Fleet Air Arm Group Build

triumf wrote:

Just a little update on how things are going here.    I`ve completed the airframes on both the Gannet and the Wyvern,and attached the wings on both models..Just could`nt have the sonardome in the extended position on the Gannet...;).and had of course done what little sanding that was requiered on the seemes. Primed both yesterday and painted the small stuff like undercarriage and such. Plans of today is to paint them sky.before using the ocean grey when the sky is cured

Triuf, 

sounds like you are making good progress, if you are able to, please post some pics. It would be great to have a look at how its going.

harvs73 wrote:

If the rum is Bundaberg Rum i'll be in it!!! (OP preferably)  I have had a day off sick today and managed to get some work done this afternoon on the Barracuda (the morning was solid sleep). I have extended the fueslage framework into the middle compartment and have weathered the cockpit parts except for the fueslage interior. I have to add more boxes etc to the Nav compartment to make it look more busy as currently it looks too bare. The wings have also been stuck together and are drying so I can join them to the fueslage next time. The probem is in fact how far to go as it can get very messy inside the Barracuda from the images I have seen.

Dave, 

Sounds great, you are certainly steaming ahead! Looks like you've got this one sorted.

Leon,

we'd be glad to have you on board!

I take it you know rules one and two.

BTW, that Corsair office looks amazing!  I'll look forward to seeing that one come together. A few of us are building Corsairs, so you'll fit right in.

Woohoo!  Another Corsair!  There can never be too many Corsairs around.

Leon- great job on the office, can't wait to see her done!  Welcome to the GB.

"Now here this........"

There are 25 of us now!

As usual, drinks will be served in the officers mess after dinner. Those of you on CAP, will be serverd your rum ration after ops.

"That is all."

Great looking front office and engine Leon .  Tell me what scale and what kit are you building?

Cheers

Well, as requested here is the awful mess that my Spitfire has become.

Just to recap, I painted it and was'nt happy with the camo pattern so I did a touch up job with some masking and the airbrush only to find that the extremely fine panel lines had been filled with my 3 light coats of paint! So......I got my scribing tool out and the butchery began!

I'm not trying to build a show stopper here, I just want to make the best of a less than perfect kit. So here it is, warts and all. I need to do some more touching up on the paint, but that should'nt be a problem for me. Once I get this kit's paintwork sorted, I'll put a good gloss coat on it and then I can get properly stuck into it.

I have also done some more clean up work on the Lynx, I've had to be really careful as I'm sanding around the transparent parts where the filler is. I managed to fix the lip under the windscreen, I just need to re-mask and paint then I can start adding more bits to it.

Thats all for now.

Darren it looks like the Spit is coming together nicely, as you said once you have re-touched the paintwork it should look great.

Cheers

Tango, Daywalker, & Darson,

Thanks for the kind comments. Yep, it is the 1/48 Tamiya Corsair. In honor of the GB's tradition - rum all around for the correct guesses!

I can't believe how nice the Tamiya's kit cockpit and engine are. The only thing I am a little worried about is the wings - I hear they can be a little tricky going in the unfolded position. I understand the best way is to join the tops, then bottoms, then outer to inner. I'll be interested to hear how this goes for everyone...

Tango, 

The spit looks good; I wouldn't call it a mess at all. I'm sure you said it earlier and I'll probably go find it in a minute, but what kit is it? It looks like the cockpit has some good detail in it - true?  

Darren, Leon,

thanks for your comments about the Spit.

Its the latest Mk.IX in 1/48 from Airfix. To be honest, its not that good. With some work, it can be made into a reasonable looking MkIX. The let down is that the wings are way to thick and the trailing edges are also too thick. I added some bits to the 'pit and dropped the elevators. The rudder is a much thinner replacement from another model.

If you ask the "rivet counters" they will tell you that we still do not have an accuarate Mk.IX in this scale and they will bite your head off if you build the Hasegawa one, but I recon thats the one to build.

The wings on the Corsair.....I've heard the same thing. I only built it once before and that was with wings folded. So I guess we'll have fun figuring it out.

Anyone else got a take on this? 

gwaihir wrote:

The only thing I am a little worried about is the wings - I hear they can be a little tricky going in the unfolded position. I understand the best way is to join the tops, then bottoms, then outer to inner. I'll be interested to hear how this goes for everyone...

I had trouble gettling the wings to line up in the unfolded position the first time around, and unfortunately did not test fit them prior to final assy.  The second time around I built it I folded them up-no problem!  This time, I think I'll leave 'em down but will DEFINATELY test the fit before commiting to glue.

Darren- The paint job looks great to me, I think it's gonna be a stunner when finished!

As the cap'n said, rum all 'round! 

Cheers Frank,

I will certainly be dry fitting those Corsair wings..............

Thanks Frank. I think just knowing that it is something to watch for and not blindly following the directions helps. I, too, will definitely dry fit - multiple times...

Leon 

Reading through the thread I see some great builds put out there as inspiration. Great job guys! Excellent work! I'm going to have to try one of those trumpeter kits one of these days...

I have two of my own to add to the inspiration. First, a martlet - from the Tamiya wildcat kit. Included some very minor fixes / sanding away of details, and a different spinner (from a P-47 kit). Decals are Aeromaster...

The second is a hellcat which I need to take better pictures of one of these days, but for what it is worth...(Hasegawa - kit and decals)

Leon,

nice work! If my Hellcat comes out half as good as that I'll be very happy! Thanks for the inspiration.

Leon-

Awesome work!  I am really looking forward to seeing your Corsair when it's done.  YW on the wing heads up, shouldn't be a problem as long as you take your time.

I'll be out of town for a couple of days for work training, but will be back later this weekend.  Save a couple rums for me for when I get back, I'm gonna need it!

We'll keep your seat warm for you Frank.

Quick WIP update on my Spitfire.

I got the the idea off JWB over on the aircraft forum to drill out my exhaust stacks, I had never done it before but after seeing how his turned out I thought I'd give it a try.

Not bad for a first go?

Did another re-spray on the Lynx, one of the seam lines is still showing so its back to filling/sanding again.

Darren,

Nice job on the exhausts! I think that is one of those details that is very small and unnoticed by many, but when put together with other small details really adds up to making builds extra special. In my opinion definitely worth the time - nice work!

Now about seams...I hate seams. Sometimes I dread them so much that when it comes time to gluing a fuselage together and knowing that I will have to deal with the microscopic seams that you don't notice until it's too late, I will actually loose interest and put a kit away (the corsair I am pulling out again for this build) or I will go to my building station and only spend around 10 minutes building because I don't want to tackle it. Argh! I hate them! So good for you taking the time to go back and fix the one you found...and if you ever find that magic trick that makes them all disappear on the first try, I'll buy you a real bottle of rum...

Hope all is well.

Leon 

Thanks Leon

I know what you mean about seams.....horrible little blighters! Still, like you say its worth that extra effort to make a better model. I could leave it as is, but I just would'nt be happy with it.

I'm working on some filter covers for the Lynx at the moment. Its supposed to be a mesh but the kit part is just a piece of plastic. I have experimented with some mettalic card by scoring a mesh pattern on it with my scalpel, then cutting it to shape and gluing it to the kit part. I need to paint it but when its done I'll post a pic and see what you think. At the moment, I'm undecided about it.

No computer or internet for the last few weeks but have finished the Merlin HM1 so a few pics.

straight from the box build using Xtracrylix paint .Nice interior detal all invisible when finished. 

gwaihir wrote:

The second is a hellcat which I need to take better pictures of one of these days, but for what it is worth...(Hasegawa - kit and decals)

Nice work on those, here is a pic of the real one, I got it from the son of HMS Ameers ships photograper who is a friend of my mother 

but its not typical of the squadrons aircraft as they usually looked like this

Out for a few days, miss a lot....

Darren-very nice work on the exhaust.

gwaihir-thanks for posting the pics-I'm building a similar Hellcat for this GB-I will use the pic for inspiration-you did a very nice job on the build

TonyO-Great job on the chopper.  And thanks for the pics-a good reminder that the enemy wasn't the only hazard to be faced.

Tony,

nice work on the Merlin! Very well done. Many thanks for posting those photo's too. Nice to have a look at the "real thing" when we build models.

Cheers,

Darren,

I'm excited to see the mesh when you have it done. It is always good to see what people have done to add to kits to make them more realistic - always nice to put a new trick in the bag...

TonyO

1st - Nice job on the merlin. It looks really good.

2nd - Wow! Wow! Wow! Thanks for the pictures. Those ones are definitely going to get saved in the reference folder...

Bob,

Thanks for the compliment. I look forward to seeing your hellcat.

Leon 

Darren great work on the exhaust pipes, they should really make a difference to the finished kit.  I've always been to chicken to try that myself, I usually rely on good 'ol Ultracast for my exhausts .

With regards to the mesh, have you thought about getting some fine PE mesh from Eduard and using that?

Tony lovely job on the Merlin it looks incredible and thanks for posting those shots, it's always nice to reference the real thing.

Cheers

Here's a few more images of the Barracuda cockpit

Nice work on the Barracuda interior there Dave and just as a matter of interest are you going to add any harnesses?  Also, what color are you using as a shade the interior frames etc...

Cheers