Battle of Britain GB 2006 - 1 May to 31 Oct 06

Rick, Dave, thanks for the encouragement.

The sponsons and horizontal stabiliser are now on, though I've ended up adding more shimming to the pit opening as it was still too large.

Karl

KJ200 wrote:

Am I the only one who thinks this looks like a whale?

Have to admit, there is a resemblance

Great work on a very interesting looking bird Karl

-dave

Looking good Karl.  Nice work.

Regards,  Rick

Tom, I was about to order the Eduard PE set, when it dawned on me I had a whole load of PE left over from the Greif, and a Dornier I binned. After all I'm mainly after belts and pedals anyway, and I want to try my hand at a little more in the way of scratchbuilding. I still bought the Eduard masks though.

Tanky, thanks, I was really dreading those cowlings.

Progress Update

Some pics...

Am I the only one who thinks this looks like a whale?



This is quite a big A/C, only marginally smaller in span than the Greif, and much the same length.



I've blanked off the forward turret with plastic card, as this machine only retained the tail turret, and even then without guns. I've also had to add some strip to the front edge of the pit, to compensate for all the material I've had to sand away.



The port hole aft of the rear fuselage opening was drilled out, and a punched piece of clear plastic glued in. The grey over it is Mr Surfacer, the one on the other side has already been filled and sanded flush, as have all the other port holes.These will be polished with Micromesh cloths, then masked prior to painting

You can also see the white line of plastic card along the fuselage seam where I had to shim it make the canopy fit!

At this rate it should be ready for paint next week.

Karl

Good job Karl!  yeah I forgot the instructions were on the Eduard site, guess I should start checking there to see what I could do myself before I go and buy a PE set... the two panels I spoke of would have been better in styene sheet!

very innovative karl.

Tom, thanks for the offer, but the instructions are available off the Eduard website.  

I was looking at them yesterday, which convinced me that it wasn't worth forking out for the PE, when I already had plenty in the spares box that would do just fine.

I've enjoyed the little bit of scratchbuilding I've done for the Do 24, so am starting to feel brave.

Progress Update

The engine cowlings on the Do 24T straight out of the box are very different to the ones on the ones on the Do 24N I'm building, much shorter, with a more enclosed front. The shortening bit was easy, but I was dreading the cowling fronts.

In the end a trawl through the spares box produced a set of 1/32 He 162 wheels, which were just the ticket.....



....I drilled out the centres and sanded until I was left with the correct shape.

Still filling and sanding the fuselage, this thing is covered in sink holes!

This is what it should look like by the time I'm finished...



More pics tomorrow.

Karl

Karl - you should be able to do the center console with styrene card stock cut into strips... I can measure the approximate width and length for you, the depth would be the hard part, I would say about 2.5mm but I can see if I can get a more sure estimate... the rest of the PE set was mainly levers and such and the belts.  There are two panels that you could easily scratch with a styrene sheet cut just right, I'll try to scan the PE instructions today so you can see where they go.

Tom, I'm making notes on your progress for my He 111. I'm not going to bother with the Eduard PE, though I must admit I was tempted by the pre-painted Zoom set, as having through the PE spares box, it looks like I've got enough belts etc to do this one.

Might have a go at scratching the centre console though, and build the ammo drum racks, as I've got a load of resin ammo drums in the spares box.

The camo scheme above looks great. Hope you get that IP sorted.

Karl

didn't find the one with black lowers I saw earlier but found this one... it lists as flying over England in 1940... it definitely looks different than the usual splinter!!!!

Tanky - it looks easy enough that if worse goes to worst I can just snap the whole nose cone off... it's only held by clear part glue.  However I am afraid it will also split at the join lines for the 5 pieces that it is made of prompting another long arduous glue then let dry an hour, glue the next piece and let dry an hour etc... that's not a bad idea with the toothpick with the bluetak.  I might entertain the idea of thick (.5mm or so) wire with blue tak, bent to get it in through the access hatch.   I can CA the back of the IP and try to place it in just right.

I can definitely see me building another of these... with ALL the PE and stuff... you really can see a lot of the interior when the canopy is on.

I just ordered the PE, tires and masks for my B-25 for the Memorial Day GB, I should have ordered another set of PE then, HL is having its 40% off sale so I could have picked up another He-11 and done it in a different scheme.

I think I am doing the black lowers with splinter uppers on this one if I can find that ref pic again... it looked pretty cool!

I know how that feels tom.

My IP fell off on my MiG-29 with the aires resin pit. I had to pry off the front fuselage and reattach the IP by using a toothpick with blutack stuck on th end and liberal amounts of CA where the IP was supposed to attach to. Can we say nightmare...

Can't wait to see the paint on that thing Tom.

ok a slight setback here... I lost the small attachment that goes on the bottom of the glass cone nose... it looks maybe like some sort of attachment for the bomsight or I dunno... it's oval in shape so I am contemplating how to fashion it from sprue.. I might try flattening a sprue some and cutting off the tip to see if I can get that oval look just right...

that is... unless someone has a hidden stash of oval diameter sprue??? 

Got the yellow for the stripe sprayed tonight, the canopies are all RLM02 in anticipation of their overcoat.. I did notice a piece under the fuselage I didn't hit with the 2000 grit so it is a little rough... I'll hit that tomorrow, gonna let the paint dry first!!

Oh... that and I need to figure out how to get the IP back in... it fell off with my trials getting the canopy to stay put and I just realized it is sitting in the kit box... oh well... I think I might be able to squeeze it through the access hatch in the top...

Rick - thanks!  Although I actually liked the masking part, even with the "relative" ease of the Eduard masks it was absorbing... it was the canopy that was giving me fits... by not gluing together CA was building up along the joins and luckily I was able to sand it off before the next try... finally the old fashioned white clear parts glue did the job... it only had a few gaps that should fill nicely with more clear parts glue...

The part I dread is coming up... finishing it!!!

BTW: nice to see ya around... haven't seen much of ya lately!!!

Nice work Tom.  Tedious, but nice.

Regards,  Rick

Karl - not good, I just know how to narrow down the field from what was on the first page and Google enough modeling reviews of those kits listed to show the tail assembly!    But I really did know all along, I was just making sure no one else wanted to answer it..  ::cough:: ::cough::

Well, here's my progress of the day... it was a long winding road with much sanding but I finally got the canopy together.  I read a few reviews and they all resorted to putting the canopy on in pieces glued to the frame then to each other.  It fit fine when put on as one piece, it just didn't want to stay connected that way..  They also clued me in on how they managed to do the guns... the nose cannon they left out and just barely tacked the dome on.  The side windows they left out and placed tape on the INSIDE of the holes through the roof gunner hole and took it off when done painting then glued the windows complete with MG's into place.

I still need to put a bead of clear parts glue around the canopy frame where it touches the plasticc to seal any gaps left over.

My progress:

A shot with the upper control console that came from the Eduard set showing.  (for that alone I would have bought the set, don't know why but I like it!!)

The other side showing the 14 rolls of tape that went into masking, ok well the huge sheet of Eduard pre cut masks.. but there was a LOT of wondow to this thing!

A shot from the front showing some of the interior through the nose gunners (missing) canopy piece..

tho9900 wrote:

KJ200 wrote:  tho9900 wrote: Karl - is that the Revell release of that kit?  I saw a review on it and you have to bring the putty in by the bucketful it looks like!!!  Good luck! Release of what kit? No progress last night, too knackered. Karl   The Do-24, that's what it looks like to me...

Damn the man is good!

But you just know it's going to have FRINGE!!!!!! MUWAHAHAHA.

I'll post pics when I get a chance.

Rescribed the fuselage this evening.

Karl

KJ200 wrote:

tho9900 wrote: Karl - is that the Revell release of that kit?  I saw a review on it and you have to bring the putty in by the bucketful it looks like!!!  Good luck! Release of what kit? No progress last night, too knackered. Karl

The Do-24, that's what it looks like to me...

tho9900 wrote:

Karl - is that the Revell release of that kit?  I saw a review on it and you have to bring the putty in by the bucketful it looks like!!!  Good luck!

Release of what kit?

No progress last night, too knackered.

Karl

 

Karl - is that the Revell release of that kit?  I saw a review on it and you have to bring the putty in by the bucketful it looks like!!!  Good luck!

Quick question for anyone who has built the Hasegawa He-111 series kits... how did you glue the glass nose cone together?  I tried CA but it wouldn't hold, was going to try clear parts glue but I had to hold it too long and got bored... any other suggestions?  I was thinking gluing it in pieces to the frame and waiting till dry before putting the next piece on but it looks like it won't fit in as good as a one piece unit.  I CA'd it last night and slipped it on the nose and it fit beautifully!  I'm scared to try using accelerator lest it melt the canopy.  I may just opt for a vac canopy on this, it would be a first for me!  I would just hate having to mask it!

darson wrote:

Karl alright then going for an educated stab in the dark I'll put my money on a Dornier Do 17.

Soooooooooo close!

Tanky, great job on the Spit pit.

You'd never know they were 1/72, the detail, and more importantly your painting look stunning.

Progress Update

Still sanding.................

I'm still sanding............

still sanding.......

....sounding like an Elton John song now!

Had to add a prop between the bottom of the fuselage and the top behind the cockpit because the seam kept splitting every time I sanded! Wing now complete and re-scribed. Pics to follow.

Karl

thanks guys. Tom it is for the Super Detail GB that I started.

Karl alright then going for an educated stab in the dark I'll put my money on a Dornier Do 17.

Tanky that's some mighty fine teeny weeny work there .

Cheers

Tanky - look good!!!  which GB are ya doing that one for, or is it for fun? 

BTW:  I noticed you are 2ppm off in your shade of white there.. obviouslt the Spits att he time were using scheme XZ not ZX..    (never been a rivet counter, just wanted to see how it felt haha)

I got the canopy glued together tonight and the engines in... the canopy went together far better than I expected... I was impressed at the lack of any gap along the clear parts for such a large expanse of clear plastic...... more tomorrow when I get home from work!

OK, this plane is not for this GB, but it is going to be in BoB markings, so I thought I'd post some pics if no one minds.













They are parts of the Aires detail set for the Tamiya 1/72 spitfire.

Rick is probably getting sick and tired of these photos, but he badgers for pictures so much it serves him right.

On a progress related note, I'll start my project after nationals. I swear.

darson wrote:

Karl OK I'm still stumped, apart from the fact that has a twin tail layout I have no idea at all.

And it's listed on the first page of the GB thread as well!

Tom, they almost named an airport after Benny Hill, what can I say!

Spent last night correcting the engine cowlings, as well as ladling filler onto the fuselage, and wing outer panel seams. The instructions actually show the use of a trowel for the application of filler to the wing seams, they weren't wrong!

Karl

Tom that's some outstanding work on the IP, great job .  You'll probably be pleasantly surprised at just how much of your work you're able to see once the kit is assembled.

Karl OK I'm still stumped, apart from the fact that has a twin tail layout I have no idea at all. 

Progress on the Hurricane is slow but it is happening. I managed to do a little more detailing on the cockpit on the weekend, nothing drastic I'm just adding some extra wiring and scrap styrene to fill things out a bit.  Hopefully I will be up to giving the whole cockpit its pre-shade of black tomorrow.

Cheers

Karl - >::best Bennie Hill wearing the beanie hat and schoolboy uniform look::<  ....no... what is it? 

Tweets - Kremps always did say you were special!  I remember when she'd grab you up by the neck and smother you in those vodka stilled kisses, calling you her little "turnip boy" 

 

tho9900 wrote:

Tweets - I think she overdid it on the belladonna with that batch you are referring to... something about it being the last time the Major got over on her like that... she warned us that we weren't to touch it, it was for him.. guess you were out clipping the hedges right then...

Awwww, not my fault.

Y'know how I love a good turnip.

Tom, that is tiny.

How did you manage to paint it?

Like, everyone else it appears my modelling has been in the doldrums over the last week, due in my case to injuring my back, courtesy of my eldest son. So sitting down has not been fun, however things are now improving.

The mystery project has moved on since the last pics. The fuselage went together last night, and most of the other key sub-assemblies are together and cleaned up.



I've also started modifying the engine cowlings, as those in the kit are for a later version. Modified cowling on the right. Apologies for the blurry pics, I seem to be having problems taking pics at the momement.



Still more to do. The fuselage joint had to be shimmed as the cockpit canopy is about 1mm too wide, which has meant making adjustments all along the upper fuselage joint.

This thing is also full of sinl marks, but then it is a 30 year old kit, so I', making full use of my new Mr Surfacer.

In the immortal words of Rolf Harris, 'Can you tell what it is yet?'

Hope everyone else gets over the modelling blues soon.

Karl