Vacuform GB is On!

Solid;

I have several vacuform kits in my stash, mostly Wings48 & 72 and Broplan kits. When I get home tonight I'll see which one I'll build. There is one armor kit as well, that is a 1/35 kit of Kubus. Kubus was a makeshift armor car that the Polish Home Armor used in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising.  Here's some information on it. The vacuform is from a Polish company. I'll definetly do that one, but I might do a small airplane as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubuś

http://www.achtungpanzer.com/pol/kubus.htm

Mike T.

I dug out "Kubus" from my stash and was surprised how easy it started. At this time the armor shell is nearly assembled with exterior gear except for the rear view mirrors. The chassis is about 50% done. I plan to add some more details than the kit called for. A replacement lamp was used for the exterior as the kit one was not correct to the original type.

This is an ugly vehicle, no doubt about it. It was based upon the chassis of a Chevrolet 3 ton truck built pre-war under license in Poland. Weathering will be light as it was assembled and sent right into battle. Here are some pictures so far.

This is the kit package with some of the white metal parts supplied.

Early view of the two part shell halves assembled. There are inside plastic strips added to support the fusing of the two halves.

The main chassis components assembled as well as the tire halves glued together.

The shell with primer and added parts. I had to add new weld lines after sanding erased the previous ones.

Mike T.

Excellent work, Mike.  You're the most recent to join the group build, and at this rate, you'll be the first to finish!  I'm waiting for some plastic sheet stock to arrive before proceeding with my Fokker D.XXI, but the internal tube frame for the cockpit is almost done.  I'll post some pics soon.

Looks like you and I may be the only active members of this group build at the moment.  We started with 4 or 5 guys, but haven't heard anything in a while.  Keep posting the pics!

Jeff;

Thank you for the comments. Just by the nature of the kit its easy to build. I am going to try to add a little more life to the model by building up the front suspension a little bit. The kit only goes for a rod connecting the tires. I'll make a rough appearance of the forward wheel and tie-rod set up.

I might start another vacuform as well. There are three kits I have cut out but not sanded down. This would be either the Broplan PZL P.46 "Sum" in 1/72, the Wings 72 Fokker T.VIII (twin engine floatplane) or the Wings 48 PZL P.46. I am tending to the Fokker, but the Broplan P.46 will complete my collection of Polish pre-war prototypes. 

Mike T.

Jeff,

This turned out ot be a quick build, Kubus is finished. It was basically OTB with a few scratch additions. Here are pictures of the finished project.

Mike T.

Gentlemen,

I just picked up a 1/72 Wings P51H that I was going to incorporate into a "Mustang Ranch" build.  Mind if I post photos here?

Hi Guys.............

Lost myself with my Scratchbuilt B-18 Bolo for a while,but last night I concluded the fuselage of my model, so I´ll place some pics later this week........Great Bloplan Armored Car!!!!!

Happy to see you guys are at work.............. 

Joerugby - Would love to see some pics of the P-51H.  Post many and often.

Here's finally a few pics from my Wings Fokker D.XXI build.  Things are moving slowly but steadily these days, getting close to closing up the fuselage.  Here's the tube frame and cockpit.  Scratchbuilt it all from styrene rod and sheet.

Here's another view:

I realized too late that the seat is a little underscale, but I think it'll be OK in the end.

Here's a shot in the fuselage, the trick will be getting it centered between the fuselage halves once close up.  I'm considering cutting the canopy area out to see better in the fuselage, though I've read to wait until the halves are glued together before cutting out the canopy to avoid uneven joints. 

I've also got a scratch instrument panel built up, but I've got to paint the frame and interior before adding that.  More to come.

Here's a short update on the D.XXI, for anyone still following along.

Finally got the tube frame/cockpit painted and glued into the fuselage.  Of course, I only realized after gluing it in that I had forgotten to add belts to the seat.  Not too late, fortunately.  Also glued covers over the opening at the front of the fuselage to create a firewall.

Unfortunately, the hardest parts are still to come.  The wing to fuselage joint is going to be horrible, and I will have to fabricate wing fillets since the kit basically ignored those.  Also, the vacuform canopies are very inaccurate and poor quality, so I'm going to heat-and-smash my own using clear styrene over the white styrene form that I cut out over the cockpit from the original mold.  Pressing on!

Cheers!

   Hi fellows. new as of today, the vacuform building cought my eye as I was looking over some

   things on this site would love to be a member. I have been building vacuform for quite some time and to be honest once I learned a lots of tricks about them they became my type of models to build. I have over 152 now built. And my stock room has quite a few more I have not built yet. All of these are 1/32 models, I also have quite a few 1/48 vac.models also.I us to be  only in 1/48, untill I built my first 1/32 Vacuform model. I found it quite enjoyable.  I read that some of the GB member might be finding these kits hard to find. I' be glad to help anyone who wish to find one or a certain type of model. I have a big list of where I have and do find models I won"t.

Working on  1/32.. Japanese Betty, 1/32 ...Sea Wolf.

 Hi, Gera, for your request for wwII vacuform kits. Combat Models has about 4 . Avro "Anson", Breda 65,Fiat G-50,MC-200. All these kits are around  $37.95 and he has parts kits for all.The part kits are about $25.00  ..Call and ask for Robert Models,#570-450-6547. He will take a check. No visa cards. I have built all these and they make a nice model. Good luck.

 Bulldog 3

Hi Guys....

Pretty quiet around here. I guess we all have had our share of woes that have kept us
from the vacuums........

I have again returned to the Heinkel and will take a pic or two this week.....well we still
have some time left for the GB......

 Happy Vacu-building....

Gera