WW2 BATTLES--PEARL HARBOR 2005 (aug 7 - - december 7 07:55am) finished

Hey Joe - I was reading on j-aircraft about Tetsuzo Iwamoto (EII-102). He flew off the Zuikaku but only flew CAP over the Japanese fleet and was never over Oahu Island participating in the actual attack. Is this build still acceptable? If not I'll just go with the kit decals for one from the Akagi. I had my heart set on the Zuikaku Zero but I can understand if it wouldn't work.

Hey there,

Great job on the Hawk Joe. I'm about 50-60% done with the Hasegawa Kate, which is coming along nicely. Anyone have suggestions regarding paint for this bird? I was going to follow the kit directions for Captain Mitsuo's craft from the first wave off the Akagi, which is the Nakajima Dark Green (H36 from the Gunze Sangyo line) with silver on the belly. I've seen many references and arguments ad nauseum regarding the belly color, and I've never seen anyone paint the bottom silver, so I'm going to go with the light tan colors that have been bantered around before. I think I saw an article on J-aircraft.com that showed a piece of a zero retrieved from a wreck on oahu that showed this light tan color nicely and that is what I was planning on putting on the underside. Anyone ever used this color before in an acrylic? (saddlemire, what did you use on your 1/24 zero?) Suggestions welcome. I will post pictures when I get a little farther on. My wife usurped the digital camera (it becomes evident later in the post how she has been using said camera), and it did't take very good pix of the office anyway due to low pixel number so I'll try to borrow one later for a visual update on the Kate. Thanks everyone.

P.S. I suggested to my dogs that I was working on a deadline for the PH GB and that they must understand that. This was their response.

Richard, you say you use it straight out of the bottle? It seems too thick to spray effectively. I hope temp isn't too much of an issue, the interior of the grarge would be somewhere between 5 to 10 deg C (41 - 50 deg F). Like I said I have sprayed in colder temperatures but with different paints (gunze, MM) and no issues, maybe Tamiya paint doesn't like the cold? Oh well, I'll see tonight how it looks when totally dry. I might have to do some touching up tomorrow morning.

Jay,

I probably was the temperature. I use Tamiya paint all the time with no problems. My airbrush is also the H. Most of the time it is straight out of the bottle at about 12 lbs. of pressure. I have never painted below 60 Degrees F.

Richard

Richard

darren not a problem. there is always next year.



joe

Help, Tom! I know you work with acrylic paint a lot. I was airbrushing my zero this morning with Tamiya JN grey. It started off right with decent spray while I was doing the wheel bay doors and belly tank. The spray started to get chunky (not a nice fine mist)when I got to the underside of the zero and by the time I got to the top , it was spraying really heavy and chunky and I had to constantly stop to readjust the spray (I have the single action Paache H). I also had a lot of grit in the spray too which obviously transfered to the surface of the model. !!!!!!

needless to say I am less than impressed. I had thinned it about 25% with distilled water. This was the first time using Tamiya paint and I think I don't like it.
Help any one? I am still pretty much a beginner with airbrushing but this was absolutely awful. What could be the problem? It was cool this morning (2 deg C or 35.6 deg F) and I spray in my garage, could the temperature be a problem? I really haven't had this problem before and I've sprayed in colder temperatures.

Guys I'm afraid I'm going to have to drop out of this build . With other work and family commitments I have around this time of year there is little chance I will finish this by Dec 7th.

Cheers
Darren

Rock and roll!
I'm ready for some paint, I think to keep things simple I'm going to just use the tamiya jn grey, no fiddling with mixes to get the 'right' ameiro. I don't have any am decals but I want to do Tetsuzo Iwamoto's zero from the Zuikaku (EII-102). If I mask it right and print off some custom decals I can fake it pretty good. I'll see if I can take some pics once I get the stripes on.

Joe - that bird came out real nice. You did a great job.

Richard

ok after spraying the black on the fuselage I waited till tonight for the alclad2... there is some evidence of the alclad on the body and I may break down and use this one as a paint hulk and do the other F3F I have...

Richard - you were wondering how this kit went together. Everything was relatively straightforward. I didn't get that far but even the PE looked fairly straightforward on installation. There are tiny slots to insert it into which really aren't that visible unless you look at the body just right... and with CA on the PE to glue it, the slots would be filled if the PE didn't already cover them... I'm looking forward to finishing this one.. I shouldn't have used it for a "new" technique trial, but all in all I got some good insight on using thinned future to gloss the body and found out I *can* do biplanes! (I think I had an innate fear of the rigging for some reason) and a few other things...

I got a little done to the F3F today... yesterday I took it out of the CSC and although there are a few small areas still with Alclad on them I decided they were smooth enough that they woulnd't be visible once painted over again.. (plus Alclad tends to melt into the prior coat so I think it will level if there are any ridges)

Got the black on, (acrylic) then going to future tomorrow... I know everyone says black enamel or lacquer... but if Future is also an Alclad primer why not acrylic with future over it? So here I go experiementing again... 99% of what I use to paint is acrylic and I am used to it so spraying with enamel often turns up a chore... (especially to clean!!) I'll let yall know how it goes.. if nothing else I have the backup F3F still in the box! I was going to do it for the WWII Carrier build as a sister plane to this one from the same squadron but if I need it, I've got it!

Oh yeah!!! I almost forgot to put the red bands on first again!! I'll do that before Future... sorry was just thinking out loud...

Looks good Joe, I've got my Canadian GB Beaufighter done (pics in the aircraft and GB sections) and now to concentrate on my Zero! By weeks end I should have some paint on it and then decals next week! Only 5 weeks or so left I gotta move it!

Nice!


M.

Sharp looking aircraft you built Joe

Scott

Note: Day three on building just one of Tom's Modelworks catapults for the 1/350 Arizona. Arrrgh!

She looks mighty nice to me Joe and like Tom said when do we get some more pics?

looking good Joe! when do we get to see the "full Monty" so to speak??

now an update from me.


the hawk is finished. she is done and done.

she isnt the best. she isnt the most beautiful. but like i said she is finished.

a teaser for you.............




more in the a/c forum.


joe

UPDATE: finally gave in and used the CSC for stripping off the Alclad... I was surprised at the veracity of the 409 though... it ate through 99% of the Alclad with no probs... There's just that remaining 1% I want to get off and do it from the start.. and being it has been 4 days since I put it in the bag I got impatient. About an hour after I put it in the ziploc with the CSC the stuff was already wrinkling up and coming off the fuselage so I don't think it will be a prob... HOWEVER... interesting observation was that the 409 didn't touch the interior pieces.. and based on its actions I believe it would take care of acrylics and enamels fine without destroying the interior paint... I had to scrub to get the paint off the exterior (not much) but after rinsing and drying the interior paint was still intact and adhered to the parts. (I gently rubbed a toothpick over them and they didn't come off) so I think it will be what I use from now on if I close the fuselage then need to strip...

Darren - actually I found that plain old 409 with orange oil (not sure the equiv in AU) works as well, but slower than Castrol super clean... and half as drastic in it's effects if it gets on you... you have to be a little patient, but a lot of it is off now, the part that isn't might get feathered in with 2000 grit sandpaper and sprayed over.. I don't want to ruin any of the rivet detail... some fine work in keeping it somewhat scale by AM!!!

the acrylic red band started coming off almost immediately!

I might end up using CSC and get the whole body stripped that way... I've used it to take off lacquer before so I am sure it will take off Alclad... it just takes a few days for lacquer to completely come off, even with CSC...

QUOTE: Originally posted by tho9900 Well I decided to strip the model and try it over... on one side of the fuselage the paint lifted but not the other,, I considered feathering it and reapplying over but I am glad I didn't... as soon as I stuck it in the stripper the Alclad just dropped off the body... I am wondering if I somehow transferred something oily over to the surface inadvertantly after washing... I don't think so but it's wierd that it is only in one spot on one side of the fuselage...

Tom sorry to hear about the paint lifting on the fuselage . Can you tell me what stripper you used to remove the ALCLAD?

Darren

Oh yeah, I forgot to answer:

Scott - actually it's been mostly in the 80's, high of 90 today... this is like deep fall come early for us... and hopefully it will shield us some from Hurricane Wilma out in the Gulf right now... I've especially been enjoying it because with only window units to cool my house right now (AC got knocked out in the last hurricane) my electric bill would have been sky high!!!

Well I decided to strip the model and try it over... on one side of the fuselage the paint lifted but not the other,, I considered feathering it and reapplying over but I am glad I didn't... as soon as I stuck it in the stripper the Alclad just dropped off the body... I am wondering if I somehow transferred something oily over to the surface inadvertantly after washing... I don't think so but it's wierd that it is only in one spot on one side of the fuselage...

Anyway no worries... as the interior was mostly aluminum as well it should be no problem to get this puppy repainted and this time I'll take some more safety measures before painting... I allowed 4 days for curing but maybe I'll give it 7 this time just to be sure...

Worse gone to worst I'll break out the spare I was going to use for the WWII Carrier GB and do an SBD over there instead... hmmm I can't remember if anyone is doing an SBD for this one... I'll have to recheck just in case...

In regards to the old Monogram F3F, that wasn't a bad build for it's day. Like the 1/48 Wildcat, the landing gear needs some tweaking. I built in when I was in my early teens and was quite proud of it since it was my first time airbrushing with silver. I hung it up on the ceiling and, living by train tracks, ended up crashing to the floor when the 2 am highball went by. All that time I spent on that landing gear was scattered across my room.

Tom, still hot down there? Its still in the 90s up here in Kansas. Looks like your having a lot of fun with this build anyway.

I got the two service cranes done on the Arizona, next is to build the catapults and stern crane. That should take a few weeks at the rate I'm going.

Also still need to paint the base for the acrylic gel.

Scott

Dependiong on what Alclad you used-- if given proper cure time-- the finish is usually impervious to lifting off....I think the only two that are fragile are Chrome and Polished Aluminum....

I have seen the 1/32 Wildcat for sale on Squadron and Great Models-- in fact I believe it comes with a free guide by Bert Kinzey on Pacific fighters.....basically a mini-Detail and Scale for each fighter. I picked up the one on Dive and Torpedo bombers when I grabbed the Monogram Devastator....I don't usually do 1/32-- but I might pick it up just to get the guide!

ahhhh that's right! as soon as I read it, I remembered! Thanks!!! hmm might have to hit ebay..

Monogram made a 1/32 scale F3F

Richard - who makes it in 1/32? I just bought another AM F3F at Hobby Lobby yesterday at the 50% off sale... I like this build so much I want to do another one! Especially because now I know exactly how those landing gear go together... (I am wary of anything the instructions say "Read this section carefully before attempting, it might be a little difficult") in retrospect it wasn't that bad, and not sure how the 1/32 kit has them... but on the AM kit it is a bit like those ring puzzles where you have to get them seperated. Once you know how you can do it in your sleep... but first you have to stare at it an hour or so!

A 1/32 F3F would be a dream... not take up too much shelf space but at the same time a little more detail.

I'll go future in a little bit and let yall know how it goes... first I have to put coat number 312 of chrome yellow on the upper wing, only 500 more coats to go before it covers!

Tom,

I am watching with interest on how this bird goes together. I have a F3F in 1/32 that I am going to try. The Alclad looks good and I second the thought of using Future to prevent the paint from lifting.

Richard

Jules - yeah I could try that... I'm just owrried about it getting too shiny... of course I could always hit it with semi gloss afterwards... of course then that means I would have to coat the entire body to get it uniform... hmm.. I'll have to think this one out... after I pull the blue painters tap from where I've masked the wing for the chrome yellow will be the test... if there's no pull up that is my solution.. just might have to give the future a go...

oh how complicated I can make even the simplest things!

Looks great Tom you certainly have the alclad sussed out eh........
BTW can't you give it a coat of future before doing the Fues band? that should prevent any of the top coat from pulling off with the tape........