Fleet Air Arm Group Build

 Nice progress Dave!  Corsairs are cool! I haven't seen your in box review to know the details of the kit though?   I have been  shirking my duties but have once again pulled out the Ventura in an attempt to get it finished by the change over back to FAA!  Fat chance!  But here are my efforts!

 I think I have saud that the 1/48 Fonderie Minature's 1/48 PV-1 Ventura has to be a contender for the worst kit ever!  Soft but brittle plastic that reminds me of kitty litter when sanded extc.  Cutting Sprue attachment points  even away from the parts still leaves craters extc.  Nothing fits. Don't expect it to. Every part seems to be made for something else. A real shame as the pit and resin parts are pretty nice. They just aren't even close to fitting.

 Here is how it has progressed this week.

 I whipped together a crude scratch built interior. Couldn't find any pics inside of a PV-1 but used some of the Harpoon which I figure will be close.  Not a jaw dropping effort but more than enough to look good inside when the halfs are closed together.

Battling cutting chopping and grinding I have some how forced things together minimizing detail loss and damage where I could. I can't even start to list all that had to be done and not sure it would help much anyways as no two of these kits are really alike or standardized. Lets just say it is an adventure and leave it at that.

The wings have fat chunky locating tabs that are made to fit in slots that are less than half the right size. Square pegs / round holes. Even if you adjust them some how the tabs will hit the resin pit walls before actually helping in anyway to secure and position the wings. Cut them off and put a brass bar through to aid in placement and strength for the hell that will be the wing attaching and filling.

 Actually when I made the holes in the wings to match up I found I made it too long and it struck the resin wheel wells in the wings.  Dremel dremel dremel! The best most essential tool while working with these Ill fitting madly engineered FM Beasties!  You will find yourself actually using all those attachments in the dremel box!

Sanding seams and filling those craters. The composure of the low pressure injected plastic has necessitated the use of gap filling super glue and acclerator as otheer wise you can sand forever and the plastic will simple keep crumbling away making things worse.

Top and bottom

I replaced the white metal engines. ( Mine were chunky and mis shaped) with the resin R-2800-31 2000 HP P&W series used almost exclusively on Ventura's.  Now if you ask me what looks different in the series? I dunno. Looks like a Corsair engine to me and I wired both the same as I did the 1/32 corsair.  The details aren't as sharp as say an Aires engine but still they are not bad and the price tag was much more reasonable.

 Well wing filling and finding a way to get the tail on will be next!  Wish me luck I am going to do my devil best to get this thing done by May 1st.  It is definatly not a kit for the sheepish. Actually it makes you feel like you are being punished for some great sin from a past life!  WWWWOOOOOOOOO!

sfcmac wrote:

Actually it makes you feel like you are being punished for some great sin from a past life!

Geez, who did you pi$$ off in a past life?  Looks like an uphill battle to me.  Something tells me that if I ever tried to build one of those, I would prolly wind up in the funny farm (again)! LOL...

I have to say, I will never build an FM kit, just based on what I've heard from others, and I'm not one who's afraid of polishing up rough gems, but sheeessshhhhh!!!!!!!!!! I've got some Mach 2 kits that scare me, but nothing like that. Carry on son, and the rum will be out soon. XO, permission please to ration the rum to the men,

It's Friday Night!!!!

Capt. Bondoman, USN and in a pre-hungover condition, ecchhh!! Although I have to say, a better man would stay that way, sigh...

bondoman wrote:

It's Friday Night!!!! Capt. Bondoman, USN and in a pre-hungover condition, ecchhh!! Although I have to say, a better man would stay that way, sigh...

Arrrrrrgggghhhhhhhhhh! We needs a (hic) tot! The.......the......well, this person be busy in the carpenter shop a-fixin' the new bench!

Things is creepin' slowly towards 'normal'

Still catching up during drink breaks!

bondoman wrote:

It's Friday Night!!!!

Woohoo!!! 

Nammy!!!!!!! hURRAY!

 We have missed you!  Please allow me to give an brief explaination for your extended absence!

 Our Nammy was out taking a walk keeping a keen eye out for the crew was aniebrieated again and he had to tend the wheel!

 Come daylight about 2 PM  we awoke an he was just gone?  A mad search followed!  Taking us to exotic places  where we were met by dangerous but surprisingly friendly natives.

 Fearing the worst as they seemed cannablistic in nature we were able to bribe them with rum and drink until finally they agreed to lead us to a strange fellow they had captured.

 Carefully and cautiously we followed.  Some strange ritual they had called spring break I think that they meant to use our Nam as a sacrifice to the  beer bong deity.

 Arriving to their lair we saw the most aweful horror. Nam had been hung aloft by his undies rcognizable only by his black shorts!

 Seems they only wanted the shorts though. After some long drawn out negotiations we were able to free him but they kept his shorts.

 According to him all he could recall was being traded into slavery in exchange for rum . He never saw who the fellow was only his feet.

 Anyways Nam! Glad you are back !

Aaron, 'spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch', go forth and beat the beast!!!!!!!!! Looking goood so far amongst all the colorful language and plastic dust!!!!!!

NAMMMMM !!!!!!! Glad to see you are well after your ordeal with the natives!!!!!!! Where is this place again???????????

 Thanks Ritchie!  Nam  must be resting as he still sounds like one of Alvin and the CHipmonks. Some side effect from his dramictic er I mean tramatic experience.

 Well The beast is being battled. 4 hours to attach the wings and tail. Get them at the proper angles and start filling the massive gap caverns. I'll get it though. Probably best to call it a night for now. But it is showing progress!

Still much work to be done!  I am scratching a bomb bay. I somehow managed to cut out the doors bit by bit,  WHy? Cuz it's there!

Daywalker wrote:

Very nice work Aaron!  Have you ever thought about building two of these at once?

 Frank you have a twisted sense of humor.  ACK! just the thought of it!

 What scheme do you think I should paint it up in? LOL!  I am trying to decide?

Daywalker wrote:

Very nice work Aaron!  Have you ever thought about building two of these at once?

Frank -  nobody wants to steal Your Thunder... What a Great Idea though, I just happened to see a FM Ventura on ebay and I know of someone else that has this kit..... Muhahahahahahaha

sfcmac wrote:

What scheme do you think I should paint it up in? LOL!  I am trying to decide?

I say go for an Aleutian scheme!  Yours will probably be the only we ever get to see in those colors.

Summit wrote:

Frank -  nobody wants to steal Your Thunder... What a Great Idea though, I just happened to see a FM Ventura on ebay and I know of someone else that has this kit..... Muhahahahahahaha

LOL, so far I am the guy who has attempted two at once, but no finished pieces yet.

Saw one on Ebay did you?  You are indeed masochistic my friend.

bondoman wrote:

lewbud wrote: Aaron, The Hup looks great.  Now all you need is a 1/72 Mickey Rooney in a green top hat! The helo in that movie was an H-5 Dragonfly, and the model would satisfy your question. I hate helos myself, but it's a great model, Aaron http://www.modelingmadness.com/reviews/korean/cleaverh03s.htm

What is it with French kit makers? I mean many of the East European kits are a chore to build, but at least they are cheap, who would have thought there was a market for expensive bad kits, Viva la difference I guess.

Still it is pretty impressive when someone can make one look nice.

BTW what do you mean you hate helicopters? Obviously too much rum for Mr Bondo, into the brig until he sleeps it off.

If you don't like normal helicopters you will love this thing. It is my latest toy but but won't fit into the USN or FAA theme.

Until the FAA build gets going I'll be entertaining myself with a Fujimi SH-2 Sea Sprite.

sfcmac wrote:

I think I have saud that the 1/48 Fonderie Minature's 1/48 PV-1 Ventura has to be a contender for the worst kit ever!

I think the only contenders for that title also come from Fonderie. I consider myself fairly tolerant of poor fitting kits but with the exception of Heller I avoid any French made kit, the stories I've heard are the things nightmares are made of. I am told Fonderie kits are what scratchbuilders build when they want a challenge.

Now there is a Helicopter you don't see everyday Aaron! I have spent what free time I could muster today on bodywork. Lots of bodywork!  Some detailing but mostly bodywork!

The engine cowling fit along with the air intake and oil coolers  are real fine examples of poo!  I know you all are tired of my B$*&hing so Ill just say it is tough to make something out of SH&T! So that means get out the TP!

The tail basically has to be recarved just to set on top the Fuselage then there is this big step in it.

When you look at a picture of the real McCoy you can see it is above the fuse but has a curved taper and not a hard step which makes sense aerodynamically.

This 1st one is a Harpoon which was later. It has a bit of a step the Venturas don't.

See?

Sorry I didn't take a picture but it looked like a 2 by 4 board across the top.  To fix this sanding is out as you couldn't get the right shape even if the plastic held together.  Putty? White out? Mr Surfacer ? Gosh that would take forever and be real brittle.  CA would run all over and look bad.  So my solution to this poopey problem was Toilet paper!  Yep!

  I made a big mushy gushy spit wad outta TP and water. I mean I remeber them things being stuck on the school walls for years!  I used water though gotta be sanitary if not sane right? Then mushed and roughly shaped it to form. Stuck just like I remembered. Then I let it dry.

 Sound crazy? Well when it was dry I then simply squirted CA superglue all over it. It absorbed the glue thirstily and held it in place. No runs no drips. When I used acclerater on it it really just allowed the CA to permiate clean down to the plastic.  It made a kind of fiberglass body filler if you will.

 Then I simply sanded it smooth. It sands really well and gets surprisingly smooth.

 Smooth and hard enough to where an easy coat of Mr Surfacer hides  the truth beneath.  Don't have to worry about crumbling either like with putty! This stuff will out live the Dinosaurs... er well ( Insert proper catchy phrase here) It's midnight what do you want from me LOL!  I am modeling with Charmen for Pete's sake!

 This was really faster and easier than  appling coat after coat of filler to build it up or make a plastic glue mush.  I used that on the wing gaps and wished I had discovered the TP method before.

Lots of hard sanding and retouching to get a good flat seamless look. Over and over.

Anywho in between the filler drying phases I attached the engines and cursed at the Oil cooler and intake parts.  I cut out the flash that was as thick as most parts from the air intake holes and added a streched sprue actuator and louvers from cut spare PE fret.  Better than an open hole or sunk melted flash blob!  On the  Air Intake there looked like the openings had melted plasti mushed in to fill sink holes and gaps from where the plastic hadn't reached in the molding process. I shaped them as well as I could with a sharp knife and dremel but the insides looked awful. Right on top where they could be a real eye sore!  I took some spare PE Screen used for covering 1/35 scale tank Vents and cut it to shape and covered them.  Perfect? Maybe not but looks much better.

The camera zoom can be cruel but just holding and looking at the model it looks fine. Even kinda nice.

Last thing I did was cover all the seam work with Mr Surfacer 500 and will let it dry and see what it looks like in the light of day tomorrow!  I am going to get this beast together even if I have to wrestle Mr Whipple for his last Roll!

Just a quick side note.The cowlings took hours to get to look like that. The fron'ts were both to large and too small depending on whether it was top or bottom. I turned the engine covers upside down which switched some usless locating holes but allowed it to be shaped and sanded and still at least resemble a cowling.  Just wanted to throw that out there in case anyone may have one of these beauties in the stash! 

simpilot34 wrote:

Aaron, 'spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch',

sfcmac wrote:

Just wanted to throw that out there in case anyone may have one of these beauties in the stash!

Aaron your progress is astounding, only because of the trouble you are going through to get where you are right now!!!! TP huh? Well it ain't finished till the paperwork is done!!! It's even at the right end of the plane!!!!ROFLMAO!!!

Really, your doing well with it!!!

Was gone the last 2 days. Anyhow, I want to get a lot of work done today. About paint, I can't find an acrylic gloss dark sea blue, or even sea blue. Would Insignia blue with a little black and a brighter blue suffice? I know paint mixes of the 50's wern't exactly precise as they are today. And also, I just thought up a (I think) brilliant way of replacing raised panel lines. Make a small ring of clay around a well-formed panel line (And rivets should work). Then pour a thin sillicone mold in there. After it dries, you have a mold for panel lines. Now I can cast them, and replace the lost ones when sanding. Re-scribing might be far more accurate, but I can't scribe a fuselage to save my life. I'll post pics in a while. How about my paint dilemma? Make a big batch of mixed paint? I think it should work. Oh, and I can't stand gloss finishes on millitary planes. Would a semi-gloss be somewhat accurate? Thanks for any help you can give. Thanks,

 Graham

Testors Model Master Acryl has several possible blues available, dark sea blue, sea blue, non spectacular sea blue (is their actually a spectacular sea blue?), navy blue, insignia blue, Blue Angels blue. One of these should be good right from the bottle.

The problem can be finding a source for the Acryl Naval colors series, for some reason most retailers only stock the basic Acryl line even when they carry the whole line of enamels.

I know Tower Hobby carries the complete line and at $2.49 / bottle have one of the better prices too. They also stock Polly S acrylics which offer even more options.

http://www.plastic-models.com/

As far as gloss everything is gloss with a coat of Future on it. I think Future could polish a turd, but I'll leave that experiment to another.

Aaron (the other one, how many of us are in here anyway 2,3... 4?)

Interesting idea using the TP, that is a new one for me. Seems like you could use diluted white glue as well, make it a paper mache like filler.

Well I guess with a kit like that you just have to Roll with it. Ba dump dump, hey folks I'll be here all weekend, try the chicken.

Aaron, I simply LOVE oddball craft, and your Ventura has me all in awe (especially at the work your doing to get it looking presentable!)  Keep up the amazing work!

Brian

 Ha Aaron!  You need to party with Frank sharing that same twisted sense of humor!  You'll never see me being mischievious in these here forums......

 Frank did you see Nam was asking about my badge of shame that I wear as a Scarlet Letter in my sig? LOL!

Well work tonight and some more progress to report on! I really appreciate all the comments as they are serving to keep me motivated!  As far as staying married? I just haven't figured out how to get her to leave? She came to visit in 1987 and just stayed... That was many models ago...

 Last night I sprayed the base colors as to check for imperfections in the finish.

These earth lights may save energy but really aren't much good for pictures. 

So I waited for daylight and got shadows from the sun? Guess I should set up a better pic taking table.  But you can at least see something of what I am writing about.

Checking on seams and filling sink holes I missed. There was so much work there I know I am missing something so taking my time deciding on a scheme for it.  Trying to stick with US NAVY.

 Added the gear and wheels. Just stuck the gun box under the nose temporarily as a mask in case I use a diff configuation. A good angle to view how things are lining up!

 A few more sunny views as the bright sunshine really can show faults. Lets you all see what I am looking at.

 Gotta rescribe some sanding damage. Add a few rivit details that are missing and wet sand some of the Mr Surface streaks. Not too many.

I added the gear so It can sit on its own while I scratch a bomb bay then it's onto the Vacuform  Canopys and turret and stuff.  I have read that this is a tough part. I forgot to dip them in future so they are drying now overnight. We shall see how it comes together. Getting the fresh Silly Putty ready!

Aaron-

Holy Freoles Batman!  You are really whipping this bad boy into submission!  How do you do that so fast?

I saw that about Nammy asking about your sig, LOL...

Oughta make one for him... 

Honestly, I never thought thought I would get to this point!  I worked on the Corsair twins today, and now I have both masked up and ready for paint.  I also started painting the propellers, and hope to have those done in a few days.

    Frank -

 How do you do that so fast? I did not realize those were both Bird Cage versions. Freaky fine!

 What would be a good badge for Nam? The underwear knomb?

Aaron - your truly a Master Modeler. I would have thought from the Halifax that you would of Sworn off FM kits. You have done a Remarkable Job on this PV-1.  THe toilet paper idea was fantastic Dont Go Losing those Propellers

Frank - I cant Believe it, you broke out the Twins again. I am So looking forward to seeing some Paint on these Beauties. 

Aaron- So fast?  Me?  Wow, that's the first time anyone ever called me fast. LOL...  Yes- they are both Bird Cage Corsairs.  Didn't have a night fighter in my collection yet, and Ihave always wanted an FAA Bird Cage Corsai.  Here's the markings these two are getting:

Sean- Thanks buddy!  Can you believe it?  I worked on these two, and right now I am working on the 109 twins.  Just have a thing for twins, you know.