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

And hows it going so far Jules?

I saw the last pic you posted a few pages back, and hanging to see how your mottle attempt went.

I am Sean about 80% done on the 109............

Tony, Spit looks great mate, and the 109 is looking impressive.
Good work!!

How many people are left building in the BoB GB????

Tony nice looking builds.

The Spit lokks great, and you're making really good progress on that 109. I certainly can't see any mistakes.

Hoping to get a final coat of matt varnish over the shiny bits on the Hurri this afternoon. then it'll be weathering time and final assembly......

.....oh not forgetting the canopy which should turn up next week for take 2.

Karl

Hi Tanky. How's it going ?

Regards, Rick

Hello!

Nice builds. I haven't been around in a while, so I thought I'd stop by to say hello.

Tony - both look wonderful! great job of painting on them both! Can't wait to see the finished item!

Looking god Tony! Can't wait to see the 109 finished.

Tony, the Spit looks sweet. The 109 also looks great so far. Keep em coming.

Regards, Rick

Nice spit Tony, The bf109 is looking good too. Keep the pics coming.

Great looking builds Tony can't wait to see the 109 finished....
And your right abouth the focuss thing, after a while you come to depend upon GB's to even get a kit finished

and here is where the 109 is at, as I said earlier, there are a few mistakes to correct.

Here's my Spitfire. It's complete. Now just the 109 to go.




This GB thing certainly helps to stay focussed.

Tony - not sure when they started using it, but I feel a mid war Martlet (Mk II or III) would have already have had it as the pics I have seen in black and white that led me to believe it was a dk sea blue were in a schme of navy blue grey and light grey lowers which is in the 1940 - 1942/3 range.

Daniel , I would love to see the shots, would appreciate you posting them to me...

Tom Have a look at this picture. It definitely shows the landing gear with a shade of dark blue on there. Don't know if it's just because it's a restored one or if they were painted that way when they were use in service. I found a really good site a while ago with good detail shots of wildcats. Can't remember the site, but I downloaded alot of them, so if you want them, I'll email them to you.

Tony looking forward to seeing your pics mate BTW i've just ordered the Tamiya 48 scale Wildcat and eduard coloured PE set and some express masks for the Pearl harbour GB...........

Rick[/b] thanks mate, this will be the first time i attempt a mottle scheme

Hi Everyone,
Tom - thanks, I'll email you shortly. There is a definite dark sea blue tinge to the photo that you post. When did the USN start specifiying the use of Sark Sea Blue ? I know it was not used on Hellcats and the like until later on.
Of the four Wildcat/Martlets that I've done, I've done one each of the Revell, Academy, Airfic and Hasegawa kits. Suffice to say, I'll only ever utilise the Hasegawa/Dragon kit from here on. If necessary, it's probably easier to convert one if necessary than make a decent model from one of the other kits. Incidentally, the Hasegawa Martlet III kit comes with the decals for the same aircraft I did, except that I used Aeromaster decals on a converted Academy kit, before the Hasegawa one was released.

As far as progress reports goes, I should be able to post some photos of a completed Spitfire this weekend, my first GB !
I've finished spraying the base colours of the 109 too. There are a few little touch ups to be done, but overall it's Ok so far. I'll post photos of it too.

Cheers

Tony - I have them scanned, email me and I will send them to you!

Tony - no prob, I will try to get that out to you tonight... the scheme you are seeing there in that pic is probably underside is half sky, half night. That one is on the sheet I have as well, those are the early war Martlets, mostly the ones intercepted from the France shipment.

Have you checked out the Hasegawa Martlet in 1/72? Unless you were hell bent on doing the kit you have it might be your solution. I just noticed it last week at my LHS.


---edit---

Tony I found some color pics of Wildcat landing gear, which would probably be similar on the Martlet as the also kept the white uppoers on the undercarriage. Sadly it doesn't help, in shadows the gear look black, but in this pic it looks to be a dark sea blue. Maybe some of the others can get a look at this and see what they think, and you can judge too.



Also I found this site with a walkaround of the Wildcat which should help on a Martlet:

http://www.angelfire.com/dc/jinxx1/Wildcat/F4F_FM.html

Jules, Good luck on the mottle. Looking forward to the results.

Regards, Rick

Thank for the comments guys. I really appreciate it. I got the underside 'washed' and It looks pretty good (IMHO!) Tonight, maybe the top and then --dullcoat!

Jules The Hurricane is looking great.

Glad you managed to tame those decals.

Karl

Nice Hurricane Jay, I'll look forward to the finished photos.
Tom - I've always though Wildcat u/c to be black, I'll scratch around to see if I have anything, would appreciate if you could do the same.
Here the photo I was talking about, my memory tricked me, it's actually dark earth and mid stone disruptive camo over night.
BTW, is it too much to ask for a scan of the decal instruction sheets, please, since I'm gonna have to do it the hard way ?

my fellow Wardmates, Jay, thats looking really nice, great paintjob

Progress Report::::::::::::::: Not a lot i'm afraid, the missus is going out tomorrow night for a few hours and i already have the A/B cleaned spotless ready for the mottling, without her annoying me i should be able to totally concentrate on the mottling and get it done

Great looking work Jay, it should look awesome with a flat coat. Nice One

Cheers
Darren

oops! I looked at Jay's build at work today but forgot to comment on it (can't do it from work, Big Brother is watching)

Looks good Jay! you pulled yourself out of a tight one quite nicely!! Looking forward to seeing some dull coat on it so we can see the detail!

Looking good Jay, keep at it!!! The yard work can wait until the fall.

Thanks Darren... it is well possible it is a dupont substitute for an RAF color used then. I heard mention of many planes coming in that config after the first batch was delivered. To me it looks almost a white color, so it would be interesting to find if there is an actual "light blue grey" available. I wonder if it is the standard US Navy Blue Grey mixed with white???? That might make sense since it was coming from Grumman at the time... let me know if you find something, I will be looking myself.

Tomy - if you haven't built the Tamiya 1/48 kit yet it is a really sweet kit. A bit basic in some areas but once put together it looks good! Post those pics you talked about if you get a chance, I would love to see them! BTW: do you have any reference shots in color that show the landing carraige color? It looks almost black, but I noticed in some photos a blue look to it so went with Sea Blue when I did the BoB ones as before they reached Britain the would have been in a US config I assume. And the color in the pics resembled what the US Wildcats had... a very deep blue.

QUOTE: Originally posted by tho9900 Tony - I've been eyeing these decals. the top one looks sweet, but I just found out it is neither NMF or white, but light blue grey. I just have to find out what color that actually is. Definitely not the navy blue gray of a regular Wildcat. http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=EP48016 here's the one I am doing for the North Africa build, it's next to the bottom in lght gray with middlestone uppers. http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=AN48548

Tom I don't know what they've been smoking over at Eaglestrike, but I can find no reference at all to any FAA color called Light Blue Grey.
The FAA in WWII used a Light Slate Grey, Sky Blue and Grimmy White but not Light Blue Grey in any of the searches I have done.

http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/colorcharts/stuff_eng_colorcharts_uk.htm

I'll keep searching through my written references for any other info.

Cheers
Darren