill here on DVD, looks like I am going to have to go buy it! My dad raised me on stuff like that, Monty Python, Black Adder, Fawlty Towers etc... (I'd stay up late sometimes and try to catch Benny uncensored showing some woman half dressed and such)

Beef minestrone huh?
Wow, beats the hell outta the egg pudding they feed us here
I'm keen for the alcohol, but Jules gets bad gas with that, so we will have to flog some Metho, just for him.
Benny Hill, haven't heard that name in a LONG time.
Damn he was funny

Well, I'm off to have a crack at my 109, just got a glint of inspiration (Thanks Tom), so see if I can build on it.

Thanks Rick, found a pic of both but I am thinking masking is going to be the way to go... just looks better! 0730 tomorrow is M-Morning!! Getting up a couple of hours before the missus so I can get some uninterrupted work done! Gotta make sure the compressor tank is full before we go to bed tonight...

QUOTE: Originally posted by tho9900 Well Tweety my boy... I took your advice (before I even heard it) I went over there and was messing a bit trying to get the split decal off... when off came a walkway decal with it... I open the pack of SBD decals from Superscale to nab one of those and lo and behold here is this beautiful stencil work, clear readable letters (with a magnifier) beautiful and nice and thin with good color... Promptly I took out the ol Micro Sol and wiped it all over every decal on the beast and tomorrow I am redecaling it with the Super Scale set! I should have done that to start with, I really didn't like the set that came in the kit but I got "used" to them... plus it was an interesting look to it. (red dot in the star had been mostly repainted over on the insignia, red and white rudder stripe painted over to blue and grey) I am happier already! Actually can't wait for this coat of Future to dry so I can get popping on it!

All's well that end's well! Actually, even the 'professionals' make the same mistake. In this month's Tamiya magazine, the editor says how he accidently removed a decal from the 1/32 F-16 he built for a review.

QUOTE: Originally posted by tho9900 Well Rick, my paint is getting almost 72 hours to dry before masking... I have a 3 day weekend so I decided I was going to vegetate most of today... need to go reference a few photos on the web real quick then either mask or hand spray the camo (evidently the early Martlets had a wide variety of camo patters, in part due to Grumman either hand spraying them, or using different stencil sets, and the rapid conversion of the French intercepted Martlets delivered to Englad in Sept 1940, I just need to find one pic of either scenario (masked or hand sprayed) from 804 sqn in the same time frame to set my mind straight... if I can't find anything I am going to mask them.. just seems right with RAF camo circa WWII.

Most RAF aircraft were masked with canvass or rubber mats in order to get a uniform application of the disruptive camo. I'm really not sure about the Martlett, not an aircraft I've built or researched. I do know that the P-40's built in the US for the RAF were painted with the same type of masks as used by the RAF. So, it would be my guess that the Martlett's were also, but only a guess.

Regards, Rick

Well Tweety my boy... I took your advice (before I even heard it) I went over there and was messing a bit trying to get the split decal off... when off came a walkway decal with it...

I open the pack of SBD decals from Superscale to nab one of those and lo and behold here is this beautiful stencil work, clear readable letters (with a magnifier) beautiful and nice and thin with good color...

Promptly I took out the ol Micro Sol and wiped it all over every decal on the beast and tomorrow I am redecaling it with the Super Scale set! I should have done that to start with, I really didn't like the set that came in the kit but I got "used" to them... plus it was an interesting look to it. (red dot in the star had been mostly repainted over on the insignia, red and white rudder stripe painted over to blue and grey)

I am happier already! Actually can't wait for this coat of Future to dry so I can get popping on it!

Tell me about work sapping the strength to model out of ya! It was a heck of a week! Luckily here in the States we have Monday as a holiday (most of us)... gives me a whole day to get more done on the Martlet, gonna blow up the pics of the camo on the scanner tonight and start getting ready to mask tomorrow evening, paint on Monday! It'll be looking like a real plane soon!

Think I might start the He111 next, not sure... Oh! And decided rather than waste the Martlet decals will do an RAAF one to warm up for the Aussie build!

---edit---

P.S. if you are real quiet I can sneak you through the window over here at Happy Acres, it's beef minestrone night!!! Me, you and Jules can nab a bottle of rubbing alcohol later from the nurses station, and nip on it back in the solarium while we watch reruns of Benny Hill...

QUOTE: Originally posted by tho9900 ---edit--- BTW: Tweety you can come out from hiding now... the men inthe white suits with the big net are gone now...

are you sure???
I really dont wanna go back to Shady Pines
Besides, old people smell funny[:0]

Seriously though, I was flat out building things while on holidays.
One week at work has destroyed my enthusiasm and striped me of any drive to build.
Might wander into my room later while the lil ones having a nap and see what I can do.

Tom, my vote goes for you to finish the SBD, wanna see some pics!!

thats ok Osher, I've trained my wife to cut masks now so my build speed will double! I figure while I am sleeping she can do the bit work and I can build twice as fast!!! Her job might complain with her being so tired all the time, but I figure on Saturday I can let her have a nap now and then...

good to hear you got the decals! I looked at mine and although not specifically for the Battle of Britain there is one set for a Zerstorer ace, Jan 1941 which should put him int the BoB as well (Jg/26) But the second set which is yet to ship to me has an actual BoB set so I will wait as long as I can...

Work is slowing on my Martlet, actually torn to work on it tomorrow or finish my SBD. I have the decals and all that is left for it is the bombs and bit pieces (pitot tube etc...) so maybe I will finish it so I can post it in the Naval av. GB.

Well good luck to you all! Goin try to model for an hour or so...


---edit---

BTW: Tweety you can come out from hiding now... the men inthe white suits with the big net are gone now...

Wow! Everyone seems to be progressing so fast, and I'm still at the cockpit stage! I managed to find in Hannants today a decal sheet (Techmod 72001) for BF-110C, including 1 for a BoB version, solving my decal problem. Actual, this new sheet has loads of stencils omitted by Fujimi. The only thing is, it has that squiggly camo finish for the bottom 3/4 of the fuselage. I have a couple of questions on this: were squiggles standard, or were the painters just told to do squiggles? Also, what is the best way to apply squiggles? I have an Iwata HP-C, with standard nozzle.

Well Rick, my paint is getting almost 72 hours to dry before masking... I have a 3 day weekend so I decided I was going to vegetate most of today... need to go reference a few photos on the web real quick then either mask or hand spray the camo (evidently the early Martlets had a wide variety of camo patters, in part due to Grumman either hand spraying them, or using different stencil sets, and the rapid conversion of the French intercepted Martlets delivered to Englad in Sept 1940, I just need to find one pic of either scenario (masked or hand sprayed) from 804 sqn in the same time frame to set my mind straight... if I can't find anything I am going to mask them.. just seems right with RAF camo circa WWII...

good luck on that 109!

Izzy, the Monogram Pro Modeler Ju-88 C6 has many of the pieces to backdate it to the earlier models... clear nose piece, solid cover for the dorsal mounted direction finder (earlier models didn't have that), paddle shaped propellers etc... there's no instructions in the box so you would have to research it before you get it to see what indeed you would need to retro it.

if you find out post it so I can compare it to the sprue schematic left over from my C-6 build and see what else you might need... might even be an AM conversion set, I'll check for ya...

QUOTE: Originally posted by izzy8990 Would the Ju88c-6 have fought in the BoB ?

Don't think so. The only ones I can find referenced were the Ju 88A & A-I

Regards, Rick

Would the Ju88c-6 have fought in the BoB ?

Short progress report om the 109. Got it primed this morning with my favorite, Floquil Grey primer. Some very minor seam clean up & I'll be able to do the RLM 65. I like to let paint cure for 24 hours between colors, especially if masking is involved, so the RLM 02 will have to wait until tomorrow. Hope all of your builds are going well.

Regards, Rick

Mike Aeromaster does a couple of really nice BoB sheets for the Spitfire Mk I & II. I have the Battle of Britain Part II sheet and will be doing my Spitfire up as "Gold Coast 1". If you fancy any of the other aircraft on the sheet I will be happy to send them to you, the only issue is that there is only one set of stencils and some of the roundels are shared between aircraft (it depends on the aircraft). Here is the link to the Aeromaster site for both sets, let me know what you want to do.

http://www.eaglestrikeproductions.com/cgi-bin/amddecals.pl?scale=48&setid=679&dbs=aeromaster&pgs=2&currpg=1&dclimg=ad48679

http://www.eaglestrikeproductions.com/cgi-bin/amddecals.pl?scale=48&setid=680&dbs=aeromaster&pgs=2&currpg=1&dclimg=ad48680

Cheers
Darren