South Pacific Group Build 7 August 2006 to 7 August 2007

Woo-Hoo! P-40E known as "Bob's Robin" is finished. 2nd Lt. Vaught led an intercept of Japanese bombers approaching Darwin Field on March 28th, 1942, downing 1 enemy aircraft. What I was most surprised at learning was that his aircraft "Bob's Robin" was build from the remains of several RAAF aircraft...kind of a hybrid!

Without further ado, here's the completed bird. I decided to leave the gun sight and aiming post off as they seem entirely to thick (out of scale) and take away from the smooth lines of this bird.

This was a most enjoyable build...I am now over halfway through the A-20 and can spend undivided attention on this build now.

JoeRugby wrote:

That is one nice Hawk!  I think you are the first one done.....  Looking forward to the Havoc...

Do I win any awards for that? Just kidding.

The A-20 is not far behind. While I was waiting for various vendors to send my FS34102 paint for the Hawk, I had a three week period to build ahead on the Havoc.

Who knows, I may even attempt a thrid build...go for the hat trick.

bbailey: THis is the Hasegawa 1/48 (JT86). Very nice kit, but it has the tail-piece separate from the rest of the fuselage. Not a "problem" so much as a hassle.

Nice work mucker! Lookin' good!

Now quit messin' around and get that A-20 done! You only have 11 months to go!

The P-400 is done! This plane represents Lt. Eugene Wahl’s “Wahl-Eye II” & “Pat” A ship from the 39^th FS, 35th FG, Twelve Mile Aerodrome, New Guinea in 1942. The P-400 was the export version of the Bell P-39 Airacobra.

The kit is Eduard's 1/48th P-400. Not a bad kit, I'm curious to see how it stacks up against the new Hasegawa release.

You do get a few nice extras with the kit. It comes with a nose weight & masks. Options for weighted tires, bomb or drop tank and even a pilot. Plus you get lots of spare parts for the scrap box.

The only real problem I found was fitting the canopy. Other than that it was a smooth build. I made a blunder by including the antenna mast. It looks like they were removed when the P-400's were reclaimed by the USAAF after they were rejected by the RAF. It was literally the last thing I glued on. A little later I found out that they weren't used. It would be a pretty big deal to remove and repair it at this stage so I'm going to live with it.

It was painted entirely with Testors Modelmaster acrylics. I used silly putty for the camo.

Decals were from the kit and excellent I might add.

There you have it! The P-39/P-400 was always one of the most beautiful airplanes ever designed in my book. It was revolutionary in many ways. It contributed greatly in the south pacific early in WWII and made a quite a few aces...out of the Japanese!

Joe, I would be glad to jump in on this groupbuild again with a Japanese plane. I let you know which one I will do.

Wow that is sooo cool! Nice Job! I like that build!

Thank you

Zip

Mike, let me summarize my thoughts: you've just made me want to run out and buy that kit. What a great job with the detail and subtle weathering. I agree...the P400 had a very advanced, aerodynamic look. Too bad the performance didn;t match. But aesthetically it was one of the best.

Which Japanese bird are you leaning towards?

Thanks to everybody for the kind words!

Zip, It's really great to hear from ya!

mucker, I'm not sure yet. I'm leaning towards a Ki-43 if I can get the correct markings for our theater. I have an A6M2 type21 in my stash that I could do as Saburo Sakai's Zero. So that is a possibility too.

Joe,  The canopy is from the kit. The only thing I did to it was a future dip. The canopy fit was the only bad thing about the kit for me. It's held on by Crazy glue and brute force. I've read some reviews on the kit and it seems that I'm the only one in the entire world who has had trouble with the fit.

Howdy fellas!

Been away for an out of state funeral, the second in thirty days,  I have put up my black suit for what I hope will be a very long time...

So how is everyone doing?  I am ready to close the fuselage on my Jug and the wing details have been completed...the enging work ahs begun now, oh boy

I should post some pics later on over the weekend.

Well, I had just started to apply decals to the A-20G when I was called on a week long busines strip, chock  full of travel. It's now the weekend and I wan't to finish up  the decals, but I have to take care of everything I've neglected all week first (mow the lawn, etc.). I'm still debating what I should build next...

I have some progress to report:

Be mindful that this is very rough...

The amount of cutting and sanding has been a real eye opener.  The detail in the Aires kit is really quite extra-ordinary.  However, even using the recomended kit the fit is not good.

The cock pit had to be scrapped.  As I was mounting the firewall bulkhead I realized the fuselage needed to be squeezed so the resin sub-assembly would "fit".  When I did this it "popped" the Aires 'pit.  So I used the kit pit, too bad, but in this scale with the windscreen and canopy attached it will not be seen.  The gap in the rear pit bulkhead will be covered by a piece of PE detail yet to be mounted.  One bit of good news was the resin seat will drop in just fine.

The gaps in the wings will certainly be filled and the entire surface will be polished.  Even though this will not be a BMF I find that polishing the surfaces to some degree pays dividends on the finish.

Once the wings and tailplanes are finished I will be painting.  The remainder of the engine detail will be hand painted and assembled after the big stuff is done.  I could not think of any other way to get this together.

Decalling will be interesting.  The ammo bay runs right where the national insignia will go.  I am using 1943 32" insignia less the bars.  I was thinking of tacking down the door, decalling and then cutting everything loose.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I am no expert and could be making quite a hash of this whole enterprise, but the one thing I have certainly learned is Patience, Planning and Perserverance are some of the keys to detailing.

JoeRugby wrote:

I am using 1943 32" insignia less the bars.  I was thinking of tacking down the door, decalling and then cutting everything loose.

Thats the way I have handled that situation in the past and the results were fine.  I do the same thing with invasion or theater strips that are on gear doors for example.  It would be interesting to hear from others on how they handle this. 

I suffered a set back on my own build.  It seems that I forgot to install nose weights in my B-25.  And of course the discovery was made AFTER I faired in the the nose and glazings.  But in a stroke of luck I have left off the top turret and a crew entry door under it.  I think I may be able to get some weights through the door and into the navigator? crawl space.  Since the front glazing is painted over I was just going to put weights between the mgs but alas CRS rears its ugly head again.

I hate getting those weights in!  In fact I just finished a '72 Airix Vampire and there was absolutley no room for weights!  I did a "cheater" bar of clear sprue to prop it up.

Do you have any progress pics?

I was thinking of something Japanese for my second submission on this build...oh yeah, it will be an ootb to be certain (lol)...I have an old LS Dinah, may give that a spin...

I managed to slide some weights in place, then glued a piece of styrene to block the opening so the wont slide back out.  Still have alot of sanding and fitting to do but its coming along.  Heres the pics:

Hiya Everyone,

I'm finally at the library where I can actually post a pic, which is not an option on my old Mac at home.

I've made only a little progress but have been having fun anyhow. The fuse halves are joined, as well as the wing parts and now I need to do a little seam clean up.  The cockpit is not installed as interior parts can be added before the wing is attached and there is more I need to do to the interior details....like future the gauges on the instrument panel and paint the control stick and hydraulic hand pump??...not sure if I have my terminology correct, and do the seat.

The silver pencil technique is a good one, but one that I still need to learn. What potential exists in that application tool!!  Unfortunately I smeared silver all over my instrument panel and did lotsa touchup with black paint and a tiny brush...

Joe, I did find some blending stumps at a craft store, but am not sure how I would use them for adding highlights, like to an instrument panel.....they would be great for blending in pencil weathering...or am I missing something here??............and...........here's hoping that black suit can stay in the  closet for a long, long time.

One other thing, in the pic, it appears that the silver scuffing of the chromate is very intense, but it is milder in effect ......methinks the camera amplified the reflection...but, after the fuse halves are together, the walls slope away from the cockpit opening and they can hardly be seen at all, so I decided not to mess with them.

.......so many new things to learn.

Looking good Jerry!

I have the first coats of white on the Jug.  Still working on the AM engine...pics at the weekend.

Again this is rough...please forgive...

All of the remaining "cleanup" will be brush painted, enging details, rear cockpit, the "miss" of the front of the pit, bays etc.

I used the old Testors Flat White (small square bottles)  Tamiya OD for the upper and Polly Scale Neutral Gray for the undersides. 

The engine is mounted only for dramatic purposes.  I am now intalling the pushrods to the cylinders with small guage wire.

Loads to still do, but after the main paint is on I feel as if I have turned a corner...

Sweet, Joe! Thanks for making me follow your super detailed kit with my simple, OOB A-20! Seriously...you've set high expectations for the final product. The progress you're making is looking real nice.

Last night I stayed up a wee too late finishing off the AMT A-20G. It was relatively fun, but interrupted for two weeks by hectic travel at work, which made it seem like a long, drawn-out build. Here she is:

Close-up of the True Details wheels:

I think I have time to complete a Japanese subject for  the build...going for the hat trick. But first I'll take some time out to build one for my father for X-mas. I have a Tamiya Gekko that seems to be a pretty nice kit, but I'll see how much time is left when I get to it. I may go after a Zero, Oscar or Hayate.

I look forward to seeing all the rest of the builds on this post.

Nice Mucker!

Great work on a much under represented and under estimated aircraft!  I certainly hope you can pull the hat trick!  What blue did you use?

Just a quick thought; the nice thing about this Theater's GB is the opportunity to branch out and hit some deserving subject matter like A20's and P400/39.

Thanks, Joe.

Just plain old Tamiya Blue. I could have debated for days on which is more "accurate", but with no real standard for the color (as pointed out by a fellow forum member), I just used what was available.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to read much about the actual Green Hornet. I just really liked the nostalgic look of the cartoon nose-art, plus I thought it colorful for an A-20 scheme. The actual line of A-20 aircraft, however, I was able to read a bit about. As you've mentioned, it was certainly an underestimated aircraft you don' t hear a lot about considering how versatile and oft-used they were in the Pacific. They served as bombers, fighters, night fighters, recon and ground attack. Not only were they used by US forces, but by France, Great Britain and  the USSR as well (both theatres).

Joe, it really is unique and fun GB. You've done a great job organizing it.