Once Were Warriors-7/1/07-7/31/08

A quick update - the Hurricane is almost finished. The canopy needs cleaning up big time. The tape was on way too long and did not seal well. The photo didn't come out too well I see.

The Spitfire is not too far behind; half the decals went on tonight. The Lancaster will have to wait a while though as I want to use some canopy masks for all those small panels.

Paul 

I started on the base today, and realized that the little wheel stands for the main wheels are not going to work.  They are supposed to fit up between the tires/wheels and the gear doors, but the way the kit is made there is -0- space between them.  If I tried to make something thin enough, it wouldn't support the beast.  So, it looks like a slight change of plan.  I am going to model it with a tow-bar on the nose wheel and sitting in the grass next to an apron (minus the building in the background!).

I finished it today!  Well, still have to finish the little wheels block parts and the base.  But, the airframe is done!  Must admit, it felt awfully strange not weathering the beast.  Which, I must admit, is one of my favorite parts of a build.  But alas, this is how she appears at the NASM so that is how I modeled it.

Here is what I used/did:

Paint is Gunze on the bottom and MM enamels on top.  OOB except for tape seatbelts.  Swastikas from Eagle Strike sheet as the kit ones were different than what I needed.

I finished putting on the decals a couple of days ago, and sealed them with some PollyScale satin clear last night.  I used Mr. Mark Softer on the kit decals, and though it really helped them to snuggle down it also really shrinks them!  A couple of them needed to be poked in spots and the softer solution opened those up into gaping holes in the decals.  Not a fault of the stuff, I just need to be more careful with it and use it SPARINGLY, instead of gloping it on like Micro Sol.  Now I just need to attach all of the fiddely bits and finish the display base. I also started building the little wheel stands, and just need to paint them then build a base for this monster.

wing_nut wrote:

ruddratt wrote: ...and now I find myself having to construct a scaled-down section of a street in Vancouver. Yikes!!   I know what you mean. I still have to contruct the inside of the hanger from the Weeks museum. Where would one get doll house supplies?  I am thinking they must have pre-made windows that I can use.

Hobby Lobby has an isle or two of Dollhouse stuff.  The other place I'd look is in the phone book uner both 'Dollhouses' and under the 'Hobby' section.

ruddratt wrote:

...and now I find myself having to construct a scaled-down section of a street in Vancouver. Yikes!!

I know what you mean. I still have to contruct the inside of the hanger from the Weeks museum. Where would one get doll house supplies?  I am thinking they must have pre-made windows that I can use.

Scott,

Glad to see you are still here!  That project of yours looks quite intimidating, but with your skills I know it will look great! As for the PE fenders; I am not trying to spend your money, but the PE fenders dented up would be the icing on the cake!

Thanks for the vote of confidence Mike.   

I'm debating on whether or not to order PE fenders for that beast so I can try to replicate the damage to them.

Scott, with your skills that will look awesome! What I am loving about this GB is that we get to toss historical color accuracy to the wind in favor of replicating our subjects as they appear today.

...and I'm in the same boat with the diorama base. It's been ages since my last one, and now I find myself having to construct a scaled-down section of a street in Vancouver. Yikes!!

I'm thinking that the best way to tackle this puppy is to spray the red oxide primer, then a very thin coat of a tan color tinted slightly pink.  Then I'll take my sanding sticks and carefully whisk off small patches of the tan/pink. 

The rust.. hmmm, maybe various shades of browns with a bid of red tossed in, followed up with a pin wash of rust around all the nuts, bolts etc.  The beauty of the deal is that I can build the whole tank including tracks and spray it all the same colors.    I am going to have to learn how to make a simple diorama base complete with gravel, grass and some old rubber tires being overgrown with grass.  I haven't done a diorama since I was a kid! 

espins1 wrote:

I'm really looking forward to trying to pull this off.

Me too!  Got some interesting colors there.

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know I haven't forgotten about this GB.  I've always had a soft spot for the Elefant, especially the one at Aberdeen.  I'm almost done building the Aberdeen Elefant, but as it appeared before it was captured by the Americans in Italy at the end of May 1944.  Here is a profile of it. 

I'll begin construction soon of the kit for this build and it will be done as it appeared when I saw it at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, Summer 2005.  I'm really looking forward to trying to pull this off. 

wing_nut wrote:

Kick you out?? NAH!  You know those museum guys never get the interior lighting right. We'll blame it on color balance And extremely nice work there buddy.

Any blame the paint shop, those guys are suffering from the fumes.....

wing_nut wrote:

Kick you out?? NAH!  You know those museum guys never get the interior lighting right. We'll blame it on color balance   And extremely nice work there buddy.

Uh, yeah- that's what I was thinking.  Damn lighting...

Thanks for the compliment!

Kick you out?? NAH!  You know those museum guys never get the interior lighting right. We'll blame it on color balance

And extremely nice work there buddy. 

Today, I masked and painted the second top color.  After removing the masking, I noticed the lighter green (RLM83) looks a little dark, but hadn't noticed it when it was the only color on top.  The RLM81 really makes it stand out!  I hope Marc doesn't kick me outta the GB cuz' I didn't quite get the paint colors right!

Here she is:

Mike and Marc-

You guys were right, the fit isn't close enough to paint the parts then put it together.

Luckily, I decided to check the fit today after thinking about what you guys said.  Lo and behold, the right wing isn't even close to fitting properly!  I had only painted the bottom up to this point, so I closed up the gaps, and taped her up for a couple of days to cure before finishing it up and start masking the top sides.  Thanks guys for the warning, you saved my !

Thanks Mike!

The design of this kit has a locking tab into groove attachment for the wings to fuse joint, and the joint looks to be pretty tight ala their P-47 Thunderbolt.  I thought it might be easier to paint them separately, but I've never built one of these before so hopefully I am right!

The "Arrow" is ready for paint!  Tonight, I finished masking everything in preparation for paint.  I think I used a hlaf a roll of Tamiya tape on this baby!  Here she is: