Battle of Midway Aircraft Group Build

ok just thought of something... I haven't seen Phil (Traintrak) around lately... did someone p*** him off? Just wierd, I was enjoying having him around too... he was easy to talk to!

Daniel-CONGRATS! That is a good looking SBD.

Little progress on my SBD. Did do some decal work. Discovered that one of the brake lines is missing-a little bit of wire from a bread twist tie should do the trick. Maybe next weekend.....

Cool Bob... really looking forward to the final product!!! As you see I started my meager build... it's not the type of model I usually deal in but it was something I needed... quick and easy! In one day I am 80% done...

In retrospect the cockpit doesn't look so bad and with a small bit of scratch building or PE would look awesome! I was struck at how the cockpit went together just like the resin cockpit for my F4U... separate sidewalls that glue into the cockpit assembly instead of being molded intot he walls of the fuselage...

On a side note I went out to J-aircraft.com and after browsing the pics of real Zero wrecks and restorations, realized a few problems with the kit, most of which can be solved by sanding the pieces to the correct shape...

Good luck Bob!!! post some pics!!!

Tom thanks for posting up that link, i saved those pics for referance
BTW I also have the 1/48 tamiya Zero and yep i agree on the detail thing, As far as the paint goes i'll be useing Gunze acrylic IJN grey but i'll either lighten or darken the paint probably lighten to pick out individual panels like the model shown in the link you provided, i think it's a must to do that or the A/C will look a little monotone.......
One more thing kremps was looking on the Eduard web site earlier on and she found they do express masks for the Zero canopy

Ahh Crap i forgot, Daniel congrats on taking 2nd place but i reckon you should have walked away with 1st for that one..............

Jules, I;ll have to pick out the exact article on that site discussing what they feel is the correct color fo IJN gray, especially in the early war years... although interlaced with both technical and japanese words it was fairly informative... the link I posted of that model is a pretty close match to what they feel is the "right" color.. (a subject of hot debate evidently) .. just getting that combo of color is going to be the hard part...

--edit--

I liked the lighter coloring of panels on that kit too... I think I may try it... BTW: jules... siunce it sounds lik you rhave the same kit... it goes together ok.. and I didnt find a prob at the wing root... I always glue my upper wing halves on at the root before I glue them to the lower... like that it went on like a charm and has less gap than a lot of kits I have built recently... be careful though, the plastic is a bit soft and it would be easy to oversand a pice and get it misshapen.

The main part I want to sand is behind the pilots head... it's a brace of some sort I am sure for upside down landings... the real AC I saw, the brace is concave, on the kit it is more of a rough triangle shape...

ok here it is... it is a canopy brace of some sort..

http://www.j-aircraft.com/relics/peter_gunti/peters21.jpg

on the kit is is not shaped like that...

Cool Tom i'll be waiting for that but i'll probably make a home brew useing the Gunze paint as a base and the pics of that Zero as a colour guide.....
BTW mine is from the Akagi group..........

Tweets & Pingy i can see yor online so i thought i'd say G'Day

I've got the Tamiya 1/48 kit too. It's the A6M-3 version (the one with the clipped wings). I did a -5 a few years ago, and it was completed in 5 days. The quickest build I've ever done. I'll probably use Tamiya IJN grey mixed with other colours to get the ASh-grey thing going. I'll just need to find decals for it now, the kit ones are pretty s**thouse.

And Tom, mine only cost $10AU. About $7US. Bargain eh?

Well G'day to you too Jules;

And thanks to everyone for the Congrats.

Daniel... most reviews of the Tamiya A6 series all point to the Hasegawa offering for a more detailed and accurate version.. I do know the A6M5 I saw at the LHS (by Tamiya) looked pretty good, and had a typical Tamiya price tag so I figure it should be better building!

hey just curious.. what time is it in Australia right now? I think yall are about 8 hrs ahead of me... can't remember... it's 9:02 here..

The Hasegawa kit may be better, but the Tamiya kit will do me nicely. It looks like a Zero and is an easy build, so I'm happy with it.

Tom It's 12:04pm here at the moment. Middle of the day, nice and sunny too.....

You're about 15 hours behind us I think.

ok I know I am being "Chatty Cathy" here... but I am thinking of doing mine like in the link I posted... as a A6M2 from the Aleutian diversion... anyone have anything against that??? reason I ask, since I am moderator I don't want to change the rules to fit MY build... just thought it was perfect as it is part of what happened at Midway, that really didn't happen (the attack on AK as a diversion) .. I have decals for the Shokaku strike force so that would fit in nicely... (Shokaku was one of the original carriers from Pearl diverted to the Aleutians... and because she was not with the other 4 at Midway, is one of the most touted reasons the Americans pulled Midway off so easily besides the good intel team...)

ahhh ok... so it's already Monday there... thats bad. of course you all get off work 15 hours before me on Fri...

Thanks! I try to remember as you guys are my main co-conspirators on here!!! I like to be on when yall are!

The Aluetians were and important part of the whole Midway thing, so I think that build would be fine. I've still gott adecide how I'll do mine, but an AK zero could be interesting.

QUOTE: Originally posted by tho9900 hey just curious.. what time is it in Australia right now? I think yall are about 8 hrs ahead of me... can't remember... it's 9:02 here..

When I read your post it was 9.39 odd your time in the pm, and had just turned 12.00 pm my time.
Your around 15 hours behind me.

But thats nothing new eh Tom

Hi all, I haven't been around here for a while so I've missed a whole lot of yakking.

Daniel congratulations on the SBD, nice one . Also, Eduard do a reasonable 1/48 carrier deck. It's a solid piece of plastic though which looks it would be a real cow to paint.

Jules You seem to know what your doing () with Gunze paints, what do I thin them with? I have heard of people using Tamiya thinners, would this work?

Tom, that Tamiya 1/32 zero is bloody expensive but it's supposed to be a great kit. Just a little out of my price range though.

:::Progress Update:::
Well not a lot to report, on the weekend I put a drop of masking fluid in each instrument face to protect my drybrushing and then I painted the IP MM Aircraft Interior Black again. Once that's done I'll try and get of my bum and get some more assembly going.

Cheers
Darren

Darren Yeah mate Tamiya X20a works fine with the gunze paints, i use it for all acrlyic paints Pollyscale Tamiya Gunze ect ect, never had any troubles, but pollyscale reacts strangely when mixed with other paints, i tried to add some gunze white to some pollyscale dark earth and the white just sat on top of the brown in little globs it wouldn't mix at all, it even reacts when you spray it over another colour so if you use a pollyscale colour barrier coat it with future before applying any gunze or tamiya paints.......

Well my little experiment on masking on the instrument panel didn't work out exactly as planned. Normally I will dry brush the instruments with Chrome silver and this works great on an IP with a lot of raised detail. Unfortunately the detail on my Wildcat IP is mainly recessed and when I removed the masking tonight the overall effect is pretty underwhelming because there is no way near enough contrast between the black panel and the metallic instrument faces. Oh well, live and learn, I'll just file that one away in the old don't do it again folder.

Cheers
Darren

Darren - which kit are you building? I thin the wildcat IP for the Martlet was raised if I remember right, of course that's only about 10% of the time lately ... Hmmm... I can't really think of a way to go about that one... take a picture of it for me if ya feel like it... maybe we can come up with an idea! you could always paint it white enamel, then overcoat it with black acrylic. using a needle or some fine scribing tool go through the grooves and take off the black overcoat... I did something like that on a cockpit once with better than average results///

Darren Why don't you try painting the IP black, then giving it a wash with some white or light grey to highlight the recesses. Haven't tried it before, but it might work.

Darren - Daniels advice sounds good too... whichever you try give us a peak so we see how it goes!!! Also, I saw a build up on the 1/32 Zero from Tamiya and it looks like it is worth every penny... if it is the same kit it is exquisite!!! the landing gear can be cranked up by some sort of hex screw, the canopy can be moved to open or closed at whim...

I think I would play with it too much though... I remember back in one of my past modeling lives (circa 1988 - 1990) I built a 1/32 Zero but the skin on the fuselage had a lot of indentations, perhaps to simulate rivets... I was not impressed at all.. the kit itself was great... just not the rivets...

Also ditto on Jules comment, I used Tamiya acryl thinner on everything except Vallejo paints... it's the tops out of what I have used. Others talk of saving money and using water or windex... I think for $5 US for a 750ml bottle it is worth it's weight in gold!!!

Finally some progress pics!! I just finished the flat coat-- now just to add the teeny details....




Thanks for looking!

Looks good Mike!!!

Can't wait to see her finished!!

Looking very nice Jeeves. The white dots at the centre of the insignias and the faded rudder stripes are a nice touch. Keep up the good work.

Mike (Jeeves) cool looking build, keep up the great work.

Tom, Daniel & Jules thanks for the hints and suggestions but I think I'm going to leave well enough alone this time. It's not that the IP looks bad, it actually looks pretty good it's just that I should have drybrushed the small instrument faces white so that they stood out more. As it is you've got to look really carefully before you can see the detail.

Oh and Tom I'm building the Tamiya F4F-4 Wildcat, oh and I couldn't agree more on the thinner. I will happily clean my AB or brushes with white spirits, turps, water, windex or whatever, but when it comes to thinning for spraying I use the name brand thinner always..

Cheers
Darren

Thanks guys....

Daniel-- can't take too much credit-- those are the decals supplied with the AM SBD-2 kit...

Your not supposed to tell us that mate. You did put them on in a way that made them look better though, didn't you? nudge, nudge, , ..... a nods as good as a wink to a blind bat....... (sorry mate, bad monty python joke there......carry on).

nudge nudge, grin grin, wink wink, say no more! your wife... she likes candid photography?? ok I have to stop hahah... I love that skit though!!

Zero is in the same place right now... no modeling tonight... gonna relax and terrorize the forums!