Fleet Air Arm Group Build

Here's a picture of the Seafang, the second type with contraprops that I'm doing.  A Spitfire one too far.

Ouch!  wondered how you were doing with all that was going on Johnny!  Really glad to see you stop in as I worry about our MIA's and possible POW's!

 At work huh? Did Dee tackle you and steal another box of models?

Wow John, now theres a subject ive not seen before. From your pic it looks like there wouldnt be enough clearance between the props and the ground on takeoff. Did it see any service?

Oh I looked at he list of compatible FAA subjects and didnt see the sunderland? Am i blind or have i eaten too many shrooms again?....I saw the Gruman Avenger was on there. I got a TBf Avenger, is that the same thing?

...Guy

Luftwoller wrote:

I saw the Gruman Avenger was on there. I got a TBf Avenger, is that the same thing? ...Guy

The TBM and TBF are the same exact plane except the "F" designation denotes craft made by Grumman and "M" by General Motors.  I have an old Airfix 1/72 Avenger-3 that I may bring into this as well (not sure as I have found just one set of FAA decals, but they are for a TBM/F-1 whereas the kit I have is a TBM-3....it means just having to fill some holes where the rocket hardpoints go, but it figures that one set of holes goes right through intricate rivit detail on both wings )  I do think I will give it a try though...but I am not commiting it to this GB just yet

Brian

 
 

 

The Fleet Air Arm GB is a go!

Luftwoller wrote:

Wow John, now theres a subject ive not seen before. From your pic it looks like there wouldnt be enough clearance between the props and the ground on takeoff. Did it see any service? Oh I looked at he list of compatible FAA subjects and didnt see the sunderland? Am i blind or have i eaten too many shrooms again?....I saw the Gruman Avenger was on there. I got a TBf Avenger, is that the same thing? ...Guy

Men (and D), clean shirts, and shoes, if you have 'em!

Bos'n Guy, there is a sub-build going on for the Coastal Command, wherein the finest of the Short Bros. can be found. Extra rum if you can be in both.

Volunteers please assemble at the belfry for a search party for LtCmr Nam. He's abt to be labeled a lost mariner.

Captain Bondo, USN all of his brain cells.

Tis time to celebrate! The Changeover has arrived!!!

Boba Fett wrote:

No it's not! IT's 7:52 by my house... Anyway, my Corsair is finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pics will be forthcoming

SWEEEEEEET!  Can't wait to see em!

As for the change over....BOUT TIME!!!!!!!

Brian

MEN!!!!!

ATTENTION!!!!

THE XO IS ABOARD!!!

bondoman wrote:

Just great, I'm going to be having nightmares on duty now too!!!

Looking forward to the new GB.  Now if I can just get that Corsair off my bench!

bondoman wrote:

MEN!!!!! ATTENTION!!!! THE XO IS ABOARD!!!

I love it!  Captain- I hope you will deal appropriately with any stragglers who try to sneak aboard after lights out! 

     Gentlemen! iT IS 00:48 Hours my time at present and there is no in progress photo's posted yet? Oh this will not do at all.  No tales from the sea either! and no Nammy! to boot!

 I am sure others are worried and missing his post as I am so we shall start out this  wonderful GB by solving all 3 issues, (almost)

 Now to celebrate this new begining in our modeling quest for excellence I am celebrating the evening with a hot cup o tea that was so nicely provided to me all the way from England by one of our own most colorful members... Guy Luftwoller!

Now I am not certain of the brand but It is rumored that it is made from the blooms of a rare tibetian tea plant that grows in the remotest harshes of conditions and flowers only once every 107 years.  Cared for and cultivated by the Dali Lama Himself! This tea has very strange and almost mythical qualities which enables the drinker to build very fast and warp time itself to allow progress that blurs the imagination! 

 Now where to begin?

 The quest for the missing Lt Cmdr Namrednef has led us to a strange land and into an ancient ruin. There are many markings and writings from a long ago lost language carved into solid stone walls . What was this place? An assembly point or gentlemans club for Druid wizards of old practicing dark magic perhaps?

  As we searchers ponder that question our Expedition leader Cpt Bondo  relieves the call of nature in a hole created by a missing stone tablet in the floor! Man what did he have for dinner. Smells like something dead !  As the rest of us sought shelter from the odiferous and somewhat noisy event. ( Bondo is a screamer) The Captain let out a cry in amazement.

 From the steaming hole came out what appeared to be Nammy!

But he did not look quite right? He acted strange. Kinda friendly, happy and pleasant.... why that isn't Nam? Just as in the Superman comics where there are parallel universers and worlds we had discovered....

BIzarro NAM!

 He refered to hisself as Fenderman! But we all called him Bizarro Nam!  He seemed to be the mirror reflection opposite of our missing hero!

He insisted on posting a work in progress already!  You sharp eyed keen witted sailors can spot the diff in his appearance!

Fenderman:

 Hello all what a glorious time to be a modeler! I am just bubbling with joy and Captain Bondo's used dinner.

 I have been working hard to show you my progress over the last 10 minutes.

I am working on an Old Monogram Kit from 1966 as I really like the grave yard of forgotten oldies!

 The 1/48 Kingfisher! All original with moldy decals and all! Yippie I love these challenges! The instructions show a wheeled version that served in the Royal Navy. So I jumped at the opportunity to be different and go for it!

1st thing I did was detail and wire up the engine piece!

 Added a few wires and things and gave it a peachy keen paint job!

Before I knew it I was so excited I had built and painted the whole inside!

Cutting off the float left holes and uneven spots! Was I ever so thrilled and happy to fill and sand these seams! One of my favorite things to do! Oh how I wish they were longer!

It was such a thrill I couldn't get it together fast enough to start painting!

The instructions are woefully deficiant in showing or explaining this wheeled FAA version so I simply adopted a sky colored bottom and Sea gray top. Mask with silly putty to create stencils of the patterms an reversed them on each wing as what seems to be a common practice for WW II FAA camo patterns on War Birds! Oh the joy is sooooo great!

 Have my clear parts drying from the future dip overnight and think It should all go perfectly tomorrow!  I feel terrffic and dog gone it I can't help but fall in love when I look in the mirror today! Tomorrow can't come soon enough!

Good Night all!

______________________________________________________________

 The story you have just read is fictional. Any resemblance to any persons , living or dead is purely coincidental!

______________________________________________________________________

Well Bizarro Nam is a poor excuse for the real thing. Here is hoping the real Nam returns soon!

 See y'all tomorrow!

razordws wrote:

Looking forward to the new GB.  Now if I can just get that Corsair off my bench!

Know what you mean Dave.  For once it's not your fault!

Here's a partial list of Coastal Command aircraft. I'm sure I missed something.

Airspeed Oxford

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley

Avro Anson

Blackburn Botha

Boeing B-17E

Bristol Beaufort, Blenheim, Beaufighter

Consolidated Liberator, Catalina, Canso Catalina

De Havilland Mosquito, Tiger Moth

Fairey Battle, Gladiator, Swordfish, Albacore

Fokker T.8

Handley Page Hampden, Halifax

Hawker Audax, Hurricane, Hector

Lockheed Hudson, Ventura

Martin Baltimore, Maryland

North American Mustang, Mitchell

Northrop N-3PB (Norway)

Saro Lerwick, London

Short Sunderland

Supermarine Stranraer, Sea Otter, Spitfire, Walrus

Vickers Wellington, Vildebeest, Vincent, Valencia, Wellesley

Commenced operations at 00.01 with construction of the bombardier figure in his position; essential part of the a/c as it included the deck. Kind of looks like Nam on our last fishing trip...

Aaron out of th eblocks with a vengeance!!!!! Not literally, I know it's a Kingfisher!! Looking good!!!!!!

Bondo, love the fur lined boots in 1/72!!! Is that thread or yarn???? LOVE IT already!!!

Haven't broken sprue on the Bucc yet, but started going through the instructions and writing notes down for each step and got a new batch of paints for it today!!! Looking forward to getting started, once I finish the 'bag!!!!

Aaron-   That must be some potent tea!  You are a brave man drinking that stuff, never know what they make it out of.  The Dali Lama?  I think Guy is fooling ya!

Excellent work on the Kingfisher, I suspect it will be finished by the time I finish typing this.

bondo- Thank you for the Coastal Command list, that helps!   I like you miniature Nammy, I can picture him hanging over the rail on that fishing trip of yours, right before he dives in to avoid the landing PBY.

Here it is May 1'st and already progress pics. 

Aaron -  You must of been modeling on the "Vampire Shift" . Lots of progress, got your figgies painted even.The old Monogram kit looks like it will be a stunner.

Bondo -  Great work, I also am Very Impressed with the "Boot Fur Cuff"  that really makes him stand out. I know I will be using that tip in the Future.

I have some of that "English Tea" although It did not have the same effect on my modeling as it did Aaron. 

Herer's a link to where I pulled all of those a/c. I hadn't heard of quite a few- A Blackburn Botha? These GB's are always good for research.

http://www.rafcommands.currantbun.com/Coastal/indexC.html

Add Airspeed Oxford and De Havilland Dominie

Last evening I ordered the Falcon canopy sets for both the Sunderland and the Whitley. They shipped today so I should have 'em very soon!

Nammy does look snug in those booties. I may do up the rest of the crew- wouldn't want him out over the North Sea alone.

OK, Mates, on the promise of my ration at 4 bells today, I started on the Seafang.  (not before 0000 GMT, I don't want a tour the plank!!)

I am using a True Details resin Spitfire Mk V interior for this, the parts in the kit are white metal, less detailed, and indistinguishable from Spitfire parts.  I've read the cockpits were similar, though I'm sure there were differences.  I left out the flap handle.   After grinding out the interior and thinning the walls it fit well and looks convincing.  The seat support and headrest is white metal from the kit, that part is different since the aft fuselage is cut down for the all-round vision hood.  (I've heard the Yanks call that type a bubble, but I am not a fish so I don't.)  There were some individual instrument decals in the kit, so I used some of them on the panel after painting it.  I overcoated the decals with Tamiya Smoke to subdue them, too much white otherwise.  As you can see in the photos, the True Details parts are not bad, but they have some surface roughness in areas that I wish they did not have. I did a thin wash of Tamiya German Gray over the MM British Interior Green. 

The fuselage of the kit is made in four parts, nose separate from the main fuselage separating at the cowl lines.  The fit is OK as long as care is taken in sanding the joins correctly.  It is a bit difficult because the plastic is thick and soft and the edges are not square, and there are a lot of different angles to fit all at once.  I fit and assembled the right fuselage first, then I taped the left aft fuselage to that and then fit the left nose so it could match both of the parts it needs to join.

The vertical fin and rudder are a problem area.  Two different fins are supplied, one is short and represents an early design, the other is taller but still misses the mark when compared to photos.  I've seen a review of this kit that says the aft fuselage is not deep enough, but I am not so sure that is correct, except very slightly.  I think the problem is in the vertical fin and rudder shape.  I had started on the Silver Cloud Spiteful kit a few years ago (not done yet, it is missing the canopy) and that is where I reached this conclusion.  I scaled a photo to 1/48 and matched the Spiteful rudder to that.  I have done the same with this kit, adding material from both supplied fins together until I was satified with the shape.  You can see where the added parts are in the picture as there are two colors of plastic.  I rescribed the rudder fin separation line.

What a fantastic start John. This GB has barely started and Aarons almost finished his Kingfisher. Rumour has it hes already started modelling Nam in a variety of Lewd positions. John, your Fang is coming on in spades.

Bondo, whats the deal with the Coastal command bit? Is there another GB running concurrently? My plan with the Sundy is a total rescribe and then some.

...Guy

Guy- the CAG has ordered a formation of a CCGB as a sub-build to the FAA build, on account of a little whining from the Wardroom, not to take away from the main task at hand, which is arming the fleet, but to offer a little diversity.

If you are so inclined there's a full PE set for the interiors out there somewhere as well. I'm going to post a pic of the boxtop I've got, as it has a color scheme I cannot find ref to. After a few grogs, maybe I'll be enlightened.

John, you are a fast worker. The kit must have come with a vac hood? How about markings? Very swell looking so far.

LtCmr. Sfmac, your Capt. must have been headed for the rack when he examined the Kingfisher, and bleary eyed. In the light of day I see- landing gear! Grey on grey camo! Sky lowers! Do post your background info- very interesting! I'm curious- the crew look sort of USN though. What's the FAA flight suit (s)? I've got my little Nammy in Bomber Command Blue, except he's lying face down and you can't see his frilly shirt. Great looking build.

Ahoy Mateys!  This here scallywag be reporting to the officer of the watch that he be reporting fer duty!  As soon as I be done here I will be dogging the hatches and going below deck to me work station.  It will be the Sea Harrier first, bolstered by some swwet photo etch.  I'll be breaking out a keg of the finest root beer fer Boba Fett and I to while away the long hours of sweating over styrene shavings and glue fumes.....that is all!

Brian

Yargh, a quick update.  New Hampshires first attempt at Photo Etch is going pretty good so far.  Taking a quick break from the bench as the heat is killing me plus I need to pull up some Sea Harrier cockpit photos so I can work on another little detail that might add a litle more oomph to the look of the cockpit.  I'll post pics when things start coming together more.......

Brian 

Gentlemen-

'Tis the weekend!  Time for good rum (or root beer!), good cheer, and comraderie.  Raise yer glass gents!

Cheers!

 Jeaton! Thanks for the picture and the great start on the Sea Fang! It is sure to be a unique addition here!

New Hamshire PE!  Wowzers!!!

Frank!

Sean you musta got the tea made from carrot greens!

Capt Bondo! My research on this kit was difficult. Not a lot of info other than 100 OS2u-3 Kinfishers were supplied to the Royal Navy which designated them the Kingfisher I . Both float and fixed gear land aircraft were  used as Trainers, Merchant defenders on Q ships and recon as well as the usual scout and rescue duties.

This particular aircraft is an option in the original 1966 release that showed this scheme and unfortunately gave no history. May not have been much to speak of?  I like the scheme.

The crew was painted as the instructions from the Tamiya Swordfish show, This kit claims the US navy wore dark blue pants and light blue shirts? Sounds like a Utility work uniform to me.

 Anyways I went with what I had! 

  I dedicate this 1st build to the Missing LtCmdr Nam Who really shows a passion for these old Monogram classics!

Bizzaro Nam sez ughgg! Ugggh!

Also the Kingfisher was made famous for rescueing Eddie Rickenbacher and his party after they had been given up for lost It had to taxy over 40 miles on rough seas to the nearest friendly shore! With fellows including him riding on the wings! At Truk Lagoon the record of 10 rescued airmen in one day also belongs to the Kingfisher.

 So maybe a recue plane is the proper dedication for our missing man.

Lots of glass to mask. Errors can be unavoidable with so much to protect. When this happens I find that good dental flosing sticks made from plastic make excellent scrappers without harming or scratching the clear plastic. Really sharpens up the edge and can be snipped with sprue cutters to give a new sharp clean edge!  Works well!

 Bizarro Nam sez all done Ugh !

Ugh!!!

 Now where is he?

Aaron, thats one top notch Kingfisher there!!!!  I have the old 1/72 Airfix kit I have been putting off building until my skill level can do it the justice I think it deserves.  I love the Kingfisher because it is just one snazzy looking seaplane!  And your figures look to be spot on! VERY nice paint job!

Brian